The 2015 Chateau de Liz Christmas Tree (By the Numbers)

1. Height: 7'5" (8'5", if you count the star)

2. Hours invested from start to finish: 3.5 (3 if you count numerous wine breaks)

3. Glasses of wine consumed: 2.5 (3 if you count the generous pours)

4. Number of scratches on my arms: countless (next year, I'm wearing long sleeves)

5. Number of broken branches Macgyvered with scotch tape: 1 (I am nothing if not innovative in the face of a Christmas Crisis)

6. Spiders that made ornament boxes their home this year: 1 (I let him crawl OUT of the box of glass ornaments before I smashed him, duh)

7. Notre Dame Annual Collectible ornaments on the tree: 9 (one for every year since I started college)

8. Versions of "White Christmas" that came on my Spotify while decorating: 7 (out of the 10 on my playlist)

9. Falls taken while attempting to get the star on: 1 (I don't recommend standing on windowsills to place the star, for future reference)

10. Number of times I've looked over at it and smiled like a dork since finishing: Countless (Worth it all, this year like every other!)

And then I threw an impromptu engagement party.

Fresh off my spectacular weekend in Chicago celebrating Melissa's wedding, I got to step back a few events in the whole wedding-planning/celebrating cycle and throw an engagement party for my book club friend Anna and her fiancé, Kevin! 

Not going to lie, I've felt a bit...saturated...lately by my overwhelming social schedule. Throw in a weekend road trip and less than 48 hours to pull this all together, and I was doubtful whether I'd pull it off or not. Fortunately, everything came together just beautifully! Without further ado...

I made sangria, which isn't pictured, in addition to these lemon bars (please PLEASE note the totally Pinterest-worthy engagement rings): 

And caprese skewers, which are a Schwegfam favorite.

I also picked up a cake (Lund's fudge buttercream frosting is officially too decadent to resist)...

...and plenty of engagement-themed serveware! 

Given the beautiful weather we've been having, it seemed asinine to not make use of my building's rooftop space. We quickly migrated out there, caprese skewers and lemon bars in tow, to catch up on all the details of Anna's proposal, planning and (short!) engagement...with a wedding date this October, they're definitely taking the fast lane!

We enthroned the bride-to-be, crown and all, in a something-blue-appropriate rocking chair...how cute is she?!

As sunset crept closer and Kevin arrived, it seemed opportune to do what basic white girls do best and have a total rooftop photoshoot. See below: 

I claim the above as my genius work. I'm basically a wizard with an Instagram filter. We also made use of one of my favorite additions to the party...I'm a sucker for balloons and couldn't resist these darling "Bride" and "Groom" bunches at Party City! I think they made for pretty adorable props, if you ask me...

It was so much fun to get the book club girls together, especially as our book club has unanimously met with a not-so-tragic demise at the hands of our very busy schedules and inability to discuss a book for more than five minutes without getting distracted by wine and/or our love lives. Oops? 

Of course, that cake wasn't going to eat itself....

Congrats Anna! You're pretty cute, and we're pretty excited for you. 

Looking forward to celebrating constantly until October rolls around! 

Oh, and if my Martha Stewart-conquering credibility was still in question? We ate everything...including that last lemon bar. BAM. 

Saturday morning miscellany.

While it was still cool and breezy in the Cities this morning, I opened up my bedroom window and made myself a coffee and read for an hour. The sun and the air coming in couldn't have felt more relaxing or summery.  The coffee...well, I didn't get the Stevia totally perfectly mixed, so it all sank to the bottom and the last few sips were teeth-hurtingly sweet. The reading? An old favorite I'm loving revisiting. 

My pretty corner apartment has been a bit of a mess this week. Meal planning, workouts, and a busy social calendar kept me from cleaning it up for far longer than I'm proud to admit. Now, though, everything's dusted and sparkly and freshly-washed, and the whole place smells elusively like Lemon Pledge and Pinesol. 

I finally figured out what I want to do with my artwork from Paris, and I can't wait to take it over to Posters on Board and get it all framed and matted and ready to go. Perhaps another peek at the apartment is due...things have changed so much since my first mini-tour in November!

It's so nice to know that I have a great day ahead. Quick workout, meeting Kelsie for a brewery visit, and a fantastic dinner tonight at a place I've wanted to try FOREVER with my mama bear before a quite-fancy and fabulous little gala party... 

Happy Saturday!

My favorite candles for spring.

As I mentioned several months ago, right after I moved, I have a bit of a thing for candles. There's just something about walking into a space that smells as beautiful as it looks, and luckily for me, it doesn't take much to make my little apartment smell delicious! With spring settling into Minnesota, I'm stashing away the heavier winter scents I've been burning for months and looking for lighter, fresh florals and fruits to perfume my pad. A few of my favorites: 

I love WoodWick candles for their super-potent scents and cozy, crackling wicks. My mom gifted me this Pistachio Macaron candle back in February for Valentine's Day, and I burned through it in about two weeks because I had it lit constantly. She gave me another for Easter and I can't get enough. At $16.99, it's a pretty good deal, too. 

I'm also a huge fan of these bright, colorful Illume tins. I have two...Cactus Verde and Amber Dunes...and have found that their scent is just as punchy as the color of their tins. I picked mine up at the Hallmark store my mom works at, but I've also seen them at Patina. They cost anywhere from $22-$25, but with a burn time of 35 hours, it's still not a bad bargain!

Emily gifted me a Jane Austen candle for Christmas, because I am a hopeless fangirl for all things Jane. The scent, gardenia and tuberose, is absolutely intoxicating...one of the freshest, prettiest spring-y florals I've ever smelled. I love it so much I bought a second one for when the first is all burned out. The candle comes in two sizes...a full-sized 6.5 oz jar for $22, or a smaller, steal-of-a-deal 2.5 oz travel tin for $8. 

Of course, one can't go wrong with good old Yankee Candle. The Napa Valley Sun scent has this amazing, laundry-clean-meets-fresh-cut-grass scent I can't get enough of, and the big, big jars last absolutely forever. Plus, yellow IS my favorite color and it looks perfect sitting on my kitchen table. 

Here's to a spring that smells fresh and lovely, inside and out!

Where to find affordable art: Part II

I know you've all been hanging out with bated breath just dying to know the rest of my super duper revolutionary top secret sources for art, right? Right? 

Ha. That aside, I'm still obsessing over my gallery wall and loving how finished it makes my bedroom feel...finally! While yesterday covered some of the obvious sources for affordable art pieces for twenty-somethings, today's got a few more gems. Here we go!

TRAVEL/STREET ART

I'm pretty sure at this point that my family has kept the European population of sidewalk artists in employment since 2006. Every time we go abroad, we come home with paintings, prints, you name it, packed flat or carefully rolled and carried on the plane with us. It's a deceptively cheap way to get a really unique and sentimental piece of art! My bedroom gallery wall features this cute little print of the cathedral at Madrid, which Jonny brought home from his semester in Luxembourg for me: 

And my kitchen is home to this stunner of Vernazza, one of the five cities of Cinque Terre: 

The best thing about travel art is it triggers such great memories. I can't wait to scout out something perfect to add to my collection in Paris this May!

PAPERSOURCE/FANCY WRAPPING PAPER

Dumb as it may sound, pretty wrapping paper is a killer way to cover a lot of wall space with very little money invested. Check this guy out: 

It's yet another piece of my kitchen gallery, and it cost me a whopping $3.99 at Patina out of the fancy wrapping paper section. It's wrapping paper. Wood-mounted, or put in a pretty frame, it gets totally elevated and becomes a legitimate art piece. I'm not saying go to Target and get a $1.99 roll of cheap Christmas wrap...but from a fine paper store, large sheets of wrap are a steal of a deal. 

PRINTSTAGRAM

I might be the biggest Instagram whore I know. Ever since my 100 Happy Days project this time last year, I've really gotten addicted to the app and love to photograph and filter and crop and add effects to pretty much everything. Printstagram, an arm of Print Studio, takes your oh-so-lovely Insta shots and turns them into...pretty much anything! I purchased this framed print a few weeks ago, which highlights some of my favorite St. Paul architecture: 

Cool, right? It looks so fancy and nice and the best part is IT'S MY "ART." So famous, so fancy. 

FAMILY/FRIENDS WITH ARTISTIC TALENT

In the biggest "no duh" moment of all, if you have anyone in your life who has an iota of artistic ability, getting them to create something for you can be a ridiculously cool way to add to a gallery wall. My sister Emily is basically a goddess of creativity, and is the source for SO many of the coolest pieces I have. My gallery wall prominently features THREE pieces by her...

These cool 3d butterflies in a shadow box...

This adorable print...

and my VERY VERY FAVORITE THING ANYONE HAS EVER MADE ME EVER: 

Um, hi. Feel free to gasp in amazement again. She hand-watercolored this stunning rendition of the Minneapolis skyline for me as my Christmas present this year and framed it in a "floating" gallery frame. I've never been so in awe of anything in my entire life. 

Anyway, these personal pieces are awesome because they're one-of-a-kind, made with love, and give me the opportunity to brag up on how amazing Emily is every time someone comes over and comments on how fantastically stunning they are. If you have a friend, family member, or a personal artistic inclination, MAKE SOMETHING or have something MADE. It's the absolute best way to make it personal. 

With that, I think we're all ready to put this gallery wall to rest! Lots more to share about the apartment coming up soon though...spring cleaning has me in a fever of nesting and homemaking magic!