(A Snow Day) Weekend in Pictures

{the beginnings of the storm, friday night}

{lovey dovey hot chocolate}

{saturday morning backyard view}

{snowy chelsea}

{little icicles}

{blue skies and snowy streets}

{spending the snow day with a president}

{more icicles}

{I don't think people took this sign seriously}

NYC got close to a foot of snow on Friday night, which made for a super cozy weekend. Friday night I hosted a little girl's night in, with truffle popcorn, lovey dovey hot chocolate and lots of laughs (thanks to Pitch Perfect!). The rest of the weekend was spent alternately rushing outside to frolic in the snow and then rushing back in for hours under blankets. Hope your weekend was equally cozy!

Friday Night Movie

Have you heard of The Giant Mechanical Man? It's a sweet, independent romantic comedy with Jenna Fischer (from The Office) and Chris Messina (who is super cute on The Mindy Project) who are both a little lost and directionless. Chris Messina's character is one of those robot guys you see in big cities - he paints himself silver and wears stilts. Anyway, it's a cute and funny story, with perhaps the sweetest on-screen kiss I've ever seen.



So, if you're hunkering down for a winter storm with a cartoon name, or just having a night in, I'd highly recommend it! Happy weekend :)

Simple Valentine Treats

Remember the Valentines you gave out as a kid? The paper ones, bright and a little cheesy, with the latest TV character wishing you a happy Valentines Day. For me, they were Rainbow Bright, Hello Kitty, then New Kids on The Block a little later. They were simple and easy: just tape on a piece of candy and bam! Valentine. That left the fun part, which was deciding what message to give to which classmate (being careful to avoid an "I choo choo choose you!" scenario). They were cheesy, not at all artful, but they were simple.

When I saw these heart shaped cookies at IKEA last weekend, they reminded me of the ease of those old school, kindergarten Valentines. So I decided to package them simply, add some festive ribbon, and pass them out a la elementary school. If only everyone still had construction paper mail boxes on their desks!





More Valentine's Day treat ideas:

Sweetheart Brownies
A Tiny Cake For Your Valentine
And a cute card to go with them.

The Paperman

Have you seen The Paperman yet? It's a Disney short film that's been making the rounds since it was nominated for an Oscar. It's the story of two people who meet on a train platform in 1940s New York, then part ways. In the absence of missed connections, he has to come up with another way to find her again. It's really sweet, and kind of reminded me of this story.

ps - I didn't mean to make this week all lovey-dovey stories, it just happened!

via Vulture

All The More Reason

We're a few weeks from Valentine's Day, but this sweet love story is too good to wait until then. The New York Times ran the wedding announcement of Ada Bryant and Robert Haire this weekend, who are 97 and 86 respectively. They met in a retirement home, going on lunch dates until Robert slipped a sonnet under Ada's door vowing his "friendship and affection." Their whole story is worth reading, but my favorite part is Ada's demure refusal of Robert's first proposal because she's a bit older than him and doesn't "have very many years ahead" of her. Robert's response? "That's all the more reason."

Photo by Robert L. Bryant

One Last Valentine

I'm sure you've seen tons of Valentine's ideas around the Internet lately, but I hope you'll indulge me in just one more. My friend Tracey handed these out at our Valentine's day lunch this weekend, and they were quite a hit. Such a cute idea!

Happy Valentine's Day :)

(A Valentine's) Weekend in Pictures

{cupcake delivery}

{cupcakes ready for the party}

{eleanorasaurus}

{balloons and snow flurries}

{tiny cakes, completed}

{tiny cakes for valentine's day girl's lunch}

{galentine's day presents}

{red polka dot nails}

It was a weekend full of parties. First, I made and delivered cupcakes for Ellie's 1st birthday party and got to peek at all the cute decorations, even though I couldn't stay for the party. Sunday was more cake and more partying, this time with tiny cakes for a Valentine's lunch with girlfriends. It was bitterly cold in New York this weekend, so I was glad I had a few excuses to stay inside and eat chocolate cake.

Post-It Love

What an adorable waste of paper :) Have a great weekend!

A Tiny Cake For Your Valentine

This weekend I'm having some girlfriends over for a little Valentine's Day lunch (or Galentine's Day, really), since all the pink, red and hearts of Valentine's Day are more fun for girls anyway. Looking for a special treat to end the meal, I decided to make miniature cakes for everyone.



There's a little extra effort involved in frosting such a tiny little cake, so they definitely say love more than a cupcake or a box of chocolates, I think. They'd be a sweet way to end a homemade Valentine's Day dinner date.



Especially if you go ahead and gild the lily by making a simple chocolate ganache to pour on top.







There are two ways to make these tiny cakes, each with their advantages and disadvantages. If your local big box store carries 4 inch cake pans, that's the easiest way to make these cakes, especially if you're just making two small cakes (use the leftover batter to make cupcakes and freeze them). Advantages: easier to frost. Disadvantages: more oven time, since they'll have to be baked in shifts.

I only have one small cake pan, so it would have taken me forever to bake each layer one by one. Instead, I poured the batter into a sheet pan with a 1 inch rim and baked it. Once the cake had cooled, I used my largest biscuit cutter (or a larger circular cookie cutter) to cut each individual layer. Advantage: saves on baking time. Disadvantage: a crumb-y mess to frost.

Either way, the result is a cute little treat perfect for celebrating love, friends, or both :)

The Valentine Channel

"Hey Girl, did you know I have my own channel for Valentine's Day?"

This is pretty brilliant: Time Warner Cable is offering an entire channel of Ryan Gosling for Valentine's Day. Throughout February eight of his movies available are On Demand, so you can make sure you get your February fill of the meme-worthy star whether you have a valentine or not. It's definitely cheesy to watch The Notebook on Valentine's Day... right?

Image via here

(Hearts & Footballs) Weekend in Pictures

{test valentines}

{crafting supplies and coffee}

{always so many birds at tracey's place}

{watercolor chevron painting}

{more valentine tests}

{polka heart}

{brooklyn heights valentines}

{superbowl party with king cake, a plastic baby, the brooklyn bridge and a pup}

I said last year that I don't really get that into Valentine's Day, which is still mostly true. But this year I'm giving in to the pink and red. Hence the Valentine crafting session on Saturday. Balanced out with some beer and tater tots eating during the Super Bowl, for a well-rounded weekend. Hope yours was lovely!

Instagram photos via Kate and Dara.

Spoke Too Soon

Oops. It looks like I spoke too soon about not being very into Valentine's Day because this is my second Valentine's post of the day. That's a lot of hearts and pink and red for a girl who intentionally wore black every Valentine's Day in college (dramatic...). But I couldn't not show you this hilariously awesome Kate Spade valentine.



It kills me. It reminds me of that Friends episode when Phoebe tells Ross that Rachel is his "lobster" because lobsters mate for life. There's tons more of these Kate Spade e-valentines on their site. I think I might send some Valentines after all.

Sweet Hearts

{brownies from smitten kitchen}

I'm not all that into Valentine's Day, but I have to admit that these are pretty cute, if you need
a last-minute Valentine's idea. The time-involvement alone says "I like you," at the very least.

Happy Friday, everyone!