5 ideas for how to spend Labor Day...on the CHEAP!

This might sound familiar...

You know a holiday is coming up and in excitement, you start "google-ing" for ideas for how to spend that precious day off. A few hours later, you still have no idea what you will be doing. There are so many things to do, so little money, it's too far, you know it'll be packed, and you will find yourself in major traffic. In frustration, you give up and find yourself doing nothing exciting on the actual holiday.

Well, I'm here to help you. I am the queen of indecisiveness! Thank God for my husband- a man in my life who can just pick for me. The problem is, sometimes he leaves it up to me to make the decision since he wants to please me and we find ourselves in a cycle of "you pick...no, you pick", and so we end up back at square one. So, I have made it my week's goal to choose place and do it. Make a choice. I know...this may seem really hard for many of you gals. "There's just too many choices out there!", you say, and I totally agree with you. That's what happens when we live in the U.S., in a large city. Move to the countryside; let's see what happens.

Anyway, I came up with a few ideas on what to do this Labor Day weekend without having to use that money you've been saving up for, for a real vacation! Maybe you are looking to do something BIG and if that's the case, don't look here. Sorry, this is for a much simpler, enjoyable day with or without friends. I advise you to stay away from your house, unless that is what you want or if people are coming over. Why do I say this? Because when we stay home, time ends up flying by and at then end, we did nothing. So my advice is, GET OUT!

1- Have a good. old-fashion BBQ.
Yep, it's that easy. Just call some friends or fam over, tell them to bring some side dishes, some meat, whatever you crave, and just make it an entire day of chillin' out. If you don't have yourself a grill, get a $20 dollar one...or tell someone to bring one. If your place is as small as ours, you can have someone volunteer their place (a plus if they have a pool) or head out to a park that's not too crowded. Play some music, have some sangria, and afterward, in the evening, maybe walk somewhere nearby for dessert...or carpool to somewhere fun to continue the fun. I think that the earlier you start, the better. This way, it'll seem like the day was really long and you'll get some sleep earlier.

In Paris, but you can pretend!

2- If you want to spend time with your honey or a buddy, how about getting to know your neighborhood or city a little better. You know that there are those places you always wondered about, like that cute little restaurant not too far from your place. Ride your bikes or walk to a nearby cafe. Maybe even take the metro to some place like a museum, a cool little town, an outdoor mall, an arboretum, etc, and spend the day there walking around. Pretend you are on a trip in another city, just leave your fanny pack behind, please! Take your camera and discover your 'hood! Go on the internet and find some of those local places that you can visit that perhaps you never had the time to go to or even knew existed and make an itinerary. You can even sit down together and plan it!

My Photo: Check out the local Farmer's Market!

Photo by me: Huntington Library

3- There is always free stuff happening in the summer, especially during the holidays and on weekends. There are free concerts, festivals, fairs, and many other things happening around town just a google away!

source: Apartment Therapy

4- Have your own outdoor movie night. Okay, so you have to have a house for this with a yard, but there are always friend. maybe one of them can host it and you can help plan it. Rent, borrow, or buy a projector and place the film on the wall, make some popcorn or have everyone bring a variety, have some snacks, or BYO picnic baskets. Set some chairs and blankets on the grass and enjoy. Of course, this is for the evening, so perhaps this would be a good follow-up for the BBQ! (for some ideas, head on over to Apartment Therapy)

My best friend and I drivin' down PCH!

5- There's always a day road trip! Grab some snacks, pack them in your cooler, get some cool tunes, and drive away!  (For those that live in Southern Cali, I found these ideas for you in the Sunset Magazine site.) Drive by the beaches by taking PCH if in Southern Cali, and if not, drive through those scenic routes! That's what they are there for!!! Make sure to make stops here and there, and at least stop for one meal! My hubby and I do this once in a while and we allow ourselves to eat pretty badly on these trips. We begin by going to the local donut joint, grab a coffee and some horribly-bad-for-you pastry or donut and begin our journey.  Plan it loosely and be adventurous. Take a picnic basket and stop somewhere to enjoy each other's company! So grab a friend of your significant other, fill up your tanks, take a bag for the trash, and off you go!

My photo of The Alcove Cafe & Bakery

Say "cheese" (and wine)

Last year my husband and I hosted a wine/cheese fête at out little apartment. All of our guests brought amazing wines and even had a friend who works at a cheese company bring some of the most amazing Spanish cheeses. We had so much cheese and wine leftover for weeks, and of course, I didn't mind- I can live off these two! Anyway, we had a such a blast, I thought it would be nice to give some ideas for having your own cheese and wine night. Hopefully, we'll be having our 2nd annual one soon!


First off, I am no wine nor cheese connoisseur, so I cannot give you any pairing ideas, but I can cheat! What you do is, go online and find a website that gives you a list of pairings. They are all over the place! I also wrote on my own chalk-board painted tray the instructions knowing I would not remember what to do.

For the cheeses, I went to Home Depot and bought me a piece of slate, which is a few bucks, and placed the cheeses there. I wrote the names of each cheese with chalk ink on it and anything else you may want to add. I had some delicious chocolate spread and fig spread; add some cute little knives, and voila!

Chalk board paint was my best friend for this party. I painted tiles and this is where I wrote the names of the wines.

What other things can you have besides the cheese and wine? Glad you asked. We had nuts, grapes, olives or tapenade, jamon serrano, a variety of crackers, as I mentioned before, several spreads, like fig. We also had some friends bring some freshly baked lavash bread and hummus! It was amazing!

Now, I would recommend going wine tasting and seeing how it's led and done before trying it, but if not, it's no biggie!

Some tips: I would suggest having someone do the pouring so that we won't have drunk people at the end of the night. Have someone else give instructions. Also, don't be afraid to ask friends to bring stuff. I did an international wine theme. You can have people bring only California wines...only Italian...whatever, but you must assign, otherwise, you'll have three of the same wines. I asked everyone to bring a wine and a snack. If that is too much, have one group bring a few wines and another the snacks. Have about 5-6 wines to pair with the cheeses, and if you have less people, do a smaller amount, otherwise you'll be having grilled cheese sandwiches for the next month! Lastly, don't worry about being an expert. Go online and cheat. There are tons of resources and ways to learn how to host one of these parties. This is for fun! The point is, have fun and enjoy each others' companies. sante!

Intimate Ranch Wedding

It's another year full of weddings! Just a couple weeks ago my husband and I attended a wedding at a quaint little ranch. It was intimate and oh, so sweet!  It was crazy hot, so the fans (also favors) passed out before the ceremony were very appreciated!

Anyway, thought I'd share some pics of the wedding festivities, perhaps it might inspired some of you out there looking for ideas.

I thought their 'dessert' room was extraordinary! Cute little Tiffany boxes were beautifully scattered throughout, surrounding the delish desserts. check it out!

 

If you are looking to spend less on decorations, I would suggest finding a place that's green and has naturally beautiful surroundings. You can save yourself the extra flower arrangements and stuff when you've got a location like this!!!

Lovin' the Spanish vibe!

Just frame it!

There's nothing like a boring wall! It just bugs me! It screams for art, for color... for something! I have nothing against having photos in a room, but just having a bunch of normal, framed photos seems a bit disharmonious to me, even distasteful. It reminds me of teenage years, unless you are going for the dorm-room look.

My home has a global air about it and I want to keep it that way. I want it to ooze adventure, travel...a free-spirited, bohemian vibe, but I don't want hippie. Those days are were over a long time ago and now I seek a little more sophistication. I love tapestries, colorful fabrics and textiles, but just hanging a piece of fabric makes me want to bring out the patchouli oil and incense. But what if I framed them? Hmmm...???

I like a pop of color and I want interesting. I framed a small Indian tapestry I had received as a gift and thought it looked pretty darn cool, especially with the frame I used! I thought perhaps framing a large piece of colorful fabric or small pieces, even beautiful paper, seemed like a good idea. My brain started to go into creative mode, overwhelmed with ideas. How about framing a piece of a sari, a scarf, or a collage of pretty Indian, Moroccan, any fabrics? A pretty cushion cover? I even dismembered an old Indian skirt I had and saved the scraps because they are just gorgeous...maybe I can frame that? Also, don't forget that the frames are as important. Using vintage frames or interesting ones will make your wall art even more amazing. Here's some stuff I found...

via Elle Decor

unknown

via mr. kate

via narratives

via this blog

inspiration for the day...

Here's some cool inspiration I found here and there. Sorry, don't know exactly where it came from:(

vogue magazine

Kitchen à la rouge

After tossing and turning all morning long, I finally gave up at about 4:30 a.m. Groggy, I walked into my kitchen for some coffee...and suddenly a wave a gratitude...ahhhh! What was it? Well, my kitchen. I was thankful for my red kitchen. I love it. I always dreamt of a red kitchen and today I have one. I was thankful that I had a red coffee maker, red canisters to place stuff in, my red spoon, and my red curtain. I know it sounds a bit materialistic, but I don't mean to be. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for more amazing things in life, like the grace of God and life. I am just thankful for having those things in life that are not necessary. I don't need a red kitchen...nonetheless I have been blessed with one...and for that I am thankful. Some people don't even have a kitchen...I have one and it's red!

What are you thankful for today?

Floral Hair Adornment

Yes I am picky when it comes to floral hair adornment. Sometimes it just looks too cheesy and other times, it can look too toddler-fashion. You can always get ideas from some flower-wearing divas, like Frida, Billie Holiday BUT, if you still are looking for ways to wear flowers in your hair for your wedding or any special occasion (or not!), here are some fabulous ideas!!! (Vogue Germany, via MagXone)

via chicaboomfashion.com

via Style me Pretty

via Style me Pretty

Don't forget to check out our store for some other great floral adornments for your head!!!

Cosmopolitan headpiece at Etsy

Frida Week, Day 5: Frida Friday

Aight chicas (y chicos, if any) here is your Frida fix for Friday. (nice use of alliteration, ey?) enjoy...hope you got some inspiration for this HOT weekend! Bisous...

Giovanna Battaglia wearing Dolce & Gabbana

Vogue US July 2012, via fashiongonerogue.com

more at Fashion Gone Rogue