I was all set to share a few things I’ve found “Fancy” this week, but this morning, when I went to check my facebook, a friend had posted this video! A woman climbs over the Williamsburg Bridge in NYC and performs an aerial show that will take your breath away. I always find performance art Fancy.

Last night as my kids sat around watching America Idol, somehow, felt, needles, buttons and thread came out and three of my boys and my daughter decided to stitch together dolls. It was totally a Fancy moment. This little scrap of happiness was made by my daughter.  Handmade anything is Fancy!

My sister gave this tear drop garden glass topiary-beauty to me for my birthday. It dangles in my kitchen and makes me smile every time I look at it.

That same sister (I adore her!) loves to handmake intricate things, just like my daughter. She made these delicate macrame earrings for me that rock out any outfit. Who would’ve thought that macrame could be beautiful? Chris Ann likes to say, “Let’s bring ugly back!”

The message in the box of this Tocca lotion, is Fancy. It’s a great reminder to make yourself Fancy.

What was Fancy to you this week? We’d love to hear!

Because we are at Blissdom ~ and because we thought it would be fun!!  We’re having a jewelry sale! & a link party!

This is a special Blissdom sale through the end of the month ~ February 29th ~ for all Blissdom friends, LoveFeast Table readers and LoveFeast Shop shoppers.  We are offering all our LoveFeast Shop jewelry for a special 20% off!! 

If you are here for Fancy Friday 5 the link party is still happening at the bottom of this post!  In fact if you link up your Fancy Friday post at the bottom of this post you are automatically entered to win one of our fancy leather cuffs.  That’s right a jewelry sale, a link party and a giveaway!!

Our LoveFeast Shop is stocked with awesome gifts for Mother’s Day, birthdays or just because you’re awesome!

Here’s a little of what Kristin and Chris Ann will be wearing this weekend!

Tassel Earrings ~ retail $85.00 ~ 20% off Blissdom Sale $68.00

Boho-chic freshwater Pearl Necklace on Leather – retail $180.00 – 20% off Blissdom Sale $144.00

Oxidized Silver Hoops ~ retail $78.00 ~ 20% off Blissdom Sale $63.00

Mother’s Tree Of Life Necklace in Gold (Featured on Hollywood Housewife)

retail $230.00 ~ 20% off  Blissdom Sale Price ~ $184.00

Mother’s Tree of Life Necklace in Silver (Featured on The Pioneer Woman)

retail $199.00 ~ 20% off Blissdom Sale Price ~ $159.00

Oh and our awesome leather cuffs!   You can buy them online at LoveFeast Shop.

(These two are just an example of the many colors of leather cuffs we have available!)

retail $35.00 ~ 20% off Blissdom Sale Price ~ $28.00

Check out our LoveFeast Shop and let us know what’s on your wish-list!

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

We’ve relaunched Fancy Friday our weekly linky party.  It’s now Fancy Friday Five! Every Friday we’re inviting you to join us at the table and share what 5 things were fancy to you.  And along with the change ~ there’s been conversation about what “Fancy” just might be.  We don’t want to give you the impression fancy has to be expensive, rich, overly done or beyond one’s reach.  Fancy, to us, is closer to what good ole’ Webster’s says fancy is.

1. An image or representation of anything formed in the mind.  2. A whim  3. Inclination; liking, formed by caprice rather than reason; as, to strike one’ s fancy; hence, the object of inclination or liking.  4. That which pleases or entertains.

And we’d like to add ~ FANCY should inspire you & make you happy!

Here is my Fancy Friday Five ~

Last weekend we celebrated Kristin’s 4oth birthday party.  She’s blowing out the candles on her Sweet And Salty Cake (made by one of her teenage sons).  It’s a favorite and the same one that she made for one of our LoveFeast parties.  It was sooo delish!!  I highly recommend it if you have something FANCY to celebrate like blowing out 40 for your candles!

Do you know what this is?  Hookah!  It’s a FANCY Indian way to smoke tobacco.  Normally do I smoke?  Noooooo….Going to a Hookah bar is a fancy way to celebrate your bff’s 40th birthday.  The adventure of trying something new is fancy!

When I got home from Baltimore there was a box on my step and guess what was inside?  Our new Spring Pumpkins!!  Don’t you love this color?  So “pantone color of the year“.  It makes me smile.  These are going to look FANCY on my table!

Yesterday I went out, did some window shopping and got my hair cut.  I wore an old old skirt I recycled out of the back of my closet, in an outfit pulled together with some new “sale basket” tights from Anthropologie that Kristin and I found.  New “found” outfit?  Fancy.

The snow barely came and left quite quickly this year in Minnesota.  I still have a mound of dried Allium that though seemingly fragile has determined to survive basket balls, the dog, the weather and the kids.  With the sun peeking through it’s dried petaled it reminded me that spring and garden season is right around the corner.

Another box on my step from earlier in the week was my welcome to Blissdom package.  I’m excited to meet and mingle with all the other “Blissdom” gals ~ it will be a time of  “fancy” inspiration.

That’s my fancy recap.  Parties, hookahs (who knew?), velvet pumpkins, tights and boots, flowers, and a reminder of a Bliss-ful getaway.  What made your week inspired and fancy?

I’m a bit giddy this morning! Chris Ann is on her way to Baltimore along with her husband Todd, to help me celebrate my 4oth! We will be getting together with a bunch of old friends and new tomorrow night at a local Indian restaurant.  This weekend will just be the icing on the cake to a wonderful birthday week!

My Fancy Friday Five was hard to narrow down.  I was treated like a queen all week by my family.  And can you believe, they kept the 40, over the hill jokes to a minimum.  At least, most of them did.  The cards I received would be up there in my top Fancy Friday Five…and look at this card, from my friend Melissa, she cracks me up!

Melissa softened the blow by giving me this beautiful little number.

My daddy sent me flowers.  Getting flowers from your dad, never gets old.

My kids pulled together their money and gave me a night out on the town with my man.

And how can I choose the fifth Fancy Friday Five, from the other gifts my family thoughtfully chose for me? Sorry, I just couldn’t do it.

What is your Fancy Friday Five this week?  Remember, there is no right or wrong way to participate in Fancy Friday Five. For more info, click HERE.

Link up your post, grab a badge and thanks for joining us at the table!

If you’ve been pulling up a chair at our table every Friday, you are familiar with our Fancy Friday Link Party.  Fancy Fridays have been days where we stretch our creative wings and write about things we find fancy.  Honestly, we tried to get really creative.  We might have themed a Fancy Friday~Black and White and posted black and white pictures that represented a poem we wrote about a life lived in the black and white. Or it may have been Fancy Friday~Blogs We LOVE where we shared a few blogs that just made us smile.

We asked you to join us, think outside the box and share in the carnival fun.

We were supposed to post that calendar of “themes” ahead of time…supposed to.

We realized we may have made Fancy Friday too complicated…taking away from the Fancy.

So, for 2012 we’ve decided to give Fancy Friday a facelift!

Click your heels together and Meet…Fancy Friday Five!

Every Friday, we will host the Fancy Friday Five link party, where you can link up and share with us Five things that you found Fancy that week.

Just Five Fancy things.

They can be Five of the same things…Five Fancy cake recipes, Five Favorite blog posts, Five Favorite songs, Five Favorite quotes.

OR

You can share Five random things that you found Fancy…a poem, a conversation, a craft, a recipe and a ribbon.

EASY PEASY!

So, please mark your calendar, alert your google to ding you…Fridays are about to get…

Fanc-i-ER!

We will get started next week.  We can’t wait to see what makes it on your Fancy Friday Five list.

Holiday Makeup Trends~Winter 2011

As makeup artists we get our inspiration for creating looks from what is on the runway 2x a year. Fall and spring are the seasons where fashion and makeup trends are presented. My goal is to take what’s on the runway and create looks that are easy and quick to apply. It is not hard to accomplish a tailored look with the correct instructions.

This Holiday season “clean skin” is in as expressed in Alexandar McQueen’s collection. The Bold lip is back on Gucci’s Runway and the 60′s graphic eye is running rampant on the catwalks of Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier. Celebrities like Natalie Portman and Jennifer Connelly are showing off their natural tailored brows and leaving the “thin” behind.

Here is a basic but beautiful look for Holiday 2011.

We will start with the skin, as it is the largest organ of your body and should be taken care of. Make sure you consult your esthetician on the best regimen for your skin type and condition. After that, follow with the proper foundation .

Don’t be afraid of foundation, the proper formulation will NOT clog your pores (if you wash it off at night). If your skin is oily or dry, or simply combination, there is a foundation out there for you. This will be the most expensive product out of the few others that are necessary to create this holiday look. If you’re buying mineral oil filled, drugstore foundation, you are doing your skin an injustice.

A few foundations that are effective and easy to apply are

Makeup forever “Invisible Cover” HD foundation ($40.00). This is an oil free formula but still great for dry skin types. This foundation can be applied with fingers and creates a fabulous coverage without a concealer. Acneic, hyper pigmentation and large pores are a great candidate for this foundation.

If you prefer a powder foundation, I would recommend MAC “Studio Fix” ($26.50)
applied with a sponge for full coverage or with a large poder brush for lighter coverage. Please do not forget to wash your sponge weekly with your face wash. You can also purchase a single sponge from MAC to replace yours when it can no longer be cleaned effectively.

For those with flawless skin (minor and occasional breakouts, even skin tone and forgiving pores) you can use a tinted moisturizer. My favorite on the market would be Stila Tinted Moisturizer ($34.00.) It is pigmented enough to provide a light coverage to ensure an even color and dewy finish. Embrace the glow as it is in style and forget the moisturizer as it already contains one, as well as an SPF of 20.

On to the eyes…

Tailored eyebrows are important all the time, but this year they are being emphasized, as the makeup for this season is simple and concise. Find a good brow artist. Your best option is an esthetician that will shape your brows with a tweezer only. And second, the age old Indian technique of threading. Please do your research as a bad brow artist can ruin your brows for good.

“Mod Socialite Look”

Start off by applying a flawless foundation and a strong brow.

The eyes will be matted out with foundation and then a light peach shade will be applied all over.

Now don’t be scared when I say “wing liner.” You can go anywhere from Elizabeth Taylor to Amy Winehouse. Whatever floats YOUR boat, but don’t skip this step, it’s part of the look.  This look can only be accomplished with a liquid or gel liner. If a slanted brush and gel liner feel comfortable for you then use a Stila
“Smudge Pot” ($20.00) in black and apply from the inner eye as close to the lash line as possible and thicken as you approach the end of your eye. WING up towards the area where your brow ends. Use a Q-Tip to make the wing precise by “cutting” the end into the size and angle you desire.

Use the same concept with a liquid liner. I recommend a brush end not a felt tip, like Sephora’s black “Long Lasting Liner” originally $10.00, on sale right now online, for $3.00.

The blush can be any shade of light pinky /peach applied on the apple of the cheeks blending upward at an angle toward the ear. Blend out well, as you do not want to deposit too much color on the cheeks for this particular look

I like Benefit’s blush in “Georgia Peach”. $28.00

For the lips, simple…simple…simple!

All you need is a neutral peach lip gloss. No liner necessary and make sure to take the lip gloss in your purse to reapply.

I recommend Mac tinted lip gloss in “Evolution Revolution”. $14.50

These steps may seem intimidating, but they are not! Print these instructions out, take yourself to Sephora and/or MAC, or order online and have a great time. Don’t hesitate to ask questions to the makeup artists in any store. And don’t forget Sephora has an amazing return policy, if it doesn’t work for you or even if you don’t like it, you
can return it without a receipt at any time. (Half full or not.)

Final Instruction: Feel beautiful and self confident this Holiday season!

Brielle is a licensed esthetician and makeup artist with a passion for improving trouble skin and creating and applying makeup looks for the natural woman as well as the high fashion industry. Brielle graduated from Von Lee Intrnational School of Esthetics in 2005 and has been using and improving her skill for 6 years.

Please look out for the next Holiday Makeup Look, “The Siren.”

Thanksgiving Feast is a favorite meal at our table. Every year, my husband and I sit down and plan out our menu.  There are certain dishes that are always featured, like roasted root vegetables, but there are inevitably new additions to the menu.

I remember as a kid the retro Thanksgiving menu my grandmother laid out.  I think I might add Ambrosia salad on this year just for kicks.  But, maybe I’ll use a modern twist on this dish.

Our turkey glaze and preparation changes year to year. One year, Devon smoked the turkey on the grill. I remember that year, because it was the same year we waited until our whole family was seated to share with them the news we were expecting our second son.  I have to admit, the smells were a bit overpowering that year.

One year, we made a 30 lb. turkey in honor of “the baby“ we had in Italy.

Thanksgiving Menu 2008

Last year, we added Parker House rolls to the menu.  I’m not really sure why we’ve never added them before! They were flaky and buttery and melt-in-your-mouth, good.

Parker House Rolls~Thanksgiving 2010 Menu

This year we are still gathering recipes, old and new (and sharing some with the A Holiday Haven Thanksgiving party too!) We’d love to hear from you! What is on your Thanksgiving Menu this year?  Do you have a traditional, every year type menu or do you change it up?

“Pie is a symbol of something bigger than Mom and her way with desserts.” ~ Pasquale Le Draqulec

Not So Humble Pie~Treacle Tart

“There are pies on a carousel, have a slice.” ~ Cake (the band)

Tasty Kitchen~Pie Crust Tutorial

“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness” ~Jane Austen

Joy the Baker~Apple Tarte Tatin

“One little thing can revive a guy/ and that is a homemade rhubarb pie/ Serve it up nice and hot/ maybe things aren’t as bad as you thought.” ~ A Prairie Home Companion

She Wears Many Hats~Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

“What kind of Thanksgiving dinner is this? Where’s the turkey, Chuck? Don’t you know anything about Thanksgiving dinners? Where’s the mashed potatoes? Where’s the cranberry sauce? Where’s the pumpkin pie?” ~ Peppermint Patty

Dangerously Delicious Pies~Order Here

Do you have favorite “go-to” pie recipes? Link up here and share with us!

My favorites were the sour cherry balls on the right and ju ju nickles.  When I was young we would bike up to Widman’s Candy to have a fountain drink like lime cokes and cherry cokes.  Sometimes we would get a malted milk.  We’d linger in the back reading the comics.  Sometimes there would be a rowdy table of boys that would shoot spitballs at us with the paper straws.

When we take a visit back to the small town where I grew up we often bring our kids to pick out some candy.  It’s makes me happy to see my kids doing pondering the long glass case with the colorful trays of candies on display.  My dad is standing at the counter to the right of the door waiting in the same place he has waited for over 40 years, leaning on the counter chatting with someone.

It always takes awhile to decide.  The colors and the smells of warm caramel and melted chocolate warm the air.  It’s hard to take it all in and narrow your decisions.

Mr. Widman still has about the same amount of controlled patience as I remember waiting for us all to decide.  Can you imagine a lifetime of measuring small brown bags of candy out for each customer?  And, then all the changes and indecision?

I wonder if he remembers us all lounging in the tall white wooden booths, our heavy boots dripping with slush, and our frosted and melting caps and mittens under the table as our frozen hands spilled out our bounty of treats.  Or, does he recall our bikes staggered, falling and crowding up the sidewalk in front?  Or our flushed cheeks from a hot summer afternoon as we  leaned in too far over the soda counter fountain spying to see what was hidden behind it.

Much of it is as I remember ~the smells ~the colors~the meeting place.  The same man behind the counter.

Wiman’s Candy Shop in my hometown turned 100 years old this past January 2011.  I don’t know how much past 100 it will linger.  I see bits and pieces are missing ~ the old wooden booths are gone from the back.  This time back I snapped some pictures with my family for some memories.  When I think of candy – nothing is more fancy in my memory than – Widman’s.

Please leave a comment ~ we’d love to hear if you had a favorite childhood, candy shop or candy memory!  Did you like licorice, chocolate or sour cherry balls like me?  Or ~ add your post around the theme of Candy ~ recipes or inspiration!

“falling leaves hide the path so quietly” ~ John Bailey Autumn Haiku

I grew up in northern Minnesota where the fields run straight and the dirt is dark black.  My family has driven up from Minneapolis to spend a long weekend in northern Minnesota farm country to visit my parents.  I thought the woods my parents walk in would be a perfect place to be inspired for this weeks theme ~ Falling.   These are the same woods where I walked and played in when I was in elementary school.  I feel I know them inside and out.  I know them in the autumn, summer and winter.  I have seen the leaves here over many years ~ Falling.

“The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.” ~ Henry Beston Northern Farm

“The milkweed pods are breaking, and the bits of silken down float off upon the autumn breeze across the meadows brown.”  ~ Cecil Cavendish The Milkweed

It was a perfect day to walk in the woods.

What inspires you?