Okay, so I have been a little M.I.A. I have been experiencing birthday week! And it’s been great! So, that, combined with the fact that since I last posted, the weather has taken a most disastrous turn. It is blasted hot! But the good news is that summer is now officially here and that means beach time!

At the store we are spending our time gearing up for fall, and ordering lots of fabulous paper products. I have also been picking out personalized stationery. I hardly ever take the time to pick something out for myself, but thought it was appropriate for a little birthday treat! We have the most darling cards from Jenny Sweeney Designs. (jennysweeneydesigns.com) You can choose the paper, the design motif, and the color of glitter you want to customize your stationery! I am so excited! It was so much fun to order!

So if you need a little mental break from the heat, come in and check out the many lines of personalized stationery that we carry, and treat yourself by getting some of your own. We promise it is much cooler in the store than it is outside!

-M.

p.s. I am also including a photo from the impromptu lunch I had at my sister’s house today. The reason I had to document this event is that she is in the middle of house redo right now. She recently purchased a historical home that needed a complete (and I do mean COMPLETE) overhaul. She and her husband are living in a tiny room attached to the garage for a year while the main house is being re-built. So I love it that she threw together this fabulous lunch and table setting. A little piece of heaven in the midst of complete chaos!

Happy Monday!

I love summertime and all of the food that comes with it. Peaches, apricots, and berries, berries, berries! All of this makes me want to have my oven on 24/7 with a constant stream of pies, jams, and other goodies coming out of it. Of course, just as all of these culinary goods are reaching the supermarket, the temperature outside is usually reaching the typical 200°.

Not this weekend! We here in Phoenix are enjoying a very lovely “Spring” (The official start of summer not being ‘til the 21^st of June). This being said, it was a beautiful weekend! My husband and I were able to do a number of our never-ending house projects without sweltering in the heat. We invited some friends over and enjoyed a balmy evening on the patio dining on barbecued salmon, coleslaw and cornbread! It was a feast! And nothing beats a nice glass of white wine in the summer.

I am posting photos of some of my favorite things from this weekend. First, I absolutely had to share this recipe for a great twist on the classic caprese salad. (I found it in one of my Bon Appetit magazines from last summer). Simply layer sliced peaches, fresh mozzarella slices, and basil leaves; season with sea salt and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil! Delicious! And summer perfect!

Secondly, I had to share a photo of the doughnuts my nieces made on Sunday. Clearly they too felt it was cool enough outside to still do some cooking that requires a lot of heat! I thought they turned out perfect. Especially when delivered by the sweetest girls ever!

Happy Monday!

-M.

Travel Plans

I love to travel, even if it’s only in my mind. Sometimes I just daydream about being somewhere else. Sandy beaches, warm breeze, the smell of the ocean… or somewhere romantic like Paris (where I’ve never been). I love to picture the Eiffel tower at night with the twinkling lights of the city all around us as we dine on something fabulous like crepes suzette!

This is the reason for the latest project my husband and I just completed in our office at home. I purchased a map of the United States and a world map with the idea of hanging them on the wall for us to track our travels and our planned travels. I won’t bore you with the details on how long it took me to actually figure out how to do it and get it done! Instead, I will just tell you how we did it!

• I found the maps at OfficeMax ($9.99 each!). They are beautiful!
• Knowing what size the maps were, we painted a beige border on the wall to ‘frame’ the maps (my husband used a level to mark the lines).
• I discovered that you can buy large foam board from Michael’s in their framing department. I first purchased the foam board ($16.99 each), mounted the map with double stick tape, (we carry a large 3M tape gun at the store with ¼” to ½” tape), and then carted the whole thing back to Michael’s to be cut. We decided to leave a 1” border of foam board around the map to make it stand out from the beige background.
• To insure the maps laid flat against the wall, we used 3M picture hanging strips on the back of the foam board.

I absolutely love the results! Now we can put push pins into the foam board to denote our travels, exactly as we had wanted! And best of all, I can stare at my maps and dream of all of the wonderful places I have yet to explore!

A couple of things to note:

• One of my friends since informed me that there is a great spray adhesive on the market that would have also worked to tack the map to the board. (Super 77 by 3M. What would we do without this company?)

• No matter what they tell you at the craft store, DO NOT USE DECOUPAGE! Trust me!

• The craft store suggested mounting the maps first before cutting the border as it is hard to mount them exactly where you want them to go. I wholeheartedly agree!

If you have any great ideas on how to improve on this project, please share! I would love to hear it!

I haven’t finished decorating the room yet, and I plan to paint a travel quote above the maps. Here are a few of my favorite quotes in case you get inspired:

"The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway." ~Henry Boye

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by.” - Robert Frost

-M.

Weddings at M & Co. Papery

I love to show the invitations being ordered from our store, and our brides are always happy to share them with you. However, since we are at the front end of the weddings, we don’t usually get to see photos from the ceremony. As many of you know, Stacie (one of our great employees) got married last September and she provided me with several photos from her beautiful wedding which was held at the Hassayampa Inn in Prescott, Arizona. I hope you enjoy them, and if you have any questions, Stacie is always willing to talk about her wedding!

I decided to ask Stacie a few questions that I thought you might like to know:

1. Besides your invitations (from M & Co. Papery), what was your favorite thing about your wedding?
I loved my dress! Although I loved everything about my wedding!

2. What did you have the most difficult time with?
Believe it or not, picking out my invitations! I thought working here would make it easy, but when it came down to it, I couldn't decide!

3. What was your most memorable moment?
Seeing all of my friends and family at the reception and being able to visit with people that love us!

4. What advice do you have for future brides?
Be true to yourself! Remember that it's your wedding, not everyone else's!

*Thanks to http://andersoncreativeaz.com/ for the photos! - M.