fashion / a marie antoinette valentine's

do any of you love sofia coppola's marie antoinette as much as i do? i remember going to see the movie with my best friend and being completely smitten- the colors, the parties, the shoes! if i could live in any movie, it would be in that one. the time period was a little nutty, but i wouldn't mind being marie herself (even if it meant having to be blonde!).

we took these pictures in my little sister's room with her hot pink striped wall and cute green bed. don't you just love it? the dress is a very old betsy johnson number that i don't think i will ever tire of. the fur is vintage, it was one of those things that i couldn't live without but had no idea when i would wear it. (i ended up using it for our engagements). wouldn't you love to spend valentine's in shades of green and pink eating chocolate in bed? you get the best of both world's: playing dress up and being lazy!

from my camera / jarman's birthday bash

so this is actually jarman's 25th birthday from last year. he turned 26 on saturday and we spent it almost completely opposite. last year we were living in utah, in the snow, had lots of friends and no family. this year we live in california where it is 70 degrees every day, have all of our family and no friends! i love california and never want to leave, but i have to say i miss our friends a lot!

last year we all went up to the ford's cabin for jarman's bday and had a sleepover. it was so much fun. we started out at a mexican restaurant, then headed back to the cabin for cuddling, dog piles, xbox, the laughing game and cake. we had all of our best friends (which we have kept since high school) there. it's crazy to think that in the past year some of these people have gotten married, some have gotten engaged, some have had babies, some have gotten pregnant, some have bought houses, some have graduated college. while everything may change, i know we will always be friends!

tablesetting / a bohemian valentine's

instead of going with traditional red and pink decor for valentine's day, why not switch to some more fun, still girly, and less expected colors? we loved the combination of purple and coral, along with a little bit of gold and green (because we can't do anything without gold or green). for this tablescape we were really excited to use our new gold rimmed plates that we found at goodwill. it was like $10 for a set of six salad and full sized plates. i was trying so hard to move away from thrift store shopping (because i am sick of hand-me-downs and owning things that i like, but don't love), but sometimes it's just too legit to quit. oh and those gold rimmed glasses that seem to match perfectly, they came from the dollar store. oh, and our savings on this table don't stop there. we got the napkins and runner on super clearance at world market. it was like $4 for all the napkins and about the same for the runner. we also recently got those black and gold rimmed plates on clearance at target ($1 each). the only other things that are new are the little purple vases (about $1 from ikea). we had the succulents and the centerpiece items already. i dug out my gold west elm flatware so that we can finally start having cute silverware to include in these posts!

what are your valentine's traditions? we try to do a fancy dinner in the dining room every year, and usually that means my dad grills us some steaks. i'm hoping we can pull it off this year, luckily we already have the table set!

recipe / banana pancakes with vanilla custard sauce

we had these pancakes for audrey's birthday and the custard sauce almost killed me. i literally ate it by the spoonful after i finished my pancakes. i don't even like pancakes usually, but anything covered in this sauce is bound to be heavenly. this pancake recipe is especially fluffy and delicious.

custard sauce:

2 cups whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla)

4 large egg yolks

6 tbsp sugar

place whipping cream in heavy medium saucepan. scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add pod. bring cream to simmer. whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium metal bowl to blend. gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. return mixture to saucepan and stir over medium-low hear until custard thickens and finger leaves path when drawn across back of spoon, about 4 mins (do not boil.) strain. (can be served cold or hot).

banana pancakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 ripe large banana

whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. whisk together buttermilk, 2 tbsp melted butter, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. cut banana into bits and fold into batter (or you can add slices into the pancakes once you have put the batter in the pan).

brush a 12-inch nonstick skillet with some of the remaining butter and heat over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. working in batches of 3, pour 1/4 batter into hot skillet and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden brown, 1-2 mins. flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 1-2 mins more. serve with custard sauce on top.