Happy feet, happy me

I've heard the phrase thrown around "Happy wife, happy life." I much more of a fan of "Happy feet, happy me." I guess that's why they call me Mrs. Stiletto.

Anyway, last summer I was on a hunt for nude pumps. I ended up buying a pair that I like and I've gotten a lot of wear out of them. They're pretty basic: rounded toe, medium heel height, go with everything. Fine, fine, fine.

This past weekend I was hunting furiously for a fun dress to wear out while in New York at the end of the month. I came across this gorgeous beauty from J. Crew and swooned so hard, I bought it immediately. Keep in mind that it's non-returnable and I had to completely guess on the size, since I don't shop at J. Crew very often. However, when I do shop at J. Crew I've been known to buy things on a hope and prayer that they'll fit.

This frock is currently with Mr. UPS on its way to me, but I'll keep you posted on just how fabulous it is in person. And, if it doesn't fit, I'll either be eating a lot or working out like crazy over the next two weeks.

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So where was I? Ah yes, nude pumps. So after I bought the dress, I decided I needed some new shoes to go with it. Obviously. And they needed to have a bit of a vintage feel to go with the dress. Not finding what I wanted (more specifically, not finding what I wanted within budget), I checked out that blog post from last summer and remembered how much I loved the Daniblack "Jacky" with the sweet scallops. But I didn't love them enough at the $130 price tag.

One quick Google search later, I found that they were still listed on every web site at $130 except for 6pm.com, which always has fabulous deals! My eyes bugged out when I saw $46.74 plus shipping, available in my size. All I had to do was click a few buttons and these babies were mine.

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Have you picked yourself up off the floor yet? If you have, get thee to 6pm.com and find yourself a swoon-worthy bargain*.

I bought these immediately on Saturday night (yes, this is what I did on Saturday night, don't judge) and now it's Tuesday afternoon and these babies just arrived and have found a loving home on my feet. The fit is amazing, they're incredibly comfortable, and they're a little bit sweet and a little bit sassy.

Say it with me this time: happy feet, happy me!

*Please note: 6pm.com did not sponsor this post in any way, shape or form. They just continue to amaze me with their super fantastic deals.

New York State of Mind: Days 3 + 4

I'm excited to share the last leg of our New York trip! While the beginning of our trip was great, the end was pretty fantastic. Missed the beginning? Check out posts one and two to get caught up.

Saturday - Day 3 (continued)

After finishing the last photo shoot of our trip, we chilled out at our hotel until it was time to get ready for our dinner. We had 10:15pm reservations at Daniel and couldn't wait for our dinner at one of the best restaurants in the country.

Thanks to the feedback on this post from many of you I stuck with wearing my black Rachel Roy dress and wore my nude pumps (my shoe collection could definitely use some new additions, so these were my best option). Fortunately after days of walking all over New York, my toes didn't hate me terribly when I slipped on my heels.


I also wore the awesome necklace Steve bought me for our anniversary! He did an incredible job picking it out, and I always get compliments when I wear it. I'm glad my husband has great taste! He bought it from this fabulous Etsy shop.


Once Steve threw on his suite, we were ready to head on over to Daniel. Unfortunately, it was too fancy schmancy of a place for me to pull my camera out (boo!) - I can't even describe how beautiful the presentation was of every single thing they served us.

We started with cocktails at the bar because we arrived a little early. I opted for their signature White Cosmopolitan, which was by far the best cocktail I've ever had. Check out this recipe if you want to impress your friends with a fantastic cocktail.

After a short wait, we were seated into the hushed dining room. The tables were spaced far enough apart so that it felt like a very private dining experience. The amount of waitstaff was pretty intense, as it felt like there were a million eyes on us at any point in time in case we would need anything. Moments after sitting down, a purse rest was set next to me so that my (cheap Nine West) purse would not have to touch the ground. Fancy.

After a lot of debate, we had decided to do the six course tasting menu. Instead of doing the wine pairings with the courses, we simply ordered a bottle of wine which was fine for us. Since there are two options for each course, we ordered all of them so that we could share everything.

Each and every course was elegantly served and cooked to perfection.

Amuse-bouche: It was a three part amuse using artichokes. So yummy!

First: I had duck terrine crusted with pistachios. Steve had lola duck moasic and daikon radish. I basically had him eat all of everything. I tried the terrine and it was definitely NOT for me. But everyone knows I am VERY picky!

Second: I had peekytoe crab salad, Steve had trio of Spanish mackerel. Both courses were excellent. The mackerel was very well cooked and the crab salad was light and tasty. Big win for both.

Third: I had scallops with broccoli. Steve had the fennel basil raviolini. Both were excellent. However, this is when I had my huge personal FAIL. My course had a big piece of what looked like deep fried broccoli. Normally I don't eat broccoli, but I thought I would try it. I tried cutting it in half so we could share and the broccoli flew off my plate somewhere behind me. I wanted to crawl under the table. Seriously, what do you do when you send food flying across the room in the best restaurant in the country?! Fortunately the severs looked the other way, but we never could find the broccoli.

Fourth: I had slow baked Dover sole and Steve had pumpkin seed and speck ham crusted monkfish. I'll be honest I don't remember the details, other than both being good and perfectly prepared.

Fifth: I had the duo of beef - it was short rib and a piece of Wagyu tenderloin. Steve had the lamb loin. Both were very good but the lamb was a definite winner.

Sixth: I had the warm guanaja chocolate coolant with liquid caramel, fleur de sel and milk sorbet. Steve had the spice poached bosc bear on a gingerbread biscuit. I'd read about the chocolate dessert online and it was amazing. The best dessert I've ever had and it killed me to switch plates with Steve! The pear dessert was good as well, but not nearly as divine. Sigh.

And...there were more desserts to come! They made us something special for our anniversary since we were belatedly celebrating it. I couldn't tell you what it was but it was very pretty. They also brought out a plate of different little pastries. And then they brought out a basket of madeleines fresh from the oven. And THEN after they clear away our plates, they brought out new plates...and a server came around with a plate of teeny tiny little chocolates infused with different flavors.

Since we were stuffed we had them box up the little pastries and the madeleines and we took them back with us. We probably left the restaurant around 12:30am, so it was a pretty fast dinner service for six course.

I was happy to leave with these cute little take out boxes.


The next day the madeleines looked great, although not nice and warm from the oven like they'd been the night before.


The pastries didn't fare quite as well! They still tasted great.


All-in-all, the experience was above expectations. We wanted a truly high end, New York experience and that's definitely what we got. And the price tag on this night out? After tip and tax, we ended up right around $650. I know, A LOT for a dinner for two, but it was an amazing experience we won't forget.

Sunday - Day 4

Our last day in New York was our complete free day, so we started out at the Museum of Modern Art. We had a great time wandering through the museum, and they had an awesome photography exhibit that Steve loved.

After the museum, we bugged Serena (thank you!!) for the best place to go for a black and white cookie, so she suggested Zucker's in TriBeCa.


Can you believe this cookie?!


Again, huge!


But, I had no problem devouring it.


While I stuffed my face with a cookie, Steve chowed down on a huge bagel piled with lox and other goodness. Needless to say, we were both very happy with our trip to Zucker's.


I was even happier when we turned the corner from Zucker's and saw this crowd and cameras. After standing across the street for awhile, we hear it was the Kardashians! So I, of course, promptly crossed the street. I never see celebrities anywhere, so I was psyched.


Kim and Kourtney were filming some sort of promos for their new show taking place in New York. They had this car staged in front of a hotel, and Kourtney kept on getting in and out of the car while Kim stayed inside. We were supposed to cheer each time she got out of the car. And by "we" I mean me and all of the 13-year-old girls who were standing around me.


Kourtney was super cute and had on the most amazing leopard print Louboutins. I want!


Kim finally got out of the car and a girl needs her Starbucks.


I have to say I didn't quite get Kim's outfit. It was very bulky and the coat combined with the hat was just a little too much. It was also quite warm out that day (I didn't even have a coat on!) so she must have been burning up in all of that fur.



To end our trip, we decided to have a typical New York diner experience. Oh, and we were easily swayed by the fact that there was a diner across the street from our hotel and it was cheap!

So we headed over to The Red Flame Diner...


...where I had an incredibly so-so bison burger and fries. Steve had a club sandwich (use your imagination, it's about what you'd expect).


It was just a fabulous trip from start to finish! We loved everything about the city and feel like we saw so many different neighborhoods and had every type of food experience, from food carts to high end dining and everything in between. Thank you to everyone we saw in New York and to those who suggested places for us to go/see/eat!

New York State of Mind: Days 2 + 3

Our first day in New York was pretty much filled with getting our bearings and eating some yummy food. A pretty great way to start the trip, if you ask me. But, of course, we were traveling for Steve Koo Photography, so there was plenty of work to be done (Steve's work consisted of lots and lots and lots of shooting; mine consisted of following him around carrying coats, purses and lenses).

Friday - Day 2

To start off our first day of shoots, we headed down to Brooklyn bright and early to meet with a super fun couple. We shot near their home and by the Brooklyn Bridge (what the locals call "DUMBO").

Love, love, love Brooklyn! The couple also treated us to an incredibly tasty lunch after the shoot; I can't remember where we went, but the restaurant smelled like warm rosemary goodness.


We headed over to the Meatpacking district after Brooklyn for another fun shoot. I (sadly) have no pictures from this shoot, but we did shoot a little on The High Line, this awesome elevated park. The view was fantastic.

And no, you're not having a bout of deja vu! We headed back to the Cupcake Cafe so that Steve could meet with prospective clients. I sampled another cupcake, and my impression from the day before held true - the cupcakes are super pretty, but not so super tasting (not bad, just not knock me off my chair good).


What else to do after a long day? Grab a slice, of course. I love this somewhat shady experience of standing at a little counter, folding the slice in half and shoveling it in. And, for 2 bucks, it wasn't so shabby.


After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed on out for dinner. Did I mention this was a "stuff your face as much as humanly possible trip"? We passed Radio City Music Hall, all done up for Christmas, on our way to...


...The Halal Guys! Their cart is on the corner of 53rd & 6th and they're known by the yellow shirts they wear and the yellow bags they put your food in. We had this cart reccomended to us and we were SO excited - we don't have street food in Chicago.


Apparently a lot of other people were excited, too! Check out this line.


After about a 20 minute wait, we grabbed an order of chicken and rice (for me) and lamb, chicken and rice (for Steve). We piled on some red and white sauce, and it was just as good as we had hoped!


With bellies full of pizza and chicken, lamb and rice, we called it a night.

Saturday - Day 3

Up bright and early yet again, we headed over to Central Park for our first shoot of the day. Steve again, hard at work...and can you believe just how gorgeous the park was?!


After our shoot, we headed on over to David Burk Townhouse for brunch. Who were we meeting, you ask? Some lovely Weddingbee bloggers! I was so excited to meet Kelly (Miss Hippo) and Becky (Mrs. Thimble) for the first time and to see Serena (Mrs. Hamster) again!


The brunch menu at David Burke wasn't messing around! Super fancy schmancy. After much, much debate we all ended up doing the 3 course option, which basically meant an overload of food for $39. Like, I seriously think I waddled out of this place!


Oh yah, and on top of the three course already ordered, they start you off with this intense popover. Yum.


For my first course, I got the crab cake. They describe it as a "pretzel crusted crab cake with tomato orange chutney and poppy seed honey." It was that and SO MUCH MORE. The crab cake was hidden in a house of pretzel sticks making this beautiful little package. It was divine.


For my second, I ordered the "lobster scramble with tomato fondant and creme fraiche." At first I was a little put off by all of the liquid at the bottom of the bowl...until I realized it was butter. Mmmm. Hence the reason for the aforementioned waddle.


Steve's main was "acorn squash risotto with grilled head on prawn and parmesan." Accordingly to Steve it was both rich and tasty. I couldn't get over the prawns that were sitting there staring at me.


And dessert (yes, dessert at brunch. In Chicago, brunch basically is dessert. But not so in fancy pants NYC). I ordered the "hot strawberry shortcake sunday with spiced pound cake, honey roasted almonds and torrone ice cream." What is torrone you ask? A little scoop of heaven (or, umm, an Italian nougat if you want to get technical). At this point in the meal, I could barely gobble half of this. If you look at the picture of the Bee's above, Serena finished hers. She is my eating idol!


Steve had the "warm and crisp apple tart with cider caramel and creme fraiche ice cream." Enough said.


Sadly, we had to dine and dash - it was time for our next shoot in Queens! I was super excited about this one, as it was with another Weddingbee! I guess you'll just have to check out Steve's blog until he posts pictures to see who we were with!

Loved the big Pepsi sign along the water front!


After Queens it was another trip to Central Park for our LAST SHOOT of the trip! Five shoots in two days is a heck of a lot of shooting.

Fortunately, every single coffee shop in New York seemed to have fresh squeezed orange juice. It was like crack, I tell you. I drank as much of it as humanly possible.


Oh no, my friends, the day is not over yet! After all of that eating, we still had MORE to do...Saturday was definitely our fancy schmancy food day, and the fanciest part of the day (or, err, the fanciest food experience of my life!) is up next!

New York State of Mind: Day 1

Steve and I are back in Chicago today after a FABULOUS trip! I *loved* New York a little too much...if it weren't for the high price of living, I think Steve and I would move there in a heartbeat.

Thursday - Day 1

We got into the city last Thursday afternoon and hopped a cab to our hotel, the Royalton. (Oh and please excuse the hotel pictures - I forgot to take them on check in, so our room was VERY messy by the time I snapped these.)

The bed was big, comfy and had a flat screen tv on the adjacent wall for your viewing pleasure.


While the space wasn't huge, we had a fabulous lounge area that was basically covered with all of our crap throughout the trip.


The room didn't have free WiFi, but it did come with an iPad that we could use to order room service, check other hotel amenities, and surf the Web. While nice, free WiFi would have been even better as we already had our own iPad with us.


I didn't get a shot of the bathroom, but it was cool, modern, and had a phenomenal rain shower. Heaven!

After dropping off our bags, we left the hotel and explored the surrounding area (we were in Midtown near Bryant Park), and then hopped on the Subway to Union Square.

We checked out the Cupcake Cafe, where Steve was going to have a meeting the following night. Since I was positively starving, we shared a cupcake. Pretty, right? Unfortunately, the taste didn't live up the the looks. It was fine, but I've had better.



Later that evening, we met up with Serena from Big Apple Nosh (aka Weddingbee blogger Mrs. Hamster) for dinner. Serena definitely lives up to her foodie status! On her suggestion, we decided to restaurant hop around East Village.

First, we stopped off at Yakitori Taisho for a few bites. We don't have (or at least I've never seen them) hole in the wall Japanese joints like this in Chicago, and I loved it!


Serena ordered us up all kinds of meats on sticks (yum!) and some fabulous shrimp. These were perfect sharable bites.


After listing off a few different options for our next stop, we walked over to Veselka, a nearby Ukrainian restaurant.


While Serena showed restraint by just ordering a potato pancake, Steve and I opted to order every single type of pierogi they offered. I'd never had pierogis before, and they were amazing. Even better, there was a complete element of surprise, as we had no clue what we were biting into!

We sampled: potato; cheese; meat; broccoli & cheddar; sauerkraut & mushroom; sweet potato; arugula & goat cheese. I can't wait to try and make some pierogis of my own!


Deciding we had sampled enough for the evening , we headed back to the subway. Only, of course, to cross paths with a belgian waffle food truck. Yes, please! Check out the Wafels & Dinges web site the next time you're in NYC to track them down. You'll be very happy you did, especially if you've never had a traditional Belgian waffle.


The wait was just long enough for Steve and I to agree on what waffle to share.


We opted for the Throwdown, which was featured on a Bobby Flay episode. It features speculoos spread - speculous is a delicious Dutch ginger cookie, and the combination with the waffle was amazing. Obviously Steve was enjoying himself!


After we parted ways with Serena, we walked through Times Square on our way back to our hotel, and I made Steve take an obligatory tourist picture of me. Love being on vacation!


While not a full day in New York, it definitely was a tasty one! I can't wait to share the rest of our trip (including photo shoots, street food, and my major "oops" at the best restaurant in the country!)...stay tuned!

Fancy NYC Dinner - What to Wear?!

Steve and I are heading to the 'Big Apple' on Thursday - weee! Remember the swank hotel we got through Jetsetter?!

I'm so very excited for my first trip to NYC, so I've been catching up on old Sex & the City episodes to ensure I'm fully prepared. However, since the fashions in SATC are circa 2004 or earlier and they shop at Gucci and Prada while I frequent the Gap, I'm struggling on what to wear when Steve and I go to our fancy schmancy dinner at Daniel on Saturday night (I'll wait right here while you click on over to Daniel's web site and drool over the amazing cuisine).

Now that you've gotten your fill of food p*rn, we can move on.

So I bought this Rachel Roy dress last spring and it has been my go to dress for the summer when Steve and I get dressed up for dinner or we go to an event (which is rare since we're usually working separate weddings!). The material is a little lightweight, but the weather for NYC isn't looking super cold, and I was planning on pairing it with black tights (if needed) and nude pumps.

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Thoughts? Is this good enough for a big date night out in NYC? Well, really, it kind of has to since I don't have a lot of other options sitting in my closet right now (far more work dresses than fun dresses at the moment), but I still welcome any and all comments!

I can't believe we'll be there in just 2 days! After all of Steve's photo shoots are done (the main reason for the trip), we'll have just one full day to really see the sights. Any "must see's" we should add to our list?