Lovesac Event at the Liberty Hotel

Last week I had the opportunity to lounge on couches and drink cocktails with friends and other fabulous people. While I sometimes drink on my couch with people who I would consider pretty great, I’m talking about an event sponsored by Lovesac at Boston’s Liberty Hotel.

lovesac event liberty hotel

Lovesac is  furniture company like no other, bringing the beanbag chair to another level with their pillow-like Sacs and revolutionizing the sectional with their line of Sactionals. My blogger bestie Caitlin and I joined fellow bloggers Elissa and Liz (pictured below) and others for a night of chatting and lounging and picture taking with Lovesac founder Shawn Nelson. Shawn’s a dad of 4 who invented the nearly indestructible Lovesac, Sactional, and the Footsac. All attendees of the event went home with a Footsac, which is pretty much the most comfortable blanket in the world with a pocket for your feet!

lovesac boston sactional event

I had seen the Sacs before but was blown away by the Sactional couches. Boasting a wide variety of colors and styles, the Sactionals can be arranged and rearranged in nearly any permutation that you can imagine. They’re also good for jumping, if you have kids or enjoy acting like a 5 year old.

lovesac sactionalLovesac sponsored the event to create a buzz about their partnership with Gentle Giant Moving Company for Boston’s Annual Moving Day of September 1st. That’s today, so if you’re moving, mention your struggle on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook using #MovingDayLove and you could win big!

Attendance at this event and the Footsac I went home with were compliments of Lovesac, but all opinions and couch love are my own. 

’tis the season

Now that Thanksgiving (and Hanukkah) are over, it’s officially the countdown to Christmas.  This Jew doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, unless you count movies and Chinese food as celebratory, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t marvel in the joys of the winter holiday season.  I don’t want to say that I love the Christmas spirit, lest someone goes into a diatribe about keeping Christ in Christmas and how, as a Jewish person, I’m diluting the values of the holiday, so I’ll keep my joy broad.
Regardless of what you want to call it.  I like December.  The winter is first falling upon us, Christmas lights on the trees make it less scary to walk home in the dark, the mood is full of festivities and boozy holiday parties and people are only slightly miserable about the weather.  In honor of the happy season, I love decorating my house.  I break out my yummy vanilla snowflake/winter/icicle candles from Bath and Body Works that smell nothing like snowflakes, mix up some boozy hot chocolate, and set about decorating my apartment as non-Christmasy as possible with ornaments and white lights.
Last year I used blue and silver Christmas ornaments in apothecary jars because ironic Hanukkah decorations are fun.  

This year, Hanukkah fell over Thanksgiving so I swapped out the blue balls (insert joke here) for all silver and went with a rustic shiny and burlap theme.

I was blessed with a badass 12 foot mantle in my new apartment that begged to be decorated.  Keeping up with my rustic shiny theme, I took an old canvas frame that I had refinished (which is just a fancy word for whitewashed in 30 seconds on a random Saturday) with a cardboard E that I had covered in craft moss and stuck that puppy front and center.  I cut strips of burlap because I’m too lazy to buy actual burlap ribbon and dotted it with glittered pine cones that I will no doubt be cursing myself for when I end up with glittered socks from wayward flecks on the floor.  Today I picked up some Christmas lights and ran them behind the burlap for a cozy, winter holiday but not Christmasy, feel. 

What do you think?  The best part is that I can keep my decorations up all winter long!

Do you decorate for the winter or just Christmas?

happy friday!

I’m linking up again for High Five for Friday!  This week flew by for me because I was busy every night after work.  I’m looking forward to a bit of down time with family this weekend.
1. I decorated my apothecary jars for Spring
2. It got cold and I made a fire and s’mores
3. The weather laughed at my Spring decorations
4. I went through some old pictures and found this great one from a camel trek with my mother in Israel.
5.  It was NJ Craft Beer week.  Here’s an IPA flight from Flying Dog brewery.  They had taken over the taps at a local bar.  Good night with friends.

How was your week?

weekend wrap up

This weekend we got some snow.  It wasn’t much but it was covered in a sheet of ice that made it beautiful and shimmery (and super dangerous for a gimp like me in a knee brace).  So I did the rational thing and went out on my deck to take some pictures with my new camera.  
Patio Furniture
That’s my grill that desperately needs a cover
The sparkly snow prompted me to take some pictures around my condo of the sparkly winter garlands that have been decorating my fire place since before the holidays.  I have a slight obsession with brown craft paper, burlap/jute, and nature accents so this DIY garland was the perfect DIY non-Christmas holiday decor.  
Snowflake tutorial here
The snowy weekend gave me an excuse to rock leggings, comfy cardigans and UGGs.  
 
Leggings: J.Crew // Striped Shirt: J.Crew // Cashmere Cardigan: Bloomingdales // Aztec Cardigan: Target

Now I’m being lazy and doing a bit of this before I go out for the day.  Yes, that’s an awesome zebra striped slipper you spotted. 
How was your weekend?

cashmere and a camera

I bought something this weekend that I’ve been wanting for a really long time–a camera!  I’ve had regular point and shoots before but I wanted something with more oomph that would enable me to feel more like a photographer (although I’m clearly not) without paying the hefty price.  Having taken a photography class in high school, I knew enough of the basics of photography associated with SLR’s (f-stop, aperture, light meters, etc) that I realized I wanted nothing to do with that right now.  But I did want something with a lens that I could maneuver to focus and at least feel like I know what I’m doing.
I hemmed and hawed over this decision and thanks to the help of my photographer buddy, Melissa Palomo, I finally bit the bullet and got my first non-point and shoot camera.  Shameless plug: Check out her website, she’s an amazing pet and people photographer in Southern California and if I ever decide to do another boudoir photo shoot, she’s the first person I’d call to get half naked in front of.  
Enter my new buddy, the Nikon J1 compact camera system.  It was a great deal through Target (I saved $200 off the original price) and I’m in love.  I have been playing around with it since I got it.  Mainly some focusing in and out and close pictures to get a feel of what I’m working with.  Look at these awesome pics that I took in artificial lighting!   
Here are some mercury glass candle holders that hang out on a tray on my coffee table.  See how I expertly blurred the mess of the camera packaging on my couch in the background? 
Recent purchases from Forever 21.  I couldn’t pass up a glittery train case.
 Another Forever 21 recent purchase.  I’m obsessed with the clarity of the camera (and how well it photographs the grain on kitchen table)
I even managed to take a few pictures of myself with it.  I’m still working on finding a good spot to set it up on a timer so you no longer have to deal with mirror selfies.  I’ll get to that sometime.

Isn’t she a pretty camera?
Cashmere sweater: J.Crew // Jeans: Forever 21 // Necklace: Forever 21 // Glitter belt: Joe Fresh (buy) // Nikon J1 Camera: Target (buy)
 I even managed to turn the camera around to capture my excitement.  I’m a happy woman in my cozy cashmere and awesome camera! 
Any photography tips would be appreciated!  Do you use a tripods and timer for your shots or do you have someone take your pictures for you?