{ :: love ardently :: }

A shoe named Ivana.

I’ve never known any shoe that has the same name as me, so I was particularly EXCITED when I found this on Zappos.

Plus, I am looking for a pair of shoe in champagne or gold-ish color (*check*) for my bridesmaid duty to my best friend this coming June. Although this one has a medium-width, I’m just not sure if I’ll be comfortable standing all day long in a 4 1/2″ heel. Moreover, not sure if my hubs is gonna be too happy looking at the price tag. But, it’s cute! Really cute rosette tulle on the side! And it has the same name as me! Looks like we’re destined together, no?

7 Comments February 23, 2010

Hello, snow.

The snow finally arrived in Dallas. And it was heavy. HEAVY. Yesterday it was pouring all day like it’s never gonna stop. I saw at least twenty snowmen in my apartment complex alone. People were outside playing and having fun. I was driving in a winter wonderland, so that part was not so fun for me. Everything is now so white and pretty, though. This morning reminds me of our white Christmas last year.

No FFF links today, sorry! Instead, enjoy the heart button string-tie envelope DIY if you missed it two days ago, and send someone a love note :) Have a wonderful weekend to you and happy Valentine’s day!

{“hello” wood plate from my printmaking project}

{mr hay-haired snowman that my hubs and i built last night}

2 Comments February 12, 2010

Happy 2010!

{Source}

“Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” – Thomas O. Chilsholm

2010 means a lot for me. It’s a year of second chance, a year for me to get up, a year of lots of hard work, and a year to shine brighter. Here’s to a greater year ahead! Happy New Year, all!

Adventure in the Big D: The Sweet Part

As I mentioned on earlier post, I had to entertain a friend while she was in town visiting me last week. We both LOVE dessert, chocolate, and basically anything sweet… just as portrayed on Love Ardently’s 2010 Calendar! *wink* So anyway, I took her to lots and lots of bakery and pastry shop… every single day. Here are some of the sweets we tried :)

The famous Sprinkles cupcake from Beverly Hills. I tried their Red Velvet and my friend tried their Chocolate Marshmallow. I would say both are just okay. Not as awesome as what I heard through words of mouth, but it’s not bad either. I thought the cupcake could be more moist. The Red Velvet is quite tasty, but I thought the cream cheese in the frosting could be more apparent. I love their wooden utensils :)

And then, there is Asian Mint. I love their Green Tea Layer cake and their Jasmine Crème Brûlée from the very first bite. Yum. The creamy frosting on the green tea cake was just right. The hint of jasmine smell on the crème brûlée was what really had me on the start. I really love it with the strawberry, too.

My friend loves fruit tart, so I got to take her to La Madeleine, a country French cafe, which is pretty rare to find in Oklahoma (shocker?). I haven’t tasted a lot of fruit tart, but I think La Madeleine’s fruit tart is just so, so divine. The fruits are ALWAYS fresh and taste great. We also tried their Chocolate Almond croissant which was delicious, too.

A while ago, I blogged about Tart Pastry on my first visit there. This is my second visit and it looked just as adorable. This time, I’m not loving my french macaron that much, though. I really, really like it when I had it on my first visit, but this time, I could almost taste that it was just coming out of the refrigerator. The triple layer chocolate cake that we had was good. Very creamy and delightful.

1 Comment December 23, 2009

Adventure in the Big D: The Artsy Part

I’m sorry to be MIA for the last couple of weeks! My bestie from Oklahoma came to visit me and I held the responsibility to entertain her all week long. It turned out to be an adventure for myself as well since we went to places I’ve never been to before. She’s majoring in interior design, so I knew I wanted to take her to places related to design and art. Here is a recap of the artsy/design-y part of our adventure.

Fort Worth Water Garden, designed by architect Philip Johnson and John Burgee. Ever since recommended by a friend, I fell in love with this place. This picture doesn’t do justice to how cool the experience is stepping down to the bottom of the water garden. Absolutely one of my most favorite spot in DFW.

Bass Performance Hall, located at Downtown Fort Worth. When I first saw it, I couldn’t believe that this beauty actually exists in Texas! It has the classic European opera house feeling to it.

Fort Worth Stockyard. The true Cowboy Town. I didn’t even know that there is a Cowboy Santa :)

Sky Lobby, located in JP Morgan Chase Tower. Stunning lobby with view overlooking Dallas.

Dallas Museum of Art. Can’t believe this is the first time I’ve been to this museum. Apparently, they have FREE admission every Thursday evening (although this will end starting next year), along with live jazz band playing at their Atrium Cafe for Thursday Night Live. The museum was quite okay. I love the Charles Rohlfs furniture exhibition a lot.

Design Within Reach. Most things here are not exactly within my pocket’s reach, but definitely an amazing store to go to.

1 Comment December 21, 2009

TGIF. Seriously.

It’s such a gloomy and rainy Friday here in Dallas, but the mood in my house is the other way around. I’m so thankful that today the wonderful Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper featured our invitation on her blog. This is the first time I’ve ever been featured in anything, so I’m pretty excited and I feel so honored! Thank you Nole!

Head over to Oh So Beautiful Paper to see the full post, and also to enter her AMAZING blog anniversary giveaways which has been going on all week.

2 Comments September 11, 2009

Piggy Nose.

This mug design by Hakuhodo is so amusing. I know a close friend who collect all things pig-related that would totally love this. This really made me smile :) Perfect start to a good day!

pigcup2