Lettuce Turnup the Beet

We are currently working on a fun project that centers around educating children in urban schools on the importance of nutrition and eating well. The organization's spring benefit is in April, and once we began to have decor conversations, the Pinterest pinning became so hard to pull away from. We found some fabulous inspiration for the benefit, but also thought these ideas could be fun for garden parties, tea parties and spring celebrations (we are so sick of the cold!!!!!!!):

 We love the idea of a farm stand gift bag station. Guests could be given a bag and then go to town filling them with goodies.  

Wet your whistle: cocktails in watering cans.

Use seed packets as escort cards. Or you could always "seed yourself."

Glam up some garden benches with chic throws and pillows.

Time to party!

And the Award Goes to...

We love a good award show here at MK and what better way to kick off the award season than with some Tina & Amy, George & Amal, a Chrissy Tiegen stink face and a Downton Abbey win? Overall, we were surprised by most of the winners and are excited to check out the new movies and shows that took home the big awards. But mostly, as usual, we want to talk fashion. We took inventory and after a lengthy lunchtime debate came up with our top picks:

Ashley's pick: Emma Stone in Lanvin. The pantsuit is like the cooler, edgier version of the evening gown and has been everywhere this season thanks to designers like Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent and Narciso Rodriguez. You can always count on Emma Stone to look of the moment, and she can pull off looks that many people definitely cannot. Shout out to Lorde for also going this route.

Emily's pick: Julianne Moore in Givenchy. The metallic and feather combo in theory is a definite risk, but here it's a red carpet home run. The Best Actress winner for her role in Still Alice smartly went simpler with her hair and smoky eye look. We can't wait to see what she wears at the Oscars because this one is going to be very tough to beat. 

Mary's pick: Naomi Watts in Gucci and Bulgari. Naomi has such a timeless look about her, and we love that she went with a timeless designer and a timeless piece of jewelry. This yellow color is such a standout and was also gorgeously worn by Leslie Mann. Gucci seems has taken a backseat to some younger designers recently, but not with this piece. The look would not be complete without Bulgari's signature serpentine. 

Other honorable mentions included Sienna Miller in Miu Miu (controversial, we know, we don't care), Emily Blunt in Michael Kors and and Kate Beckinsale in Elie Saab. 

Our worst dressed list includes (dare we say it- we love them all) Jennifer Anniston, Tina Fey and Rosamund Pike. 

Beth in the Barn

Things got really exciting over the holiday break. Mary's sister and MK's resident creative guru Elizabeth Nagle, (or Beth as we call her) got prints of her fabulous paintings featured in Pottery Barn! You can now go to the website and order replicas of the originals, titled Baby It's Cold Outside and Optimistic. Way to go Beth!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Optimistic

A December to Remember: Gift Guide

Between Secret Santas, White Elephants, Yankee Swaps, and hostess gifts, we always find that there are small random gifts that need to be purchased around this time of year that don’t necessarily need to be bought with a specific person in mind. And, since we couldn’t let this holiday season go by without a gift guide, we decided to bring you some out of the box gifts that (almost) anyone would love. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Custom Coasters. Get festive with these and write holiday greetings on them such as "Be Merry" or "Holly & Jolly." They are great for parties as well because you can write your name on them to keep track of your drink. 

Set of 4 for $35. Link to site. 

 2. Novelty Playing Cards. There's nothing better than unwrapping a package and getting a glimpse that signature Tiffany blue. You may be surprised to find out that not everything at Tiffany's costs an arm and a leg. In fact, you can find some pretty amazing gifts that won't break the bank.

$35. Link to site. 

3. Cheese Markers. We challenge you to attend one holiday party that does not involve some sort of cheese platter. We think that cheese is an absolute hands down necessity. 

$28. Link to site. 

4. Festive Dessert Plate. Speaking of cheese, the holidays call for something salty AND something sweet of course. These dessert plates are something people rarely buy for themselves, and we think Santa will love them too.

$14. Link to site. 

5. Stationery. Something else that everyone could always use is stationery. C Wonder has some adorable choices for your holiday "thank you" or "thinking of you" notes. 

$12. Link to site. 

A December to Remember: The Alternative Christmas Tree

We have no idea how this happened, but Christmas is actually two weeks from tomorrow! Before this sends you into an absolute tizzy, we understand and are here to help. You are supposed to be making this a "December to Remember," remember?  It's almost impossible to get into the holiday spirit without a little holiday decor, so we figured we could start there. We have found that there are so many reasons for NOT getting a Christmas tree (time, space, etc.). Sometimes you don't feel like dealing with a real, full sized tree, that you have water everyday, that you maybe have to CUT DOWN in three feet of snow. But having no decorations at all is neither fun nor festive. So here are some alternative holiday tree ideas to show that you can still snaz up the place without going crazy: 

A small faux tree is so easy - no excuses! 

Our favorite - another way to display your ornaments 

A decal delight 

Rustic and quirky

Instead of stuffing your Christmas cards into a box, put them on display

Branches can sometimes be chicer than flowers

For this one, all you need are some unique looking vases, a couple of branches and colorful bulbs

Find a fun canvas painting- or DIY if you dare

A December to Remember

A very wise and trustworthy source known as Soul Cycle once said, “December is the new January.” AKA, "Don't wait until the New Year to whip out your credit card and whip your figure into shape." We thought long and hard about it, and we actually think they may be on to something. Why wait until January to start thinking about those resolutions we all make: to start new workout routine, to cook more often instead of ordering from Seamless (guilty) or to give back and start volunteering? There’s no time like the present! And when you think about it, don't you want to be your best self around the holidays? A bit more philanthropic? Craftier? The challenge with December though, is that the month FLYS by with holiday parties and packed schedules. As such, we (The No.1 Ladies) will be bringing you all things fitness, gifting, entertaining and of course eating so that you can make the most out of the holiday season. 

In the spirit of giving Tuesday yesterday, we took some time to reflect on what is really important to us. We work with so many amazing organizations that all work tirelessly toward making the world a better place. We also have our own personal causes that we hold near and dear to our hearts, and we encourage you to get out there and do some good in your community. Here is a guide to some (but certainly not all) volunteer opportunities in the area:

1.     Don Bosco Community Center

This past year, Mary proudly joined the board of the Don Bosco Community Center. DBCC is located in Port Chester, NY, and its mission is to enable all people, especially the young and those who are most in need, to realize their fullest potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. The organization provides many youth and family services for the Port Chester community, and Mary and the MK team love assisting with field trips and doing arts and crafts with the adorable little ones!

2.     New York Cares

Emily found her niche at New York Cares where she has volunteered her time creating after school art projects with the children. Working with kids isn’t all you can do, as NY Cares is the city's largest volunteer management organization. Hundreds of volunteer opportunities are available in all five boroughs. You can participate in anything from tutoring adults in computer skills to playing bingo with the elderly. One of their largest community projects going on now is a winter coat drive. With so many different volunteer opportunities across all of New York City, New York Cares is the perfect organization to join to meet the needs of your local community.

3.     Kids in Crisis

Another organization that assists children and families in the local community is Kids in Crisis.  This safe house provides free round the clock help for children, teens and parents dealing with any type of crisis, including abuse, neglect, family conflict and more. Ashley and her family have been large supporters of the organization in the past, and love spending the afternoon playing with the children and helping out at dinner time. Sometimes all it takes is a few hours of play time to make these kids feel safe and loved. 

Other great organizations that are always looking for volunteers around the holidays include The Salvation Army, The Boys and Girls Club, and your local food bank or pantry. We actually found this great tool that matches you and your passion with a volunteer project. With that, we wish you happy holidays and happy helping!

MAPPING IT OUT: A TWO-PART LOVE BLOG

At MK we have a thing for maps.  We love that maps have been around forever as a way to tell the story of time and change, we love that maps can take us to places we may never get to on our own, and we love that every time we look at a map we discover something new we hadn't seen before. And, being a cartographer certainly seems like a cool job.  Yet a cartographer’s work is never done.  What a task to keep up with the constantly changing areas, space and wonders of our world!


Maps can capture the flow of just about anything on the earth.  Rivers and roads, mountains, oceans, railways and highways, and they even say quite a bit about the people who live under, over and between these places.  So we did some investigating of our own into the whole map theme to see where it would take us, and we came back with some interesting finds.

How about planning a MAP-THEME WEDDING?  Emily did some investigating…..

Why not integrate you and your fiancée’s love of travel and adventure into your special day? Take a look at these creative and inexpensive ideas for everything from your invitation to groomsmen gifts, to your table setting and cake.

Is this not THE PERFECT DRESS for the rehearsal dinner ?

How about giving a map to a friend who’s about to take off on their own super-sized journey?  Grace loves these scratch off maps.  They are so fun, plus they’re a great keepsake for the lucky traveler.  

Check them out! https://www.luckies.co.uk/scratch-map-personalised-world-map-poster/


Maps find themselves on all kinds of surfaces - some more permanent than others...

And maps can tell us more about who we are sometimes than where we are!