here's to happiness {by chelsea}

i love the blog frolic!, which the ever so creative and inspirational chelsea is behind. she has such an eye for beauty and lovely things...i especially love her polaroids with flowers {see here and here}.

and here is chelsea's little list of 10 things that make her terribly happy:

1. cheese
2. polaroid camera
3. discovering a new band
4. flowers
5. my job(s)
6. family
7. islands
8. my grannies
9. a fabulous vintage find for cheapity-cheap!
10. picnics

thanks for playing, chelsea!

here's to happiness {by meg}

this is my friend meg. she has been on my blog several times before and i know many of you are already huge fans of her intelligent writing and outlook on life. we went to juilliard together (she studied drama, a brilliant actress) and while we were more of acquaintances over the four years at school, our friendship really blossomed last summer after graduation. she is so genuine and honest about her feelings and life and love...it really gets you thinking. anyway, she's a doll and if you haven't yet, check out her blog here.

here is miss meg fee's list of 10 things that make her terribly happy:

1. twizzlers & fizzy water
2. thnderstorms
3. a good book
4. the first whiff of fall
5. bobbing up & down in the ocean
6. wood floors
7. adventure
8. open windows
9. when the landlord is away (& the silence it brings)
10. rooftop parties

(when meg emailed me her list she apologized saying it wasn't very interesting. 

um, i laugh at that. i LOVE this list.)

here's to happiness {by emily}

do you already know emily from her ever so stylish blog, cupcakes & cashmere? she lives quite a fashionable life over in california and just opened her own etsy shop too! i simply adore her style. it's lovely.

here is emily's little list of 10 things that make her terribly happy:

1.  rainy weekend mornings
   
2.  black licorice jelly bellys
   
3.  buying flowers at the farmers' market
   
4.  cold days at the beach
   
5.  getting cards in the mail
   
6.  eating cotton candy
   
7.  pretty wine labels
   
8.  new boxes of crayons
   
9.  the smell of jasmine
   
10.  san francisco fog 

thanks for playing emily!

i also love me some new crayons

and hope to experience the sf fog in person soon!!!

here's to happiness {by marci}

this is marci. i love this girl.  she is a dear friend from nyc who is still there, holding down the fort with her husband. i'm really thankful to have marci as my friend... she has helped me get through a lot and i'm thankful for her christ-like example and support. she's just a lovely lady!

here is marci's little list of 10 things which make her terribly happy:

1. gardening on my balcony
2. beautiful stationery
3. husband walking me to the elevator
4. beautiful libraries
5. spring sandals
6. letters from my grandpa
7. a dishwasher & a washer/dryer
8. good mexican food
9. green paint
10. hearing  weimaraner gunther bark every time i'm on the phone with my mom

also, marci is a genius with her diana camera. 

{the diana is the sister camera to the holga}.

i love these black and white photos she took as well as these ones.

thanks marci!! 

please go eat a levain cookie for me this week!

gypsy feet.

me and my gold shoes are over at gypsy feet this evening.

follow the yellow brick road and head on over here to see...

thanks laura for asking me to play!

here's to happiness {by nicole}

i'm sure all of you already know and love nicole. i simply adore her {and her blog, a little sussy}. i got to meet her and play in front of her camera with husband on this shoot. she's one talented lady and (cross your fingers everything works out) we'll be working together on a very exciting project in a few months. 

so here is nicole's little list of 10 things that make her terribly happy:

1. dinners on the back deck
2. passion fruit
3. smells of spring
4. turquoise
5. playing rook
6. smudging my husby
7. late night chats on parents' bed with the sisters
8. the internet
9. cold, soft sheets
10. garden flowers

thanks for playing nicole!

and this photo is by nicole too, obviously.

i can't wait for this moment someday when that baby in the photo is actually ours...

this is my husband, josh..

throwing a baby we do not really know up in the air

last weekend at the wedding in arizona.

{i love seeing him go crazy over the babies...}

this is one of the many many reasons

i cannot wait to have children someday with this man...

because it gives me so much comfort to know

that he will be by my side as we raise them,

and that he will be one exceptionally loving father.

here's to happiness {by jasmine}

meet jasmine. she and her boyfriend levi are absolutely adorable. they live in a tiny studio apartment in southern california and obviously love the little things a whole lot. we've never met, but i adore her blog and know if we did, we'd be wonderful friends. 

here is jasmine's 10 little things that make her terribly happy:

 1. cream cheese frosting
 2. getting caught singing my heart out in my car
 3. perfect pirouettes
 4. when levi sketches me
 5. ranunculus
 6. when my ipod is psychic
 7. levi's spontaneous "i love yous", hugs & kisses
 8. smiles from strangers
 9. regina spektor
10.spinning

thanks jasmine!!

 check out her darling blog and if you'd like, 

send me your little list of happiness!

...

*and thank you to everyone who has sent in their little list! 

they had me skipping by the end of the night because they were so fun to read 

and full of such love for living! 

i desperately wish to publish all of your lists 

but i received over a few hundred emailed responses 

so i don't know if we can get all of them on the blog, 

but we shall see...(i'm determined...)

xo

i love this girl more than cupcakes.

this is sarah roberts.

she is one of my best friends.

she is also one of the most beautiful people i know,

both inside and out.

(like i've said before, i only have pretty friends.)

we went to juilliard together and now she is dancing

professionally in chicago (but she's actually on tour right now...)

anyway, today is her birthday and she is 23!

so happy birthday my love!!

thank you for being such a wonderful friend and person!

i wish you were here so we could nuzzle nuzzle!

josh and i loooove you!

isn't she captivating?

here's to happiness.

1. wearing husbands sweatshirt
2. watching ducks cross my street at 6:30 in the morning
3. fresh flowers
4. otter pops
5. pretending i can walk in 6 inch heels
6. our fridge stocked with polaroid film
7. writing letters
8. reading about elephants
9. yawning
10. kissing husband

what makes you terribly happy?

maybe you should email me your list of 10 little things

and i might feature it here!

here's to happiness.

and the little things.

...

{photo via smosch}

hello, sunshine. hello, warm weather...

we really enjoyed our weekend in arizona.

the wedding was so beautiful, 

the weekend was sunny,

we made up a club and read a book together,

we now have more married friends 

and 

we ate one too many chocolate covered strawberries 

(ok i did. not husband.)

and the one good thing about me braking our digital camera friday evening 

was the fact that i somehow brought 3 extra packs of polaroid film to arizona...

so lots and lots of wedding polaroids coming soon...

...

happy weekend!

we're flying to phoenix arizona in a few hours for the weekend

to attend a lovely little wedding.

and hopefully, we'll be swimming a little too 

and enjoying that 80 degree sun out there.

crossing my fingers...

have a wonderful weekend!

xo

and then we all played nice and lived happily ever after.

photo by candice.

hi everyone!

i hope you don't mind but i'd like to say a few things...

i love all of you. seriously... what i love most about blogging are all the magnificent people i've had the opportunity to get acquainted with or meet through this blog. thanks for being so tremendous and kind.

i absolutely love getting comments and emails from all of you. they are always so thoughtful, bright and full of love. often, they come at the perfect time of day, when i'm beginning to feel annoyed or bugged with something stupid. and they pick me up, make my day, and remind me of the important "little"  things i hold dear.

the other day, someone was saying how there are more important things in life than cupcake fads or lipstick and that they wouldn't be one to get carried away with such insignificant things.  honestly, i almost had a heart attack. sure, there ARE more important things in life but the little things (in moderation) are what make life worth living too. and honestly, i hope i always love cupcakes or lipstick as much as i do now. and i hope that when i have children, i can show them my love for such little things and that we can love them together. 

the blogging world is interesting. it's usually full of inspiration, creativity, good writers and great people. but it's also full of people who live sad lives and attack others for fun (usually anonymously) either in their blog posts or in other people's comment sections. i think it's disturbing. and it hurts my feelings when i see someone i love attacked on a blog. i can live with the rude and outlandish comments that sometimes grace the rockstar diaries... whatever, i'll live (i survived 4 years at the juilliard school, trust me when i say i can handle criticism). but if you're going after someone i love or respect, i think it's such a shame. you don't have to agree with them (or me) on everything, but you do need to be respectful. 

i never intended for anyone to read or follow our blog besides my mother.  i didn't even share the url address with close friends or extended family in the beginning...it was just so personal and we were just more private.  there was no promoting or advertising of our blog. in fact, when the first few comments or emails came in from people we didn't know, we debated long and hard to take our blog private.

but in the end we chose not to, and i'm so thankful we did. i am still blogging just for me and my husband (and perhaps to document for our future children!) but i'm so happy you're here too. in fact, i love having you here. i hope i'm giving back just a little to the blogging community which inspires and lifts me daily. your creativity, photographs, stories and life lessons encourage and sustain me constantly. and i hope i can touch just one person through my blog and live my life to show that i believe in living to the fullest, in a good God, in family, in true love, in marriage and the little things in life like cupcakes or lipstick...

ok, i think i'm done... thanks for being here and reading. did i already say i love you? have a wonderful night!

xoxoxo,

taza

lift my spirits.

husband bought me some frozen yogurt last night.

he made me laugh and laugh and laugh too.

and he told me i was beautiful. 

then he kissed me.

i feel better.

...

*also, 

i have a few things i'd like to say,

and once i better figure out how to articulate those thoughts,

i'll be saying them right here.

in the meantime, 

thank you for your comments and emails!

we love you.

...

lately.

i've been staring at this old photo 

of my grandparents for the last few days.

i pulled it out of an old folder and it's been sitting open 

on my desktop since sunday.

 i just can't stop looking at the dashing couple my grandparents made.

i miss them both terribly today.

wish they were still here so we could have a conversation 

over some of grandma's ukrainian cooking. 

i'd love to hear some stories and words of wisdom right about now.

gosh, i miss them.

and sorry, 

i am in a weird place with the whole blogging thing as of late.

but i'll try to be back soon. 

dear journal.

on saturday we got new dc drivers licenses. i thought husband was going to have a heart attack as he watched his new york license go through the shredder. i patted his back and kept telling him it was ok. we're dc residents now... officially. i guess next time we're in new york, we'll be considered tourists.

we ventured out to lucketts virginia later that day. we drove with the top down and now have slightly sunburned noses. but the weather was so beautiful, it was worth it.

we also fell in love with lucketts. and maybe leesburg virginia too. i noticed i'm falling hard for green fields, junk yards and old barns. i don't think i'm a city girl at heart after all.

and on the drive back, we listened to bing crosby. i put my feet up on the dashboard and pointed my toes really hard. i think i'm ready to dance now... you know, like professionally. 

harlem cookbook for a good cause

so, the young women of my old harlem ward have put together a lovely little harlem cookbook to help earn money for girls camp & other enriching church activities this summer. 

it's only $12 and not only helps out the young women, but provides you with endless harlem recipes to try in your kitchen! 

click here for more info or email harlem1recipebook{at}gmail.com.

i've already watched this 3 times today since it was sent to me.

please watch the entire thing... it's brilliant.

and i think husband and i 

are going to write a short film this summer...

we're getting so excited.

thanks heather for sending this my way!

this just in!

our friends marci & dan are subletting
their 2 bedroom/ 2 bath apartment in new york city

this summer...

available:
may 1st - june 17th
august 7th - august 31st
(for entire span or week to week)

seriously, you should take advantage and plan a trip to nyc
and be a rockstar for the summer or something...

for more photos & info, click here.
or email marci.sublet{at}gmail.com

p.s. if only i could decorate our new place as cute as marci's.
isn't it lovely? yup, she's real good.

have a delightful weekend!

this weekend, we hope to:

finish unpacking.
start painting.
visit the temple.
take more polas.
(my new camera came in the mail today!)
buy some furniture.
(in need of sofa, dining room table,
bedframe + dresser, to name a few...)

what are you doing this weekend?

...

styling.

i got really lucky and was asked to style 

for a number of upcoming projects 

which i'm currently working on.

candice was kind enough to offer to help 

get my styling portfolio going by shooting 

some of my looks and ideas for me.

i dragged some of my pretty friends along to model.

{but when i think about it, i only have pretty friends.}

this is one of my best friends named sumaya. 

many of you probably recognize her

because she's all over my blog.

we were roommates at juilliard in nyc,

we've done one too many rehearsals together

and i hope we remain friends forever because she has

such a good heart and is a very loving person.

she's also stunning. i mean, look at her.

i think sumaya needs to go be a top model.

maybe if we get enough people to back me,

she'll take me seriously and start pursuing it like she should.

who's with me?

clothing: h&m, dear golden vintage, anthropologie, monk

shoes: tani nyc, misssixty

headband: taza & the prince

balloons: from brooklyn

...

nashville tennessee: gigi's cupcakes

we stopped by gigi's cupcakes in nashville and i was in love.

i'd never even heard of a boston creme cupcake before 

{although that is my favorite kind of donut} 

and trust me, you need to try it! so good.

i want to open up a franchise of gigi's here in DC. 

i am serious.

and i am in love with this bottom photo 

because it has four of my favorite things in it:

my husband, our beetle, a pot of flowers and cupcakes galore! 

...

memphis tennessee: gus's fried chicken

we had gus's world famous fried chicken 

in downtown memphis last week on the road trip.

it was delicious!  we have been craving it all week. 

...

road trip film.

our favorite part of the road trip 

was waltzing together in a country field in tennessee.

hope you enjoy our little film...

this is my beautiful friend chanel, sporting her beautiful "ANN" headband from my shop, taza & the prince.

doesn't it look STUNNING? 

chanel love, you're hot.

and, the shop is up and running again! 

go have a looky here!

xo

if you look closely at husband's scruff in this photo, you can see the grey patch...

...and all that new grey scruff he has going on makes me go crazy.

{and yes, he gave me permission to talk about his hair turning grey.

he doesn't really care for it but i've always loved a man with grey.}

photo from our road trip cross country last week.

happy easter!

we spent time today with husband's cousin and her family out in virginia. 

she has the most adorable children ever... 

and they somehow beat husband to finding all the easter eggs in the yard. 

bizarre, i know.

hope you had a beautiful easter! 

it's the little things we get so excited about it!

... like, costco!

we can now drive the few miles to costco

and save lots of money on groceries & things!

we couldn't do that very easily living in NYC...

we spent a few hours there today because of our excitement.

although we admit it was a little overwhelming too...

the only problem was trying to figure out

how to get 3 months worth of food into our little trunk.

it's the tiniest trunk on earth. seriously.

oh, and happy easter!!!

home again.

we're home again in dc.

we arrived late last night from our little road trip. 

and thanks again to everyone who gave us tips and info 

on the cities we visited! we wish we had more time in each place 

to really check out all your recommendations, 

but the recommendations we did do, we LOVED.

we're so excited to get back to everything here in dc.

and there are so many photos and videos we need to upload!

but for now i am getting back to work, 

unpacking the remainder of our boxes from our quick move 

and maybe napping this afternoon.

p.s. these were the only polaroids we took 

before i broke my polaroid camera. 

but i already ordered a new one 

on amazon so i can breathe again... 

 happy weekend!

memphis, tennessee: graceland

we signed our names on the wall outside of elvis' home.

we sort of really adored memphis, too.

and we sort of don't want this road trip to end.

we are having so much fun!

but we're excited to get back to decorating our new home in DC.

and getting back to a more regular sleeping pattern.

3 reasons i love taking a road trip with my husband:

1. he'll jump on hotel beds with me.

2. he lets me eat all the junk food i want in the car.

3.  while he maybe ran out of gas in the middle of absolutely nowhere around midnight, he DID cuddle with me to keep me warm and safe from potential murderers and scary things as we waited for hours and hours for help. 

he's my hero. i love him.

also, we want to move to nashville. it's lovely here.

geronimo, arizona: largest petrified tree in the world!!!

we obviously were very very excited about 

seeing the largest petrified tree in the world

(just kidding)...

who doesn't love a petrified tree or two?

or some tipis? you know we love those.

put the convertible top down, take your pony tail out and drive.

nothing feels better. 

photo by husband. he's good at driving 

and taking photos at the same time.

don't tell my mother.

the sunset in arizona.

the sunset in arizona was stunning last night.
so far, we are having so much fun on this little road trip.
{so far so good.}

we're in santa fe, new mexico right now
and we love it here.
we just finished dinner at coyote cafe
and i think it was one of the best meals i've had.

we're on the road to dallas texas in the morning.
more photos and stories to come.
thanks for all the tips and recommendations so far!
we've been taking notes from our comment section.

good night!

road trip.

so... husband and i just bought a Volkswagen Beetle

and are taking a little road trip cross country back home to DC.

we are so excited.

we're driving through

___

santa fe, new mexico

dallas, texas

little rock, arkansas

memphis, tennessee

nashville, tennessee

knoxville tennessee

___

if you have any tips, recommendations or favorite places

you'd suggest we stop by or see along the way, let us know!!!

we can't wait to explore on our cross country adventure!

see you in a few days!