My husband and I would like to announce our pregnancy! We had the opportunity to announce this special time from the most magical place on earth - Walt Disney World.
Before booking a birthday trip to Walt Disney World, which also served as a baby moon, we decided to book portraits at Walt Disney World. In which I am so glad that we did. We booked with Aunesty Reikofski Photography whom is a local photographer in Orlando. I was referred to her by another Disney photographer and was glad that she was available to take our portraits.
Dresses were incredibly hard for me to find - being pregnant and petite, it is such a hard task for me to find clothing. My normal clothing does not fit. Even sizing up in regular clothing, I still do not fit, as the side seams do not give and are not made for pregnancy. I came across this dress online and studied the seams and fit, and it looked like a perfect pregnancy dress (for petites) as it had a little "give" and a hi-lo fit to help cover my little bundle of joy. The dress did fit perfectly (in most areas), and I had a seamstress take it out a bit on the side seams to ensure for a perfect fit during portraits, as I knew my bump would grow after receiving the dress. I am usually a size 00/XS and I went up to a size 2 in the dress. I chose a color that was readily available on the site in which it turned out beautifully in the portraits.
A special thank you to Fame & Partnersfor sending over the dress for this blog post at this special time. My choice selection of dress and opinions on this dress, posted on All Ze Details, are my own.
Dominique Moceanu became a household name after the 1996 Olympics, but her new jewelry venture of simplistic and elegant designs take the gold. Creations by C&C Dominique Moceanu Signature Collection houses collections designed by the Olympic Gold medalist. I had the opportunity to speak with Dominique on a conference call for a quick interview. Oddly enough, I was sitting in a mall parking lot of the exact mall that I shopped at as a child. During the 1996 Olympics 5-7-9, one of my favorite stores growing up, had a Dominique Moceanu posters plastered all over their store at the time - it was a poster of Dominique Moceanu on a balance beam that read "All Around 5-7-9 Girl" and almost 20 years later I'm sitting at the exact mall interviewing Dominique. Funny how life works! Dominique talks jewelry; becoming a designer, how she incorporates her designs into her own personal wardrobe, and discusses the story behind her exclusive signature pendant. If you don't already know the Olympian Dominique Moceanu, meet the candid and warm face behind the up and coming C&C Dominique Moceanu Signature Collection. What is your personal style? What do you wear on a day-to-day basis as a Mom, jewelry designer & gymnast - you lead a busy life, what is your everyday style like? "My favorite go-to outfit is a great pair of fitted jeans. Anytime I am on the go, that's kind of my go-to that's easy and simple, and anytime I have events I'm always dressed to the nines. I love classy dresses and accessorizing. I really love a nice dress! When I'm at home, sometimes I like to get in a quick workout so I enjoy a nice relaxing, comfortable outfit. I also love pieces that are simple and versatile. My Tory Burch sandals are one of my staples in my wardrobe, I just pair it with a fun top, jeans & great accessories and I'm ready to go! That's usually my go-to look because it's simple and who doesn't love a great pair of jeans? I think that every girl needs to have several pairs of great jeans in their closet. It always feels good to put on those favorite pair of form-fitting jeans that fit so perfectly, and to accessorize to achieve a casual yet elegant look. Especially now that I am doing jewelry, I have all of this fun jewelry to wear and to accessorize with. I love to wear different & unique jewelry! I love my knee-high boots, black tights & layers - you'll always catch me in those in the fall & winter!"
Has it always been a dream of yours to design jewelry? How did you get into designing jewelry? "It always was a dream! I admired, first of all, my mother's jewelry. I loved all of her beautiful, ornate pieces of jewelry. She had such a collection that I just really admired it in general, and from that I developed my own sense of style and tastes; what I liked, and what I didn't like. From that, I developed my own sense of fashion. I really just always wanted to create jewelry. I always loved crafting, making t-shirts, sweatshirts and little fun projects with my family. At Christmas we would create sweatshirts with little blinking lights on them, and I really enjoyed that! Another creative outlet was when I started doing choreography. Jewelry was just always something that lied dormant in my heart. After I met Wendy Campbell - she was actually another Mom at the gym where our children both take gymnastics; we just connected and talked about it, discussing her jewelry experience, and I just thought we would be a great combination to make each other's dreams come true! We started working together on creating and designing jewelry. I always wanted someone who would have a wonderful work ethic - and she was it! She's the best business partner I could have ever of asked for; To get everything up and to help each other accomplish each other's dreams. Little-by-little it started coming together so quickly, and before you knew it 4 months later we were launching a business! We're both entrepreneurs, and family always comes first for us. Excellent customer service also comes first; we also share the same goals. We connected like yin and yang. We love creating jewelry and just sitting together to bounce ideas off of one another. It's an avenue to decompress and to really do something that we truly enjoy, and love. We love interacting with our clients, and we love getting to custom make pieces for our clients. We find a very intimate relationship with our customers because you are really creating something that is so personal and unique for them, and that's been very popular for us lately - we've done quite a few creative one-on-one pieces for customers. There's really a lot going on right now and we're really excited about the future of our business."
After hearing about Dominique Moceanu's jewelry line I of course had to take my Serenity Set along with me to Whitehaven Beach in Whitsundays, Australia. I loved the set and the nautical feel to it. I have incredibly sensitive skin, and this set was perfect for the beach - and did not bother my skin. I love this set and love the turquoise color and unique cut-out. This was my favorite set from Dominique Moceanu's Signature Collection. I am still a fan of Dominique Moceanu, even after all of this time of being a fan of the Magnificent Seven.
Pale pink gets edgy with an ultra-chic black leather jacket and tall thigh-high boots. Opt for a sweet take on the colour with lace and combine it with edgy pieces to create a sweet-sophisticate look. Pale pink fits into the colour palette for any season and can be paired with almost any colour as it is a borderline neutral.
I love the thought of contrast; a light pink dress with contrasting black heels and earrings. The black plaid in this dress pulls in more of the colour to coincide with the shoes and earrings, which would otherwise feel almost too harsh for pale pink. I am a big fan of contrast so otherwise would not mind.
The shoes; Can we discuss the shoes? I love a big bow on my shoe, especially for a night out. Bow details are always incorporated into my wardrobe.
Add an embellished belt for added sparkle & shine this holiday season. Alternate strappy heels or ankle boots with this look to let various looks transpire.
After attending theAudrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon here in London I was inspired to put together a look curated solely upon inspiration from Audrey. "Think Pink!" came on during Funny Face and inspired this look, as I am always inspired by Audrey.
All Photo Credits Ashley McGinty, Griot Photo for All Ze Details
We moved from Texas to Australia during November and wanted to participate in Thanksgiving abroad. Not only make it feel more like home half way around the world, but to share our special holiday tradition. It was a challenge baking everything and trying to make everything taste the same that it did at home - with what ingredients we had. Some things may taste a little "off" but here were some ingredients & things to help you on your way to a successful American Thanksgiving abroad. These are the ingredients we use every year in Australia, and if you become incredibly desperate there is an American website to order your American food from - for a pretty penny, of course.
I started creating the feel for our Thanksgiving by sourcing out gourds, butternut squash, and pumpkins to decorate the table. I found these at our local Woolworths Supermarket. You can also source these at your local farmers' markets. Coles Supermarket also had a good selection of fall produce for the table. Both Coles & Woolies are available to deliver groceries to your home, which made it incredibly helpful for us for Thanksgiving. To make it EXTRA helpful Coles Supermarket delivers FREE on Wednesdays, just make sure to put in your order a week in advance. I always missed free delivery because the slots were always taken - but if you order far enough in advance it's a pretty good deal for free delivery. And FREE delivery for your first order with Coles when you sign up on their website for delivery.
Helpful hint: If you have any relatives living abroad in Australia you can help out and send something special online for Thanksgiving from Coles or Woolies by ordering a few groceries, desserts, or even flowers online - they'll deliver it direct to their home for Thanksgiving. It's always a very special feeling to receive something from family when you're abroad - like having something from home. Just an idea! Super easy to do anything with technology these days!
For drinks I opted for plastic wear from the grocery store for iced-tea and iced-water plastic cups. These silver rimmed champagne flutes are plastic and easy to recycle after dinner. I found these at Spotlight, which is the equivalent to our Hobby Lobbyin Texas. I found them on sale in the party section and they were no more than $5 for the pack.
For the table arrangement I found mercury glass candles, small candle holders, and mixed it in with the butternut squash. I love mercury glass - it's all over my home so I already had these. I found the small, inexpensive white candle holders (cafe style candles) at Bed Bath N' Table. The top photo is different candle holders available at Bed Bath N' Table; they had a good mix of various candle holders to choose from - all were under $4 and you can use them for practically anything after Thanksgiving has come-and-gone.
Turkey was easy to find, and luckily it fit in our little oven. You can opt to also have this delivered with your groceries along with the right cooking appliances. If you're having trouble finding something to cook your turkey in we just used a typical foil pan. If you're looking for something fancy opt for cooking appliances at MYER.
I love candied yams. What is Thanksgiving without candied yams? I found Rocky Mountain Marshmallows at the grocery store (imported from the USA, and I've never heard of them - haha, but they worked). Just add the brown sugar & you're set. Just don't tell your Aussie friends how much sugar is in it.
So, for me it was a struggle trying to find just the right ingredients to get that specific taste of homemade banana pudding. This is the closest I could get - Foster Clarks custard cups in Vanilla, and Tiny Teddy & Moo Milky Vanilla cookies. It turned out okay, of course it did not taste like home - but it turned out pretty good.
I found the plastic dessert cups from Spotlight as well. And filled the leftover cups with "Cup-O-Dirt" chocolate desserts which is something our family usually makes for Halloween and Thanksgiving.
At home, each person from our family is in charge of a dish. So to carry on the tradition we had each of our friends bring their own traditional dish from their family - it was nice to try something new and to see what everyone's tradition was. This Thanksgiving I was thankful for all of the new things we had the opportunity to try and thankful for our Australian friends that feel like family so far away from home.
For napkins I just cut flowers and placed them on each place setting, I spread out the candles from Bed Bath N' Table and placed the turkey in the middle. We had to hire chairs for the day from an events boutique but it was inexpensive. Quite comical shoving the chairs into our small car because the delivery fee for the chairs was OUTRAGEOUS. We borrowed the trestle tables from a very sweet friend. My tablecloth were blankets that I already had.
What recipes do you stick to abroad that taste most like home? What new traditions have you picked up abroad? If you have any questions about any other advice for Thanksgiving abroad please comment below. Happy Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my All Ze Details readers!
-All Ze Details-
Some of my favourite dishes, and candles I use for the home to help set your ideal Thanksgiving setting are all listed below. All items listed below are available to ship to USA, UK, and Australia. Click on the desired items below for product info. I love these beautiful place settings and the smells of these candles especially for holiday tablescapes. They all make me feel more at home.
Photo Credit Ashley McGinty, Griot Photo for All Ze Details
The maxi skirt is a symbolic statement for the summer, and a piece of apparel that you wish you could wear in the winter to maximize the use out of. The secret is, you CAN wear your maxi skirt in the winter! You just have to know a few tips and tricks to carry it into the cooler season. Colour Contradiction If the colour of your skirt is completely off-point for the colour tones of fall there's still hope for your maxi skirt, yet! Essentially when you pair a pattern with a solid colour tone, associate that bright summery maxi skirt with something jewel tone or a solid fall-tone colour that still is relatively on par with the colours in your pattern of the skirt. Fall tones can be any of the following - jewel tone colours, maroon, black, emerald green, mustard yellow, hunter green, purples, anything in the deeper colour palette is a must for the fall and winter months. For example, the summer skirtI have on I associated with a solid black tank top. For the winter I'd pair it with a form fitting black leather jacket, preferably that has a belt to keep shape in so many layers covering so much skin. If you don't like the idea of having bare legs under the maxi skirt for winter months, I'm with you on that one - and with the fashionable trick of wearing knit leggings (thick leggings) underneath that problem is solved. Shoe Options Try closed toed shoes or ankle booties as an option to create a winter-ready look for your maxi skirt. I have a pair of hot pink suede closed toed shoes that do the trick for my maxi skirt. Accessories If you think you're hiding your personality under all of these clothes, bare with me. You have the option of finding costume jewelry that can make this outfit POP. Bring this look to life with a completely whimsical bib necklace that peeks out from under your jacket. If the winter months are incredibly cold where you live, wear an oversized scarf to work and when you get to the office let the character of your outfit come out with a fun necklace and bangle bracelets you can wear to the office - that peek out just enough to where the outfit still looks professional. Nix the idea if you'll be wearing the scarf all day and opt for fun earrings, or costume jewelry studs.
All Photo Credits to Ashley McGinty, Griot Photofor All Ze Details
