Spring things at my house

We’ve been enjoying small symbols of spring at our house: an Easter supper, flowering branches, eggs everywhere — and a bottle of Zyrtec omnipresent on the counter. A peek inside:

I piled together this textured table setting for our Easter dinner for two: eggs, mini vintage terracotta, slubby linen and a sprig of green.

 

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Flowering branches and hydrangea on the buffet.

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My first attempt at deviled eggs, courtesy Martha Stewart. I hate eggs, but I love to make them.

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I don’t know if this pink quartz thing is supposed to be an egg, but I love it for Easter and all the days in March, April and May. It will soon be styled in a more appropriate and rough-edged setting.

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For supper, I tried to make a copycat Honey Baked Ham. It was good. But next time, I’m going to stand in line with the rest of the smart people.

 

 

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Greens with hazelnuts and shallot vinaigrette:

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Popovers hiding under woven beehives from Sweet Salvage, and Tyson in coral linen:

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A little marble birdbath from Antique Gatherings:

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And behold the most evil and caloric dish in the history of the casserole universe: Funeral Potatoes. In this little dish, there is a pint of sour cream, a half cup of butter, almost two cups of cheese. They’re called funeral potatoes because church ladies like to bring them to funeral luncheons. I think of them as potatoes that will hasten your funeral exponentially. Use this recipe. Add 1/2 tsp. salt.  Die happy.

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By |2013-04-02T07:41:20-07:00April 2nd, 2013|Parties|4 Comments

Lunch with Carolyne Roehm and Ellen Katz at the Phoenix Art Museum (and the Encanto Home Tour)

The patron saint of blue and white visited the Phoenix Art Museum this week to share her life’s story about being an independent woman. Author and interior designer Carolyne Roehm grew up in the midwestern “boonies” and dreamed of being a big New York fashion designer. She married fabulously, was divorced oh-so-publicly, and still made her dreams come true. I loved listening to her funny, self-deprecating tales and admiring the tablescapes created by local designers in her honor. Ellen Katz always brings illustrious talent to town. Would you like a peek inside?

When Carolyne sets tables at her home(s), they look like this:

No pressure. In Phoenix, her tribute tables looked like this:

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Eggs above by Azadi Fine Rugs. Gorgeous white blossom assemblage below by DeCesare Design Group.

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My friends at Angelic Grove offered an impressive tower of hydrangea and orchids. They even made seashell napkin rings.

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This global scheme came from Bungalow.

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Michael Ferguson put bananas and cauliflower in his arrangement — such a fun idea.

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This swan was the heroine of the ladies who lunched.

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Carolyne is below in black and white polka dots, along with Ellen Katz, Sharron Lewis, Jane Jozoff, and Kathy Petsas. Ellen was best dressed, as usual — note the gold leather banding on the bottom of that incredible mint leather jacket.

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Carolyne’s new book is Flowers, featuring photographs of her sprawling gardens.

The shoe prize goes to Nancy Pendleton, in YSL.

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P.S. The Encanto Home Tour returns this Sunday and is  always a relished opportunity to peer into the lives of real people and their historic homes and gardens. I like to go, stand in a corner, and observe the crazy things that people say and do. Once, a woman plopped herself on a sofa and spent 20 minutes helping herself to the homeowners’ candy dish.

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Photos by myself, Haute Photography courtesy the Phoenix Art Museum, from Carolyne Roehm, and courtesy the Encanto Home Tour.

By |2013-03-22T09:08:54-07:00March 22nd, 2013|Parties|1 Comment

Februweary (and my Super Bowl bash)

Oh, my. Here’s the thing about working for a start-up: every other part of your life shuts down. It’s exciting (we had four million hits in our first month!), and exhausting (there was the day I worked from 8 am to 2 a.m.) and rewarding (I’m just back from NYC, where I got to hang out with Sweet Paul and go to The Novogratz’ house). And then my dad got married in the middle of everything, and I hopped on a plane to SLC for ALT. And then to New York.

But I’ve missed you. And my bed. And my fiance. And the gym.

My goal is to reclaim a piece of my life each day of February. I’ll go to the gym tomorrow. Today, I choose you.

Want to see a few snapshots of the Super Bowl bash I threw with Tyson?  We had four friends over for crab claws, root beer, football cookies, and Beyonce. Everyone was British, and we had to explain onion dip.There is no explaining Beyonce, except to say that I love her. And that after staring at those thighs, I REALLY need to go to the gym.

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My party theme was referee stripes, which conveniently worked with my dinnerware collection. The cookies were from Barb’s Bakery, via AJ’s. (Thanks, Elle!)

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Ty and I love to order crab claws from Florida for celebratory events, and we owed our friends some major celebrating. (They took me to Waverly Inn in NYC. $85 truffle mac and cheese, people. Also, we sat next to the Coen Brothers.) The claws are a splurge, but I love that they’re beautiful, shipped ready-to-serve, and impressive. We buy them from Best Stone Crabs, and they’re always good.  My vintage lucite tower is from MacAlpine’s in Phoenix.

 

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I also got to bust out my old trophy collection and vintage megaphone from FOUND. I was cheering for the game to end, honestly, but I loved setting the table for a bash. And grocery shopping with Tyson, who was very charming about menu planning for our (mostly) British friends.

P.S. I hope you’re following along on Instagram (@jaimeerosestyle), where I’m better about sharing, and you can see snippets of my NYC whirlwind tour.

 

By |2013-02-05T19:31:45-07:00February 5th, 2013|Parties|4 Comments

This was Christmas

“Make memories,” my mom always says in December. I am always grateful for those moments when I listen to my mom. Memories from Christmas at my house:

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There were quick lunches with friends to trade presents and plans,  and an evening of Christmas lights and pizza with my nieces and nephews, who turned me into a jungle gym.

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Shanna came over for a cookie extravaganza. She broke out the gold leaf and made the most glamorous sugar cookies I’ve seen — all in colors to match my house. That’s a good friend.

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My favorite gift wrap: a “key to my heart” glitter tag with a vintage escutcheon from Olde Good Things in New York. Every year, I put this key on the present I’m most excited to give.

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Christmas Eve with all the little ones. I made gift tags with nicknames. Scarlett LOVES that she is my “pink pig.”

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The annual Rose Girls gift exchange with my mom and sisters — always the best part of December.

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A quiet Christmas morning at home with Tyson, who was so excited to show me the things he picked out for me.

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And then there was  Christmas breakfast with Angela and Mark, complete with monkey bread, sparklers and joy.

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By |2012-12-27T07:10:15-07:00December 27th, 2012|Parties|2 Comments

A Moroccan Party for Prime Living Magazine

At night, it feels like fall. Tomorrow, the forecast in Phoenix is 84. That’s practically polar. To celebrate the cool nights and glorious days, I’m plotting major outdoor activity. Prime Living Magazine tasked me with creating an outdoor Moroccan idyll. My friend Heidi Lisherness kindly lent her exotic local abode for the photo shoot — along with a bunch of beautiful things she hauled home from the Moroccan souk.

After this photo shoot, I started looking up plane tickets to Morocco so I can have a jeweled tureen, too. Meanwhile, here are some ideas for celebrating gorgeous weather:

For an outdoor Moroccan picnic, drag your coffee table outside, place it on top of layered rugs (these are from Cost Plus World Market), and add a bunch of pillows. Instantly sexy.

Stylists’ food trick: add organic rose petals to hummus and chicken from Pita Jungle. (Yes, that is absolutely what I did.)

And I added more petals to Pita Jungle’s baklava, which is heaven. It’s on a pretty little dish from Cost Plus World Market that the Cost Plus people say is a soap dish and I say is a dessert plate.

Flowers: Billy Balls in Moroccan tea glasses. My friend Heidi brought these glasses home from Morocco, along with the insane tureen, but you can find similar things here.

I cut bougainvillea from our ‘hood to dress up the feast. The pillows are from Z Gallerie and the silver drum coffee table is from Cost Plus. (It’s a brilliant piece – the lid comes off and you can store throw blankets inside.)

I love mini bottles of champers for photo shoots.

This was a fun trick: use Forever 21 bracelets as napkin rings. The napkins are from Z Gallerie and Cost Plus.

Dishes: Versace, courtesy Heidi Lisherness, the lucky-ducky homeowner.

 

Tyson does not want to go to Morocco. So who wants to come?

 

By |2012-10-10T05:35:34-07:00October 10th, 2012|Parties|3 Comments

Halloween Inspiration

I love that when a friend or a reader finds a piece of Halloween/pumpkin brilliance floating out there in the Internet ether, they think of me. “Jaimee Rose will love this,” they say to themselves. And yes, yes, I DO!

Casey Hagarty spotted these loves outside Design*Lab in Mesa. Those are masks from Target, I believe. Simple and brilliant — vintage Caroline DeCesare (owner of Design*Lab and interior designer of doom.) Casey blogs at Avant Girl — you will note she looks like Daisy Buchanan, of The Great Gatsby.

Fireplace pumpkins from Country Living. The mouse on the mantle kills me.

The reigning pin on Pinterest: genius apple cider cups spotted by my friend Shauna, who owns JAM in Scottsdale. Did you know that the best way to keep apples from browning is not lemon juice, not at all? Soak them in Sprite. There’s something about the carbonated water and the citric acid that keeps them white and pristine.

Mini pumpkin bundt cakes I spotted on the cover of the new issue of Family Circle. I love the assemblage of stems: pretzels, tootsie rolls,even a kit-kat, I believe. Video instructions here.

 

Ty’s mom and my friend Andrea both knew I’d love the black duct tape roses in the Lowe’s idea magazine. (Who knew?) Very spooky chic.

Cupcake liner turned witch hat, dreamed up by The Cake Blog.

And I loved this new take on lacy pumpkins from Country Living — they trimmed out the lace pattern and Mod-Podged it onto the squash.

Do you have any more for me? I adore all squash submissions.

P.S. Phoenicians: Bob McClendon returns to the Town and Country farmer’s market today. Hooray for rainbow carrots. He’ll be back at the Old Town Scottsdale farmer’s market Nov. 3. Photo by Jesse Rieser for The Arizona Republic. Read my profile of Bob here.

By |2012-10-03T07:29:13-07:00October 3rd, 2012|Parties|2 Comments

Halloween Inspiration at Roger’s Gardens

This summer, my sisters and I sneaked behind some curtains and crept into the annual Halloween manor under construction at one of the most inspiring stores anywhere — Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach/Corona del Mar, California.  It was worth getting kicked out over — and yes, we did.  “Blackstone Manor” is a crystal-studded, bone-laden, black-painted, scary-eyed tingle fest. Helpfully, I have a few photos and Roger’s Gardens has more. It is worth a plane ticket/gas money and many happy hours in the car with your sisters to go and experience the splendor.

Behold:

Now hunting for vintage dress forms to copy this genius idea above. And below — just — WOW.

A close- up from my day behind the curtain – still under construction:

Clearly, I STILL need more black paint.

This  photo gallery  will have me in antique stores for weeks, scouring those sad discarded photo bins for women in black dresses and buns.

Up close:

Pretties for sale:

 

For a party, I’d hire a spook to sit at this piano and stare at people, while pretending to play with his hands hovering above the keyboard (and music creeping out from elsewhere).

I know. You’re on Southwest.com pricing plane tickets right now. Helpfully, there’s a YouTube video to tide you over — it shows how it all came together, and there’s a walk-through at the end. Turn on your computer sound and fair warning: plane ticket panic will increase tenfold.

 

 

 

 

By |2012-09-20T08:05:29-07:00September 20th, 2012|Parties|3 Comments

Vintage terracotta pots, or happiness: just $2.49

My friend Jill McNamara sent me an excited note over the weekend: she had discovered mini herbs at Trader Joe’s in beautiful vintage terracotta pots, and she knew I’d want to partake. They are $2.49 each.

Aren’t they sweet? So small.

The pots are so beautiful that I bought a few to reuse later for a fall dinner party. I’m dreaming of mini potted herbs at every placesetting. (Naturally, I will have to plant new herbs in the pots for the party, because I will certainly kill these before then.)

And while you’re at Trader Joe’s, don’t forget to pick up the supplies for my favorite two-second appetizer that always impresses. It’s delicious, sophisticated, and easy to keep on hand for last-minute company.

You need a box of these incredible raisin-rosemary crackers that my friend Angela loves so much that she packs them in her suitcases on vacations.

And you need a wedge of this Vintage Reserve Cheddar Cheese — which wins approval by snobby cheese-heads and more timid, plain palates alike.

Put the crackers on a tray. Break the cheese up in wedges — this is important. If you just put out a whole wedge of cheese, your guests won’t touch it, because it will feel like they’re not supposed to mess it up. But if you mess it up yourself and get them started, they’re all in.

Add some leaves or herbs to garnish, and serve.

P.S. My favorite cheese knives are from CB2, just $12.95.  I like to order them en masse and give them with a wedge of cheese as hostess gifts and birthday gifts for my girlfriends, too.

What is your favorite Trader Joe’s find? I love that place.

Placesetting photo: Martha Stewart.

 

By |2012-08-20T07:42:09-07:00August 20th, 2012|Parties|3 Comments

Scarlett’s babydoll birthday party

My sister Kapri’s overachievingly gorgeous birthday parties for her children continue. This year, Scarlett is four, and she invited me to come to her house for a babydoll birthday.

Behold, the pink and blue parade, beginning with homemade vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese icing, and a fur-trimmed party hat on top.

Scarlett had the cutest pink and blue dress, with a matching homemade hair bow, just for the occasion. My sister made the doll clothes garland out of Scarlett’s newborn outfits. The child’s closet has always been insane.

My mother and sister turned the living room into a little girl’s heaven, with doll cradles and cribs and tea parties set up all over.

 

Scarlett showed off her necklace.

Scarlett is the trained daughter of a bona-fide beauty queen. (Kapri was Miss Arizona, 2001.) The kid can pose for a photo. Note the pink and blue treats in the candy jars. My sister can find anything on the internet. My reporter-stalking-skills  are equaled by her shopping-stalking-skills.

Party favors, of course:

My gift to Scarlett — whose pajamas even matched the event. Isn’t that burlap ribbon fantastic? I brought it home from a craft shop in Utah.

Sweet details:

Mini milkshakes — to be clear, we totally get these from the drive-through and pour them into tiny, pretty cups.

Scarlett’s baby Polly got a new outfit, too. Note Polly’s mini birthday cake handbag. I want one in my size.

Actually, I’d like to come back to earth as Scarlett — for the tutu collection alone.

Good photos by my sister. Questionable photos by me.

 

By |2012-08-03T08:21:44-07:00August 3rd, 2012|Parties|1 Comment

Feather boas and the best vanilla cupcakes

My sister, known around my office as The Diabolical Party Genius, threw a surprise bash for our 5-year-old niece, Khloe. At this party, she and my mother conspired to hang hot pink feather boas from the ceiling. Killer idea.

Secure them with thumbtacks, then mix with paper lanterns and paper flowers. Easy insta-party.

(Below, the tea party awaits.)

At this same party, my sister Kapri served The Barefoot Contessa’s Coconut Cupcakes — without the coconut. And you know what? Those are the BEST vanilla cupcakes you’ll ever have. The cream cheese icing (again, sans coconut), is key.

Below: pretty little Scooty, post-cupcake.

By |2012-06-15T06:32:57-07:00June 15th, 2012|Parties|1 Comment

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