Spotlight: Mr. Flakoveli

Happy Monday everyone! I always credit my amazing photographer Pedro Cruz aka Mr. Flakoveli at the bottom of my outfit posts, but I wanted to really highlight him today because I could not make Cupcakes & Couture happen without him! We've been working together since the fall on outfit shoots and have a fantastic working relationship - he really gets what I'm going for when we shoot and always brings up new, creative ideas that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

He has a spotlight post on our work together over on his blog today with some photos that haven't been seen before on my blog, so I'd love for you to stop by and check it out! If you're a style blogger in the Boston area looking for a new photographer, I highly recommend working with Pedro and reaching out to him ASAP. :)

Feature: CFN's Classy Lady

Happy Monday! I hope you all enjoyed the long holiday weekend. Today I'll be redirecting you over to CFN {Classy Features & News} because they are featuring me as their classy lady of the week! Catherine of CFN interviewed me last week for the feature and I'm so flattered and honored to be sharing a bit about myself!

Please click here for the full feature {or read the text below.} I hope you enjoy the piece!!

Miss Boston Princess Party & Funfetti Cupcakes

Last weekend was the big Miss Boston/Cambridge Pageant, and it was a crazy busy one for me! On Saturday, I helped out with the Princess portion where we threw a little party for the younger girls who appeared in Sunday's pageant. There were arts and crafts, mani-pedis and lots of rehearsing for the pageant! I also set up a DIY cupcake bar for the girls with freshly baked homemade funfetti cupcakes, vanilla buttercream, candy and little crowns for toppers and helped them decorate their own cupcakes to bring home. It was such a fun experience and I thought I'd share some of the photos with you! :) Click through for the recipes as well.

the girls loved my sparkly jacket - they kept asking if they could touch it!

Guest Post on The Fabulous Life of a Natural Disaster!

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm guest posting over on The Fabulous Life of a Natural Disaster while Abby is road tripping across the US! I'm talking about Rachel Bilson's amazing, so head on over to her blog and check it out. :)

Guest Post on Loose From the Zoo!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was a busy one and I'll be sure to share photos in my next Instagram post!

Today I'm guest blogging over on Loose From the Zoo! If you haven't visited Becky's blog yet, you must - she's an amazing writer who never fails to make me laugh with her quirky posts on her life! I answered the Vanity Fair Proust questionnaire and she shared a few of my answers with a really pretty graphic she created. Click here to head on over and check it out! :)

Guest Post on I Am a Lifestyle Blog

Hi all! I'm super excited to be guest posting today over on I Am a Lifestyle Blog - please visit and check it out to learn a bit more about me! :) I'm answering questions about my favorite perfumes, food, TV shows and more.

Boston's 50 Most Fashionable

I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing MLK day off from work! I wanted to say thank you to UsTrendy for including me on their 'Boston's 50 Most Fashionable' list - I am absolutely thrilled to have been included at #44! :)

click to enlarge

{CLOSED} Fossil Boston Blogger Event & A Holiday Giveaway!

A few weeks ago, I attended a blogger event at the Fossil store on Newbury Street in Boston and it was SO much fun! I put together a wish list before attending, but when I got to the store and saw everything in person, I quickly realized that there were so many more things I wanted to buy! I had the opportunity to make a short video highlighting a few of my holiday favorites so I wanted to share that with you all. Please forgive the Rihanna music blasting in the background and some of my funny faces - I'm not exactly used to being on camera. :)

Here are the links to buy my four favorites:

Cut Glass Necklace - $128

Emily Foil Dot Scarf - $58 (I bought this at the event and I've already worn it a few times!!)

Ginger Dress - $128

Stella Mini Watch - $125

And a couple of photos of me trying them on:

Read on for the giveaway...

StyleFixx Street Thread Feature

Hi all - I am so excited about this feature that I had to share it with you! Last week at the StyleFixx blogger's event, the team snapped a few photos of me for their Street Thread feature, a daily post on their Facebook page where they share stylish Bostonians and their ensembles! I was so flattered that they wanted to feature me and I think the photo came out pretty well, don't you? I'm not exactly used to being photographed so it was definitely a new (and a bit scary) experience for me!

If you live in the Boston area, you have to come to the next StyleFixx shopping event in the South End on October 24th and 25th! Your $30 ticket includes complimentary cocktails and a swag bag filled with great stuff. I'll definitely be there and would love to meet you, so buy your tickets here !

get my look:

dress: Mango (runs big so order a size down)

heels: Steve Madden (similar)

necklace: Design Darling

bag: vintage Louis Vuitton Speedy 30

rose gold bracelet: Gorjana (similar)

rose gold watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Blogger Love: "Tell Me About Yourself Award"

Hi all! Sorry for not posting yesterday - I was having a minor surgery on my eyelid!  All went well and I'm feeling totally fine today. Don't I look cool with an eyepatch?

instagram

The best part of my day was receiving these beautiful orchids from my managers. It was a total surprise and I absolutely love them!

instagram

The next best part of my day was being nominated for a "Tell Me About Yourself Award" by the lovely Blair Bendel! If you haven't already, please check out her adorable blog - we have very similar taste! :)

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

*This recipe was featured by Lauren Conrad on her official website!*

Once a month in my office, we have a party for the ladies in my group who are celebrating their birthday. We all take turns bringing in desserts, chips & dips and healthy snacks and this month I was up to bake a sweet treat! I decided to make these salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars that I saw on the amazing Brown Eyed Baker's blog.

(click to enlarge)

They are a delicious combination of soft chocolate chip cookies and gooey salted caramel layers...perfection! I love how the sweet and salty flavors compliment each other - it makes these bars super unique and unlike anything else I've made. I didn't alter the recipe from the original at all, but I may skip the salt on top of the brownies and just stick to using salt on the caramel layer next time - I think I may have overdone it!! :)

Lauren Conrad features my cupcake recipe!!

Yesterday afternoon I was browsing Pinterest and I saw a picture that looked familiar to me - it was a photo of my cookie dough cupcakes! I had pinned the recipe awhile back so I figured one of my friends had repinned it, but when I looked closer, I realized that it was Lauren Conrad who had pinned it with the caption "cookie dough cupcakes (omg so good)"!!

(click to enlarge)

I was completely blown away - she has almost 42,000 followers on Pinterest so I was excited to think about all of those eyeballs on my cupcake recipe! I had submitted the recipe to her website awhile back, so she or one of her team members must have seen it and decided to pin it. Last I checked, it had about 300 likes and almost 2000 repins!!

(click to enlarge)

Not only am I excited about the exposure, I am flattered that Lauren and her team thought my recipe was good enough to share with her thousands of followers. I put a lot of heart and soul into all that I write, bake, craft and create, so it feels really good to have one of my recipes noticed and appreciated by so many people! :) Needless to say, it totally made my week!!  A big THANK YOU to everyone at LaurenConrad.com - I am so thrilled!

Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes

Not only are these cupcakes super easy to make, they are definitely a crowd pleaser! Who doesn't love the combination of chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cupcakes?  When you bite into the cupcake, you get a nice mouthful of cookie dough that is just delicious and the light whipped cream cheese frosting is the perfect compliment.

*These cupcakes have been featured by Lauren Conrad on her official website and on her Pinterest account and by Pillsbury on their Facebook page!