Category Archives: Armelle

Armelle Blog // Best of 2014

January 5, 2015

Wow! I can’t believe it’s 2015!
What a year 2014 was for me.  I means many amazing things and so many changes happened in my life!  But, boy was it also one of the hardest years of my life!  I think any of you who have moved or built a home can relate!
We found ourselves for the first 8 months of 2014 crammed into a little 2 bedroom apartment while we built our new home.  It was hard to blog very much during that time. All my stuff was in storage, and I had no office space!  So, this little blog took a bit of a break during all the craziness!  I missed my creative outlets terribly, my office, my stuff!  Living out of bins and no furniture for 8 months can make you go batty!  But, it only confirmed that I do enjoy to surround myself with pretty things, and a well designed space can really take you a long way.
I always love to post a little re-cap of the year on my blog.  It’s always nice to look back at the things I have accomplished, and hope to do better in the future!
This year like I said was the year of the house!  On my mind 24-7 was this future home.  Full of ups and downs in the process, it was definitely… traumatic!  Ha! The only word I can use to describe it.  I felt that everything that could go wrong did, and we are still trying to work out some of the kinks!  It’s hard to invest all that time, energy and money into something like a new home, and for it not to turn out as you planned… but, that’s a whole other post. Maybe one day I’ll post tips on building a new home… (DON’T DO IT.)  Ha! Just kidding…. sort of. (This is where I wish blogging had emoticons… I clearly spend too much time on Instagram)…. anyhow…
I am hoping to share a lot more on our house projects with you coming up here on the blog!  I’m excited for that, and to partner with some amazing companies! I am also hoping to do a re-design of my website, and finally move over to wordpress.  If you know of anyone that you think is amazing at logos, and rebranding and moving to wordpress, send them over my way!
But, first.  Let’s re-cap 2014 a little bit in true Armelle Blog form.  Things I love to share on this blog, and what this blog is all about!
FOOD!
If you have followed my blog for a while, you know that I am passionate about good food!  I teach cooking classes locally at Orson Gygi, and I blog for my favorite local grocery store Harmons Grocery.  I am passionate about eating well, with good whole quality ingredients, and I love to share my favorite recipes here on my blog.
Here’s a little sample of what I posted in 2014!  
Nectarine Mozzarella Salad | Homemade Larabars | Peppermint Bark | Chocolate Mousse Pie | Pumpkin Macaron Cookies 
DIY& TUTORIALS!
I love putting together Do It Yourselve’s (DIY’s) & Tutorials.  A few I worked on in 2014 were:
DIY felt ball tutorial | Do it yourself homemade Valentine’s and free printables
FASHION & HEALTH TIPS!
I love personal style, and I’m excited to share a little more fashion on the blog in the coming year!  I’ve been loving working with some fun brands and stores on outfits recently, so plan on seeing more of that  coming up!  (Email me, I would love to collaborate with you!)
I also love a good deal.  I’m not one to pay full price for my clothing, so I shop the sales, even buy off season for the best deals for me, and my children.  So, I’ll be sure to share my best finds with you!
I also am passionate about health and try to do my best to stay healthy with either healthy eating or exercise.  I shared a little bit on my tips to staying fit and active on my blog in 2014 as well!
HOME DECOR!
I LOVE beautiful spaces!  And, with a new home in 2014, home decor and projects have been on my mind constantly.  I had to say goodbye to my old studio space, and I’m excited to show you the progress and work on my new office in 2015!  My new home has many more rooms and areas that I didn’t have before, so I have my work cut out for me!  (If your a brand, I’d love to work with you, email me!)
In 2014 I shared:
My housewarming party with sneak peeks of my new home | My studio/office tour | My boys bedroom
Can’t wait to share what I have in store for you in 2015 when it comes to my home!  I feel like every weekend all the time we have a new project we are tackling.  It’s like a blank slate, which is terrifying, expensive, and fun all at the same time!  I feel like I keep holding out on posting some pictures of my home here on the blog because I want it to be done and just perfect, but I realized that it probably never will be. Ha!  So, I’ll show you the journey.  Hopefully there will be some good before and after’s…. and, I win the lottery to fund all of this! wink.  But, until then, I do share some good peeks into my home over on my instagram account!
PARTIES / ENTERTAINING!
If you have read my blog for a while, then you know that I LOVE a good party, and entertaining!
I have had fun throwing and working on some fun parties over the years here on the blog!  My favorite are probably my little family celebrations like our Back to School feast, or our Halloween feast!
In 2014 I also shared Thomas’ black and white striped and gold birthday party | My housewarming party 
SOCIAL MEDIA EVENTS/ CONFERENCES!
As a blogger, you get invited to a lot of events!  Either local businesses or some plan events in your city, it always looks like a big party (love my job!), but it’s been amazing to form relationships with different companies and brands, and to network and meet new people to work with in relation to my blog!
Blogging conferences are also an amazing way to network and meet some amazing companies to work with!  I love to attend Alt Summit.  In 2014, I attended Alt Summit Summer conference and it was a great way to get out and network to help build my brand and blog!
TRAVEL!
I am super passionate about traveling!!  I think it’s in my blood with my mom being from Vietnam, and my father from France.  I was lucky enough to travel at a fairly young age regularly to France, and Europe and study in France during college.  I have serious wanderlust, which has been hard while having babies and living life (i.e: money, time, kids).  But, now that my kids are all out of the diaper phase, and the bring everything but the kitchen sink to travel with, I am determined to get out there with them and show them the world!  There isn’t a better time to make memories than on vacations with your family.  That is what everyone always remembers most (think to your childhood, I’m right, huh!)
I’m excited to share with you my recent trip to Vietnam, where we toured the entire country, and revisited my mother’s roots, and brought her back to her country for the first time after 47 years.
In 2014, I also shared with you on my blog about one of the best days I have ever had!  We are lucky to live in Utah, and have so many beautiful places in our own backyard!  We spend an afternoon on the Pink Coral Sand dunes, and I couldn’t tell if it was heaven or earth.  It was a special day enjoying my family and the great outdoors!
I’m excited to plan some big things this year with my family and travel!  We LOVE a good adventure, and nothing is better than adventuring with my people, so of course, I’d love to share it with you!
I am so excited about what 2015 has in store for me, my little family, and this blog!  It’s going to be an adventure!  When people ask what kind of blog I have.  I usually answer.. “well, it’s a little bit of everything, I can’t narrow down my interests because there are so many.” So, I suppose it would fall into the lifestyle category.  I am thrilled to share more of what I am up to in my real life!  Back when I first started blogging it was a creative outlet, when I came up with a good idea, I would want to share it and blog about it!  But, things got a little tricky when blogging became a business, it became less of, “I have an idea I want to share on my blog!’ to “I need an idea because I have to blog.”  See the difference? I’m committed to share with you things that are a natural fit to my blog and lifestyle.  Things that I would be working on anyway if this little blog didn’t even exist.  Things that I’m doing in my life anyway to make it more rich, beautiful, better, and that’s exactly what I am hoping to share with you, my dear readers.
Well, thanks for sticking through my re-cap of 2014, and my exciting adventures to come on this little old blog of mine.  Thanks for letting me share my creative outlet, my life, and adventures with you! I can’t even believe my 8th anniversary of blogging is coming up in February?!  Can you believe I’ve had this blog for 8 years?!  I’d love for you to leave a comment and tell me how long you have read this blog, and why you like to read it?! And, for those of you who have stuck with me this long, Thank you!  And, to new followers, welcome!  
It’s gonna be a good year!
xoxo

alt summit summer 2014 re-cap

June 25, 2014

I was so excited to be able to attend Alt Summit June 2014 last week in Salt Lake City!  This is the first summer Alt in Salt Lake, and since we always have the weirdest weather during the January Alt’s, it was nice to have it in the summer!  Of course it rained the first day, but the weather was better the rest of the time!  This was my fourth time attending Alt, and I always have the best time and meet the nicest people.
Alt Summit is a design conference for bloggers and businesses hoping to work with bloggers.  It is a conference full of beautiful things, including classes and panels on how to make your blog better!

I was able to start the conference out with a dinner at Pago sponsored by The Honest Company and hosted by Small Fry Blog.
The food and company were excellent!  Menu’s handwritten by my friend Aubry of Hello Maypole.
All the guests were asked to wear their summer whites.  You can read more about the dinner on the Small Fry Blog.
The next morning I attended a panel on how to pitch to brands.  (Do you spot me?)
Imagine an entire conference room full of bloggers, and you are given the chance to stand up and pitch LIVE right then and there to Bing and Wayfair for an amazing outdoor party.  Well, yes! That actually happened to me!  I pitched a party, and I won!!  I actually don’t really remember what my pitch included since it was pretty nerve wracking to be on the spot like that without preparing. But, I think it went something along the lines of:  we are building our dream home that should be done soon, and it will be a birthday, anniversary, house warming/getting our lives back party. More on the party with Bing and Wayfair to come I’m sure!
Our place settings at lunch the first day complete with Oh Joy for Target mini party hats!
I always appreciate the amazing set ups that our sponsors have in the lounge areas!  Here is the cute set up by Silhouette.

And, of course I can’t resist a good Smile Booth!  Bing had an amazing lounge with some beautiful real flowers installed by my friend Ashley Beyer of Tinge Floral. #ThanksBing

 The first night we all walked over to the park for a casual dinner from local food trucks.

A little trip to La Bonne Vie pastry shop in The Grand America.

Of course one of the biggest draws to Alt this year was Martha Stewart herself!  Say what you want about Martha, but she was one impressive resume.  She really is a renaissance woman, with big plans to take over the world! She talked a lot about her goals to make Martha Stewart a global company, with a lot of her sights on China.

I was lucky enough to get great seats on the front row, I felt like she was looking right at me! (can spot me in the denim dress?)  She even liked one of my Instagram photos and re-tweeted my tweet all while speaking! (wink)

Another big highlight about Alt is spending time with so many of my friends!  It’s a lot of fun to be able to chat with grown-ups, and feel a little glamorous when my normal life is chasing after three kids all day!

The final evening was a beautiful courtyard garden party at The Grand America.  You definitely can’t do this during the January Alt Summit.

We had a good time “testing” out the croquet set.

 Bike riding in the courtyard was also fun.  Wearing a dress was interesting.

I think Alt SLC in June was much more laid back than the normal Alt in the winter, but I think that goes with the time of year.  I am always happy I went, and that I could meet new people, work with new brands, and get to have a little fun during it all!
To see more pictures of Alt Summit, feel free to browse their Alt Flickr page.
{Photos by: Me, Justin Hackwork, Brooke Dennis, and Honest Dinner by Becky Kimball}

merco local box review

April 9, 2014

I was excited to have a chance to receive and review a Merco local box!
MercoBox is a stylish subscription box that features the best Utah companies!
I love the idea of supporting local companies in my community, I am all about that!
The box comes once a month, and is filled with the best that Utah has to offer.  Each month is a fun new surprise!  This month had items from protein shakes, to coupons to local businesses, to yummy Madeleine cookies!
Check out MercoBox and all their amazing boxes!  You can buy a one time box, or a subscription for only $19.99 a month! This box has a value of $65, so it’s a fun way to try out some local Utah products for a great price!  
Be sure to use COUPON CODE: “iheartutah” for 25% off your order!! 
Pretty neat!  Head over to MercoBox for more information and to subscribe to their monthly boxes!
Do you support local?
{Disclosure:  This is a review of the product that I received in exchange for a review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. If you are a brand and are interested in working with Armelle Blog, please email me at carolinearmelle@gmail.com}