Tuesday, July 31, 2012

London Olympics

I wish I was in London for the Olympics-- ok not really, I'm not that into sporting events, or crowds, but I'd love to see what they've done with the place.

Beach Volleyball is being held on the parade grounds...
citation
And the Olympic Village is where I went grocery shopping when I studied abroad in London, and bought cheap shoes. (it was a very all purpose kind of mall) (A on this map)
google map screen shot
And have you seen the Tower Bridge with its Olympic rings? Of course you have... but I'll show you again.
Thanks Baltimore Sun
Its been quite a year for London: the Olympics, the Jubilee, Kate Middleton everywhere, those ummm RIOTS last year. It really makes me miss London. I wonder when I can next go back.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Weekend by the Numbers

10: Minutes to blow out my hair So what it took me until I was 25.5 to figure out how to do my hair... I blame a lack of keratin treatments... because before it used to take me 40 minutes and it would look like I'd been electrocuted. Not cute.

9: minutes repotting a lavender plant to give it more room.... or 90,000,000 times I am going to wonder if it will survive this rainy gray period (it likes the sun) and its repotting

8: ounces of fillet mingon I had Friday night and my new favorite fancy Boston restaurant Mooo. (it was FANTASTIC! though maybe we should've saved it for a special occasion and not just date night, oops)

7: Loads of laundry I had to do this weekend! A weekend away really puts me behind in the laundry department.. Tallman's clothes are like three times the size of mine and really fill up the baskets and the machine!

6: biscuits eaten by Tallman and I Sunday morning with nutella :)

5: mintues I spent trying to untangle the vacuum cord, or 5 seconds which is what it took Tallman (I don't think its a strength thing, I think he must be a vacuum whisperer)

4: number of arguments Tallman got into Saturday night about which had more deadly animals Australia or the US (he was really not letting it go, neither was the other guy)

3: Number of Corona Lights I had Saturday night while hanging out with some high school friends (one of whom was visiting from Australia, one who JUST took the NY bar, and one who is moving to Texas on Tuesday!)

2: Number of Posts last week, for which I deeply apologize

1: Days off I have this week (woooo!) Because Tallman's parents are coming for a visit this weekend! Time to clean the apartment and put on my polite pants :p


How was your weekend?

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

I love these shoes

I love these shoes, I wear them all the time at work. 
Martina Patent Wedges
Like ALL THE TIME. They are nude for me, they elongate the leg, they are high heels, making me taller than most people in the office, and because they are wedges I can walk in them.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Silk Robe

I have been wanting a silk robe to wander around my house in... something sexy but also something comfy.
Plum Pretty Sugar
Victoria Sugar
Eberjey
Now should I get cotton or silk? My vote is for silk. Yours?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Blue Chandelier

I've been wanting a chandelier for our dining room. Its something we could change in our apartment without breaking the bank and it would make a huge difference. The current chandelier is orange, and looks like a can of tang.
Pinterest
I've been loving images of blue chandeliers. Particularly this one, I love this dining room.
Blue Chandelier
I enjoy this one, but its some outrageous sum of dollars, like $700.
Pinterest
I love this room, its blue chandelier looks sort of like a regular chandelier painted. I have been thinking about maybe doing something similar.
Pinterest
This one is a little simpler, and way cheaper than $700, I think it would be easy to spray paint. Of course Tallman thinks I'm insane. Tallman thinks its too soon after the headboard project to start something now. He might be wrong. He might be right. What do you guys think?

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Lets go to the Beach!

It has been so warm. I just want to go to the beach. Or a pool. Or a lake.
Jcrew Bikini
But its Wednesday, so I'm at work.
Target Bikini
Maybe this weekend?
Jcrew Tunic
Maybe next weekend?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

I want a: Secretary Desk

Wayfair-- Wildon Home Secretary Desk
Whenever I see these in furniture or antique stores I always pause, think about the price, and the logistics of purchasing it-- even if I'm in Virginia and its $4,000. That is how much I like Secretary Desks, I am always willing to consider the possibility of bringing one home with me.


Copied Williamsburg Desk
There is no room in my current apartment for a sweet little desk to put my note paper, checkbooks, lap top, and assorted odds and ends. But oh my friends, if there were...
Ebay- Secretary Desk
I would bring it home and begin searching for a secret compartment at once!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Last Week's CSA

I seriously love these pictures... I made an album on my phone of these pictures so I can easily flip through them and envision the calendar, picture book, collage.. something I'll make at the end of the season.
The cucumbers were fantastic. They were warm tasting, despite the fact that they'd just come out of my refrigerator. It was probably flavor, and not just watery taste of the cucumbers I usually have.
YUM VEGETABLES!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Book Review: Shadow of Night

You should read this book. Well, first you should read the first book in the series... first things first after all.

So first you should read Discovery of Witches. But then you must read the Shadow of Night. Because these books are fantastic, Shadow of Night came out on Tuesday-- now I'm rereading it for the second time to really glean how awesome it was, because it does seem possible that I missed something the first time around I was reading it so quickly..
But its just that good.

Thats all I have to say. Go read it.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Sweet and Savory Spatulas

Silicone spatulas are the best.

This is not up for discussion. But what can be annoying about them is the retention of smells. The rubber might retain the smell of peppers and onions and that can be pretty darn gross when you're frosting a cake.

Knowledge taught me a genius way to get around that problem. Label your spatulas "Sweet" and "Savory". Just take a sharpie and write it on there. I also went a step further and color coordinated my spatulas, the blue are sweet and the green are savory. No more licking cake batter off a spatula and tasting onions :)

Of course if your kitchen isn't color coordinated like mine is, you can always go with white. I like the Le Creuset Spatula, but I do have some from William Sonoma as well.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Cute New Work Dresses

On Friday I had one of those gloriously productive MallTrips: I returned a dress, bought a bridal shower gift, bought myself some spatulas (which I promptly wrote "sweet" on), some new cafe au lait bowls (which don't actually match any of my other bowls, oops), a bee cookie cutter, and two new work dresses.

Ralph Lauren Polka Dot Empire Jersey Dress
Do I need new work dresses? Maybe Not. But I have a philosophy about shopping which goes something like "if you like it, buy it, because if you go back to look for that thing again, chances are it won't be there". Knowledge and I have seen this happen many times. You go out shopping, try something on, but don't want to spend the money, or you hadn't planned on making that purchase, so you say "well I'll get it later". Then later happens and you can't find it anywhere and you are sad, frustrated, and full of regrets.

I was trying on dresses to wear to a wedding this fall, and ended up buying two new work dresses because when I put them on I just knew. They fit great, made me feel great, and were awesome.
Sure they were also expensive, and not something I could wear to a wedding. But I go to work a heck of a lot more than I go to weddings.

One is polka dot and one is blue and they have this great ruching that gathers at the waist that is the most flattering.
Do you think I can pair this with a blazer? Or just cardigans? Obviously I would not wear gold strappy sandals like the model is wearing to work :)

Monday, July 9, 2012

Last week's CSA

Isn't this just a beautiful bounty of veggies?
 I am thinking that I might take these pictures and make some sort of little book with them, or a calendar? I'm not sure yet.
If you can afford a CSA and they're in your area, I definitely recommend! This is a lot of vegetables to eat in a week, so its totally doable to split with a friend, another couple, or a few friends. Every CSA is different, but this is the small family share.

So verdant!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Patriotic JCrew Sale Outfit

Jcrew was having one of their fantastic 30% off sales last week and I bought some really cute things.  They happened to be fairly patriotic when put together...
Red Cecelia Sandal from Jcrew
BackBow Dress from Jcrew
 I got these things on ridiculous sale for less than $80. I might where them with:
Featherweight Cashmere Cardigan from Jcrew
1035 Jacket in superfine cotton from Jcrew
Bauble Cascade Necklace from Jcrew
I'm kind of LOVING that jacket... maybe I'll pick it up this weekend :)
Happy Weekend!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Festive Cupcakes

I tried to make festive cupcakes for the fourth of July... Tallman was having a hard week at work. We'd canceled fun plans because I am sick. And I figured we needed something fun to celebrate the Independence of America with... obviously cupcakes were the answer :)

I made regular cupcakes and separated the batter in half and dyed one half red and the other blue. Then put the red in the fridge for a little bit so it would stay at the bottom (is that a thing? I just made it up, and it only kinda worked).

The red layer, despite having half a bottle of dye in it, turned out electric hot pink, and the layers didn't quite stay apart.

I think Tallman said it best "Doesn't quite say 'F**k yeah America' it looks more like a psychedelic baby shower cupcake".

But in this photo it looks pretty red.

F**k Yeah America.

Cupcakes are the best.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hope you have a fantastic Fourth of July! 
From Pinterest
Hope you eat watermelon and berries and celebrate to your hearts content!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Summer is Here!

Its official guys, summer is definitely here! Up in Boston it declared itself by being 95+ degrees every day and deeply disgusting.

One day I beat the heat by making a delicious frozen mojito from Mrs. Lilien's Cocktail Swatchbook which is our home's new go to cocktail book. The colors are pretty, its easy to use and oh man! Delicious!

I also beat the heat by running the AC full blast of course, but the cocktail helped :)

I totally recommend this cocktail book for those who enjoy cocktails but are never quite sure of how to mix them properly. Also, I love the Swatchbook because Mrs. Lilien is hilarious and lists adorable accessories as part of the recipes, such as giraffe cocktail stirrers.  Probably not a NECESSARY ingredient but certainly a cute one!

Cheers!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Headboard Creation Part 4

Saturday morning Tallman and I decided to put the headboard on the bed. How to attach it had been the subject of some discussion for a few days, and while Tallman took the reigns Saturday morning in assembling.
Here let me show you what I mean:
He put three boards vertically on the headboard to attach to the base of the bedframe. Originally we'd ruled out this idea because the nails could come through the front of the headboard and be deeply unpleasant and not at all relaxing.

Then he put one across the headboard, nailed into the vertical boards, which then attach into the posts onto the bed. This allows the horizontal board to get around the foam density on the sides and nail to the posts without tipping.

Then moving left to right he nailed the horizontal board to the post, then the boards to the bottom of the bed frame, and then to the post. Then put in more nails to make it super sturdy.

What was I doing during all this? Other than taking pictures? I was holding the headboard in place. And moaning about my sinus headache. Tallman is the best. :)

And how great does this headboard look? Kinda like the picture mock ups I did months and months ago? Not really, I like it better. I like that its light and calm and I love the headboard :)

Hope you enjoyed the process with me!