Friday, August 31, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!
From Pinterest
Are you excited to celebrate tonight? Get excited.
From Pinterest
I am so glad you were born and that I met you and that we hang out.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Labor Day Weekend

I am so excited for this weekend!
First I have taken Friday off, so its four days long.

Second, Steph is getting married and she and Phill are just the nicest people that I know they're wedding will be a joyous occasion.
From Pinterest, Steph does not look like this
 Third, I am dragging Tallman out to my alma mater on Friday for a walk around a lake and a fantastic dinner.
Upper Lake
Fourth, the place we're staying for Steph's wedding has a lake, and I am hoping to walk along that lake as well. Tallman is hoping we RUN around it... I'm sure I can dissuade him against this.
Sturbridge Host Hotel
Basically it seems like it will be a great weekend, full of pretty lakes and happy people. I am greatly looking forward to the time off, as well as the awesome events taking place.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I think I finally decided what to wear....

Picture is from Ebay sale
I have bounced all over the place on what to wear to my college roommate's wedding this weekend. I even bought a dressed, only to return it. Then there was the time I tried on every dress in Lord and Taylor. But I think I've come to a decision: I will wear my own clothes.

Its boring, but when indecision is rampant I'd rather not spend money, because chances are I won't be happy with what I choose. This is what I am currently planning on wearing, with a french braid chignon and purple nails.


Its a black Jcrew dress, but its not as formal as a black dress might be because its their "beach embossed" material. Most importantly it twirls when I move and makes my waist look like the tiniest thing ever :) I love this dress, its a little 1950's and very comfortable. Hopefully no one else at the wedding will be wearing the same thing! (Again!)

Then I'm going to wear these gold sandals I bought for my friend Maya's wedding last year. They are very comfortable, and have a little heel but not a skinny heel which may be important if there is grass, or gravel or stumbling. But lets be real, if there is heavy dancing these bad boys are coming off and I'll just have to hope Tallman doesn't step on my feet.
David Tate Sandals
But I'm still a little stuck on the earrings. Can you guy's help? My options are purple ones I borrowed from my mom, or these giant dangling gold leaves Tallman got me for VDay a couple years ago.
Like these but purple, and not $1,000
Emily Elizabeth Vine Earrings
I know I need something statement-y and the neckline of my dress is too high for a necklace. I might make a game time decision, but I'd appreciate your input!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Weekend By Numbers

I had a lazy weekend, which was really nice because Tallman and I have a wedding next weekend, last week Tallman was in Germany AND we've started running three mornings a week. So its only 1-5, not 1-10 :p

5: Glasses of red wine drunk over the course of the weekend, two Friday (end of a long week), three Saturday (mom's birthday).  I love red wine :)

4: Miles walked on Saturday trying out/ breaking in my new sneakers.

3: Number of times I tried to set and use the Nike chip in my new sneakers, only to fail :( I want this chip to be a pedometer, that tells my phone what I'm doing and where and how quickly. But I can't figure out how to make it do that.

2: Types of baked goods made on Sunday -- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies by Tallman, and Wheat Bread by me.

1: Naps taken, face down, pillow on top of head, wedged into the corner of the couch. Just the way I like it :)

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Pins and Brooches

I've been told, by magazines and the internet, that pins and brooches are in style this fall. Hopefully this will make it easier to find a bee pin that is awesome and not at all tacky looking.
I do not like these bee pins.
Vintage Jeweled Bee Brooch Pin
Jay Strongwater Floral Bee Pin
But I do like these pins generally.
Stephen Dweck Multi Stone Pin
Alexis Bittar Encrusted Flower
Sterling Silver Feather
Ultimately in approaching this trend, I worry that there are so few pins/brooches styles out there, especially new ones, and that if you don't have something unique that you like, or has a story behind it, the brooch will look forced.
Or you could always get something custom made. Of course, that is always an option :p

Friday, August 24, 2012

Weekend Plans

This weekend we are:

Celebrating my mom's Birthday.
From Pinterest
Moving my Cellphone Plan from my Parents name to my name and adding Tallman to it.
From Pinterest
Eating at a new restaurant which has a HUGE beer list and tacos!
From Pinterest
What are you doing this weekend? Eating Beer? Drinking Tacos? Celebrating?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Foodie

Tallman's mom sometimes asks me what my parents' hobbies are and I'm never sure what to say, I don't think they have hobbies. At least not like Tallman's parents do (Golf, Painting, and DIY House Renovations), so I always answer Cows-- which isn't really an answer and we all know it.

This conundrum has led me to wonder what my hobbies are. I asked Tallman if eating could be a hobby, and he said that yes we were most definitely foodies. Foodies. Yes I like that. It sounds much classier than Fatties. Or Big Eaters. Or Really Into Food.

And upon slight reflection our date nights are always relaxing delicious meals at nice restaurants. We celebrate by eating long meals that cost an arm and a leg (either in restaurants or at home). When we eat at home we are always trying new recipes and getting CSAs or ridiculously local meats. And don't even get me started on farm house cheeses and my attempts to make goat cheese at home or my love of books about food or how I read cookbooks at breakfast.

So um I guess I'm a foodie? (food + hobbie=foodie? is it that obvious?)  I feel a little shocked by this revelation?

In other news: Tallman and I had CSA lamb and corn this weekend and it was fantastic! Especially with the farm fresh ricotta and a wonderful glass of Chateau Neuf De Pape! :) I give you permission to hate me.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Last Week By the Numbers

10: On a scale of 1-10 this is how much I missed Tallman last week :(

9: Items consigned on Wednesday (hopefully I can clean out my closet and have a little extra cash?) 

8: Thousand times I swore at the internet because it was slow or not working at all. (Tallman is back and now its working, maybe it just missed him?

7: Cups of Fruit I had on Saturday. Was a doing a do-it-yourself cleanse or was I just enjoying the summer's fresh fruit? Still not clear.

6: Loads of Laundry Done upon Tallman's return from Germany (I didn't do any laundry while he was gone, and his clothes are just SO BIG!) (Luckily this got done on Saturday, before the hot water heater got busted)

5: Cucumbers I ate  (Tallman HATES cucumbers, but I think cucumber and cookies is a perfectly normal and balanced dinner)

4: Movies I watched while Tallman was gone. (New Years Eve, The Descendants, 50/50, Our Idiot Brother)

3: Gossip Magazines I read (while covering for our receptionist) with Rpatz or KStew on the cover (ugh, my poor brain, its ok right because I also read the Economist?)

2: Dinner Dates I had with Lovely Ladies, (Al and Sarah, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively)
ALSO Tallman came in 2nd place in his international science competition, his prize was a toy car (he is a little disappointed) my 2 is better than his.

1: ZipCars Rented (wooooo! First ZipTrip a success!)

Sorry for not blogging more last week, you may blame my internet. Which Tallman fixed upon his return.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I went to Gap to try on loafers...

Gap Loafers
....aaaannnd came out with a blazer and some pajamas? oops. So I went for the loafers, and I don't know if it was the loafers, my feet, or the pants I was wearing that day, but they looked SERIOUSLY goofy on me.
I blame my big feet. Its hard to rock a menswear piece if it makes you look kind of manish-- I think-- obviously a personal preference.

Striped Zipper Shift
But while I was there I tried on this adorable striped dress that screamed Steph (if you know Steph you'd hear it screaming too.

And I tried on 6-2,000,000 blazers and ended up buying this cute navy one. Its in sort of a polyester jersey that should be a thick, non shiny track suit material which sounds awful but its comfortable and classy without being overly dressy. I have plenty a couple of dressy blazers but this one would be great for the weekend or casual Friday or just making the never ending stream of cardigans I usually wear a little more interesting.
Ponte Academy Blazer-- Gap
Of course now I see online that Gap is having a sale online and that I could've gotten this adorable blazer on SALE. But its back ordered until late September so I wouldn't be able to wear it later this week. I guess that is LITERALLY the price you pay!
Then I bought pajamas, on a whim, because they had polka dots and are gray and were on sale and I'm weak. I think they'll pay for themselves though.. the last pair of gap pajama pants I had were $.30 and I found them at a used clothing store on the floor, back in high school I was more "adventurous" with my clothes. In fact, maybe its time to throw those out.

Check out Gap, because they have cute stuff and don't be a dumbo like me and miss their online sale.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Hot and Cold Funtimes

We've been having some exciting times at our apartment and I pushed my scheduled posts back a day to tell you about them!

Yesterday morning I got up (about two hours after Tallman who was amusingly jetlagged-- had a big fight to convince him not to go to bed at 6:30pm Saturday Night) at 8am and tried to take a shower. BUT there was no hot water, it just wasn't warming up. So I requested that Tallman contact the landlord, who lives above us.

Two hours later (they apparently sleep late) they answered the email and said they'd look into it. An hour after that (when they apparently went to go take their showers) they notice that the hot water heater had broken and had flooded the basement but was still pumping water and thus flooding the basement more.

We had not noticed this funtime basement flooding since it was mostly happening on their side of the basement, but turns out our side was flooded too! Nothing on our side was damaged, though the dirty laundry was all pretty darn wet-- which is totally fine-- it was dirty afterall.

The basement needs to dry out to prevent mold, so all the doors are open with fans on, so no cats can go down there, and repair people are going to be in and out of there all day today. So that meant we needed to have my parents over for dinner to take the cats for a couple days.

Then because the water is ice ice ice cold instead of staying in a hotel we/I decided that this would be fantastic motivation to go for a run before work this morning. A cold shower is infinitely more tolerable when you're hot and sweaty-- no? So we did that. And I'm out of shape and Tallman is bigger so thus even though he professes to be very out of shape he still runs faster and longer than I.

The hot water heater gets fixed this morning. But Tallman says we need to go for runs every day this week to get in shape. Boo. I'm trying to bargain for just Monday through Thursday-- cross your fingers for me and my water and my little lungs.

Happy Monday!

Apologies for this post being incoherent. I'm tired from my run and its early.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Smoking Slipper/Loafers

It seems everywhere I turn I'm seeing Smoking Slippers or Loafers! Gap and Target have some REALLY adorable budget versions-- and since I'm pretty sure this is a fad, it would make sense to go budget and save pennies for the classic staples.
Women's Merona Mali Flat

Gap Embroidered Loafers
But these custom Stubbs & Wootton Slippers would make me feel so dapper, even though they'd never leave the house for fear of damage!
Stubbs and Wootton Bespoke Slippers
Ditto with these Del Toros:
Del Toro Zebra Print Slippers
And generally speaking I'm not a fan of skulls on things, I think it looks... tacky, pretentious, goth, weird... but I would love to rock these bad boys:
Alexander McQueen Skull Slippers
But it seems like a passing trend, and if I was afraid to leave the house in them, even more reason to go with the adorable gap and target options... its nice to have these choices though!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Weekend Update

No numbers... just a little note to say my internet is acting terribly (1.7mbps download speeds) and that despite this I watched New Years Eve, The Descendents and Our Idiot Brother rented from iTunes.

I was so busy downloading and watching these movies, this is all you're getting for a blog post today... hope for a better tomorrow :p

Friday, August 10, 2012

Tallman goes to Germany

Tallman is going to Germany this week. I will miss him. He is going to compete in a bio-tech competition for a prize and glory.
Frankfurt
I briefly considered going with him, share the free hotel room and then spend a few days tooling around Germany.
Burg Eltz
It won't be happening this time, but I would like to go to Germany some time. Drive on their roads late at night, see the castles, drink the beer and wine, eat all of the sausage.
Sausage
I've been to Germany before, but not since high school, and I feel like it would be very different this time around.
Though Tallman will most likely be working 14 hours a day while he is there and will be quite tired after, and thus not a fun traveling companion. (Can you see me talking myself into being ok with not going to Germany?) Some other time!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

iPad Case

I got an iPad for Christmas last year. I mostly use it for reading books via the Kindle App, or surfing the internet. My dad is a smart man and knew that when he got my mom and I iPads he should leave the accessorizing to us.
Dodo for Jcrew
So I bought myself a Dodo case. Obviously I love Jcrew, and I wanted to protect my new toy and what better way to protect a new electronic than encasing it in wood. Well, I put that to the test pretty early on, and I broke two of the corners that keep the iPad in the case. It still works, and I like it... but I might be ready to try something new, something less heavy, something that isn't broken.
Apple Smart Cover
Maybe I could get one of these ubiquitous "Smart Covers", and then a simple sleeve. My mom has a simple felt sleeve and I really like it. Something that simple on its own wouldn't quite work for me though because I use my iPad on the train, and travel a lot more than my mom does, so I'd want the extra protection.
Kate Spade La Pavilion ipad sleeve
This is a bit more than a simple sleeve, and really cute too! It also would match my wallet and my Comme Des Garcon's little bag that I use to keep order in my purse.
Leather Case
Felt Case
Fun Case
 Of course I love Etsy, and since these cases are really diverse, I'm sure I'd be able to find something that I'd love.
Taylor ipad case, Lill 1154
Then again I could go to a tried and true website, where I got a purse which I've had for 5 years now, and design something of my own.

I'll have to think about this, since I tired of my old iPad case in 6 months, maybe I'll get something I'll like for longer? Or at least is cheaper? We'll see.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Lilly Dress

I still haven't decided what to wear to my friend Steph's wedding this Labor Day weekend, and it is fast approaching! I've bought a dress from Jcrew and returned it, I've tried on nearly every dress at Lord and Taylor and nixed them all, I've looked at Rent the Runway and all that did was made me wish I could afford to BUY a Lela Rose dress.

But Rent the Runway had a couple cute Lilly Pulitzer dresses, and I don't know if its desperation, the summer, or I'm hanging out with southerners too much (I'm looking at Allison and Tallman's Mom) but I think I might go check it out this weekend and see what I see.

Fortunately for them, unfortunately for me, Steph's bridesmaid's dresses are navy and a lot of Lilly dresses come in Navy or White-- so they are automatically ruled out for this wedding. (Last wedding there were two bridesmaid's wearing blue dresses, and me and some other guest were wearing the same blue dress, people kept thinking we were the bridesmaids and it was VERY awkward, not making that misstep again!)
These are the dresses I'll be looking for to try on in the store this weekend:
Joanna Dress
Lakeland Dress
Mara Dress
Evie Dress
I think thats enough options in one store to make a shopping trip well worth it! Hopefully I find something that I like!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Little Hen Linens

One of the gift's Tallman's mom brought us/me were these really awesome napkins. Yeah yeah whats so great about cloth napkins except that they make every dinner classier and also are good for the environment, and my white jeans.
Hen House Linens
They are from Little Hen Linens, and she says that they don't need ironing! Which is nice because I don't iron my napkins anyway :p

For a Table Cloth or Placemats? Hen House Linens
I think I'll be grabbing a few more of these napkins and maybe a tablecloth or two?
For a Tablecloth? Hen House Linens!

 I like the silver one for a more fancy table setting and the blue for a laid back option. 

The patterns are very preppy and a little southern, but the material is solid and I think I'll be adding to my table linens with this company...

You should go check them out and decide that you too need more cloth napkins! 


Monday, August 6, 2012

Long Weekend By the Numbers

10: AM -- when Tallman's parents arrived Friday morning (and then promptly took us to the grocery store and bought us fixin's for Saturday dinner and all of the berries Tallman's heart desired-- which is a lot)

9: AM -- when Tallman's parents left Sunday morning :( After the door closed Tallman gave me a hug and said "I wish we lived closer to them so we could see them more" Poor guy, we see my parents nearly every week and we see his almost every two months. They are such nice folks, I understand why he misses them!

8: Snide comments made by Tallman's mom and I while on a tour of a fort about one of the children and their parents, who did not seem at all concerned that Jack was stealing props out of ovens, or about to go over the edge, or throwing rocks, or sitting on walls, or doing any number of things the tour guide had to physically stop him from doing before he broke his- or someone elses- skull.
Fort Independence-- Castle Island
7: Miles Walked this weekend, AT LEAST, it very well might have been many more, and in 90 plus degree hot sun and intense humidity... I now have a very pink boyfriend

6: Gift's Tallman's mom brought for us/me: two kinds of cloth napkins, and dishtowels in green, and a cookbook and frames and pictures-- she is just the nicest!

5: Pounds of pork I made Saturday Night for dinner with both sets of parents (we only ate half of what I made-- yay leftovers) Also, 5 bottles of wine were consumed, yay wine!

4: Hours of Naps I took over the weekend :) Sunday and Friday had some hard core naps, which was nice because of all the walking and all the early mornings and late nights

3: Meals eaten in Restaurants, Tallman and I love going to nice restaurants with fantastic food. The restaurants we took his parents to were not those. It was an attempt to make things easy and make their packing easy, and I think it worked, there was very little pressure to make reservations on time, and knowing we were going to have "easy fish" allowed people to relax.

2: Meals I made at home for Tallman's parents, Saturday Breakfast of Bacon, Biscuits and Fruit, and Saturday Dinner

1: Successful meeting of both sets of parents! I know my parents walked away thinking Tallman's parents were very nice indeed! Success!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Tallman's Parents are Here!

We're going to have an exciting weekend of yummy treats, nice walks, showing them around town and introducing our parents to each other!

Wish us Luck!


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Pretty in Pink

I can't say that I loved Pretty in Pink the movie. I think Ducky is lame and I think Molly Ringwald's character is more whiny than usual-- even for a teenager.

But pink is such a fun, feminine, and pretty color.
Arabelle Dress
Cece Leather Ballet Flat

I think these would look great separately, the shoes would especially be a wonderful pop of color to any outfit. But worn together they would make quite a eye catching ensemble.
Of course, pink might not be your style.
Basket Weave Shift Dress

Cece Leather Ballet Flat
A little bit of sunshine, a fantastic outfit. Pink, yellow, a pop of color or a whole outfit of color. Very fun. Would you dare? Would you stick out in the crowd in your outfit of fun? :) Or will you stick with your simple pop of color?
I'll stick with head to toe grey and black. But maybe someday I'll dare to do head to toe pink!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

CSA Deliciousness

I forgot to post last week's CSA and here is this week's as well.
There has been the recent addition of fruit and corn! It is simply fantastic!
We've moved beyond the leafy greens and onto the vegetables I like better. The cucumbers are really and truly fantastic they taste warm, less watery and the beans there in the bag are so buttery and delicious its a little silly. I'm very excited to try the eggplant this week, and the tomatoes.