Tuesday, May 31, 2011

hot days & a cool drink

well hello SUMMER. so glad you could stop by early and bring a lovely wave of sweltering 90+ degree days to the tri-state area! rarr. so yeah, it is HOT. really HOT. and i'm really not the biggest fan of it, sighhhhh.

BUT i did have a pretty awesome memorial day weekend and hope (if you are stateside) that you did too ;) i danced my little heart out at this big reunions party on friday and enjoyed BBQs with friends the rest of the days.


today, i had a very nice extra day off and enjoyed it by getting quite a bit of work done including shipping off some bracelets to a shop in nyc (!!!) and getting some of my new tie-dyed creations listed in the shop (see them all HERE).

but it was another hot day and i mixed up that nice little cocktail seen above to help cool off ;) so here's my little twist on a gin and tonic to help you stay refreshed these summer days!

minty fresh gin & tonic

- muddle fresh mint and 2 fresh cucumber slices in the bottom of your glass
- add copious amounts of ice
- add gin (amount depends on the day you are having ;)
- bring to desired volume with tonic water
- garnish with some pretty mint leaves

cheers!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

perfecting the netflix queue


i finally reactivated my netflix account so that in the wake of all the season finales i would have new tv and movie distractions. the first thing i watched (in only two days) was the second and final season of Party Down. if you haven't seen this show, go seek it out now, you will laugh a lot and then thank me. also you will fall in love with Adam Scott and thank me again (he's also currently on Parks & Recreation - my favorite favorite show ;)

now i'm tasked with deciding what to watch next and start to build a decent Netflix queue. currently on the horizon I have the masterpiece theater series Downton Abbey which comes highly recommended and appears to be right up my alley (costumes! accents! english countryside!) i've also been told that the show The League is funny. it's about fantasy football (?) so i'm a little wary, but it comes from a very reliable source.

what are your favorite current or past tv series? any movie recommends?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

tuesday tunes




so every tuesday i decided that i would pick 5 songs i'm currently listening to and share them with you ;) to kick it off i picked a pretty appropriate short list of some of the tunes that currently get me through the work day. hope you enjoy!

1. Will Do - Tv on the Radio
2. Verb Noun - The Seedy Seeds
3. A Heavy Abacus - The Joy Formidable
4. Marathon - Tennis
5. Velcro - BellX1

what are you currently listening to?

as we continue to plan...

yes! i am still actively planning my upcoming wedding and i like to think that things are going well (thanks so much for asking ;). we recently got the save the dates completed and out the door (after much agonizing over the guest list - who knew narrowing a list to just 200 people could be so stressful?). but i think they came out really well and i'd love to share ;)

we used my usual camera and remote set up and took the pictures ourselves and then sent them over to the lovely Alaina of CheerupCherup designs (who we are also using for our wedding invitations and i could not recommend her more!)

so i guess they are part DIY and part hire someone that knows what they are doing ;) i think i always thought i would be more hands on and make a lot of the stuff for my wedding but once you start planning you can easily see how overwhelming it all can be. do you think it's feasible to have an entire DIY weddding? would you/did you make your own invitations?

Monday, May 23, 2011

shop update!

this saturday brought finally one day of sunshine (after many many rainy dreary days)! sadly this didn't last as yesterday and today have been gloomy and rainy. BUT i was able to get new photos taken on saturday and update the shop finally! after what turned out to be a wonderful and successful etsy week for me last week (thank you one and all!) the shop really needed restocking. so i'm happy to announce there are many new jersey bracelets and necklaces (some pictured above) waiting for new homes. go check them out HERE. enjoy!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

turning hipster


so it has happened slowly, but i think that i can safely say that bryan and i have adopted some hipster tendencies. we live in south philadelphia which boasts it's own small pocket of happy bearded bespectacled hipsters, craft beer, and irony. this struck me last time i gazed at the closet and realized just how many plaid shirts bryan (and i) have come to acquire in a short time. also it is embarrassing to report, but on more than one occasion i have shown up to work dressed almost identically to the authentic brooklyn hipster that works in the lab next to me (i'm not sure who this should trouble more, me or him?)

i'm not wholly resistant to this, it is just kind of funny to see how quickly one will adapt to their surroundings. i had a pretty hilarious brief conversation with Paul Buller (the creator of Hipster Bingo pictured above - check out his site here) at the recent Art Star Craft Bazaar here in philly about just how sneaky this whole transformation can be and whether or not mustaches were now in (seriously i am seeing them everywhere at an alarming rate... eek).

so have you found yourself blending adopting local trends? suddenly dressing like your friends? is hipster culture spreading outside of east coast cities?

Thursday, May 19, 2011

oh hello there



man oh man i am bad at posting these days! the whole blogger blackout really bummed me out because for the first time i had planned out posts and worked ahead of time on them ;( but it's ok i shall shake it off and move forward!

so who's seen Bridesmaids? i saw it last night with my sister (my own maid of honor) and i basically laughed so hard i cried. it's been kind of a crazy week so i really needed it ;) anyways, like everyone else is raving about the movie, just go see it. don't over think it (it wont change the world) and just celebrate the fact that women actually are hilarious and can write and star in a somehow completely heartfelt and raunchy comedy.

and i promise i will be back and blogging full force once this completely hectic week dies down a little.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

the perfect back porch



my ideal ingredients for enjoying a wonderful spring evening outdoors ;)

pennsylvania cheese board from aheirloom

celebrating my 1 year anniversary




exactly a year ago, i finally got to pack up all of my belongings and move to philadelphia. it's been a wonderful year in my favorite city and i'm so relieved to no longer live out of an overnight bag and cry when i realized i left my favorite shoes back at my place in NJ (bryan was lucky enought to have a 4 year head start living in philly). of course, i will admit that my commute is long (sometimes phillies game traffic makes me want to abandon my car and run the rest of the way home) and it's kind of impossible to make new friends once you reach adulthood (isn't it true, how do you make new friends if they aren't co-workers?!).

but i wouldn't trade any of it. it's such a delight to finally live with my fiance and i couldn't love our neighborhood with its old brick houses and tree lined streets any more than i already do.

so here's to us, philly. i'm hoping for many more happy years together ;)

Monday, May 9, 2011

glimpses of a weekend






hope you all had a lovely weekend! happy mother's day to all the lovely mommas ;)

and man, why oh why must monday always come too soon??

Thursday, May 5, 2011

what i'll be wearing


1. merona wrap on clearance at Target
2. filament hoops from Anthropologie
3. rhythmic repetition dress from anthropologie
4. aztec clutch from piperlime
5. patent grey peeptoes from zappos

my cousin is getting married this weekend and i'm pretty excited for all the merriment and dancing. including me, there are 5 weddings in my family in this year alone! combined with the numerous weddings of our friends, means that bryan and i have a very busy wedding season this year ;)

this past weekend i realized that i had absolutely nothing to wear to this wedding or any of the upcoming ones, so i should probably get myself to the store and find something pronto! thank goodness for Anthropologie, not only did i find the cute dress shown above, it fit perfectly! (along with another cute dress on clearance that i couldnt resist ;) a trip to target and perusing on zappos helped me to complete the outfit and i'm pretty excited to wear it all on saturday so i thought i would share it with all of you. sadly i was not as on top of things so i'm not sure what bag i'll bring with me and now i'm wishing i had found that cute clutch about a week earlier...

i've still got about 8 more weddings to go to so hopefully i'll get to pick up some more pretty frocks this summer ;) where are your favorite go to shops for party outfits?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

goat day!






so as i talked about a couple of posts ago, this past weekend i attended Goat Day at Terrain with my mom and sister. first, we met cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough (and their dog Dreidel) and got to sample their blondies made with chevre (i made this recipe again over the weekend and they are AMAZING, i'm planning to share that recipe soon ;). they were there with their recent cookbook GOAT, about all things, well, goat related and while i don't eat meat it actually has a lot of info about and recipes with goat dairy of which i am a MAJOR fan (humboldt fog anyone?).

then once Brent actually arrived (he was running a little late, so i got a little sunburn ;(, he and Josh did a short Q&A with the crowd. all i will say is that they have some SERIOUS fans. then they signed copies of Josh's memoir, The Bucolic Plague - How Two Manhattanites Became Gentleman Farmers, which is pretty hilarious and i recommend (along with their show on Planet Green).

it was a really fun day and those Beekman boys are just so nice and totally made my mom's day (she simply LOVES them and couldn't get over the fact that they complimented her on her jacket and necklace ;)

Monday, May 2, 2011

a tale of two memoirs.

hello hello. i hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. i was a little under the weather but had a great time meeting the Beekman boys on saturday and cleaning my entire apartment on sunday. i'll share photos tomorrow (of meeting the boys, not of cleaning ;)

also this weekend i picked up copies of both Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin and Bossypants by Tina Fey. two very different memoirs but i figured i'd need something light and funny to get through the other.

i found Matt Logelin's blog soon after he started it and feel a little creepy about how long i've been following it. (you should check it out here) he used it as an outlet to write about life after his daughter was born and his wife tragically passed away the next day. as someone who's experienced loss of my own, i was immediately drawn to his honesty and dry sense of humor; and yes, i cried quite a bit. but what he wrote and continues to write just makes sense. his book is wonderful and i would highly recommend it. at its heart it's a terrific love story and great reminder to always be grateful for who's in your life and what you have every day.

and what can i say about Tina Fey that hasn't been said? she's smart, funny, successful and hilarious and i want to be her (i'm not kidding that i dreamed as i child that i would one day be a comedic actress - what the heck was i thinking?). her book (which i will admit, i haven't quite finished yet), makes you feel like she's your personal friend and is regaling you with hilarious anecdotes over drinks. it's a perfect light, funny, summer read.

what have you been reading recently?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...