have a beautiful weekend!

it's going to be another busy busy weekend here for me and the boy. there's lots of wedding related things to tackle such as the food tasting, my dress fitting, and even a trip up to NYC on sunday to pick out our wedding bands (!). so i'll be on the go most of the time, but hope i can at least fit some time in to go food shopping (we have had a bare fridge and pantry for far too long).

i'm also excited to announce that i'll be participating in the August Break organized by Susannah Conway starting on Monday. basically it's just sharing one photo a day for the entire month. i'm hoping this challenge will help me get back into the habit of carrying my camera with me and taking more photos. if you want to join in, go check it out here ;)

hope you have wonderful plans!

photo source: pinterest

tonight!

mmm tonight i get to go (along with my giant tonsil- who gets tonsillitis in the summer? ugh) to one of my favorite Philadelphia restaurants, Zahav. It was recently chosen in Philly mag's Best of Philly as "the restaurant you bring your New York friends to", which makes me laugh. The cuisine is Israeli and the chef just happens to have a James Beard Award.

pictured above you can see the most amazing hummus in the world (you can actually find the recipe here ;) and the tiered white structure that holds the salatim (daily selection of delicious salads). don't worry, its veg friendly so theres plenty for me to eat other than that large loin of lamb also pictured.

it will be a little bittersweet though as we are going out for a farewell dinner for our good friends that are moving back to Canada this weekend. sigh, time continues to move forward and big things happen.

can't wait to finally wear my new giant (and somehow still comfortable) strappy wedge sandals...

umm what was that??

ok, so i must address this. have you seen this ad yet? i saw it when it played at the movie theater right before the feature started and i think the whole audience collectively choked on their popcorn (it was a chick flick so i think the majority of the audience was personally shocked). seriously as if tampon commercials weren't terrible enough!

oh and slight confession: i totally saw Friends with Benefits this weekend with my sister and i totally liked it and laughed a lot (i have crap taste, i know i know...)

a day at the finger lakes

at the end of June, bryan and i took a little road trip through New York and into Canada. one of our first stops was in southern New York to visit some family and also spend a day touring the wineries (and one brewery) along Lake Seneca in the Finger Lakes region. there are so many wineries there and they are all in a row making it quite easy to accomplish quite a number of tastings in a short amount of time ;) it really was such a great day and makes for a perfect day trip with friends.

Luckily we still have some wine left from our trip...

summer sale!

just wanted to let you know that i'm running a little summer sale over at the SHOP ;)

everything is 15% OFF, just enter HEATWAVE at checkout!

p.s. you can find me on facebook now and be the first to know about sales and new listings!
(same goes for twitter)

all of my muscles hurt. in a good way.

ok, so i used to be in a lot better shape. i used to regularly go to the gym and was obsessed with an hour long aerobics class called "Body Attack". i also used to regularly attend bikram yoga (the hot hot hot one) classes up to 4 times a week. once i even pretended i was going to get into running and i ran most days along a lovely path by the canal (turns out i HATE running. how on earth do people quiet their minds?! i used to run for exactly the length of an episode of this american life...).

this all seems like once upon a time these days as i struggle to find enough time to put together a decent dinner. without a gym membership and a refusal to revive my failed running attempts during a heat wave, i've been struggling to find a way to get back into shape (especially with my wedding only a mere 73 days away...)

this all changed about a week ago when i finally ordered the above DVDs by Jillian Michaels (of Biggest Loser fame). i had heard such good things about her videos and they were so cheap on amazon, so there wasn't really an excuse not to give them a try. and OH MY. they will kick your ass. in the best way possible. after only a 20min (!) workout on the 30 Day Shred video, I could hardly walk downstairs the next day. it's felt pretty good to get up early and get a workout done before i head out to work and i am feeling much better already.

just wanted to share ;) do you work out? what do you do and how do you find time during the week?

tuesday tunes

well hello there! sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. my car battery decided to die on monday morning causing me to spend my entire morning sitting in a pep boys and then i had to stay extra late at work to make up for lost time, sigh.

but i have some new awesome tunes to share ;)

1. Fitz and the Tantrums - MoneyGrabber
2. Peter, Bjorn and John - Second Chance
3. The Naked and Famous - Punching in a Dream
4. Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know
5. Young the Giant - I Got

What's your favorite song of the moment?

a little bit of this and that for the weekend

thank goodness it is friday! i am so completely ready for the weekend, it was kind of a rough week. SIGH. tonight we're headed to the phillies game (in 103 degree weather? umm sure...) and then tomorrow i'm headed up to new york state for my cousin's bridal shower.

now for some great stuff i wanted to share before i head off for some much needed decompression...

-- new song FINALLY from St. Vincent! can stream it here. can't wait to see her again in november.

-- have you seen this awesome photography project, dear photograph? and yea, some made me teary (i cry at everything)

-- great photography can also be found over at Life (like the one pictured above - see european vacationers have been doing jumping photos for decades ;)

-- also this past week one of my favorite painters Lucian Freud passed away so go revel in and celebrate his amazing work

hope you all have great plans for the weekend and make sure you STAY COOL!

so what can i really say?

it is HOT. really HOT. i saw this great article by Mark Bittman with a variety of ice pop recipes to help you stay cool. i think all the boozy ones sound pretty damn good, so i must try them ASAP. are you brave enough to try coconut curry?


as for now it appears that most of the continental US is in the same boat of oppressive temps and high heat indices. so i feel that i can freely admit that i am not the biggest fan of summer. this declaration is always met with such strong opposition (how could you say this? but the SNOW!?) honestly though, if i was made to choose i would always rather be freezing cold that swelteringly hot. maybe i just really hate to sweat?

so what about you? are you completely on board with all summer has to offer, humidity and all? or are you more of a transitional season lover? i personally love fall and enjoy the coziness of winter (i love a good snowstorm, what can i say?)

just because

gotta love that google is giving a shout out to Gregor Mendel today on the anniversary of his birth in 1822. he was one cool monk and the father of modern genetics ;) much of his work was done with breeding peas and observing the inheritance patterns of different traits.

man i loved those punnett squares in high school biology...

acrophobia

so i have to admit that i am pretty scared of heights, thus making me an acrophobic. what's funny is that even though i don't dare going near a ledge and peering over, i absolutely cannot stand to watch other people do this as i'm terrified that they will fall. i have made some headway in recent years, i hiked to machu picchu and i've even finally gotten to the 400 level seats at a Phillies game. BUT this new photography craze of "rooftopping" is just a little bit too much to handle...

all of the work shown is by the photograher Tom Ryaboi





what are your biggest fears?

souce: the daily mail

wanted: more hours in the day

clock with attitude by CyberMoon

it is only tuesday and i am already feeling majorly EXHAUSTED (also probably related to the intense sinus pressure that will not quit and makes me feel all loopy). there is so much to do at work and every night of the week seems booked with something to do (how did this happen?)

so i was wondering, how do you spend most of your days? are you in school? self-employed? work 9-5?

my daily schedule looks like this most days

6:30-7am: wake up
8am: leave for work (commuting by car....)
9am-6pm: work
7pm: arrive home (finally!)
8pm-11pm: make dinner (or go out to dinner if we are lazy), work on etsy stuff, go to art class (on wed), try and clean perpetually messy apt, workout (?), read, make headway on wedding planning, catch my breath....
11pm: watch the daily show ;)
12am: head to bed

sometimes it varies and i work a little longer (and sometimes shorter!) i've been commuting for a little over a year now and while i love living in philly and with bryan it does make my day a lot longer (thank goodness for NPR). when i finally finish grad school (in a year?) , my only hope is find a job close to wear i live and accessible by public transportation. also if i'm completely honest, i think i'd like my first placement to be part-time, because frankly i am tired after what will be 21+ years of school.

so, just wondering, how are your days? do you have free time to do what you want? what would you do if you had more time (i would go to yoga everyday!)?

oh hello there.

so forgive me and my little absence. i got hit by a double whammy of illnesses at the end of last week and i'm only now starting to feel somewhat normal. while sick though i had a chance to read the book One Day by Dave Nicholls. it's going to be a movie soon with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, so i decided i had to read it before i could go see the movie (does anyone else insist on this?!). Basically, the book follows the 40 year evolution of a friendship and I really enjoyed it. It's funny, heartfelt, sad, honest, and perfect for summer.

i hope you all had a lovely weekend! i got some completely unnecessary shopping done (50% off sale at Madewell?!? yes please!), celebrated my uncle's 70th birthday, and finally got to see the final Harry Potter (sniffle, sniffle).

right now i'm just relaxing with my cat and watching the women's world cup final (go USA!) hopefully bryan will be home from work soon so we can enjoy the little bit left of the weekend together ;) hope you all had a good one!

wedding overload

ok, so it feels like i woke up the other day and realized that i'm actually getting married in less than three months! (87 days to be exact) wedding planning is strange due to the fact that you rush rush rush in the beginning to lock down a date and venue and then book all the big vendors (like photographer, etc.) then you just sorta stop... and wait... and in my case avoid all wedding related tv shows, magazines, conversations (is this weird? i have no idea but i think i was overwhelmed by the whole thing and sort of begged to just elope for a few months ;)

so anyways, i am back in the game now and have thankfully hired some lovely wedding coordinators that have already been extremely helpful (at least with making me feel a lot better about all that i have gotten done). it's all about the details now and i'm now trying to figure how what i want the bouquets to look like, what shoes i'll wear, and how the tables will look. this part lends itself to my more crafty side nicely so i'm trying to tackle a few larger projects now and get them out of the way well ahead of the wedding. these include screen printing canvas welcome bags to greet hotel guests (i start these tonight!) and making table runners. invitations are also in and are going out very soon!

the images above are some of my current inspiration that i have been collected on my wedding board over at pinterest. feel free to follow me ;)

and if any crafty brides out there have any tips to manage the DIY aspects of a wedding please share any and all advice!

tuesday tunes - nostalgia

was feeling a little nostalgic this week for some good upbeat oldies. now clearly these aren't tunes from when i was young yesterday, but they are songs that my parent would play while i was growing up that i used to just love (big chill soundtrack anyone?)

so let's get the personal dance party started...

1. The Beach Boys - Kokomo
2. Cat Stevens - Here Comes My Baby
3. Three Dog Night - Joy to the World
4. The Rascals - Good Lovin'
5. Grateful Dead - Box of Rain

enjoy ;)

ohhh monday

i feel like i woke up this morning seriously confused about the fact that it was monday. where did the weekend go? sigh.

this weekend I was a little under the weather on saturday, so most of it was spent on the couch and wasn't terribly exciting. yesterday i felt a whole lot better and we went to the Phillies game (oh my it was HOT) and then my sister came over for dinner ;)

At night we all headed over to see the movie Beginners with Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent and Christopher Plummer (i will always adore captain von trapp). It was incredibly heartfelt and touching. Though I think at one point the entire theater had the sniffles at the same time. In summary its about Ewan's character dealing with his father's death and falling in love with a quirky actress. The movie is told non-linearly and it's constantly switching between different memories the main character has. Oh, and there is just about the cutest dog ever in the movie. Definitely recommend.

hope you all had a great weekend!

have a delicious weekend ;)

so today after work, i headed straight to the Trenton Farmers Market. i swear, this place is my all time favorite market. it really is nothing fancy, just tons and tons of local produce that is super super cheap. can't beat that ;)

i had high hopes to take photos of the place and all the fresh veggies, but the pouring rain sort of quashed that. thankfully i will be back there many many times this summer. today's haul included fresh jersey tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, kale, swiss chard, green beans and peaches (can i mention that this all cost around $15!).

now i just gotta hunt down some new recipes for all this produce...

hope everyone has a great summer weekend full of delicious local produce ;)

space!

allow me to nerd out for a little, but the final launch of NASA's 30 year space shuttle program is set to lift off in a little under two hours from now (weather permitting of course). i'm always happy to see a lot of excitement and interest over what is essentially a giant science experiment, so i'm a little sad to see the program end. at last year's annual department retreat held at the university i attend, our keynote speaker was the director of NASA's jet propulsion lab. even though as a biologist i have little understanding of what that actually means, she gave such an excellent talk and really conveyed the importance of the role of the work done in space (such as launching and maintaining the satellites that allow for tracking and predicting weather patterns as well as monitoring for climate change and other important geological changes).

so here's wishing all of the astronauts a safe trip and in their honor i've collected a few space-related finds for this friday ;)

1. galaxy dress
2. meteorite necklace by the angry weather
3. print by Ditty Drops
4. astronaut cat tote by Lucius Art

-----------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: lift off!


woo! watch video footage here and feel like a kid ;)

thursday tunes ;)

so i've been a little behind with posting as i adjust to life after vacation and getting back into the swing of things (like giving lab meeting yesterday, ugh always a stressful process)

but i'm back today with some more upbeat summery tunes.

1. The Wombats - 1996
2. Neko Case & Nick Cave - She's Not There (cover)
3. Jon Fratelli - Santo Domingo
4. Jukebox the Ghost - Schizophrenia
5. Young the Giant - My Body

as always, i love music suggestions! has anyone seen any good shows this summer? i recently saw Kurt Vile in philly and even though the venue was roughly 150 degrees, it was a pretty solid show. nothing big on the horizon, Neko Case and My Morning Jacket are playing a show and i'm trying to decide if it's super cruel to go the day before Bryan's bday when he has to work a night shift...

cy twombly

yesterday, the artist Cy Twombly artist passed away at the age of 83. i absolutely adore his work and the pretty amazing contribution he was able to make to the abstract expressionism movement. and i guess i always perceive his work to also be a litmus test for people and where they stand on modern art. you either like it or you like to claim "i could that" (a phrase i feel like i always hear while visiting the Fifty Days at Iliam installation at the Philadelphia Museum of art - pictured above)

so here's to a full life lived well, spent doing what you love ;)

may we all be so lucky.

happy 4th of july!

happy 4th of july fellow americans! (and happy belated canada day canadians and happy early bastille day frenchies ;) i hope everyone is having an amazing holiday! i can't believe that it is july. where does time go anymore?

we had a pretty fun weekend spent at my annual family reunion on saturday and then attending our first indian wedding on sunday (mmm the FOOD). sadly today both bryan and i are back at work today (i gotta say i kind of love being the only one here in lab even if trying to put together a lab meeting for wednesday is about the most painful thing ever right now). hopefully i will be productive soon so i can get out of here and head home to get some well needed cleaning done!

how did you spend the holiday weekend?

(photo source)