I love it

“Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby."

-- Langston Hughes

Ikat...no I can!

OK that was a bad joke (see above), but look how great these pillows are! I'm not sure if Ikat is on its way out, but I'm still in love with the idea. Ikat adds a great pattern to a room without being too crazy. And at $19 a pop, you cant go wrong.

Tear...

She's leaving us. She has up and decided that 25 years was enough...Some of you might know this, and most of you probably don't, but one of my life goals was to be on Oprah.

Like really be a guest on her show.

I didn't care what for. Maybe for the invention of a new kitty litter box, or because I happen to see aliens land and she wanted my "eye-witness" account.

I didn't care.

I just know that I will be very sad come 2011. She is going to start her very own network. Which I imagine will be a good Oprah Winfrey Show replacement, but somehow it just wont be the same.

Come One Come All

Boldfacers is sponsoring a shopping event tonight.

And of course it comes at a time that I have vowed to halt any personal shopping until all Christmas presents are purchased.

However, when did a little window shopping hurt anyone? I mean, I could be shopping for my sister, who so happens to be the same size and body type as me...

Happy Birthday Sis!

Today is my little sister's 23rd birthday!

I can't believe it! She really is turning into quite a strong woman and I can not wait to see her again soon so we can relic about being in our "mid 20's."

Happy Birthday Angie!

Hope it's a great year.

HBD lil' sis.

Pic by Southern Charm Decor, and sweetums.com.au

I Need a Boost

My work has been crazy this week and I just need a boost of happiness to keep going today.


Image from Garance Dore

Fat Kid

Dear My Lovely Dietitian Momma,

I promise I eat very healthy Monday 7:00 a.m. through Friday 5:00 p.m. The weekend is my time to enjoy all those brownies, french fries, cupcakes and root beer I passed up during the week. I do enjoy these guilty pleases and somehow I have mastered the art of fitting many of them into a short 55 hour period. Below is just a sampling of last weekend...

Cesar Salad. It might say salad, but we all know its not good for you.

Pulled pork sandwich topped with fried onion rings and a side of french fries. Wait, I see a vegetable in that picture, a pickle.

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll for dessert.

Anyone know where I can find Pillsbury Orange Rolls? Is it just a southern thing?

You too can have your very own...

Collier de Chien Bracelet.

While browsing one of my favorite DYI Blogs, How About Orange, I came across this old post to print and make your very own Hermes Birken Bag. By the time I went to the Hermes website, they had changed their DYI project to the Collier de Chien Bracelet.

Of course I couldn't just post a random make-your-own-bracelet post without first trying it for myself. This is not a quick, let me just pop out a bracelet project. For a silly paper bracelet, it does takes a while to make. But once its done, nobody will be able to tell the real from the fake. (P.S. the previous sentence is a lie)

Picture was taken with the iPhone Shake It App.

Pretty in Pink

Happy friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets to enjoy being outside before the frigid winter hits.

Pretty Pink Things

First two pics from Homeandgarden.webshots.com, second two pics from sabino.com, last pic from lonestarcupcakery.com

Cooking Attempt: Taboule

Taboule is one of the few things I can actually make without instructions AND one of the few things my mom taught me how to make! Maybe she did teach me a thing or two about cooking! Its a great healthy alternative to salad and it the bulgar wheat helps to fill you up. ***Cooking Tip: Putting a cold lime in the microwave for 10 seconds makes the lime juicier. Putting a cold lime in the microwave for 60 seconds because you forgot about it makes the lime explode and scare the crap out of you because it jumps up and hits the inside of the microwave.***

Pop Quiz

Pratt and Lambert have a pretty cool quiz online. Answer a few questions, and presto chango, you have a color palate that fits your personality. Mine was pretty obvious, but miraculously accurate to my liking. It's called "Shades of Pale." Go figure...

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

(the above is sung to the tune of Jay-Z and Alicia "Empire State of Mind." Hate to admit it, but I LOVE this song)

Last weekend I hopped on the Bolt Bus and headed down south to New York City. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Kim, has lived in Manhattan for the past 4 years. I've been promising for 2 years that I would come and visit again. So this past weekend, I finally did. New York is such an amazing city. There is so much to see and do.

On Saturday, I got to experience a little peace of heaven at Mood Fabric. For all you Project Runway fans, this is the fabric store the designers always go to. It was absolutely stupendous. I feel in love with all the fabrics, notions, trims, buttons...

We then continued to shop all over NYC. Blommies had a sale, Anthro was very busy, and Rockefeller Park ice rink was in full swing. One of my friends works at Tommy Hilfiger Corporate so we stopped in at one of their specialty stores, Tommy Hilfiger Fifth Avenue. The top floor was filled with beautiful shoes, coats, purses, dresses, skirts and blouses. I picked up a few things, then we headed home to get ready for a night out. We met up with some friends in the West Village and continued to a few other places.

Sunday we took a fun trip down to the meatpacking district. A very interesting place that I would love to live in if I were to ever move to NYC.* We started at Chelsea Market and had lunch at T Salon. The owner was quite a vibrant woman. Speaking to every. single. person. in her store. However, she made the best darn tuna salad I ever had. I'm not a tuna person. I don't even like mayonnaise, but the name "Tuscan Tuna Salad" sucked me in. It was made with olive oil, olives, capers, and lemon. Delish.

Then we met her friends while they were finishing up brunch. Next we walked along the High Line. An old railroad trellis that used to transport goods such as meat to and from other areas of New York and beyond. Since the meat packing district no longer processes meat, the train system had no use. Mayor Giuliani planned to tear down the tracks but instead, Robert Hammond and Joshua David created a group called "Friends of the High Line." With the help of architects and supporters, the railroad line was transformed into a public garden. The first stage opened last May and they plan to expand it further. Sunday was gorgeous and quite possibly one of the best days to be there.

We finished off the day with some shopping and dinner at Caracas Arepa Bar. I had the
De Pabellón. A fantastic mix of Venezuelan flavors. Shredded beef, black beans, white salty
cheese and sweet plantains. Yum. It was so good and filled me up for the bus ride home.
(I forgot to mention that the shopping consisted of a secret, behind the scenes, pretty sure illegal purchase on Canal Street).
One 4 hour bus ride later, I was back in my beloved Boston.

*I will probably never move to NYC. I have found my love, and his name is Boston.

Happy Monday!!

APM and I had ourselves a little sushi fest Friday night in Falmouth, MA.

If you ever find King Crab on a sushi menu, order it. Thank me later.

Cooking Attempt: Coconut Macaroons

Yesterday was my boss' birthday. And in my office, birthdays mean desserts. No doubt about it, on someones birthday there will always be cookies, cupcakes, or candy. In an attempt to make something I was sure my boss would like, I made something she always eats from Au Bon Pain. Chocolate Covered Cranberry Macaroons. I took a recipe from Ina Garten and mixed it with a recipe from Food Network and made some darn good macaroons.

Like I've said in a previous post, cooking is not my specialty. I am attempting all these recipes with no promise of success. Also, with every cooking adventure I will share a cooking tip that I discovered in the process. Sometimes these cooking tips are common sense, but there has to be someone else out there that didn't know these tips, because I sure enough didn't.

Check out those peaks

The after pictures haven't been turning out that great. But I promise these were good.

***Cooking Tip: Wax paper and parchment paper are NOT the same thing. I repeat, NOT the same thing. I made this mistake. That's why the recipe makes 32 macaroons and I ended up with only 16. The other 16 were coated in wax paper.***

Wonderful Colabos

So Kenny Chesney and Dave Mathews decided to do a music colabo and the result is wonderful. The song they did together is called I'm Alive. It's such a pretty song and it has a good message. Kenny apparently wrote it when him and Renee were breaking up.

(kinda makes me like it a little less, but I'll just pretend I didn't read that article)

Anyhoo...while trolling the Internet I came across this really fun website. You can put in any grouping of words, and it creates a word collage. You can change the color, font, direction of text amongst other things. So I created my own calabo and mixed together Kenny and Dave lyrics with this website. And the result is wonderful.


Doesn't it kinda look like a guitar? It's going in a frame ASAP and gettin' put up.*

*Note: sometimes I talk in a country twang when talkin' bout country things.

http://www.wordle.net/

One Word.

Awesome.Many Words.

He was great. He was amazing. He was entertaining.

The Wang Theatre is a strange place to host Ray Lamontagne. I feel like Ray needs a dark, speak easy type of bar. Not a grand, gilded theatre. None the less, he was amazing. It is really great to watch an artist play their songs that so happen to be your favorites. He even sang You're The Best Thing in a totally different way then the release. He said he was going to sing it the way it was written.

Photo by dan winters from puremusic.com

Universe = The Big Guy

"When you believe in something with your heart, the universe believes in it with you."

(I'm sorry that I don't know who said this, but it is very true. If you know, please pass along that info my a-way.)

Ol' Ray

I am extreamly excited about today. I am going to see one of the greatest artist of all time.

I'm not kidding when I say that I love him.

Let me tell you a story....In May of 2006 I went to Martha's Vineyard to waitress just for the summer. Well life happened and by the end of the summer I decided not to go back to law school. Que in my first quarter life crisis. Now, for the first time ever, I didn't know what to do with my life. So I did what any person would do and I went to Aboveground Records. Aboveground Records is a really hip local record store. And here I was, just a measly summer worker, trying to be cool. So I stroll up to the counter and ask the counter guy to suggest an artist that sounds similar to Jack Johnson. So lame! Everybody and their mother was listing to Jack by then and it was basically like asking to recommend and artist similar to Britney Spears. But low and behold, he pulls out the following CD. And my life has never been the same. Not only does Ray remind me of the storybook beginning of APM, but also, my first fall on Martha's Vineyard. The best season on the vineyard. The locals come out of their hiding places and enjoy the vineyard again. 2 for 1 meal deals actually exist and bon fires are all the rage. It's really just all blissful memories when I listen to him. He was my soundtrack of late 2006.

I have since bought all of his CD's(And I mean the actual CD, I haven't been able to catch on to only buying the MP3), and I think you should too.

All photos courtesy of RayLamontagne.com

Halloween Part Two

Went to another great Halloween party, and of course had to dress up as something different. You just can not wear the same costume to two different parties.

A Grecian and my wonderful date, Alex from Clockwork Orange.

Run DMC even made an appearance.

**This Halloween proved that I'm quite the crafter, so if you ever need a giant cod piece, let me know. I can make you a one of a kind.