DIY: Hidden Jewlery Box

I love this idea! It's a hidden jewelry box behind a piece of artwork. Jewelry storage has always been a thorn in my side. How do you organize the yards of chains and gazillion bracelets without it looking like a metal graveyard?

I would love, love, love to sit down one Sunday afternoon and crank this baby out. This is where a jack of all trades boyfriend comes in...are you reading this APM? :)

I'm not a huge fan of the art chosen but a cool abstract canvas might be just as interesting.

Ms. Stache

When you date a man who thinks its funny to grow out a mustache every winter, and he has a group of friends with a hilarious sense of humor, your nick name becomes Ms. Stache. Clever.

So maybe I should invest in this stationary from Etsy. But I can only use it until the stache comes off.

Happy Weekend

Hello weekend! I thought you had left me, but alas, you made it back again.

I actually have exciting plans this weekend!

It starts with a fun, non stressful night with the wonderful APM.

Then I get to wake up early tomorrow for a manicure.

Next is a fantastic lunch with Helen at Aquitaine in the South End.

Finishing off Saturday with a classic Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with friends.

Then to top it all off, Sunday I'm going to my first official wedding!

(as an adult, if I want to call myself that)

I'm really not that interested in weddings, I hear they're never really all that fun. But I have a strange hankering that this wedding will be very exciting. I believe its the first of APM's friends to officially tie the knot, and knowing these boys, I'm sure everyone will be riled up.

(And yes the most exciting part about a wedding, for me anyways, is that I get to wear a fancy dress that I never wear because nobody seems to care too much about what they wear in Boston. Mostly how big their brain is. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.)

Let's play a game...

GUESS THE FOOD

Give up? Its Blackwater Scotch Eggs. Still have no idea what that is?


Me neither, but apparently APM was very gun-ho about trying it.



Inside these little fried balls of goodness are 2 hard boiled eggs wrapped in a pork sausage, spices & breadcrumb coating, then deep fried until golden brown.

And I know you are dyyyyyiiiing to try it. So I'm going to fill you in on where to get such a fine cuisine. Stop by the Banshee in Dorchester. I'm sure they'll have enough to go around.

(lighting provided by my good friend Jenn in a dark bar, she should look into lighting as a career move)

Fat Kid: Part 2

APM and I had a long glorious and glutenous Thanksgiving weekend. It all started with a beautiful flower that crossed the great Atlantic Ocean to get to me (or is it just Nantucket Sound?) From Chilmark, MA I present a hydrangea :)

We started the weekend with bread pudding from Pie in the Sky. No Photo available, however, it was delicious. But here is a photo of the bakery.

We then traveled to Whole Foods to get ingredients for Wild-Mushroom Bread Pudding. And guess who we saw?! Steve Tyler! Freaking Steve Tyler! I WISH I took a picture. I always feel stupid taking pictures of celebrities in their normal life, but now I wish I had a photo of me and Steve hanging out in Whole Foods. Oh well, he's only a memory now...

Next was dinner at Salsa's in Southie. No picture available. But please go just for their sangria.

Thanksgiving morning started with fresh toasted ciabatta bread, raspberry preserve, local honey, fresh blackberries, parmesan cheese and espresso. (sometimes I pretend we're french)

Then we had a Thanksgiving feast. And I didn't take a single picture! All that food and no proof of it. I need to step up my blogger game.

Friday was a long lazy day. A lot of laying around doing nothing. Very relaxing.

Saturday we got up early and drove down to Martha's Vineyard. It is absolutely beautiful this time of year. Few cars and only your favorite people.

I spent a few hours Saturday afternoon with Eniko. She is hands down one of my favorite people. We could chat for hours if life allowed us. She has taught me so much and I'm sure many other life lessons will come of our friendship (as well as more Spiked Cider and Pumpkin Pie we had on Saturday.)

Sunday morning was spent at my favorite brunch restaurant. Park Corner Bistro. I'm a little partial to this place because I worked here for a while, but Jesse really is an amazing chef and I love everything he cooks up. And as the owner/chef he really makes you feel welcome in his restaurant.

APM had the Eggs Benedict.

And I had Papas Platos with a side of Bloody Mary. In case you don't know, Papas Platos is a pile of fried potatoes, fresh guacamole, sour cream, caramelized onions, grilled bacon, fresh pico de gallo, and two eggs, any way you like them. a.k.a. heaven. And his Bloody Marys are The Best I have ever had. I'm not a big fan of this morning cocktail, but Jesse's recipe is health in a glass. A couple hours and a couple Nutty Irishmen later, we left Park Corner Bistro and stopped by Offshore Ale House where our friend was working. By some miracle APM was hungry again. And Offshore offers some of the best pizza on the island. Our favorite is the Potato Pizza. Basically potato skins on pizza dough.
I put this pic in because if you look really close you can see the St. Germain glass I got from Jesse. Watch out St. Germain, your stock just went up.
Offshore is a brewing company so I guess we'll show one of their bottled beers.

After this weekend, I will be eating this meal every. single. day. Butter optional.

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.

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