Things to love today.

Happy Sunday.  Today I am catching up on cleaning, reading some of my favorite blogs, planting a few spring seeds and planning on stopping by a new-ish coffeeshop downtown that I've been wanting to visit.  What are your Sunday afternoon plans?

A few weekend links taking up my time:

 - Dreamy Whites. French farmhouse inspired living
 - Live streaming Blue Heron cam from Cornell's Ornithology Lab, via my mother!
 - Brandi Carlile's That Wasn't Me.  I've already listening four times today
 - Elephantine.  Lovely photos, recipes and short fiction
 

Winter in the kitchen: Resources

{pate a choux cream puff shells, cooling}

 While searching online a couple of months ago for a good spinach artichoke dip recipe, I came across Annie's Eats, a cooking and baking blog that has quickly become one of my favorite sources for delicious, from-scratch recipes.  I am a sucker for crisp, appealing photography of the steps of a recipe, but more importantly, the final results of a recipe.  I shy away from cookbooks with no photos, particularly when the recipes are unfamiliar or complex, because I enjoy both the inspiration that a photo can provide (especially when I'm cooking or baking for guests) and the hints it offers when I am feeling a little stumped during preparation.  Lucky for me, Annie's Eats is chock full of bright, colorful and scrumptious photos of all of the recipes!  Tonight I baked up a batch of cream puffs for the first time, using a combination of this recipe and this one.  They're for a co-worker's birthday tomorrow, so I'm really hoping they're a success!  But really, who doesn't like cream puffs?  Wish me luck...

Mid-week musings and the perfect hideaway

I attended a fabulous Indie craft market last weekend right here in my own home town (more on that later), and had a mini conversation with one of the vendors from Pistachio Press about how addicting blogs are, and how tricky it is to keep up on reading them all.  (Coincidentally, I'd first heard of Pistachio Press some time back via a blog).  My list is pretty long, and there are definitely some that I only manage to click over to once in a blue moon, but every now and then I like to sit down and - at the very least - skim through a few of my favorites to get up to date.  It always helps to inspire me if I'm feeling the need for a new idea or a new project.

Design*Sponge's tutorial on dry brush painting.  I think this might be just what I've been looking for to fix up the sewing able I found this summer.


Cute little sailor-like clothes-peg dolls on this blog that I'll be talking about soon :)  I love anything with a blue striped shirt. 


How to make a birdcage veil and pretty diy chiffon flowers on Project Wedding.

More Design*Sponge:  a guide to the Berkshires.  I've really only ever driven through the area, or stopped at a specific place for an afternoon, but since we'll be attending a wedding in the Berkshires next fall, it might be the perfect opportunity to check out some of these places. 

Finding your missing cell phone.  I think Cup of Jo is officially my most referenced blog.  She finds the best stuff!
Lastly, I came across this jaw-dropping little story and photo slide show of the most amazingly perfect woodsy hideway on a blog last week (though for the life of me, I can't remember what blog!), and have been clicking back to view the pictures ever since.  I think it's probably impossible to see these photos and not be inspired.  I kind of want to live here.  View the full NY Times slideshow and the story.

Case of the Mondays

Sigh.  It's eleven at night and I'm doing my best to think happy thoughts; it's hard sometimes, isn't it?  I have a lovely glass of wine that tastes just like a scrumptiously fresh grape off the vine, and in my cleaning efforts tonight I uncovered a package of glow-in-the-dark twinkle stars, the kind you can affix to the ceiling.  I might put them up before A-Chef comes home (shhh..don't tell).  What else?

• A poster of the NYC subway system that I simply adore.  I'm wondering if there's one of my beloved Metro out there somewhere.
• Oh, and then I visited the artist's website.  I might want her job.
• Did I tell you that I blog for work, too?  Well I do, and students might actually be reading it!  This is exciting news.  If I'm brave enough, I'll share the link soon.
• A gorgeously colorful photo of an NYC street at Gothamist that immediately convinced me that a spring daytrip is in order, to visit my bestie and my cousin and my bedazzled friend Kristin (who got engaged practically the same day as I did!). 
• Also, I love the ists.  I am admittedly still addicted to DCist.

 And now I'm sleepy.  And I want a dog.  Nighty night!  Talk to you soon...

Spring, vicariously.

{not the weather that greeted me this morning}

Hello there!  A-Chef and I are spending the weekend in upstate New York; some business, some fun  It's freezing cold, so tonight we're hibernating inside under blankets and sweatshirts and thick socks.  Even though it's not quite spring outside, I'd like to think it's warm somewhere, so I've been trolling the internet for a dose of sunshine and bright spring colors.

Some pretty little links for the weekend:

Tour of a light, airy flat in Paris, making me wish spring would be here to stay already.

Pretty table number project to get me thinking.

Teensy tiny terrariums on Etsy.  Mom and I made our own full sized ones today!

Oh, yes; one more thing.  Tomorrow night is Earth Hour!  Don't forget to turn off all unnecessary lights and other electronics for a full hour, starting at 8:30pm local time.

New to the blogroll

Ta dum: wedding blogs!  I've actually got to get down to business and start our planning someday very soon, but it's so difficult with ALL of the options out there!  I already have a tendency to be indecisive, how will I ever make a single decision with so many ideas floating around?

My current favorite sources of inspiration:

~ Style Me Pretty
~ 100 Layer Cake
~ Snippet & Ink
~ Project Wedding
~ Green Wedding Shoes
~ Duet Weddings
~ Once Wed
~ Ruffled

Image credits: (clockwise, from top left) 100 Layer Cake, Style Me Pretty,

Ruffled, Project Wedding, Green Wedding Shoes, Project Wedding. 

My current obsessions

(and some link love)...

1. Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Twist (the holiday cups are back!)
2. Bad TV: lately I've been feeling unusually interested in just lounging on the couch and watching loads of questionable television.  You know, things like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Jon & Kate Plus 8 (or what's left of it), Family Guy, etc.   A glass of wine and some sweatpants don't hurt the situation either.
3. NY Times Home and Garden photo galleries...I could get lost in these for hours.
4. Lobster and Swan.  Check out her circle garlands.  She also makes a small postcard sized collage every day, posted on her other blog, Record the Day.
5. Gnomes 30th Anniversary Edition.  I saw some cute stuffed gnome dolls online the other day when browsing for kids' Christmas gifts, and since then, I've been sketching pictures of gnomes and trees and thinking about this book that we had around the house when I was a kid.  There's a Christmas crafts book, too!

What I want to be my next obsession: Fantastic Mr. Fox.  It looks awesome!

Summer baking

Discovered this website today and will be making this recipe asap. Finally! A use for the FULL BUCKET of blueberries I "accidentally" picked a week and a half ago :)

Windy Day

Umbrella or sunglasses today?

(via toujours dimanche)