2009 September « make my day.

Searle

September 30th, 2009 § Leave a Comment

Was watching What Not to Wear the other day and realized that I inevitably love whatever the guest buys at Searle, so I decided to venture online and see what they were all about. Actually I thought Searle was a brand but turns out they are just a shop that sells high-endy brands like Cynthia Steffe and Nicole Miller. Sweet! I especially loved these looks…

First–my FAVORITE!!! I LOVE this dress (from Walter), and this cute one from Magaschoni!

Nicole Miller and Cynthia Steffe

Searle (house brand?) and Walter again…so cute and fun!

Anyone ever been to Searle? How was it? I think they are only in NY, but someday I definitely plan on a visit!

The Sun Also Rises

September 28th, 2009 § 2 Comments

This weekend I read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I think this was my first novel by Hemingway; I had read other short stories by him that I enjoyed. At first I was really taken aback by his writing style. I am used to reading long, poetic, meaty sentences—and this Hemingway is not. He uses a direct voice that is simple, everyday, and focused on moving the plot along. But he also does quite a bit of foreshadowing, and I just love how he hints at the way he is feeling first, and then bounds into the exposing dialogue. It’s light and airy and nice. Most of the story takes place in Spain, which has a very special place in my heart, and much of the action revolves around the San Fermin festival is going on, so I also got to experience my own memories of La Merce in Barcelona. At the end I was left a bit disappointed, but looking back on it, there was only one way for it to end. So I enjoyed it and look forward to my next Hemingway novel (though if you enjoy short stories, I’ve always found A Clean, Well-lighted Place to be a good one).

In TSAR, the characters are originally from Paris, and what with several blog friends visiting Paris and general feeling of wanderlust, I must also share with you this fantastic website that I hope to use in the future, called a Haven in Paris. Basically it is a catalog of houses and apartments that they own that you can rent while you are in Paris, Tuscany, or Montmarte. It is definitely more money than a hostel (my mode of choice thus far), but definitely less expensive than a hotel and you also have the ability to make your own meals. I cannot wait to try. And as I’m daydreaming, wouldn’t that just be a beautiful way to live, operating a fleet of beautiful spaces for people to come enjoy and fall in love with your city? I think so.

ANYway, I’ve decided not to be a lump on the couch today, so after a shower and a meal, I’m going out to explore some things in DC for the day, and perhaps also getting some writing in. Visiting the National Book Festival has inspired me again…but more on that later.

Interiors

September 28th, 2009 § Leave a Comment

Oh my goodness, the past few weeks I have been saving up lots and lots of images for this post, and I hope you enjoy them. Apparently in my time of unemployment, my hobby (besides baking bread) has become searching Craigslist for fixer-upper real estate and dreaming about how I would renovate and decorate each space. Honestly I would like to fix up my own house or flip it to someone else, but as I have a mound of student debt and no income to speak of other than past TA jobs that keep trickling in, now is not the ideal time to be planning real estate investments. But that doesn’t stop me. So here are some of my inspirations that have been floating around up there…

An old image, but I still love the color, the cozy corner of paintings and books (organized by color), and the dog! We are still waiting for a furry friend of our own…

LOVE the white built-ins, the stone fireplace, and the wood spiral staircase.

More built-ins

LOVE the butterfly mobile, and the graphic print sheets…

Painted staircase runner!!!

I really like this whole space…the built-in bookshelves, the chaise up against the smaller credenza, the big painting over the fireplace and the large mirror against the adjacent wall. Of course this would never work in our home as Drew is planning to buy a large flat screen TV as soon as he can, but, I can dream

I really like the layout of this room…if our living room was a bit wider I think it would have been nice flipped. And there’s even an unobtrusive spot for a desk!!! (which by the way he never uses)

From the IKEA catalog…lately I’ve been really into stripes. This room might be a little too over the top for me, but good ideas on how to use a round table so that it looks in proportion…

More stripes…I just LOVE this idea of white bedding with a striped skirt. I’d love to use this against my blue and white dream bedroom.

Mmmm I just love this color combination of pale blue and red/orange–but mostly white! I can’t tell if that’s a chair rail or waistcotting, but I love it! And the rattan shades…

Speaking of waistcotting, I LOVE this idea to incorporate a darker color paint that isn’t too overwhelming. I like the chest and the painting on the wall, but not too big a fan of the table and chairs.

Similar color and LOVE the painting over the bookshelves!

Really like this idea to display many photos in an organized way…

LOVE this Tiffany-painted kitchen!

Similar in color…love this idea for a painted hutch.

Don’t you just love this milk glass chandelier from Tonic Home?

More pretty white beds with a bold pattern pillow…

And finally–this one I like because of the window braces (they remind me of my grandmother’s old house), and the calm, modern color of everything else in the room. We have similar yellowy walls, and I have been at a loss for how to decorate with them so that everything isn’t a beige mess!

Ooops, just one more. Don’t you love this tiled shower? I rather like the little round ones.

Courier

September 23rd, 2009 § Leave a Comment

So apparently Microsoft is also making a tablet??? If this is true, I am extremely excited! I know it won’t be a direct competitor for the Kindle, but I do see all of these tablet/e-readers melding into one device in the end, with the ability to turn backlighting on and off for reading and more computer-like applications. Any news on the Apple tablet? I haven’t read anything about it recently…

To read more about the Microsoft tablet, go here.

BBA #15 Italian Bread

September 22nd, 2009 § 4 Comments

I was a bit disappointed with my french bread last week (should have made one larger baguette instead of two small ones–the crust just overpowered everything), so I was quite pleased that the italian bread was a complete success! I’m now convinced that my french loaves were much too small, and I think I will redo it to see if I can get it right sometime soon. A few things I did differently this time around:

-I kneaded this one by hand! I usually use my KitchenAid mixer instead of kneading it myself, but the bowl was dirty yesterday from making the biga, so I went for it solo…and it was actually fun! Of course I picked the recipe that calls for 10 minutes of kneading as opposed to 6 or so, but it was great! I think I will try to do more hand kneading in the future…it seems to do a better job when I only do a half batch.

-I think I’m getting the hang of scorching…I didn’t realize that they have to look wide before it goes in the oven otherwise they’ll look more like slits. Next time I think I’ll try one scorch that runs the length of the loaf; I really like that look!

-Finally getting the hang of hearth baking in the new stove. The last couple of times I don’t think I’ve gotten the door shut fast enough and by then most of the steam has escaped. I tried to be quick this time and I think it worked!

Overall, this bread is quite tasty. So far I’ve only had it alone, but I’ve read that it’s good as toast and I’m also thinking of french toast or garlic bread! It would have gone great with last night’s steak and veggies, but it wasn’t ready yet and I had already made au gratin potatoes…but maybe tonight!

Weeeeeekend!

September 19th, 2009 § Leave a Comment

Hey friends,

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. Here in DC we are having the most fabulous weather, and Drew and I just got back from lunch! Today was my 20 mile day for marathon training, and after frustratedly looking for my Nike+ receiver throughout the apartment for like 45 minutes (I finally did find it), I got to running at about 10.

Well, right away I was nervous because I have been having stomach pains the past couple days and they set in early. And my knees decided to hurt before I even got through a mile. Oy! But eventually I got onto the path and settled in a bit and it was great! It was sunny and cool and a bit windy, which was quite pleasant to run in. After mile 5, I found the bridge over to DC and I took it, with no plan as to where to run.

I found myself in Georgetown once I crossed to Potomac, and in my panic for not knowing where the heck I was going, I started following this really tall muscular man for a mile or so. Then I got my bearings and decided to turn north a bit and go through Dupont, and then wandered southeast to the Mall. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was so I took a really roundabout way and ended up getting there around mile 9. Ran toward the Washington monument for a bit, then turned back north and went up to M street, then west back to Georgetown to cross back into Virginia.

As luck would have it, my little jaunt into DC was the perfect 10 miles I needed and I was right on track when I got back on the path. Around mile 14-15 I started to get a bit lazy…my legs were stiff but not too tired, and my arms and chest felt good. But I was wearing a backpack today for my water and Gatorade and snacks, and my arms were starting to chafe from the straps. Annoying! I was going to take some Gu, but I chickened out AGAIN. So instead I walked a little bit and then ran the rest of the way back…ended up finishing in 3:40, which I was pleased with.

I am thinking of doing another 20-miler next weekend because I missed a few long runs a while back with my hip craziness. Luckily that seems to be doing okay although there’s something funky going on in my left foot…at about mile 16 it started feeling a bit numb, which was a little disconcerting. Hopefully I can find something on the internet that will tell me what to do about that so that won’t be a problem.

I think I’m going to have revise my goal pace back for the race, but that’s okay. My new goal is just to do better than last year, so hopefully that’ll happen! If I continued the same pace as today, I would finish 10 minutes ahead of last year, so we’ll see. Anyway, I think I’ll go back to watching football and RELAXING a bit before dinner with some friends. Tomorrow I have an early flight to Chicago for a funeral…leaving and coming back the same day, so it should be a long one. But next week is gonna be pretty busy with interviews and such, so goodness gracious I hope something works out!!! As much as I like being able to watch the Ellen show every day, I think I’d rather have a job

Favorites from Fashion Week

September 17th, 2009 § Leave a Comment

Here are my favorites from Spring 2010 Fashion Week (I just love that just as I’m dreading fall I can at least have spring to look forward to!):

Peter Som and Philosophy (I loved their color palette, the pale orange was beautifully done!)

Oscar de la Renta (I just think that first dress is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen and I love the print of the second)

Oscar de la Renta (I literally stopped dead in my tracks at this dress) and Anna Sui (slightly disappointed with her showing this season because I absolutely loved EVERYTHING from her last collection)

Milly

Michael Kors

3.1 Phillip Lim

Lela Rose and Diane von Furstenberg

Malandrino and Marchesa

BBA #14 French Bread

September 15th, 2009 § 3 Comments

I mean, they look good, right? This one was not my favorite. I made a half recipe, but looking back on it, I should have made one large loaf instead of two smaller ones. The size of them ended up making the insides to crust ratio way too small. I think I followed all the directions at the end for how long to keep them in there until the internal temp was high enough… I did have to use my turkey baster again for the steaming, but it worked alright for the ciabatta so that shouldn’t have been the problem. I dunno! It just wasn’t as good as I had hoped. I ended up freezing one of the loaves because we just couldn’t eat it fast enough, and I may end up taking it out and making some bruschetta or something… Hopefully the Italian bread will be a bit better; this one was just too crusty.

Anyone know where I went wrong? I’m at a bit of a loss…but excited for the next installment of the BBA Challenge!

BBA #13 Focaccia

September 15th, 2009 § 2 Comments

This was fun! Different than a lot of the other breads because of all the oil and dimpling and more oil and more dimpling, but in the end it was quite tasty. Still turned out a bit more “bready” than I had hoped, but did get some smaller holes still. Must resist the urge to pop those little gas bubbles! I’m always super concerned that there’s going to be a weird blob on the finished loaf and forget that it all seems to even out in the oven. Still tasty…if I made it again I would use more oil on the top (skimped a bit this time because it just seemed like so much!).

The end of Day 1…putting it into the pan with the oil mixed with an herb sauce I had made for something else a few days ago. Ended up quite nice even though the herbs were pretty much pureed at this point