A Little Photo Inspiration...

I am so in love with these painted photographs by Alexandra Valenti, which I spotted on As Ink Remains. I adore the concept and the whimsical-feeling of these photos..

Her web portfolio is chock-full of beautiful fashion photography, portraiture, and album art. Be sure to check it out!  You can even own one of her amazing prints for 50 bucks (8 1/2x11 size).

Energizing Raspberry Iced-Tea

Now that its finally Springtime, I've been making Fresh Iced Tea as a weekend afternoon substitute to coffee. You may have already seen my Energizing Raspberry Iced-Tea recipe, when I talked about my love for 3-day weekends, but I'm reposting it here with visuals for a quick-and-easy reference!

Here's the recipe I posted last time:

(*with 1 edit: I accidentally called out the honey as 1 tablespoon, when I met 1 teaspoon! whoops!)

3 Tea Bags of Yogi Green Tea Goji Berry

3 Tea Bags of Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger

1 Teaspoon of Honey or Agave Nectar

Place tea bags in a medium-size glass pitcher. Pour hot water into pitcher, leave about 1/4 room at top. Let brew for 5 to 10 minutes (depending how strong you like it - I prefer brewing it for a longer period of time). Add teaspoon of honey/agave nectar while still hot. Stir. Remove tea bags, allow time to cool down. Add ice cubes to top of pitcher and refrigerate. Enjoy in about an hour!

This time I didn't have the Yogi Green Tea Goji Berry, so I used 4 bags of Trader Joe's Green Tea (you can use 3-4 bags of any green tea, depending on how strong you want it to be!)  I still used 3 tea bags of the Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger (You can sub any of your favorite flavored herbal teas.) The honey/agave nectar is optional depending if you like your tea sweetened (a lot of times I prefer it unsweetened).

Serve over ice in a cute glass!  My Mom gave me a few of these "feet glasses" years ago, and they are still a huge-conversational item in my apartment to this day!

This Way Please...

Image found Here

Hey, did you guys know I like to TUMBLE? Check out my Tumblr and follow me there to see some of my favorite people, places, and things! (And general eye-candy type of stuff that makes me smile!)

Date Night: What I Wore and What I Ate

Taz and I had a 'date night' Friday night, which doesn't sound that exciting unless you know what we do on a typical Friday night....

I.E. Taz comes over around 8pm, we discuss what to do for dinner for about an hour. Then I exclaim that I'm starving and unmotivated to leave the apartment. We order Indian food for pick-up. Our exact phone-in order is "Chicken Tikka Masala, extra extra spicy and 1 garlic Naan" (sometimes 2 Naan's and a extra side of Masala sauce if we're feeling really hungry). For 2 people who love variety our Friday nights are sadly lacking in it! Sooo, this week I suggested we go on a "date night", and I let Taz pick the place and surprise me.

In the meantime, I tried to look my 'casual date best' with some serious accessorizing. I have a very eclectic clothing style, but lately I've been toning down the clothes and letting my accessories take center-stage.

So dressed in my standard 'winter going-out' outfit (Levi's high-waisted straight-leg jeans, a black tank, and a leopard cardi), I added these "Vegas" earrings...

Do you guys remember when I showed you my necklaces? Well earrings are really my favorite accessory, especially of the big and gaudy kind. I call any crazy, glitzy, and big earrings (like the feather ones above), my "Vegas" earrings. But, after further consideration I decided to tone it down, and lose these show-stoppers for something more subtle...

This was my grandmother's necklace, and I think it paired better with the leopard cardi...but I still needed earrings!  So I added these...

A great $5 find from my favorite accessories-selling-gentleman on 5th Ave in Park Slope. They compliment the necklace, cause they have that 'vintage' feel.  See?....

And what better to pair my grandmother's necklace with, than her glitzy vintage, chain-strap handbag?

I even threw on my "big-girl shoes". (Since I normally wear flats anything with a heal is considered a "big-girl shoe" in my book!)  Low-healed black booties...

For a change I was dressed and ready (with time to take the above photos) when Taz arrived at 8:30pm.  After driving me around Brooklyn for a bit, we ended up at Tabare in Williamsburg.  And I have to say, Taz always knows how to pick a great place! They sat us right on time for our 9:15 reservation, and the service was very attentive, but not overbearing. The atmosphere was lively, but intimate and romantic at the same time. We ordered an affordable bottle of  Mendoza Malbec that was delicious, but the Uruguay-inspired food was really the main focus!

We shared Chorizo con cebolla & pimentos (Uruguayan sausage with roasted onions and peppers) and Beef-filled Empanadas Caseras to start.  As someone who doesn't eat a lot of meat, I have pretty high-standards when I do indulge in it, and I have to tell you both appetizers were amazing. I was way to busy eating to bother Taz for his iPhone to snap a photo.

I did stop myself from devouring my super-rich, creamy-cheese filled Handmade Potato Gnocchi's, in time to take a photo...

The photo does not do this dish justice, these were Amazing!  

Taz had a perfectly-cooked Churrasco steak, with a side of arugula and tasty fries.

And then there was dessert...

This is a terrible photo of what was an incredible-tasting dessert. Alfajor Rustico (Layers of crisp homemade cookies with dulce de leche, chocolate ganache, & sea salt caramelized walnuts). I don't think I need to describe it any further!

For their full dinner, brunch, and dessert menus click Here.

Happy Saturday!

Oh, Saturday morning, how I love you....

San Diego Scrapbooking...

So I've been back from San Diego since late Monday night, but it always takes me a little while to get out of 'vacation mode'!  I had been so excited for this trip for a few key reasons...

1. I've never been to the West Coast at all! 
2. I've never taken a flight by myself. (I know getting on a plane doesn't excite most people, but I love the entire process of traveling!)
3. I was going for the sole purpose of seeing my former-longterm-roomie Emily who just moved there this past January, and I couldn't wait to hang out with her!

This quick 3 night-2 day trip did not disappoint! Emily and her friends Hutton and Schuyler took the time to show me as many different areas of San Diego as we could squeeze into a 2 day period! For a weekend with no-set plans we definitely did a lot!  Even though the sun came out for a maximum of 2 hours the entire time I was there, the weather was still perfect, and I managed to snap a few great pics...

Surfing, paddle-boarding, and scuba-diving are huge sports in San Diego. Makes sense when you are surrounded by water and have beautiful weather year round! (More on the bikes in a few...)

 Emily lives in Pacific Beach, where we hung out the first evening, before spending the rest of the weekend in Coronado, Downtown, and La Jolla.

Is it obvious we both went to school for Fashion Design?? Hey, even when you're at the beach you've got to accessorize!

The Hotel Del Coronado was beautiful and has an amazing history!

We were advised by some lovely ladies who took our photographs to check out this yearly flower show, but we never made it over!

The homes in Coronado were the sweetest (and most heavily adorned with flowers!) that I've ever seen.  I felt like I stepped into the Pleasantville movie! Only regret......not taking more pictures of these gorgeous homes and gardens!

Heading 'downtown' after Coronado for some refreshment and dinner, Emily made sure to take me to "The Hopping Pig", a mecca of craft beers. Just like Brooklyn, but with a West Coast selection!

AND...people watching from our outdoor seats...enough said.

Schuyler's lucky to live in her friend's amazing modern-style home in La Jolla...and we were lucky she invited us to stay there Saturday night! The house was beautiful, and I had my own 'guest room'. (We jokingly referred to it as "the mansion", I'm pretty sure the name is going to stick!)

The pool at "the mansion". It barely reached 70 though so there was no swimming on this trip. Maybe next time!

Remember those bikes in the top picture? Schuyler lent us bikes to ride to 'The Cove'. No joke, I have not ridden a bike in at least 10 years.  If only there was a video of my first trial runs on the block...hilarious. Who ever said you never forget how to ride a bike?!?

Good thing it was a quick ride to The Cove! 

I had no idea the big attraction there was the seals. I was so excited and took tons of pictures. Later I looked at my photos from the trip and about half were pictures of just piles and piles of seals!

This just made me laugh. No one else around seemed to think it was as humorous as I thought it was. Maybe they're just used to seeing funny mannequins hanging-out in convertibles in California?

Just thought I'd end on a colorful note! There was so much great architecture and design in San Diego. It was just so different from the East Coast aesthetic I'm used to.

Anyone have any travel trips they could share about visiting San Diego?  I'm thinking about planning another Cali trip soon...possibly San Fran, so I'm open to hearing tips on where to go and what to do!

Have a great weekend!

Super Quick DIY - Neon Key Markers

(Or 'What to Do When You're Procrastinating'!)

After getting back from a whirlwind, super-fun weekend in San Diego late Monday night, I was catching up on my 'To Do List' Tuesday after work. And by catching up, I mean that I was adding more and more things to my list, and NOT crossing anything off. Usually I would have "cook, photograph food, and write a post for What's Cooking Wednesdays" written on my list, but that was so not even close to happening.  It didn't even make it to the list.  Instead I'm posting about what I do best during busy times.......I like to call it Productive Procrastination.

Instead of working on one of the many blog posts I had planned (including 1 of my San Diego trip, which will make an appearance in the next couple of days!),  I decided to try out THIS mini-DIY from Jordan at Ramshackle Glam.  I figure this counts as being productive since its something I've had on my 'mental' To-Do list for a while!

So I took out my keychain...

and then I brought out the brightly colored nail polish...

and then I painted my keys!..

Jordan used glitter polish in her 'tutorial', but I'm not really a 'sparkly' kind of girl so I went for the bright and solid colors!  This really is a super quick (and free!) way to mark your keys. I painted the keys just the way I paint my nails, 2 coats of a bright color and 1 of a clear topcoat. Don't forget, after letting one side dry completely, flip and paint the other side!


P.S.  Your regularly-scheduled "What's Cooking Wednesdays" will return next week!

Leaving on a Jet Plane....

Image found Here

I'm off to San Diego for a long weekend to visit Emily! Believe it or not, its my first time traveling to the West Coast! So EXCITED! I'll try to take lots of pictures!

Thursday Afternoon Office-Style Break!

'That Awkward Moment When Your Co-Worker(s) is Wearing the Same Shirt (and Lipstick!) as You...'

When you work in the fashion design industry (I work for a childenswear company), its unheard of to walk back into the office after some lunch-break shopping and NOT have a show-and-tell of your purchases with your co-workers. We're a small and close design team at my company and many of us like the same trends. We also all like a really great DEAL! Lately I've been very much of the 'sharing is caring' mentality, so I was eager to share my amazing lunchtime shopping-find last week - 3 dollar basic tees and tanks at the Espirit store on W. 34th Street, NYC. Buy 2 Get 1 Free! (Do the math, that's 2 bucks a shirt!) I picked up an array of colors, 6 tees and 3 tanks...

...and I excitedly rushed back to work with my bag in hand, eager to share with my co-workers...Except no one was there! They were still on lunch, so I waited around and practically threw my 2 dollar tees at them when they walked in the door, insisting they go check it out immediately! They did of course, and now most of us will probably be sharing a very similar Spring look for the next few weeks!  When 1 person in the office gets hooked on something, we all get hooked!

Speaking of 'getting hooked', makeup is the easiest item to get addicted to. Last Spring we all fell hard for Sally Hansen's Nail Polish Strips, this Spring its the L'oreal Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour Compact. I received one of these lipcolours (Beyonce Red) in a free L'oreal gift bag a while back, and finally decided to wear the bright red lipstick to work one day. Here's what it looked like...

Well anyway, I received a slew of compliments from my co-workers, and when we realized the color is really as stay-proof as L'oreal claims (it lasts all day, and you need to use an oil-based makeup remover to take it off) we were sold. I looked up L'oreal drugstore deals the next day, and found one for almost 50% off at CVS (last weeks deal). Since I couldn't find the Beyonce Red, I chose an Apricot lipcolour (a more subtle deep peach color), but I'm still on the look-out for what appears to be the sold-out Beyonce! My co-workers bought a variety of colors and we all agree its the best stay-proof lipcolour!

Do any of you have any quirky office trends or style-addictions?!

Egg, Avocado, & Tomato on an English Muffin

After eating my typical breakfast of fruit, fruit, and more fruit Monday through Friday, I usually splurge and buy myself a delicious bagel/english-muffin-esque sandwich after Bikram yoga on Saturday mornings. Since I'm going away on a mini-vacation this weekend, I decided to be a little thriftier last Saturday, so I whipped this up instead...

2 Jumbo Scrambled Eggs, 1/2 an Avocado, and 2 slices of a Beefsteak Tomato on a Toasted Whole Wheat English Muffin*. Salt & Pepper to top it off. (I added some hot sauce to mine too, but you really don't even need any condiments with this!) 

 Mmmm, it was delicious! I can't wait to make another one!

*About the English Muffins:

(Disclaimer: this is a 'How to Make Healthier Choices' rant)

I was having a grocery store dilemma over buying this simple bread product, which typically happens when I stray away from the fresh produce section of the market, and into the dreaded middles aisles (where all the packaged/processed products are).  

Here's the thing - I don't normally buy bread products. (And by normally, I don't mean never, I just mean on a regular basis. I really love pasta, pizza, and bread - after all I am Italian!) The problem is bread products are all processed, and I try to at least limit the processed foods I eat. (Instead I go for whole-food carbs like sweet potatoes, rice, quinoa, couscous, etc.)

Guess what the second or third ingredient in most loaves of bread on your supermarket shelf is? SUGAR. 'Low-fat'/'Reduced Calorie'/or 'Low-Carb' breads aren't any better for you. Please don't buy these 'dieter' breads. They often contain many more ingredients (of the un-pronounceable kind) than a regular-full-fat-full-carb loaf. 

So back to my dilemma. All I wanted from the market that Saturday morning was a pack of Whole Wheat or Multi-Grain English Muffins. The only brand I could see that offered this was Thomas', and the only one available was of the 'light' version.  I flipped over the package to find... a long list of un-pronounceable ingredients...of course. After checking every shelf of sugary-filled breads, I finally came across these...

Vermont Bread Company All Natural 100% Whole Wheat English Muffins.

They have 13  ingredients, compared to the 35 in Thomas' Light Multi-Grain Muffins. (See all 35 here.) All of the ingredients were real 'pronounceable' food items. And the best part?... The Vermont english muffins were also about 1 dollar cheaper than Thomas'.

So basicalllllly, I just wanted to say... if you must buy packaged foods, read the ingredients first. The products that are sometimes advertised as "healthier" or "natural" aren't always as 'good for you' as they claim to be!

Apartment Update: Accent Wall Before & After

Need a little uplift to your living room? How about an accent wall?! Taz and I painted one small wall in my living room this weekend. I decided to take the chance of just painting one section of our living room a bright color and keeping the rest of the walls white. 

Why paint just 1 wall?

1. I rent and don't want to be stuck re-painting the whole apartment white again! 

2. Paint is more expensive than I realized! I wanted to avoid having to purchase enough paint to cover 9 foot high walls that wrap around into the kitchen.

This was a great budget-friendly way to brighten up the main room of our apartment. (Which functions as a living room/dining room for me, my 2 roommates, and our 3 boyfriends!). For our 9x5 ft wall space we only needed 1 bucket of paint (we bought one with the primer already in it), and we had more than enough to also paint a 3x2 ft bookcase! 

Here's what the wall looked like...

I really loved my gold-framed DIY 'pictures' that I had put together years ago with old inspirational calendar pages, felt fabric, and decorative paper.  However, I apparently never loved them enough to do a decent job of hanging them in a straight line. This photo is a little exaggerated but they've been hanging in a slightly crooked manner for over 4 years now.

I was planning on replacing these frames with 3 beautiful paintings from Spain that hung in my grandparents' living room for years. Taz did an excellent job of plotting exactly where they would lay out, measuring the wall, the paintings, and creating a to-ratio-drawing on scrap paper. The color I ended up deciding on reflected color elements in the artwork. Here's the final look...

We love the wall! And I love how great these paintings look on it!...

I'll be showing more photos capturing the overall look of the living room soon, once we complete a few more DIY- projects!

10 Reasons Why I Love a 3-Day Weekend

Remember when I posted about why I love a commitment-free weekend? Well I pretty much love all weekends, especially when I get an extra day tacked-on! (My company was closed Friday for the end of Passover). Here's what's making this weekend so awesome:

1. Crossing off most of the items on my weekend "To Do List" (I told you I loved lists!)...On FRIDAY.
2.  A Jillian Michaels workout, crunches, 2 jogs around Prospect Park, - that amazing post-workout feeling.
3. A homemade quick & healthy Saturday breakfast (check back Wednesday for the recipe!)
4. Cafe-purchased ice-coffee and my homemade ice tea (see below for the recipe) - Drinking both while walking around in the sun, smiling like crazy.
5. A fresh new apartment look! (check back soon for the final product of our paint job!
6. A leisurely walk down to Brooklyn Bridge Park, testing-out my vintage cameras on the way.
7. Picking-up fresh daffodils for the kitchen table.
8. A homemade healthy salmon dinner on Friday, and a not-so-healthy mussels & burgers dinner at Alchemy on Saturday.
9. Debating over whether or not to participate in this active summer event with my roommate and her bf.
10. The fact that its still only Sunday! Ikea trip and Brunch plans with Taz & my 2 favorite J's.

Energizing Rasberry Ice Tea Recipe

3 Tea Bags of Yogi Green Tea Goji Berry

3 Tea Bags of Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger

1 Teaspoon of Honey or Agave Nectar

Place tea bags in a medium-size glass pitcher. Pour hot water into pitcher, leave about 1/4 room at top. Let brew for 5 to 10 minutes (depending how strong you like it - I prefer brewing it for a longer period of time). Add teaspoon of honey/agave nectar while still hot. Stir. Remove tea bags, allow time to cool down. Add ice cubes to top of pitcher and refrigerate. Enjoy in about an hour!

Paint Party Saturday!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!

This weekend Taz is helping me spruce up my apartment with a little "accent wall" (and bookcase!) painting. We had originally picked out an assortment of paint color options....

Guess which color I finally decided on?!

Check back tomorrow to see the finished product!

Shrimp, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, & Basil in White Wine and Garlic Sauce

I snapped the above picture at the dining room table in my Mom's house on Easter. She adapted this recipe from my brother's girlfriend, Ashley, who adapted it from here. (I assisted in the cooking process, although I am admittedly not a great assistant.) The original recipe was for 

'Shrimp, Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Aspargus Bucatini in White Wine & Garlic Sacue'. I didn't record the steps of my mom's version, but it was pretty similar.  I will point out a couple of differences, and I encourage you to make you own changes as well depending on what you like!

1. Ours was minus the asparagus, but my mom served sautéed zucchini and broccoli on the side (for those who don't like green vegetables in their pasta I suppose?) I heaped on the zucchini, it was delicious! I think either the asparagus or the zucchini is a good choice.
2. I notice the recipe calls for 3/4 of a Cup of dry white wine. We use 3/4 of a Bottle of white zinfandel. Whoops! Well we did need enough 'sauce' for 2 lbs of pasta, and anyway it was delicious!

Get Inspired - Fab Fashion Illustration & Super Wax Prints

Illustration by Sabine Pieper

I'm currently loving the illustrations of the German-based artist, Sabine Pieper, who's work I came across on good-ole Pinterest.  I spotted the above image on another Pinner's board, and immediately commented on how beautiful it was, thinking it was her individual work. Unfortunately it wasn't, and she didn't have the link to the original source. I would never want someone's art to go uncredited so I used Google reverse image search to find the source! (I'm a little behind when it comes to new stuff on the internet, but I can't get over what a great tool this is! With so many copied and uncredited images on the web, its nice to be able to at least attempt to find the original source of them!)

I'm such a big fan of traditional fashion illustration of the non-computer-generated kind. There's not too much newness in this field, and Sabine's multi-media illustrations are stunning and unique (even of each other - while scrolling through her work you could almost believe you are looking at work by multiple artists). The above illustration was part of a series done for a Vlisco campaign. This London-based brand specializes in wax-print fabrics, another one of my current loves! Here's a peek from their Lookbook:

Image from Vlisco

Image from Vlisco

Image from Vlisco

I love the inspiration of these bold and colorful prints!