fashion week + birthday weekend

Happy Saturday! Today we kicked off Taylor’s birthday weekend with our new favorite blueberry pancakes. He has burgers, a massage and Chipotle in his future for the rest of the day. I’m still thinking about the plans for his actual birthday tomorrow but I’m pretty sure it will involve cinnamon rolls, bacon and a cookie cake. Penelope is excited to give him the little gag gifts she picked up yesterday. We hope he doesn’t choose today to start reading my blog.

On a completely unrelated note, or maybe on a similarly festive and celebratory note, on this slow and lazy Saturday morning, I’m browsing the web, sipping my green tea and wishing I had a reason to need one (or all) of Monique Lhuillier’s evening gowns..

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Pending award shows or black tie gala invitations Carolina Hererra’s look is likely a bit more tangible. She’s my unfailinglysassy in classycrispclean white oxfords inspiration.
Carolina  Herrera and Monique Lhuillier.

beer + cheese | superbowl sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is always a great excuse to munch on saltycrunchy snacks and hang out with friends. If you’re still planning your menu or potluck contribution check out this article from NPR about beer and cheese pairings.

Super Bow aside, personally I’m keeping that article around for future get-togethers and happy hours.

Some of Bill Chappel’s recommendations include Fresh Goat Cheese + Saison. {a light, pale ale with fruit and spice flavors similar to a hefeweizen}

And Sheep’s Milk Cheese + Brown Ale.

I can certainly get into beer drinking when it looks like this!

birfday

I had a fantastic birthday week. Kicked it off on Sunday with banana whole wheat pancakes at Magnolia Cafe with my parents and had dinner at my in-laws, feasting on my father-in-law’s great smoked chicken. On my actual birthday, my cute students (11th graders can be cute) sang to me and Taylor treated me to lunch at Second where I enjoyed a really cool and very savory Black and Blue pizza –decked out with black truffle oil, blue cheese, dates and pork belly confit. It was all sorts of harmonious gloriousness.

My bible study met at my house that night and my dearestinthewholeworld friend Megan surprised me with an awesome fruit pizza. She had no idea I loved fruit pizza but I’d say knows me pretty well to have guessed accurately! We all talked, snacked and drank wine. A great evening.

For Christmas, Taylor had given me a gift certificate for a facial and I decided to capitalize on the spirit of the week’s festivities and book it for Friday afternoon. So I enjoyed a relaxing facial and a walk with Penelope in the glorious, sunny mid-70s January Friday afternoon.

And last night we went to Uchiko and I basked in tempura squid ink shag roll heaven. #blessed

Oh and here’s a little nugget of fun:

Curious?

via

fire+cocoa+book

Happy Sunday.

battening down the hatches

I love the goodies, the fires, the warm, snuggly socks and cozy blankets this time of year. I love the music, the advent traditions, finding gifts for loved ones and sipping warm drinks.

I do not, however, love the cold.

This is our tree. I got a slim one for our apartment and in this larger space it looks a little, well, slim. But it will do and it even has presents!

Can’t beat big weekend breakfasts. This morning we had waffles from the old school waffle iron and after only the second attempt at learning how to use this thing, I’m proud to announce that they were perfect. I’m also proud to announce, again, that I’m a huge fan of cast iron. This thing was 20 bucks, makes killer waffles and doesn’t take up loads of space like a clunky machine would. Plus I can take it with us next time we go native. Winning.

First fire! We need more firewood and a screen (Hi, Dad, yes, I’ll get one to be safe:)

Big nativity on the big table! This thing is so sweet and intricate, and I was thrilled to finally set it up after we got it last year, or maybe even the year before? But had no space in our yurt of an apartment.

Who says we need children to do a kid-friendly advent calendar? Apparently the little drummer boy and palm trees were present at the manger scene.

…And by children I meant human children, of course. Sorry PennyGirl, don’t be offended. We will make it a good Christmas for you, too even though you can’t help with the Advent calendar. You can help leave treats for Santa’s reindeer and  your Christmas present waiting for you under the tree will be {because your parents got impatient} the only gift opened in our house on Christmas morning!