Y’all, I love shoes. I look at shoes all the time, and I think about shoes a lot, and I deliberate over them. Sometimes I buy them and send them back because they’re not perfect. I have less than twenty pairs (if you count sandals and everything) and people often think I’ve got a million because I talk about them all the time, but I really curate the collection. A few pairs I keep for a long time, and I have realized over the years that quality makes a huge difference. Also, since my foot surgery last year I can’t wear the same shoes as I used to (pumps are harder and harder to walk in; the strap on mary jane styles helps a ton). I try and have practical shoes and fun shoes for every season, and there’s nothing that sucks more than getting a gorgeous new dress and having zero shoes that match it. As we approach fall here in Seattle, the necessity of closed-toe, sensible winter shoes is becoming more real, and yet I am drawn to two wildly impractical pairs that bring such joy to my heart. They’re both open toed pumps, in bright colors, when I really should be getting oxfords or mary janes in black or brown… but the heart wants what the heart wants.

Hey guys.

Monica blogged her look today so I’m following suit. It’s Friday, and I can wear whatever I want, so I’m going a bit cas in jeans and a grey cardi (Gap long & lean jeans are my staple; some people say I have a cardigan “problem”. plus an h&m tank), but I jazzed it up a bit with these SUPER hot shoes (Nine West Shoesnoop) that I got on sale for $20 at Macy’s earlier this summer. I have tried to wear them with skirts and though I’ve got some pretty stellar gams, it really cuts them off at the ankle, and I prefer a longer look in skirts. However, with cuffed jeans these shoes totally rock. A little bit of metallic pewter is subtly shimmery, but the grey leather is so in. And for being ridiculously tall, they’re surprisingly comfortable.

The earrings are a favorite of mine, similar to the photo shown. Mine are actually on a long bronze colored hook, with a smooth disc of a raspberry colored stone and a little sweet pink faceted jewel hanging in front. The designer is Irene Wood (shop) who is an incredibly talented and super sweet lady. She’s from Seattle and actually went to high school with Monica, and is also friends with another lovely girl I used to work with. Connections! I drool over her jewelry at every trunk show and get compliments every time I wear things she’s made.

Casual Friday at its best!

xo, at

You guys, I am in my late twenties. I live in Seattle and am surrounded by extremely intelligent friends and acquaintances who are engineers of all kinds, most often software engineers, working at boeing and amazon and friggin’ microsoft. Instead, I take the internet into my own hands because I wanna do it myself… and what do I do? I DELETE MY ENTIRE BLOG. If you noticed that it looks a little different, it’s because even though my super super super awesome friend Alex was able to recover all the text, the skin I had carefully edited was completely lost, along with all the photos. And no, of course I didn’t back it up, because who backs stuff up? Apparently not me. I don’t even know how.

So please be patient with me over the next couple of days/weeks as I re-tweak the layout and add the pictures back in. It’ll be back to normal in no time.

Also, the reason I deleted it (ACCIDENTALLY!!) was because I was having problems trying to set up my second blog – www.thehotbunsbakery.com ! I think I got it going pretty well, but I am starting by uploading the oldest photos first and moving into the future – I’ve got two years worth of cake pics to upload and link Gonna be a while until it’s all updated and stuff, but I like where it’s going!

XO!

at

*not actual image.

So everyone’s got a go-to lazy dinner; what you eat when you’re dead tired but need something more than cereal. For me, that is cubed frozen potatoes fried in a little butter with Red Robin seasoning (my Catholic guilt makes me buy it, it’s only $3, but most people just let it jump into their bag from the table at the reez) with a fried egg on top, and a tiny bit of barbecue sauce. It kind of takes a while, but I can do it while I get dressed or watch tv, and get up every few minutes to shake the pan so all the potatoes get evenly browned. It’s not the healthiest thing but it definitely is satisfying and delicious.
Yesterday I drove from Pacific City, OR (having spent the weekend with some cousins) to Seattle with my brother, while I had a ridiculously terrible allergy attack. (thanks for driving Mike!) I arrived home around 6 pm and was so wiped out I couldn’t do a dang thing except sit and watch TV and attempt to feed myself. The bag of potatoes in my freezer was only half of what I wanted, but I lucked out with a few sweet potato fries in there too. In they went to the pan. As my starches were frying, I went into the fridge for an egg and was confronted with about three weeks’ worth of veg from my CSA box, just staring at me. I absolutely adore the CSA – it’s like Christmas every Tuesday when I go pick up my stuff and open the box of gorgeous, brightly colored, picked-that-morning, chock full of vitamins deliciousness. But then the week gets busy and I forget to look up recipes even though the farm emails recipes to me just in case I am too lazy (I am), and the weekend finishes and there I am on Sunday night realizing I only have two days to eat like four jillion servings of awesome. The eating isn’t a problem so much as how the heck to cook this. So I buckled down last night, fought the exhaustion, and dug out some fresh, juicy garlic, some small Walla Walla sweets, a zucchini and a handful of green beans. I lightly sauteed these bad boys and added them to a ginormous platter, poured myself a glass of pinot grigio that someone graciously left in my fridge, dumped two eggs on top, and went to town. I never cook like this for myself, but it was just what I needed and I felt both nourished and accomplished. I wish I did this more often – but this is a good start!

Hi guys! I guest blogged over at Undeniable Style yesterday. Check it out!

I am part of a dinner club which I believe I’ve mentioned before: two other couples (including my bff Monica) and I regularly get together to make and eat food. We’re all great cooks and are pretty much guaranteed stellar eats when we get together.  Monica and her fiancé Andrew live in a sweet apartment complex that has docks and grills for general use, so in the summer that’s our go-to spot. Last night was no exception to the good friends, good food rule. Alex and Kori brought a gazpacho flavored with cucumber and almonds. Monica and Andrew made turkey burgers with chorizo, topped with beecher’s cheese, tomato slices, apple slices (who knew? it was freakin’ perfect!), and spinach. I brought a simple salad with greens from my Local Roots Farm CSA box (Siri and Jason are longtime friends of mine, so it’s really awesome that I get to support them!), some gorgeous strawberries, and crumbled blue cheese, dressed with just balsamic and olive oil. Kori and Alex also brought some lovely bubbly to celebrate Monica and Andrew’s recent engagement (congrats you guys!!), and Monica made a lime-basil wine cooler, and a pitcher of shandy. Nights like this really make the summer sing.

I just realized I have SO MANY quilts in progress, and I’ve barely shown you any of them on this blog. Here’s one I’m in the middle of. I started it a year ago for a friend of mine, and I still want to finish it so I can get it to her. I’ve got it into fairly large blocks and I just have to arrange them and put it together. I have half a dozen quilts at this stage of progress, unforch.

(alternate title: “It’s not you, it’s me”)

Hi there. I like you. I think you’re cool, and I think it’s fun to go to barbecues with you, or maybe camping. You might think I’m cool, too, because you invite me to barbecues. You also know I cook, and that is cool too. Now here’s where I’m going to start to sound like an uncool bitch, but I really have to get this off my chest. If you feel this is directed solely at you, you’re wrong, because it would take more than just fingers to count how many people this applies to, and I like them all.

However, just because I cook, it doesn’t mean I want to go to your Pampered Chef party. In fact, it makes me less likely to want to go. I feel bad telling you this, because I know your intentions are good, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I have to say no. I’ve outlined my reasons below:

1) As you’ve noticed, I cook a lot. The thing is, the more you cook, the more often you find that certain tools are completely unnecessary. I have a friend who works for a kitchen products company and we’ve discussed how most of the tools out there can be replaced with a knife and a cutting board. Personally I’d add tongs, a rolling pin, and a pastry blender, but even that last one can be accomplished with a fork, or even your fingers (assuming your hands aren’t crazy hot like mine). After a while in the kitchen, you get used to favorite tools and realize the beauty in minimalism. I don’t need a three-in-one spoonula, or fancy serrated steak knives that are impossible to sharpen. I personally own exactly five knives, and even then only because I have doubles of two of them: two 8″ chef’s knives (a Wusthof and a Shun), a very inexpensive serrated bread knife from Fred Meyer (can’t sharpen it, so why invest?), and two very inexpensive paring knives, also from Fred Meyer. I invested in the chef’s knives because they are what I use 90% of the time, and I bought the second one ten years after I bought the first one – and I know they will both last me for my entire life. I’d rather have ten quality objects than drawers full of plastic produced in China.

2) I already have drawers full of cheap plastic produced in China. I’m weeding out the crap I don’t use and paring down to the essential tools. I need that space for all the bakeware I’m accumulating because people keep wanting crazy shapes of stuff for their weddings.

3) No matter how much you say “There’s no pressure to buy anything!” or “I just want to have a girls’ night!”, there IS pressure to buy things, even if it’s unspoken. There is no reason to host a buying party unless you hope that people will actually buy stuff. I’m not saying that this is bad, or wrong, I’m just saying that there’s an expectation, and I can’t meet it. I can’t even afford to pay all my bills right now, so overpriced specialty cookware is not a realistic expenditure.

4) I also hate girls’ nights. haaaaate.

Lest you think this applies only to Pampered Chef, I extend this blanket No-I-do-not-want-to-attend-your-party to PartyLite, “passion parties”, jewelry, and Tupperware. I’m just not into any of it, and I’m sorry we have to disagree on this.

I hope we can still be friends.