Julia's Bridal Shower

                                      Well Done, Girls! Fun day with loads of lovely details.

Main Dish

I have made this yummy dish a couple of times now and I still can't get enough of it. I am at work and went to reach for my leftovers, but alas, I have forgotten them. But I have Quinoa and Pesto on the brain so thought I would spead the good word.



Picture and Recipe found here.

 The tomatoes are by far the best best best part of the whole dish, so I absolutley reccomend full force with the tomatoes!


from my iPhone

 And another winning shot from the iPhone- kinda blurry (and totally under styled) the final ta-da moment...

Pinterest SF Meet Up

This is not the first blog posting from me about my love for Pinterest. I think everyone who knows me, knows that I love me some pinning! See original post here.   If you don't know what it is, here is my favorite definition....

So a couple weeks ago, while sitting on my computer after getting home from sitting in front of a computer all day, I was pinning and remembered that I had accepted a Pinterest Meet Up invite @ West Elm in Emmryville for that same night. What the hell. Why not?! Of course it was only 7 miles away, but it took me an hour to get over the Bay Bridge at 5:30 on a Thursday, but whatever! It was worth it. I love me some West Elm too- I walked out with a cookbook for a gift and a new pillow sham for the sofa which is totally "sofa king awesome." Check out some pics...

The SmileBooth would have been a whole lot cuter- if I actually had someone else to play with in front of the camera. Oh well- not my best shot, but that's nothing new!

Dirty One

I haven't been very consistent in my blogging lately. To be honest, I have toyed with the idea of canning the whole thing. But after some more thought- I think it really is a fun way just to document my thoughts once in a while. I guess what I am trying to say is that I do have thoughts and I don't document enough. 1 post a month or so isn't what I had in mind when setting this whole thing up.

Any Who. Today is my B'day. Yay for 31. I still feel a lot like I did one year ago today. (see last year's post here). It has been a delightful year of eating, drinking, working, and loads of HBO series on Netflix. Looking forward to all the changes before 32. Damn its kinda weird to think that I am 31. I still think that 1990 was 10 years ago.

Today we are heading to the sunny East Bay to the Claremont Hotel in Berkley where I will be soaking up my skin with some sun and some fancy spa soap.

Lyric Art

I have been seeing some cute easy DIY ideas for art.
And I just thought I would share them with you ....

Image via Roost.

Image via Poppytalk. Tutorial here.

This is from our wedding. We found this piece on Hautelook(I know random, right). It now hangs in our bedroom- where we work extra hard not to 'fuss or fight'. ...

Image from Steep Street!

Image from Me Oh My.

If I weren't so lazy, I might try to use some of these favorite lines:

" Your the yellow bird that I've been waiting for." -- Bright Eyes
" Wipe your feet really good on the rhythm rug" -- Tribe called Quest
"They say the heart of rock and roll is still beating. And from what I've seen I believe 'em"-- Huey Lewis & the News ( okay maybe this one is pushing it)
"Hello darkness, my old friend . I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping. Left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain. Still remains.Within the sound of silence" Simon and G.

What are some of your favorite- wear on your wall worthy song lyrics?

Pallet Wall Update

Are you sick of the damn pallet wall yet? Honestly. Be honest. I am.

Okay, so maybe I really am a little sick of the pallet wall, but the reason I wanted it was to hang cool stuff on it. We tried the wallpaper on one side. blah. We have painted the slats black. bleh. And here we are... with our latest... da da da daaaaa......

Bam.

And then the other side....


BAM!

And then a few angles.....

Where can I get some?

If anyone can find this in the US, please let me know. If you find it - I will pay you $2,000 so you can go to the UK to pick it up and bring it to me. Wait. What? That doesn't even make sense.

Baby Shower Invites

I feel bad for taking forever to upload things. These invites were a small labor of love for my bestie's baby shower. I was really hoping to screen print them, but ran out of time. I doubt too many people notices, but they are just iron on. What? ever.

Forgive my lame (camerbag trial) logos on the photos. Just trying something out here. I will post a DIY entry later this week. In case anyone out there is interested. :)

Flea Market Finds

This is a delayed post, but the weekend before last, the Hubs and I rolled out of bed at the waking hours of 8am to hit up the Alameda Flea Market. We were on the hunt to find wall art for the Pallet Wall. I have been a little "over" the pallet wall and the only reason I really wanted it was because I wanted to hang cool stuff on it. We did attempt to wall paper one side of it. I intended to post on this project, but never really loved the wallpaper- so it came down. It is much better without the wall paper and we are back to getting sunlight in through the slats. Here is one of the pics (for reference):









So here are some interesting finds we will add to the wall. First is an etching we really both like. Not sure exactly how it's relevant to anything else in our house accept for our appreciation for Napoleon Dynamite. We think it might be a Liger. We have ordered some custom matting and bought a big frame. I will post an updated pic someday in the next couple weeks.

I know that antlers are "sooooo 2009", but I am so happy to have them in our home. Someday they will live on a pretty bookcase. 6 dolla, make you holla.



Here are some prints in old frames that we are contemplating hanging on thick ribbon or twine?


Okay, I will admit, this one is super random... and I am not loving the color of the frame, but it's a kinda interesting accent piece. Its an old parking meter in a shadow box.


Last but not least, I scooped up this gold dipped leaf and added it to the necklace I was wearing. I think it will live there now permanently. I love it.

4th of July Dinner

Our friendly neighbors, who are not only neighbors, but friends-- suggested that we BBQ out on the patio last Saturday night. Vanessa made some of the bestest veggie stuff ever. A homemade pesto pasta, Greek cucumber salad, and ratatouille! Which she will soon blog about (right, V?!) Nate and I contributed chicken (so boring we didn't even photograph it), Angel food cake with berries and homemade whip, and Champagne cocktails.






Thanks to one of my fav blogs, Mint Love Social club for the inspiration on the cute stripey straws and the yummy Champagne cocktail (recipe here). Honestly, if I weren't so lazy, I would blog about all the awesome stuff she does. Check her out and follow if you don't already.


Thanks to Vanessa for all the super cute table toppings! Fun fun fun....

Recipe Experiment

I experimented over the weekend with a new recipe and it was pretty good. It started to look pretty enough a 3rd of the way through that I even decided to text the neighbors to join in. ( One of which is gluten free, so that was kinda a bust.)

I found the inspiration here on a cute little blog called ClothesHorse NYC. It wasn't exactly a recipe, but she gave a decent enough explanation. I did search like crazy on Men's Health, but couldn't find it.


Also, I had never heard of Farro before. I asked 3 people (3 PEOPLE!?!) at Whole Foods to find where it was. Is it a produce, is it a liquid, is it bigger than a breadbox?? Alas, someone took me to where it was (by the rice and other grains), but of course they were out. Good thing the Hubs was there to solve the problem; simply by crouching down and looking at the back of the shelf behind the other things that were not Farro. Where would I be without him? Farro-less?

Anyways, here it is.... hope my vegetarian friends and family (Aunt Dianne/ Uncle Ron) find it helpful.

Saute chopped white onion and garlic in a pan.

I pre-cooked the Farro for about 6 mins.

Transfer both the Farro, onion, and garlic, to a cast iron.

Add tomato sauce

Add red beans

Add red chili flakes

When the pan is really hot and the tomato sauce starts to boil a little, crack a few eggs right on top.

** this was the scary part. It didn't seem like the eggs were going to cook, so I put a lid on it and they cooked perfectly.

Put in the broiler for about 5 mins (should have added cheese here).

While the whole mess is in the broiler- grill some butter bread.

Serve hot and right outta the pan. We just put spoonfuls on top of the bread.

In case, you are in the mood for a history lesson, here is a little tid-bit on Farro.

you are my sunshine.....

As you all know San Francisco can be kinda a grey place sometimes. Don't get me wrong... I love this city, but the overcast clouds, cool breezes, and year round 50 degree weather is well... blah. HOWEVER, when the sun shines, it really shines. And when it shines it makes me smile. Here are just some random things around the house that are making me smile this week.

Frame on our dresser. I can honestly remember the soothing voices of my mom and grandmother singing this song to me when I was a little girl.

Not sure what makes me happier, the pink poppies or the Fiesta Ware vase that I love so much.

The sun only shines on the patio in the morning. I caught Delilah getting some rays and it made me smile.

If you think this is cute, you should see the girl who will wear it. Happy almost 1 year birtday, Emmy.

Ikea tray that I painted to add some color to our living room. And my cherished Flora Grub cube.

Not sure what I love more; the sunburst mirror or the fact that the bed is made.




Someday I will learn how to use a real camera, but in the mean time, the iPhone/ Instragram will do.