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short days

making muffins on snow days 
yikes
park time!
if you love s'mores as much as i do, make these tonight.
tuna tartare tacos that were super delicious
lucy hates the cold
yummy breakfast burrito and an even better latte here


man the amount of daylight hours are really dwindling. this winter hasn't been so bad but i won't be sad to wave goodbye to these days of darkness before five.

i'm still out on maternity leave and i'm so grateful for this extra special time with my little man. it's cool spending time together and just hanging out.

at the end of this week, we're all headed to charleston for a week. i've been keeping my eye on the forecast and see some temps in the seventies. i would be so happy to ditch the coat for a second.

_ _ _

hope you all had a great weekend!  

golden light

yesterday after the snow stopped falling, the sun came out.

right around three o'clock, the afternoon light was just about perfect so i pulled myself away from the breaking bad marathon we had going on and took a few pics of the rosebush in our front yard. 





hope you enjoyed your day off if you got a snow day.


stems

update: so i took a bit of an unplanned/unannounced break from blogging after my son was born. i had planned to write and then schedule all these fun posts to go up after he arrived, but somehow i lost my camera's memory card that had pictures to go along with those posts. bleh.

i didn't feel like going back and re-shooting everything i'd done, so i decided to give myself a little break from blogging. but i'm back!

i still haven't found my memory card though.
_ _ _


today i wanted to talk about using the part of broccoli that usually gets thrown away: the stems.

we eat broccoli a lot in our house--in salads, roasted, sauteed--but it always bothered me that we were wasting the stems (stalks?).

so i found a super easy and delicious way to turn that would-be trash into a great side dish. 

there's not much to it: just peel the stems to remove the rough outer part, cut into bite-sized pieces and pan fry with a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if you want heat.






add a dusting of fresh parm and you're ready to eat.

these would also be tasty with a little garlic or some toasted pine nuts and a bit of lemon zest.

enjoy!

fall in dc

lunch at arcuri | delish btw
k street, friday evening
sunday afternoon walk
lucy loves it
on the way home from target

it's hard to believe there's only a few days left in october. 

we get a ton of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood and since this will be the third halloween in this house, we stocked up on candy last weekend since we've run out of it in the past. 

can't have our house getting toilet papered.
_ _ _

this mild weather we've been having has been pretty great, but i hear that tomorrow will bring some cooler temps. 

i'm ready for it though. i even have my winter coat ready to go (the cobalt one), just in case.

here's to a good week! 

potw: haunted

i can pretty much take or leave halloween. 

it's never been my thing. well, besides the candy part. 

but i know a lot of people who really love it. and if you're one of those people, maybe you'd like one of these halloween cards. in letterpress format of course.


1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6


and if there's anything that could turn me into being a halloween lover, it's gotta be a frenchie with batwings. 

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looking for more letterpress goods? check out my press of the week series here. a new potw is posted (almost) every monday. but you can always find the latest by following me on twitter.

friday finds xi

i'm so glad it's friday.

the weather's gorgeous, the sun is out and i'm just feeling happy today.

if you want to pick up a little something this weekend, here's some wallet-friendly ways to do it.


water bottles | print | cards | top | necklace | shower curtain


that print would be adorable in the kitchen. and how comfy does that shirt look?

my shower curtain is getting a little old. this striped one is looking like the perfect replacement.

have a wonderful weekend!

going rogue




i'm a recipe follower. 

i like to know that i'm making something exactly right. usually when i decide i want to try a new dish, i google or search pinterest to find a recipe that works for me. but last weekend, i went out on a limb and i winged it with this soup.

i had some stuff in the fridge i wanted to use before it expired and a butternut squash we hadn't cooked yet. i've watched enough food network over the years to know that soup isn't all that difficult to make. it also helped that butternut squash is in season. we got ours from the columbia heights market and it was such a pretty shade of orange.

i didn't make my own stock or anything like that, but this turned out to be delicious. so i wanted to share. in recipe format. just in case there's any faithful recipe followers out there like me.

p.s. if you wanna know how to peel and break down a squash, i did a step-by-step post with photos on that last year.






we ate this with some gruyere grilled cheese sandwiches and it felt like fall exploded.

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if you're looking for other seasonal dishes, check out the archives here.

soon


took some teamwork with my husband to make these. worth it!
admiring these yellow flowers in dupont
on the way to room 11 for coffee
lucy enjoying couch time



the baby will be here any day now. i went from feeling like he was never gonna get here to "holy shit. am i really ten days from my due date?"

i'm not gonna lie. i'm totally ready for maternity leave to start. i've been doing a lot of planning and preparation at my job these past few months so i can fully relax while i'm out (hence the lack of posts around here lately).

but now it's almost here. this friday is my last in-office day and then i'm going to work from home until he comes. 

_ _ _


anyways, we had a nice weekend and i hope you did too. personally, i'm just glad i didn't need an umbrella again today.

five for fall

these rainy days we've been having are making me want to just crawl back into bed and take a nap.

but there are definitely some reasons to get out of the house in the fall. i make one of these lists every season (here's winter, spring and summer), so here's my list for right now. 


photo credits: one | two | three | four | five

1. segway tour. i've done this four times now. i totally snobbed out the first time my out-of-town friend suggested we do this (i live here. why would i do that?), but i ate my words quickly after this was one of the most fun things i've done here. the segways are a blast to ride around on,  and since that first time, i've done it with a few other couples. it's seriously awesome. even if you're local.

2. rose's luxury. this recently opened place on barracks row looks interesting. it's built in a rowhouse, serves family-style meals and small plates and from the looks of it, seems super charming. 

3. dc reynolds. this place isn't new, but it's really close to where we live, they have killer bogo drink specials SIX DAYS A WEEK, a roofdeck and some awesome-sounding food. plus, i hear it's a caps bar.

4. petworth citizen. this is also really close to our house, and i'm excited to check this place out. the copper bar and somewhat more reasonably priced cocktails don't hurt either.

5. parts & labor. this place hasn't opened yet, but i can't wait to eat some delicious charcuterie from the guys behind red apron butchery. it'll be in penn quarter.

just drop it

chandelier/drop earrings are everywhere right now. i see it as a natural progression from these cluster earrings and larger-than-average studs


oscar de la renta and dannijo both have some pretty major ear wear in this style right now. but since most people can't afford those price points, i found a bunch of equally dazzling pairs you can grab.


1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8



the thing i like about this new breed of dangly earrings is that they have a post backing. they're not the kind that hook through your ear and weigh down your earlobe.

my third grade teacher used to wear these enormously long and heavy earrings and i remember always looking at her earlobe and how long and stretched out it looked. shudder.

these would be great to pair with a little black dress for the upcoming holiday party season. they'd be fun for new year's eve or could be paired nicely with a black turtleneck for the office.

dinner time

even though i have grocery shopping down to a science, planning meals for the week still feels like a task. i hate sitting there, trying to remember what our go-to meals are and hoping to use up any odds and ends left in the fridge. i hate throwing out food.

to help jog my memory, i bought an spiral-bound index card packet from cvs and started writing down meals we make at home frequently. it has 100 cards and i only came up with about 40 meals, so there's room to keep adding to it as new recipes become regulars.

on the flip side of each card, i wrote the ingredients. that way, we can easily check our pantry/fridge situation to see whether we already have stuff and don't go buying duplicates at the store. i didn't include things like salt, pepper and parmesan since i almost always have those things on hand.






so here's what mine looks like. 

i can easily flip through this when we're about to make a grocery store run and get meal ideas for the week. i find that it helps me avoid getting stuck in a rut and making the same meals all the time.

oh and if you want that carbonara recipe, here it is. so fast and so easy. healthy? not so much.



sale time

shopbop added a bunch of things to their sale today.

if you can ignore the hundred pairs of underwear on there, you can find some pretty good deals on pieces that you can wear right through fall. everything here is less than $50.

jacket | cotton dress | bracelet | sunglasses | long-sleeved tee | faux leather dress | wallet


the faux leather cutout dress is probably the most expensive-looking of the bunch. i also love a striped long sleeved tee for the fall.

get it while it's still in stock. seems to be going pretty quickly.

bundle up

well, if winter has to come again this year, at least we can be chic about it.

here's ten fun coats i like this season. 


under $100: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
under $225: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

how great is that navy blue coat from h&m (#4, under $100)? the pleating and the belt make it so awesome.

in winter's past, i've gone with a cobalt coat and loved it. think i might do the same this year. the little puffed sleeves on that banana republic number (#4, under $225) are calling me.

potw: equinox

fall's officially here. i've mentioned a few times on here that fall is not my favorite season. i love summer and always have. but there's something nice about feeling a slight chill in the air when you step outside in the morning. it's the same sensation you get some time in march or april when you finally start to feel that maybe warmer weather and blue skies are actually on their way.

since sunday was the first fall day, i thought some autumn-themed letterpress goods would be a good fit for this week's potw.



1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6



here's to cooler temps, changing leaves and finally being able to wear that jacket i bought.

_ _ _

looking for more letterpress goods? check out my press of the week series here. a new potw is posted (almost) every monday. but you can always find the latest by following me on twitter.

friday finds x

i don't usually make the friday finds posts themed. i just kept finding a lot of black, white and gold stuff that i liked and that fit the under-fifty bill.

we make pizza at home a few times a month, and having a pizza peel has been a game changer since we use a stone. the crust has never been better. 

here's a few other items i liked this week.

shoes | pizza peel | clutch | dress | cuff | cups



if i wasn't almost 9 months pregnant, that dress would be mine. i love the abstract pattern.

_ _ _


here's to another beautiful september weekend in dc. 70s and no humidity. ahhhh.

happy friday!

oh so quiet

on weekends, if you happen to be out and about before 10 am, it's really peaceful.

there's something that happens after that 10 o'clock hour that changes everything. i'm usually awake quite a bit before 10, but i'm not always out the door at that time. every time i find myself driving or walking around at 8 or 9, it's like a whole different world.




i took thees pictures on h street, around eastern market, and in front of union station--places that get crazy busy once the city wakes up. 

so if you're an early bird or just happen to have some place to be on the weekend, enjoy the brief stillness. cause that brunch crowd is comin.


_ _ _

see past district detail posts here.

district flea


a few pictures from the district flea's debut on saturday.

the weather was absolutely perfect.




did you check it out? 

it's here until october 19.

the food was pretty awesome too.

bad luck



i seem to have bad luck with beauty products. every once in a while, i find something that i love, something that just really works for me and i keep buying it.

in the image above are my favorite eyebrow pencil, leave-in conditioner and mascara. i've written about the mascara before. that's been hard to find for about five years now. for a while, after they stopped selling it in stores, i was buying it on ebay. thankfully now, it's back on amazon at its normal price. it used to be on there for about forty bucks. crazy.

then, my leave-in conditioner became impossible to find in stores. no cvs, target or even wal-mart had it. and i still never see it there. it's online but again--was i the only person buying it? why did this one product out of their line get removed from the shelves?

my latest bad luck is with my eyebrow pencil. i loved maybelline's light to dark blonde shade. all of a sudden, i couldn't find it. this crazy lady must have went to 12 cvs stores to try to find it. they still make every other color but seemed to have stopped producing this one altogether. it's on amazon at double the price and on ebay too. four for $43.99 suckers!

i wouldn't care if they stopped making my eyeshadow or some other product i'm not really attached to, but these were my go-to buys. 

bleh. oh well. i'll continue to stock up online while they'll still let me.

getting ready

i have a little more than five weeks left before the baby's supposed to be here.

we don't have everything together for the nursery, but we have (what i think are?) the essentials. i've been trying to stick with a "less is more" mentality when it comes to baby stuff, especially in the beginning. we have a crib (1), a rocking chair (3) and a piece of furniture we're going to use as a changing table (5) because i didn't see the point of buying an actual changing table that we won't use once he's bigger. i've bought some art for the room, but this is an area where i didn't go too crazy because what infant cares about wall decor? none infants, that's who.

we'll finish the room bit by bit.

i'm not a total blackhearted freak--there are a few just-for-fun items in here (that stuffed bear, the wooden rhino)--but for now, the practical me is winning the nursery battle.

here's what we have at the moment.


1 | 2 | 3 | 4a 4b 4c | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 



this doesn't include things like diapers, clothes, wipes, etc., but this is the route i've been going with the decorations. no theme really, just some stuff that i like.

the one thing that's giving me trouble is finding a rug to cover the hardwood. there's a much larger selection online, but rugs are something i like to feel before purchasing. overstock has a great selection, but i can't get all handsy there. and target's in-store selection sorta sucks. 

all complaints aside though, i can't wait to meet this little guy. pregnancy has progressed at a snail's pace and i just want to see him already.

mistakes



breakfast sandwich action from here
lucy giving some serious side eye
proud kitchen moment for me


so on sunday morning, i was on h street by 9 am, ready to sink my teeth into one of frenchie's croissants. turns out, the market is open on saturday mornings, not sunday. we ended up getting some pretty tasty breakfast sandwiches instead, but so much for another year wiser.

doh!

speaking of dough (see what i did there?), i got a pasta roller for my birthday and to my surprise, successfully pulled off some fresh fettuccine on sunday night. i was surprised mostly because doughs of any kind -- especially when kneading is involved -- tend to scare the shit out of me. i don't know what it is but making my own rolls, breads, etc. has always been something i've avoided. it just seems so daunting i guess. 

but this was a happy success for me and i'll definitely be making them again. i tried to make lasagna noodles before i had my handy pasta roller and trying to get the dough thin enough with a rolling pan and elbow grease. just.. no. 

hope your week is off to a fun start.
 

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