cross it off

last night, i looked outside at 7 o'clock and it was already almost dark. i like warm weather, going to the beach and summer clothes, but the thing i always miss about summer the most is the light. when it's almost nine and it finally decides to get fully dark. i miss that in december when it's pitch black by 5:15.

dc got lucky this year. august was pleasant, not boiling, and it was one of the nicest summers i can remember. 

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the changing of the seasons always brings about a closet clean-out. i got rid of a ton of clothes this time. my motto for this clean-out: "if it doesn't fit TODAY, it's GONE." feels good to look in my closet, knowing that everything that's in there actually fits. no aspirational clothes allowed. enough of that bs.

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we got a lot done this weekend. boring errands and life stuff, but i always feel good when the weekend is productive. as much as i think i'd prefer to relax, i always end up feeing better when i'm getting stuff done, crossing off the to-do list like a maniac.

enjoy these last few days of summer. i'm not ready to let go.

a beautiful sunset from our last trip of the summer 

lucy being a grade A weirdo

cinnamon rolls for my birthday 

coming back from a kid-free dinner

take me back

when i first moved to dc, i used to see obx stickers on cars. my curiosity got the best of me and i had to google what that meant.

most people know it stands for outer banks, but it was new for me. i'd never heard of it. 

this year, i finally experienced it and had one of the best vacations of my life. we rented a place on the beach and stayed there with two other couples and one dog. 

we stayed there for a week that included the fourth of july and a category 1 hurricane. luckily, besides some really loud wind, there was no damage where we were staying. even after living in florida for college, the thought of riding out a hurricane on the beach freaked me out.

i hope we make this a regular thing, because it was a blast.

later dudes

i'm heading to the beach with a group of friends for the week of the fourth of july.

if summer is my favorite time of year, the fourth is its peak of wonderfulness for me. i've loved the holiday since i was a kid and look forward to it--with some bittersweet feelings since it feels like summer is slipping away--every year. mildly pessimistic outlook, yes, since there's still two full months, but i'm also the type of person who feels like the weekend is over around noon on sunday.

yikes. 

where was i going with this?

my point is that if you're able to get some time off, spend time with some awesome people. also watermelon. there should always be some watermelon involved. 

peace out, friends.

l-i-v-i-n

after living in our house for three years, we finally put a fence.

now that it's warm and there's still some light around until almost nine o'clock, i just want to eat outside every night. 

it's high time we make use of our outdoor living area. here's the vibe i'm going for back there.

umbrella | chairs | lights | hanging plants |
succulent | succulent | plant stand | citronella candle |
lounge chair | outdoor wine glasses | table

winding down

september 22 is officially the first day of fall. so we have just over a month left with summer.

the recent cooler weather has kinda thrown me off my game. i've lived in the area for nearly a decade and can't remember the last time it was even remotely cool in august.  

i have mixed feelings about this: it's amazing to not be drenched in sweat after walking a block or two, but i kinda miss the hot days. 

i'm in no rush to start wearing jackets, scarves and boots. sure, it's fun to get all bundled up and cozy. but i don't want to start doing that too soon because next thing you know, it's march and we've been stuck in our fall/winter uniforms for six-plus months.

so i'm hoping for a warm september. i can wait until later for the boots and such. 

out for a walk with lucy 

a delicious ice cream treat from here

lucy knows what's up

hope your weekend was nice. we put the crib together and the rocking chair comes this friday.

it's getting a little more real...

i promise

i swear this isn't going to become a place where i do nothing but re-post instagrams. and it kinda bugs me to have two instagram posts back to back but...

my real job has been keeping me pretty busy, especially with the upcoming maternity leave once the baby comes. i've been trying to cram in as much work as i can and the blog has suffered as a result.

womp womp.

but i have some cool posts in the works. so yay.

hope your first weekend in august was nice.

how bout that lack of humidity?!

so long july

summer goes by so quickly.

it's been nice to take advantage of it while it's still here. eating outside, watching late sunsets, having lighter summer meals. i think i'm in the minority when i say that fall isn't my favorite season. i don't hate it really. i just prefer these warmer days.

so here's to the last day of july. 

i know part of september is technically summer still, but i always feel like the spirit of summer truly lives in june, july and august.

eating outside on the back porch

strolling through logan circle

a fun summer meal at etto | their meyer lemon soda was to die for

recent recap

a mango nectarine 

eating outside at boundary stone

so excited about this patio set. the chairs rock back and forth!

slowly getting the nursery together

well, plans changed. last night, i was planning to go check out etto, but they're closed mondays. oops. that's what i get for not checking their website first. oh well. we had a great meal at boundary stone instead. i always enjoy their food.

i'm getting a slow start to blogging this week. no real reason, but i guess this heat has got me feeling lazy.

happy tuesday!

get excited

in the summer, probably more than any other season, i like to try new places to eat in the city. which isn't hard considering the crazy pace that places seem to be opening these days.

i've done these five-item lists for the winter and spring. here's my summer one.

img sources: one | two | three | four | five

1. arcuri. i work in glover park and i get pretty tired of the same old options for lunch and happy hour. i'm excited about a nearby pizza place, especially a restaurant that's open for lunch. so many things on wisconsin don't open until five. it also doesn't hurt that they specialize in limoncello.

2. red hen. whenever i go to boundary stone, i end up walking by this place. i've heard great reviews of the food and service so i'll have to check it out soon. 

3. cream cycle. these guys get bonus points for the clever name and for being among the first to hop on the gourmet ice cream sandwich trend.

4. beuchert's saloon. a restaurant with a farm-to-table concept is always something i'm excited about. plus, i hear they make nearly everything in house, from the charcuterie to the pasta and breads. that's almost always a sign of a winning meal.

5. mockingbird hill. a place specializing in sherry and ham? if nothing else, my curiosity is piqued. 

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have you been to any of these spots? any other places you're dying to try? 

potw: welcome summer

in my mind, summer officially kicks off on memorial day weekend, but its official arrival is tomorrow.

i'm slowly getting back into blogging after my vacation, so i thought i'd kick it off with some fun summery designs.

ice cream, sunshine, crabs, sandals, lazy sunset bike rides. these things mean summer to me. 

from top left: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

this time of year is my fave. 

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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.

dressing for the fourth

well, since this was in my head all day yesterday (who knows why), it got me thinking about the fourth of july.

here's a whole mess of red, white and blue items to get in the spirit of things.

and if you're local, these pieces would be pretty cute to wear to nats games.

red: dress | shorts | shoes | clutch | sunglasses | necklace
white: dress | necklace | sandals | earrings | shirt
blue: swimsuit | peplum top | dress | belt | coin purse | earrings

a few things to note: first, when i found those red sunglasses, my eyes just sorta glazed over the $400-plus price tag. don't spend that much. these are cute, too. 

also, that bikini top is cute, but i don't advise wearing that to a nats game. ;)

_ _ _

get your sparklers ready. the summer seems to go by super fast and the fourth will be here before you know it. 

summer sandals

i have my eye on a few of these sandal options. 

there are some good ones for pretty reasonable prices out there this year.

h&m - $24.95 | zara - $79.90 | asos - $30.55 | asos - $37.33

here are a few more that i really like.

target - $16.99 | sam edelman - $65 | target - $19.99 | madewell - $49.50

a few notes about quality: i've owned zara and sam edelman sandals in the past. the zara ones were holding on for dear life by labor day and the sam edelman pair are still going strong more than a year later.

and the sam edelmans are offered in about a billion colors.

i really do like what zara offers, but i wouldn't buy a pair expecting them to stand the test of time. but i also walk a lot so that probably contributed to their demise.

_ _ _

i love this time of year. the clothes, the heat, the holidays.

bring it on.

dive in

i've posted about one-piece swimsuits before, both last year and in 2011.

this year, it seems like they're everywhere. i'm so happy that these are sticking around. i can't remember a time, say, five years ago even, when there were so many cute ones on the market.

here are my picks for this season.

top row: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
middle row: 1 | 2
bottom: 1 | 2

i can't wait to get to the beach this year.

week off

flying away

hello, florida!

beer me. all week.

at the beach. early.

stuff for sale

back to the beach.

chilling out on the back porch

back in dc. missed the rowhouses.

sunbeam on north capitol

saturday afternoon on 12th street

this has been a year of insane amounts of travel for me and the boy.

i feel like we've been out of town for half of 2012.

we took all last week off and went down to florida. i never wanted to come back to real life.

waking up with the view of the water, having beers before noon, falling asleep on the beach--i miss it.

but truthfully, i missed dc too. and i'm excited about fall and some upcoming posts i have planned (including pics from the wedding, finally!).

hope everyone's enjoying the lack of humidity.

corn and tomato

i love the absolute abundance of fresh farm markets available throughout d.c. 

and there's no better time of year for freshness than august. walk through any market and you'll see: the produce is just gorgeous. it's instagram heaven.

_ _ _

for this month's seasonal eating post, i wanted to share two super simple ways to use up all those delicious ripe tomatoes and ears of corn you picked up over the weekend.

and when you're working with such great ingredients, you don't really need to do too much.

so let's start with tomatoes.

the boy and i saw this recipe in bon appetit while traveling to florida.

the truth is that bruschetta bores me. it's always soggy, and it just feels...meh. i almost never order it if i'm out to eat.

but i really enjoyed their method, and i'm happy with how it turned out. i tweaked their original recipe a bit to suit my taste as well (is it still bruschetta if i add cheese? eh.) here's what i did:

a few tips: this really is one of those "recipes" where you can just eyeball it. i honestly don't think you can mess this one up. i don't have quantities included as part of the directions because i was pretty loose with my measurements. we used one baguette, a handful of grape tomatoes with some green zebras thrown in for color, about a clove-and-a-half of garlic, and one heaping tablespoon each of olive oil and red wine vinegar. this was more than enough for two people.

i couldn't find fresh buffalo mozzarella at the store that day (cheese snob alert!), so i just got what looked the freshest to me and dressed it up with salt, pepper, herbs and red pepper before adding it to the dish.

i usually prefer dried oregano, but i used fresh here and i liked it. sometimes fresh oregano is too strong for my taste, but since this dish doesn't have too many ingredients, i liked the punch the fresh stuff added.

_ _ _ 

now what about the corn?

i'm happy to say that after years of only being able to enjoy my precious elote when i was at a restaurant or ballgame, i've learned how to make it at home. and it's simple.

so happy.

we grilled our corn, husks and all. i'd say we left them on the grill for about 15 minutes. if you don't have a grill, you can prepare the corn in boiling water or microwave it.

for two ears of corn, we combined about 1.5 tablespoons each of mayonnaise and softened butter.

i like it spicy. we used about 1/8 teaspoon for both ears of corn. but you can use less or omit it entirely if you prefer.

lastly, a word about mayonnaise on corn: just don't think about it. i ate this corn for years, delightful in my ignorance about what it was that made it so good. when i started researching how to make it at home, i almost gagged. 

until about two years ago, you couldn't get me to even touch the outside of a jar of mayonnaise. but the boy's been helping me work through this phobia and i'm now slathering the stuff on my BLTs and adding it to ranch dips.  all i'm saying is that if you're a mayo-hater, just try it. i still can't stand the way the stuff smells, and there isn't even a hint that taste in the finished product. promise. don't be scared.

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do you have a favorite way to enjoy late-summer produce?

i'd love to hear it!

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looking for more seasonal eating recipes? check out the archives here.