save water, drink champagne

'nuff said.

ACHICALIVING

sister

Went to New Orleans for the weekend with sister.  Isn't she a beauty?

field notes: mississippi

The other day I went to Square Books to restock on my Moleskin journals, but instead my eye caught these bright Mississippi Field Note journals.  They come in a pack of three and provide a plethora of Mississippi facts on the back cover.  I really like the vintage/boyscout look of them.  

So, I bought a pack (of 3) for myself, and then I decided to buy another pack as a gift for the eldest son of the family with whom I will be living as a fille au pair next year.  I'm really proud of this gift because it's really hard to find gifts for 11 year-old boys!

I still need to find a gift for the little girl (age 7) and boy (age 4).  Ideally I'd like to give them a little piece of Mississippi (like these notebooks).  Any ideas?

5 wishes

So, it's summertime and I've had a lot of free time to......make lists of things I want.  Here we go:

1.  Isn't this Tangerine Kaftan from Topshop lovely?  I really want it.

2.  Big and Gold.  That's all.  Kenneth Jay Lane hammered gold necklace from Neiman Marcus.

3.  This is more of a fall item, but I am looking forward to having a pair of Isabel Marant Dicker Boots for the fall in Paris.

4.  This has been and will continue to be on my list for a long time unless someone decides to buy it for me or I inherit a lot of money from a long-lost relative.  One day I will own a Chanel Quilted Lambskin handbag.

5.  I recently bought my first bold red lipstick from Amy Head.  As lovely as it is, I'm ready to upgrade to this Chanel #64, "Enthousiast."

every pretty thing

A friend of mine from high school has a blog and I've become obsessed with her handiwork!  You can check out her pretty things on her blog, Every Pretty Thing, as well as her etsy shop, here.  I love these floral pieces:

real food

In my last post I mentioned that I will be reading Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck this summer.  I typically eat healthy meals, but as a college student my hectic schedule often pushed healthy recipes out the door.  Now that I am a graduate (it still hasn't sunk in...), my goal is to re-inspire my menus with healthy and wholesome foods.

My friend Emily at Snacks and Desserts (which you should check out) has been a great inspiration.  This week I tried her latest recipe, baked egg in tomato cup, and it was delicious.  You can check out her recipe here.  Below are pictures I took while making it.  Basically, as it sounds, it is an egg in a tomato cup, with parmesan and a little slice of butter on top, then salt and pepper.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes based on how firm you want the yolk to be. 

 I paired it with a quinoa salad I put together using cooked quinoa (obviously), green onions, kidney beans, black beans, whole kernel corn, and cilantro.  I made a sauce with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, ground cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  Yum.