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.

summer reading

Summer reading has begun and I am so excited I decided to share my list with y'all.  If you have any recommendations for me to add to the list, do let me know!  I will have lots of down time to read this summer (I'm smiling really big right now :)  What's on your summer reading list?

I started this summer with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera.  I have been wanting to read this one for a while.  I'm about half-way through and am LOVING it.  This is one of those books where after every single sentence I have to stop and reflect on the beauty of that sentence.  I read One Hundred Years of Solitude a few years ago, and in high school I translated several of Marquez's short stories from Spanish to English.  I think it's safe to say he is one of my favorite authors.  Ever.

Next on my list to read is my signed edition of Yann Martel's newest, Beatrice and Virgil.  I really enjoyed Life of Pi, so I am looking forward to this one.

 Who doesn't like Fitzgerald, seriously?  Last summer I read This Side of Paradise and I liked it so much more than I thought I would.  And of course, there is The Great Gatsby...I still haven't talked to a single person who didn't like that one.  So, this summer I will read The Beautiful and the Damned.  I doubt I will be disappointed.

 C. S. Lewis. Is. My. Favorite.  I don't want to take up a ton of space listing everything of his that I have read, but let's just say that I've read a lot.  Can't wait to read The Great Divorce.  It has been on my list for a while.  Aslan is on the move.  I get chills everytime I think of that line (please tell me other Narnians are reading this??)

 I don't think I would have picked this book had I not heard amazing things about it for years.  Kite Runner, please don't let me down.  You have a reputation to maintain.

 Real Food by Nina Planck isn't fiction.  In fact, it's very real.  Now that I am not a college student and have more time to cook meals, I am looking forward to reinvigorating my diet.  Although I already eat pretty healthily, I am looking forward to committing myself completely to non-processed foods.  So, this book is going to help get me started.

 Lastly, I am from Oxford, Ms.  I have grown up playing at William Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak.  Yet, I have only read a single novel of his (As I Lay Dying...which is incredible.  My mother is a fish.)  I am ashamed that I haven't read more, especially considering how much I loved reading As I Lay Dying.