Wednesday, June 30, 2010

i heart this dress...


no, i am not getting married, not any time soon anyway. but i'm sort of obsessed with wedding dresses lately, especially ones that don't cost a small fortune. i love the idea of reusing your mother or grandmother's dress, OR, having one especially made for you. something unique, something no one else can just buy from a store. so when i got my daily etsy finds email today and came across the etsy shop fairy tale weddings i was immediately smitten with the sarah dress. i think this might be the dress i wear, someday...




check out her website too.

gaga for gazpacho...


gazpacho is my favorite summertime food, and it's super simple, quick, healthy & cheap to make. i just made it on sunday and have had it for lunch at work everyday this week. here's my off-the-cuff recipe...

ingredients:
6 super ripe tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1 medium red pepper
1/2 small red onion

1/4 jalapeno (optional or heat)

cilantro, as much or as little as you like, but chop it up first
1 12oz. can of V8

2 tbs of garlic salt
juice of one lime
salt & pepper to taste


prepare:
chop everything up into smaller portions and put in your blender or food processor in batches. blend as chunky or fine as you prefer...i like mine a little less chunky. add garlic salt, s&p & lime juice at the end. chill in fridge over night...serve with a dollop of sour cream & tortilla chips

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

photos from around the world...


this is me at erin's 30th birthday celebration last weekend, downloading a bazillion of marc's incredible photographs from his trip around the world where he cooked his way through the different countries he visited over a 20 month period. i haven't seen him in over 2 years and i literally sat at his computer for like 2 hours during the party dragging & dropping images onto a couple of disks. marc is in the process of making a cookbook/photograph book as a wedding present to his brother & future sister-in-law, and promised me he'd make me a copy too, but who knows if that will actually ever happen. so i'm making a coffee table book for myself (and him) of the images and putting some of his own words throughout the pages taken from his travel blog.
here are some of his masterpieces...seriously, these are amazing, he should be like a travel/food journalist or something...



Monday, June 28, 2010

happy birthday erin...


my best friend turns 30 on the 4th of july, so of course she's always out of town partying it up on her birthday, without me. so her husband decided to throw her a surprise 30th birthday bbq over the weekend, and it was epic...


who has a flag this large just lying around their house? these guys apparently...


her super awesome cake was from lyndell's bakery in somerville. i highly recommend them; they were easy to work with, very friendly, very creative and very delicious...


the best part of her birthday was when our best guy friend from high school, marc, who has been traveling all over the world for over 20 months, whom we haven't seen in over two years, walked up the driveway to surprise all of us! erin's life has changed dramatically since we last saw him; she got married, bought a house, had a baby, and is now turning 30! it was so much fun to have a mini reunion with him that day too...don't mind our dorky pre-prom photo shoot...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!

devine little ring pillows...

emersonmade, oh how i love everything you do...like these adorable little ring pillows...

Friday, June 25, 2010

oh crap...


i was told by my boss today that i HAVE TO get a pair of these for when i go to my job sites...this is really going to cramp my summer style...or it could be totally awesome to rock them with my short shorts & wife beater (my summer uniform)... i'm sure the guys on site will think it's cool...


one halloween, i think during my second year of working here i did dress up as my chosen profession, it was a big hit...notice my fake timbs....


now this is a lake house...


we grew up in one of the greatest areas in new york state. part of westchester county, the katonah-lewisboro area was full of horse farms, lakes, forests, and mountains and nature preserves, but all still within 45 minutes of new york city.

my dad just sent me this local magazine and featured in it was a family from our town and their incredible lake house on lake waccabuc. lake waccabuc is a special spot... my sister had her first camp counseling job there, we (well, not me because i'm afraid of heights) used to jump from castle rock into it's clear waters, and there were many high school parties that were centered around the shoreline there.

this is my dream house, no joke. i'm fascinated by every aspect of it...but mainly how they figured out how to run the plumbing & electrical out 40 feet from the shore line (that's the dorky contractor in me)??? i would never leave my house if this were it, it would be especially hard to get me off that hammock...









ok, this is totally off the subject, but their son, chris bocklet (according to my sportsaholic father who knows everything about every athlete to ever come from our hometown) says chris is the leading scorer at uva...check him out here, he's kind of cute, but too young for me.