Sunday, August 29, 2010

Farewell FĂȘte

To bid a fond farewell to our dear Hari, who is moving to New York in a couple weeks, a couple of friends and I threw a formal-ish dinner party, complete with:

good old sloe-gin fizzes, Tom Collins, and a variety of wines,

red-wine-and-lingonberry-marinated game hens (not to mention pork jowl beans, sesame seed-encrusted seared ahi tuna, obatzda, homemade rye bread, etc.),

magic tricks,

red velvet cake with a mascarpone/cream cheese/fresh whipped cream frosting (served with caramel gelato from the Split Banana),

beautiful weather, a little Sam Cooke playing in the background, and wonderful, wonderful company.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

snack machine

my new favorite sweet treats:

i've already shown this on the blog you say?

booyah! nutella and delicious milky goodness come together in one tasty little hippo. don't get it twisted.

heed the directions, and plz microwave for 5 seconds, so you can have it at optimal deliciousness, i.e. :

melty, melty baby smores.

I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

dancing shoes

what i like to do in my spare time, or anytime really

Crystal Renn from Dossier on Vimeo.



*crystal renn for the block

toaster pastry

my recent breakfast of choice.

in other news, i did a closet cleanse and sold many many things, thus de-cluttering my closet and making me a richer woman! in much, much more exciting news, i'll be attending rock the bells this sunday, where i'll be seeing legends such as:









but yea, no big deal. SIKE. HUGE DEAL.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

r&r

a very excellent day off, if i do say so myself.

good morning desk! a cup of green tea to start the day and flipping through my blogroll.

oh hey there lady poodle. (i finally got a new desk lamp after many months of sitting way too close to my computer screen, so excited).

time to run some errands! what to wear what to wear.






































that'll do. first things first though, lunch!

now what else

how about avocado, mahi mahi, cilantro hummus and sunchips? yes please and thanks. now those errands.

time to reorganize! i also picked up some hangers since i'm overhauling my closet, but that's not so exciting.

all my babies in one place! makes my heart so happy.

lippies.

gearing up for the cold weather with some yes to carrots for the bag.

such a cute little tub!

needed a new top coat to keep my nails laquered up for longer. i do not consider this part of breaking my ban.

okay now this is breaking my ban. BUT i did go into several clothing stores and did not purchase a thing, so for day 2 of the ban, i still consider the progress successful. slow and steady wins the race.

time for dinner and some apartment cleanup. microwaveable pad thai (which btw is really good) with the snazzy new chopsticks my beau gave me.

and done.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

a moment of clarity

so as i began budgeting my expenses in the last few minutes before my bedtime i started wishing there was just a smidgen more in my account. and after trying to rearrange some numbers to make that happen, i have decided that it is absolutely necessary to commit to a spending ban for the next three weeks! yes, a month would probably be a better span of time, but i'll consider the month mark if i'm still sane after three weeks. now this isn't a totally strict ban, but basically i'm cut off from my 2 major indulgences: 1. clothing 2. makeup. i don't ever go nuts on groceries (i LIVE off of salmon burgers and avocado), and well, after clothing and makeup my money doesn't really travel anywhere else except my savings account and the occasional chocolate splurge. so here i am. what i'm really trying to do is just get this stupid computer since my dell is on the verge of pooping out, but i think this will be a good way for me to save up for fall goodies also (forget all this end-of-summer transitional doodoo). but anways, i have plenty of nice things that i already own that don't get enough play, so i think it's time to dust them off, and give my wallet some time to think about what it's done.

forecast

i feel like i have so many things i want to post about (in particular some fantastic new makeup things i've stumbled upon, a couple fall purchases, and a new fave choco snack) and never the time of day to do it! but i have a mid-week weekend coming up, so i'll post and post some more until my life feels dull again. but until then, i've been doing a deep cleanse of my inspiration photos file on my computer, and am starting to refill it with some pictures i'll carry into the fall with me. i also need to switch up my photo collage collecting dust above my desk, but that's another day and a whole lot of magazines to rip through. so as discussed, some palate cleansing inspiration fo dat azz.

my fall looks like it's gonna be a whole lotta cozy

Sunday, August 15, 2010

day of rest

sometimes i enjoy doing lots and lots of nothingness for a whole day and it feels really good. and by nothing, i don't mean just sitting in a chair staring at the wall, i just mean nothing productive, but somehow still satisfying. for example, making several online carts of fall clothing, of which i will probably only purchase 2 things, or staring all day long at the new mac venomous villains swatches and making lists of things i will pre-order. also, eating chinese buffet and napping afterwards for a couple hours, after which i put on a skin firming face mask and watched youtube vids. i did manage to read a little, which is what led to the nap in the first place, but i consider this job research and thus some minor productivity.

this is one of the youtube videos i came across today, which peaked my interest because i had no idea this was an m.i.a. song even though i've heard it a hundred thousand times before at work. i always just thought it was some electro pop band, and it's kinda catchy, i don't hate it, i don't love it. it's alright, considering the rest of her album gives me panic attacks. anyways, it was linked in an article raving about her lip color, and i agree, it's a very beautiful red, i think because it's kind of metallic-y and whatever gloss is over it totally complements it. so now i'm on the hunt for this red, because at this point i need every shade of red ever created. must. have. all.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

things i like

im too lazy to bring the camera out, so i took a couple of gritty mac photos instead. these are some things i especially like this week, all of which are total essentials to get me through this week.

this is one of the sweet ass presents brought home from europe thanks to my big sis and her hubby. after spotting my blog post where i mourn my lack of nutella and go, they so graciously brought one back for me so i no longer have to live in agony. the day i open this will be a very special day. crunchy wafer stick things, a pocket of nutella, and a little sip of orange tea (which i heard isnt so tasty, but ill give it a shot). nom nom nom.

foreign fashion mags hooray! more loot from my sister/bro in law's european adventure. foreign mags without that pesky hiked up american price tag. i may not be able to read the magazines, but the pictures are 110% better than most of the u.s. magazines. my sis also got me some really pretty earrings that are dark purple with gold flecks, but when i tried to take a picture of them they weren't showing up how i wanted, but i wore them today and was loving their glam status.

i'm typically not a huge drugstore lipstick fan, but i was testing some out at target and i picked up 2 that seemed pretty promising. they're both reds, which is kind of ridiculous considering i already have 4,5, maybe 6 reds already, but they're completely different shades! i can't remember the other one i bought since it's over in my bag and i'm totally lazy right now, but this one is very cherry by maybelline and it surprised me but in a good way. it took a couple of swipes to get it totally opaque, but i've worn it all day and it's lasted really well and it's way more moisturizing than my nars lipstick, but not too slippery like my ysl tends to be. overall it gets a thumbs up. as for the shade, it's a nice bright red with just a tinge of a deep pinkish cherry, very pretty!

an attempt to show the color better. i was trying to hold my hair back cause it was doing a crazy spiky thing. red lip tip! pink blush does not look nice with red lips. ICK.

t-shirt loot! i've got myself a brand spanking new dj mike rizzy t-shirt which i'm totally excited about. GET IN THE KNOW, http://deejaymikerizzy.podbean.com/. sweet jams, simply good music.

give richmond the byrd! get it? support the byrd theatre, buy these sassy new shirts we just ordered up, come watch a movie, eat some popcorn, hear the organ, give us money!

as for the weekend, i'll be eating till i'm comatose at a chinese buffet for the bf's birthday, watching sex and the city 2 at the byrd, and doing some reasonable paycheck damage. also, i'll be adding my big sis to the blog so she can update her learning-to-sew adventures! sweet!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Open Your Eyes

A few black and white images I love.

Joseph Szabo's Priscilla

Diane Arbus' Boy with Toy Hand Grenade

Still from Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

oh, to be a cold cow on a farm

the always-inspiring Ms. Hardy in that lovely leather
Fall is still just a bit off but I know what I'm going to be throwing myself into: leather. I can't pull off leather pants, but I'll do what I can with jackets and bags. And lots of bright red lipstick.

L.L. Bean Farnsworth Flats

Dooney & Burke Amazon Zip Zip Satchel

J. Crew Racing Jacket