tried to domesticate you

I have friends (who recently got hitched – definitely a fun wedding) who have a beautiful chalkboard in their kitchen in which anytime you are over you can see the weekly dinners listed out and checked off as they make them.  I love seeing this as they seem to always be having a lot of variety in meals, which made me think it’s time to be a little bit better about planning out my meals for the week.  I currently tend to fall into two categories for dinner – breakfast for dinner, which includes but not limited to gluten free bagel sandwiches with eggs and cheese, cereal, yogurt with granola, etc. or either take out/or heat and eat dinners.  The lack of variety is getting me down. Granted I love breakfast, but it’s time to shake things up and have some more balanced meals around my house (local friends, please invite yourselves over for dinner). I’ve done what everyone who’s anyone does, I’ve taken to pinterest to mouth water over professionally taken photos, and scout out recipes to make for dinner.  Ironically, one of the first recipes I’ve decided to try was a quiche – which kind of goes with my breakfast theme I already have in place. However, eggs are safe, and I have the cutest large muffin cups that are perfect for making individual quiches, so I figured getting some variety in the quiche would give me a few dinners and a few lunches for work in a week. I’ve also finally cracked open the Betty Crocker Cookbook my mom bought me ages ago and found a chicken and potato recipe that I am looking forward to trying. I also bought the ingredients for my mac and cheese, which isn’t super healthy but in the muffin cups of portion control at least can be a tasty treat. Looking forward to reporting back with some of my kitchen successes and failures over the coming weeks, but it’s going to be fun trying to be more domestic.

ring around

It’s not a secret that I love accessories and clothing. If anything my love for good shopping is often quite apparent. One accessory I am not a huge fan of is rings – I don’t like the way they are on the hand, they feel clunky to me. Then I spied these adorable stacking rings from Kate Spade – might this be the set that changes my mind (okay, I’ll say it, there’s probably one type of ring I won’t mind wearing when the time is right)? The scalloped edges are really a unique detail that makes me happy. Is it too early to start the list for Santa?

essential desk beauty

I find the change of seasons really dries out my hands and lips so I keep a few items at my desk to keep my hands soft and my lips from cracking. I love the way jasmine smells, it’s one of the most soothing scents to me. It brings a little calm over me, which is ideal for stressful work days. I also found the most adorable little container of Vaseline. It’s so tiny, which is originally why I had to have it (yep, I am a sucker for cute packaging). It’s perfect for my desk though because I can use it on my lips and my cuticles or apply to a blister that my shoes are giving me.  I just leave these two items out near my computer all day and just use whenever I feel the need.

Letters to Norby #23

Dear Norby-

Hard to believe you’ve almost been here a year. You are one happy little dude- you make everyone in the family smile when they see you. I cannot believe how fast you’ve been growing up too, I will always remember you as the little boy that I could hold in the crook of my arm. Now you are almost walking you little man. I love how much fun you are to play with now, I can see the wheels turning in your head as you figure out how to climb on things (good luck to your mother as I have a sense you’ll be climbing all over the house before she’s ready), and it’s amazing to see you develop a sweet little personality. I am so lucky to have a great nephew in my life, and I am still planning all the fun we are going to have a you get bigger and older. I fully expect to have regular adventures with you, just as we’ve done this past year.

Love you to pieces.

Love your favorite auntie

new work now

One of my favorite places in New York to see upcoming theater is definitely The Public Theater. This year I’ve had the opportunity to experience quite a few shows at The Public. Most recently, I went to one of their fall shows regarding new and upcoming work. I saw a reading of “Falling Apart… Together”, which my friend let me pick out based on title. The play is about a middle aged couple figuring out life as one son heads starts his senior year, it was surprisingly very funny and very heartwarming, even when things were not going quite as swimmingly. I think so many people can relate to trying to have it all, or barely having anything together. I will also give major credit to the author/play write and actress Kathryn Grody, not only was the story very entertaining, but having her play all the major characters was an amazing feat. I totally could picture in my mind how the each of the characters were and didn’t get to bogged down on that she was everyone, but it was truly amazing because I don’t know how I didn’t hit that focus point. Anyway, if you ever get the chance to go to The Public Theater, you should run – it’s definitely a more intimate experience compared to Broadway.

(photo from pinterest)

happy home

My apartment has two tiny closets in the main living area, one that's perfect for coats, boots and random outerwear. The other is more of a linen closet that also squeezes in my vacuum cleaner. I recently started to tape up pictures from postagrams on to the linen closet, which makes me completely happy every time I stop and pause by the door. As you can see, Norbs, is a major star in most of the pictures, but I've been trying not to make it all about him. Hoping that in a few months or so this entire door will be filled with many fun memories.