Memorial Day in Massachusetts

We had a lovely and relaxing time in Massachusetts with friends. (O, how the Atlantic coast speaks to my soul!) Such a nice time that I almost forgot that I'm knee deep in a portfolio site redesign, the job search and to make things slightly more exciting... moving. again. Don't worry it's only about 9 blocks away. Wish me luck!

1 million Memorial Day kisses to my sister and all of the service women & men out there. Thank you.




*I'll be posting some invites that I never got around to as I shoot them all for my new site. Bear with me and stay tuned!

Happy Easter!

J and I officially became urban gardeners this weekend with the purchase of 5 gallon buckets, dirt and some seeds/plants. All thanks to our amazing roof.


*cherry blossom photos from a trip to D.C. last weekend to visit my dear friends Beth and Lauren, thanks for a lovely weekend out of Brooklyn ladiesl!

Welcome to 2010!

Gettin' ready

The Holidays are here—the only reason I can get into winter! Now, if only NYC could get some of the snow that everyone else seems to be getting. (Just for a day or two... then we can be finished!)

Already missing October...

I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween, NYC Marathon, daylight savings time—weekend! whew!

Happy 23rd Birthday to my darling sister! (23!? I can't believe that's right!?) I hope it's a good one and we wish we were there! xo!

South Mississippi

A few shots shots from our trip.
photo 1. Hercules. A plant that made gun powder during WWII, most recently a paper plant, and is now closed.
photo 2. (left) mural on the outside of the New Yokel Market in downtown Hattiesburg. One of my favorite cafes anywhere. (right) Farmers selling their produce on the side of the road on the Fourth of July.
photo 3. (right) Cadillac Corner.
photo 4. The evening of the 4th at the McNamara's home.

Oh, boys!

Some weekend highlights in no particular order:

Staten Island Ferry, E.J.'s Luncheonette, Guitar + Rooftop, finding out that both Kirk & Trevor can play the harmonica!, Curry Hill, The Met, Harlem, Rucker Park, brunch on the roof, late night donuts & chinese takeout, marching through the streets of Park Slope with a guitar + harmonica + singing boys!


Much fun was had at our joyful reunion, most everyone is on their way home now & exhaustion is setting in.

happy long-weekend!

Some of the best guys in the world are here in bklyn visiting for the weekend. I have a feeling (based on much prior knowledge) that it's gonna be a wild one!

happy Memorial Day! xo.

*these are some of the boys' bikes about 2 summers ago...

Paris in the rain.

You may have noticed that I listed Paris in the rain as one of the things that make me terribly happy. And with Wednesday's french-fetish that started to go too far I thought I would dig up a few pics of Paris (in the rain!)


Abbey (my partner in crime) & I went to the Rodin Sculpture Gardens & we haven't been the same since. It had a profound affect on Abbey especially who continues to talk with all sincerity about going on sabbatical in Santa Fe and learning to work in the medium. We practically wept while wondering though the rain & the larger-than-life bronze sculptures. I still can't look at the The Burghers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais) with out getting choked up.


*Abbey, please don't kill me for including this pic of you... you let me walk around clutching your arm declaring that I was in love for the entire trip!

I've been out.

But I'm back now! We returned to the mother-land (well, my mother-land, not J's) for a week to see family & friends.

*photos taken way out on approximately 104th & Chicago -ish... it was raining a bit.

for the love of Irish Beer!

I think I've mentioned that we shop at the Co-op... and I love to bake. I picked up a Guinness Bread mix as a little surprise for J. I made it this weekend. It's dense. Almost ridiculously so. It's a fun idea but I can't say that I recommend it.

*OH, and Happy St. Patrick's Day! Personally, I'm only about 1/16th Irish, but I married a McNamara! Cheers!

they're engaged!

My little sister got engaged on Valentine's day at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens!

Her friends through them an impromptu wedding/engagement party! Complete with a veil, a bouquet of calla lilies, 3 tier wedding cake, cake cutting & champagne toast! I say she's as good as married!!!

*Congrats on one week of engagement, Kendra & Stephen! We love you!

birthday girl.

(that's me!)

do you like someecards.com because I sure do! witty, funny ecards for every situation!

*and maybe I'm enjoying a little birthday vino right now! Cheers!

forever & ever.

We had a Valentine's brunch of bagels in Prospect Park... it was a mild 30 degrees outside. (us Southerners will be Brooklynites if it freezes us to death!!!)

*and, I made a bunch of handmade Valentines only using stuff from my scrap-paper bin ... but accidentally mailed them before photographing them (with the exception of this one! oops!)

Much love to you all! (& enjoy tomorrow if you have it off of work like we do! I think we're going to borrow a car and do a little hiking... I hope!)

a little something.

A gift to someone important's family...something they called, "the best Christmas gift they could ever receive."





It was more about the contents of the little books I created than about the books themselves... But I felt the contents deserved a little something more than a nice envelope.

I made 10 total. I did use an inkjet printer for the inside, and ran the muslin "title" through the printer as well I sewed the bottom of the pages with a machine...so, they aren't entirely "handmade" (but I like to think that their pretty close).

Christmas Dinner // Island Fish Stew

About 3 days after I graduated from high school I traveled to Martha's Vineyard with 2 of my friends, we lived in an old lady's attic for $25/week...for the whole summer. It was HOT. We had no way to do laundry. The only laundromat was out of town & we didn't have a car...so we did laundry maybe 3 times in 3 months. We each worked 2+ jobs that summer. I did everything from working at the Black Dog General Store in Vineyard Haven to working in a fancy Brazilian restaurant right on the water, to babysitting & yard work. It was wonderful. We were always tired but the vineyard was something that certainly set the tone for the way I would plan all of my summers – go away for the whole summer & work your tail off while you do something totally new and different.

[maybe that was an unnecessary preface to this recipe. oh well, I like sharing stories.]

J & I spent Christmas in Boston's fabulous, Italian, North End. I literally felt like I woke up Christmas Eve in Italy...everyone was speaking Italian (even J with his theatric & throaty "Ciao Bella's!") and the area had a wonderful old-world charm. We went from tiny shop to tiny shop searching for all of the ingredients for our Christmas Dinner – Island Fish Stew in the Black Dog: Summer on the Vineyard cookbook.






*If you can't read the recipe fully & would like it, just leave a comment or shoot me an email, I would be happy to get it to you!