bill's america.

i came across this site, radical cartography (through pinterest of course) and have fallen deeply and madly in love.  it started with land value in nyc and then jumped over to education in dc.  but when i found bill's america, well i figured out what we're making HUGE and putting on our wall.  our americas - roads driven style.  we've done more than one back and forth of this country.  that should be celebrated, no?

still full.

last week mas and i headed up to new york, him for a few business meetings and me for a trip to new york ... it had been a while since i'd been, so why not?  we hopped on the train and while en route i sent a very frantic email to my most trusted food source asking for her most fave *cheapish* food spots.  she replied with an even more urgent text message with a good five options (i love you celia for understanding the importance of not missing even a single meal when in a city filled with food).

we proceeded to eat ourselves stupid.  it went pretty well for a while, though i did have to skip dinner one night because i was so full from the previous two days that i felt like vomiting all over the place.  here's a list, you know in case you were curious ....

porchetta // cafe clementine // cafe habana // the bar in our hotel // la colombe // bouchon bakery // laudurée // num pang // the city bakery // and that is honestly all i can remember.  oh, oh colony grill, which is in connecticut, we had to head north for a little family get together, hot oil pizza, who knew?

oh, also, i got a new pair of shoes.  i looooooooooove them.

gingham walls, update.

so do you remember, way back when, me saying i was going to paint our vestibule gingham?  it's finally happened.  there was a lot of thinking and researching and painting and repainting.  and after, um, ten coats of paint i think we've got it, and more importantly, i think we LOVE it.  we are toying with the idea of taking the almost black down to the light grey, to be actual gingham, but i'm not sure.  thoughts? 

also, fucking gingham painted walls.  i cannot tell you what a hassle they were.  i mean, seriously.  at first i was certain that one made such a pattern by adding glaze to half of your paint and then subtly layer one coat over the next.  boy was that WRONG.  it turns out that if you use glaze you get this horrible consistency that shows every last brush stroke.  it took four coats of the glazed black paint to start looking decent, and at that point it was no longer a glaze.  it was a straight up solid - waste of time.  

but then, it was magic, while eating with our friends (at their new and beyond wonderful eating establishment, bell street farm, in los alamos) one of them let me in on a little secret.  a little secret that made me want to bang my head on the most perfect farm house table.  that layering technique is really just a third, or in our case fourth, color.  so simple, so smart, so easy.   i'm such an idiot.  

bedside lights.

every single night for the past, um ... eight months, i've ended the day with the aid of a headlamp hanging off the side of our bed.  i guess we* were uncertain as to where the bed would be living in the room?  or lazy?  or both?  whatever it was our level of commitment to putting things like lights in that room was non-existent.  until last week.

something happened last week.  something good.  our shithole turned into a HOUSE.  you shouldn't get too excited or anything, i've still got a ton of work to do, but for the first time since we've moved in i honestly feel as though i could invite people over.  not a whole lot of them, and not anyone i don't really know, but still this is huge step for me.  for the past eight months mas has been asking if we should maybe have so and so over for drinks before dinner.  or perhaps over for dinner?  and i've either laughed at or nearly scolded him every single time.  i've always been so obsessive about what our home looks like that i just could not take it, having someone see all of the boxes and mess and lack of seating options.   it makes me crazy just thinking about it now.

i know, i know, i'm nuts.


*when i say we here i mean mas.  having not been around for the initial set up of the bed he's convinced it will be better on another wall.  he of course, is wrong.

happy valentine's.

here's wishing you at the very least a good bit of cake ... or brownie ... or doughnut.

frances and i are each other's sweethearts this year and i've already ruined it for her.  so, she's gone back to bed. i might attempt walking down to barracks row and trying out this place for the first time (i think it's the last cupcake only shop i'm left to experience). or perhaps i'll just hunker down into some projects and go for these brownies instead.  or maybe we'll head on out to the suburbs for a lowe's/petsmart trip and just hit up krispy kreme?  our options are endless and all very sugary.

{image via}

knitting.

i bought this kit and have watched about two hours of youtube/other videos, all of which tell me how easy knitting is if you just do it correctly.  well, let me tell you something, that is a load of crap. maybe it's because my yarn is wool and messy and i don't like messy so i go super tight and then can't move stitches (or whatever they're called) from one needle to the next?  or maybe it is because i'm starting out with 15mm wooden needles?  or maybe it's just because i'm an idiot?  it seems so easy, but seriously, you should see the shit i've come up with.  just some rats nest of yarn that is fraying because i'm constantly starting over.

so, i'm bound and determined to make that stupid snood, before it warms up even, and am wondering ... should i pick up smaller needles and yarn to practice with?  i'm talking straight up basics ... knit one purl one ... this has been impossible for me so far.  OR should i just suck it up and take a class?

tingly.

does this, or does this not make you tingly all over?

i can't stop watching it.

also, apparently, i need more rings.

catbird short, by the more than amazing east side bride.  shop the collection here, rose gold first knuckle ring any one?

plants.

my mission this week, house plants.   we're decidedly bare, well if you don't include the various cacti in the kitchen, which are nice, but also secluded in the kitchen.

any favorite hard to kill varieties out there that are not succulents?  i used to be a pro with things such as ferns, but that was before i had an animal and literally treated all house plants as pets ... we're talking names, travel itineraries ...yeah ... i was young, they were important to me.  but since then i've been murdering everything that has a light/watering preference and now i'm scared of being a serial killer.

although, i think this could all be fixed if i just PAID ATTENTION to them?

{image via kitka, who has a pretty good selection of house plants}

pretty.

between all of this crazy warm weather and the spring lines being readily available for purchase, i'm having a hard time not wanting an entirely new wardrobe.

{loeffler randall spring shoes available here, and here}

bread, the making of.

about once a month mas and i have THE talk.

you know, the one that goes like this :

m - oh, warm bread, YUM.
c - i know, isn't it the best?
m - yeah, we really should start making this.
c - i know, wouldn't that be the best?
m - yes, in fact, it would.  let's start.
c - hmmm, ok, how about we spend our sundays making bread and soup for the whole week!
m - perfect, let's start.

and then, something happens.  mas goes out of town, or he gets back into town and we spend our sunday doing things around the city.  like buying slabs of wood for the making of tables.  or heading out to ikea ... again ... to buy more faux wood flooring because we've decided to rip out that gross carpet in the apartment after all.  or we spend it watching homeland, etc.  whatever it is we are doing, it simply is not planning meals and breads for the upcoming week.

but those days are over. it's a little bit because that last prairie boule we nabbed from the whole foods was a disappointment.  and its a lot because i am done with disappointing bread.  also, i've got the time.  so last week in an effort to use our williams sonoma cash back, or somethingoranother coupon that expired on the 29th, i went on a shopping spree.  enter this book.   it's fantastic.

and now, i've got my starter made and am well on my way to what i hope is the most delicious county loaves around.  because there really is nothing better than fresh bread.

side note : i'm really quite a fan of these chronicle cook books, plenty has gotten a lot of play in our house recently as well.