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PHOTOGRAPHER JAMIE BECK

Anne Sage of City Sage never disappoints, she is full of wit and wisdom and her treasure trove of finds delight me to no end.  When she had me clicking over to 'This is Glamorous' to visit  Jamie Beck's  feature I thought I would die of 'swoonism'. 

Wouldn't you LOVE to have a portrait of yourself like this?  So chic like a magazine tear from a vintage Vogue.  The styling is by the lovely and uber talented Anne Sage (you know the one that I gush about at every opportunity I get? See first sentence). I loved the nostalgic processing and was even more excited to find that the images were shot with film and developed in Jamie's darkroom, just amazing. 

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween weekend or for those that have no idea what Halloween is and don't celebrate, have a happy weekend!  I will be back Monday with some smushy, gushy, baby animal goodness and will try not to burn the flat down this weekend with more of my culinary adventures.  I have an idea for another Souvenir Foto School session that I have been playing around with and I hope I can get it together to be able to announce it next week.

//photo by the ridiculously talented jamie beck//

A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED...

I never know what will inspire me next, will it be a person, place or thing?  Who knows what goes on in my head? I certainly don't seem to have a handle on my brain after all these years together. Lately, I have been inspired to save, save, save after I realized that our grocery and my take-out lunch habit has become an albatross and not conducive to saving.  The hardest part about saving is coming up nearly even in what you are bringing in versus what goes out. I wasn't convinced really that cooking more at home would be less than buying a sandwich (you know the whole time is money adage), but I am open to new things and decided to give it a go.

I started last weekend with making this potato and leek soup, so incredibly easy that I wish I made it sooner, who knew that I could make soup?  I sure as heck didn't. Per Krista's suggestion I picked up an immersion blender which was fairly inexpensive ($30) and it has become life changing, I want to go around blending everything (and I pretty much have) just wait until I show you a new way to make scrambled eggs--life changing. Janice of Paper Valise left this comment which I didn't see until AFTER I got the blender , she is right and I think it's great advice (trust me I now have first hand experience):

"The immersion blender can be tricky without a bit of practice--sort of like using a chain saw to cut a piece of cake. Just go slow!"

I made some homemade granola bars thinking they would be great for grab and go breakfast's. I made these once prior and didn't have parchment paper, they were impossible to get out of the pan without a mallet and hammer but were still quite delicious. This time around I burnt the first batch (you see what I mean about bombing?  Don't give up!). The second batch I was a little skittish with and undercooked which means they were more granola than bar, oh well, it was still edible. I found the recipe a little on the sweet side and am working on the tweak, once I have that down, I will be sure to share the glory.

Last and certainly not least I made bread. Yes, bread! Beautiful artisan bread, hand formed, crusty  bread. This prompted the Fancy to ask, excitedly "What else are you going to make?"  I was VERY worried about the outcome of the bread and sliced into it with much trepidation.  The Fancy took the first bite and made some moaning guttural sounds akin to cave talk which I took to mean that the bread wasn't horrible. "I love bread," he shouted with an impolite mouthful. "Is it okay?", I asked.  "It's INCREDIBLE," he chewed.  I am now feeling quite smug.  I.made.bread. I am sure this feeling of making bread is almost on par with making a human, almost.  I am going to play around with this recipe a little more and see how it keeps, etc. and will be happy to share my secrets when I am done. BTW, the bread averages out to about .73 per loaf (give or take a few cents, I am certainly no mathematician) so I am saving, saving, saving (and designer shoes shall be mine, along with a miniature animal farm of course)...

 

//photo stolen from this doctor//

JINGLE FLATS

I have never spent over $100 for anything in my wardrobe, in fact many, many, many items in my closet are under $50 including shoes, bags and coats. I like to think I have a good eye and my girlfriend Suzi says I always look 'rich'.  I just bought the seriously most adorable pair of faux patent leather flats for $8.50! They are comfy and I have already received a ton of compliments on them. 

I have to say my obsession with Kate Spade makes me want to shell out a couple hundred dollars for accessories, but I just can't.  I don't have it in me to buy a pair of shoes that are almost as much as my car payment.  I can dream though and these sweet 'Jingle' flats would be high on my list of things to own if I had a few extra hundred dollar bills lying around that weren't slated for rent or food.  What about you?  If you had a few hundred dollars available to you today that didn't need to go to essentials and you could spend how you please, would you buy designer shoes or....?

J.CREW BRIDAL STORE

 

I have been completely obsessed with the images from the new J.Crew bride ad campaigns.  They have the most beautiful light and soft, creaminess that you find in vintage Polaroids, not to mention the styling!  To die I tell ya... I wish every photo I took turned out this beautiful, sigh.

SEIZE THE DAVE

Jules of Pancakes & French Fries sent me this image, it is a cute baby animal, Monday morn no brainer.  I have to say, as an avid shutterbug what are the chances that you would have your camera out in time to capture this?  I am very fond of squirrels and love how resourceful they are and I am very fond of this photo.  Happy Monday!

//photo by davis grant//

QUICK 'LEEK & POTATO' SOUP RECIPES

My farm produce delivery was on Tuesday and I have been planning out meals like it was the 'norm'.  I think I must let you know that I did not grow up in a household where fresh cooking scents wafted from the cozy kitchen and I have cherished recipes that have been passed down for generations.  In fact, I think my mom cooked twice my entire childhood and both times it was so unbelievably awful that I hoped it would never happen again. I didn't learn how to cook until way into my late twenties and it was certainly a hit and miss experiment.  For those that are new to cooking I suggest that you don't give up when you create a couple of bomb meals (because it is bound to happen). When I first met the Fancy I cooked on the weekends but it was time consuming and messy, delicious yes (I pride myself that I can cook now) but not practical for every day.  When I started to work in an office/torture chamber the Fancy took over nightly cooking duties and with so much practice his skills improved exponentially, the only problem was his repertoire (it's limited and if it were up to him we would eat beef stew every.single.night.).  Thus, the farm delivery to the rescue and my commitment to cooking more myself. My only real requirement now is finding recipes that use as few ingredients as possible and are relatively quick.  Tonight I am going to try my hand at potato & leek soup, which for those new to making this like myself, do not Google 'leek & potato' soup as you won't get as many recipes (and no one seems to call it that --leek & potato, besides me), speaking of Googling, I also add 'easy' to my search parameters and you will be happily surprised to know how many people are as lazy, as resourceful as myself.

I have chosen some contenders below for this foray,. I don't own a food processor, blender or potato masher so I may have to omit the blending part of the recipes, but then again I may just go get a darn potato masher or blender after work, because I am crazy like that. I hope the ease of these recipes motivates you to try this too and if there is anything I learned in cooking at all it is  the 'secret'--butter makes it better (seriously).

//PHOTO BY JENNIFER ISERLOH//

I am leaning towards Jennifer Iserloh of the Skinny Chef's recipe because there's no blending, but I don't have 'Herbes de Provence' (which I now feel I need desperately) nor white wine, but again no blender or potato masher needed.

 

//PHOTO BY REBECCA CRUMP//

Ina Garten's Roasted Potato & Leek Soup as shown above by Ezra Poundcake, goes way past my requirments of quick and easy but it is Friday night and I do have a tad more time on my hands so this may work.  How delicious does this look? Again it calls for white wine, gah, looks like I may have to go to the market.

Alas, a recipe that does not need white wine nor a blender! But calls for powedered mashed potato and well gosh knows I don't own that but it looks fairly easy and maybe one day I will own mashed potato powder, crazier things have happened...

Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

IT'S RAINING

 
 

It's raining and I couldn't be happier.  I love, love, love the rain, perhaps, that could be because I live in a place where it doesn't rain much so it is that much more special when it does? I don't own an umbrella though, I lose them often which is strange because how is it possible to need an umbrella when you go out and then not need it when you return?  What are the odds that it never rains on my trip back, thus causing me to forget my umbrella?  I never lose my sunglasses mind you because my Godmother gifted me with a very, very expensive pair one birthday and I know that I am way too frugral to ever buy myself another pair as divine if I should lose this coveted pair. My thinking now is that I should maybe invest in a nicer umbrella so I would have more incentive not to lose it (sort of following the successful sunglass formula). There are no umbrella's in stores near me though making umbrella purchasing impossible. Okay, I fibbed there are umbrella's but they are hideous so they don't count.  I know what you are thinking, you are thinking I may need some matching rain boots as well, right?  Yeah, I was thinking the same thing....

GLAMPING PART DEUX

I stole this image from the darling 'Happiness is...' blog.  I mentioned 'glamping' (glam + camping) a few months back, but this my friends is some serious glam camping--indoor tent (check), crystal chandelier (check) baroque painted coffee table in said tent (check). I love it all, I wish I was hanging out there now reading something educational like People magazine, twirling my hair around my index finger and blowing giant pink bubble gum bubbles in the air.

IT'S MONDAY AGAIN!

 
I highly doubt that I will ever lose my fascination with the Frenchie face.  That cross between little old man/Winston Churchill, baby gorilla and bat/gargoyle is endlessly amusing to me. I have no idea how photographer Mia Takahara was able to get her Frenchie to not nab this sausage and eat it in one gulp but bravo to her for this fine capture (do you see the pink tongue?  Hah!)

This is artist Camilla Engman's dog Morran, she titled this pic 'Bad ear day'.  It's a pretty perfect title if you ask me. On a side note, please let me grow up to own a home with white floorboards, k?

Wishing you all a happy as can be Monday, you know I will be dreaming about Friday, which is really lame, but I have a good feeling that this week will fly by...

SHE'S NAUGHTY BUT NICE

When I open my eyes in the morning this is the look and face that I am usually greeted with.  Granted Bella spends an inordinate amount of time trying to wake me up without seeming like she is trying to wake me up.  Sometimes she will sneeze, most of the time she flops pretending to try to get comfortable and then she will stick her face so close to mine that our noses are nearly touching and I open my eyes to make sure I am not being suffocated by a bear or some other furry creature. Then she just smiles and acts like 'Isn't it a coincidence that we should both wake up at the same time?  Gee, isn't that just great Mommy?'

It is seriously near impossible for me to be annoyed or upset when I have a giant marble sized brown eye staring me down, now if the Fancy tried this I can't guarantee I would be as pleasant, he's cute and all but he doesn't look like a panda.