Broccoli Blooms

Ah ha! I've never been so excited about broccoli before!

To be honest, I was a little skeptical about the broccoli plants. Our garden plot neighbor had a few extra so we figured, why not try it? It was really happy for a few months with lots of steady growth and humongous leaves. I didn't even know how or where the crowns were going to form until this weekend, voila!, they were there! We're going to let them form a little more before we bust out some stir fry with these. But how cool?! This whole process of "urban farming" (can we even call it that??) has been so rewarding. Just yesterday we had some chard from the garden with steak and roasted peppers. While I was kind of nervous about finding a slug in my food, it tasted delicious! To top it off, this whole experiment as totally paid itself off. We've had lettuce for weeks and it doesn't show any signs of stopping.

Local readers out there -- does anyone know of a veggie swap? It would be so fun to trade some of our butter lettuce, arugula and radishes for peas, tomatoes, peppers...

Rainy Sunday

I love being home, especially when my neighborhood is covered by a cozy grey cloud. Laundry is done, floors are swept, furniture has been de-catified, counters wiped, and all the dishes are clean - WIN - I can take slow sips my coffee, finally hang some more art up on the walls, scour the world wide web for Christmas presents, and watch as many episodes of Breaking Bad as I want! Great weekend.

Starting a Garden

Here I go adding to my list of old-people leisure activities....

Before beginning our veggie garden, we went to the farmer's market to talk to a seasoned farmer about the best ways to begin. As we suspected, he told us that we need to prep our soil before even thinking about what we want to grow. He suggested getting a few bags of EB Stone Planting Compost (no chemicals, no sir!) and mixing it into the soil so that's exactly what we did. Thankfully, the people who had this raised bed before us cleared everything out...just leaving behind a few grape tomatoes.


We got on our hands and knees and cleared out as many roots and leaves that we could!
We were told to water the soil and give it a few days to let all the nutrients seep in...hopefully this will set a good home for our veggies. Now we wait...I can already tell that this whole process will be a long lesson in patience!

In a few days, we'll probably head back to the market to get some veggie starters. Instead of starting with seeds, this will give us a few months head start. Maybe one day we'll start from seeds, but I don't mind a little cheating here and there to keep my confidence levels high.

I got a little crazy in Photoshop and I doubt that this will all fit, but here's what we'd like to do:


If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them! More later!

Look Around

Since our little nest will never be "done", I decided to suck it up and take some photos of a few little things that make me smile around the home: smart bike storage, extended golden hours in the kitchen (and a plant that I successfully started from a sprig of another indoor plant, wahoo!), cat toys found in my shoes, our record player, a patriotic memento, and two metal birds that we picked up in the parking lot of our old apartment in Malibu and have carted around ever since!

Simple Truths About Summer

"The cure for anything is salt water. Sweat, tears, or the sea." 

- Isak Dinesen

***

Isak Dinesen must have lived by the sea because she sure knew what she was talking about. 

Another beautiful summer has come and gone. I'm thankful for all the days spent on the hot sand and in the waves. We only live a few blocks from the beach so almost every weekend, we'd walk west for a few minutes, down through the bluffs and end up in paradise! Coconut waters, veggies and hummas, an entertaining podcast, soduku and soft waves. That's what I've been doing instead of blogging! Oh, and plenty of sweating too. Now that it's almost October, I'm close to reaching my 1 year anniversary of actively and intentionally exercising and eating relatively clean! As for tears? There hasn't been too much of that - maybe a few during this summer's SYTYCD (ah hem, this gooorgeous routine).

***

Side-note: Investing in art is my new favorite indulgence. Luckily, there are so many websites dedicated to bringing inspirational pieces to homes without breaking the bank. Jen Bekman's 20x200 is a great place to start but I found this calming print on Society 6 and I'm so tempted to make it mine. It is pay day after all! 

Moving!

Well, the 10' UHAUL is rented tomorrow. It's actually happening - we're moving!

Here's a friendly reminder to my future-self: do not try to sell all your stuff and buy new stuff at the same time! We have been carting around the same Craigslisted furniture for the last four years, so we thought it was about time for some upgrades. The Craigslist hunt is fun and exciting but oh so tiring and sometimes disappointing. The selling process is the most tiring part since you want to style up and clean your items and than you are on beck and call the moment someone shows interest. We've had a few funny *and weird* run-ins throughout this entire process, but also many successes. More on that later.

Until I have the time and energy to post a proper update, here's a cheeky little vintage sign that reminded me of what summers used to be like before they were taken up with grown-up things like moving apartments, selling furniture, and working full time!

Yesterday's Company

Neko's shiny black coat looks so sleek against the fabric of my latest project!

Moby's showing off his haircut. We call him the ombre kitty and he likes his subtle "fade" cut.

Told you I would post kitty pictures soon!

Lately...

A few quick updates since I haven't posted in a while...

1. Coachella #4 - my fourth time attending, but first (and probably only) time I will be considered VIP!!


I didn't bring my camera into the festival, but managed to take a few photos pool-side. We had a blissful weekend in the desert filled with amazing live performances. St. Vincent, Bon Iver, Santigold, Dr. Dre/Snoop/50 Cent/Eminem and Feist are my top picks of the weekend. It still baffles me that I can list those artists in one sentence.




Take me back to that lazy river, pronto!

2. Muay Thai Boxing - a fun workout that has me sore for days...according to our trainer, the bruises and cuts are the sign of a true bada** fighter. Great. Looks like I'm well on my way! ...Do bada** fighters also have blue toe nails?



3. Low-Carb Challenge: 5 days ago, I was challenged to cut out carbs after breakfast. After getting over the initial shock of taking rice and noodles out of my diet (umm...noodles are my life), it's actually been fun to try and be creative with what goes into my body. When you're writing down everything you eat, it's much easier to say no to unnecessary foods. Side-note for the Con readers: Supposedly I am subconsciously dreading the moment I have to turn down BonTon cake...I dreamt about it last night! BonTon must be my most beloved indulgence. Please feel free to take advantage of this confession the next time I visit.


(Hoisin pork loin veggie skewers - a delicious, low-cal Real Simple Magazine recipe!)

Whaddaday

++ via pinterest ++

Thank you, Mr. President, for a day off.

Instead of being stuck in the office my day was:

• 3 parts fun with Nats - discovering a new lunch spot in my neighborhood (who knew?!)** // window shopping & coming home with a dress very similar to the one above // Smoothies

• 3 parts productivity - clean laundry (!!) //  depositing checks // power fusion class at the gym

• 3 parts failure - losing the parking ticket at the mall // locking myself out of the apartment // feeling just over-all kind of gross

• 2 parts HALLELUJAH - the parking attendant let us go without paying the $21 fee!!! // the window-locking mechanism on our front windows work!

Lessons learned? If you get impatient in a busy undercover mall parking lot and shake fists at fellow drivers, karma may just kick you in the butt and make your parking ticket disappear. If you acknowledge that you were wrong and apologize to the universe, a nice parking man might just say "adios" and let you leave without paying a fine. Whoo! Oh, and don't lock yourself out of your own apartment. 

---

**Attention Santa Monica residents: Interim Cafe is a little hidden gem! With no sign on the outside, you must have a little faith when finding parking around 6th and Wilshire. Do not give up! The chicken quesadilla will not disappoint. I was also eye-ing their acai granola bowls and extensive smoothie menu...next time. Dad, as a warning, you will think this place is "earthy".

I'm still kind of floored that Nats was able to introduce me to a new restaurant in the area! I thought I had my 'hood figured out by now.  

Hiking it Off.

When the parents are in town, it's all about eating and shopping. Factor in Thanksgiving and Black Friday and we already had a pretty full agenda lined up. To balance out the heaviness of sweet potatoes and mac n' cheese, we suggested dragging everyone up the Hollywood hills to the Griffith Observatory. With the forecast reading 80 degrees and sunny, it ended up being the most perfect afternoon outing.

New Accessories.

Webb by Warby Parker // Heatwave by NARS

Eyewear company, Warby Parker, made their way out to Rachel Comey's Confederacy shop in Silver Lake for a little meet-and-greet event a few weeks ago and I used it as the perfect time to find my next pair of frames. Cute frames for $99? Sign me up! (Okay fine - $139 since my eyes are so bad that I had to opt for the special lenses designed for the blind. Such is life.)

---

Also this week, a Glamour editor claimed to have found the perfect lip color, Heatwave by NARS. Could it be true??? Let's just say I was skeptical. I have always been jealous of ladies who have been able to pull off lip color without looking like clowns -- the finger dab trick, and this combination of red and orange is actually great! An effortless pop of color to compliment my fading summer/LA tan.

---

Rainy afternoons are perfect for meaningless little posts. How are you spending your Sunday afternoon? Oh wait, my comment section mysteriously disappeared and I can't figure out how to get it back...I guess I won't ever find out.

Chicken Pot Pie from Scratch

Chicken pot pie has always been one of my favorite comfort foods. Growing up, we always had frozen chicken pot pies in the freezer for whenever us kids were left to fend for ourselves. Now that I know how to make it from scratch, I'm ready to retire Marie Callender's for good!

When Jackie emailed me this recipe from Wit + Delight, I immediately filed it under my "recipe" folder for a rainy day (like today!) but then I noticed the moveable gif and for some reason, that was enough to get me interested to try it immediately! Food photography can do that for ya, right?

If I can pull this off, so can you. Enjoy!

Pizza Time.

Jackie's brother, Alex and his fiancé, Shannon stopped by on their way from Australia to Colorado. Alex had mentioned wanting to try Mario Batali’s Pizzeria Mozza last time he was here so we made sure to get a reservation in and ate all the pizza we could have ever wanted.

We don’t eat out often, so when foodies like Shannon and Alex come to visit, it’s fun to go all out. We got four pizzas for the four of us, two desserts (you must try the Butterscotch budino, sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies if you visit!) and topped it all off with an after dinner coffee and espresso. Bliss.

Cleaning Out

Piles and piles and piles of stuff. How it all accumulates is beyond me. Last weekend I went through desk drawers, closets, file cabinets etc. and organized everything. I threw away old papers, sorted through forgotten shoes, consolidated and re-packed closets to use our space a little better. We even rearranged the living room. The whole experience was so therapeutic.

So...what to do with all the stuff you don't want to necessarily throw away?

SHOES: You can bring old running shoes to Nike stores and they turn the materials into playgrounds. Between the two of us, Jackie and I had 5 pairs of shoes to dontate. Done.

CLOTHES AND HOUSEWARES: I was also feeling too lazy re-sell clothes on consignment (plus, they never take anything!*) so we looked up places to donate clothes. There are many options for clothing drop-offs, but we wanted ours to go towards a good cause. My research lead me to a few discoveries: #1, those yellow clothing drop-off bins all eventually turn into recycled materials. The whole point is to reduce the amount of trash in landfills and increase the amount of textile reuse. That's nice and all, but my clothes are actually still wearable! #2, Goodwill...I heard that they throw away a lot of stuff. They also just sell clothes to support the salary of employees. Meh. Our last local choice was Out of the Closet, a thift store that is run by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). All proceeds help run the medical services AHF provides. Perfect, done!

I'm embarrassed to show the state of my car in this photo but look at all this stuff we no longer have!!



*Tip recycled from a friend: If you wash and IRON your clothes, your chances of re-selling your clothes goes up by a TON! 

Jackie's Specialties...

We're very lucky to live a short bike-ride away from one of the best Farmer's Markets on the westside of town. The Santa Monica Farmer's Market is on the ocean-end of our street and it has become one of our favorite things to do on Saturday morning. Typical of Southern California, we were given another beautiful day of sunshine - ahh, is it really October?! - and we were able to get a nice selection of heirloom tomatoes, pea vine, gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and garlic-roasted pistachios. These photos are from last weekend....maybe if I hint enough Jackie will whip up something equally yummy.

critical mass. august 2011

{Heidi is looking a little critical of the mass - I think she may have been the only one with handle bar tassles!}

{This guy's shirt had me giggling. Had to snap a photo of this kind stranger.}

If you live east of the 405, you may or may not have experienced heavy bouts of city-traffic due to hoards and hoards of bikers taking over the streets. Well, I was one of those annoying bikers last Friday...and it was awesome. Every last Friday of the month, about 3000 cyclists meet right by the Wiltern (Korea Town) and do a police-escorted 30-mile ride around the city. It was entertaining, exhausting and thrilling to ride in the streets and see Los Angeles' neighborhoods from my bike. We rode down Santa Monica, Hollywood Blvd, La Brea, Olympic...went through Beverly Hills, Silverlake, West Hollywood, Thaitown....30 miles is kind of far, we didn't really think that part through :) In hindsight, blocked off streets and police escorts are the ultimate way to get around LA. 

Besides feeling like a major minority (ie: I was a female, non-hispanic, adult...wearing a helmet), it was interesting and comical to notice how even bicycle styles can be regional. If you thought that my buddies with their west-side beach cruisers stuck out like a sore thumb, you're right! Most of the riders were on fixed gear street bikes with colorful rims and flashy lights. Lesson learned? In Los Angeles, your bike can be another accessory and fashion statement.

Critical mass Halloween edition could be realllllly fun....who's in?!

Take me to the Greek

Last weekend was Lauren's 1-year anniversary of living in LA...and what did we do about it? We hung out backstage with the Gipsy Kings. Nights like these are prime examples of when work and fun can overlap. It was  beautiful night to spend in Los Feliz on the back patio with some old French gypsies. We ransacked the free snacks, enjoyed the open bar and bomboleo'ed with women 20 years older than us.