make your friend a mix tape

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Mix tapes are the best gifts ever...don't you think? Before we started dating, I went to Belize with a bunch of my friends and came home with meningitis. I was in the hospital for a week in the infectious disease ward, and no one was allowed inside. Even my nurses and doctors were wearing head to toe protective gear, blurring my memories and somehow blending them with the movie, "Outbreak." I do remember that he sent me flowers and about seven carefully thought-out mix tapes, which made me less sad to be in a lonely room surrounded by scary people with masks.
Anyway, my best friend just made me two, because (obviously) she's the best. The last song has been stuck in my head since Sunday. It took a while to grow on me, but now I love it. It's one of the last songs Warren Zevon wrote before he died of cancer. He was too sick to go to the studio, so he recorded it in his house.

You're probably thinking, "Gosh, Charlie Brown, you're such a buzzkill." Sorry.

Ps. Don't let my experience discourage you at all from going to Belize. I highly recommend it...I think my illness was a fluke. I swam with nurse sharks, snorkeled in the blue hole, drank rum punch all day, and played in the sand. It was awesome. 

sideswept hair

I know my posts have been kind of random lately...more life-oriented than wedding-oriented, and I tend to prefer it that way. :) But everyone's telling me I've slacked off for long enough and we've got to get back to planning now. It is only three months away at this point. So I'm suddenly dealing with dress fittings, bridesmaid dress shopping (did I mention I do things at the last-minute?), shuttle booking, cake tastings and all that other madness I'd rather not think about.
Today, I have hair on the brain. I'm kind of digging these side-swept looks, although it'll probably depend on what kind of headpiece I decide on. The veil fight conversation with my lovely nonna will be reenacted here soon...I promise.

Once Wed, Brooklyn Bride, Snippet and Ink 

happy monday - more art

Hope you guys had a fabulous weekend! I tried learning switch on my snowboard and the big purple bruise on my thigh looks like an eggplant. But it was a good time.
Thanks so much for all your kitchen art advice last week! I think we're going with the Shepard Fairey poster. I like most of his work - my boyfriend has a cool Malcolm X print of his - and the Make Art poster is in my budget. In the meantime, while I was procrastinating in the etsy time suck last week, I found these digital prints that I think would look really cool in a long narrow hallway of my apartment.  Sometimes I like obvious statement pieces that sort of slap you in the face, if that makes any sense. There are ten in a series called "Done in by Digital," by Pamela Mills Poulson of Into the Woods Studio in Salt Lake City. I bought these:

mmm...chicken

Did I say I hate Valentine's Day? Um, not when you make me the best roasted chicken I've ever had in my life. I'm not kidding. My boyfriend morphed into Julia Child Sunday night and it was pretty amazing.  Simple, yummy goodness. So I guess I'll shut my fat mouth and stop complaining about his unruly facial hair this week.

kitchen art

My kitchen is so drab, but we - fine, he - already painted the dining room, so I think the kitchen will remain the way it is for awhile. I'm talking white walls, white cabinets, black and white floors. I'll try to take a better photo tonight, so you can fully understand the drabness. In the meantime, I'm looking for fun, colorful prints to spice it up. Which ones do you like?

I think these are sweet, but not sure if they're bright enough...

I do love me some owls...

This painted bunting is adorable...

Or, I could go with something along these lines to really brighten things up, and red goes nicely with black and white floors...

Images found here, here, here, here and here.

Real Wedding, Kuwana and Cory: Part II

As promised, here are some of the details from Kuwana and Cory's gorgeous wedding:

Venue: LaVenta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates, CA. (Their private catering co also did the cake, an almond buttercream with chocolate mousse.)

Photographer: Alex Neumann 

Florist: Ginny G Floral Design 

Dress & Shoes: Alfred Angelo 

Real Wedding: Kuwana and Cory

Today's wedding makes me happy. My beautiful friend Kuwana married her best friend Cory in a magical ceremony in Palos Verdes Estates, California. The best part is that she did nearly everything herself - invitations, favors, programs, menus, table numbers. She's like a craft goddess. Check back later for Part II - the (handmade) details. Here are some photos by Alex Neumann. 

confessions of a v-day hater

imgfave 

Confession: I hate Valentine's Day. Single or attached, I always find it so obnoxious and contrived and the food at restaurants always sucks that night and I don't want red roses if everybody else is getting red roses and they're on sale for 25 bucks at the corner market. And, and, and, I hate the pressure of "having to do something romantic." puke.
Whatever. I know so many women feel the same way, so here's the real confession: it annoys me that he hates it too. Because in my sick world, he should not be allowed to get out of buying me flowers and nasty chocolate hearts and potentially making me something.
The first or second year we were dating, he made me a Valentine's Day card. It was awesome. It took great effort, and I have not let him forget that card. Especially since making me a card has not become a tradition. I might be crazy.
What do you guys think about V-Day? I'm thinking we should make a good dinner and watch a horror flick, kitty sprawled out on our laps.
Here's his card, by the way...I can't share the words inside - privacy, people - but you get the gist.

remember books?

flickr 

wtf is this about? seriously? remember turning the pages of an old book, smelling that musty, old book smell and getting transported to a different place and time for hours? you were so wrapped up in the story that you couldn't hear your little brothers, wearing teenage mutant ninja turtles costumes, wrestling in the next room? you were so wrapped up in the beautiful story that there were no distractions - nothing was more important than getting to that next chapter and then the next - and when you turned to the final page, you went into mourning. it took a little while to get over the shock that these characters weren't going to be in your life anymore.
and you read the whole story without minimizing the page, and checking your email real quick, and tweeting and scrolling through facebook status updates and clicking through your favorite blogs in your google reader.
i miss that. i know i'm not alone. but at least we got to experience it. if i have kids, i'm shoving books down their throats like vegetables. they'll like that weird smell and the yellowing paper that falls apart if you're too rough grasping the corners. they'll learn to be delicate with them and show some respect for things that are old.

comfort food

I know, comfort food = mac and cheese, or in my case, pasta and chicken cutlets. But we made this Giada recipe at the ski house last weekend and it was a big hit. It's really easy too, and I'm loving fennel right now.

Pork Chops with fennel and caper sauce

Andrea making garlic bread

Feasting on chops, cheese and crackers, salad with maple balsamic vinaigrette and raw fennel dipped in olive oil

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil

4 boneless (2-inch-thick) pork chops (about 2 pounds total)

3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning meat

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning meat

2 fennel bulbs with fronds, thinly sliced (about 8 ounces or 2 cups)

2 large shallots, thinly sliced

1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/3 cup

1/2 cup white wine

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their juices

1/2 lemon, zested

2 tablespoons capers

Directions

In a large, heavy skillet heat the olive oil over high heat. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Add the pork to the pan and brown on both sides, about 4 minutes each side. Remove the pork from the pan, cover loosely with foil, and set aside.



Add the fennel, shallots, and 1/3 cup parsley to the pan and cook over medium heat until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the wine. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes and stir. Add the pork back into the pan, nestling the chops between the fennel and tomatoes so they are mostly submerged in the pan juices. Cook until the fennel is tender and the pork is done, about 12 to 15 minutes.



Place the pork on a serving dish. To finish the sauce, add the lemon zest, remaining 1/3 cup parsley, capers, and 3/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Spoon over the pork chops and serve immediately.

Make your own wedding rings!

My friend Merry and her fiance, David, decided to make their own wedding rings at New York Wedding Ring. And when I say "make," I mean they actually burned metal - with a blowtorch - for 7 hours! Seven hours of fire and metal and banging with hammers and filing and then more fire and sandpaper in order to create the rings that will symbolize their love and committment to each other. Aren't they awesome? Look at the pictures Merry sent over! For a full step-by-step, check out Offbeat Bride.