A Housewarming Gift

I recently took a day trip to visit my friends Athena and Carl at their new home in Indiana. They moved there for grad school a few weeks ago and are still getting settled in. Prior to my arrival, I had planned on making them a real home cooked dinner since I love to cook and they're not too into that sort of thing—yet. 

After realizing that they barely had enough food let alone utensils to cook a proper meal, we headed to a nearby grocery store to pick up a few essentials. In all honestly I may be a little overly picky about what I use in my cooking; it just kills me to use standard table salt as opposed to sea salt. Regardless, I found the items needed to prepare the meal I had planned—a gnocchi dish with mushrooms and a gorgonzola sauce, which they absolutely love. I made a mental note of a few things they could use around the kitchen while I was cooking and ended up buying them a spoon rest since I dirtied up their stove so much. 

It's a start.

Congrats, Athena

My dear friend Athena just graduated from U of M and I couldn't be more thrilled for her. Through all of life's ups and downs her persistence towards her collegiate career rarely faltered, and she will be greatly missed once she moves away to Indiana for grad school this September. I only have high hopes and wish her well as she begins this new chapter in her life.

Throughout the past 10 years I've known Athena, we have been through a fair amount of high highs and possibly some even lower lows, which have only brought us closer and made our friendship stronger. I think of her as family more than anything else, and I'm certain that her move will not compromise our friendship or our closeness (especially thanks to skype & instagram). And hope that her and her Carl don't mind an extra house guest once in a while :).  

Halloween Flashbacks

When deciding on a halloween costume, I usually opt for something homemade since that was what I was used to growing up. Come to think about it, I don't recall ever buying a costume. My mom was into sewing and made ours by hand every year, and I'm so glad she did because looking back- she always did such a darling job.

Happy Birthday, Catie

My little sister Catherine turns 18 years old today! Getting together has been a more difficult task theses days, but yesterday my brother Chris and I decided to take Catie out. We started at The Jolly Pumpkin in downtown Ann Arbor for some amazing food and drinks including a cheese sampler platter, a truffle pizza Catherine and I split, and the JP burger with a side of their famous truffle fries for Chris. We absolutely loved the atmosphere there. It was as if we were transported to NYC's West Village, one of my favorite boroughs in the city.

After dinner, drinks and nice conversation, we stepped out to some live music and stuck around for a bit to take it all in. We walked over to the State Theater a few blocks away to see 50/50. I'd highly recommend it if you haven't seen that movie! The soundtrack was great, and I really liked Anna Kendrick's character too.

Once the movie was out we walked a few blocks until my sister and I spotted this dimly lit bar called The Raven's Club. It was the perfect spot for grabbing a drink after the show. She and I ordered a couple coffees, mine with a shot of Bailey's and hers with cream. We split the seasonal apple and rhubarb crisp over a candle lit table, which complimented our coffee quite well. The night turned out to be a lovely one. Happy Birthday Catie, xoxo!

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a few extras:

- the pop of bright blue in this fall ensemble.

- this chocolate chip cookies recipe

- these festive treats

- design your own cards/memory books with pinhole press.

- warm up with these fall dishes

Rules Of A Gentleman

me, dad, my little sister catie, 

older sister monica, and little brother chris.

me, chris, dad, & monica

dad & monica

dad, me, monica

I thought I'd share these rules of a gentleman in honor of my dad's birthday. Had he not used any of these simple acts of kindness and etiquette, I'm sure he wouldn't have gotten as far in life as he has.

Find more at Etiquette For A Gentleman, or re-visit this old post of mine: Rules of a Lady.

On Dealing With A Death

Firstly, I apologize for not posting as much lately. On top of school keeping me busy these past few weeks, there was a recent death in the family. Even though it wasn't in my actual immediate family, I still considered Ozzy very much a part of my family since I have known her and her family for ten+ years, when I had met my best friend Athena. 

I'm happy I was lucky enough to grow up as a family member in their household, and have been shown much love and support in a number of ways. I'm glad I am able to reciprocate the love they've shown me throughout this difficult time. Simply being there for them, as they need family at this time more than ever.

Something that I've done for many of my close friends is prepare a sort of care package to show that I'm thinking of them, or a thoughtfully written homemade card. I've always felt that it's these small acts of kindness that are most meaningful and special. For this particular situation, I included the following in Athena's care basket: 

Old Photographs

I recently came across a few old photographs of my mom. The first two were from long before I was born. It's strange to think that back then, they had to pay more attention to the way in which you shot a photograph. There were no options to carelessly shoot an endless amount of unnecessary ones the way many do now.

I thought the first one of my mom in Chicago was a neat photograph because I absolutely love big cities, especially New York and I never knew a time when my mom was an avid lover of the city herself. She has always talked about wanting to live in a more rural area so that she can grow a large vegetable garden in the backyard. I suppose we're not as opposite from one another as I had thought.

A Trip to the West Coast

My younger sister recently arrival home from Cali. She spent the past week and a half their with her friend Maddie, visiting our dad. She told me all about their west coast adventures and showed me the numerous amount of photos they took with my Canon powershot.

Originally I was going to let her borrow my Canon Rebel, but it was being fixed at the time because the flash hadn't been working properly. Fortunately for me, it was a manufacturers problem and I was able to upgrade to the T2i for no extra charge!

A Small Summer Roadtrip

My best friend Athena and I took a small road trip to Mishawaka, IN this weekend. She had to go to take her GRE exam (which she did very well on, by the way!), and I thought that it might be fun to tag along. We left Friday afternoon and came back this morning. We hadn't planned anything specific, or looked into the area much, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. Even though neither of us had ever been to Indiana before, we were under the impression that it would be sort of boring, and that there wouldn't be much to do or see. Though we quickly realized that that wasn't the case.

As usual, I was so upset I didn't bring my camera! I suppose I'll use that as an excuse to go back before summer ends. We found out that Athena's friend Josh actually lived right in town, and he ended up being our tour guide for the trip. The three of us ended up having a really great time overall.

Friday night began with a delicious sushi dinner at a restaurant called Toyo Sushi. Afterwards, Josh drove us to the beaches around St. Joseph, MI, which was such a beautiful area. We walked around for a while, then made our way to a small downtown area. Such a quaint little area it was, almost as if we'd been transported to the olden days, the kind of place you'd see in those old hollywood movies. After ordering large cones of ice cream, we took strolled down the cobblestone street to checkout the neat little shops and artsy touches around town.

I was pretty bummed that neither Athena nor I brought our cameras, but luckily Josh snapped a few photographs for us. I absolutely loved that first one posted above, it really captures the scene so perfectly. I'm glad I had the chance to take in all that mid-west charm I'd never been fully aware of.

(photo credit @  Josh)

Cupcake Delivery

(photo source)

My cousin Niki turned 25 a few months ago and I'm not sure about her, but I know I'm dreading turning 25 this year. I don't want a party or gifts (well, maybe a gift or two wouldn't be the worst). In my opinion, the best gifts to receive are the edible kind, which  was how I got this gift idea.

A gift of this sort may not be ideal for anyone since it depends on your geographic location, but lucky for me (and her), Niki lives in NYC! I vividly recall her and I shopping along Bleeker Street last summer, and making a stop at the infamous Magnolia Bakery for a mid-day treat. We each picked out a decadent cupcake and couldn't help but devour them shortly after we shot a few photos. :)

This year I wanted to make her birthday special by sending a few delicious cupcakes straight to her door. I originally wanted to go through Magnolia Bakery, but unfortunately they didn't have a location in Brooklyn. Though I did find an alternate route that was closer to her neighborhood called Crumbs! They makes cupcake gifting so simple + fun with many flavors to choose from!

On their website you'll find an option that allows you to create your own six pack. They provide a number of pictures and details describing their unique cupcake selection--from peanut butter cup, to cappuccino, to blackbottom cheesecake brownie, there's lots to scroll through. After making your selections, they even provide the option to add a birthday card. Simply specify how you'd like them to personalize the card and voila!

If this isn't for you, check out more of my gift ideas, here! 

The Fourth

(source)

Since I was a kid, every year when the 4th of July came around, we typically had a big BBQ with family, good friends, and lots and lots of food. My dad was always in charge of the grill while my mom would make some sort of 4th of July themed dessert. However, since my dad moved to San Diego, and my mom's currently in New York visiting family, this year wasn't at all the same. Everyone is much more grown up and have jobs and busy schedules, so it's harder to get together. Since my favorite part was always the dessert, my sister Catie & I decided to keep up that tradition with a strawberry & blueberry shortcake! Neither of us are amazing cooks or anything like that, so we just looked up how to make the biscuits from The Serendipity Cookbook, then added vanilla ice cream, strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream on top!

ingredients:


2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder


2 tablespoons sugar


1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces, plus extra for the pan

2/3 cup cold milk


1 large egg


1 tablespoon heavy cream

Granulated sugar, for dusting
(we used sugar in the raw)

1 pint heavy cream,

1 can whipped cream for serving

1 gallon of vanilla ice cream

2 containers of strawberries

2 cups of blueberries

1. Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process briefly to blend; add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 15 to 30 seconds. Add the milk and process until just incorporated; the dough will be dry.

2. Working the dough as little as possible, turn it out onto a clean surface and bring it together with your hands into a ball. Press the ball flat to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut out biscuits with a sharp 2 1/2-inch round cutter and place them on a buttered baking sheet, 1 inch apart. (we just did triangles instead)

3. Lightly beat the egg in a small dish, add the cream, and stir. Brush each biscuit with the egg wash, and then sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown and puffed. Transfer to a rack. Keep warm for serving.

Makes approximately 8 biscuits.

Once cooled down, top the biscuits with your choice of vanilla ice cream, cut up strawberries, blueberries, and a dollop of whipped cream.

Meet my younger sister, Catie. She's 17 years old and just graduated high school! Her and I are pretty much as close as sister can get. We're always there for each other, and I don't know what I'd do without her, and I'm sure she'd say the same for me. If you'd like to check out her tumblr, you can do so here > what catie likes. It's really cute, and I'm sure you'll be able to tell she's a big fan of food while scrolling through her posts. Her and I also started our own tumblr, here :).