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snapshots // winter edition.

February 4, 2013

You know what the thing about winter is?

It’s freezing cold and the sun doesn’t like to come out a lot. I like to complain about it, but the truth is, I’m used to it. It’s all I’ve ever known, really. I grew up in Syracuse, dubbed as the “snowiest city in America”. So, yeah, I like to complain, but this whole winter thing is nothing new to me. I grew up with it, I went to college with it, and now I live in a place that continues to embrace it every. single. year.

{except for last year, and that was weird.}

But the REAL thing about winter is that’s it’s okay to be lazy. It’s okay to wear the same thing over and over every single day and it’s okay to hunker down and hibernate. Goodness knows I have been, and I hope you have too.

Here are some other fun facts about different things I’ve been up to lately…

1. This is the view on my drive to work. Every day it is beautiful, but on especially blue days it’s my favorite.

2. About a year ago I started to write “A Guide to Boston, according to me”… after a few hours I became increasingly overwhelmed and I gave up on it {typical}. It now sits in my drafts folders just waiting to be brought to life, or rather, waiting for me to get inspired to work on it again, but until that day comes I will tell you this: if you ever come to Boston you must go to Bates Hall, the reading room inside of the Boston Public Library. It will be magic and you will not regret it.

Other places to check out:

Acorn Street and all of Beacon Hill

The Esplanade on the Charles River

Top of the Hub and the Skywalk Observatory

MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum

The South End on a Sunday

{Okay, okay, maybe I will go back to that guide someday.}

3. I’ve been super into the “Throwback Thursday” phenomenon lately. Can you find all the throwbacks sprinkled throughout this post? I got a bunch from my house the last time I was home— enough to last me a few more weeks at least. So fun and I especially love when other instagram friends do it too. I love old photos and especially love seeing friends in their little days.

4. Me, in winter. I hate the cold, but I LOVE wearing all my hats.

5. A few weeks ago I happened to stop into Urban during a super sale. I got these boots for $20 that day, and this shirt because, well, IT’S ADORABLE.

6. Garland is all the rage over in this neck of the woods.

Last month I put up this pretty paper garland in my kitchen from Sycamore Street Press. I’m pretty in love with it.

And last week I bought two more kinds of garland {one for my home + one for my classroom} from sweet Janee. She hand delivered my goodies to me while we sat and chatted over warm tea + coffee and the most delicious Buttery Biscuits. Janee has an online shop, Yellow Bird Yellow Beard, that is AMAZING and you can check it out here.

7. If heaven was on earth it would be here. I just know it.

8. Speaking of books, I just finished this one. Oh my. Oh, oh, my. Captivating, mysterious, full of love and hope and betrayal and longing. This book was wonderful. It brought me to tears and gave me chills as I turned the very last page. Everything I love about a well-written story. Tragically beautiful. I absolutely loved it.

ARE YOU STILL READING? Because I’m still writing…

9. Jarlsberg and raspberry jam on grilled french bread. Try that on for size and tell me that you don’t like it. I DARE YOU.

10. Me, in a dream. Except it was REAL. OH, my heart. Oh, my Venice. {working on a post! living in a dream!}

11. Being here reminds me of summer.

12. This weekend brought me to Allston for breakfast with my very good friend Clair. We hadn’t seen each other in MONTHS! And she just got engaged! So it was a happy reunion. I usually like to make jokes about Allston {I can, I lived there once}, but this venture out was worth writing home about. The Allston Diner is terrific, people. It truly, truly is.

13. A GIFT! From the nicest! Last summer Elizabeth started a pen-pal project on her blog. She matched up, as best she could, two readers together to be pen pals for the summer. My pen pal was Emily, a teacher from Santa Barbara, California {cool, right?!} and yesterday I got a gift subscription from her to a really great, well-known online software training website, Lynda.com. She read my recent blog post on photography and basically warmed my heart with her gift. Camera tutorials! Lightroom videos! Photoshop lessons! All at my fingertips. It really is the most exciting thing, and I’m so so thankful. Thanks again, Emily! I think you are amazing!

And that’s it, friends.

That’s my life in a nutshell.

{And apparently, in a really long blog post.}

HAPPY MONDAY! Keep it real, kids.

27 Comments · Filed Under: instagram, life, Uncategorized ·

INSTALOVE.

January 24, 2013

A few weeks ago this sweet lady posted this photo and my instagram literally BLEW UP with new followers. I was BEYOND excited. Giddy! OVERJOYED! THANK YOU, TANIA! You rocked my world that day (and every day).

Anyways, I know I’ve said it before, but I’m completely obsessed (borderline addicted) to instagram. Since I know I’m not alone in this (I’m looking at YOU), I thought I’d pay it forward and share some of my favorites here. For me, the best part of instagram is getting a glimpse into the lives and days of others. I follow a few close real-life friends, a lot of bloggers, and a handful of skilled photographers, too. I love seeing the beauty in the everyday, but most of all I love way instagram makes good photography so accessible. I love this little instagram community— how you can instantly be transported to the hustle and bustle of New York City, the streets of Paris and Rome, or the beaches on the west coast. It’s a beautiful world out there and these people capture it perfectly…

Megkb110

My sister! I honestly LOVE her instas. And not just because she’s my family!

Loves Boston, New York City, puppies, and the ocean.

cucinadigitale

Gorgeous views of Italy all day every day. She lives in Rome. Mega SIGH.

derafrances

I adore this woman’s shots of her day to day life. Wonderfully soft and full of simple magic.

natthefatrat

Love this girl. And her precious Henny. Lives in New York City. Quirky. Adorable. Real.

megangilger

Megan is one of my favorite bloggers, too. She is one of my biggest role models in photography and design. LOVE HER.

annariflebond

Owner and designer of (MY FAVE) Rifle Paper Co. She has a serious eye for pretty. Full of beauty and character.

bleubird

I just love this family. Wholesome goodness from Texas (soon to be Nashville!). And the most adorable littles.

michellenicoloff

AMAZING photographer. Lives by the ocean in California. A beach lovers paradise.

{If you click on the name links, you’ll be transported to the IG pages, where you can easily follow if you’re logged into instagram.}

Now tell me, who are your favorites?

22 Comments · Filed Under: instagram, things i love ·

holiday snapshots!

January 8, 2013

Oh, HAY FRIENDS.

Is it already January 8th? Seriously?

I’m still in holiday mode over here, so don’t mind me. The Christmas tree’s up, the music’s still playing, and the cookies are flowing like water.

Delicious.

I just thought I’d take a minute to share some of my instagram snaps from the holiday season. You know, like I do. This holiday was a good one, filled with traveling and family and presents and hot chocolate and parties. When I think about it, all I can really remember aside from the photographs is that I was BEYOND BUSY, and although tiring, it was also extremely amazing. For Christmas I got to head home to Syracuse to spend time with my parents (and bask in the snow!) AND I visited my Grammy + Co. in Connecticut, and even took a little jaunt to the City.

{We saw the Rockettes. Craaazy good. Have you ever seen the Rockettes? More specifically, have you ever seen the Rockettes Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular? WHAT. A. DREAM. I was practically in tears I was so happy. Oh, New York City. You get me. You get me every time.}

Then, I took a lovely train ride back to Boston to ring in the New Year with my one and only.

It was pretty special.

And now, behold! My wonderful holiday season, for the memory books…

I’m excited to move forward, but I also want to go back, you know?

Sigh. Pretty much my feeling after every good thing ever.

27 Comments · Filed Under: holiday, instagram, life ·

snapshots!

November 19, 2012

SNAPSHOTS!

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared my instagrams with you all. I know many of you follow me on the IG, but I also know some of you do not (Hi, Aunt Wendy!), so here’s a look at my life lately according to my iPhone…

One:

A few months ago, we got this Chemix coffee maker. Now that we’ve been using it for awhile, I think it’s safe to say that we love it A LOT. It’s specially designed to make quite literally, the perfect coffee. And it does– every single cup has been SO delicious. You can read more about the details here.

Two:

My favorite dessert in college was crisp bar, so whenever fall rolls around apple crisp is what I’m most drawn to making with my apple stash. I made this apple crisp a few weeks ago and it mimicked our dining hall apple crisp to a T– plus it’s gluten-free! The recipe made two pie-dish fulls, one which I made right on the spot and one which we froze and cooked up for dessert this week. YUM.

Here’s the recipe:

Gluten Free Apple Crisp
(adapted from Not Your Average Baker, originally adapted from Joy the Baker’s Man Bait Apple Crisp)

Ingredients:

8-9 golden delicious apples
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 2/3 cup brown sugar
2 2/3 cup Gluten Free all purpose baking flour
2/3 cup Udi’s Gluten Free Granola
2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two pie dishes.
2. In a small dish combine 3 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
3. Peel and core apples. Place in a large bowl and toss with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
4. In a second large bowl mix the brown sugar, flour, granola, and pecans until well combined. Combine butter into topping mixture using pastry blender (or a fork, which is all I had).
5. Take one cup of the topping and toss with apples. Once throughly tossed, the apples can be placed into the baking dishes. (Remember, I cooked one of the crisps and froze the other.)
6. Pour remaining topping over top of the apples and bake for 55-65 minutes (I actually had to cook it about 20-25 minutes longer). The top should brown and the apples bubbling.
7. Let cool 15 minutes or so before serving. Initially the filling will look a little runny, but the liquid will reabsorb into the filling as it is cools..

Three:

Abbie recently wrote this post about this donut shop in North Cambridge. Since reading her rave review I have been twice, and the donuts are everything donuts should be and more. I’m usually a sucker for chocolate glaze, and their chocolate glaze is tasty TASTY, but I honestly love love loooved their original honey glaze. So classic and soft and delicious. The best donuts I’ve had in a long time!

Four:

Remember that glorious weekend last spring when I went to New York City for three days? Remember when I met Colleen and Molly for brunch? Well, I also met their friend Tina and so now, according to the rules of friendship, Tina is my friend, too. LOVE making new friends like that. Just love. So when Tina told me she was coming to Boston for work, we planned to meet at Sel de La Terre to have drinks and dinner together. I hadn’t been in a few years, but remembered it having a great atmosphere and good drinks and I remembered right. We both had the hamburger, shared a meat and cheese plate, threw back a few glasses of wine, and IT WAS WONDERFUL.

Five:

If you’re ever around Central Square and you’re looking for a great brunch/lunch spot look no further than Brookline Lunch. It’s easily one of our favorite spots ever and worth the trip even if you aren’t right around Central. Make the trip! See for yourself!

Six:

I don’t know if I’ve made this clear on the blog, but Zanner is the real cook around these parts. I am nothing but a measly eater, in all seriousness. He cooks, I eat. And I’m completely okay with it. Wonderously thankful, even. Cooking is not something I have found to be particularly passionate about, so the fact that Zan loves it is simply icing on the cake. Yesterday “The Top Chef” made this Julia Child inspired pegboard wall in our kitchen. He’s been talking about doing this project for awhile, and he finally got all the supplies to finish. I’m super excited about it and think it gives a whole new feel to our kitchen. Fun, right?

Seven:

Like my new wool hat? Straight from Oona’s in Harvard Square. It’s a vintage-lovers dream in there and I easily spent the better part of an hour trying to convince myself not to buy EVERYTHING. There’s the outpost store in Inman Square, too, which I have not personally visited, but have been told it’s worth a trip. Also, check out their blog— it’s fun!

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

OH! And that artwork up top? It was made by one of my first graders! Can you believe it? How beautiful and frameworthy is that?! It was a “Winter Tree” watercolor, tempura paint, and chalk project and I promise you every single one turned out museum-ready. As I was passing them out to my students I just kept saying things like, “WOW!” and “I LOVE THIS!” and “THIS IS AMAZINGGGG!”. I adore the art teacher at my school and I think she does the most wonderful work with the kids. They are so lucky to have her.

In other very important news: THREE DAYS.

In three days we will all be stuffing our faces with unGodly amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and that delicious marshmallow topped sweet potato creation.

AND PIE. My goodness, let’s not forget the pie.