just keep me where the light is

Super weekend was a success! After a week of midterms and deadlines, the weekend started with a bang with the lovely Abigail coming in town on Thursday (Bible study was just more complete with her there:) ), Sarah and Ben's engagement party on Friday, a lil birthday celebration for Tyler, a little snow to kick off spring on Saturday ... and John Mayer in St. Louis on Saturday!

Walking to the restaurant; our hotel was in the middle of so much great architecture.

St. Louis was a fun trip with Ashley and Lauren. We ate dinner at a delicious tapas restaurant called Mosaic before the concert. The concert started with Michael Franti and Spearhead, one of the most energetic and fun-loving groups I've seen in a long time. I only knew one of their songs, but they were all catchy and just made you want to dance around. Michael came out into the crowd (which was massive) several times and even started a dance line at one point. He had younger kids come on stage for Say Hey (I Love You) and totally gave the mic to a little girl at one point who sang so cute and great! It was just a bunch of smile moments all around.

Michael Franti & Spearhead's backdrop was lovely.

Umpteenth attempt at fitting us all in. Oh well, we're still happy:)

Oh hey there big screen entrance for JM.

Look at that old-school hairdo.

Thank you, jumbo-tron. Can't really see it, but I'm not digging the left arm tattoo sleeve he's rocking now.

And then John hit the stage...which was fantastic. He went off on his random, don't make much sense philosophical tangents. But that's ok. The boy can sing and play guitar; I guess we have to allow the occasional "this is the advice I wish I knew way back when" moments. One of my all-time favorite songs, "Why Georgia," was played second, so I was a happy camper early on. I was glad he had a good combination of oldies and newies.

What a wonderful weekend to give me the extra go for this next week before spring break.

it takes heART

Because of this magazine we're publishing about brunch I've been surrounding myself with food journalism and recipes and all thinks tasty.

I just finished reading a story in New York Magazine about Keith McNally, a restaurant "auteur" (literally: author), who is opening a new restaurant in New York soon. It was interesting to see what thoughts go into opening a restaurant. It's no secret I love food. I'm no food snob or picky eater, but I just really enjoy an artfully prepared meal. I also really enjoy an artfully put together restaurant. I found this description about McNally's restaurants really illustrative and imaginative:

"A truism about McNally’s restaurants is that they are like stage sets, with a theatrical sense of lighting, of casting, of narrative, of scale and movement and mise-en-scène. Meticulously engineered to feel like found objects excavated from a golden past that never was, his places are augmented-reality versions of the bistro, the brasserie, the trattoria, the café, the tavern. "

Also: "Blank CDs were stacked behind him; over the next month, he would choose a thousand songs to play at Pulino’s, broken down by time of day."

What a meticulously put together restaurant. I often wonder who chooses the music that is playing in a store or restaurant. It's neat to see that at least for McNally, even that decision sets the tone for what he wants his restaurant to say to its visitors.

I love seeing art creep into all aspects of life. Right before reading this article, I was reading about an ice cream place in Columbus, OH, that reminds me a lot of Sparky's here in Columbia (because of it's creative flavors) but with an artful twist. My dad was just in Columbus and thought I'd like to read up about this artsy part of the town (it was featured in an NYTimes article). The place is called Jeni's and is just incredibly cute-looking.

In the article it says: Considering the innovative confections on offer, it’s no surprise to hear the owner, Jeni Britton Bauer, explain, “I’ve always thought of ice cream as the expression of my art.” It’s a fitting sentiment in a neighborhood brimming with creativity.

Art as ice cream? I LOVE that! This made me think of my wonderfully talented friend Abby who is mastering the art of beautiful cupcakes, cakes and all things sweet and delicious. It's just a matter of time before she opens up an "Abby's" and calls cupcakes an expression of her art, too;)

This just motivates me more and more to find the art in every day and notice how almost anything can be seen as such.

This picture has little to do with the post, BUT it shows that an artful display of even something like the New York subway system makes it so much more appealing and whimsical.

Neglectful

I'm a neglectful blogger. There's simply no denying it. I wish it weren't true but I've come to accept it.

But in an attempt to explain my neglect, or make excuses for it, here's a glimpse of other ways my writing has been put to use in the past few months.

*I manage to blog weekly for the Mustard Seed in an attempt to tell the stories behind every beautiful fair trade item in the store. Look for me on Wednesdays.

*I think and write about brunch a lot. I'm in Magazine Publishing and we're developing a one-shot publication for Meredith (think, Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, ReadyMade, etc.) all about brunch. I created two recipes for one of our features and recently interviewed the executive chef at Bleu to get his tips and tricks for tackling eggs Benedict.

Here's my Cranberry & Walnut pizza:

1 Tbsp. pesto

4 Tbsp. olive oil

½ cup shredded mozzarella

1/3 cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped walnuts (broken more for desired size)

¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle flour on a cookie sheet and roll the wheat dough onto the sheet. Roll dough out to desired thickness (note: crust will rise in the oven).

In a small bowl, combine olive oil and pesto. With a spoon or brush, spread the oil and pesto mixture evenly on rolled out dough.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese, dried cranberries, walnuts and goat cheese on top of the pesto.

Bake pizza in oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese has melted and crust is golden brown.

*I'm working on my HTML skills through a introductory web development class. The final project will be an online portfolio that I hope turns out as nicely as I have planned. In the meantime we work on little pages to practice different skills.

*I'm applying for internships and looking for jobs. That should just be a separate class altogether.

So sorry blog if you get neglected from time to time. It's nothing personal.

channeling my martha

Break is almost over and I haven't completed the hundreds of crafts I had set out to tackle. I should stop making break resolutions. This is why I don't even attempt new year resolutions.

Jonathan gave me Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts for Christmas. It's as wonderful as it sounds for all you doubters. But somewhere between C and S (Candles and Soaps) I became overwhelmed with the materials that had to be purchased and my lack of real inspiration for either projects. Also: the lack of space and weight capacity in my suitcase to bring anything back to school with me.

So I tackled a smaller, more useful craft: cards. I always want to give a homemade card, but every time an event presents itself that requires a card I (claim to) have no time to make one. So why not get a head start while I have the time?

I had been wanting to try some sort of embroidered card for a while, with each card having a unique symbol that reminds me of the person receiving the card. My friend Sara's birthday is coming up in January (and she doesn't read my blog, so I can ruin her card surprise here:) She and I love leaves. So my first attempt at this embroidered card thing: a simple leaf. Judge the results below. And, oh yeah, paper shopping is kind of overwhelming. There's so much beautiful paper to be bought and used out there, goodness. I need to start a craft fund before I attempt Martha's A-Z.

I also baked cupcakes today, another Martha moment. My mom just received Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and I wanted to try a few before I go back to my nonexistent not baker-friendly kitchen in Columbia. I really wanted to make pistachio raspberry but, lo and behold, unsalted pistachios are not the easiest things to find here. So I switched to good ol' chocolate chip cupcakes. They're quite tasty if I do say so myself -- it made me miss Abigail and her master baking and the few times I "helped" her in the kitchen with creations like Salted Caramel Chocolate cupcakes.

C'mon creativity: you have about a week left with free reigns of my heart and soul (and brain). Then it's back to dreaming about you as a scapegoat to studying.

In other news: I have come to the realization that my ideal magazine does not exist. This is a little sad but also a little exciting. Maybe I'll get the chance to create my ideal magazine one day? Like, say, as a prototype in Magazine Publishing? Who knows. What I do know is that my pseudo-perfect magazine would be a combo of:

-Real Simple and Good Housekeeping crafts and recipes

-National Geographic Traveler's city features

-Esquire's boyish charm

-New York magazine's food and art sections

-The New Yorker's illustrated covers and illustrations

-The New York Times' home and garden section

Ahh. Bliss.

fiore

i love fresh flowers. what i actually love most about them, though, is when they've been around for a few days or a week and it gets to the point where some need to be thrown out, or cut, or simply rearranged. my mom and dad gave me this beautiful bouquet for my birthday. now, over a week later, so many of the flowers are still just as beautiful. i love having little arrangements of flowers throughout my apartment. my current favorite vase that's not a vase is that owl tea pot (jonathan found it for me at a garage sale this summer).

the magic of halloween

baking in my kitchen is a headache. kind of literally. the smoke detector will go off at least three times without fail. it just likes to be sensitive.

so i tend to shy away from making anything that involves the oven.

but when i stumbled upon a forgotten box of halloween funfetti cake mix tonight at, oh, 11, i couldn't help myself. nothing sounded better than making funfetti cookies (complete with orange and black sprinkles) to give my brain a break from memorizing the arab israeli conflict for my geography of the middle east exam tomorrow (this way, if i don't do well, i'll have fresh cookies waiting for me at home to nurse my mood back to happy).

but my smoke alarm is not the only thing that's funny about my quirky little apartment. the oven is too short to fit a normal size cookie sheet. so i have to make do with a circular cake pan that holds about seven cookies at one time.

also, in the midst of my excitement for my first time baking in this apartment i forgot that i never officially bought a baking bowl (can you tell i gave up on the prospect of baking a while ago?) so i had to make do with my pasta pot. hey, it's nonstick! less mess to clean up:)

thank you halloween funfetti mix for allowing me to re fall in love with baking, despite the minor adjustments my apartment requires. (oh, it helps when you take the battery out of the smoke detector... :) )

I rent a room & I fill the spaces with wood in places to make it feel like home

(Insert image that I cannot find of a room with the perfect glow of a lamp. Google apparently doesn't know what I mean when I search 'lamp lighting,' 'lamp ambiance' or 'lamp glow').

I'll get straight to the point: I'm a lamp-loving convert. My friend Abby hates overhead lighting and loves lamp. Maybe she's the reason why I too now crave lamps around me. Or maybe it's because I'm growing up.

Hmm, that's a stretch. Or is it?

See, my parents have always been lamp-loving people. Growing up we used lamps and not the brighter overhead lights. I wasn't a fan of this concept. In fact, sometimes I turned on the overhead light just to spite them (shameful, I know).

But in the midst of making my new apartment my own, I have found that a few simple things are sure to make a place feel homier to me.

First and foremost are flowers. I love nothing more than fresh flowers in mismatching vases filling a room with color. This past week I had the joy of having astromelias from Jonathan and sunflowers from the farmer's market spruce up my living room. They're on their last legs so I hope to find some replacements soon. But when the fresh flowers fade, I still have plants. They're simple green living things that add my favorite color to any room.

But onto the reason for this post - lamps. I finally hung my paper lanterns this weekend - two in the living room and two in my bedroom. I still haven't finished hanging art on the walls or finding the perfect throw pillows for futon, but the simplicity of warm, intimate lighting has transformed a not-so-mine place into my cozy corner of Columbia.

Other recent decorating triumphs: reupholstering my first piece of furniture (photograph to come soon) and making simple curtains from a deep coral/red fabric.

There's so much more I could say about decorating that I've recently been thinking about, but I'll save that for another post. It'll make me write on this thing sooner rather than oh-so-much later.