Oh, Hello!

Hi, blog. It's good to see you again.

What have I been doing the past 5 months?

1. Puerto Rico trip. I should probably post pictures... eventually.

2. Wine festivals. Great Grapes in Reston Town Center in April and September. Yum.

3. Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic. Do I ever need an excuse to dress up and drink?

4. Electric Run. That got cancelled at the start line, but having glow-in-the-dark dance parties with some of my closest friends was amazing.

5. Labor Day weekend family time. The madre came to visit and my cousin hosted a huge brunch for half a dozen family members who were also in town.

Where the hell did the summer go? As much as I love DC during the fall, the coming winter months depress me. Still, there's so much to look forward to.

1. Phillip Lim 3.1 for Target. Jenny and I will be waiting up until the early hours if that's what it will take to get our hands on everything we want.

2. My cousin's wedding. An early fall wedding overlooking the Long Island Sound. The boyfriend will be tagging along too.

3. Steph's wedding. In California! Hotel booked. Flights not booked.

4. California Roadtrip. After Steph's wedding. From LA to SF & Napa. On my 26th birthday. With my best girlfriends. It will be glorious.

5. Eurotrip! Maybe? Hopefully. 70% certain at this point.

Pictures will be up... eventually. =)

Productive Weekend

I feel like I accomplished so much, yet so little this weekend. It was a combination of productivity and laziness, which made a fun and relaxing weekend. So what did I do? I started running again!!! My run on Saturday was miserable and pathetic. I didn't realize how hard it would be to get going again. I was expecting to run at least a mile before taking a walking break, but I had to do it after half a mile. Ugh. Sunday was a little better, but not by much. I know I'll eventually work up to the 3-3.5 miles I was running a day last year, but I hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

After both runs, I sat on my couch with Inha and watched hours and hours of Netflix and I finally saw Skyfall! Javier Bardem is amazing in it. I'm kind of disappointed by the hot Bond girl. They usually kick a little more ass and are a liiiitttle bit less damsel-in-distress. Thanks for breaking the little, submissive Asian girl stereotype...

And the biggest news of all, I got a camera! I bought a Fuji x10 off this guy from Craigslist. People are always hesitant to use Craigslist, but I've always had good experiences with it -- whether it was finding a roommate for a sublet or buying a used camera off a photography enthusiast. I can't wait to learn how to use it and take pictures for you all to see. I need to get a few things for it first, mainly a memory card and a UV filter to protect the lens, but I hope to start playing around with it soon!

Not mine, but this is exactly what it looks like.

Big Girl Furniture: Ikea Rast Hack

Furnishing an apartment is expensive and I want to start decorating my place with more "grown-up" pieces, which is hard to do on a limited budget. Pinterest and blogs have been a huge source of inspiration, especially when I found this Ikea hack on jaxdoesdesign.blogspot.com. Kelly, the blogger for Jax Does Design, used a $35 Ikea dresser and turned it into this beautiful, modern, yet classic sidetable that looks much more expensive than it is. 

So off I went to Ikea, where I picked up two Rast dressers for about $35 each. They're smaller than the average dresser, so their height made them perfect for side tables next to my bed. 

I also bought two Pippa Rast Kits from myoverlays.com and six Lattice and Bead handles from Lee Valley. After all the parts arrived, I was ready to assemble and paint! The hardest part was drilling the new holes for the handles. It involved a lot of measuring and a few mishaps and unintended holes that I needed to fill with wood glue. All the trouble was totally worth it because the dressers came out better than I ever thought they would.

Here's a picture of what the dresser looked like before I put the handles on.

And here's what it looks like after everything's finished! The bottom drawer could use another thin coat of faux zinc, but I can't tell in real life that it looks darker than the rest of the drawers, so I'll leave it as is for now. 

I also have two books, random perfume samples (held in a votive), and Voluspa's Panjoree Lychee candle. Burning candles have become one of my favorite night time rituals. 

Please let me know what you think of my new dressers! 

  

Inspiration for my Dream Starter Home

When I think of my dream starter home, I don't mean one that I actually purchase, but a place where I plan to stay for longer than a year. Here are some things that I will look for:

1. A large kitchen with plenty of counter space and, ideally, an island. I also prefer gas ranges over electric. I really love how open and light-filled this kitchen is. I also wouldn't be opposed to wooden cabinets to mix modern and traditional elements.

2. A cozy living room with fun and feminine (but not-too-girly) furnishings. I really like how the masculine coffee table prevents the tufted couch and pink accent chairs from feeling too fru-fru. I need to get a tufted couch. That is an absolutely must. 

Picture from www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com

3. I'm not sure what my bedroom would look like in this dream starter home. For one thing, my DIY dressers/bedside tables must be in there. I worked too damn hard on them to just toss them!! And an upholstered headboard with nail-head trim may also be a requirement. I have to think more about this for another post, so stay tuned! =)

Inspiration

Since I started this blog, all the pictures I have posted were taken on my iPhone 4s camera. Don't get me wrong, it's a very decent phone camera, but it's not exactly the ideal way to capture memories and the occasional culinary success, which brings me to this particular entry.

photo from smittenkitchen.com

I have been so inspired by all the beautiful images on the popular food blogs that I've become very interested in learning more about photography. I am currently in the market for a prosumer digital camera, but in between my hours of research, I've been trying to learn about photo composition and how to make my pictures look more engaging. For those who are interested, Smitten Kitchen has a blog entry on her approach to food photography. The picture above is only one example of both her skills in the kitchen and behind the camera. I hope that I can one day become half the photographer that she is!

Current Favorite: Julep Lynn Nail Vernis

I first got into Julep nail polish when I saw a promo for their monthly Julep Maven subscription service. I wasn't too thrilled with my first box (the colors were just ok), but I subsequently ordered a few more colors that better suit my tastes and need for office-appropriateness. 

The color I have on is Lynn. It's a warm pink with a slight metallic finish, which, unfortunately, can't be seen in the photo. It has all the qualities I look for in a nail polish -- easy application (no pooling, opacity in two coats), decent wear time (5-7 days with no chipping), and a pretty, office-appropriate color. 

Julep Lynn Nail Polish

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Stewed Calamari with Whole Wheat Pasta

Last weekend, I went on a stay-at-home double date with the boyfriend, the boyfriend's best friend, and his girlfriend, who is very very Italian. Like born and raised in Italy kind of Italian. Not the Brooklyn kind of Italian and most definitely not the Jersey Shore kind of Italian. She made us a wonderful meal of antipasto, steamed mussels, calamari, and baked red snapper (not pictured). My favorite was the calamari, which was cooked in a garlicky tomato sauce that I much prefer over the typical fried bits that are available in restaurants.  

A delightfully light and authentic Italian dinner

I decided to take a stab at the calamari yesterday. I looked up a few recipes and decided to make a stewed calamari pasta sauce (adapted from this recipe).

The best part about making this dish was how simple and inexpensive the ingredients were. Canned crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, onion, and garlic are staples in my kitchen, so all I needed were a pound of squid (both tentacles and body), fennel, and a bottle of red wine (not pictured). 

Simple ingredients call for easy preparation

After chopping up the veggies and squid, I sauteed and slightly browned the onions, garlic, and fennel in olive oil before adding the wine and tomato paste. After about 3-4 minutes on medium-high heat or until the alcohol is cooked out and the liquid is slightly reduced, I added the crushed tomatoes and squid before leaving everything to simmer for about 90 minutes. Make sure to give everything a good stir every 15 minutes or so to keep the bottom from burning.

I plated the stewed calamari with whole wheat pasta before committing a cardinal sin for Italians. I... (gasp)... grated cheese on top. But whatever, it was delicious. 

Cheese is a huge no-no with seafood, but I obviously don't care

Besides the cooking time, stewed calamari is relatively hard to mess up. Plus, it's healthy and in-line with my goal of eating lighter (more seafood, sliiightly less red meat). Yes, I know there's a pound of grated cheese on top, but baby steps, right?

Motorcycles

I (kind of) started getting into motorcycles after the boyfriend purchased his first bike a few months ago. They're a fun, cost-effective, and dangerous form of transportation, but we haven't gotten hurt yet (knock on wood). My mother will never know that I regularly ride on one because her knowing would be far more dangerous than riding a bike down the Beltway at 100+ mph. Seriously, that woman would kick my ass...

Anyway, the boyfriend and I went to the International Motorcycle Show at the Convention Center this past Saturday and saw some verrryyy nice bikes. I didn't get a chance to photograph everything I liked, but I got pictures of this rich burgundy and chrome custom motorcycle and the Bat Mobile-esque bike below. I would never trust myself to operate one of these vehicles, so I'm perfectly content riding in the back of the boyfriend's for now. 

Friend-Love

A cute repost from Nina's blog:

Happy 2013!

With the new year, I want to do things a little differently than I did in years past. Lots of simple little things like (re)starting a blog. I realized that I suck at keeping in touch with my friends, so I'm hoping that it will start a small chain reaction to get my blogging friends to update more often. In keeping with improving on the little things, here's a small list of what I want to accomplish this year:

1. Eat healthier. Not necessarily to lose weight, but to feel healthy. I really do feel a difference in my overall energy level when I eat a Sweetgreen salad for lunch instead of a bacon cheeseburger or a Chipotle burrito.

2. Cook more often. This is related to my goal of eating healthier, but I also enjoy cooking and want to add more recipes to my repertoire. Unfortunately, reading food blogs only makes me want to eat, not necessarily cook. I like instant gratification.

3. DIY & crafts. I recently moved into my new apartment and I've thought of some fun and easy projects to do on weekends. I'm actually working on something now and I can't wait to post pictures of the finished project!

4. Host small parties. Dinner parties, wine and cheese parties, etc. You know, parties where I can serve a whole roasted bird like this one that I made last month...

pick your mouth off the floor and stop drooling on your keyboard.

5. Downsize and declutter. During the few months during which I was between apartments, I realized that the less stuff I had, the better I felt. One of my bigger goals this year is to downsize my possessions or at least keep things from accumulating. I don't have an emotional attachment to anything besides a handful of clothing items (senior/dip ball/graduation dresses) and gifts from the boyfriend, so I'm willing to part with many of my things. Plus, my roommate has so much crap that it's a little infuriating. Must declutter, declutter, declutter.

6. Burn more candles. I was never big into candles, but that's because I never realized how soothing and relaxing  they are until recently.

7. Take more pictures. As in iPhone pictures so I can share them with you all =)