A Loaded Question

I've been thinking about this blog a lot lately, specifically how my current schedule keeps me from it. I'd like that to change. So I'm looking into making a major adjustment in my life. Stay tuned.
Image found here.

The Life I Should Have Had

The latest edition of Southern Living arrived in my mailbox today. The cover was adorned with a gorgeous Thanksgiving spread; inside were testimonials of the life I should be leading back in my homeland. Married women, dressed in their Sunday best even though it’s only Tuesday, smile alongside their delicate mantle displays and open-planned kitchens. In another room, two perfectly groomed children do whatever perfectly groomed children do. Upstairs, The Catch watches football.

I probably should have worked a little harder to earn that life. To land The Catch and push out two perfectly groomed children. I should have a smaller waist and bigger diamonds in my life. My mother should live down the street—close enough to babysit but far away enough so as not to annoy The Catch. But I daydreamed through high school, and I focused more on planning for a career than planning for a wedding all through my college years.

So, this is the life I lead instead. In lieu of breezy porches gracefully extending from brick homes, I live in apartments without central heat or air. I’ve forgone streets lined with scrappy pine trees always dripping sap and chosen manicured streets accented with sycamores and coral trees. The air smells more of sage and that powdery sigh roses let out than of barbeques and freshly cut grass. The men here are too busy dating models to worry about finding a mother for an heir. This is the life I lead. And while it’s not gracing any slick magazine covers in my mailbox, this life is all mine.

Image found here. It's a really good issue with some very delish recipes.

A Twist.

Sometimes change just sneaks up on you!

Found here via here.

This One's For Bryan

Found here via here.

That Time of Year

32 years ago today, I discovered my love for cake.

The Tale of the Thirteen Piece Fry

An Ulster Fry is the stuff of breakfast legend. As you would in England, Scotland or Ireland, you get eggs alongside ham, sausages, and mushrooms with an Ulster Fry. But the Ulster Fry goes a step further by adding fried soda bread and potato farls, oftentimes both black and white puddings, and sometimes a grilled tomato. It's kind of a must for any visit to this corner of the world. The idea of a 13 piece fry, proposed by Anna and Luke's grandfather, sounded heavenly. We decided we would tackle the fry on Monday morning, before I had to depart for Dublin.

And so begins the tale of the 13 piece fry.


We set out for Newcastle (Northern Ireland not England, mind you) and drove through countryside sort of like this. The build up for the fry was massive. This breakfast was becoming the event.


Newcastle is by the sea, though you can't tell from this photo. Do these people know how lucky they are to live in a town with a 13 piece fry?


We park and start off in search of the restaurant genius enough to offer a fry this big. What? The 13 piece fry has been downsized? Never mind. A fry's a fry.


The list of items: eggs, ham, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, white pudding, potato bread, soda bread, tomato, pancake, and beans.


The tea arrived. Apparently tea is the most appropriate drink with a fry.


And then the blessed moment: the arrival of the fry.


Post-fry.


Payment for the fry(s).


Then we did what any self-respecting person would do; we went for coffee and ice cream. I thought this row of school children we passed was kind of artsy.


The possibilities for ice cream cake personalization are endless.


The sundaes. One was chocolate madness or something-or-other and the second was called pooh bear something-or-other.


My sundae view.


A hard day's work.

And so ends my short tale of the delicious 11 not 13 piece fry.

Re-Gift Prevention

Here's a clever idea for personalizing a book. And bonus! It should aid in preventing your gift from ever seeing a garage sale or the musty inside of a thrift shop.

Idea came from where else? Martha Stewart.

Good Music is Hard to Come By Sometimes.

I've been listening to this album since last week. I tend to wear albums out, playing them constantly in my room, at work and in the car until I know them inside and out. Do other people do that? Or maybe it's just me. Actually, it's probably just me. I mean, who else refers to music as an album?

Each time I listen to "You Were Never There" I feel like hopping on a plane to Mexico City, which I am planning to do in July. Hooray!

Album is by Diego Garcia.

Getting Ready for a Trip!

I'm headed back to Ireland next month. Super duper!! I recently joined pininterest, so I've found myself distracted by pretty pictures for my boards. Here's a photo I pinned:

I originally saw these old travel posters way back in 2007 in a hotel called the Slieve Donard in County Down, Northern Ireland. Then I saw reprints at a LOVELY spot for breakfast in Holywood, Northern Ireland. Oh man is the food good at The Yard. And the adjoining art gallery is swell, too.
You don't have to fly all the way to Ireland to buy one of these prints. You don't even have to buy a print advertising travel to Ireland. This site has prints for sale for other destinations, including Scotland. I'm talking to you, Katherine!
Enjoy!

p.s. hey! I just noticed the tiny photo on that site was taken in The Yard. Huzzah!

p.s. again. I think I really like exclamation points today.

Noted!

via stumbleupon via pininterest created by littlemissanj.

Ever Feel Like This?

Pretty much sums up my month! What a sweet girl.

About to Take a Leap of Faith

Somehow I stumbled across this post on the world wide web, and I am delighted. As a reader, I applaud Penguin for their creativity when it comes to cover artwork. It is exciting to see artists given freedom to create, and this project is just that. I hope to have that freedom for myself very soon.

Work has been tough lately. Not because of workload or because of the actual work, but because I am stuck. I feel taken for granted, overlooked, and it is painful to know I have been lied to by people I trusted. As for my next step, I am not certain. 4 of the 5 schools I applied to have sent rejection letters (or emails. how tacky). Sigh. Tomorrow is another day!

Photo belongs to the talented Jillian Tamaki, an illustrator and cartoonist. Image used with permission.

Viva La Paris

This video is making the rounds on blogs written by Americans living in Paris. Somehow it captures exactly 2 minutes and 7 seconds of Parisian magic.
Enjoy!

Le Flâneur (music by The XX) from Luke Shepard on Vimeo.

Video by the talented Luke Shepard, a student at American University of Paris. Found via the lovely blog, Pret a Voyager For a behind-the-scenes look at the video, go here.

Gorgeous Wallpaper for Your Desktop

Ah, Spring. You're just around the corner with your golden evenings, sprays of roadside flowers, lunches outdoors, and a version of Interstate 10 clogged up with sun worshipers looking for a patch of dirt by the sea. Spring in LA. It's just like summer but a little cooler and with less smog.

This lovely image can live on your desktop too, thanks to Shanna Murray.

iPhone Round Up (and my 100th post!)

This is the closest thing to a snow-covered tree I'll ever see in LA. And I'm OK with that.


Went to my first-ever roller derby match. Too bad the name Bombshell Betty is taken.


Grilled cheese truck = Heaven


Oh Land at the Troubadour. She was really good.


Kind of a genius idea for a Valentine.

Going to My Happy Place

Today I am wishing I could spend the day here curled up with tea/hot cocoa/coffee and my new Nook.

I found this particular photo on the lovely blog, desire to inspire. It originally appeared on the website for the Swedish company Alvhem Mäkleri & Interiör . I highly encourage a scroll through desire to inspire to see more images like the one above. Sigh.

Live From La La Land

For anyone who has been brave enough to spend a holiday in Los Angeles, I salute you. And then I ask, "What on earth did you do in LA?" and then maybe, "How did you get around?"

The City of Angels is scattered, cluttered, dirty, pristine, horrific and sublime. It's understandable when someone says they aren't fond of my current hometown, but one should never say LA isn't a lovely city. It is. You just have to know where to look. She's kind of shy that way. Unlike Paris, a city loudly proclaiming her beauty, sensuality and wonderment at every possible turn, Los Angeles is for those who prefer inside jokes.

And so I introduce you to some of my favorite parts of Los Angeles.

Urth Caffe, 6:30ish Friday Night


Peet's., 10ish Saturday Morning
Wow, they do good coffee.


Hollywood Sign by way of Laurel Canyon and Mulholland Drive, 11ish


The Alcove in Los Feliz, 1ish




Echo Park, 4:30ish


Hollywood again, 6ish



Chateau Marmont, look-like-you-know-what-you're-doing walk-thru, 7ish



Meltdown Comics, 8ish


Birds, dinner and making friends with the people at table next to us, 8:45ish


Amoeba Records, 10ish


Sleep, so we could conquer Santa Monica on a Sunday, 1ish