One day . . .

street cred

street cred

street cred

street cred

Street Cred

A word from the wise

street cred

100 year old Ruth’s Life and Style Tips
1.”I never go to bed with my makeup on. that is number one.At night you must let your skin breathe.”
2.”I use a lipstick brush to paint on my lipstick—It stays on longer that way. I can also use a lipstick longer than anyone else because I can dig into it.”
3.”Every night before I got to bed I use Elizabeth Arden’s 8 hour beauty cream on my lips. You must keep your lips moisturized.”
4.”When it comes to fashion you must be aware of your skin tone. You don’t wear orange lipstick with a red dress.”
5.”I make myself go out everyday, even if its only to walk around the block. The Key to staying young is to keep moving. You are never too old to exercise.”
6.”Invest in Quality pieces, they never go out of style.”
7.”Don’t look at the calendar, just keep celebrating everyday.”
8.”I dress up everyday and I don’t wear blue jeans. I dress up even to mail a letter, you never know who you will meet along the way.”
9.I have been active my whole life. An old Elizabeth Arden Ad said,”If you want to look like this when you are 40 start when you are 20.”
10.I wake up every morning and say, “This is the day the lord has made.”

Limited Edition Dresses at Free People

What's a birthday party without the perfect party dress? I love me a good party dress! Something that screams dance party with an abundance of lace, sequins, extravagant beading, tule, and so on. I had a mega internal conflict today whether or not I should dish out $500-$600 for my dream party dress after seeing the Limited Edition dresses at Freepeople.com.  That pink one (first one below), makes me giddy. The dresses are absolutely breathtaking. The collection includes 6 dresses created by 6 designers, and they couldn't get any more lovely.

It's time to rally, people

Oh, we're celebrating tonight alright.
A Happy Birthday to The Lovely Rachel Wells!
11/11/11, baby!
Tonight's festivities have been on the calendar for
quite some time and we are pumped.
(Oh what to wear? What to wear?)

Here's a little tribute to the birthday girl
(and something to get you in the mood too for a night of debauchery).

Blow Up from Jeffrey Ava on Vimeo.
Thanks for IMACHICNATION for sharing!

See Below. . . Chef Daversa Domination

Chef Daversa Domination (or as we call her, Alex) hosted a girl's night at her apartment a couple days ago and made a serious feast. It was so amazing. So so pretty. It went like this:

Lookin good, right? Doesn't even give it justice! So we asked her to guest blog, share the magic. 

Here she goes . . .

It was a Dinner for Three

I'm a girl, but I eat like a man. I appreciate filling, flavorful meals, the kind that make your boyfriend leave your apartment in a hunched over, satisfied love-stuffed state of mind. The recipes that I made below are show stoppers, crowd pleasers, and you won’t find yourself breaking too much of a sweat. Not to mention if you toss the bun, this entire meal is COMPLETELY Atkins Friendly.  Sayyyyyyyyyyy WHAAAAAAAAAAT?

You could cook in your college Halloween costume. 

That'll score you extra brownie points. Ah, those were the days.

Now, let's get down to business.

Before anything, make yourself and your guest a drink, like a 

Basil Cucumber Martini

Here's the recipe.

SHOUT OUT to Miss Jess Spring for concocting these cocktails!

Then, onto the main course.

Surf and Turf Burgers

For the Burgs:

1 ½ lb Ground Chuck  ( This is KEY people! Not ground sirloin, not ground beef, GROUND CHUCK, you feel me?)

Salt and Pepper (Don’t be shy)

Garlic powder

Onion Powder

For the Shrimp…or Skrimmmmp as they say it in the “hood” You need about 12 Large raw peeled shrimp) I let mine marinate in olive oil, minced garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper, and red hot paper flakes  for about 2 hours before im ready to fire them up! 

1 onion, Thinly sliced

4 slices of thickly slice provolone

4 Buns ( This is a good time to splurge on the carb situation. 

Spend the extra 75 cents for the bakery buns.  Trust me…it will make a difference!)

                                            Buy these.                                     Not these.

Listen up -

For the burgers. Heat an outdoor grill on the highest heat possible.  

Let it realllly heat up.

Shape chuck into 4 or 5 beef patties. Mix together salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Try and form the patties so that they are thicker on the outside and thinner in the center. This is what makes that JUICY JUICY baby.  Sprinkle a little vegetable oil on the patties and slap those puppies down onto the grill for about 5 min on each side. The key to making a bomb ass burger is to NOT TOUCH. It may be tempting (especially if you’re like me and have a bad case of the good ol’ A.D.D) but the less you fiddle the more you get that jizzle.  

In the meantime throw your shrimp on some skewers and let them hang out on the grill for about 4 mins on each side. These cook fairly fast! Top the patties with provolone cheese then smother with a batch of sautéed onions. I use oil, butter, salt, pepper, and a littttttle bit of splenda on a stove heat to make mine!  Lastly top with two or 3 of the shrimp and BADA BING BADA BOOM. 

TOTAL BURGER DOMINATION.

Now for the “IT FACTOR”. I know, you’re thinking, how can this burger get even better? Can you DOMINATE, DOMINATION??? That’s when the sauce situation comes in. My homemade tartar sauce takes this recipe to a whole new level! You’ll be fist pumping faces off after just one bite!!

Homemade Tartar sauce

2 cup Mayo (Stick with Hellmann’s. Miracle whip can get creepy…)

1 cup Chopped Dill Pickles

¼ of a cup of minced onion

The Juice of 1 Lemon

A heavy hand of salt and pepper

2 minced garlic cloves

Top each burger with this sauce…thank me later.

Now for the App . . . 

Grilled Olive Tapenade Tomatoes

This side dish is really easy to make and goes really well as the sidekick to this burger. Along with some grilled asparagus this was the other show stopper of the night!

What you'll need:

4 BIG JUICY RED HOT TOMATOES ( you just got turned on didn’t you…?)

Half these lengthwise

Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar

3 or 4 garlic cloves minced

Olive Tapenade (you can find this in that stinky cheese area at your local supermarket…did I mention that I LOVE stinky cheese?!?!)

1 cup of mozzarella

¼ cup of parmesan

Heavy hand of Salt and Pepper

Push your Surf and Turf burgers over and make way for the good stuff. Drizzle the olive oil over the cut sides of the tomatoes, and sprinkle with garlic, salt, and black pepper. You’ll never over do it! More, more, more! Place tomatoes on grill. Let them go until the tomatoes start to sizzle and show blackened grill marks, about 4 minutes. Flip the tomatoes over and grill about 3 more minutes. Top with tapenade, mozzarella, parm. Let these guys chill out under some hot heat until they melt and become MONEY.

These recipes are sure to win over the entire crowd. Seriously…they're legit. 

xo,

Chef Daversa Domination

Instagram Magic by Miss Jess Spring

Counting down the months . . .

Until my lease is up! I love my apartment (you can see bits of it here and here), but I've been there 3 years so I need a new scene for sure. I've been thinking about how I want to decorate my next place and one of the things I'm most excited for is a new bathroom. One thing you should know about me: I prefer baths to showers. It's a big-deal-room for me. I am an atmosphere whore (can I trademark that?), so I'll light a ton of candles, grab a glass of wine, a book, and just chill. This is why this room requires months of "strategery".

First, I will Paint it Black (cue Rolling Stones):

Street Cred

And I will hang art in varying-size frames everywhere. 

See inspiration here:

Street Cred

And I'm really loving this watercolor artwork by Samantha Hahn 

(thank you Spearmint Decor for turning me on to her!)

Oh I just love!

So I could see this framed:

By Samantha Hahn

And this:

By Samantha Hahn

THEN, I will place vintage glass bottles containing salts, soaps, lotion, whatever, on as many surfaces as possible 

(leaving room for Paul's toothbrush of course)

 Street Cred

Only 7 months to go until my lease is up. Dear god.

Yep, I'm a Groupie

We've featured them before and we'll feature them again:

Pearl and the Beard 

A brand new video, just released. Very beautiful.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Red coat, black tights? Did I lose you?
I thought this was a throw back day!

I mean the resemblence here is uncanny.
Am I right or am I right?

Back in the Day- Urban Outfitters

Between the years of 1990-1996, I could be found playing with my Skipit in the driveway, building my dream home out of lincoln logs, collecting pogs, and accessorizing with snap bracelets. Glory days! Yesterday, I received my newsletter from Urban Outfitters (if you don't receive this, you should) that was dedicated to "Back in the Day" items for holiday gifts. A few of them I still think I could rock. What do you guys think?

In love with the A Team

enjoy . .

A blogger friend of ours, Anna from Lifes Shiny Pretty Things shared this music video today of a UK sensation, Ed Sheeran. She says, "Music can make or break my mood, can make me go from exhausted to dressed & ready for a night of dancing and is in general a major part of my life." Couldn't agree with you more, Anna. Maybe it's because I suck at finding new music, but I've never heard this song and I love it. Thanks for the share. We hope E-P readers love it too.

Save-the-Dating

I've taken on quite the task here with my save-the-dates. I figured I'd do the calligraphy myself (you can be the judge of that later) and with the stamping and the sealing, I'm a bit cross-eyed. I don't want to show you YET because I need to preserve the element of surprise for my guests who love me and read my blog. 

Here's a Sneak Peek:

Save-the-Dates Runner-Ups:

Get them here.

Street Cred

Street Cred

Street Cred

The days of the refrigerator magnet are over, Ima 'fraid to say.

Instagram save-the-date anyone? Julia?

DIY Instagram Photo Frame

Ever since I discovered instagram, I have been brainstorming ideas to display some of my favorite photos I've taken over the past few years. Since the photos have that vintage feel, I wanted my display to have a similar effect. Result = a frame + fishing wire + clothes pins. 

Here's what I used:

- 1 Large picture frame. I actually bough that creepy clown painting (could I have found a creepier painting?!) But, I loved the frame. 

- Paint of your choice (optional, depending on what your frame looks like. I opted to add a bit of color to mine)

- 20-30 small clothes pins (I bought tiny ones from a craft store)

- Fishing wire 

- Small hooks for hanging wire. 

I printed around 30 photos using scrapbookpictures.com and printed them 3x3. This cost me $7 total!

Frame purchased from thrift shop ($20!)

With a touch of color...

I then removed the canvas from the frame.

The final product! I strung the fishing wire across the frame and simply hung the photos with the clothes pins! 

The project was much easier than I anticipated. What do you think?! Has anyone else found a fun way to use your instagram photos?

A Weekend full of tea cups

Friday was my night to go out, and Julia + I started early. 

Onto Lillie's in Union Square, a Victorian Bar & Restaurant, we went.

This place is so pretty (been there like 3 times now) and will continue to have it on repeat. The food is delish and get this . . . 

  . . . they serve their cocktails in tea cups! I mean, freakin genius!

The rest of the weekend looked a lot like this:

Book outlining and wedding planning. Just a hoot, let me tell you. 

I'm pretty sure Julia's weekend kicked my weekend's ass.

Although I did discover there's this thing happening in NYC that I wasn't aware of until now. It's a clothes-swapping event called 

The Thrift Collective. Another freakin genius idea! This past event was held at Abigail's (my spot to write when I leave my apartment). And since I was there on Saturday, I saw this swap go down. From what I gathered, you pay $10 or $15, bring along 5 - 10 items of clothing/jewelry in good condition (just shit you don't want to wear anymore) and you trade. You can leave with as many items as you want. I certainly have 5 - 10 things taking up valuable space in the closet, but obviously I can't afford to replace the whole wardrobe. And this is why this clothes-swapping idea sounds pretty awesome. I will catch the next one, but that might not be until January. 

I think we should do our own clothing swap in the meantime. Anyone in NYC want in? Let's do this.