I just had to take a moment to mention this recipe of Roasted Bell Peppers with Capers and fresh Mozzarella I made for dinner last night (and prepped the night before). IT WAS SO YUMMY. And, I've never roasted my own pepper before, and it was pretty satisfying. All images and recipe credit goes to Deb of the Smitten Kitchen (because we sadly scarfed our meals up way too fast, before even thinking about pictures). People, this is probably the number one blog I turn to for recipes. Everything she photographs looks so delicious, and everything I try turns out so delicious too! If you havent perused her recipe archive, I highly recommend you do that.

PS: Deb now has a cookbook of her images and words coming out, and I cant wait to get it!!

After a total of 8 months of looking for a house, finding one we loved, waiting to hear back on our offer, and lots of stressful back-and-forth with sellers, banks, the city, and finally closing, we are moving into our very own house this weekend!! Sorry for the radio silence between posts lately, but how about this: in full celebratory form (since we have not really celebrated yet, have we?), I will leave you with a little sneak peek of "before" pictures that I took during inspection numero two. Keep in mind that I have already started to begin transforming a lot of this house with fresh (white) paint, new (antique) fixtures and lots of elbow grease, which you will see over the coming months. We've already spent our first couple of weekends as homeowners painting, updating electrical, and excavating the jungle that has become the backyard. And oh yeah, did I mention that we already had a tree fall down? So, thats hard work! Are you as excited as I am!?!? Probably not, but I dont care!!  :) Enjoy the pics and talk to you guys soon, I swear.

Yesterday was my 26th Birthday, and man was it great! Unfortunately, I had to work all day on Saturday and then got a tiny bit done at Laurel (we finished painting the living room! yay, finally!), and pretty much passed out early after that. But my best friend Emma came over to Laurel bright and early (ish) make me savory delicious birthday pancakes for bfast, and I cant imagine a better use to initiate our new stove! (You seriously have to get the recipe from her, they had corn, and herbs and BACON in them!) Then my parents came over, and our good friend Trygve too. The boys took down the fallen tree in back with a borrowed chainsaw and lots of elbow grease. The whole thing was covered in vines, and so were the surrounding trees. I can't believe what a mess it was back there. But we now have a good tree-sized pile of waste to take to the garden center. Finally, I got a good head start on painting the entryway (flat black! its going to be so fancy!) while my mom scrubbed everything she could get her hands on (the kitchen and bathrooms, the windows and baseboards, oh my!). Oh also! My dad power-washed the front and back porches for us! They look so amazing and shiny and clean now!

Then as a surprise, Alex and I got changed and he took me to The Bachelor Farmer for a wonderful Birthday dinner! (PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS EATEN THERE YOU GUYS). I got to wear my dress that I had altered at the tailor (was long-sleeved and high-necked, now it has a LOW BACK!) My friend Katy is the hostess there, so she sent over some champagne as a treat (what a nice lady! Thanks Katy!) All in all, I have to say it may just be the best and most satisfying Birthday of all time. Thanks family and friends for being the best a girl could ask for!


dress: vintage 70's, thrifted, and altered by the tailor to be sleeveless
wedges: Mossimo, thrifted from Fake Target


OKAY OKAY HOUSE PIX IN THE NEXT POST, I SWEAR.

You were so good to me. And I will miss you, dearly. But I am confident that MPR appreciates the donation! Soon I hope I'll have a new little car to get me around St. Paul and Minneapolis.

It's been pretty busy around here with the house stuff, pet sitting for the in-laws, weekends at the cabin and best friends in town from LA (in addition to crazy-pants work schedules!). But rest assured that I am alive! And making progress (of multiple sorts)! Here, to tide you over is some pretty good evidence that I'm having the time of my life. Surrounded by some amazing (and very talented) friends. Hope you are enjoying the last days of summer as well! Fall is just around the corner, I can smell it in the air these days.

PS: Updates on the house soon.

Oh pinterest, you slay me! (know what else slays me right now? These amazing hydrangea bushes bursting into life at MCAD right now! Ughhh my goddd drooooool... So big and fluffy and conical shaped!) My right brain loves the simple way I can visually categorize every item into the proper section, for later viewing and shopping. (This is sounding eerily like a blog post I would have posted about 2 years ago...) But my left brain thinks I'm getting a little out of control. You see, the other day I felt inclined to make a whole new board just for... wait for it... light fixtures. And I stopped dead in my tracks. Are you seriously so obsessed with these physical objects that you need a whole board dedicated to their deliciously mid century minimal styling?!?  (The answer is yes, but that is a whole other affliction that I wont get into here.)

And who am I making this board for, really? I'd like to think that I'm making it only for myself. So that I can virtually bookmark something I may want to come back to when I actually have the keys to our house in my greasy little hands, and make a decision to purchase one (or two, or maybe eventually three). I guess I really dont care if other people decide they want to follow my boards or repin my pins, because that, my friends, is getting into dangerous territory. A territory that I am not prepared to enter. In fact, I would much rather have the option of making my pins private, and for my own use. BUT, I think that's really more because I am embarrassed at the sheer number of lighting fixtures I pin (or exterior paint color schemes, or variety entirely-white rooms, or etc). More embarrassed, I have to say, then the whole lingerie board I also keep. Nope, no shame there. :)

More to the point, I guess I ask you this... When is enough enough? (Is Victoria from sfgirlbybay's 76 boards enough?) Is this an obsession that I need to quit? Or is it merely a side-effect of jonesing for a house that you do not have yet for a whole 6 months of waiting? Is it a way of coping, or of day-dreaming the stress of it all away? Opinions? Should I begin to dissect and categorize my boards to my hearts' content? Opinions and advice would be appreciated.

PS: I've found a few new blogs (that may help to alleviate my house-induced stupor, and instead replace it with a food-obsessed one) called Bon Appétempt (amazing cook-it-yourself blog featuring the lovely Amelia. Has hilarious little videos made by her husband Matt) and bigBANG studio (which I have come across once or twice in the past, but never really delved whole-heartedly into. Think valuable life lessons about work, love and marriage, amidst yummy food recipes and lovely travel photos galore. I adore it.) Recently added to the blogroll (do people still call this thing the "blogroll"?), check em out!

Here are some new photographs I've been making, but havent shared yet. You can view more of my personal work on my professional website, here. And, though I dont like to seem like I'm asking for work, I would like to make more of an effort to stitch my two very disparate worlds together a bit more in the near future (fashion blogging and traditional photography). So in a bit of a nod to my new years resolutions this year, I want to state here, for the record, that I am now available to shoot fashion or accessories, lookbooks, portraits or interior spaces. I traditionally work in film, 35mm and 6x6 medium format.

And I would love to do so. Contact me!

And so that I dont sound like a completely self-absorbed artist, you should go check out what this other amazing photographer is doing at Underground New York Public Library. Photographing people reading (GASP) books on the NYC subway! Real Books! He even tells you WHAT they're reading and WHERE to buy them! They're amazing! In his own words:

"I’m Ourit and this is my current photography project. I make the pictures and the posts. I’m fascinated by how we apply ourselves to stories and discourse. In so doing, we shape who we understand ourselves to be."

... But it's so much more than that! It's the realization that people, other people are still reading The Printed Word. That we all still somehow hang on to this medium, instead of collectively turning to the kindle. Its a reminder that you can get so wrapped up in a good book on the subway that sometimes people continue to read as the get off the subway, as they walk down the street! This is a real life advertisement. Plus the obvious, we are all connected thing. Read books, people.