Smoothies

This last year or so I've been hung up on trying different smoothie recipes and green drinks, so when the January issue of Whole Living came in the mail the cover instantly resonated with me and I discovered 25 great recipes from their website that are helping me mix it up. I've tried a few and I can't wait to try more, today I made the Banana-Peanut Butter but switched out milk for almond milk. I am a big almond milk fan, have you tried it? What is your favorite smoothie / drink recipe?

(individual photos from Whole Living; collaged by B*E - Aren't the smoothie colors fun?!)

doily lamps?! yes, i think so.

Vintage doily lamps? Yes, yes yes!! Thank you cousin Julia for showing this to me. I wonder if I could attempt to make one myself... {from Blue Moss Girls via Remade USA}

Music Monday : Keren Ann

I've been a Keren Ann fan for quite some time, so I am thrilled to hear about her new album coming out and to see a new video release for her single called, "My Name is Trouble". She is both Dutch and Israeli and also spent some time growing up in France so her interesting multicultural background I believe heavily influences her cool musical style. Her new album comes out in Europe at the end of February and the U.S. soon thereafter where she will also be touring. If you are new to her sound, you should check out her other music, it is really great! I posted about her previously here (wow-- it was over 3 years ago). Happy Music Monday. What do you think?

Check out her collection of albums or see what she has on itunes.-- (these links support B*E).

The weekend, briefly

{rain drops}

{huevos rancheros, sort of}

{streamers}

{terrier tail}

{harvesting}

{for planting}

{circe, bored}

{circe + d}

{byblos baklava}

We had a fairly laid back weekend with significantly less running around than the last few, and it was such a nice break. Southern California suddenly remembered that it is supposed to be January and we got a bit of rain. We let ourselves start thinking about wedding projects, which might have been a mistake because now neither of us wants to look at catering menus or rental information. Instead we watched an entire season of Party Down, while playing around with project mock ups. D drew a set of mustaches with such beautiful crosshatching detail that I couldn't bear to tell him he wasn't the first one to come up with the idea of using them as photobooth props. Sadly, he discovered it the next day while searching a wedding blog. Cue sadness. I maintain that you should do whatever you want for your wedding, no matter how played out it might be online. Because the majority of our guests will have never seen a wedding blog, so they won't have any idea. But I still get the sadness.

I Love Columbia Parkway...If I Could Be A Road...

Marzullo Here... If you know me you know that I love to drive! I usually am the one who is doing the driving when my FOX19 co-workers and I hit the road. I am also not one who should ever lease a car because my miles always exceed what is given to me. So with that said I do have my favorite roads and I have to say if I could be a road I would want to be Columbia Parkway. I love that road, something about the way it curves and winds along the gorgeous Ohio River. When your driving west on it you start to see the city skyline and the new towering Great American Tower. It is a road that speaks to me, some great music and all of my cares go away. I call it the auto-bond of Cincinnati, it feels BIG CITY to me, I love it! Plus it is a road that takes me to all of my favorite places including Annabells in Mount Lookout, where I can get the best pancakes in the city. You must go and get the Buttermilk Corn Cakes, they are to die for with the honeycomb butter. Sooooo gooood! So take a drive on Columbia and see where it takes you.

Everything is going to be Amazing.

Lots of people I know had some sort of bad day this week, it must be in the water or something?! This is a great reminder. Have a great weekend everyone!

Bubbles in Paris

I'm pretty obsessed with these photographs by Melvin Sokolsky, aren't they are incredible?! What makes them even more special is that they were taken in Paris in 1963 when there wasn't Zorbs or computers to do photo alterations. Looks like all crane and pulley systems used here! These shots call for new use of my recently made-up word ... 'j'mazing'! Have you ever put two words together on accident creating a new one? What do you think of these shots? See more here. (via for love of bikes)

p.s. (mini wedding planning update)

We are still deep in the thickets of wedding planning, the NOT FUN part. We are keeping focused, spending inordinate amounts of time looking at venues and caterers and doing cost comparisons. I think we almost have a place nailed down (fingers crossed times one million) but I'm getting more and more desperate to start on the fun stuff. FONTS! STREAMERS! TISSUE PAPER! I'm totally sick of the logistics (and normally, I'm all about anything you can put in a spreadsheet).

So we're taking a tiny break. Apparently, you are supposed to have inspiration photos* to show people, so they know what you're thinking. We have none. We are wedding failures. So tonight, we have a six pack of Raging Bitch IPA,** two laptops and a mission. Will report back.



* Actually, we are supposed to create a "storyboard" and we had to look up what that meant. Because I was pretty sure that they wanted an actual storyboard - you know, frames that show what happens when. So we'd start with us setting up the site and then move on to getting ready and then show the aisle walk, etc. I was so confused, because I figured that was pretty standard and wouldn't require actual illustrations. And neither of us is great at drawing. Thank god for Google. Turns out a wedding storyboard is just another name for an inspiration board, which is those collages of pictures that you see on all the wedding blogs. Which makes more sense in the context of the request.

** HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Friday flowers

A simple little arrangement.

{white, purple, green}

I think the cropping of photos is so interesting - I don't crop post-photo for some reason, but I almost always take a range of distance shots and then pick and choose. It can totally change the feeling.

Close in ...

{simple bouquet}

Way out ...

{white, purple, green}

I used to try to tidy up for my flower shots, but I don't anymore, for the most part.

Potholes EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Friday Morning! Dan Wells here, and I hope this note finds you guys well and in good spirits!

Ok, here's my big annoyance, the "potholes" caused by this severe winter weather we've had, could remain in the foreseeable future. (that's what I'm being told)

Over the past couple of months, the city's road infrastructure has suffered extensive damage. If you didn't know fluctuating temperatures are hard on the roads. When temperatures go from freezing to above freezing, the pavement can buckle, which can cause huge headaches for drivers.

The streets department says that my mid-week, the city will begin to see even more potholes. So what do WE do about it?

Well according to Cincinnati Public Services, the department is committed to repair any hazardous pothole within 48 hours of notification of its existence.

If the pothole is small, crews will fill the hole with a cold asphalt mix. For larger repairs a more extensive crew is sent.

The department currently has 4 specialty vehicles that function as pothole and small repair trucks. Each of these trucks comes equipped with a jackhammer for removal of damaged asphalt as well as heated compartments for asphalt and hot tar. These trucks reduce the crew size for pothole repair, freeing up personnel for other operations.

Two new pieces of equipment in Public Services' fleet designed for pothole repairs include a "Spray Injection" machine. These machines are equipped with a bin of aggregate and a tank for an emulsion similar to tar. The materials are mixed as they are blown into the pothole.

Sometimes damaged areas are too large for any of these types of repairs.

In these cases, a "General Repair" crew is sent. These crews handle repairs ranging from small sunken areas to hand paving alleys. They apply an asphalt overlay to the surface. The area is prepared by being swept and then covered with tar. Asphalt is then wheel-barrowed into place and raked smooth. A small roller then compresses the asphalt into a smooth surface. The edges are sealed with tar to complete the repair.

Citizens requesting street repairs should call our hotline at 591-6000, or submit an on-line Service Request.

Hope it helps and hope you avoid the craters all over the Tri-State.

melanie bloomer's house: the dining room + kitchen

Voila, my dining room! The main focal point of the kitchen is my bright yellow pendant lamp from Barn Light Electric. The big mirror is from Ikea, and my blinds (which I LOVE) are those neat UK blinds I posted a while ago, brought in from Patti-Lynn Interior (in Stouffville). I also painted some old antique chairs from my dad's basement white, to give a mismatched look...I have since added two VERY modern Crate and Barrel chairs to add an extra modern element...I will post the whole ensemble one day soon!

I like the bright yellow chair (which we painted for Shayna's circus wedding!) in the corner holding my planties (well, my friends' planties who all moved overseas and need to put their plants up for adoption)..

...and on the other side of the kitchen, where you are SUPPOSED to put a little dining room table, I put a GIANT Ikea Expedite shelf to hold all the little kitchen-y things that take up too much cupboard space. This includes our dishes. I REALLY like displaying dishware and glassware on open shelves. It looks cozy to me. Plus, it opened up a WHOLE ENTIRE cupboard to store more snackies! Yummy.

We also put our onions on the shelf...who knew onions could be so pretty?! Because they are exposed to light though, they sometimes grow baby green onions out of themselves, which actually grosses me out. I'm thinking of sewing a burlap bag for my onions and potatoes instead, because well...burlap is pretty too! But for now, just have to use 'em up quickly.

My fake apple collection found a home here as well. There used to be 5 of them, but Craigger's friends accidentally ate two of them!

...and our dishes, which was a Christmas prezzie last year from Craigger's sweet mom. They really matched the look!

Et, c'est ca!

Design Story : Designer Stuff For Less!

I've talked about it before here but in case you missed it, I am over the moon excited about Design Story. It has got to be one of the best sites for really cool designer stuff for less I've ever come across! It really is that good.

Today I just ordered some lovely Rifle Valentines and last week I ordered up these Cubitec bookshelves that have been on my wish list ever since I saw them in the sneak peek home of Swiss Miss over at Design Sponge that you can also find at DWR. So, since this was really fresh on my mind, I thought I would let you know about it again! It rocks.

Sign up here and get a $10 credit.* What is your favorite online discount site? This is definitely one of mine.


*B*E also gets the same credit, but I am more excited about sharing this super cool site with you than that!

Meet Snowy

He's not exactly new, seeing as he accidentally joined our family back in October, during the epic weekend of dog misadventures. We tried to find his owner, by putting up flyers and spreading the word and checking Craigslist. Nada.

{snowy grinning}

After he had lived with my parents for a couple weeks, they theorized that he might have been purposely lost, due to his complete lack of house training, his tendency to chew on furniture and bolt for the front door whenever it opens and his crack addict like level of energy. In addition, he is admittedly bizarre looking, with a long body, a pronounced underbite and a tail so long it curls over and touches his back. He was white when we got him, but he keeps darkening (making his name more and more ridiculous) and he's developed a racing stripe on his back.

{snowy}

He does have redeeming qualities - he's the most snuggly dog we've ever had and it's wildly entertaining to watch him slam into the walls when he gets worked up. Most importantly, Circe is in love. They spend all day playing and gnawing on each others ears. He cries hysterically if you try to separate them even briefly. She's happier than she's ever been (no longer starts fights with other dogs, no longer hides under the couch in a sulking fit), and now we feel terrible that she was an only dog for so long.

Accidental pets are the best.

Feeling Fruit Inspired...

1: Cast Iron Apple Pot
2: Blabla Kids
3: Amazing Drink Boxes student work by Yunyeen Yong

The King's Speech

Katy Morgan Here...This past Tuesday we were streaming the Oscar nominations live on Fox19, and I realized that I haven’t seen most of the movies up for best picture. Before the nominations came out I’d only seen two, Inception and Toy Story 3. Both very good. So, my fiancé Tom and I made a pact to go see as many movies as we can before the Oscars on February 27th. First one down, The Kings Speech. We went this past Tuesday afternoon, after Frank Marzullo suggested we all go see it. I heard a lot of good things about the movie, and it was one I had wanted to see for awhile, so I was excited to go see it. I can safely say now It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in the theatre in a long time. I’m ready to buy the movie and soundtrack. It brought my favorite things together, history and music. Colin Firth was excellent in the role of King George VI. I’m really pulling for him to win best actor, although I guess I should see the other movies first before commenting. All I have to say is that the other actors have a hill to climb to beat Firth’s role in my opinion. Guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend, watching movies! Up next… True Grit, The Kids Are Alright , and The Fighter.

Map Prints

 

Kim let me know about her lovely city prints from Albie Design. Of course the one of Seattle is my favorite, but there are many more cities in her shop and more to come soon!

Kick it up a notch

Several of you mentioned adding a little heat to my January breakfast. I was feeling the need for some extra protein as well.

{poached egg + avocado toast}

Poached egg on avocado toast, liberally splashed with Tapatio.

So good, you guys. 

I had a total yuppie crisis while making this - I ran out of our usual Maldon flaked sea salt and had to use regular old table salt. I felt genuinely sad and a little put out and then I felt completely ridiculous.

P.S. Poaching eggs is really easy. I finally got up the courage to try it one weekend and now I feel silly for waiting so long. Please check out Deb's excellent post and get to it.

Rockin' The Reeboks

How does my backside look?

Sheila here. Don't answer that! It's a hypothetical question for the 'blog only! But here's the thing. I really think my Reebok EasyTone shoes are helping my thighs and backside. Is it all in my mind? Maybe.

Ric, Katie, and Eric bought me a pair of EasyTones for my birthday last year. The scientist who came up with these body balancing shoes is a former NASA engineer. Reebok claims four out of five women studied got tighter backsides and hamstrings from exercising in the trendy kicks. And as you can imagine, women started snapping the shoes off of store shelves.

My friend Jan started wearing them while cleaning the house and taking walks around her neighborhood. She swore they were working. I got my birthday pair and starting wearing them to the gym. My trainer, Ennis at Five Seasons, said the balance balls built into the shoes would be a nice add-on to my exercise routine. I think my balance has improved, and I'll say this. There's a ton of cushion in the shoes, so my feet always feel fantastic when I'm wearing them.

Since Reebok made its initial claim, a lot of articles have pointed out that Reebok only used five women in the study, and exercise experts have poo-poo'd the findings. However, Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer has studied the connections between mindfulness, exercise and health. She told the New York Times, "It will probably result in even more walking, with the implicit and explicit virtues endemic to exercise." (Translation: if we feel good about it, we'll do it!)

I bought my second pair of EasyTones during the after Christmas sales earlier this month, and I think the new version is even more comfortable than the old. I got pair #2 for a steal, just $35 dollars because they were on clearance. So if they're not making my bottom line more firm, that's okay. I feel good about wearing them, and if I feel better about working out because of a little help from my shoes, that can't be a bad thing.

Healthy Grilled Cheese

Since I am on the losing weight bandwagon after having our baby, the people at Weight Watchers sent me some cheeses and asked if I could come up with some recipes. Last time I shared a new favorite low calorie snack (see here) and today it is a cold snowy day, so a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup fit the ticket. Instead of over indulging on calories which is easy to do during the winter, Weight Watchers is a good choice for nice flavor without a lot of calories. Today I tried the Mexican Style blend on some whole wheat bread and put in right into the panini grill. The Mexican cheese is made from 2% milk was 80 calories for 1/3 cup so you really can't go too wrong. It was yummy! What do you put on your grilled cheese sandwich?

(photo by blackeiffel)

made some pie pops!

My Craigger found this awesome link on Luxirare about pie pops ... which are basically pie lollipops! So cool...and total eye candy. So, on the weekend we tried making our own! It was our brother-in-law Petie's birthday a few weeks ago, and since he loves pie SOOOO much, we thought we'd make them for a b-day prezzie. Mine aren't quite as beautifully packaged as the blog's, but hey, it seemed to work out. Yumzilla?

The original inspiration from Luxirare:

...and mine and craigger's blueberry pie pops! what do you think?

{our pie pops photographed by Craig Morrison}