oh, topshop

Sad fact:

I have looked at the Topshop website far too often since I was a senior in high school...that was 2002. It's been 6 years now (and that is depressing in more than one way) and I still look at it way, way too often. I've only ever bought four things from there, one while I was actually in London. It's kind of hard to justify the shipping price but I did for my birthday and I did again as my Christmas present to myself a few weeks ago. Tada --


I think they're super cute. I only own two pairs of shorts and one is from Forever 21 and every time I wear them, they stretch out so much that I can take them off without unbuttoning them. Practical, I guess, but not very flattering.

Anyway, I've banned myself from buying anything else from there until the store opens here in New York (it was supposed to be Fall '08 but now Spring '09...I'm not holding my breath). So now I'll take a moment to mourn all of the things I will never own because by the time it opens here, they'll be sold out:


Cutest pj set ever?



....Obviously I'm ready for spring. I live not even half a block away from my favorite park in Brooklyn! I'm so excited to have picnics and read in the shade and go swimming (free public pool!) and have an awesome view of the harbor.

We're working on redoing the studio/office and when that's finally done, I'm going to start sewing and painting up a storm.

dinner

A few days ago, I actually went to the grocery store for the first time in forever and looked pretty damn pathetic since I had to stop to readjust all the bags on my trek uphill back to the apartment. But they were heavy! Anyway, this is one of the meals I made with the food I bought -

Southwestern Potato Salad & Calabacitas Burritos (both recipes from Moosewood Celebrates)


The potato salad called for regular potatoes but I like red ones a lot better...the dressing had olive oil, cider vinegar, cumin, coriander, paprika, cilantro, lemon juice and Dijon mustard in it. Overall, it just tasted very vinegar-y. I'd probably add more spices next time and maybe replace the paprika with red pepper (paprika has practically no flavor to me).


Mmmm...this was just onions, garlic, zucchini, frozen corn, and black beans sauteed with cilantro, lime juice, and jalapenos. It was soo good just in the tortillas but Matt and I decided it would be even better on top of grilled tuna.

Anyway, I felt pretty good about actually cooking dinner for once (and a healthy dinner, at that!) The night before last I made spinach & ricotta stuffed manicotti and they were really good, too. Everyone should buy that Moosewood cookbook, I've never had a single bad thing out of it and I've probably made at least 30 of the recipes!

painted apartment

I am in love with our apartment now that we've painted half of it! It looks soo good and I can't wait to do the other three rooms (hallway, art room, bedroom)!

Living Room (Behr "Pear"):


Fake panorama that I pieced together from 3 photos






Kitchen (Behr "Glorious Gold"):



The inspiration for the color came from the eyes of that tiger screen print that I got at the thrift store for like $7...it really reminds me of Sebastien because it looks so bashful.

painting

Matt and I painted the kitchen! But...we only got a pint and it turns out we need two coats, so it's not done yet :( Tonight we're going to get another pint of it and a gallon for the living room! It's so exciting because it feels like a real place to live instead of just something temporary. It's also kind of weird because I haven't lived in a place with colored walls in like 6 years. Today, I painted this old lamp I got as a "housewarming" gift from my mom when I moved into my first apartment (2004!). It used to be a really ugly taupe color but now it's cool and silver!




Tomorrow I will post pictures of the painted walls!

new bedroom

We rearranged the bedroom and it's a million times better now!



We moved the bookcase in from the art room, but we're going to get a new bookcase (a normal one, not a big square one) and put clear boxes in this to hold my clothes! And then get rid of my dresser.

I thrifted the stuff on top of the bookcase while in Ohio for Christmas -





(I already had the big cow head and I found the mini one!)