This weekend is for sanding and refinishing my dresser, finding art to fill my walls, and finding the perfect fabric to reupholster the chairs you see above!! This weekend is for forgetting about my day job, soaking in the pool, and drinking something pink with an umbrella in it. This weekend is for detoxing and lots of positive self talk. I’m not sure who glamorized your early 20′s but being 22 is not my fave. Here’s to hoping for new adventures, inspiration, and more zest for life. That’s a lot of pressure for one weekend ;).
Dreaming about my living room
Before I moved, I started building a mood board for my living room. I’ve been dreaming in furniture for months now and for some reason I was most excited for my living room. Maybe because I’ve never had this common area totally to myself? Either way, I was THRILLED about filling it with pieces that made me smile. It’s the only room in my apartment that looks pulled together so far and I couldn’t be happier with the way it looks.
couch: Thrive Furniture // pop of pink: Caitlin Wilson Textiles // comfy rug: Rugs USA
lamp: West Elm // gold table: Target // art: Matte Stephens // entertainment center: Ikea
On my own feet!
My moving day was characterized by 109 degree weather, sweaty boys, piles of boxes, carb-loading, and amazing friends and family lending a hand. I’m trying to treat my move like a marathon rather than a sprint. I want to take my time picking out the perfect pieces of furniture, lending love to pieces that need some help, and infusing every inch of my new home with my personality. I’ve got to say, I think I’m off to a pretty good start!!! I’ll share some more pictures of my living room later this week. It’s the only room that’s somewhat pulled together!
Baked Goat Cheese
There is a restaurant in downtown Phoenix that I have a real love/hate relationship with. The first time I went I had the most delicious eggs I’ve ever eaten in my life. The second time I went, my eggs weren’t cooked when they came to the table….and I only realized this after I had eaten all the vegetables that were on top of them (when my server saw she gave me a new dish and paid for my meal). Because of the great service on the day of uncooked eggs, I decided to give it another shot. The third time I went, my food was just okay and very cha-CHING expensive. BUT the restaurant has a lot of items that are friendly to those who don’t eat meat and have trouble with gluten so when my brother’s girlfriend came to town, I decided to give it one more shot. We ordered the baked goat cheese and man-alive was it good. Everything else that came across our table was immediately doused in a large helping of the goat cheese and even after we were full we kept scraping the sides of the bowl wanting more.
I took some notes on what I thought was in the dish and did a little reconnaissance about baked goat cheese when I got home. Then, I tried to tackle my own version. It’s really easy and I actually had pretty much all of the ingredients on hand before I started. I made it with some Roasted fingerling potatoes (thanks Martha!) and it was a totally satisfying dinner for my mom and I. If you’ve never had goat cheese before, make this recipe immediately. It will change your life. Promise.
what you’ll need:
- 1/2 tsp. olive oil
- 3 whole, unpeeled San Marzano tomatoes
- 1/2 tbsp. butter, cut into tiny cubes
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 tbsp. roughly chopped walnuts
- 5-8 basil leaves, sliced into ribbons
- 1 tbsp. fresh oregano
- 1 tbsp. fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp. goat cheese
make the magic happen:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Start with a thin layer of your olive oil in the bottom of a ramekin.
- Next, add 3-4 whole, unpeeled tomatoes from a can of San Marzano tomatoes.
- On top of those, add your butter (break it up as you crumble it in), garlic, walnuts, and half of your herbs.
- Give it a good stir and crush up your tomatoes as you go. You want everything to be well-dispersed.
- Arrange your goat cheese in an even layer across the top of your tomato mixture. Top with half your remaining herbs.
- Put it in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until heated all the way through. The cheese should be extra melty and the tomatoes should be warm all the way through. Sprinkle the remaining herbs on top; serve immediately.
This is seriously so so delicious. You can use it as a dip for fingerling potatoes, french fries, warm french bread, crusty crostini, or even with just plain old crackers. It’s such a treat and if you pretend like there isn’t butter in it then it’s got a bit of a health factor too. After all, tomatoes and fresh herbs are definitely good for you :).
Decorating and Jumping the Gun
My food and fashion blog is about to turn into a “holy shit I’m decorating my first grown-up home” blog. You excited? YOU READY!? I put in an application on an apartment last week (still waiting to hear back) and in the meantime, I’ve started scouring Craigslist, West Elm, Target, Design Within Reach, Crate & Barrel, and Antique stores for the perfect mix of furniture and accessories with which to decorate my new space.
In Chicago, I didn’t have regular access to a car so when I moved in, I bought all of my furniture at Ikea in a hectic two hour spree then proceeded to panic that I wouldn’t be able to get it all up to the 17th floor where I lived in the tiny 4 hour window we were allotted for moving. I had to make quick decisions and ended up buying more furniture than I needed. I really loved my space in Chicago but due to the TINY college sized budget I had and a lack of time or means to acquire pieces with more personality, my apartment looked a bit like a bachelor pad (not that I’m complaining).
This time around, I want to SLOWLY and thoughtfully furnish my space. I want pieces with stories. I want fixer-uppers that actually get fixed-up. I want to try my hand at building some of my own furniture (thanks in advance for the help, dad). I’ve been GLUED to Emily Henderson’s blog because it’s like inspiration-central over there and as soon as I sign a lease for my new space I’ll be in full decorating mode.
This weekend, I bought my first piece of furniture for my new home. This chair is a fabulous vintage, tufted chair and, oddly enough, is from a thrift shop in Chicago (it’s my chair soul-mate). The sweet lady I purchased it from just happened to be a blogger and I promised her the chair was heading to a good new home. You can check out her fabulous blog right here. And you can see my amazing chair below…
So, as I start on this journey I want to reach out to you. Do you have any sources for decorating that you love? Where do you buy rugs, curtains, couches, kitchen ware, linens, and shelves? Are you a shopper who likes to buy the final project or do you scour garage sales in hopes of finding a diamond in the rough that you can polish? I’d love to hear!
