sunday confessions.

1.  In the past month or so, work has picked up ten-fold and it has been very difficult to pretend to be thrilled.  I was quite happy as a lady of relative leisure.  I should mention here that I own my own business.  Counter-intuitive? Yes.  True? Also yes.

2.  I snuck into the Alexander Wang show with the help of a friend of a friend and it was worth it.  The last Alexander Wang show I went to was in 2007 (with the help of a different friend of a friend).  It was time.

2. Over the course of last ten days, I watched every single Made in Chelsea episode ever aired (including the holiday specials) and have come to the conclusion that I am still, gratifyingly fascinated in equal parts by Ollie and Rosie.

4.  It is not uncommon that I completely invent statistics to support my point.  I am a huge believer in this rule of thumb: people are 87% more likely to believe something said with conviction and supporting evidence, than without (see what I did there?)

5. I'm still waiting for Godot.

If it's Gray outside, wear Gray and stay inside.

This post started about love as a nod to the love bird ways of Feb and Ruary sittin' in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g but ultimately it got a little dark (that's just my way) and then settled in at a literary-based gray (also my way).  Here goes:

"I'm planning on writing an article that exposes all my vulnerabilities to the entire internet" Lena Dunham, GIRLS [I continue to be more invested in that program than one should be.] 

 

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered" F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise. [I have sent myself post cards from everywhere I have been the past five years an idea I stole from my Jessica's boyfriend]

"Sittin' here resting my bones and this loneliness won't leave me alone, It's two thousand miles I roamed, just to make this dock my home." Otis Redding, Sitting By The Dock of the Bay.  [I have never stuck around to spend the summer here, though I have spent time here every summer]

"She knew all the really right people, she went to Le Jardin. She danced with Picasso's illegitimate mistress and wore Kenneth Lane jewels (really it's trash)." Lou Reed, Sally Can't Dance  [Actually, my boyfriend got me this stuff from a flea market in Barcelona last week]

"But grass grows there, and rust upon the hinge; and they are lonely that must keep the watch.” William Butler Yeats [Kind of a downer, I know, but I have always romanticized the devolution of things not properly cared for]

"Why one man rather than another? It was odd. You find yourself involved with a fellow for life just because he was the one that you met when you were nineteen. Simone de Beauvoir [Well thank god that wasn't true in my case or I would be under educated, eating beans out of a can and living off the grid]

"The post office has a great charm at one point of our lives.  When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for." Jane Austen [P.S. Today was that day.  The one cent stamp, seriously?]

"I'm gonna paint my picture, paint myself in blue and red and black and gray. All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful.  Yeah, well you know, gray is my favorite color, I felt so symbolic yesterday"  Adam Duritz, Counting Crows  [If you knew me, you would also know that I have been to no less than 20-ish of the above-mentioned concerts.  Creeper.]

"Books could be an incredible adventure.  I stayed under my blanket and barely moved, and no one would have guessed how my  mind raced and my heart soared with stories" Paula McLain, The Paris Wife.  [I have been to Paris many times but really only care for the Paris of 1880-1950]

"To me, grey is the welcome and only possible equivalent for indifference, non-commitment  absence of opinion, absence of shape. But grey, like formlessness and the rest, can be real only as an idea, and so all I can do is create a colour nuance that means grey but is not it." Gerhard Richter, letter to Edy de Wilde, 23 February 1975. 

Weekend Warrior.

Before my amazing (read: be jealous) Bridal Shower at Lady Mendl's Tea Salon yesterday (more on that later) the rest of this pretty cool stuff happened too.  So glad to spend the weekend with family  and friends living a pretty magical life.  

Friday night dinner in Soho.

they got drunk and she walked off.

carefully committing to a color palette.

bunko pillow case party.

they went to a bar and she got drunk.

then she joined the kgb.

Smell you later January, Call me never.

A few comments going from left to right like I am reading a book:

1. Narcissistic girl seeks endless hall of mirrors

2. Note to self, knee socks for 2013

3. I work for PanAm

4.  Remember when I read social theory?  Those were smarter days

5.  I love a good hat, even if its historically used as armor

6. I got shitfaced at this table and then went boating

7. That girl is my soul mate and dearest friend in the world

8. Stop looking at me, stairs are challenging

9. Adorable pre-teens at the MET

Here comes another one just like the other one:

1. Photo-bombing my enormous sleeves, you are welcome.

2. Safety first 

3. Mangled (hand) Mani Monday

4.  There is of course beauty in the breakdown

5.  My feelings toward January

6. I had the Brad poster in my apartment from 2005-2009, just saying

7. That girl is my soul mate and dearest friend in the world (I told you I was narcissistic)

8. And what will you have?

9. Errrrrrrryone wants a piece of me

Follow me on Insty, you wont regret it.

christopher walken in annie hall is my vehicular role model.

When I started this blog, I made a monumental decision; new year, new Instagram.  So kids, take your average 3:56 minute visit time (yeah, I learned what Google Analytic is) and follow me on Insty.  I promise it will be amusing, as my self-preservation instincts are rapidly declining.  Round here Fridays are going to be about my amateur photography via Insty and my bro'ings on around town.

I am new to blogging, so naturally, we don't know each other very well.  I guess the biggest thing going on for me at the moment is that I am getting married on April 6th.  I read an article about the two-hour premiere of Mad Men (setting my DVR now) referring to the April 7th date as "pretty soon!  So soon, in fact..."

Anyway, that drop-in-the-bucket-sized comment has been snowballing around in my brain for the past few hours and I am having a pretty sizable WTF moment.  I have a relatively demanding job, I am endeavoring to start this blog, I fractured my tailbone three weeks ago (mentioning merely to give you a mental image of how hot I really am) and overall I am pretty lazy person.  So, I have a lot (read: ay-lot) of things to square away. 

Pumping the breaks on the bridezilla bit, I'd like to take a beat and acknowledge how absolutely charmed my world is.  Because I basically have the dopest boyfriend and the greatest life.  I'd also like to give a little wedding teaser:

I am wearing either this, this, or this to my wedding.

Keeping true to our roots, we are getting married at One If By Land, Two If By Sea.

Next weekend is my tea party bridal shower at the Inn at Irving Place.

The Groom has taken the lead planning a dope honeymoon in Tanzania, Zanzibar and Dubai. 

We are mini-mooning for a long weekend in Anguilla.

turkey chili: limited talent, big appetite

I find cooking a rather challenging endeavor and shy away from it without proper supervision.  Given the option, my boyfriend would probably quit his job and train as a chef but refuse to work in a kitchen.  Those are his words, not mine.  He is particular.  But I digress, the point is that I know how to make a killer (healthy) chili.  This is one of the two special skills listed on my resume.  Lets save the other for another time.

Grocery List:
2 medium onions, chopped
2 peppers (red or green) chopped
2 pounds lean ground turkey
1/4 cup chili powder (I use 1/2 cup of Chipotle chili power)
1 can of peeled whole tomatoes
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of tomato paste
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of cannelloni beans
1 chili pepper (optional)

What you need:
Can opener
Knife/Cutting Board
Slotted Spoon
Dutch oven
Big metal pot

Editors Note: I like my food spicy (read: spi-cy), like the beloved two syllable damn (read: day-um).  Keep that in mind for the chili, especially if you use chipotle powder.

The first step is to prep the base of the chili by getting the vast elements mingling with each other.  This inclusion policy applies to the canned tomato products, bell peppers, beans and any other spices you might add.  I hear cumin and oregano are common in chili, but this is pretty damn good as it is so I leave it out.  Same goes for bay leaves and cocoa which I have seen in recipes as well.  While I move onto the next step, I kick up a low flame and cover this bad boy.

Once you have your elements co-mingling its time to brown the turkey.  I heard a rumor that browning requires oil, but I don't bother (health, health, health).  The turkey has some oil and the onions give off enough liquid to coast on through.  I am really technical so I throw in the turkey and onion (as well as an optional chopped jalapeno).  I close the top and make myself a 'well done sweetie' drink.  I give it about five minutes of percolating before I break it up a bit and move it around.  I do this every couple of minutes for about 20 minutes.  Shockingly, it is in fact supposed to look like the prep photo to your left, so no alarm if it does.

With things heating up on both ends, it is time for the relatively complex transfer procedure.  I'm kidding, if you can use a slotted spoon, you're in.  Welcome.  So basically, the turkey has been cooking in its own, essence for lack of a better term.  Since I don't find that "stock" essential, I drain it before transferring it into the chili pot e.g. using a spoon, which has been heating up all the while.  Mix it up, don't be shy and get fierce with the whole tomatoes.  I press them against the side to mash them up a bit.  

This next bit is rather challenging.  Close the lid and do nothing.  I do nothing a lot but in this instance, two hours on a low flame or 45 minutes on a high one.  This recipe yields what I consider to be a boatload; 5-6 servings now and 3-4 to freeze for later.

voyeur in the hou-ouououse.

Arguably, you don’t know someone until you have seen their living room.  You can say this about a lot of things though, playlists, family, what they do when you’re not around.  But let’s pretend you can’t.  I need my living room concept to take flight (get excited).  And you know who agrees with me? Dominique Nabokov and her second book (its a living room series, hold onto your hats) photographing...wait for it...living rooms!  Like I said, you don't know someone until you have seen their living room.  So kids, let’s get to know some new yorkers and judge their taste:

tim sachs, little italy

taylor mead, soho

susan sontag, chelsea

robert wilson, west side highway

nan golin, greenwich village

philip glass, east village

rev. al sharpton, brooklyn

quentin crisp, east village

fernando sanchez, upper east side

francesco clemente, greenwich village

david seider, soho

julian schnabel, west village

 

elle mcpherson, upper east side

amanda tinsley, upper east side

What does your living room say about you?  Any of these images inspire a project?  DIY tweak?  hate mail?