hump day home makeover / foo dog color bursts

I don't know when these little guys won me over, but somewhere along the way their ugly faces went from ugh to I. must. have. a. pair. It's like the pug dogs whose squishy wrinkly faces are so freaking cute.

In Asian culture, foo dogs represent the lion and can be found guarding imperial palaces, tombs, and government buildings. They are seen as protective statues and even thought to ward off evil spirits. I love the idea of an item with a meaning behind it. My last roommate left an evil eye charm hanging by our doorway that's believed to ward off envy or dislike, and I love seeing it everyday as a reminder to ward off negative feelings. If that's not for you, these little guys do a great job of adding a burst of color to your decor.

A FOO DOG FOR YOU

new york street fairs - yay or nay?

I hate to haggle. 

The first time I remember learning what haggling was I was 11 and in France at a boardwalk fair. I had a language barrier, a conversion rate and 5th grade math working against me. Needless to say, I didn't get a deal. In fact, I probably got ripped off. 

Street fairs are a bargainer's dream. They put prices up knowing they can be talked down and still make a profit. I must have had my haggle A game on this weekend, because I talked my way into getting this purse for $10.

So I say YAY! to any place you can get a knock off Rebecca Minkoff for $10.

As for the other great things I didn't have the courage to bargain for at New York street fairs? 

Real butterflies turned into art. 

New addition to a gallery wall anyone?

Patterned rugs that look similar to expensive ones at Anthropologie.

Bracelets and necklaces galore. 

What do you think - "yay" or "nay" to street fairs and haggling?

is long island the new willamette valley?

I'm a loyal Willamette Valley Pinot Noir drinker and am not the kind of girl who goes for a buttery, oaky Chardonnay or white in general, but when summer hits reds seem out of the question. The first time I had a Chenin Blanc from Long Island, I spent the next few weeks popping in and out of pretty much every wine store from Tribeca to the East Village searching for this wine. Surprised? So was I. 

What I came away with from these wine enthusiasts and sommeliers was a wine tasting tour on Long Island was a must. 

11 months later...

This past weekend, my friends and I planned a trip to North Fork on Long Island. We rented a car and hopped around 3 different vineyards for the day starting at Batting Hollow Farm and Vineyard, then Pugliese Vineyards and ending at Vineyard 48. Within the first stop, I realized why Long Island is on its way to becoming the next trending region like the Willamette. 

Bachelorette parties. 

Ok, just kidding, but there were about 10 at the first stop. 

The Batting Hallows was my favorite with a country style house, patio, tent covered seating area, live music and a barn for the farm's rescued horses. Some of the horses even trace back to Kentucky Derby stars like Secretariat and War Admiral. 

 My favorites wine for the day was the Savannah Rose. There's something about a Rose that makes it the perfect wine for a hot summers day. I also liked the Angel Chardonnay, which is steel barrel aged if you're thinking back to my earlier buttery, oaky comment. 

Pugliese was a good stop for sparkling wine with a list ranging from blanc de blanc to sparkling merlot.   I think this would be a great place to start a wine tour, so you can start light with sparkling wines. They also had a nice outdoor seating area and live music, and another 5 or so bachelorettes. Are we seeing a theme yet?

Our last stop was Vineyard 48, which was a much different vineyard experience complete with a DJ and dance party. Bachelorette party mecca. The favorite at this stop was their NoFo Peach wine. I think this wine would be really cool to try in a skinny sangria recipe.

If you're thinking about taking a trip to Long Island, I'd highly recommend you get a group and do a tour with a car. If you're coming from the city, you may remember a thing called a designated driver you had to think about before you lived in NYC.  The driver is a must.  Our tour was also nice because when we arrived at the vineyard we were given tickets for the wine tasting which were included in the price we paid for the car. Our tour also coordinated lunch for us in the middle of our tour which was key. 

If you want to get the look from the hat in the first picture. It's a cloche style hat from Anthropologie, and here are some other similar ones.

friday's fancies / white out wine tasting

This weekend some friends and I are getting out of the city for a wine tasting. I am beyond excited to go wine tasting and even more excited that we are going to Long Island. When I first moved up to NYC, my parents and I went to Gramercy Tavern and had the Paumanoak Chenin Blanc from Long Island and were really impressed by it. The sommelier told us that Long Island is on its way to being the new Willamette Valley, which in our speak is basically saying "orange is the new pink." I'll let you know what I think when I'm back.

hat | purse | dress | sunglasses | bracelet | sandals

With wine tasting this weekend, the incredibly hot weather in NY and Friday's Fancies bring all about white, I'm thinking about wearing my white lace dress and pairing it with some accessories perfect for a sunny day. Here is my ideal wine tasting outfit for a warm and sunny weekend.

Follow my wine tasting tour this weekend on Instagram!

Happy weekend everyone! What are your plans?

Halibut with Avocado, Mango, Tomato Salsa

When you can't be at the beach, you can at least eat like you are! Cooking sea bass this past weekend got me in the mood for seafood, and excited that I can actually cook yummy seafood without a grill. I had a tomato, an avocado and a lime I needed to use, so this recipe popped into my head. It just reminds me of the beach and with my beach trip coming up in 2 weeks, I really have beach fever.

Ingredients

.5 lb halibut

1 lime

1 avocado

1 tomato

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

5 basil leaves, chopped

salt and pepper

Servings: 1-2

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10-12 mins

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Rub with olive oil and add salt and pepper and lay aside. Next, rinse fruit and peel the mango. Cut fruit in small cubes and mix them together in a medium sized bowl. Add cayenne pepper and basil leaves, stir and set aside. Slice two thin lime slices and squeeze the juice from the remaining lime halves on the mixture.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium sized skillet until it is about to boil. Add fish to skillet and sear for 2-3 mins, skin side up. Prepare your casserole dish by placing butter at the bottom of the dish. Once half of the fish is a white color, transfer the fish to a casserole dish. Place the fish skin side down on the butter. Add the two thin slices of lime to the top of the fish and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

When the fish looks white throughout and flakes, it is done. Add salsa to the top of the fish and serve.

Let me know if you try this recipe out and how it goes! I'd love to hear.

hump day home makeover / saavy small kitchens

As I get more and more into cooking, I've started thinking about ways to make my small kitchen more functional. Of course my first thought was to turn to Apartment Therapy, because clearly they will have some small kitchen ideas for me! Or not. Their "10 Favorite Small Kitchens" were huge! I would die for any of those kitchens. I mean come on!

And then I found "20 Small Kitchens with Style" and "10 Organized and Efficient Kitchen." Apartment Therapy, I knew I could rely on you. 

Some small kitchen space saver ideas I love:

So far, I'm only using a few of these space saving ideas and have a lot more way that I could maximize my space.

Shelves for plates, spices, etc. is a must in a small kitchen. I'd also go so far to say a kitchen cart or some kind of table dueling as an island is as well. If you don't have space for a table, these kitchen carts are great for storage and extra counter space. Plus, they role. I also really love my magnetic knife rack. I have limited counter space, so one of my main issues is being able to wash dishes and lay them to dry and still be able to use my kitchen. My knife rack duels as a knife holder and dry rack for my knives.

Mixing bowls are great to have and I love this stackable set. It saves space in your cabinets and is practical for cooking. This cookbook holder is my next pick, because 1. It's awesome! and 2. I'm really hoping it would work as an ipad holder too.

How do you save space in your small kitchen?

friday's fancies / memorial day weekend sandal shopping

I cleaned out my closet this week and with that tossed a lot of worn out shoes I'd been holding on for a little too long. Every year I struggle with finding the perfect pair of sandals with the right mix of style, comfort and versatility, so I wanted to share my favorites for the season. I am really liking the ankle strap flat sandal and think it's necessary to have a brown, black and colorful pair in your closet.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

green with envy / kelly green kitchenette

I. want. this. kitchenette. 

Badly.

Not just because my current kitchen is pretty tiny, but because the kelly green cabinets, white tiled walls and pink swirly handles are uplifting and inviting. Don't you just want to cook or steal whatever that watermelon juice is?

image from Style At Home

hump day home makeover / small closet ideas

Having a small closet can be tough. If you don't have the space to store all your clothes, accessories, etc. you can end up with a consistently messy closet and room. I've been wanting to get my closet in order and with the start of the spring season it feels like the perfect time.

At this point we know each other well enough for me to share this with you. Until the other day, this was the state of my current small closet. As you can see, I really wasn't maximizing any of my space or keep it organized. I was also trying to make lot of bootleg storage containers work some of which were left over boxes of items the girl who lived in the room before me used.

 Now, my closet looks like this after taking into account a few great tips for small closet storage.

1. The very first tip I suggest is that you use your closet for about a week or so to see how you are using it. For example, the containers the girl before me had must have worked great for her closet, but just didn't  work quite right for mine. In order to organize my closet, I thought about how I used my closet and what I wanted to get out of the storage.

2. First things first, your readily available clothes, shoes and accessories should be true to the season. Once the season changes, wash and pack away the previous season's garb for the next year to open up space in the active part of the closet. During this time I also look at what items I never wanted to wear that season and get them ready to be donated. This keeps the number of clothes down and also makes you feel better about ignoring that shirt the whole season.

3. Purchase matching hangers to allow for more space on the rack. I prefer the skinny white plastic hangers to maximize space.

4. Organize your closet by tops and dresses. This allows you to open up space below the shorter shirts' section.

4. Find a good shoe storage system. I picked up this 6 cubby shoe holder knowing I needed a place for my larger heels and tennis shoes. In addition to this, I have a hanging shoe rack that goes over the door, and store my boots in a repurposed brown box. I have yet to find a great idea for winter shoe storage and didn't want to invest in a holder for these shoes knowing it would get dirty. An upcycled box at the bottom of my closet felt like the perfect fit.

5. Next, store items at the top in the harder to reach areas that you won't need often. This is the perfect place for the down comforter or sweaters you won't need again until the weather gets cold. 

6. Lastly, I take this for granted in my closet, but if you don't have a shelf above your hanging rack...add on. That has been huge in creating space in my closet.

I also used some left over shoe boxes for extra storage and am still trying to make the stackable shelves I inherited work, but here's another look. 

I really love the look of the front open boxes from The Container Store, but am still trying to figure out what purpose they would serve for me. I'm thinking the could live under the shoe boxes and be the perfect holders for my clutches and belts.

What small closet ideas have you tried?

wine & pizza tasting / nyc vintners

Wine is my drink of choice and something I really enjoy learning about. In college, I took a Viticulture and Enology class that ended with a few tastings of the wines varietals we had learned about that night. My best friend and I showed up every Tuesday night for our 6-9 class with a block of brie. We were in heaven.

Since I’ve been in New York City, I've been dying to take an actual wine course, but working in Advertising can make leaving the office for a 6PM class impossible. This weekend my friend treated me to a wine and pizza tasting class for my birthday at a boutique wine shop in the Financial District, NYC Vintners. I don't usually think of pizza and wine going together, and was definitely pleasantly surprised. Wine and food pairing is a talent envy and the teachers did a great job selecting the right wines to bring out the flavors of the pizza.

Ever thought about putting Boursin cheese on your pizza? Do it. Tonight. Now. This pizza was my favorite with hen of the woods and oyster mushrooms, truffle oil, mozzarella and Boursin cheese. Out of the two whites we drank, I was surprised my favorite with the pizza was the Tire Bouchon Bourgogne with a buttery nose, since I usually prefer stainless steel aged whites like the other white, Gorleri Vermentino we tasted.

The two reds we tasted were what the teacher referred to as "big ass reds" with a lot of tannin, fruit and jam. This is my favorite kind of red that feels like a bit of a kick to your taste buds. Ever wonder why reds are usually paired with meats? The tannin in them does a great job cutting through the fat in foods.

My favorites were the Tire Bouchon Bourgogne (white) and the Abanico Toro Eternium Viti (red).

If you're interested in taking a class at NYC Vintners, you should check out Groupon. They often have great deals on the class. You just have to make sure you plan in advance.