Pictures & Paragraphs: January 2014

Friday, January 31

Tommy Tucker - the most famous squirrel ever?

Living on a house boat looks like fun and sounds like simplicity at its finest.

What a neat idea for reusing beer bottles!

Red pandas are so cute!

+ Cat tricks.

Happy Friday!!

Thursday, January 30

sweater: The Limited / top: Free People / pants: Anthropologie / shoes: Anthropologie / headband: Anthropologie

The 'top' I'm wearing is actually a slip from Free People... but I thought the bottom was really cute and you can't tell that it's nightwear when you top it off with a sweater. Plus, by the looks of it a lot of Free People's intimate wear can be layered in not-so-intimate styles. So hooray for versatile pieces! And hooray for clothing exchanges amongst friends! My friend Sam gave me this sweater; I love that it's a neutral color and thick enough fabric that I can easily wear over a lot of my louder-colored collared tops. I've been looking for a sweater like that for a while, and I guess it finally found me.

Recipe for Browned Butter Espresso Brownies

Tuesday, January 28

Head on over to B3K to check out my recipe for these delicious Browned Butter Espresso Brownies!

For all you new readers, Between Three Kitchens is a food blog I write sporadically with a few of my friends. Some friends and family members wanted to be able to share my recipes with their co-workers and associates without sharing the personal side of my blog, so I created Between Three Kitchens as an alternate place to post recipes. Feel free to follow B3K, or if you don't want to add yet another blog to your reader, don't fret! I'll always update here about any new posts that go up over there.

Day Off

Monday, January 27

It's been a while since my last What I Wore post, so here's a day off look. I'm still looking for the best spot in the apartment to take photos. I don't think I've found it yet... but our living room is in the midst of reorganization, so this was a better background than a mess of books and cat toys.

shirt: Old Navy / pants: Anthropologie / shoes: Anthropologie / necklace: Love Culture

A day off doesn't have to mean an off-day (har har) when it comes to fashion. Sure, there are days when I don't get out of my pajamas all day long because I know I'm not leaving our apartment, but the rest of the time I still try to look somewhat put together. I wore this to go to the grocery store. Yep, that's literally the only thing I left the apartment for yesterday, but there's something to be said for those days you take a shower and put something on other than sweat pants, even if you're only leaving the comfort of your home for a half an hour. Of course, I threw on my longest and warmest coat with this along with some winter boots, so you could really only see about ten inches of my pants, but I felt good and that's what matters!

Week In Photos: Week 4

Sunday, January 26

You know it's cold when you wake up to frost on the inside of your windows...

Our local brewery opened early during the last snowstorm, so of course we walked over there.

They were giving away free candied bacon to anyone willing to trek over there! We were the first customers.

Their bread and butter plate is the best and simplest thing there is. Homemade bread tastes amazing.

I love the silence of the snow.

I couldn't find Lloyd the other day... he's really good at hide and seek.

All this cold weather is perfect for soup, so that's what Shawn made; it fed us for four days. He also scoffed at me buying new soup bowls, but look at how good they make the soup look! He later admitted as much.

My morning book & tea buddy. I was still jet lagged and waking up at 6am last week.

That was the last of this amazing loose leaf tea that tasted like Girl Scout Thin Mints :(

Lloyd made friends with my oldest stuffed animal.

I made brownies. And they were awesome. And then they were gone.

This year we made a vow to save up as much money as we can, so no frivolous spending. Which makes working at Anthropologie that much more difficult... but I decided that if I want to buy new clothes, I can sell my old clothes to pay for the new. So I spent over an hour sorting and prepping things to sell while watching What Not To Wear (guilty pleasure!)... I made $65! And I made another $40 selling a few things online.

I woke up and said, "I'm hungry!", to which Shawn replied, "What are you going to make?"... so I made blueberry muffins. It was either that or pancakes... there's only so much I can make with only one egg, a small amount of flour, and no butter.

This is where you will find Lloyd most afternoons if I'm home and sitting at my desk.

Thursday was National Pie Day. I did not make this, Trader Joe's did. I want to jump right into that blueberry filling. Thank you, Trader Joe's!

I hope you all had an amazing week!

Fun Finds Friday #45

Friday, January 24

The results of hurling water balloons at the heads of bald men.

My dad shared this link with me, all pigeons aren't created equal.

In Japan there's an island for rabbits. So many bunnies!!!

+ Toast, the latest artisanal food craze.
+ I wholeheartedly agree that busy isn't respectable anymore.
+ I loved reading about Erin's love affair with Philadelphia.

Happy Friday!

Tierpark in Goldau

Wednesday, January 22

A little ways down the road from my parents' house in Switzerland there's a little zoo (known as a tierpark in German). It's actually not that little at all... there's a section with all sorts of birds, another section where deer and goats roam freely and you can gaze at wild boar, buffalo, owls, a fox, and other small animals. There's a little petting zoo with goats and rabbits (there were a few that looked like Lloyd!). And there's a huge section a short walk away that houses wolves and bears. Unfortunately the wild cat habitat is under construction and was closed.

I included that last photo to give you an idea of where the zoo is located - it's a little oasis in the middle of a town that sits below the mountains. Truly beautiful! It's my parents' favorite place to take family when they visit. Can you imagine having a little zoo down the road from where you live?

We're Big on the Internet...

I don't normally post twice in one day, and I already have a post planned for today but I felt that this was worth mentioning too... our wedding was on the Huffington Post! What?! Apparently Lloyd's not the only one in this family who is popular on the internet. We never thought our elopement would turn into such a big thing! We're even on Pinterest! It's just surreal to me because a few months ago when I was scouring the internet for winter wedding inspiration I was pinning other people's photos in amazement, and now other people are pinning ours! The internet is really cool sometimes. We're so happy that our elopement turned into a sort of collaborative art project and now other people are feeling inspired by it. As artists, that's all you can ever hope for!

Monday Lloyd-ering

Monday, January 20

Since a lot of people in the states are off from work today, I thought you'd all enjoy a little Lloyd this Monday afternoon.

While I love traveling and I do appreciate being able to spend time with my family (all five of us together doesn't happen very often!), I missed our little family of three while I was abroad. Especially Lloyd, since I was surrounded by dogs the entire trip! I think Lloyd missed me too, even if he ignored me for an hour when I first got home. Shawn says Lloyd waited by the door for me while I was away. In my experience, cats want to make sure you're aware that they were angry at you, before they show you the love they really feel. He has been full of cuddles ever since! :)