New Shirt!

by Liz

In my quest to get through my fabric stash I finished this shirt last night:

It is a free pattern I found over on Burdastyle, a really great place for patterns and project inspiration. This one was the Port Elizabeth cap sleeve top. You can download the pattern for yourself here. The shirt was super quick to make, however the fabric I picked was really fussy so the hem and neckline were a bit annoying. I plan on making a bunch of these in varying lengths. For better or worse, crop tops are starting to surface again and somewhat back in style but I've been seeing them worn with long layers underneath (thank god) so this is my attempt at something like that. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the shirt ends at my natural waist.

Sarah, who designed the pattern, has a blog and etsy shop with more patterns for sale. So cute! I also emailed her a couple questions about my pattern downloads and she was so friendly and responsive. I highly recommend trying them for yourself. Can't wait to see what else she comes up with. Here are pictures of two more of her patterns.

Betty's Bay Tunic

Camp's Bay Smock Top

(Photos by Goldfinch and Eagle)

Daydreaming...

by Emi

Recently I've been doing a lot of daydreaming about my next vacation. All this talk about Paris and World Cup has got me psyched for my next Euro trip. I requested last week some vacation time for September, and now I can't wait. This time I am tentatively planning for Denmark, Amsterdam, and Berlin with my two buddies Liv and Mary Anne. I haven't done northern Europe before, and I am super excited. My mom lived in Copenhagen for a summer back in the day, so it would be great to see the same places as her pictures. Liv is part Danish, and has family in Denmark, so we'll get to hopefully stay with some of them. I love going to foreign countries where you know some of the locals. You get a really interesting, special experience that you wouldn't be able to get when your just a tourist. Some of the places I want to visit in Denmark is Copenhagen (duh!), Tivoli Gardens, the Carlsberg Brewery, The Hamlet Castle, Hans Christen Andersen's house, and Lego Land to name a few. I hear Copenhagen is a very walkable city, and I think one of best way to get to know a place is to just walk around exploring. Copenhagen is also famous for bicycles as well. I've never ridden a bike in a foreign city, let alone New York City, so I think it would be a lot of fun if the three of us rented some bikes for a tour around the city one afternoon.

Tivoli Gardens


Carlsberg Brewery


Kronenberg "Hamlet" Castle

Amsterdam is going to be our other big stop. Amsterdam is pretty infamous for a couple of things among them "coffee shops," the Red Light District, canals, Van Gogh, Anne Frank, and pancakes! All of which I hope to enjoy. I'll probably just stroll through the Redlight District and just window gaze, but I'll definitely make an appearance there (I kind of can't imagine what that area must be like. I'm definitely intrigued.). I think it might be fun to try and stay in a boat hotel on one of the canals. September is the start of their off peak season there, so I hope we'll get a chance to enjoy the city without tons of tourists. It's a small city, so I think three days would be perfect.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam's Red Light District

Lastly I'm hoping to get to see Berlin for a day/night. My company's head quarters are in Berlin, so I would love to take the quick hour flight from Copenhagen to Berlin for a day and get to meet everyone. Plus after doing some quick Kayak pricing, it only costs $54 round trip!! How could I not go for that price. I've heard Berlin has a ridiculous night life that rivals NYC (said by some Germans), so I'm going to have to stop by our office, check out some World War II artifacts, and then afterwards test that theory. I'll be sure to report back.

Berlin's Brandenberg Gate

Overall I think this is going to be another amazing trip. Liv, Mary Anne, and I got a taste of what our adventure could be like in February when we went to visit Liv for the weekend of snowboarding in Old Forge. Considering the small scale of Old Forge and the fun we had, I figure if I multiply that by a thousand that should be a good estimation of what's in store for September.

Paris, Day Four

By Natalie

Today we took the RER and Subway to Versailles. What a mind-blowing place. Started with a quick dash through "Dauphin's Chambers" and followed that with with a guided tour of the King's personal chambers and the chapel. We were supposed to see the opera house, but the chapel was a back up when the electricity failed! Ryan says our tour guide reminded him of an older version of Bruce Willis' girlfriend from Pulp Fiction.

After we finished in the Castle, we walked the grounds; I didn't realize how big and grand they are! We had ten-minute rain showers on a roughly forty minute rotation, which actually worked out for the best - there were less crowds, cooler temperatures, and a very romantic atmosphere. We had a great view of boats on the water, illuminated by sun showers and hazy skies. When we were exploring, we stumbled upon a tiny outdoor cafe hidden in the bushes. We stopped for a glass of chilled red wine and a chocolate crepe. There were cute cats roaming the courtyard, but they were pretty much our only company - the threat of rain kept most of the other visitors safely indoors.

We then headed back to the 1st arrondissement and hit the "big three" in the Louvre; Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and the Mona Lisa. Checked out the Egyptian exhibit too.

We got back to our apartment around 7PM, had amazing falafel for dinner in Le Marais at a place called L'As du Falafel. It was a marathon day!

Look for Less

by Liz

I've been eying these Frye's for a long time and while I know Frye's are high quality there is no way I can justify to myself that spending $318 on red cowboy boots is something my wallet can handle. How amazingly perfect are they?

I have searched high and low for these puppies to be on sale with no such luck. I had tried to find a similar pair that I liked and came up short until this morning. I can't say what made me decide to check out Aldo's website but low and behold...

Pretty darn close, right? And the price is way more my style ringing in at $59.98 on sale. Perhaps red cowboy boots will be in my future after all.

And while I am at it, I've been a major fan of the Elizabeth and James knuckle ring. I know its totally insane and giant, but like I said before, I love the big baubles.

Again, definitely out of the budget at $195. I searched around for some knock offs and heard about some that people found on eBay but they didn't have great reviews. Then on a rainy Sunday afternoon I found this gem on Etsy:

At $75 it is still definitely expensive, but I'd rather spend that and support someone's handmade craft then let shopbop suck all my money away.

**Random side note - Emi and I saw one of the shopbop models at Lollapalooza last year!**

Happy shopping everyone!

(Photos by Frye, Aldo, Shopbop, and Ashaloo)

Ole Ole Ole!

by Emi

KAKÁ, Brazil
AGE: 28. CLUB: Real Madrid. POSITION: Attacking midfielder.

It happens once every four years, like the Olympics, but instead of skiing, swimming, gymnastic, or track, it's just soccer. It's the world's unofficial sport. I played when I was younger like most kids, but I never followed it professionally. US soccer doesn't have the same excitement as foreign football. It's become a bit of a tradition now when I travel to Europe to buy my sister a local football scarf. On recent trips I bought her a Barcelona Football Club and Milan scarf. I love scarfs, so I like the idea that you can support your favorite team with a cute scarf rather than a boring old tee shirt.

This World Cup I've been following rather closely because I'm doing a company pool. My company is European based, so most of the company participants are real football fans. I think I'm the only US based participant, and basically I'm just guessing my way through it, but it's still fun. I'm actually not doing so bad either. I'm in the top half of the the pool. I wish I could watch more of the games, but the first one starts at 7:30am and the last ones for the day all end around 4 because of the time difference. I caught Germany Vs. Australia on Sunday. It was brutal with Germany scoring four goals.

If your a World Cup newbie like myself, but are interested in the game and players you should check out this Vanity Fair article. It's an interesting article, and the photos aren't hard to look at either. Annie Leibovitz photographed them all in their underwear. Enough said.

DEJAN STANKOVIC, Serbia.
AGE: 31. CLUB: Inter Milan. POSITION: Midfielder.
CARLTON COLE, England.
AGE: 26. CLUB: West Ham United. POSITION: Strike
DIDIER DROGBA, Ivory Coast
AGE: 32. CLUB: Chelsea. POSITION: Striker.
MICHAEL BALLACK, Germany.
AGE: 33. CLUB: Chelsea. POSITION: Midfielder.)

Wish me luck. I'm looking to finish first. It would be hilarious if the New York girl won the World Cup pool.

Photographs by Annie Leibovitz

Paris, Day Three

by Natalie

Great day! We got an early start at 9:00 in the morning. Grabbed a baguette for breakfast (still warm from the oven...heaven) and took it on the go, meeting some folks at Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite for a Bike About Paris tour. It was an amazing time, a whopping four hour ride that brought us all over the back streets of Paris with a handful of major monuments thrown in. Pamela, our tour guide, had some great fun facts - cannon balls stuck into old palaces, pieces of the old fortress wall still in existence, bullet holes from the first World War visible in the walls of Hotel de Ville - all delivered from super-fun, light aluminum bikes. It was a blast. We had a fun surprise too; about three of the places she had pointed out we had already discovered, and we even rode by our apartment to boot!

After the tour, we walked a bit, grabbed a beer, and used our museum pass to visit Musee D'Orsay. Very cool building with tons of light - I found myself gazing at the architecture more than the paintings! We then made our way to Musee Rodin, only to find it was closing time. No big thing, we headed back to the apartment, showered and got dressed for dinner, and ate a dinner of steak frites on an outdoor terrace surrounded by a thick plastic ceiling and walls. Good thing too - the sky ripped open almost as soon as we sat down, turning the terrace into a veritable flood.

Thankfully the rain didn't last long. We walked down to Pont Neuf to catch a boat tour of the Seine. Ryan took some amazing photos with his fancy camera. In fact, he pretty much had that thing glued to his face! After the ride, we shared a romantic evening on the Pont des Arts bridge, where couples can "lock their love" by literally locking a padlock with their initials onto the wire structure of the bridge and throwing the key into the river. We plopped down on the side of the bridge, split a bottle of wine, and listened to young french guys playing flute and guitar, all the while flanked by the glowing Eiffel tower on one side, and the glowing pont neuf on the other. Not bad at all.

P.S. Had my first REAL chocolate croissant. All I can say is, WOW. No turning back for me now - chocolate croissants every day, at least once a day.

And a guest entry from Ryan:

Kind of glad we had not stopped by the Eiffel Tower yet because our first encounter was so epic. It was all lit up as we inched up to it on a boat on the Seine. Perfect way to see the tower for the first time. We will check it out later during the day and take the elevator to the top.

The Ace Hotel

by Emi


The Ace Hotel on 29th St. is one of the newer hotel hot spots. It’s a boutique hotel originally from Portland, Oregon. The hotel itself I believe is in a converted public school and the rooms have different themes. One of the room options is a bunk style, ie: twin bunk beds. That kind of sleeping arrangement doesn’t interest me so much, but the dinning options there do. The Ace Hotel is home to The Breslin, No.7 Sub, and Stumptown Coffee Roasters.


The Breslin is April Bloomfield’s newest ode to the pig restaurant. April’s first big restaurant was the Spotted Pig, which is still going strong, and still pretty delicious. The Breslin doesn’t take reservations, and has long lines. I doubt I’ll be making it there anytime soon, but I plan on trying No.7 Sub stat. These are not your average sub, and menu changes frequently from what I understand. I recently read about the Eggplant Parm w/Fontina, Yellow Squash, Pickled Jalapenos, and BBQ Potato Chips. Umm…yum. Also currently on the menu is General Tso’s Tofu w/Pickled Rhubarb, Peas, and Roasted Garlic. I’m making myself starving just thinking about these amazing sounding sandwiches. I think I might try one on Friday night and maybe enjoy some Shake Shack ice cream for desert.


I am also a big coffee fan evident from my previous post. Stumptown Coffee Roasters has a lot of buzz about their supposedly delicious coffee. I’ve yet to try it, but am definitely intrigued. I appreciate a place that does one thing, and one thing really well.

Sounds like a good way to spend my Friday dinner.


Photo courtesy of the Ace Hotel

Paris, Day Two

By Natalie

Our second day in Paris began later than we thought, but was full of lots of sight seeing and leisurely stops. Here is the entry from our travel journal:

We intended to get up at 9:30 this morning, but slept until noon by mistake! Set out for St. Martin Canal, and passed it by a good ten blocks. Ended up in the China Town section of the city, and by the time we got there, I was fading fast from having completely forgotten to pick up breakfast and coffee. We stopped on the way for a few snacks, caffeine, and aspirin and had lunch on a bench lining a busy street, too weary to look for the Canal in that moment. After lunch, we finally found it and took a leisurely stroll on the banks of the water and the steps leading up to the canal's many bridges. Stopped for beers, and didn't use a word of English for our order - it was fun! While window shopping, we had a scare when we passed a homeless man face down on the sidewalk. He wasn't moving. A passerby stopped and poked him with his foot, and finally, after much delay, the man moved! Phew!

We made our way back to the apartment along Rue St. Paul, a street full of amazing antique stores. Got all dressed up and went to a fancy dinner at La Petite Cour in the St. Germain district. Ryan treated, which was very sweet. I spoke French to place our order, although it was very broken! Ry had the prix-fix: great veggies with cream sauce for an appetizer, veal with asparagus for the main course, and creme brulee for dessert. I had clams and greens to start, lamb with pureed sweet potatoes and vegetables for the main course, and a flaky pastry to end. Split a delicious bottle of wine.

Afterwards, we took a romantic stroll back and stopped at a bar for beers, which were served with sweet, crunchy peanuts. On our way back we leaned over the pont neuf bridge and snapped photos of the Seine. It was beautiful at night.

Interior Eye Candy

by Emily

When we were moving last spring, I was very much into all things interior design - it's just too bad that my eyes are bigger than my wallet. I fell in love with Emma Gardner Design - a woven/textile/rug company that has really inspired me to start saving my pennies so that I can own one of these gorgeous rugs someday (preferably when I have more space and can properly guard this creation from kitty clawing).

They recently relaunched their website, and I invite you to check it out - I'm particularly fond of their Floral/Asian rug collection.

Here are a few of my favorite designs below:

I made a shirt!

by Liz

Okay, so I still haven't been able to hem the bottom but its so close I just had to share it with you. Its nice and breezy which means it will be perfect for hot summer days.

I also made french seams for the first time ever with this shirt, so no raw edges inside! It feels so much more professional and really was not as difficult as I expected. I plan on doing this from now on. It takes longer because you are technically sewing everything twice but I think its worth it. You can kind of see one of the seams here:

Can't wait for my next project, I think I'll be making a shirt with this fabric by Heather Ross. I just love the little fish!!!

(Fabric photo via Heather Ross)

Summer = Ice Cream

by Emi

Like any person who isn’t lactose intolerant or has an allergy to eggs (I’m looking at you Emily), we associate summer with ice cream. This year I get to associate summer with making my own ice cream. I was recently inspired to start making my own when I found a copy at work of The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto, by F.W. Pearce and Danilo Zecchin (I work in a building with tons of free books everywhere, and yes, it’s awesome). So, as a result for my birthday the other week I received a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker from my friend Liv.

Photo courtesy of Random House/Clarkson Potter

My first attempt was at the stracciatella gelato, which is a classic Italian flavor of vanilla with chocolate that is poured when melted into the frozen gelato freezing the chocolate in swirls. I followed the Ciao Bella instructions for the plain base (just milk, heavy cream, sugar and 4 egg yolks) and the Cuisinart instructions, later adding the vanilla before churning, but the ice cream didn’t freeze properly. After the allotted 25-30 mins the ice cream was still mush. As a result I finished the freezing in the freezer and the texture came out a little icy, but the flavor was really nice. The way the maker works is you freeze the bowl that the ice cream churns in. It recommends that it freeze for a minimum of 6 hours to overnight, and that the base sit in the refrigerator for the same. On my second attempt I made espresso flavored gelato. This time I let both the bowl and the base freeze/refrigerate for the full recommended time and it came out great. After churning it came out a nice creamy texture, with a great espresso flavor.

Photo courtesy of Ben & Jerry's

My last attempt was a bit more adventurous courtesy of my friend Mary Anne. Apparently back in the day, Ben & Jerry’s had a peanut butter and cookie dough flavor that Mary Anne has been dreaming of since they discontinued it in middle school. So on Saturday we recreated that flavor, and I have to say it was awesome. Again we made the plain base, but after the full refrigeration time we blended in half a cup of organic peanut butter. Also we made an egg less chocolate chip cookie dough, this way we weren’t eating raw eggs in our ice cream. The final product was really nice. Not too peanut buttery, and some tasty cookie dough chunks. The only problem was the chocolate chips I had were huge. Next time I’d use smaller chips.

I’m looking forward to experimenting more with my machine. You have to do some planning in advance when making gelato or ice cream. It's not really a sponaetous confection. To make it you need at least a night in advance, but the prep work is really easy. The only thing you definitely need is the four basic ingredients of milk, cream, sugar, eggs , an ice cream maker, and a cooking termometer, which doesn’t have to break your bank. You can get a cheap ice cream maker for around $30. Some require salt or ice cubes for freezing, mine you just have to freeze the bowl. In future I will try taking some pictures of my final products. My new original flavor idea is Strawberry Shortcake, but it would be strawberry ice cream with real strawberries and shortcake cookie crumbs in it rather than regular shortcake, which I don’t think would stand-up in the ice cream. Now that’s its strawberry season, I think it will be the perfect next flavor. If your interested in trying a Ciao Bella recipie click here for chocolate gelato.

Paris, Day One

By Natalie

So, our trip to Paris has come and gone. I've been sitting here for about twenty minutes trying to come up with the words to describe the experience. Throwing around words like amazing, breathtaking, and stunning can be fun and all, but they don't seem to do the city justice. Paris is unlike any place I have ever experienced, and it all comes down to this: if you haven't been there, YOU MUST GO. Now.

Before climbing the plane and crossing the Atlantic, my cousin recommended I buy a Paris Moleskin notebook, which turned out to be an indispensable tool. Packed with city maps, subway maps, metric conversions, and a cute little pocket for keepsakes, the book is also stuffed with a number of blank pages for your own personal notes and hints. Each night, after spending hours walking (and eating) our way through the city, we spent time writing a brief entry of the day's events in the book. It turned out to be a great way to remember the little moments. We got back two days ago, and I've already read through the entries at least seven times. Sigh.

I'd like to share the entries with you, as I think they give a great sense of what our trip was like. I am still a bit jet-lagged, so this blog entry will cover a day or two. Next week, I'll do a few more! So, without further ado...

Day One, May 23, 2010

Big day! Our flight got in around noon. I received my first ever stamp in my passport and stared at it for a good minute.


We took the RER train to the Les Halles stop and decided to walk the rest of the way to our apartment rental rather than transfer to a different subway line. We got totally lost in a shopping complex and parking garage immediately upon exiting the subway. Had to use "beaucoup de francais" to get directions out. Settled in at the apartment and went right back out to Les Halles. Ryan was exhausted from the plane ride and fell so deeply asleep in the park outside St. Eustache church that we had to go back to the apartment and pass our for four hours! We awoke feeling a bit more refreshed, and hungry of course, so we grabbed baguette sandwiches for dinner and ate them in the grass lawn outside the Louvre. The Eiffel Tower was sparkling in the sky in the distance; coming around the corner and seeing it for the first time in my life literally made me gasp. Groups of French kids were smoking and drinking in groups all around us. Lots of laughter and relaxation.

After dinner, we walked miles along the Champs Elysees. A "young agriculture market" was taking place not far from the obelisk square where Marie Antoinette once lost her head. Lots of rowdy young farmers filled the block with drunken songs and dancing. Dust kicked up in the air, and every other person we passed was munching on an awesome baguette and sipping wine. There were actual living, breathing cows in a pen next to all the goings on - they couldn't be less interested in the party. Had a funny interaction with a French man selling glasses of wine for 2 Euros a piece...my French was really rusty. It took me about ten minutes to bumble through the ordering of two glasses, at the end of which the man handed me my change with the perfect English phrase, "4 euros for me, and 1 for you!" I'm glad he let me try to speak French, even though it was probably so he could make fun of me for it later!

Made our way up to rest of the Champs Elysees and looked at the Arc de Triomphe from across the busy street. Headed home, and rested up for another marathon day.

Lunch: Beef stew with pasta

Dinner: Baguettes with chicken, lettuce and tomato, french fries (with mayo!) and ice cold coke