I truly had a Eureka moment last week when I was rummaging around my fridge for the baby spinach and grabbed the basil instead. I always put a generous heaping handful of baby spinach in my morning smoothie to be sure I get some good greens in the a.m.- a good jump start. I don’t know why but I hadn’t thought of adding herbs to my mix, but what a welcome addition. Basil makes most everything better. In addition to the usual suspects: banana, blueberries, greek yogurt, almond milk and flax seeds, I also grabbed a pear. Double Eureka- it[…]

  

Get thee over to the Matine shop this Monday morning if you are in the market for beautifully constructed, clean and classic leather goods. DC designer, Carolyn Misterek is cleaning out her shop to make way for her spring line, even if it is 6 more weeks away according to this morning’s shadow sighting by one Punxsutawney Phil. But back to this chic shop, I’m a fan of pretty much everything she does- she is a little bit of magic with an MFA in Art History to boot. *sadly, not everything is on sale A few of my favorites: I[…]

  

Happy Weekend dear readers. Don’t you love this tea shop? The Crooked House of Windsor, one of the oldest still-standing tea houses in England, and that’s old. It’s on the list. I hope you are off to a tea-sipping, enjoyable weekend. As of Sunday, January 2015 will be forever over and done with- it’s so crazy how fast time flies. I’m not necessarily sad to say goodbye to January as a month but I am unnerved but how quickly this time thing operates. (take a breath, enjoy the moment- these are the mantras on continuous loop in my head). I[…]

  

Ahhhh- this picture makes me kind of crazy. I realize that this is our reality but shouldn’t these preteens be building a fort or putting on a play together or something? I’m sure they’re all highly intelligent, well-adjusted individuals, but I can’t help but cringe at the state of our techno world these days. It’s something I need to come to terms with. Lately I’ve had not one, not two, not even 3 but 5 conversations with various groups of friends about the merits and downfalls of social media. This is something we are all constantly talking about- like it[…]

  

Just a few things that are floatin’ my boat these days: 1. An outdoor canvas painting free for all. Maybe the cold weather is making me love this but it does looks so fun, doesn’t it? 2. Julia’s always on my groovy list, her preserved Cambridge kitchen at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum is one of my official Happy Places. This article from The New Yorker archives, passed along by my friend Rashmi (follow her Insta- so fun and inspiring), made me smile. Have you read “My Life in France“? -one of my favorites.  I vow to get to Le Pitchoune[…]

  

The title of this post could be a bit misleading- it reads like a questionable match.com profile, but if that’s your thing…  No, what I’m talking about is a fabulous fuzzy leopard coat for under 50 bucks. ‘Tis the season for penny pinching- at least for me. What with the holiday expenses to pay off and the summer vacation planning commencing, these purse strings have officially been tightened if not completely cinched. I still like to pony up for something fun now and again, but it has to be a real steal. Enter the current Zara sale and this find:[…]

  

Happy Weekend dear readers. I hope you are all of to some fun adventuring. We are playing it low key this weekend. In fact, I cannot even think of what we have planned which is pretty great. The hubs and I are going to get out for a minute to a geeky wine tasting to test our blind tasting skills. A friend in the wine industry is hosting and it will be a $15/$50 party- attempting to guess which wine is worth what. It should prove a challenge because the host himself has some seriously refined tastebuds so the $15[…]

  

What’s medium bodied, goes with pretty much everything and orange all over? A white wine treated like it’s red of course. Enter: orange wine. So ok, orange wine isn’t exactly a new phenomenon in the wine world. In fact, it’s nothing close to new as it’s been around for centuries (it’s just white wine with its skins left on during maceration), but only in the last 10 years or so have the hipster somms and natural wine nerds glommed on to this deeply hued white. While the tangerine-tinged stuff has been sweeping the mean streets of NYC since the early[…]

  

  It’s a brand new year and I’m really a lot less upset about the end of the holiday season than usual. I’m jazzed for a clean, bright and fresh new start. Of course when I’m in the humdrum of my daily routine I don’t feel so fresh and so clean but still- it’s a new year and with a new year brings new ideas, new opportunities, new friends, new bites, new sips and new experiences. Bring it. I’m pretty much psyched for every moment I can get. I’m not making a big resolution this year mostly because I never[…]

  

Happy Holidays to you all! We are gearing up for a rollicking Christmas Eve over here. We’ll sit down to a dinner St. Lucia style in honor of our Swedish friend, Anna, who is staying with us. We’ll be donning our candlelit head wreaths and all and enjoying some Swedish meatballs, traditional herring and some Italian goodies thrown in the mix for good measure (St. Lucia was afterall an Italian so boom goes the pasta!). We’ll finish the eve with our annual Blind Bubbly Tasting followed by a showing of The Ref- the world’s greatest Christmas movie. The holidays are[…]