Summer Book Pick

The summer requires great new iTunes downloads, good HBO on demand, and a page-turning book. Luckily, I had all three this week. You may remember my slight/major crush on Phillip Phillips so I was quick to buy his first single, Home, to confirm that the slight/major crush still exists. I’m also obsessed with HBO series, Newsroom. You need to be watching it.

I just finished my best (ok, maybe my only) read of the summer…. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan Phillip-Sendker.

“When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.”

Ok the moving mountains part sounds cheesy, but this book is not. It is beautiful, intriguing, emotional, and a little bit folk tale. Check it out!

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this summer? I need my next pick!

Posted on August 2, 2012 at 6:00 am | 2 Comments

To Move Or Not To Move; The New Yorker Dilemma

It’s amazing how big a decision moving less than a mile seems in Manhattan. Or is that true everywhere? Dean and I are considering moving across the park to the Upper East Side. Maybe to buy, maybe to rent. We’re in no rush, so we have plenty of time to peruse.

The problem is, I’m obsessed with our current building and never want to leave. I’ve started a moving/staying pro/pro list. It’s pro/pro because I refuse to publicly admit to my suburb-ready hubby that there are any cons when living in Manhattan (and don’t tell me the lack of grass, we have this big place called Central Park!).

Highlight of the moving East list: It’s MUCH more convenient for both of our work and a few ~~pushy~~ special friends and family live in the area. Highlights of the staying West list: I’m generally in love with the West side. Plus, Fairway (my super market) is better on the West Side. Translation: the butcher knows me by name and order. That takes a long time to establish.

The process of moving always sucks and having an “open mind” does not come easy to me. We recently visited a penthouse duplex apartment for sale on East 86th & 3rd, advertised as this interesting space:

But when we arrived we saw that though penthouse technically meant the top floor of the building, it somehow felt like it was the basement. Upstairs (even higher in the building, but seemed below ground still) two bedrooms were separated by a narrow hallway. That hallway had this bathtub in it:

I couldn’t help but tell the agent: 1. No, we are not interested. 2. When he does sell this place, he must celebrate with a bath in the hallway.

Luckily, he laughed. Let the search continue.

Do you have any house/apartment hunting tips for me?

Posted on July 19, 2012 at 6:00 am | 4 Comments

My Weekend According to My iPhone

In these pictures: Roadstop off 1-95 (New Haven Food Trucks at Long Wharf Exit) where 9 fantastic tacos were devoured in 5 minutes by my hub and me; Watch Hill, RI docks; hydrangeas attacked my parent’s home and my nephew being precious amongst them; Alfred the Alligator looking beat up after a weekend with the kids; blueberries ready for picking from our friends backyard (along with two amazing dollhouses my niece loved); the top of our wedding cake 1 year later

Not pictured here: several viewings of this youtube video (definitely watch if you have a kid at sleep away camp or a sister with a kid at sleep away camp), family dance party to “call me, maybe” song (which my husband and I – who apparently live under a rock – heard for the first time last week); me making an ugly face when I tried a smidgen of our year-old cake; my mom having another layer of our wedding cake freshly made for us.

Posted on July 16, 2012 at 6:00 am | 2 Comments

Five Ways to Turn Your Veggies into Decor

As you know, I live in Manhattan and don’t usually have the dilemma of too much produce sprouting from the concrete jungle. But, I know many of you have gardens or like me, just tend to buy way too much at the market, which leaves you with gorgeous veg you can’t use before it goes bad.

During our recent South Africa trip (no, i won’t stop talking about it. ever.), I noticed a plethora of uses for vegetable and herbs that stretched far beyond the kitchen.

ONE. Use them in a vase (or be super cool and use a laboratory glass).

So perfect for an extra parsnip that you didn’t know what to do with (and if you know what to do with the rest of the parsnips, please let me know).

TWO. Stuff them into a drawer for the perfect farmer-style decor accent.

THREE. Display your herbs! This makes a gorgeous wall piece for a party or in this case to sell your extra garden bounty.

FOUR. Even something as simple as filling a sink (or just a bowl) with fresh-plucked lemons.

FIVE. Instead of giving a flower bouquet, give the gift of vegetables.

I actually recreated the veggie bouquet recently for a dear friend who invited us to her beach house but forbade me from bringing any sweets. It was so simple and fun! I used the kale, scallions, and radish from my farm share and then picked up some carrots from the market to round it out. I then cut a brown paper bag to wrap around the bottom and circled twine around it. I was pretty impressed with myself.

Posted on July 11, 2012 at 6:00 am | 4 Comments

Photos from the Bush

We’re back from South Africa and now all we have are memories, photographs, and the hope to return again. And I just can’t believe the fireworks display Macy’s threw in honor of our return last night.

After a few day in Johannesburg with Dean’s family, we headed into the bush for my first safari. It was an easy 40 minutes flight and our plane arrived in the malaria-free Madikwe Private Game Reserve to a very tall giraffe on the runway. Our lodge was stunning with a massive bath, plunge pool, and outdoor shower overlooking a watering hole where we spotted elephants drinking right away. Then we went on our first game drive and I’ll let the (many) photos below show what we encountered.

A peek inside our lodge at Madikwe Hills: