Just Right, Right?

That's not too big of a pour, right? I think it's just the glass that is deceiving but it definitely put a good dent in the bottle.

Regardless, it is past 5:00 and totally necessary after a hard day's work. Thank you to France for a wonderful $9 bottle (that today only serves 3).

Yes, I get GOOP

This week's GOOP (Gwyneth Paltrow's personal hotlist) is actually kind of interesting. Don't get me wrong, I love the newsletters full of clothes and I even love the cooking segments, but I tend to snooze right through the editions dealing with the emotions. I have even read the weird ones on cleanses, but as soon as I see some type of doctor writing about feelings, I tend to hit "delete."

Not this one! This one is all about the good ol' material things and I love it! While shooting a movie in Nashville, GP found herself needing a house fit for the Paltrow-Martins in just 10 days. Enter Annette Joseph. She is actually a producer/photo stylist, but get a load of what she was able to accomplish in a mere week and a half. The befores are unreal. Then again, it wouldn't be hard to get things done if you could drop the line "This is for Gwyneth Paltrow!"

Before:


10 Days Later:






What I also love is that a lot of the apartment actually came from everyday places. Jump through to the newsletter to see more sources, but this is a taste of it:

Little Pieces of Heaven

I haven't mentioned how much I miss Paris right now. It's something about spring in Seattle that immediately makes me long for spring in Paris. It undoubtably has something to do with the beauty that its there, as opposed to here (rainy and windy right now, what gives?).

Last week, I was so desperate for macarons that I almost made them myself. I had all the ingredients, save for eggs and somehow was too lazy to go to the store. I recognize that this is crazy on a number of levels - crazy that I had almond flour on hand, but no eggs; Crazy that I had the gumption to make a complicated little cookie, but nada for a 3 block trip to the store.

So imagine my happiness when Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle had a lovely little row of flavors available for purchase when I was there on Saturday. I was so happy I could have just cried. But unfortunately, it was short-lived. They just didn't do it for me like the ones I would by at Laduree. Something about the flavors -- just too much. I like the purity of just pistacio, or just strawberry. These were crazy combinations, and all just sooo sweet.

So from sad to happy to sad, and now, perhaps happy again when this tidbit came from DailyCandy yesterday: Macarons on your doorstep for $20 dollars.

I love this because I spent 18.50 on a meazly nine and because these seem pretty straigtforeward. Unadulterated macarons just the way I like them.

And I also think they make the perfect gift. That is, if you can't just send them to Paris.

What I've been reading...

Last time I really sat down to write, I was heading off to Mexico, and then I quickly came back to AutoCAD and the most boring class ever, "Building Systems and Codes." Snooze.

But in the midst, I've kept up the guilty pleasures.


I literally stayed up all night to finish this book. It's no surprise since everyone is talking about it, but what's one more good review.


It takes a certain kind of nerd, but thankfully I am one of them. I'm an NPR girl through and through and this little nugget was like This American Life in my suitcase. If you never thought the assassinations of McKinley, Garfield and Lincoln could be entertaining, think again.

Not like she isn't a blog sensation, but Erin Gates has a blog I read almost everyday, happily. She mixes it up, her style is approachable and she is down to earth in a way that not many are. Plus, she is straight up dependable, not a weekday goes by without a post, she a force to be reckoned with with.


Tuned in about a week ago and I'm loving it. Sure, there is a gaping hole with no Decorno, but having some content out there that feels even the slightest bit different is ah-mazing. And she's got lots of wonderful pictures with a nice eye for editing -- content makes sense and you're not left on sensory overload.

Alright Already.

As much as I've tried to ignore the fact that I haven't written, a few people haven't let me forget.

Last week, I received this email from my mother:

It's time you wrote a new post......the last one was in March before your trip. Surely you have an opinion on at least one subject. You can tell I miss reading your posts. I just logged on to Decorno, now even she is no longer posting.

Love you,

Mom

Sweet, but ignorable.

Then I got this less-than-subtle callout on my facebook wall from my less-than-subtle former boss, Lisa:

Would you take your blog down? I am tired of checking every day to see if it's been updated, only to have the Famke Janssen surly face girl in the green dress staring back at me. Blogs are for updating. And for entertaining me at lunch. Not for taking up valuable space with posts from March 22. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Love, me.

So, Lisa (and Mom), I will try to find a new lease on life and figure out something to say. Unfortunately, all my gusto comes at inconvenient times and I'm left with that pathetic feeling everytime I even come close to some interesting thought (interesting might be a stretch).

So here it goes, ramp up number I stopped counting.