Toasted English muffin with schmear, cracked black pepper, and grape tomatoes

Tasty AND prepared in less than two minutes.
I will call this my "the meeting is in half an hour, you live forty minutes away, but you need to eat" breakfast.

Boy meets girl where the beat goes on

*chuckles

You gonna know my name by the end of the night

Food enablers FTW

me: I kind of want a burger.
Rachel/Travis: Do it.
me: If I get fries, will you guys eat them with me?
Rachel/Travis: Uh, yeah.

(ten minutes later)

Rachel: I kind of want orange chicken.
me/Travis: So go get some orange chicken.
Rachel: I just ate a bagel and some fries!
me/Travis: So?

(ten minutes later)

me: I kind of want some ice cream.
Rachel/Travis/Megan: Go for it.
me: If I get a pint of ice cream, will you guys eat it with me?
Rachel/Travis/Megan: Yes.

(five minutes later, halfway through the pint)
Rachel: vina, I'm going to have to throw in the spoon. I'm full.
me/Travis: What? No! We're halfway done!
Rachel: I just ate a bagel, some of her fries, and fried rice with orange chicken. I'm done.
me: Travis. You and me, we got this.

There was a victory high five.
We're so good (and today so unhealthy but whatevs).

Quid pro quo, my darling.

me: Ah, damn. I just remembered I parked in L.
Justin: Are you leaving?
me: in twenty minutes or so since it's ten minutes to my car
Justin: I'll walk with you if you give me ride!
me: I'll give you ride if you be in vain vina
Justin: sigh

DCist used one of my photos!

the photo | the article

Picking peaches with five Russians and a Travis

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometime in August I went peach picking with the Semenovs and Travis. Rachel got a speeding ticket but didn't find out until a month later — darn those tricky traffic cameras. Ahna and I discovered that cutesy floral dresses are a bad idea on super windy days. I prefer yellow peaches to white peaches. That doesn't sound racist at all (frutist?). Lydia forgot her camera battery at home (Don't worry, Lyds. I have done it many a time). Ahna baked a beautiful lattice top pie for her beaufriend while Rachel and I made some Quasimodo-esque mini pies. It's alright, they were still delicious though we were stuffed from pork belly at Honey Pig. I went home with a small bag of peaches (again, it's alright. I think I ate, with no shame, at least five or six while in the orchard) and a big bag of pears from a tree in their front yard. I meant to make pear preserves but I left them in the bag to ripen and completely forgot until well into September. A-whoops.

Full Flickr set

What do you mean, “can I have a bite?”

Autumn walks at twilight

Stephanie: I just ate fried chickpea flour squares with this smoked eggplant purée, fennel confit, golden raisins, and a fennel chip.
me: oh man that sounds awesome.
Stephanie: It's so good I wanted to cry hahahahah. It tasted like an autumn walk at twilight.

(photo via Steph's phone, food via Restaurant Eve)

40 Day Dreams and $7 rugs

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Travis's one year anniversary of turning twenty-one and testing the living room's maximum occupancy level. Kirby and Diddy Kong are the best characters on Mario Smash Brothers and Snake has a seriously tight ass. Russian Rachel does not like rum (though, after much persuading, took a shot like a champ). Lydia and I are likethis now. Kevin loves Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, and organizing his flannel shirts. Russian Rachel and I are going to live together, have our own design studio, and open a restaurant. We are so ambitious. Greg can stand on one foot for fifty-five seconds. That hard cider tasted like Christmas, me gusta. Scott looks like my cousin Eliot. Half of the people there work at REI and are bicycle/hiking fiends. I enjoy cooking for all the people. Beignets and coffee night soon. Side note, I totally took most of that from yesterday's vain vina. No shame.

Brie and Granny Smith apple on toasted baguette

Granny Smith apples, sliced
brie, sliced (or spooned as it was room temperature and very runny)
cracked black pepper (Am I that person who brings their own pepper mill to parties? Yes. Yes, I am.)
baguette, sliced
fresh thyme and oregano

Layer brie and apples over baguette slices and bake (350°) until cheese has melted and bread is crispy.
Top with fresh thyme and oregano.
Serve immediately. (They're still tasty if you wait but come on — when the cheese is gooey and the bread is hot and crispy? Good lord.)

Next time we'll add caramelized onions.

Full Flickr set

Breakfast in Bed

Justin: My mother just said that someone was following her on "tweeter."

Gmail, you may be acting up but thank you for the adorable automaton.

Live From Daryl's House: Fitz & The Tantrums

We in the south, y'all!

Look at my parents being all adorable. 

Fried green tomato topped with a crab cake, a poached egg, and Lowcountry remoulade sauce. With grits. You have no idea. I will go back to Charleston for this meal. 

Ding ding ding went the trolley! Seeing the sights with Pa.
 

Legalized drinking in public. Awesome or an awesomely bad idea. 

Charleston and Savannah: grits, beautiful architecture, peaches, and unbelievable humidity.
Full Flickr set

Wheel! Of! Photoshop!

[on digital painting]
Logan: It is like I am an architect (does Vanna White hand gesture) and I am building things.

Damn, that is amazing. OR Damn, baby. You have too much time on your hands.

 via Make Yourself

Sleepyhead

me: I should sleep.

Sohe: I should too. I just can't at all lately. 

me: hmm, any extra caffeine?

Sohe: nope. 

me: maybe you are excited about life. 

Sohe: HAHAHAHAHA 

Listen to your he(art). There's nothing else you can do.

via Inspirationfeed

breakfasts, the bay, and the beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spending a few days in Jersey with the Rossmeissl | Full flickr set
Post my summer vacation photos in September? Hell yeah.

Coming soon: this watering can will move!

Poster I designed (ok, very quickly) for project two in motion design.

“Butterflies! I mean, bread and butterflies.”

Stephanie: Mini baguettes at Whole Foods are $1.49 and they sell butter in little containers. It is a party at my desk.

I initially read this as “cream puffs.” Such a one track mind.

Stephanie: an annoying girl I know asked me what I was going to be for halloween this year and I'm like, “Iunno, I might not do one. Maybe a bowl of noodles or whatever” and she's like, “WELL...it's a huge secret, but my roommate and i are going to dress up like BLACK SWAN. She's going to be the white swan and I'll be the black swan etc.” She's like looking at me like I'm supposed to swoon and I'm like, wowww skinny bitch gonna dress up like a skinny bitch. Groundbreaking.

Don't gotta work it out

Get More: Fitz And The Tantrums, Top 20 Countdown, Don't Gotta Work It Out, Free Music Videos

Abandoned avocado

Justin asked me to design little signs for the plants that we moved indoors (ok, that he moved indoors). I designed this, showed it to him, and then he told me that he just wanted some simple signs so no one would steal our plants (don't laugh, it's happened before). I am now using sharpie and brown paper but still wanted to show you my adorable avocado. 

Here you go. 

And now I want some guac. 

Knock knock

Stephanie: Omg on my friend's fb he says, "ok which one of you jokers signed me up for Lane Bryant catalogs and what are you trying to tell me?" Hahahahahah.

H Street Festival: food trucks, dancing in the street, debauchery, and ALL THE HIPSTERS

Ginnie

That light was amazing.

G liked him because he was covering Taylor Swift. Ok.  

Where we spent the rest of the evening with sake, sushi, and 90s dance songs. Ginnie tried to work up the courage to talk to the adorable host. My face was slightly accosted by a drunk hipster who started a bar fight after I wouldn't give him my number. To quote Justin, my beauty incites riots. We were stranded at Huntingon Station and Justin rescued us. You can't say my life is boring. 

Full Flickr set