Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Manic Monday...Behind the Scenes

Since all of the March fashion Magazines are on the stands now, I thought I would share a little about what goes into my Manic Monday posts. I have been posting them now for over 2 years and I do run out of ideas from time to time.

First of all, I super love fashion magazines and subscribe only to a couple, however, when it comes to the September and March issues, I usually buy a couple more so I can devour all of them. While I am looking at them, I fold/flag the pages of things I like.

With my trusty Sharpie, I start circling things, putting stars next to things I like, making notes, etc.

Once I have my magazines flagged and marked up, I go to polyvore.com and start the hunt for items that I can use for my Manic Monday posts. A lot of times I am a couple months ahead since what is in the magazines sometimes isn't on polyvore yet so I either have to wait for it or search the Internet for a photo of the item that I want to use and add it to polyvore with their clipper tool. Like with anything, sometimes I am completely inspired and can create a months worth of postings in one sitting and other times I am grasping at straws to come up with something.

If you have not gone into polyvore and played around, I highly recommend it; especially if you are into fashion and like to fantasize about having the closet of your dreams. It is all fun to me, I don't take it too seriously and yes, I probably would wear all of the outfits at least once if I had the chance. Fashion should be fun, I think people think way to hard about it sometimes.

What?

No, not April fools yet - but it seems Mother Nature is playing a funny little game with us.
SNOW in San Francisco? You don't say. I have a hard time believing any of it although it would be fun for like a minute. If it does snow looks like it will be during the night with no accumulation, really? How will we know if it happens?

For Angela...

This is SO much better in French!
Please note, next time we are driving along the coast, I must have a mini disco ball in my hands!

OPI - Texas

They say everything is bigger in Texas so when I saw these Texas themed colors from OPI I thought, wouldn't it have been a fun marketing stunt to make the bottles bigger or maybe appear a little bigger than the average size?

Anyway, check out these new colors from OPI, more than the colors, I love their names!

From left to right starting with the top row.

Do You Think I'm Tex-y?, Houston We Have a Purple, Too Hot Pink To Hold 'em, Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear?, Big Hair...Big Nails, Guy Meets Gal-veston.
Don't Mess with OPI, Suzi Loves Cowboys, San Tan-tonio, Austin-tatious Turquoise, It's Totally Fort Worth It, I Vant To Be A-Lone Star.

I do love all of these, however, about a dark red color called Texas BBQ Sauce or something about the Alamo? Kick Up Your Silver Spurs? Lasso Me Lavender? South Padre Island Sand? Country Lime Dancing? I could go on, but I won't.

OPI, if you are reading this, I would love to help name your nail polish colors. Just send me an email and I am all over it.

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Sunday with the Family

From left to right - Steve (Jaime's boyfriend), Jaime, Frankie, Cheryl (Angela's Mom), Angela, Ginny (Robin's Mom), Robin, Kenny and Tim.

Years ago, I posted about what I refer to as my "Urban Family" - click here to link to original post. Well, today I was lucky enough to hang out with a large part of my Urban Family. These are some of the best people on the planet, I wish everyone had people like these in their lives. My Urban Family is always supportive, tolerant of my craziness and I love each and every one of them. It was a beautiful day in Berkeley. Thank you all for coming together today, it was amazing.

Frankie and Tim - so adorable.

Crazy Week

It has been a wild and crazy week to say the least.

I know I don't usually talk too much about my job here, however the quote of the week from the bossman was, "Katie, do you think you can find me some wigs?" - don't even ask.

Wouldn't you know it, the day I had to go and get the wigs was the worst day weather wise of the week. Thank God for Wendy running late that day, she swung by and picked me up and we canoed through highway lakes in her car to the costume store - don't think we didn't have fun while on the job either!

Baking up a Valentine

Homemade Valentine's Day this year - I made a card for Tim and instead of a heart shaped box of chocolates, I baked him a heart shaped pan of pasta for dinner. He L O V E D it and ate two huge plates full - I don't know where he puts it! I had one bite and my pants were tight, no fair!

So sweet - when I woke up yesterday Tim left a card on the bathroom sink (first place I go in the morning). When I went to bed, I pulled blankets down and there was a box of my favorite (See's) chocolates on my pillow!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Coconut Custard Pie

Saturday afternoons generally give me the urge to bake something. I usually start looking over recipes, looking on the Internet until I come up with something to make for dessert. I decided to make a coconut custard pie based on this recipe that I made a couple years ago at Thanksgiving however, I made the following adjustments...

I replaced the milk with Almond Milk, used light Coconut Milk instead of regular and added a teaspoon of vanilla after removing the custard from the burner. There isn't really a way around the eggs, however, you can't taste them in this custard (otherwise I wouldn't like it).

It turned out delicious and the man of the house is on cloud nine knowing his favorite pie is in the fridge.

J'dore Cast Iron

Please allow me to introduce you to my two best friends in the kitchen...
Bertha and Chicken Little.
Bertha has been around for about 5 years and Chicken Little arrived this past Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad). They are used 10 times more than my nonstick fancy pants skillets.

My favorite things about my cast iron friends:

• They are virtually nonstick with very little maintenance - they even come pre-seasoned now!
• When cooking slow and low in them (sauces and stews) you get additional iron, which we can all use.
• They are the original stove-to-oven pans, so searing and finishing in the oven is never a problem.
• Holds heat evenly.
• Baking in them is incredible: corn bread, Irish soda bread, tarte tatin, the list is endless.
• My favorite things to cook in them: pancakes, grilled sandwiches, stir fried veggies, french toast, fry bread, pasta sauce, refried beans, oh so many things!

Click here to read an interesting article from the New York Times in 2005.

*{Fabulous Find}*

I super love these curtains! When I first say them my heart detached from all of the wiring and spun around a couple times before reconnecting itself.

Click here to check them out at Anthropologie.

MOM - can you make these for me?
I have found some lovely peacock blue pompoms at the fabric store, just don't know what kind of fabric to get.
I will send you everything if you can make them!

Well, Pardon my Grammar!

I was at a conference yesterday and you know what blew me away? The fact that the new standard for spaces between sentences has changed from the old school two spaces to ONE! One space!! I am trying really hard to retrain these old thumbs from hitting the space bar twice after each sentence. It just feels weird! This is my first post with the new grammar and may I please say excuse me for being late to the party - all of those wasted spaces at work and on my blog could have been filled with an additional letter, a number punctuation or something.
How embarrassing!

PS - On second thought, you know, my poor thumbs wait a full sentence to do their little staccato dance at the bottom of the keyboard - I can't deny them that...at least not yet.

House Beautiful

Dear House Beautiful,

Seriously, you have outdone yourself yet again!
The March 2011 issue is stunning. You arrived all wrapped in your plastic bag ready to deflect any foul weather on a day when I needed some color and what did you bring me...PINK! Not just a mere mention of pink on the cover, but pink throughout the entire magazine. Thank you so much for making me smile. The rooms in this magazine make me feel like a kid again on the swings at recess, you know that light and airy feeling that rushes right through you blowing your hair back and you can't help but smile?

The grown up pinks are just so tempting I want to jump right into the pages and settle in. No one would know where to find me if that could truly happen, which I think would be pretty cool for a bit. What a nice day dream to have while I flip though yet again.

Thank you for the inspiration always.

With love and respect.

Katie

PS - Here is a sneak peak of a lovely color palette, but I recommend everyone go out and check this magazine out, it is one of my favorites for March. Oh how I love orange and pink together.

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Oh Yeah!

Week in Review

Great food.

Great Weather.

Happy New Year!

Since 2011 got off to a weird start, I have coined the phrase...
"Chinese New Year equals Second Chance 2011"
So redo your resolutions if you have already broken them, set some new goals if you don't have any and start the new year off right...with a full belly!

This year is Year of the Rabbit - here is a little info I got from the web.

A placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year. Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force. A congenial time in which diplomacy, international relations and politics will be given a front seat again. We will act with discretion and make reasonable concessions without too much difficulty.A time to watch out that we do not become too indulgent. The influence of the Rabbit tends to spoil those who like too much comfort and thus impair their effectiveness and sense of duty.Law and order will be lax; rules and regulations will not be rigidly enforced. No one seems very inclined to bother with these unpleasant realities. They are busy enjoying themselves, entertaining others or simply taking it easy. The scene is quiet and calm, even deteriorating to the point of somnolence. We will all have a tendency to put off disagreeable tasks as long as possible. Money can be made without too much labor. Our life style will be languid and leisurely as we allow ourselves the luxuries we have always craved for. A temperate year with unhurried pace. For once, it may seem possible for us to be carefree and happy without too many annoyances.