Peppermint Hot Chocolate Drop Cookies

These Chocolate Drop Cookies look so cute and low maintenance so I thought they'd contrast nicely with the rather refined Jam Thumbprint cookies. Though perfectly adequate as they were, I thought they'd be more celebratory of the season with the addition of peppermint to make them like a peppermint hot chocolate. While I myself do not enjoy peppermint and am still haunted by vivid memories of gagging my way through every toothbrushing, this was the perfect opportunity to make them because I gave them all away.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Drop Cookies (adapted from Ashleigh)

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp peppermint extract
6 oz melted bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (of course the only things I had on hand was 4 oz milk chocolate and 2 oz dark chocolate)
1/3 cup milk

one. Sift and whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

two. Cream together butter, sugar, egg, peppermint extract. Fold in melted chocolate.

three. Alternately mix the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients, ending with milk. Dough will look like a delicious chocolate mousse, if you're into that kind of thing.

four. Drop 1 tsp of dough and bake at a preheated 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Centers should still look soft and edges are just set.



(Photo by Ashleigh, via Mara - again, mine weren't so pretty)

Ina's Jam Thumbprint Cookies

First up on my list are these cookies. I'm a fan of the substitution of fruit for the typical chocolate (I'm not a big chocolate lover), although I will admit these are also really delicious with Nutella instead of jam. Plus, these look so beautiful with their jeweled jam centers. Ina Garten is fabulous, as always, but I added in almond extract to the dough because I love all things almond-flavored (for those who haven't yet, you MUST try almond bubble milk tea!).

Jam Thumbprint Cookies (adapted from Ina)

3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 tbsp water, if dough is too crumbly
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water, for egg wash
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
a few favorite fruit jams and/or Nutella (I used plum and peach preserves)

one. Sift and mix together flour and salt.
two. Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extract until just combined.
three. Add flour and salt to wet ingredients until the dough is just starting to come together. Add in water if the dough is still too crumbly.
four. On a floured surface, shape the dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
five. Roll the dough into little balls (around an inch in diameter) and with your thumb, form an indentation. You can make the indentation bigger so that it will hold more jam. The dough will also flatten so that it looks like a red blood cell.
six. Dip into the egg wash and roll in coconut. Drop about 1/2 tsp of jam or any amount that won't overflow from the center. Jam will melt and run slightly during baking so don't over-do it. Yes, I speak from experience.
seven. Bake for 20-25 minutes at preheated 350 degrees, until the coconut is golden.

Also for my third item, I decided on Pumpkin Spice Cake.

(photo by the Tea Kettle Corner - mine were tasty, but no where near as pretty)

Holiday Baking Frenzy

The Holiday Goodie-bag of 2010 Menu List:

• Jam thumbprint cookies
• Peppermint hot chocolate drop cookies
• A yet undecided cake or bread, or brownies - any suggestions?

This treat bag will be my Christmas gift to my coworkers. I've made and frozen the dough for the two cookies which I'll bake later this week along with the cake, bread, or brownies, when I finally decide. I'll also share the recipes when I get around to the actual baking part. I did actually bake this banana bread for my parents' dinner party tonight. It was served warm with vanilla ice cream and boy, this recipe is a keeper! Maybe it will be banana bread for my coworkers...

(photo via mary ruffle)

The Sing-Off

Hello, you lovely people! Are any of you watching The Sing-Off? I must admit, I have a serious thing for a capella. I'm pretty sure this penchant can be exclusively attributed to a couple performances I had the opportunity to experience in high school by the MIT Logarhythms. I guess they proved to be incredibly formative with their humor, energy, dancing, and inspired vocal talents because to this day, I find those who can do these things, like boys of all-male college a capella groups and musical theater types, to be inexplicably attractive. Devastatingly so. And the nerdier, the better. No? So just me? Well anyway, there's a new episode on tonight and you can catch up on previous episodes too. Also, Ben Folds is a judge. He's totally quirky and even a little bit awkward, but I've always been a fan of his lyrics and music.

I was watching the show last year too. Of course this would be my favorite performance: nerdy boys rapping about borderline inappropriate behaviors.

Namesake

 

This amazingness is not only what I pictured when I chose the title of this little space of mine, but it also has a packed and maized-out Big House! I still love the blue block M in the student section. Such spirit!

Thanks, Breanne!

Twenty Four

Twenty four. Twenty four feels so unimaginably old...

When I was ten, I remember thinking sixteen would be the age of mature innocence (if this phrase could indicate to you the complete oxymoron that I predicted of teenage adolescence). When I was sixteen, I thought twenty was old. And when I was twenty I thought surely twenty four would be the year I would turn into a "grown up".

But now I'm twenty four. I'm older than so many people in the world and younger than so many more. I still can't think where I'm going to be in ten years or ten years after that.

It's dark and quiet. I watch the neighborhood Christmas lights flicker outside my window. They shimmer and glow in the still silence, faintly illuminating the street below. The branches of the wild cherry tree in the front yard sway gently and cast comforting shadows against the back wall of my room.

You never know where you're going to be. I know this idea has been run into the ground and then some, but the thing is, you never quite believe things until you realize them for yourself. That's when you listen to the cliches as if you were hearing them for the first time - as if you were the first to ever think them, the first to ever feel them. Then that cliche isn't a cliche. It's just yours. Your truth. The truth.

Twenty four. So many have been twenty four before me and still more after. But this twenty four, let this one be mine.


(Inspired by S from 2006 when she was only 22, photo from weheartit)

Fitzgerald

I'm currently reading through The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald that I borrowed from the library. I'm making my way through them slowly and relishing every detail. Fitzgerald has such a seemingly effortless way of setting a scene with his carefully crafted words. For me, his lyrical language has been the epitome of great American writing ever since I first read The Great Gatsby in my 10th grade English class.

Anyway, my reading material appears to have found me at the perfect time. As I'm in a Fitzgerald state of mind, news is breaking out everywhere that Carey Mulligan has just been cast as Daisy Buchanan in the Baz Luhrmann-helmed version of Gatsby. She'll be playing opposite to Leonardo DiCaprio's Gatsby and Tobey Maguire's Nick. The casting, though, is really of minimal concern to me. I am generally wary of when my favorite books are made into movies (so, no, I won't be dressing up for the midnight showing of Harry Potter tonight), but sometimes I'm more than pleasantly surprised. So I'll keep an open mind about this as long as it is as gorgeous and heartbreaking as it has always been in my imagination and that it preserves my favorite line in the book (and perhaps one of my favorite lines in all of literature):

--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--

(all photos from the 1974 movie) 

Sweet Juniper and Robocop

Oh my goodness, how I love Sweet Juniper. It has such thought-provoking and eloquent analysis on the city of Detroit and family life within the dichotomy of decay and renewal. It's hard for outsiders such as myself, even as a former student in, commuter to, and employee of the city to comment on what I've experienced and learned because all that I love and all that I despise about Detroit is and was never truly mine as I watched, fascinated, from my comfortable vantage point north of 8 Mile.

Meanwhile, this Halloween, Robocop patroled the Detroit streets. His suit was homemade. Can we all just please marvel?

(photos by Sweet Juniper)

Quotability

"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much a heart can hold."

Zelda Fitzgerald

Grateful for this recent stretch of days in which I got to see some close friends, play like it was 2008 in 2 major cities, and rock the vote. I'm also on the precipice of some big things... As Michael Scott says on the Office (Olympics episode) with tears in his eyes, "My heart is very full."

(quote via the Neotraditionalist, photo by Carrie Patterson via Oncewed)

Pre-Boston Preparations

This past week, I've been on a mission to eat healthy for my upcoming weekend in Boston (I leave tomorrow morning at 6am! Or, in about 6.5 hours); however, I think the universe wants me on the plumpier side. Let me demonstrate:

Monday
Packed: Greek-style quinoa salad.
Actually ate: Angelo's pumpkin pancakes. I forgot about lunch plans I had made with a friend.
Thoughts: Lovely lunch (obviously because of the company), but food guilt for rest of day. Also, the pancakes were overwhelmingly nutmeg-y.

Tuesday
Packed: same quinoa salad.
Actually ate: quinoa salad... plus a slice of a pumpkin-roll cake a co-worker brought in.
Thoughts: Lunch success, free snack fail. Cake was so good, though, that it was probably worth it.

Wednesday
Packed: Oatmeal with 1 tablespoon of crunchy organic peanut butter and an apple.
Actually ate: Angelo's Farmer's Omelet with half of a slice of wheat toast with my boss who made it too awkward for me to decline going to lunch with him... And a coconut-glazed bakery donut (cakey and non-yeasted) that another co-worker brought in.
Thoughts: Lunch fail and snack super-fail. Disgrace and awkwardness to be back in only 2 days to the same establishment. Prefer the omelet to the pancakes. Budding conspiracy theories about my co-workers working together to fatten up the newest hire to eat for Thanksgiving.

Thursday
Packed: Same oatmeal and apple from Wednesday.
Actually ate [Round 1]: 2 full plates of Indian buffet foods and 1 dessert plate because of the surprise realization that it was yet another co-worker's birthday today so we treated her to lunch.
Actually ate [Round 2]: Went out to dinner with Tiffany at our favorite Ann Arbor sushi place where we proceeded to order 3 rolls of sushi (we're both on "diets" - usually it's 4) and a spicy fish bowl and then subsequently finish nearly all of it.
Thoughts: Delicious lunch - I need to recommend this new place to my friends who love Indian, but also, MY COWORKERS ARE TRYING TO KILL ME. Of course, dinner was food-coma-inducing perfection, as usual.

Oh well. Better luck next time. I  have no false pretenses about keeping myself in line while in Boston. I'm a firm believer in vacations being food free-for-alls. Perhaps that's why I'm even in this predicament to begin with....

(Second photo from Flickr)

Brace Yourselves, Great-Lakes-Midwest

Oh Michigan weather, how you toy with us. Has everyone seen this? It is reportedly the largest wind storm in the past 70 years.

Of course, this is extremely puzzling because it's gorgeous outside my window and...

EDITED AT 11:30 TO ADD: Comforting emails from work:

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING -- the National Weather Service has issued a warning for a high risk of 80mph winds and tornadoes for most of lower Michigan until 6pm. This includes the Ann Arbor area. Prepare to shelter and secure outdoor equipment and property. Updates on TV and weather channels.

Yay.

EDITED AGAIN AT 3:15 TO ADD: More emails from work:

The Tornado Watched issued earlier today has been canceled.

Yay! For real!! But seriously, weather, let's get it together...

Grateful Monday

In efforts to make this week better than last week, here's a list of things that I'm grateful for on this dreary Monday morning. In no particular order:

• All the students are on Fall Break, meaning more free parking and my sister is home
• Halloween plans in Boston and my booked plane ticket
• The song "Animal" by the Neon Trees and commercial free pop radio during my drive today
• Around 31 hours of sleep this weekend
• My forgiving family... and my mom's birthday today!
• I made an apple-butter spice cake and I have plenty for sharing. Any takers?
• My Yankees are playing at home tonight. For a win.
• My chartreuse corduroy skirt that I'm wearing at work today with tall brown boots

Hope your Monday is as full as mine.

(photo by Leo Patrone)

Teen Angst

Being back in Ann Arbor has inspired both a hazy nostalgia and a desire to critically examine myself juxtaposed to the girl I was when I first came to know this town. Though often surrounded by dense undergraduate crowds, my daily walk to work through campus in all of its collegiate splendor framed by vibrant foliage, is usually the second best part of my day - the first being lunch (of course).

I kind of couldn't resist this when I came across it. How overly emotional and perfectly angsty is this? I have to admit that I never overwhelmingly felt a great chasm between my expectations and realities ever in my life. This is due in large part to the fact that I intentionally try not to have grandiose expectations. In fact, I tend to have very low expectations so that reality can pleasantly surprise. However, the combination of these two lists pretty much sums up my entire college experience. I wonder what it means that I'm only reflecting on it now?

On another note, doesn't this list remind you so much of this? I loved this particular scene...

(list by (Speak) via Satellite Heart, photo via weheartit)

Barbra and Judy, 1963

For those who caught the end of last night's episode of Glee: this is the original from The Judy Garland Show in 1963. Barbra's and Judy's voices are so perfect and achingly beautiful. Embarassingly, sometimes when the conditions are just right, the ending makes me cry.

"And still the box is not full"

I devoured John Steinbeck's East of Eden the first time I read it. Swept up in its grandeur like the dry dust in the Salinas Valley wind that Steinbeck depicts, I must have missed the beautiful dedication page. It was evidently a note Steinbeck wrote and attached to the mahogany box he specifically carved to hold his epic manuscript. He sent these things to his old friend, Pascal Convici.

A favorite high school English teacher once told me that she never re-reads a book because "there are too many good ones still out there." But repeat readings appeal to me in their freedom: freedom to savor words and revel in their beauty, freedom to find those little gems one discovers only after the thrill of literary expedition wears off. These books that become like old friends.

Dear Pat,
You came upon me carving some kind of little figure out of wood and you said, "Why don't you make something for me?"
I asked you what you wanted, and you said, "A box."
"What for?"
"To put things in"
"What things?"
"Whatever you have," you said.
Well, here's your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts-- the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.
And on top of these are all the gratitude and love I have for you.
And still the box is not full.

John

(photo by Dani Padgett)

Fancy Feet



Ok, here's my first post of something concerning Asia. It's kind of a fake-out, but if you really want to see the action, JJB has put up an impressive number of photos on Facebook. Tackling the enormity of my trip has been daunting and intimidating. I guess I'll just have to take it one step at a time. Literally.

These shoes are probably the most gratuitously trendy ones I've ever owned. I have a hard time justifying large sums of money spent on shoes, especially when they will only be worn for a few seasons. However, I've been told to "live a little" (by my fashion-week-participant friend, Helen), so I bought these babies in an underground stand in Seoul, Korea for around $26.

Cut-out Booties, I'm hoping that you with your snakeskin platform and heel and candy-red imitation of Louboutin class will be sticking around for a while. But even if not, for your price tag, I suppose I'm ok with your "the now rather than the forever" persona. Let's go dancing soon.

PS. I hope JJB does an update of her fabulously chic shoes from Asia. They are so sexy!

Quotability

Have an inspired week!

(from weheartit)

Letters of Note

Author: Barack Obama

Letters of Note is a fabulous blog by Shaun Usher that only posts letters. It has fascinating original correspondences of faith, love, and loathing that are touching, hilarious, and incredibly interesting. With emails, texting, facebook, and twitter, I hope the art of letter-writing is not lost. Receiving snail mail is such a treat! Furthermore, as seen here, a well-written letter provides such unique insights about one's character, facets of personality usually lost in instantaneous communication. Also, isn't it so encouraging to see how kind humans can be to one another?

My favorite one so far: Hang on, my love

Suiting Up

"You're considered superficial and silly if you are interested in fashion, but I think you can be substantial and still be interested in frivolity."

Sofia Coppola

I'm sitting at my new desk, a little early for my new position that I officially start in about 45 minutes. I must confess, my two biggest concerns last night were "What do I wear" and "What's for lunch". Fashion and food, people. Have I ever been concerned with much else?

(photo by The Sartorialist)

PS. Some of the biggest perks of this new job is that I'll be seeing a lot more of her, him, and Katie!

Subway Car Reflections

Very often, I don't feel like my 20-something years at all. In line with the quarter-life crisis or the increasingly popular theory of delayed adulthood, I find in lieu of actually taking much action, I think elaborate thoughts of "I would do X, if Y" and I daydream plans of "if A, then I would do B". Hiding behind many insignificant, self-imposed constraints, I definitely forget how great it is to be a young adult.

For a single day over this Labor Day weekend, I met up with Helen and D in Manhattan. Expertly guided by city-savvy H, we made our way through NYC neighborhoods and places I had only read about in glossy magazines or saw on TV. Through the day, I found myself incredulous at certain moments: I was slightly amazed when our names were called for our lunch reservations at a Zagat-rated hot-spot. I felt deliciously indulgent, when, after lunch, we carelessly gorged ourselves on cup cakes and brownies, then fresh figs all afternoon long as we lounged in the trendiest park just because we felt like it. I caught myself marveling when we grocery shopped and then enjoyed a Debbie-directed dinner of goat-cheese, arugula, and shitaki mushroon pasta paired with a fancy salad and a deep glass of a merlot malbec blend in an impressively clean Williamsburg apartment just because we were ironically too lazy to go out to eat. I still paused in wonderment as we buzzed up boys, no, men, into this apartment late at night for an evening of catching up on life since high school just because we wanted to.

When I left and was making my way back to my family in Queens, the night had picked up a capricious wind that relentlessly threatened to blow up my dress. Hopping the L to the 4 to the 7 train, my thoughts meandered smoothly, unperturbed by the jolts, lights, and noises of the subway cars I sat in. I was serene and content, feeling a strong affection for these friends from high school - all of whom are such well-adjusted individuals doing powerful, meaningful, important work. But perhaps the greatest surprise of the night was that I was feeling this same affection for myself, for joining, maybe just temporarily, but joining nonetheless, the ranks of adults who have successfully attempted this transition before me.

As I sat alone, physically worn out but spiritually renewed, I felt like for a day, I had left the lost and dreary 20-something culture and was part of an altogether different zeitgeist: the one in which young adults claim and celebrate their youth by dabbling in the world of modern sophistication and all the charming adult-ish trappings that come with it. I have a feeling that before long, these will become the stories of the rest of my life.

(photos by the lovely Helen and Debbie)

Charmed Life

My sister is home from Ghana! We've exchanged presents from our travels last night - goodies galore. And now I'm clawing through my last essays listening to this. Love her voice, love this song: Joy Williams' "Charmed Life".

It's plain to see what we got is color in a world of black and white

Costa Rica

So this is the trip that began my crazy four weeks of traveling. It really set the bar high because what a beautiful country Costa Rica is, and to have enjoyed it with some of my best friends... I'm a lucky girl.

515 + A had such a great time doing normal activities like zip-lining, rappelling, surfing, beach-lounging, and hiking. We began at the active volcano in Arenal, and then drove to our rented villa in the mountains (I know, how posh) of Uvita overlooking the Puntarenas whale-tail beach, one of only three in the world, and took daily trips to Domincal and the Manuel Antonio National Park. The Pacific Ocean is always spectacular, and from the South American continent, I can attest that this is still true.

It being the rainy season was probably the best thing for us to be our normally abnormal selves. As the rain each night poured down, so did our cards, drinks, stories, and antics. Making innocent games needlessly violent (our specialty), coming up with alliterative alter-egos, and talking about things wildly inappropriate for any other audience, we were hopelessly blissful in our familiar, weird little world.

Rachel, Henry, Fanny, Wanda, Oscar, Dorothy

(Teresa is taking the picture)

(second, fourth, and last photos by "Teresa")

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I made these blueberry crumb bars yesterday. From the always and ever extraordinary Smitten Kitchen. I did halve the recipe because 36 bars is a lot. Ok, no. It's because I only had 1 pint of blueberries. Who are we kidding; when have I ever approached food with any moderation?

Blueberry Crumb Bars (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

zest of 1 lemon

1 egg

8 oz (or 1 stick) of cold salted butter, cubed

2 and a little extra cups (or 1 pint) blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

juice of half a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons corn starch

one. Mix sugar, baking powder, flour and lemon zest in a bowl. Cut and blend in cold butter cubes and egg with a fork. It'll be crumbly.

two. In a separate bowl, toss blueberries with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch.

three. Layer half of the flour mixture into a greased 10 x 6 pan. Repeat with all of the blueberries; careful you don't dump the excess liquid too. Layer the remaining flour mixture on top.

four. Bake for 50 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Cool completely before you cut if you want bars. I'd imagine that this would also make a fantastic hot blueberry cobbler of course requiring a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The Romantics

Ok, I know I've been home for almost 5 days now and still no updates of Asia. Apologies in advance because this still isn't it. I also apologize for the lack of phone calls to all of you since my return. For the scant few who have spoken with me, you know I currently sound like a serial killer who has a pack-a-day smoking problem. I got sick in Taiwan, got even sicker in Korea, and now I'm slowly recovering. My voice is mysterious, scratchy, and... phlegmy. Anyway, I promise that I will be slowly updating about my travels as we go along.

I did, however, come home to find this: the enchanting trailer for The Romantics.



Such an attractive ensemble cast and I'm looking forward to be wowed by all them. The storyline is laced with potential for great emotional depth and nuanced acting. And for even more eye candy, I also found that J.Crew has them modeling!

Don't the pictures just make you wish you were part of their group of friends? Stunning. Thank you, American cinema and style, for this lovely welcome home!

(photos from InStyle)

PS. Everyone wish her luck on her first days of Law School orientation! She will be so, so great.

Quotability

"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks - on your body or on your heart - are beautiful."

Anthony Bourdain

Japan and Taiwan have been amazing. Reflecting in the Taipei airport, feeling bittersweet leaving my awesome family. So far things have been really tiring, but so worth it. Korea should follow suite. Home on the 19th.

(photo by jaako)

A Breath of American Air

Hello from Dallas, my layover before Japan! My stay at home was brief but sweet after a truly unforgettable time in Costa Rica with some of my oldest friends. More later, but as I venture onto the next adventure, here is something eloquent and beautiful I found while relaxing along the beach. It's from "En(trance)" by Chris Arthur in The Best American Essays of 2009.

"Memory's version captures a truth about [place], not merely as it appears, but as it was felt, played in, dreamed of, as its lineaments intertwined and pulled on mine, delicately adjusting the sails of childhood to catch the breath of meaning that emanates from things - things that, to an adult's rigging, have only the unbreezy weight of the ordinary about them."

Bon Voyage

All possible essays are written for now and I'm packed up, ready to go. Yesterday night I drove to Chicago and this morning, I'm leaving for Costa Rica with the 515 Housies for a week. Then after less than 12 hours at home, I immediately fly out for my tour of Asia with JJB. We've dubbed it "Asian Invasion 2010" or AI2010 for short. I've been perusing photos I've taken of past trips and I am seriously so excited. I actually look through these when I'm feeling sad and they never fail to cheer me up.

Cusco, Peru

Berlin, Germany

Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

Blogging will be sparse and intermittent. But I will have lots and lots when I return on the 19th of August!

PS. My sister is leaving for Ghana (yes, that Ghana) the day before I get home from Costa Rica. We're sad that we'll just miss each other, but she will be doing some amazing things there. I assume my parents are simultaneously sick with worry and rejoicing their freedom. Wish us luck!

Stop Motion Goodies

 

I love stop motion videos. See? This one by Oren Lavie is so mesmerizing. Charming and sweet. The tune certainly doesn't hurt either.  Wouldn't something like this make a unique engagement announcement?

It reminds me of the Kindle commercial that I love so much. If you also like its song, you can actually download it for free from Amazon! Enjoy!

All The Faint Lights

Greetings again after a brief absence. A few balls are currently up in the air so life is a little harried right now. Here's Steve Moakler's All The Faint Lights for anyone else who might be needing a mid-July pick-me-up. The lyrics only get better and better.

Trapped inside my flesh and bones

But if I let go of everything

The stars compose a song to sing

A song for all the faint lights

Quotability

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Anais Nin

Vintage Gold Details

Be still my fluttering heart.

A few of you may recall my arguably intense penchant for all things wedding from the summer of 2009 (Thanks, Mrs. Finley!). It's lessened considerably and I only regularly check my favorite wedding blog, Once Wed. There I stumbled on this wedding and fell in love with the dress which the bride purchased off the rack and then added these vintage gold details herself! I am such a fan of her vision and talent! Isn't this absolutely gorgeous? I also love weddings that use fun fabric held up by a clothesline as a backdrop for photos.

(photos via Once Wed)

Hyperbole and a Half

Perhaps some of you have already heard about this site, but Hyperbole and a Half is seriously hilarious. Allie pairs exaggerated depictions and MS Paint-style illustrations that literally make me cry with laughter. The pictures are so spot-on! And as the girl who used to be called "The Walking Hyperbole" in high school, I feel like Allie and I might have been great friends. These are some of my favorites:

from a story about a fish

from a story about health

from a commentary on grammar