some funny things, and recommendations

Since my life is a little scattered at the moment, here are a few scattered things from my scatter-brain to yours. I would like to note that it is extremely hot and humid, here, and my open basement window has let in creatures that have proved the necessity of my giant IKEA mosquito net around my bed. I just captured a 2-inch Katydid off of my mosquito net, and there are moths flying around the room. It is sort of like camping, but indoors.

Movie recommendation: Castaway on the Moon. My boyfriend told me I would love it, I resisted watching it until last night, and I loved it. It is also on Netflix, which is a real bonus, as you can watch it and feel as positive as I do about the film.

Song recommendation: "Peach Plum Pear" by Joanna Newsom. It is my absolute favorite right now.

Book recommendation: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. I am only thirty pages in, so this is only a 1/8th recommendation, but extremely lovely thus far.

recipe update, cardamom biscuits

The other morning it was shaping up to be one of those days, when you need a yummy snack, some peace and quiet, and a break from all the anxiety. So I dredged up the cookbook my mom made me of family and favorite recipes (color-coded, with photographs, notes and illustrations) and whipped up some of my Tante Gretchen's delicious biscuits. I just made them with milk, instead of cream, and tried out powdered sugar to see what it would do. They were SO YUMMY with Bon Maman cherry preserves, a cup of milky coffee, and one of Katie Fforde's sweet little British novels (my light-summer-read-guilty-pleasure for years). 

I'm finishing this post and then making them again (just a half recipe or I will eat them all) to snack on while I watch an afternoon movie - it is too too hot and humid to do anything but sit in the cool.

Gretchen's Rich Cream Biscuits, with cardamom-sugar tops

2 C flour

2 tblspoons sugar (I used powdered last time - yummy)

1 stick butter

4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2/3 c milk or heavy whipping cream

Mix dry, then wet ingredients together, cutting the butter in before the cream until the mixture is pebbly. Knead for 10-15 seconds, roll out 3/4 inch thick dough. Cut into small circles (I use thin drinking glass) and bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

Topping: two tablespoons coarse sugar, 1/2 tsp cardamom. Sprinkle generously on top before baking.

To see some of this summer's chalkboard art that I did working for Blackberry, click here. 

little philosophies

A speech to read by George Saunder's, with a few lovely gems in it here.

"What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness."

coffee shop chic

The title of this post is a bit of a nonsequitur, since I don't usually brush my hair, put on makeup, or wear things I like to work. Partially because it is hot and humid and I dislike shorts, and partially because I get coffee grounds, cranberry chutney, whipped cream and gouda on everything I wear on any given day. This leads to a general dissatisfaction with my daily appearance, and a lack of pride in grooming. I feel ok about it.

But in the interest of making this a fashion post, and perhaps in motivating myself to use some of that sense of personal style I keep hearing about, this is a list of a few essential things for working at a coffee shop and keeping your pride (ish).

1. Loose button-ups. 
2. Dark v-neck cotton Ts. Light colors show every caramel syrup spritz, and I am not a t-shirt girl but it isn't really avoidable.
3. Headbands! You have to keep your hair up anyway, and they are the one accessory that doesn't get in the way of anything. Plus I've thrifted so many funky square little scarves this way.
4. The ambiguous-pant. Jeans get hot, you have to wash them when blackberry vinaigrette gets on them every day. They are not practical. Enter: the ambiguous-pant. The legs have to be tapered enough to not be sweatpants, preferably in a bold color or funky print. I never understood this trend, one my younger sister has always widely embraced. Until now. Plus it looks so good to wear them with a loose silk button up and cropped sweater in the fall. Maybe I narrow pj bottoms to make trendy pants from. Maybe not.

1. Lil' cotton shoes.

VOILA! Coffee-shop-chic.

a few of my favorite things (back to school edition)

I know it is still August. And I know that, at least in Wheaton, it is still 98 degrees and humid. And I know that (technically) I don't go back to school, perhaps . . . ever. Still, I am wildly excited (and a teeny bit nervous) to put on my back-to-school shoes tomorrow morning and go to my Advanced Sculpture class that I am auditing all fall. An IKEA trip last weekend brought me a giant mosquito net canopy for my bed, an orange-and-white polka dot rug for my feet, and a goodwill trip (Christopher said we could do whatever I wanted. It was IKEA and thrifting) got me a pile of snazzy new-old-things that it needs to be below 75 for me to wear.

A few updates:
1) My garden, grown and then potted and then transported and then re-potted, has born:

•  2 Zinnia blooms
• 2 Green beans
• bushels of Tarragon, Basil, lemon-balm, rosemary and thyme

2) Today is Christopher & my official 6 month anniversary! (Last month he thought it was 6 months, and was so insistent on it I didn't put up much of a fight. We celebrated it and then I let him know, sweetly, a few days later).

3)  I am reading Jumpa Lahiri's The Namesake. It is beautiful.

And now, here are a few of my favorite things:

This gingko print from mytextiledesign.com

This dot-splat blouse from Boden USA

This tattoo. Except I would say, "Be Kind"

This book.

poetry (beggarly heart)

When the heart is hard and parched up, 
come upon me with a shower of mercy. 

When grace is lost from life, 
come with a burst of song. 

When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from 
beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest. 

When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner, 
break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king. 

When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one, 
thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder

Rabindrathe Tagore, "Beggarly Heart"