All You Need is Love

So I'm sure you know by now that I'm just rethinking the name of my blog...argh! It's like coming up with your child's name but not I guess since I'm able to change the name with a couple of clicks of the mouse and some keyboard love. Hmm...thoughts? I'm trying to play off the fact that friends, family, food, design and wine are what I really love in life.

On another note, I'm not super big into coffee, but I recently bought two of the cutest mugs from Target. I can't seem to find them on the internet, so I took a picture of one. Makes me all fuzzy inside for Valentine's Day!




So I thought what other cute mugs are out there?





Of course, I mean I just had too...I found these Valentine Owl Latte Mug Set of 4 in Pink on Kaboodle.




I found these hooters through Two Girls, One Blog... from Pemshop.com


Last one and I'll stop...can't stop..won't stop...Art Effect - Yuki Owl Mug I found on This Next.

Shopping Nights with Bodega at Studio 900

As a Daily Candy subscriber, I'm always on the lookout for awesome events around Atlanta, especially for shopping. Last month they did a feature on Bodega at Studio 900 Shopping Nights. Created by Rosa McWaters, it's a monthly event (every third Thursday of the month) of fashion and food. You can eat yummy food from Bookhouse Pub and drink beer while shopping for clothing, jewelry or handbags or getting your haircut by some talented hairstylists. Yes, I said it, haircut!

Last night I was able to go. I got my haircut for $25 by Christina McCarver from Bella Capelli.



I bought this really cute fish necklace from hot pink poo for $8



And my best buy of the night: Vintage Stuart Weitzman shoes for $25!

Now, you can beat that! I spent $58 for a haircut, vintage designer shoes and a necklace.

PS. If you are a local fashion artist and would like to be a part of Bodega at Studio 900 Shopping Nights, then contact Rosa McWaters.

Eat Your Heart Out, The Shed at Glenwood

I'm so grateful to have friends who are just as adventurous as I am with food. This past Saturday night we drove to Glenwood Park (which PS is such a cute area with condos, restaurants and bars) and sat ourselves down at The Shed at Glenwood. We ordered everything and anything on the menu that sounded even remotely like it just came straight from the farm to the table.

The appetizers we wanted to try were the innards of the chicken...the liver and the heart.

Chicken Liver-Bacon Bruschetta
Sad that I never got a picture. It was practically all gone by the time I remembered to take a picture. I was hungry! Tasted like a glorious chicken salad sandwich...delicious!


Pan Fried Chicken Hearts, Egg in a Basket
I know it sounds like I'm a maneater and I'm just out there to eat any kind of heart (chicken or man). This is a dish I definitely would recommend if you ever eat at The Shed.


Butternut Squash Soup!

For my main entree, I had the pork belly of course!


Crispy Pork Belly, Polenta, Organic Baby Turnips
The meat was so tender ! (TWSS)

And obviously we had to end the meal with dessert. The dessert menu was practically staring at me the whole time we were there.


Sheep's Milk Yogurt, Medjool Dates, Orange Blossom Honey
It was good, but I think it would be more of a breakfast item than a dessert.

Oh! and I almost forgot the wine! It probably helped out with the innard eating.


Navarro Correas Malbec 2007, Argentina

Pants on the ground

My godson's first baby steps! Such a Pellicer with his pants unbuttoned. Sometimes you just got to let it out!

Weight Watchers Three Bean and Pork Slow Cooker Chili

I feel like I'm a chili whore right now because I think this is the third chili recipe I have made this year and maybe even in the past six months. What can I say? Throwing a bunch of ingredients in a slow cooker and creating awesome-ness makes me feel like I could maybe try out for Top Chef: Slow Cooker Style. Anyways, so, I've used three different types of meat: White Chicken Chili, Turkey and Sausage Chili, and now the Three Bean and Pork Chili, which by the way is a Weight Watchers recipe and it's only 5 points/cup...if you're counting. 

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano, crushed

1 medium jalapeno, seeded and chopped

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

2 pound lean pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch chunks

15 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup tomato puree

29 oz canned diced tomatoes with green pepper, celery and onion, undrained

6 oz can tomato paste

Instructions

1. Combine onion, garlic, carrots, chili powder, oregano, jalapeno, salt and pepper in a 5-quart (or larger) slow cooker.  Stir.  Add remaining ingredients.  Stir again.
2. Cover and cook at HIGH setting for 6 – 8 hours.  (Note:  start the chili at a HIGH setting so the ingredients quickly reach a safe temperature. You can reduce the heat to LOW after 3 – 4 hours, if you prefer.) 

Reindeer Games

It's long over due, but I'm just now getting around to uploading photos from my camera. Back in November, I attended the AIGA Ink and Drink event at the Atlanta Printmakers Studio to print my own holiday cards. I didn't want to ruin the surprise and reveal the cards since I hadn't mailed them out yet when I posted back in November, so now for the big reveal (sorry for the dramatization if you got one in the mail!)...

Nan Lawson Giveaway via oh, hello friend

I love giveaways, but this one is especially cool! oh, hello friend is giving away a $30 gift certificate towards Nan Lawson's etsy page.

Nan Lawson has some great artwork. Shop for Nan Lawson's prints! I love the Hipster Kiss!

Whoo loves owls?

It's me! I know...I'm obsessed.

I just saw this featured on Design Sponge and I wish I would have seen it earlier today so that I could have bought it from here. Looks like it's sold out! Please someone help me find one for myself. You could quite possibly cure my owl obsession!

Crepe Crepe Revolution

I'm not sure I can abbreviate the place CCR, but I can definitely say that Crepe Revolution is a pioneer by bringing a whole new dining experience with crepes galore. I was so overwhelmed with their wide variety of selections that I'm just going to have to come back to try all the other crepes I didn't get to taste. Last night was so cold outside I needed something to warm me up, so I chose the Chicken Thai Peanut...



And of course I had to try a sweet crepe...Bananas Foster. The waiter asked me if I wanted ice cream to go on top...Did I want ice cream on top? He obviously didn't get that I finished my plate of Chicken Thai Peanut and downed a bottle of Callia Alta Malbec (with Jessica). (Sidenote: half priced bottles of wine Wednesday nights). Anyways, did the waiter not know I'm so over-indulgent when it comes to dining.

Yes, I got vanilla ice cream on top.



Photos were taken from www.creperevolution.com

New Year's Resolution

Thanks to Monina (graphic designer and 2009 Command X winner at the AIGA Conference in Memphis, TN) we don't have to pull our hair to come up with the perfect resolution. Some of them hit close to home! Sheesh!

What does your New Year's Resolution say?

Owl Invasion

Look at this cute owl apron I bought from Anthropologie! Looks like I'll be doing a lot of cooking this year so that I can wear my owls.

Happy New Year!

Hello, 2010! How are you? I hope you will treat everyone well in the coming year.

What is everyone's New Year's resolutions?

During Thanksgiving, I came upon the CSPAN channel because Ludacris was on there promoting his charity, The Ludacris Foundation. Sidenote: I was just so intrigued about this other side to him.

But the point of bringing this up was because he was talking about growing up with a single parent, his mother. At the end of every year, his mother made him create a goal list (I guess it's like the resolution list! ha!) and at the end of that year, they will look at the goal list and see if he was able to complete them. He accounted this as a part of his drive to be successful. I think it worked!

Goals (Resolutions) for 2010
1. Put away 15% into my savings each month (I may have gotten this one from Meg)
2. Move! :)
3. Run more (I have a 5K in Athens at the end of this month and a 10K in March. Hoping to run a half marathon as well)
4. Pay off my car

Hopefully a year from now, I will have done all these things!

Merry Christmas to all!

It's been a hectic holiday for me, so sorry if I have been MIA with the posts. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope everyone's Christmas was fabulous and everyone got what they wanted. And even better, I hope everyone's start of 2010 is off to a great start. I know we all need a little hope and optimism in 2010.

What did everyone get for Christmas? Here are a couple of awesome gifts I got this year.

The Flip Mino HD so that I can record many great moments in 2010!



A new pet that lives in a lavarium. I still haven't named him yet. What should I call him?




A new addition to my owl fetish from Night Owl Paper Goods. This is Sylvia!



A Spanish cookbook with Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow. The book takes them on their journey across the country tasting many of Spain's delicious foods. Look out for some of the recipes this year!



A Marc Tetro dog print of a "Beagle at the Beach" aka Murphy at the Beach. I love it!