Soo sad, Anthropologie cancelled my order!!

Item is no longer available, boo.

Anthropologie Clustered Petals Dress!

I'm so excited, the dress I've been drooling over at Anthropologie is finally on sale!! This is the Clustered Petals Dress available for $100 now! I'm anticipating on wearing it to a good friend's wedding soon. I cannot wait for it to arrive in the mail.

The Gossip Girl Season 3 Premiere was awesome!

I loved the polo match scenes from the Gossip Girl Premiere tonight. I'm currently scouring the web for photos of Serena on horseback...such a neat set of action motion shots.

This is the only horse picture I could find from the episode, courtesy of Gossip Girl Insider. Has anyone else found more photos from this episode, in particular of the horses?


Here's the trailer for the episode that aired tonight:

Check out the Gossip Girl Insider for more details and sneak peeks!

I must be hungry...for tres leches cake.

Check out this awesome recipe with pictures!!!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/tres-leches-cake/

Tres Leches Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla.
Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined.
Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher.
When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.
Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Yummy Recipe for Banana Doughnuts With Dried Banana "Streusel" from Tartelette

Banana Doughnuts With Dried Banana "Streusel"

Shared via AddThis

Favorite photography blog of the day!

I absolutely love holiday cards. I'm so excited that one of my favorite photographers is already designing great cards. Check out her adorable blog and ideas! http://www.pobkephotography.com/blog/?p=2525

Here's one of my favorites:

My husband is sooo not going to believe me that it's time to order holiday cards. Hopefully the Pobke Photography website will help convince him!

Another favorite quote

Painting by Warwick Goble (Photo courtsey of http://goble.artpassions.net/)

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."
— J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)

Have a great weekend!

I'll be gone for the weekend and won't get a chance to write until Sunday. I'm excited to go to B.C.! The last email I opened was Dictionary.com's word of the day.

puissant \PWISS-uhnt; PYOO-uh-suhnt; pyoo-ISS-uhnt\, adjective:

Powerful; strong; mighty; as, a puissant prince or empire.

A few favorite mini vacations...

I'm so excited my husband and I are going to Vancouver B.C. this weekend. Granted, it is for his firm's retreat, but it's still a mini vacation! I haven't been to Vancouver since I was a teenager. I can't wait to rediscover the city for 3 days.

One of my favorite weekend getaways is going to Walla Walla for the wheat fields and wine. We like to meander around the Whitman campus and check out the new buildings and art work. There are also have several favorite wineries that I love to visit, for example, Flying Trout. (I blogged about more favorites last month,)

We also really enjoy watching the sunset from wheat fields. It's magical watching the wind blow through the wheat fields at dusk.


Sooke Harbor via the Black Ball Ferry in Port Angeles is also one of my favorite trips. The drive to Port Angeles is beautiful and the ferry ride is picturesque in any weather. It docks in Victoria and then it's a short drive to Sooke.

I was inspired to visit Sooke after seeing the romantic comedy Lucky 7, with Patrick Dempsey and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Just like in the movie, my husband and I stayed at the romantic Sooke Harbor Inn. It's a sweet bed and breakfast with amazing food, great art work on every wall, and several lovely gardens.This is the view from the room we stayed in. Apparently Orca whales can sometimes be seen from your room!

The Inn looks out at Whiffen Spit, which is a fun beach walk. There are many other rocky beaches nearby too.

Going to Ocean Shores is another one of my favorite weekend getaways. My family and I used to love playing in the sand and flying crazy kites. A few years ago we even brought our horses!

Happy Birthday to my kid sister!!

My sister is no longer a teenager!! It's amazing how fast time flies. This picture was also taken at least 10 years ago! I have fond memories of donut cakes at this breakfast nook. They are even on a cake plate that rotates and plays happy birthday!

It's National Honey Month!

Check out the National Honey Board at www.honey.com for great recipes with honey!

"A pound of honey is the result of millions of beautiful flowers from hundreds of different species of plants, shrubs, and trees. Each variety of nectar producing flower yields its own unique honey; the honey may vary from almost “water white” in color to “dark amber.”

Each variety of honey also has its own unique taste and oftentimes its own delicate aroma. Used in recipes, varieties of honey may produce ever so slightly different flavors. It is no wonder that chefs and bakers the world over love to cook with honey. Honey is natural; honey is always pure; indeed, honey is a sweetener the way nature intended.

This time of the year, beekeepers are busily harvesting the honey crop made by bees over the spring and summer. It is such a special time for the honey industry that September has been traditionally known as National Honey Month."

Haagen-Dazs has a great site called Help the Honey Bees, check it out! You can learn more about saving bees, especially by buying a carton of their amazing ice cream, sorbet, or frozen yogurt!

Pretty pony pictures taken by my cousin

My cousin came to the family farm and took a great photos of the horses in the fields. This is Emma, our pasture pony. She's been rolling in the dirt, but she's pretty.
Tiger the barn cat points to a wild rabbit in the woods.
Pokie looks at us balefully as she eats her hay.
Belle shyly eyed the camera.

Making Blueberry Peach Pies with my cousin!

My mom brought over a dozen fresh peaches and a gallon of recently frozen blueberries over this weekend. My cousin is visiting from Colorado so we decided to make pies! She has an easy and wonderful recipe too!

Blueberry and Peach Pie

Makes one large 10 inch pie, or two small pies (8 servings)

4-5 medium peaches
4 cups (a quart) of blueberries
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
Nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground ginger to taste
2 teaspoons of lemon juice concentrate
1 egg white
1/2 cup of butter, or margarine for pie crust
2 1/2 cups of white flour for pie crust
1/2 shortening for pie crust
1/4 cup of water, added a tablespoon at a time for pie crust (until right consistency)

Prep time 30 minutes
Bake time approximately 45 minutes

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.

2. Mix butter or margarine, flour, and shortening in a large bowl, add water one tablespoon at a time for the right consistency. Roll dough into two balls and place in freezer for 30 minutes.

3. Peel the peaches with a paring knife. Pit and slice peaches into cubes and mix with blueberries in a large bowl. Add white and brown sugar, with nutmeg, cinnamon and ground ginger to taste. Top with lemon juice concentrate and mix.

4. Remove the 2 balls of dough from freezer and roll out on wax paper to make top and bottom pie crusts. [We didn't have a rolling pin and used an empty wine bottle.]

5. Place one of the rolled out shells into a large pie dish that is appropriate for baking in. Toss in fruit mixture.

6. Roll out remaining ball of dough. Cover pie with this top crust. [Some people pierce the top crust for vent holes. We decided to cut out letters to differentiate the two small pies.]

Mix egg white and one tablespoon of water in a small glass. Use a basting brush to apply mixture to top of pie.


7. Place pie in oven and bake for 45 minutes at 375 Fairenheit.

Check on pie at 35 minutes. If the crust is golden brown it is ready to be removed. Cool on a rack before serving warm or at a room temperature.

Mmm, my house smells like yummy peach pie right now!

It's raining, it's pouring...It's National Read A Book Day!

Did you know today, September 6th is National Read a Book Day? It's wonderful coincidence since the weather, at least in Seattle, is pretty dismal. (This is not to be confused with Drop Everything And Read Day, or D.E.A.R., which is April 12th! I read there's also a National Comic Book Day coming up soon on September 25th! March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday and the annual Read Across America event too.)

I love the rain especially listening to it on the roof, but it's been very wet outside. We had a yummy Puerto Rican breakfast at the 5 Spot on Queen Anne and just got soaked. I'm not sure we'll be as enthusiastic to go wine tasting this afternoon if it's still pouring. (I could be tempted to go back for the Chupacabra Crab Cakes at the 5 Spot though...) I think it's the perfect Sunday for reading in a comfy chair. I'm thoroughly addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse series and am about to crack open the fourth charmer, "Dead to the World". The title is pretty fitting considering the weather outside!

My cousin gets into town this evening, so perhaps I'll be persuaded to try Owen Roe's second wine label, Corvidae at Portalis or maybe try the cupcake of the month flavor at Cupcake Royale. I saw online that it's Blue Mountain Huckleberry!! Holy cow that sounds amazing!

Sookie Stackhouse is calling me away! You should open a book too!

A few favorite beach huts...

My husband and I found this driftwood hut on Marrowstone Island. It was very artfully decorated with hanging grass and shells. It was big enough for an adult to go inside too!
Yesterday, I found this gem on the beaches of Magnolia. I could totally see someone living here. In addition to a charming shell windchime, there was an actual sleeping area, complete with plastic pillows! There were torches, skylights, shelves, a sleeping patio, and a large area with three walls. This is a dream house for any child at heart.

A few favorite photography websites...

I am a Kodak Gallery addict. The ease of the website and options make it a clear favorite. Although Shutterfly, Snapfish and Blurb are very close favorites with their different but similar features.

Kodak Gallery has a wide variety of photo gifts, most of which I have personally purchased. I love making photo albums and getting frames from this company. I am biased, but I would say they tend to have the best sales overall, but Shutterfly and Snapfish have lower prices. Kodak Gallery has monthly contests such as, Kodak Moment: September's Winning Photos Enter for October. Posted using ShareThis

Depending on the photo album, I may prefer to use Shutterfly for their wider variety of layout options. I have yet to use the Blurb company, but their photo books seem much more like a fancy coffee table book or novel than the typical photo album.

A new favorite photo editing website of mine, is Picnik. It's free photography tool that allows you to edit your photos with colors, cropping, lighting, saturation, and exposure. Check it out for yourself!!

A few favorite ballets

I'm very excited that Pacific Northwest Ballet is doing Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia this season. The lineup seems very romantic starting with Romeo et Juliette, Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia, ending with a fun and light Hansel and Gretel.

Sleeping Beauty has the most beautiful music by Peter Tchaikovsky. Here's a clip of the Overture played by the Royal Ballet in 2006. The Fairy dances, especially the Lilac Fairy are some of my favorite. The most recognizable song is Act 1. No. 5.: Valse. All of Tchaikovsky's music is breathtaking and lovely. His music makes is such an integral part of this ballet. (Most people recognize his music from the Nutcracker and even Swan Lake, but I love Sleeping Beauty the most.)

Coppelia is heralded as a great ballet comedy. Here is a wonderful sample clip from the 2000 Royal Ballet's ballet, where the doll maker Dr. Coppelius tries to make Coppelia come alive. He doesn't know that a local girl, Swanilda, has dressed in Coppelia's clothing and is playing along.

Romeo et Juiette and A Midsummer's Night Dream are my favorite Shakespeare plays but also ballets.

LOL cat and Lyra

see more Lolcats and funny pictures


So true, this is my cat, Lyra

A few favorite pet plants

I finally found the perfect indoor plant for my desk at work. I had searched high and low at the local QFC and Fred Meyer, which surprisingly had a large selection of indoor plants, but with no luck. I considered a few flowering tropical plants, but I just didn't find the One.

On Sunday, we made it to Swanson's and I found the perfect plant instantly, right next to the garden cafe!

It's a dwarf umbrella tree, otherwise known as a Schefflera arboricola. It's very cute and has shiny green leaves.
This particular plant will do well with partial but not direct sun and prefers temperatures between 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It sits under (not directly) one of the skylights in my building!

I named it Hank Moody. It's a dorky name, but I just finished watching season 2 of Californication. Hank Moody, played by the dreamy David Duchovny, is such a charismatic cad, a modern day casanova. He acts despicable at times, but he has a big heart. One of Hank's redeemable features as a person are his interactions with his daughter and how he makes his big decisions based on her happiness. My plant is equally as charming and quite rakish with it's paper cranes.

A Few Favorite Cream Colored Ponies

The Norwegian Fjord is the ultimate cream colored pony with a hint of black in its mane and on its nose. Originally from Norway, it is said the Vikings used their small and sturdy size for mountainous regions and heavy work, like farming. They are very pretty and sweet horses, known for their mild temperament. They are usually pony sized (under 14.2 hands, or 58 inches (150 cm)) but are considered horses due to their breed registry. We recently saw them at the Norwegian Festival Parade in Ballard!
Mark Harvey took some very glamorous shots of Norwegian Fjords ponies.

Shetland ponies come in many colors, but some are cream colored or light tan. Shetlands are a maximum of 46 inches tall! They are also know for their sturdiness, traditionally used in coal mining particularly in their native England. Growing up, our neighbors had over a dozen cart trained Shetland ponies. My sisters and I all learned how to ride on a gentle Shetland pony named Sugar.
This is me learning how to drive a cart with Sugar, the pony!