Effortless Antrhopologie's Lazy Summer Contest

If you like Anthropologie, check out this amazing and awesome giveaway!!!

The prize: a $250 Anthropologie gift card.

OMG!!!!

My Fair Lazy and Dreamy dress days

I enjoyed reading My Fair Lazy by Jen Lancaster, author of Bitter is the New Black this weekend. Mr. F and I did a bunch of chores and cleaned the house after a nice brunch at Macrina, on Sunday. (I had the amazing French Brioche Toast with Lavender whipped cream and strawberries. It was divine.) Here my weekend finds. These lovely pink and yellow vintage prom dresses were photographed by Mandy Lynne and featured on the Ruffled blog. The pink one reminds me of the dreamy dress from A Diary of Lovely. 

I love weddings. Here's a local Garden Gardens wedding with a beautiful slate blue wedding dress! Check out the bride's photography blog too!
I love this Principessa gown from J.Crew too. The name and style are so classic and dreamy.How was your weekend?

Dr. Loosen wine tasting at Portalis

Tonight, we had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Ernest Loosen and tasting the "authentic rieslings from the steep slopes of Germany's Mosel Valley"! Dr. Loosen was named by the Wine Spectator as "One of the 50 Most Influential Winemakers in the World" and is locally known for his collaboration on Chateau Ste Michelle's Eroica. 


We got to taste the following prestigious rieslings:

Dr. Loosen 2008 Gewürztraminer 

Dr. Loosen 2007 Blue Slate Kabinett Riesling 

Dr. Loosen 2007 Erdener Treppchen Kabinett Riesling 

Dr. Loosen 2007 Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese Riesling

Dr. Loosen 2007 Ürziger Würzgarten Auslese Riesling 

Dr. Loosen 2006 Riesling Beerenauslese 

Mr. F and I learned about the quality levels of German rieslings. 

Photo & info from the Dr. Loosen wine blog

Kabinett: The lightest and most delicate style, from normally ripe grapes picked early in the harvest.
Spätlese: Richer, bolder wines made from riper grapes harvested later than Kabinett.
Auslese: Very ripe, late-harvested grapes that are selected cluster by cluster.


We learned about botrytis, which is a mold that draws water out of the affected grapes, leaving an ultra-concentrated nectar behind. There are also three delicious levels:

Auslese Gold Capsule:
A luscious wine made from very ripe, late-harvested grapes that have just begun to be shriveled by botrytis.

Beerenauslese:
A rich, dense dessert wine made from fully botrytis-affected grapes that have shriveled about half way.

Trockenbeerenauslese:
The pinnacle of dessert wines, TBA is an extraordinarily intense and complex wine made from grapes that have completely shriveled down to raisins.

[source]

We really enjoyed the Beerenauslese because it tasted like golden raisins. The acidity balanced the sweetness perfectly. We were told it would go well with salty, blue cheese. We did nibble on goat cheese tarts made by the Portalis in house chef. They were very tasty.

The nicest treat was meeting Dr. Ernest Loosen. He was friendly, charismatic, cool and hilarious. After the official tasting he told us his wines would be good with spicy Asian dishes. He told us our favorite riesling, the Dr. Loosen 2008 Blue Slate Kabinett, would be great with gravlax. We had no idea what gravlax was, so Dr. Loosen described it as salmon with dill and sweet mustard. [Photo from Family.Recipes]

Have you heard of Dr. Loosen before? I highly recommend checking out your local wine store, or perhaps even your local grocery store for Eroica wines! Or if you're lucky enough to live near a great place like Portalis, ask if they can order you a bottle from the wine distributer! 

Cheers!

Brittney Lee and PecknPaw artists!

Do you like Disney art? Were you the kind of kid who watched Disney movies over and over again, like me? Did you ever secretly wish you could draw like a Disney artist? 

I've introduced Brittney Lee to you all before and she's just phenomenal! (See previous blog posts featuring Brittney Lee here, here, here, and most recently here.) Aren't you just a teasy bit jealous (or in awe) when you read how she got her dream job at Disney? Brittney Lee and a group of 19 other amazing artists from Disney's visual development team made an independent art book that comes out August 7th!

Check out PecknPaw and the Black Mirror,  if you're interested, I found some example pages and links to the artist websites!

PECKNPAW LINKS

• Bill Schwab
• Brittney Lee
• Claire Keane (This was found on Claire on a Cloud!)
• James Finch
• Jeff Turley
• Jin Kim
• Justin Cram
• Lorealy Bove
• Scott Watanabe
• Shiyoon Kim
• Victoria Ying

All the featured artwork was found on the PecknPaw blog and Gallery Nucleus. If you'd like to order a copy of this neat art book, you can pre-order it on Gallery Nucleus! 

ENJOY!

Trip to Tacoma with Mandy

I didn't feel super great when I woke up this morning, so I took a sick day. After a little more sleep and reading more of A Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest,

I felt nearly normal. My best friend wanted to check out the Tacoma Art Museum and I went along! Tacoma was so beautiful and I had no idea! The weather was perfect. It was bright and sunny and 70 degrees out! Mount Rainer was in fine form and it looked so close to Tacoma!  The museum was really fun and I really enjoyed all the glass art by Dale Chihuly. There were amazing sculptures inside and out of the building. We crossed the bridge from Union Station to the Glass Museum and saw even more Chihuly artwork! This is the stunning piece inside the Union Station. On our way out of town I even saw a cute cupcake shop! We didn't have time to go in because we wanted to beat the rush hour traffic between Tacoma and Seattle.This visit totally opened my eyes to the beauty of this town. I really liked Tacoma and next time I go there, I'll have to stop in.

Dreaming of pie....and Shabby Apple

Do you have a favorite pie that you like to make (or eat)? Last summer I had a blast with my cousin Colleen making blueberry and peach pie.  (http://justafewofemilysfavoritethings.blogspot.com/2009/09/making-blueberry-peach-pies-with-my.html)


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.

Shabby Apple is hosting a pie contest giveaway! If you like to make pie (or you like to eat it like me) you'll enjoy their blog post!

Cute cups

Yes, I found another great giveaway that I just had to share with you all! These adorable porcelain cups are from:If you think this bear cup is cute, check out NYC Island Gal's giveaway today!

Cheers!!

Giveaways and Gussy headbands -- little bouquets of pretty

batch headbands -- little bouquets of pretty
Originally uploaded by Gussy_Sews

Loving my Gussy headband! (I have the fun turquoise and lime one in the middle!) I get so many compliments when I wear it, ESPECIALLY since it's so summery and cute.

Guess what?! Gussy is having a two day giveaway bonanza! Go check it out and you could win big!


I'm personally hoping to win a Twirl Skirt!!

If you need more chances to win! Check out the Bon Bon Rose Girls blog! These two best friends have wonderful fashion tips and pictures galore,

IN ADDITION to fabulous finds! They're having a week long Sizzlin' Summer giveaway session!



Enjoy!!

Cream colored ponies watercolor

cream colored ponies
Originally uploaded by mytinystar

I just had to post this print from flickr!

Sunny Saturday and Surf Ballard

Mr. F and I got up early today and went for a nice, long 6 mile walk along Alki in West Seattle. There was a great breeze and it felt warm, yet not over 75 degrees. I missed a spot along my tank top strap, when applying SPF 45 and got a mild sunburn. Apparently the Seafair pirates were also landing on Alki Beach today! We stayed away from the major crowds but it looked like a blast!  After a delicious sushi lunch at Chinoise, we met up with Nichole to go paddle boarding in Puget Sound. We rented boards and paddles from Surf Ballard, and walked across to the street to Shilshole Bay Beach Club (coincidently where Mr. F and I got married!) 

(The purple tables are where our reception took place August 2nd, 2008!)

We had so much fun.  The weather was perfect and the water wasn't as cold as we expected! We all remembered the infamous Friends episode of what to do when you get stung by a jellyfish. Fortunately, we just saw them from on top of our boards and no one touched them! And not to worry, we all had waterproof SPF 70 on!!

After a hardy workout, we came home and barbecued Ahi Tuna! We also had just a splash of Dusted Valley 2009 Rose.  It was divine!

Happy weekend, everyone!