{ Boost your Metabolism }

Not an intense meal or anything, but I found recently a good idea for boosting your metabolism. I hate plain water so this totally was right up my ally. In a pitcher of water add 1 apple sliced (of your choice) and 1 cinnamon stick. Let sit over night ... delicious and a very helpful tip! If you get bored with the apple you can also do half a lemon and 1/4 cucumber sliced in water, great for those hot summer's on the deck or post walk!

{ Steampunk Coloring Book }

What have I been doing? Oh just killing myself over my lil one's first birthday party (happening this saturday)! I can hardly believe, I mean, the Loon + I made it! one year down, only a life time to go! No but seriously! I can't wait for this to be our first of many birthday celebrations.

Right now I don't have too much to blog about, other than my to do list! but I was so excited I finished the Steampunk coloring books today, I had to share! Aren't they the cutest?!?! I can't wait to show you the rest, but if you ever need a cute coloring book for a party's gift bag, let me know!

{ Batman is Architecture Obsessed }

Batman: Death By Design is the first graphic novel from writer / designer, Chip Kidd and illustrator Dave Taylor. This sneak peek of the novel centers Batman around the concrete canyons of Gotham City, where suspicious building accidents place Batman at odds with both The Joker and a mystery man named Exacto. Exacto is new to the Batman scene and is VERY architecture-based... don't know if that makes sense, but this totally reminds me of a few super heros sketches I did of my classmates my first year in architecture school... Seems like I'll be stopping by my nearest comic shop May 30th. Click the link for more images...{via}

{ Margaux's Mix: New Lana del Rey }

When I first heard Video Games, almost a year ago, it was an instant head over heels love. Then as more and more media hype started up, I become somewhat disillusioned with Lana. Not that I was the backlash necessarily, but I was a little judgemental for the lizzy grant to lana del rey transformation. But after the album dropped, I figured, what's the big deal? I mean, lots of artists transform themselves, and even if her songs (on the album) are redundant sounding at times, they are catchy tunes. Her coo-ing and purrs solidified her persona, the gangsta nancy sinatra, for me. Then there was the SNL debactal, which was hard to watch, and supposedly was the reason she postponed her tour... So I guess I figured I wouldn't be hearing too much from Lana in the near future.

That brings me to what I found yesterday, a leaked track, Never Let You Go.  And that brought back that love of her easy, lounge, 60's influenced hipster rock. Maybe it's the guitar track that reminds me of All the Young Dudes, or the easy soft strings, or maybe even the lyric, "I could be your Nancy, You could be my Sid" But I just can't get enough of this track! Enjoy!


* if you are the artist of this song and wish for it to be removed please contact me. 

{ Healthy Chinese Food Endeavor }

A series by: Erin Gray
I could eat any form of Asian cuisine from sushi to Pad Thai any day of the week.  Unfortunately, my favorite Chinese delight, General Tso's is loaded with calories. I have found a healthier home made alternative that was greatly enjoyed at my house.

Baked General Tso's Chicken:
2 lb chicken breast tenderloins, chunked
2 eggs & 4 T milk (egg wash)
1 c flour
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
6 T ground ginger
2 tsp salt
1 c sugar
1/4 c water
4 T soy sauce
4 T rice vinegar
2 T sesame oil
3 T chili paste
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp corn starch
3 tsp minced garlic

Preheat oven to 375.  Blend flour, pepper, cayenne, 3 T ground ginger, & salt. Coat chicken in egg wash then dredge in flour blend. Bake in a sprayed glass pan on for 30 minutes.  Use all ingredients except 1/4 c water  and sugar to mix sauce base. In a sauce pan boil sugar and water over medium heat stirring constantly until it develops a caramel color. Add remainder of sauce ingredients and simmer about 5 minutes. Take off heat and allow to thicken. Toss baked chicken in sauce and serve with steamed rice. **I also pre cooked some steamed broccoli and added to the mixture which was delicious.

{ Adventures in Baking: Sweet Potato Cupcakes }

A series by: Erin Gray
I typically make cupcakes for special occasions. Recently a good friend graduated high school and upon asking what kind she wanted she said "sweet potato". I thought she was joking, and am typically not a fan of anything but sweet potato fries, but due to the serious request I did some research and was very successful. This opportunity also gave me a chance to test run with icing tips for the first time before an upcoming birthday event.  Here is the recipe as I modified it from Better Homes and Gardens originally. Also, the frosting is a combination of my usual cream cheese recipe and one I found on yummly.com.:

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cake:
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. clove
1 c butter, softened
1/4 c milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
1 15 oz can sliced yams, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. In mixing bowl blend sugar and butter until whipped. Add eggs one at a time followed by mashed yams, and vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk all dry ingredients and add in flour mix and milk slowly mixing on medium until smooth.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full ( I use a heaping ice cream scoop of batter) and bake 20-30 minutes.

Icing:
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
3 T butter, softened
1 1/2 T shortening
1 7 oz jar of marshmallow cream
1 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon sugar blend

Blend all ingredients until smooth. scoop into icing bag and pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes. Icing will disperse and settle more like a glaze. * I also topped with clear sprinkles for a more fun effect.

{ DIY: bling bling }

So this weekend, I decided to try my hand at a Pinterest DIY. I needed to make a cake stand for my lil' one's birthday, I know, I can hardly believe it's been a year! But while shopping around for sweet DIY materials, I also thought I'd do pretty much the same thing to make a pretty jewelry / makeup with a cute candy dish I found.
So here's the run down incase you wanna make one of these cute stands....



you will need...
1 candlestick holder
1 glass plate *Mine had been divided out to 3's, like a candy dish, but I can't find it on the website... really any cheap plate would do.
1 super glue or any other strong as shit adhesive
and I happened to have the gold rustoleum on hand from another project... spray paint and I go way back
acrylic paint and gloss medium (for top color)

First glue the candlestick holder and plate together, and let sit over night. The next day I sprayed down that bad boy with the gold spray paint. Then I let that sit and dry til the evening. I loved it all gold, but I knew I wanted a good pop of color, so I took out the ol' acrylic paints and painted just the top a blue-ish green and sealed with a gloss medium I had on hand. Once all the paint was dry, Voila! I had a cute bathroom makeup / jewelry stand! and all over under $5. What do ya think?

{ Linxxx Luv }

Happy Friday Everyone! I hope you all are glad this week is finally coming to close, I know I am! I couldn't be more excited for the weekend! (and apparently the use of ! - exclamation marks). It's been one hectic week around here, and tonight is no exception. I have a lingerie shower this evening for a good yet conservative friend so I'm looking forward to some awkward moments, and the Knoxville Farmers Market started back up this week. What are your plans?
I wanted to share with you some of the neat-o things I've found, and hope to start a reoccurring post theme for every friday. So be sure to check back often. Have a great weekend!

• I fell in love with the above video of an origami rhino and had to share
• Don't forget to check in every Friday with Modern Sentiment. Sara Martin's Friday posts not only inspire, but always get me thinking, and this week's isn't any different, More Than Personality. Pointing out 5 'habits' to form to really put yourself out there for success and making a connection others. {via}
• Amanda Li is a background designer at Nickelodeon Studios but trained as an architect. Her sketches are incredible, and really an inspiration for anyone with an architecture degree making it in other fields. {via}
• Speaking of being trained as an architect and doing other creative endeavors, Woodbury University hosted an event, "Architects Beyond Architecture" with a panel discussion of 6 and luckily for those of us who couldn't be there, Architects Newspaper did a great article on the event. I'm a big fan of creative endeavors outside of architecture, so much so my story was featured on the AIA website a while back. {via} 
• And finally a shameless plug, but be sure to check out and Like my freelance companay, m+j design bureau on facebooks. We try to run regular specials, and it would just make me oh-so-thrilled to have lots of 'likes'.

{ Handmade Love }

had to share this video I came across. Love the textures, and I think it goes without saying I'm always a fan of the handmade. Love this! Doesn't it remind you of the movie the Eames made, I believe it's called Goods?
We were asked to create a film about bespoke tailoring for the Handmade issue of Wallpaper*. They hooked us up with the famous italian tailors of Brioni. We came up with the idea that a hand would be the ultimate customer to prove the skills and craftmanship of a brand as Brioni. {via}

{ Eye Candy: Streetscapes on Cardboard }

I just had to share this little piece of eye candy! These Streetscapes are spray painted on cardboard! I can hardly believe how beautiful some are... I've included my faves, but the imposition of the cardboard text (most look like ikea boxes, tehehehe!). Done by German street artist... I think that's a fancy word for graffiti artist... Evol, uses stencils to display an uncanny attention to detail using light and shadow on mundane consumer packings. {via}

{ Music for Designers }

well... maybe not for designers persae, but playlists by designers for designers. Did we need our own playlist maker application/website? not really. But is it cool and beautiful as all get out? You Betcha! DesignersMix signs you in through Twitter (so you gotta have one of those) and then you set up your playlists and add your own playlist art. This one particular playlist (I've just started out remember) links to this print for purchase... so that's another venue to get work out through, and never a bad thing! I'm not too sure if I'll totally switch over from Spotify, but it's nice to be able to listen to music with like minded-ness. Be sure to follow me if you decide to give it a try!

{ Eye Candy: Iphone Architecture }

 Serious love goes out to Artist Lynette Jackson, of Atlanta, Georgia, whose images are found on Page67 (flicker page). Jackson claims all her images are "taken, edited, and processed with her iphone". Pretty freakin' unbelievable! I can hardly take a picture that isn't blurry as all get out! Luckily filters (via instagram) help save the day, but daaammmnnn Ms. Jackson, these are serious eye candy! Below are a few of my faves (there were so many great ones to select from). I think I flocked towards the more 'brutalist' feeling ones... image Le Corbusier / Louis Kahn meets Polish Constructivism with a dash of Frank Stella vintage layering!

{ Best of Craigslist: Part Deux }

I didn't think anything would top this glorious unicorn ad I found a while back, but sure enough I did it! Well a humorous gent of the Seattle Craigslist did, so I'm gonna count it. Unfortunately it's been flagged... although some of us (me) flagged it for the best of, not removal. Nothing inappropriate, but I guess regular folks can't handle the awesomeness of this ad. It's a graphic and fun way to get rid of a car. Enjoy the GREATEST AD EVER put on Craigslist... yes, it's that glorious. click to enlarge (I had to print screen two images together, so excuse the slight ripple in tap-dancing).

{ This is turning out to be one cat filled blog }

Alright, I know the cat thing is getting a little out of control, but who can blame me? I feel like I've only posted the best of the best... ya know, the stuff you'd want to come back to for an, awwwww or half heart filled chuckle. Needless to say, Cats in Space is all that and a bag of chips! Enjoy!

{ Game of Fonts }

Well, no it's not a sweet game of thrones parody dripping with font nerdiness ... I wish! But, it's almost as good! It's Scrabble, but instead of it's ol' boring regular font, the whole game has been redesigned into the A-1 Scrabble Typography Edition by Andrew Clifford Capener, co-founder of 755 Marketing and Kneadbe.  For a measly (ha, right?) $199 you can own the nerdiest typography game around! {via}

{ Ar-CAT-ecture }

kitkats drinkin from Oscar Niemeyer

cat attack in the lebbeus woods

Thanks to Cameron Sinclair (you know you know him as the founder of Architecture of Humanity) for this INCREDIBLE architecture over run with cats tumbler link! YAY for kitties + photoshop at it's finest! Enjoy! {via}

{ American Girls with American Girls }

I always wanted one. The girls who had American Girl dolls were always so cool! I knew they were silly and way over priced, but I thought I looked like Samantha (they didn't have Josephina when I was younger), and nothing would be cooler than looking like and dressing like a doll... now that does seem like crazy thoughts! Either way, artist, Ilonc Szwarc has photographed real life creepster, or 'American Girls' with their American Girl Dolls. {via}

{ PhotoShop's Evil Powers }

Although, I suppose it's only evil for the person who is being manipulated in photoshop-ed.  Well Alex + Oli has taken it upon themselves to edit his friend, Jame's facebook photos. A+O takes photos of James and tweaks his face ever so slightly, just enough to really piss off his friend... or maybe soon to be ex friend, James. I'm loving the comments at the bottom, courtesy of ol' pissed off James. To the left are a few of my faves, Enjoy! {via}

{ Rich People Say the Darnedest Things }

Well, maybe not all rich people, I mean Warren Buffet is pretty cool for a rich old white dude, but have you heard the garage coming out of Mitt Romney's mouth? I'm not really one to get 'involved' in politics, but come'on! How can this guy possibly believe what he is saying will appeal to Americans... Obviously I'm in the wrong here, or he'd be losing steam on the ol' campaign trail... then again, no one is really any better, huh? But LUCKILY, someone had the witts to pair quotes from Romney with stills of Lucille Bluth (from Arrested Development), and what a hoot they are! I don't have to try to hard to hear these quotes in a Lucille-esque voice. Here are a few of my faves, and be sure to check out the rest! {via}

On a somewhat related note, there is also a chuckle worth tumbler of Santorum hopes... yeah... that sounds weird, but it's titled, I Hope Rick Santorum, and is filled with funny-isms (gawh, I'm on a roll for writing that doesn't make sense). Enjoy!

{ Guatemalan Architecture }

Swoon - worthy doesn't even begin to describe this dream house! Corallo House by PAZ Arquitectos is everything a south american villa should be even with a live tree growing through the house and all! and ohhh the use of materials, especially the concrete (board formed of course), and check out the second image with the conduits and other electrical/plumbing/mechanical nonsense spanning the concrete and exposed.... makes me wish I lived somewhere that had stupidly cheap labor. But I really must commend PAZ for a brilliant use of the Guatemalan terrain. As a first generation American, with basically all my family living in Guatemala, I still visit the 'motherland' regularly, now I just need to see if I can get an meeting with the owner to tour this home next time! {via}

{ Olympics 2012: Deconstructing an Icon }

Now, I'm not the biggest Olympics fan... but really I guess I don't get 'into' too many sports, unless it's South American Futbol, aka soccer. But the nationalism, spectacle, and tradition of the Olympics usually wins me over enough to enjoy a few games. This year, I think I might be watching for another reason, the fashion! Stella McCartney (yes, the last name is familiar cause she is Paul McCartney's daughter) is one of my FAVORITE fashion designers, and as of late I've been on a project runway / sewing my lil'  butt off kick, so McCartney's collection for Team Great Britain was something for me to really get excited over! Primarily made up of a deconstructed icon, the Union Jack, was a fun, new, modern way to re-interrupt the team uniform. Made by Adidas, the kit supplies over 900 British athletes with a total of approximately 175,000 items of clothing during London 2012, talk about a big deal! 

Adidas UK Marketing Director Nick Craggs said: ‘All eyes will be on the British athletes when they take the stage at the Games, so we wanted to ensure that they would be the best equipped team through a combination of leading technologies including PowerWEB and Climacool and a unified and striking team identity.’ {via}

{ Type Hype: Handmade Type }

transformation of A to a

Yay for a well deserved Type Hype post! It's been a while since I've crushed on a type/font, but luckily Colossal is dishing out the eye candy today! I've always had a soft spot for process and transformation, and Tien Mao-Lien does not disappoint with her Handmade Type: a typography experiment. I mean, just look at all those .gif's! Love 'em!
Lien drew shapes with ink on one or both of my hands, manipulating my gestures into the corresponding shape to signify an upper-case letter. Then, using the same shape on my hands, I manipulated my gesture or changed the perspective through which the shape is viewed in orderto transform the upper-case letter to a lower-case of the same letter. Removingor redrawing the darkened shape on my hands is not allowed in the experiment. The only way to make the model transform from an upper-case to a lower-case (orvice versa) is changing the gestures or the perspectives. {via}

{ Brutalism Love }

Buzludzha Monument

It's no secret I'm a fan of Brutalism. Maybe it was the time I spent studying at the A+A building at University of Tennessee, or because my curriculum was heavy handed with masters like Louis Kahn or Le Corbusier (notre hero)... but the Buzludzha Monument is a Brutalist's dream! Looking like 3D model from a film, the now abandoned building is preserved only through memories and photographs. Timothy Allen trekked to the top of Bulgaria to visit the now weathered Communist's monument. I'm pretty sad this building is in disarray, but according to Allen this is why...

In September 2011, the Bulgarian cabinet transferred ownership of the monument to the Bulgarian Socialist party.Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared, “We shall let them take care of it because here it also holds true that a party which does not respect its past and its symbols has no future”. They have still not come to an agreement about what to do with it. To date, every year at the end of July, 30-40,000 Bulgarian Socialists still congregate at Buzludzha to mark the founding of the Bulgarian Social-Democratic Party. 

Either way, what a spetacular building! Below are a few of my favorite pictures and be sure to check it out on googlemaps too... so surreal. {via}

approaching the monument

look how high up it is!

back in it's glory days...

{ An Adventure of Experiments through Food }

A series by: Erin Gray

I would like to preface my first entry by saying that as of late I have started using my usual sources (foodnetwork.com, most frequently) to find new and exciting recipes. If not already made as such, I have adjusted each recipe to make it more health conscious in an effort to stay within the parameters of my diet I have been on for the past year. For those interested I'll veer off my path just to say thanks to a discovery in the world of apps I have stuck to a plan much like Weight Watcher's, only without the stress of having to be a physicist just to figure out if I'm allowed that glass of wine at dinner or not. Let's face it .. I was an art major, math is not my strong suit! That said, I want everyone to share these recipes and not think of them as guidelines but the building blocks to tweak and use your own creativity to make them yours as I have already done for myself. Enjoy!

Dinner week 1: Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Mexican Lasagna

Mexican Lasagna:

12 wheat tortillas

12 oz shredded cheese (i used kroger hispanic blend)

30.5 oz sweet corn (2 cans of green giant corn)

7 oz diced green chiles

30 oz canned black beans

29 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 T ketchup

garlic salt (to taste, you can also do minced garlic and 1 tsp sea salt)

1 can sliced black olives

1 med. yellow onion

1 lb thin sliced chicken breast

1 jalepeno diced

4 sprigs cilantro, chopped

brown the chicken with just salt and pepper to season. in a sauce pan i cooked the tomatoes, oninon, chilis, garlic salt, ketchup, cilantro and onion for about 10-15 min on medium heat. In a separate bowl mix black beans, olives, corn, and browned chicken. layer as follows : 4 tortillas, half of corn/bean mix, 1/3 of cheese, 4 tortillas last of corn/bean mix, 1/3 of cheese, tomato sauce, rest of cheese. bake on 400 for 30-40 min.. also spray pan with cooking spray so bottom tortillas do not stick.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts:

1 package frozen brussels sprouts, thawed. (or use fresh if you prefer)

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

**for this meal I added chili lime powder to the brussels sprouts, I thought for something Italian adding parmesan cheese might also be a great addition.

drizzle the olive oil over sprouts. season as desired. back at 400 for 30-40 minutes.

{ Now that's a candidate I can get behind }

Hank is in fact a cat. Yes, you heard me correct, a house cat, and he is running for Senate. After being overwhelmingly bombarded with incompotent candidates, Hank sort of makes sense... I mean why not? He's cute enough, and with the state politics are in, at least you  know what you are getting with Hank! Unfortunately Hank is not in my district, let alone my state, but I still enjoy looking at his kitty face.

Hank is a refreshing candidate - energetic, inspiring, and real. Unlike so many others, he wasn’t born with a “silver spoon” - but rather earned his success and his name through hard work. He knows what it’s like to have very little, and knows that with hard work and dedication anyone can seize the opportunities that this great nation presents all of us. {via}