{ Stuck on Repeat }

{ Seinfeld Today }

What if Seinfeld was still on the air today? I love this show and can watch rerun after rerun, and never really thought it was too dated, even though it aired in the early - mid nineties... I don't miss Seinfeld too much, cause I often I think It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia seems like a modern Seinfeld... but maybe way darker...
But thanks to the great people with a twitter account, I no longer have to wonder what this show about  nothing would be about today! {via}

{ Mies Greeting Card }

{via}

{ On Repeat }

I saw the Mutations, a few months back at the local establishment, The Pilot Light, and instantly fell in love with their cute cheeky surf music. I was there to see my friend's band, Daddy Don't, who also killed it. But The Mutations have the bubble gum grunge I just love so I had to share! Be sure to check 'em out when they head back to Knoxville.

{ It's Hard }

Bjork, "It's incredible how nature sets females up to take care of people, and yet it is tricky for them to take care of themselves."
Wise words to remember. I've been having a hard time lately, somehow this helps.

{ Stray Cat Strut }

 this lil' cutie just wanted to show off at the ol' Univision Studios.  {via}

{ Makin' Learnin' Fun }

I remember making fun shapes with notebook paper long before I was makin' fun shapes in architecture school (and life). But the other weekend, the Loon and I visited J&M (in Chattanooga) before they moved to Houston, and somehow Hexaflexagons came up... yeah, I can't really remember how and know this seems weird. But this adorbs lady, Vihart, basically makes this the most enjoyable video about shapes and dimensions. If you enjoy this lil' shape's histroy lesson as much as me, let me also recommend how to make this shape edible, with the Flex Mex (burrito like Hexaflexagon). Too Fun!

{ Well this is a Bummer }

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I honestly never thought about losing a childhood favorite, mostly cause I thought Twinkies would be with me til the end... of the world. Yeah I know it sounds dramatic, but it's twinkies!
 ...the company announced today that it will move ahead with plans to ask a federal bankruptcy court for permission to liquidate its assets and fire some 18,500 employees.
Yikes! that's a lot of bakers and people making one of my all time fave late night indulgence. Be sure to pick up what may be the last of the twinkies before they sell out. If you aren't lucky enough to snag any, above is a lil' video to make your own. {via}

{ No Shave November }

Just your friendly monthly Public Service Announcement

{ Lately }

{ This Past Caturday }

I found this video and had to share! It's almost as good as that awesome Vitalic dog one, Poney Pt. 1, from years back, remember? But I promise this is the last cat video for a few days, I feel like I'm goin cat crazy lately... but maybe that just means it's time for a new kitten... what do ya think Loon?

{ Old White Guys are Everywhere }

Richard Meier x Massimo VignelliOn the Edge of Modernism With the Master Architect and the Genius Designer

Illustrious modernist Richard Meier and multi-disciplinary creator Massimo Vignelli reflect on their respective crafts, city life, and enduring friendship in this mesmeric film by Johnnie Shand Kydd. Shot at the minimalist offices of Richard Meier & Partners on 10th Avenue and West 36th Street, the two powerhouses discuss their collaboration on the firm’s forthcoming monograph, Richard Meier, Architect Volume 6, chronicling the stark, white, rationalist buildings that define the firm’s aesthetic.

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{ It's like we finish each other's }

Sandwiches? {via}

{ Designer's Bookmark }

Best About Pages

Best About Pages: This is exactly as it sounds. Need Graphic Inspiration for your website's About page? Often these About pages are left unthought out and underwhelming, typically containing a small text 'about' the company / person / service, and maybe a picture or two of that said company / person / service. But luckily I found this gem, B. Which I think stands for Best? Regardless of the meaning of 'B', I'm in love with this categorized reference! {via}

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Art of the Menu

Art of the Menu is another categorized reference site, but as the name implies, it's for Menus. This site is particularly nice because you can search this gorgeous menus by location, cuisine, or date added to site. Another site that is worth bookmarking! {via}

{ Branding the Presidents }

Now that the elections are over, I'm glad to leave all this political talk behind me and just get along with my fellow americans. But before I resign all presidency talk, I have to share this too fun, type-candy site with you! Branding the Presidents, is a cute lil' blog where a designer (I'm assumming) has branded each of the 44 Presidents of the United States. Currently only Washington through Reagan are there, why did I say, only? That's still 40 awesome POTUS branding jobs! But I guess I'm most psyched to see what the designer does for Clinton and Bush (Sr.). Here are a few of my fave, Enjoy!

{ Fashion Obsessions }

I'm not going to lie, I'm, like most women, obsessed with Target, but not just because it's a great get everything sorta place. Or cause while in college, I could take a blank check from my mother and get groceries and supplies, which really meant tons of new outfits and shit I never really needed. But the designers Target has been hiring for the past few years never and I'm always excited to get something more coveted and better designed than what I should be able to afford.

This December (the first to be exact) Target and Neiman Marcus are launching one of the biggest design partnerships! I may just have to brave December shopping for this event. I've already got my list ready, which includes a Marc Jacob scarf, Rodart Christmas ornament, Alice + Olivia bike (yeah, right, but a girl can dream can't she?!?), and maybe a tory burch thermos to just name a few!{via}

{ Sex Kittens }

What's better than vintage pin up girls? Well in my humble opinion not much. Then Jezebel had to let me in on this too cute tumblr, Cats that Look Like Pinup Girls. Now I'm smitten!

{ Pups can now be pretty too }

Another link I just had to share, I mean, it's too ridiculous not to. Puppylocks (reminds me of kittywigs) is a company selling feather extensions to click to your puppy... of course! Some pet owners are so crazy! This is so over top, I secretly kind of like it, and really want the pup in the pic to have Colors of the Wind playing while I look at his majestic-ness!

{ Now Ain't that the Truth: Architecture School }

I found this hilarious tumblr had to share. Hopefully it will brighten your day, it did mine, but I've been done with school for a while. {via}
enjoy my recent fave...{click for animated gif link}

{ Steampunk Party: Part 2 }

Happy Hungry Guests

Steampunk Party: Part 2, is really the menu... or the good stuff if you will... The Loon and I slaved over this menu for a good 2 evenings.. I know we're crazy, I mean the lil' one can't eat too much, but we wanted to make sure we had fun, adult worthy, yet kid friendly foods. I don't think I mentioned it previously, but we don't have too many friends with kids, and lil' bit isn't yet in daycare or school, so we really had to walk the fine line of kid friendly (for the 3 other kids in attendance) and adult fun, for the dozen other guests. Below is the run down on what we served.

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Double Vanilla + Double Chocolate Cupcakes
courtesy of wickedcolorgirl - you might know her from
the recent food posts / blog addition.
Below are the Caprese Kabobs

Steampunk Cupcake Detail

I did make all the little flags for the cupcakes and luckily I was turned on to Michael's (the craft store) cause they had TONS of cute steampunk-ish accessories. That's where we got the gears for the cupcakes and a few more sheets of cute papers and the cupcake wrappers.

The flags weren't too difficult to make, but my first try definitely didn't fare like I had hoped and I had to re-glue a lot of the fabric.

• I took a few scraps of left over fabric I had laying around from various craft projects, 
• I believe 3 different fabrics, about a 6 inches long and maybe 2 inches high
• I places two lines of jewlery making wire about 3/4" apart 
• brushed some modge podge glue (this is all happening on the 'back side' of the fabric) over the wires and fabric
• folded the fabric over (good side showing / up) and let set over night
• I then took some sharp scissors and cut out cute flags, and wrapped around toothpicks
• Viola! done! this made about 18 flags, some better looking than others. That's why we got the Michael's Gears, plus those were just cute too!

I'll be sure to get Wickedcolorgirl to post the cupcake recipes too!

There isn't a great photo of it, but we also had Caprese Kabobs. Mainly because I didn't want a sweets overload, and the lil' one LOVES a grape tomato. These were a great addition, and SO EASY to make!
All you need are:

• 1 pint of grape tomatoes
• 1 12oz package of fresh mozerella balls (the smalls ones) I think we just got whatever was best priced at Kroger
• A few sprigs of fresh basil (from the garden) - I tried to do 2 leaves of basil per skewer
• Alternate mozerella, basil, and tomatoes on bamboo skewer
• Once done, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a little salt and pepper
• Serve!

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Green Apple + Brie Turnovers

These were also super easy, but I do have to be forward, and say they didn't look as good as I had hoped / the example one I found {via}. What you'll need:

• 1 box (2 sheets) of puff pastry, thawed - boy is that important!
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar, divided
• 1 tbsp of butter, also divided
• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, divided
• 1 wheel of brie (the small one that comes in the cute wooden box at the store)
• 1 egg (for the wash)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10 by 10-inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. Place a good-sized slice of brie and 3 or 4 this slices of apple the middle of each of the 4 squares. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon and brown sugar and top with a pat of butter. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry.

Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm. Now this is where mine went array, cause I made mine at about 2am the night before, so the next morning, they were a little soggy... but luckily a few minutes in the oven, like 15minutes before the party started, crisped them right back up!

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Salted Caramel + Chocolate Marshmellows

Now the Loon made these, and WHOA! I had no ever had homemade marshmellows, but let me tell you they were worth the headache! soooo much better than the stuff in a bag!

He went off this recipe {via}, but we didn't use the tea, and kept them fairly simple. Seeing as it was our first time.

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Nutella Meringues

These bad boys, make about 15 to 20 meringues (depends on how big you make them)

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• a pinch of cream of tartar - I know, what is a pinch? I think it's like an eigth of a tsp.But literally, I pinched it! 
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon, granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup Nutella

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Make sure you have one oven rack in the bottom third of your oven and one in the upper third of your oven.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Set up a double boiler (a pot with another pot on top or a heat-proof bowl on top) and put the Nutella in the top of the double boiler. Warm the Nutella through and then set aside while you make the meringue. (You could warm the Nutella in a microwave but I don’t own one so you’re on your own if you do use one.) Let the Nutella cool as you make the meringue.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, place the egg whites. Beat on medium-high speed until they are completely foamy.
• Add the cream of tartar and the salt and continue whipping at medium-high speed until when you lift the whisk attachment, soft peaks form. This should take a few minutes.
• Once you have reached the soft peak stage, increase the speed to high and begin adding the sugar a few spoonfuls at a time (this should take a few minutes).
• Once all the sugar is in, the meringue should be very thick (almost stiff) and when you left the whisk firm peaks should remain.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and drop in all the Nutella. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the Nutella into the meringue three or four times. You’re aiming for a swirled effect so don’t overmix. This will also help avoid deflating the meringue.
• Using two spoons, drop the meringue onto the parchment-lined baking sheets in large dollops.
• Place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, immediately lower the heat to 200 degrees F. and rotate the trays. Bake for an hour.
• After an hour, check the meringues. If they are completely dried out then turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for a few hours to cool with the oven. If the meringues still look a bit “wet”, then continue baking for another 20 minutes or so. Either way, once fully baked, turn off the oven and leave the meringues in there for a few hours. - I didn't have this luxury, because the Loon needed the oven for the cake, so I had to risk it and luckily they checked out alright and were delicious!
• When you remove the meringues from the oven they should be completely dry and cool and will sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.

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Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate + Mint, White Chocolate + Espresso
Moustaches

I really wanted something cute and chocolate-y after I saw these over at Oh Happy Day. These were super super super easy to make, once I realized you had to buy those little candy making discs, ya know...
We really wanted to make these from scratch but with time a factor, I got the discs and used the old double broiler and this CUTE candy mold from Micheal's, and froze them for about 20mins before I popped them out and started the next batch. I could never get the candy sticks to work, so I had to just improvise and leave 'em as candy without sticks, but the lil' one just LOVED them, and they worked so well with the theme!

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Bacon + Cheddar Quiches

Quiche is what I consider one of my 'bachelor' recipes. It's so easy, and delicious, and always get tons of compliments, and did I mention I can eat off of it for a while? Well these little Quiches were no exception!

You'll need:

• 2 packages of cream spinach (the microwavable kind)
• 2 packages (each have 15, so you'll get 30 mini quiches total) of mini quiche shells
• 1 16oz package of shredded sharp cheddar
• 3 large eggs
• 4-6 slices (I diced mine up before cooking) of bacon

and to make:

• preheat oven to 350
• microwave the cream spinach for half the time, more or less so it's defrosted and easy to work with, once it's done and room temp ( you don't wanna scramble those eggs if too hot!) add in the eggs, and cheese and bacon, and stir
• dish out into mini pie shells and bake for approx. 15mins, or until the tops are brown

That's it and you're done! it's pretty much the same for a regular quiche too, just bake for approx. 45mins instead.

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The Birthday Boy just loved the Peanut Butter Moustache!
more than his cake... but that was another fiasco! 

{ Steampunk Party: Part 1 }

Entry way with Gift bags

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the lil' one's first birthday. It was such an acomplishment and I was one proud momma, yes for him, but also for us. The Loon + I didn't kill each other in our first year for caring for this lil' bug. Que the song. . . So we had a lot of celebrating to do. But all my previous experience in party throwing usually just results in getting a keg and setting up a beer pong table outside. This party had to be good, and hopefully Pinterest worthy. Well first things was first, I had to hire a photographer, ya know incase it was photograph worthy, and I really didn't want to miss a moment behind a camera or just not have any decent pics. Luckily Aperture Overture Photography was in my budget and had a good portfolio (and needless to say took some great pics).

Now the Loon and I went back and forth on themes for a while, but we finally settled on Steampunk, I think I updated you last on the Steampunk coloring books I was making for favors. Anyways, it's pretty hard to find inspiration or examples for a Steampunk party, much less something baby appropriate. I think we deviate a little but I hope you see the slight inspiration and enjoy the pics and how to links.

Entry way with Gift bags, which
contain the Steampunk Coloring books

chalk board + pinwheel detail

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The Kitchen was really where all the 'partying'... can you say that at a 1year old's party? ... was happening

The Drink Station

We had an Adult Orange Creamsicle Drink (and Wine of course!),
and the kiddies had a classic berry punch

The Orange Creamsicle Drink was:

• 3 Fresh cut Naval Oranges
• 1 750ml bottle of Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka (we like our drinks strong and serious)
• 1 bottle of Simply Orange (no pulp but that's just me)
• 1 2litre bottle of Ginger Ale (we had Big K - kroger brand) and just fill it up to the rest of the container with iceThis made 1.5 Gallons (that's the size jar I had)

The Berry Punch was:

• a good handfull of blueberries and strawberries, slightly mushed up with my mortar and pestol 
• 2 Qrt Container of Earthfare Brand Fruit Punch
• 1 2litre bottle of Ginger Ale (we had Big K - kroger brand) and just fill it up to the rest of the container with ice
  This also made 1.5 Gallons (that's the size jar I had)

we also glued circle to the cups that read, Happy Birthday Donovan
and made foam mustaches and monocles 

A happy mustached party go-er!

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Here you can really see all the puffs in the background.
I made them from Dollar Store Tissue Paper and this tutorial

A happy cupcake eater and you can see the end of the balloons / photo
arrangement falling down...

I tried to attach pics of the babe throughout his first year to the balloons
over the table... it didn't turn out as great as this post, but it was still
fun to see all his lil' faces 

I also made all the bunting and garland from Hobby Lobby scrap book paper
They really had a great selection and I went on a day they all happened
to be marked down. Here you can also really see the puffs over his high chair.

The Food - I'll probably do a post on this next

{ 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.