a random dose of valentines.

i love all the little reminders of love in our life.  here are a few surrounding us at the moment.

this sweet present was a gift from my sister and nephew.  isn't it amazing?  she's so thoughtful & creative.  it totally made my day.

these days i love heading to starbucks for an earl gray latte and a little love note.  i just wish they sold this as a print.  i'd buy it in a second.

pretty packages waiting to be mailed to the family.  they'll likely arrive late, but i hope everyone enjoys what's inside!

happy friday!  find lots of love this weekend!

shrimp bisque.

with lovefest right around the corner, i'll be settling in to post on all things lovely and of course, pink for the next couple days.  and for all you anti-valentine's day folks out there, don't worry, this madness will end tuesday.  today's pink post is an awesome recipe for anyone looking for that perfect meal for your sidekick or larger groups.

shrimp bisque is one of our favorites.  the first time i made it, was around this time, five years ago in our old sackets harbor apartment.  i was still in the wifely dinner-making mode of early marriage and wanted to serve something nice for a. after a long day of work.  for someone new to the cooking world, this recipe, while simple- has a lot of steps and can make a serious mess of any kitchen.  

but don't let that sway you.  it's amazing.  and very modifiable (i.e. lower fat, creamier, spicier, etc.).  the recipe comes from barefoot contessa at home (i have never in my life, made a bad meal from this book) and while i prefer my leeks browned & with a bit more cayenne pepper than the recipe calls for, i think it's perfect in every other way.

spoiler alert, i amitiously took photos of the first few step and later got sidetracked the minute i tried prosessing the shrimp & leeks in a very small food processor.  it was much messier than i anticipated (and as stated above, i should have known).  

needless to say, the first attempt at this soup turned out amazingly, and won me some mad diamond-points (because why would you save all your points for brownies?).  we love it & it's been a staple in our home ever since.  

weekending//business-trip style.

work took me to philly so i dragged a. with me for moral support.  we drove down friday since i had a speaker's dinner (while i wasn't a speaker, i was interviewed, gulp!).  saturday was a long day.  while i networked and attended sessions, a. kept busy studying and test-taking (spoiler alert, he's taking classes for his cfp).  but sunday was glorious.  we spent the day together gallivanting around the outskirts of philadelphia, exploring ikea and  met up with a dear childhood friend and her boyfriend for dinner and some awesome conversation.  in no particular order, here's the recap.

1. sunday: zakes cakes and cafe had a stellar brunch.  one order of zakes omelet with a side of fruit and one order of their original eggs benedict (made with salmon).  yum!
2. sunday: a beautiful walk on tyler's potato farm.  the serenity of the land & his beautiful home made this a perfect recap to the otherwise busy trip.
3. sunday: a quick trip to ikea for operation organization (more on that coming soon).
4. saturday: beer menu.  i chose hop devil.  and i'd do it all over again.
5. friday: catching up on a full inbox before the speaker dinner.
6. saturday: the restaurant for the last networking reception of the weekend.
7. sunday: the very last bit of syracuse snow.  what a tease.
8. sunday: zakes.  seriously, best brunch i've had in quite some time.
9. sunday: tylers home.  built in the 1800's he gutted and restored the entire thing.  by hand.
10. saturday: quick break under the university's skylights.
11. friday: quick and dirty lunch at five guys.  i'm a sucker for peanuts and think their burgers are over-rated (granted, i've only have the veggie burgers...).
12. saturday: a.'s reading, with wine and cough drops.  we went through an entire bag of those suckers (pun intended) over the weekend.  nice.

so there you have it.  our weekend recap.  definitely nothing fancy (with the exception of our visit with friends...and i really wish i took more pictures.  but let's be honest, it was about catching up.  not finding blog material.)  but we had a really nice time.  like i said yesterday, we took monday off to catch up and rest up.  so all said and done, it wasn't too shabby.

a valentine garland.

i had to work over the weekend & opted to take yesterday off to recoup and refresh.  it was a perfect-kinda-day since a. also had the day off.  yay!  most of the day was spent organizing our office- but more on that later.

in an effort to keep up my 30 minutes of craftiness per day, i chose to take a break from the office chaos and pull together a quick project.  i had all the materials at home and after finding inspiration in homemade living, decided to make a valentine garland.  you know, since it's the month of all things love...

using a cookie cutter as a template, i traced hearts on 3 different colors of felt.  once i had the tracing done, i cut out the hearts and arranged them in the pattern i wanted to use.  then, i fed the hearts through the sewing machine one after another, giving the hearts enough space so there was a bit of loose thread between each. 

i love the way this turned out.  it was such a quick project and adds the perfect bit of valentine cheer to our home.  & i'd love to make more for the other windows.

for now, i'm going to enjoy this lovely valentines decor.  in my opinion these homemade touches are a hundred times better than many store-bought decorations.  i'm so happy i took the time to make it!  enjoy.

inspired home.

lately, i've been finding inspiration in these books.  they've been on my amazon wish list for a while now and i finally buckled down and purchased them.  both are amazing, and to be honest, printing by hand is definitely my favorite.  the projects are simplistic, clean and modern.  not to mention, she provides some of the designs used throughout the book for personal use.  yay!

handmade living has some beautiful pictures and a lot of great decorating ideas.  there's not a lot of how-to and more recipes than projects, but the amount of inspiration wrapped within the pages makes it a great purchase.  i'm excited to bring a few of these elements to our home and promise to share the results when i do.

here's wishing you a happy and inspired weekend!