everything's coming up roses

If you're interested in this post it means one of two things, either you're in a pinch or you straight up forgot that Valentine's Day was this Thursday. I've got what you need, step into my office. Whether you're willing to spend a lot or a little, I have 6 gifts that you can give your sweet and I won't even take credit for the idea.

From top left going clockwise: If you're going for the faint-factor, decorate your lady with the Tiffany sparklers lavender amethyst ring. To soothe her winter skin and make her smell like roses, L'Occitane's rose petals hand cream. For kissable lips, Dior's crème de rose' smoothing plumping lip balm. Treat her to a new statement fragrance such as Marni, exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue. (If you buy now you'll get a free cosmetic bag with purchase, I picked up mine this weekend and am over the hill with the scent!) Fill up her (or your shared) apartment with the a duet of diptyque's best scents, rose + baies. Last but not least, flowers are always a sure bet. I've been using Park Avenue Florists for my latest celebrations for friends. Their beautiful designs can be sent directly to her office or pick them up on your way to see her.

Sending love to everyone out there.

coffee courting

The 14th of February is approaching whether you like it or not. Last year I was semi-single and not expecting much on the day. I made small heart pins for some of my co-workers to help spread some love around. I was surprised when I asked a few people and they said no! That they were against any sort of Valentines Day celebrating… it never occurred to me to take such a strong stance. Nevertheless, those who accepted the heart pin wore it around and I think it made them feel just a little bit fuzzy that day.

I said "semi-single" did you catch that? I was crushing big time but it was a bit difficult having that we worked about 10 feet from each other. My day usually began with Chris and I going to Starbucks to get our coffee and to spend a few minutes being flirty (he) and giddy (me). We were very conscious to not bringing any sort of relationship into the workplace so that morning coffee was sometimes the only time of the day where I could blush and not be embarrassed or feel that I had a dozen eyes on me. On Valentines Day I came into work expecting for the normal routine when I saw that my drink was already on my desk. My heart sunk into my butt.

So if you're in a relationship or not come the 14th, do something nice for someone you know. Even if it's a friendly gesture. Who knows in a years time what that could turn into.

apples to apples

I made my first apple pie back in October when inspired by Blue Stoves own homemade pies. I've been perfecting my skill since then for Thanksgiving, Chris's Birthday and just for the sake of the smell filling the apartment. Tonight I made apple cake as requested by the apple king himself, Chris. As we wait for the cake to cool, I thought to share the two recipes for those of you who are looking to fill your own kitchen with the amazing aroma of baked apples. Happy Sunday to everyone. Cheers.

apple pie

crust

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup butter, chilled and diced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup ice water

Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Refrigerate while you prep the filling. Roll out half the dough to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Fill the pie with your apple mixture. Roll out the other half of the dough and either lattice 1/4" wide strips or cover it fully and slice small slits into the top.

filling

4-5 baking apples

3/4 cup fine sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Peel and core the apples. Dice them into 1-inch cubes. Place in medium bowl with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix together and empty into pie curst. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

apple cake

ingredients

3/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

4 large apples (a mix of varieties)

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons dark rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, melted and cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Peel and core the apples. Dice them into 1-inch cubes. In a separate bowl whisk eggs until foamy. Whisk in sugar, then rum and finally the vanilla. Add in half of the flour mixture and half the butter. Add the rest once it blends together. Fold in apple cubes little by little until they are well coated in the batter. Scape everything into your pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

no place like home

I moved to New York City the summer of 2008. After graduation and a month or so of pool hopping and waitressing I took a job, found an apartment and never looked back. You hear different stories about people's first year or so living in the city. Going out until 5 am and spending the next day swearing you'll never do that again until you forget you have a birthday party or promised a friend you'd meet them for drinks. Working hard - 10 and sometimes 12 hour days because you feel like it's a rite of passage living here. Getting on the wrong train, meeting the most random people and spending way too much on cabs. You know what I remember the most though, being absolutely broke.

I had a roof over my head and clean clothes but that was only because I knew which deli had the cheapest ramen and yogurt. I ate a lot of eggs and toast to say the least but through all of it, I can't say that I never thought that enough was enough. I loved it here, I still love it here. Every paycheck felt like a blessing and while it was a bit of a struggle, much like the days spent working well into the night, it was another NYC rite of passage to me.

This city puts you through it's own fleet of tests. Even now when the temperatures have been hovering around 10 degrees with the occasional snowfall, I smile every time I walk through Madison Square Park. I cried in Whole Foods in Chelsea when I received my job offer. I fell in love, literally in the Empire State Building. Sometimes I think that little bit of hunger made me work that much harder to stay. Because even though this city can chew you up and spit you back out hungover, tired and overworked, it's breathtaking every time I walk down the street. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. This is my home.

Puff, Puff, Pass

Hello, yes it's me. Miss Bad Blogger. The holidays can go either way really. Some years I have next to nothing going on so I'm blogging away about this and that and other years I'm so busy that I'll be walking down the street thinking some random thought and taking a mental note to blog it later and then I'm distracted by whatever bakery I pass or some odd smell (pine, good. homeless, bad). This holiday is busy. I know I said I wasn't going to use that word… so let me rephrase. This holiday has been hectic. You already know I'm moving, work is full throttle until break, I have 3 freelance projects going at once (not complaining, I love you freelance clients. You rock my world!) and I'm trying to find the energy to begin running again and possibly pick boxing back up.

In the midst of everything I've been cooking and baking lots. So much that I haven't been able to post any of the recipes. I hope that someone out there takes a chance and cooks something I post because they really are tried and true. Either way, it's nice to bookmark recipes so that I can go back to them from time to time. I just sat down after prepping tonight's dinner for Chris and I. The menu is comprised of roasted brussel sprouts, garlic and rosemary potatoes and lemon chicken. After dicing and chopping and having everything ready to boil, brown and bake I sat down to work on freelance and thought… one quick post. 

A month or so ago I picked up November's issue of Bon Appetite and tried to cook my way through it. I think the favorite dish was the spinach puffs. I made these during hurricane Sandy. My supermarket was surprisingly stocked and I was itching for some sort of a project. I set to these puffs and ate the entire pan myself. Not in one day though, I'm not that disgusting. They are delicious and like most things I post, easy. I would suggest whipping these up for a dinner party because they taste very impressive and require minimal ingredients. My only recommendation is that you use a mini muffin pan. These are a bit big so I think if I were to serve them to guests, I'd make them more bite size and easy to eat. I was unable to purchase the frozen puff pastry so I made crust and rolled it thinly to line the pan. I also used fresh spinach where the recipe called for frozen. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup chopped fresh spinach

1/2 cup crumbled feta

1/4 cup minced onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped dill

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3-ounce package), thawed, rolled out to a 12-inch square, kept chilled (or sub homemade crust, just scroll down some here)

Chop up your spinach and mix with next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. In a separate small bowl, beat 1 egg to blend; fold into spinach mixture. 

Cut puff pastry into 3 equal strips. Reserve 1 strip for another use. Cut each remaining strip into 3 squares for a total of 6. Place a square in each muffin cup, pressing into bottom and up sides and leaving corners pointing up. Divide filling among cups. Fold pastry over filling, pressing corners together to meet in center. If you make your crust just be sure to roll it to about 1/4" thin.

Preheat oven to 400°. Beat remaining egg to blend in a small bowl. Brush pastry with egg wash (this will give the pastry a nice sheen). Bake until pastry is golden brown and puffed, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let puffs cool in pan for 10 minutes. Run a sharp paring knife around pan edges to loosen; turn out puffs onto rack to cool slightly before serving.

original recipe bon appetite magazine

that's a wrap

As the year wraps up so am I. All of my projects seem to be coming to a close at work (new ones on their way no doubt), I'm crossing off errands and year long to-do lists are getting shorter and shorter. Even my Christmas shopping is near complete, something that never usually begins until about December 15th. I've shared so much on suddenly lovely that I feel that a change in my life should be somewhat ceremonially put into words and up on the blog. I am physically wrapping up everything I own, I am moving to Brooklyn.

A little over a year ago I wrote about my then current roommate's decision to move out of our cozy 2 bedroom upper west side apartment to an apartment where her and her boyfriend would share the space. Looking back at what I had wrote, I can assure you that I've become one of those absolutely crazy s.o.b.'s that claim "when you know you know." Because now I know and guess what, it's true that another borough has enough room to house both our physical and emotional space.

My first ever apartment (student housing for a summer internship) was in Brooklyn Heights right off the Clark Street stop on the 2, 3. I loved everything about that neighborhood. I was scared to death to use the subway, spent Saturday and Sunday mornings along the water just admiring New York City and it became a definite reason why I returned to the city once I graduated college. Coming up on 4 years of working in NYC I am thrilled to be returning to Brooklyn of a new neighborhood. East Williamsburg is an up and coming neighborhood which I've come to love and will soon call home.

I currently reside in a smallish 2 bedroom apartment on the upper west side. I say smallish because to anyone unaware of the typical/affordable NYC apartment, my place is hellishly small but to someone more aware of the apartment situation in the city and the absurd rent then my apartment isn't so bad. I live a block from Central Park and the American History Museum. I am chatty with my neighbors, my grocery store clerks, the trainers at my gym, the supers on my entire block and the bodega owner. I've been there for 2 years now which is just long enough for me to soak up all that I can of the neighborhood. Plus, in moving to Brooklyn I gain a private deck with so much potential for a garden.

More so than the garden, I gain the experience of living with my significant other. Both of us being designers means we can equally geek out at the wonderful studio space we are setting up in the second bedroom. As we combine our things and bring the apartment to life I can't help but look back at the space between and wonder who that was writing the post. Who knew so much could happen in a year. Maybe in 12 months I'll be looking back at this post and wondering the same thing. Time will tell. Hello Brooklyn.

two

 I feel like one of those parents who says good morning to their child and then half way through the day looks at the calendar to realize that today is their own child's birthday - and they forgot. Hurry to the store and get a cake, what was that something they wanted from that store, do they like chocolate or vanilla, over spend, over decorate, happy birthday! no we didn't FORGET we've been planning to surprise you all along!

Today is suddenly lovely's two year birthday. I've written 162 posts inspired from my past, present and future. They are babbles of mine that have turned into a place for me to recall recipes, places I've been and people I've known.

From the past year, below are the three posts that stuck out most to me.
The most truthful: Don't Stay
The most delish: Scrumptious Scone
STILL the most read: Naked Truth

I still am completely taken back when people reference suddenly lovely. It means so much that someone (anyone really) reads this. Thank you for reading, putting up with my bad grammar and spelling and for saying little things here and there to me about a post or picture that stuck with you. I hope that for maybe a few minutes a day at work while you have your lunch or need a break you can click around here and find something that you enjoy.

less is more

I awoke from the sun beaming in from outside. A cool fall breeze from the window and in the arms of a man who loves me very much and all I could do was whine and complain.

I had no makeup, deodorant, clean clothes, face wash, comfortable shoes. My head hurt, my arm hurt from a flu vaccine days prior, my jaw sore from my apparent teeth grinding sleep. I could hear how annoying, bratty and selfish I sounded but I kept going on and on. Why was the sun so bright and why did the landlord choose Saturday morning to replace the siding (this was the only fair complaint since they began hammering at 8am). Chris, my boyfriend who spoiled me with a movie and dinner the night prior, listened and didn't interrupt as I went on and on. After a pause in my banter, mostly because I was probably looking for other things to bitch about he simple said, "Maybe you need too many things."

I fired back that I didn't think clean underwear was too much to ask but throughout the day and entire weekend the question stuck with me - do I really need so much?

With the change of the season I've found myself wanted more things. Hats, shoes, gadgets, beauty products, jewelry, everything really. I want these times but what is more alarming is that I feel I deserve these things. Why a $60 candle? Well because I earned it. I work hard goddammit so if I want my room to smell like one big fancy rose, so be it. When I come back down to earth I realize how stupid that line of reasoning is. You know what I really need? A big reality check.

I need the basics. Food, water, shelter and a job. I do not need $25 lipstick, $60 candles or an $800 watch. I have plenty of clothes to layer for the fall and winter, a heavy jacket, a hat, a cabinet of soup and to be honest, too much lipstick already. Having all I need is a blessing I seem to lose touch with all too often. My ego gets the best of me and the situation, convincing me that these things will somehow improve my life quality. What will however is wanted less. A current yoga lesson brought up the idea of taking less. Taking only what you need so there is more for everyone around you. Why does that sound so simple and easy but when I'm standing in the middle of Bloomingdale's I have this incredible pressure that if I do not have that DVF scarf that would mean no groceries for two weeks that I can't keep it in the front of my mind?

So it begins - the constant mantra of needing and wanting less. Taking what I have and seeing it all as blessings rather than burdens. And most of all to stop whining so much. No one wants to hear that.

i fall for fall

And just like that, summer is over. I've been in a blissful state now that things have cooled down. Sleeping with the windows open with the cool air coming in has left me rested and ready to start the day each morning. With fall comes a change of weather and some fun additions to my lifestyle. The Balenciaga buckle ankle boots are an ideal wardrobe staple but let's face it, I need to pay rent instead. (A girl can dream) Alexander Wang coin purse for my metro card, more film for my mini polaroid camera, MOR candle to scent my room, ck one pure color lipstick in lip lock for a perfect berry pout, cider donuts which I can not say no to at every flea market, a Movado watch in rose gold and gold stamped Kate Spade note cards to write well wishes to friends and family this season. Rock on fall, I love you.

a day away

  80 some minutes outside of the city in the Hudson Valley is Beacon, New York. By taking Metro-North out of Grand Central Station you can take the east line towards Poughkeepsie, get off at Beacon and find yourself a short walk from Dia:Beacon. Taken directly from the museums brochure;

Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries opened in May 2003 as the presentation facility for the collection and a series of exhibitions and performances. Dia:Beacon occupies a former Nabisco box-printing factory build in 1929 and offers 240,000 square feet of exhibition space, most of which is illuminated by natural light. In collaboration with the architecture firm OpenOffice, artist Robert Irwin designed the interior spare, the building vestibule and forecourt, as well as the surrounding landscape.

Assembled during the 1970s and early 1980s, Dia's original collection includes artworks by Joseph Beuys, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Imi Knoebel, Blinky Palermo, Fred Sandback, Franz Erhard Walther, Andy Warhol, and Robert Whitman.

I know being a graphic designer that most would think that I adore art museums of all sorts and visit them on a frequent basis but it's quite the opposite. I enjoy all art but don't mind admiring it from afar, say a website or a book. I appreciate it but it needs to be something pretty absurd and interesting to get my butt in front of it. The trip to Dia:Beacon was spur-of-the-night-before and promised a pretty train ride and a cute town to boot. The town is more or less a drag but I recommend the museum to everyone who has the time. Go when it's bright and sunny out so you can appreciate the great sky lights and naturally light artwork. Walking through and being able to really grasp the space the collection took up made each exhibit special and exciting. The museum's interior design caters to each artist. It fits comfortably in the space. I was so affected by the light that while I was left feeling a bit down after a walk through main street (think sad, slow forgotten town) that I was almost instantly snapped back and energized to go through each and every part of the space.

My personal favorites was the Agnes Martin and Michael Heizer collections. Quite different but equally engaging I found myself thinking about the entire trip to Dia:Beacon for the rest of the weekend. So if you have the time and want to get out of the city for a few hours I highly recommend the trip.

dream a little dream

There are so many steps. They begin at a normal height and width but continuously grow taller and wider so that I have to sit down and skooch to the edge on my butt to get to the next. I'm trying to get to the bottom because I am late. Full of anxiety and a rush of adrenaline because I know I'm going to take a bad step and fall. Smooth, cool metal. Blue hue with a perfect brushed metal texture. The steps, they slant at the most absurd angle. Look up to take a breath to see the most modern looking chandelier full of small metal loops. They hang down and look like rain falling from the sky. I continue going down.

Sometimes when I wake up I have a lingering dream that is just out of reach to recall. Sometimes though the details are so vivid that I swear it wasn't a dream at all. All those fucking steps. Even my hands were cool enough to have made me think I really was using them to guide me down as they grew more steep. So I got up and went to the bathroom. I keep a small guide to dream book on the back of the toilet. I mostly love the illustrations but time to time when I have an alarming dream, something so vivid, I'll take a peek. Brushing my teeth I found "steps."

Ascended + Descending
280 Steps and Stairs
With its rhythmic motion, going up and down steps or stairs presents a Freudian symbol of intercourse. A long, straight staircase is something a phallic symbol, just a the stairwell may symbolize the female genitalia. More modern interpretations may view climbing stairs as an expression of personal growth and developing emotional maturity. Descending or falling down stairs may express anxiety about "climbing too high" in some aspect of your life - that is, overestimating your abilities.

Well I'll be damned. Spot on. Recovering from surgery which links me to the Freudian symbol of female genitalia (Sorry to be so… honest here). And for the modern interpretation, I have a terrible habit of promising more to people in life and at work that sometimes I'm able to handle. I've been spread a bit thin lately but working on being more conscious of what I can achieve and within what time limit. I'm trying to climb high, as high as humanly possible. But climbing up requires a good foundation and confidence for each step. I never did fall in my dream. I reached the bottom and literally smashed through the last step. Yeah, take that weird dream.

putting on the spritz

Recently my days have been… stressful to say the least. Times where I feel stretched to my limit always remind me of endless hours spent in the design studio. Another student who was a year ahead of me always seemed to be on top of her game, even in times of complete chaos. You would never know that she had been in the studio all night because she presented herself calm, cool and collected. Lipstick on, hair clean and neat. She gave me a bit of advice that has stuck with me since that day. "I always try to look nice because getting dressed and putting on my makeup is sometimes the only good part of my day."

When I feel beat up because of the daily grind sometimes I wear my favorite dress or lipstick to pick me up. I may feel like I'm falling apart but that doesn't mean I need to look it. More than anything my fragrance picks me up the most. Above is what currently is on display on my bureau.

Top row, left to right: Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel Chance, Balenciaga Paris, Balenciaga L'Essence and Bottega Veneta. Bottom row, left to right: LAVANILLA Laboratoreis Vanilla Grapefruit, Vera Wang Lovestruck, Clinique Happy, Prada Infustion d'Iris and Marc Jacobs Splash in Fig (no longer available).