Into the Woods

The Thought

It’s chilly outside, and you want to take a walk, but you’re in the city, and want to feel a little country.  Think plaid. Think those western inspired, but still sturdy boots. Think a little shearling added will make the dream come alive. The fit of the khakis here is up to what suits your shape. Do you think you’re a pear – go wide legged – curvy? think a little bootcut to show off those hips. Skinny tucked into a tall pair of boots makes this outfit a little more night time ready. I enjoy plaid in just about anything, almost to a fault, so this shirt can get as flexible as you need it to for other outfits. Enjoy a little “out west” flair, even on the East Coast.

The Inspiration

The Gear

Forever 21: Topstitched Short Boots $26.80

          Distressed Suedette Like Jacket $44.80

Target: Mossimo Supply Co. Juniors Flannel Shirt - Sunset Brown $15.00

      Mossimo Supply Co. Juniors Chino Pant - Bonjour Brown $21.99

Charlotte Russe: Ruched Canvas Tote $19.50

Getting it Together

This year I’m taking off the entire Thanksgiving week. I urge you to find some time before  this busy season gets too on it’s way to organize and purge your house. Not only is this the season of charity and my closet has plenty to give, but it’s the idea that with so many coming and goings, that making space will help me keep my sanity.

I usually start with my closet. Being a clothes horse has it’s downfall. I don’t have enough space, and I constantly think that I’ll finally find the “magic” way of getting it all to fit and work functionally without spending magical amounts of money. This is something I’d kill to have, done, I continue to think that my addiction to plastic storage will present the very solution to this quandary, but alas, I continue to sit and lie in wait for it to make itself known.

On the heels of this practice in the closet usually beckons me to unload all of my Christmas decor, which resides in the very next den of purging – the garage. While I’m happy to say that most of my organizing has taken place over the last year, there’s always room for improvement. I continue to ask myself, item in hand, “Do I need this?”, “When was the last time I used it?” and all importantly, “If I lost it tomorrow, how much would it take to replace it?”…after this it’s pretty clear whether or not someone else will make treasure out of something I found just “ok” to own.

After I have these two biggies sorted, I generally go to the nitpicky areas of my house – shelves in the pantry and laundry area, the junk drawer, my paper files, places that I usually throw those last minute organizing things into and forget about until later. It’s these areas that generally have the most donatable or even just plain trash hidden inside them, making me wonder how it is that life accumulated up so quickly!

So donate a bit of time to yourself, it’ll pay off in the holiday season when you’re looking for something and realize that it was there all along…just a bit hidden!

Falling for Fall

 

As I sit here looking out the window, I’m always amazed at how clearly beautiful the fall sunlight can be.  The most mundane object (this coffee mug on my desk even!) looks like there’s a lovely glow about it that beckons me to write. Perhaps this weekend I’ll spend a bit of time working on my book and seeing if I can get Ralph outdoors for a walk or two. I wish you the best in your fall endeavors, enjoy a wonderful few days of bliss.

Crunch through the leaves, be a kid again.

Blogs I hope you’ve enjoyed this week:

Peacock Wedding in Full Effect

King Kong: Dog Tamer

Nikko Nikos: Greek Gods Eat Here!

Here You Go!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope it’s been enjoyable and you may have even cleared yourself a bit of space to organize before the big holidays really are upon us! To motivate myself, I usually get my Coke Zero, my most comfy around the house clothes, open up the windows to let the fresh air in, and put on my music as a way to make me dance through the day!

If you’re out in the hustle and bustle this weekend – hope you find yourself enjoying the friends, food, family, fun and fabulousness that is Fall!

Some blogs from this week:

Hiking Looks for the Woodsy Girl

Lighting up your life

A Taste of the North

At Night of Greek

Niko Niko’s is quintessential Greek food in Houston. The location is a bit far from me, but it’s always worth the drive. I’ve gotten plenty there, but when venturing out for a new food type, I’m always one to order the “plate of everything” in order to get a bite of each dish. This way, should something strike my fancy, I know what to order the next time I”m out.

While Niko Niko’s has parking issues, and tends to always have a line, I think this speaks to it’s food quality. It’s served on styrofoam, you get in, order at a counter, and move out, it’s loud, it’s crazy, it’s not somewhere you go to have a deep conversation. It could be a great platform for one of those Jerry Maguire-esque “We’re letting you go” moments though, I’ve never seen this place without a crowd.

My usual dish is the Greek Combo Plate which includes pastichio, mousaka, keftedes, dolmas, spanakopita, tiropita & gyros. It also includes a greek salad, pita & tzatziki sauce on the side. This is enough for two lunches. The mousaka has layers of eggplant with ground beef & potato topped with a bechamel (white cream) sauce. Pastichio is thick tubes of pasta, ground beef & spices topped with the same bechamel sauce. Served side by side these are definitely a one two punch on the stomach. As if you could handle more at this point, Keftedes which are fried greek meatballs seasoned with mint, oregano & garlic come next. This aren’t your Italian Mama’s meatballs. They are fried which gives them a different texture. The meat here all gives you a new reason to try out greek cooking – mint, cinnamon and the like dot each dish in a way that makes it uniquely different but still comfort food like. Both spanokopita and tiropita come next: a Greek layered pastry food, made with layers of buttered phyllo and filled with a spinach or a cheese-egg mixture  respectively. Finally, the essential greek food “everyone knows”, the gyro, this is the greek “taco” consisting of meat, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce, and is served with pita bread Tzatziki is a lovely yogurt sauce that tends to add a richness to everything without being buttery or heavy. This is all served with a few hunks of potato – the likes of which butter and lemon and seasoning salt heighten your “regular potato” to new found heights.

If you’ve been to Niko Nikos and want to try it for home, I’ve found a pretty decent clone of their Pastichio and posted it to my regular recipes – here.

Niko Nikos - http://www.nikonikos.com/ - (713) 528-4976

Rating: Spoon & Fork : service is a bit harsh and need a bit more space to eat and park, but the food wins every time.

A Lifesaver!

Ralph is a big barker when it’s something he doesn’t know. The latest pacifier that seems to be working the best is the Kong line of toys with the stuff’n bits inside. Now, at first, we put the treat all the way inside the toy, you’re supposed to let it hang out, but that said, it still kept him very busy for hours on end, evening bringing it to bed to go to sleep with! Okay, so at that time, it had to be put away. But that said, for the time we were outside working on the yard, and a large cat was all too thrilled to just observe Ralphie barking at her for what felt like eons, this little toy took his attention off of the cat, and thus, quieted him for the rest of the afternoon. Very pleased!

Petsmart carries them, but the Kong line of products seems to pop up anywhere.

KONG Extreme Dog Toys for Strong Chewers run from Ralph size to Goliath size between $7.99-21.99 each and the little snacks KONG Stuff'n Mini Snacks  are priced at $5.99. I think you could probably put anything in there, but this seemed to keep Ralph super pleased!

This is made of super hard rubber, Ralph is FAMOUS for taking anything and making it a mess. Yarn, stuffed animals, dry leaves, toilet paper, you name it! This had nary a dent in it after a full days play, I think it’s going to become a well respected name in our house! Worth the price!

For the Fine Feathered Affair…

 

A fabulously feathered event starts off with a bang of an invite making sure everyone sees where the party will be more than just “for the birds”.  These from Zazzle were great. I typed in peacock and honestly, the invite is a great place to help you lock in a color palette and feel of your wedding. Whether casual or fancy, more leaning towards blues or greens and even coppers.

Wedding flowers can be a bit tricky with a theme that is blue and green. Not a ton out there that really help complement outside of using some lime greens and cremes. Iris’ do help, but tend to be a very seasonal and very delicate flower, so if you’re on a budget, why not think peacock fans? Or with corsages, you can do the white roses or a simple flower with feathers incorporated? I found these great fans online on Ebay for less than 20 dollars, considering costs of bouquets – these are a steal. Plus, being a photographer, you could use these as props all day and not see any broken petals, or even use them in your wedding bridal portraits.

Now dressing your ladies is going to be a blast. You can mix and match til your hearts content here, I suggest two, maybe three colors, at most. But this is where individuality can really take over. Perhaps tie it all together with a pretty peacock hair embellishment. I’ve found tons at Forever 21 before, but you can also find millions just by searching on Google Shopping. They are definitely something I ‘d reuse after the wedding! Being in swing gives this feathery feeling a 1940s twist, your girls dresses could definitely emulate the time period. I found these at David’s Bridal, but the possibilities are endless!

I actually almost like the men’s choice here more than the ladies. I saw these on Zazzle and came unglued. I also considered making the guys have some sort of feather tie in, but there are limits. There were peacock shoes as well, you can definitely go all out with this print, but being bold, I thought a simple tie would communicate the theme effectively without being overblown. You can tuck this beneath the chosen vest and it looks a little less bold. For the groom himself, find white peacock feathers, Snapfish can take photographs and make them into ties, so if you need to find the perfect picture , then it’s there for you!

 

Reception wise, it’s good to keep this elegant. I continue to center on the name “Gatsby”, I think that peacock feathers in vases would look smashing. Or laid longways. If you have the crafty ability, what about layering cake plates with feathers to give your cake a field of royalty to sit on?  If you have table numbers, then using peacock feather eyes to dot them will make a good splash if you want to stick to simple candle centerpieces in your chosen colors. I’ve found several retailers with good napkins in peacock prints – again Zazzle is a good vendor for this.

You can leave your guests with a sweet ending as well if you lay out a deliciously sinful table to sweets in your chosen hues! Think tall and short and fat and thin vessels filled with candies. I’d avoid a lot of unwrapped unless you have small scoops, little fingers can make things sticky! Place out glassine bags for guests to help themselves with labels printed with your peacock feather icon and “thank you” for the day. I’ve found the lot of these in my own grocery store, but there are many online vendors.

So there you have it, a fabulous nest to start your love off in. Enjoy it, have fun – feathers make anything a little fancy into an affair that you can shake your tail feathers at!