Weekend Cooking

I did a ton of baking this weekend since we actually had a few social functions including a baby shower for my friend Colleen and a going away party for Suzanne who is moving to Austin to pursue her dream of opening a coffee house. Yay!

Since we did have a lot of weekend plans I haven't gotten those photos off the camera but I do have these as placeholders from past weekend endeavors.

Suzanne's going away potluck called for some tasty goodness that is quiche. I made a few options since Suze is a vegetarian and Ann is gluten free. Ann got her own personal quiche sans crust.



After the return from New York and the delectable Balthazar, which I previously raved about here, I wanted to try and recreate the experience for Rolland. Turns out, not even close but he enjoyed it.

Onions cooking.




Finished soup mine and a pic of theirs.



I mostly enjoyed this.



Happy Monday!

Recent Necklaces

I know it's odd, but we recently started watching the series Bones (which is awesome) but I love the jewelry in the show. I'm sure the idea is that it's all collected via anthropological trips but mostly I end up thinking "I could make that". This is one of the pieces I first made. Loving the mix of pearls, chain and medals.



Beads I picked up in Santa Fe and strung with smokey quartz. I love that the stones are warm after wearing.



This one was actually fairly tricky to string all the tourmaline with the correct lengths. I cheated a little with the silver beads on the end. I really like how it turned out but am a little nervous to wear it much. I definitely don't want to restring this!

New Favorite

This is one of my favorite purchases from the recent Santa Fe trip. It's a pretty good sized "cocktail" ring. I tried it on a few times and even walked away with purchasing but apparently the puppy love (could not resist!) was clear and Rolland got him for me.



Pink. Puppy. It's true love.

Flea Market Finds

We went to the flea market on Saturday instead of the usual farmer's market. Hubby was only going to do one! Turns out, this was an excellent choice since lots of goodies were found. Die cut greatness, a few more paper goods, an awesome cream cornucopia vase for $5 bucks plus lots of others Rolland was shocked to discover I was dragging home.



Love this pin; even if the folks at work were a little perplexed by the deer pin. How could you not love her?!



Another favorite find is the Big Tex charm. Anyone familiar with the Texas State Fair will recognize him.



Also found lots of medal goodies.



This Saturday, back to the Farmer's Market! Luckily the flea market is only monthly. Gives me time to save up the allowance.

New York: Foodie Pics... mostly

So we managed to check out a couple of Dean & DeLuca's which were awesome. These were incredible from the prepared foods, baked goods and stocked items I wanted just about one of everything. I managed to resist trying to figure out how to get these gorgeous chocolates home where I would promptly try to decide the best way to preserve them.



We all gave the French Onion Soup at Balthazar's thumbs up! And the pots de creme was just out of this world.





ABC Carpet and Home was almost too much. Floors of modern, antique and mix/match of everything else you might ever need to furnish 3-4 homes across the world. I coveted most all of the crystal chandeliers along with a few metal outdoor seating sets. Settled with a few pics instead.



Along our walking tours we stumbled into Magnolia Bakery for a little sweet and were not disappointed. These cupcakes were luscious.



This makes the last of the this spring's NY pics. I'm still amazed at how much I loved it and could definitely see myself spending a lot more time there.

Girls Weekend in New York

I still haven't caught up from the busyness that was March. April has also been fairly packed with the to do list and social stuff which is fun but I think I'm wearing out a little. This weekend has been spent mostly doing nothing despite the good intentions. Next week, back to the "to do" lists. In the mean time, here are a few pics of the girls weekend in New York. It was greatness and I think I could spend time there pretty regularly.

Assembley Line

A couple of weeks ago I finally started working through some of the piles I had made on my desk and turned them into actual jewelry. It was fun to use all the bits I had collected and the hubby was especially excited since it didn't require a visit to the bead store, Michael's or Home Depot.

I've been gathering up the metal pieces as I find them and the little saints medal was leftover from a project I did at Silver Bella. I love the delicate brass chain even if it tends to tangle.



I had wanted to add this charm to turquoise and coral beaded chain but decided I really liked the simplicity of the simple chain. Luckily I have a few of these deers so I might experiment with these.



This necklace was super easy and made with leftover chain with beads and center charm purchased at Michael's with the super awesome 40% off Blue Moon Bead coupons... I really stock up when I get those!



The pieces parts for the above necklace.



Plan to see if I can find some super cool things this weekend. Added a few bead stores and fun shops to the list to visit. I'm not sure if I'll get a blog in before getting back in to town but I'll tweet to keep up with the doings (saying from my Grandpa that I'm not sure I really understand).

Have a great weekend!

Last Weekend

We went to Santa Fe but cut the trip short to get home in front of this storm front. We made it just in time. Came home late Friday hit the grocery store and errands Saturday then that night the snow moved in. It was beautiful. I loved it! Didn't even hurt the jonquils in the front flower bed. The snow on the blooming bradford pear is gorgeous.



Not in her natural element.



Super cute sculpture in Santa Fe



Even cuter up close



Even the mailboxes are artistic and awesome



Reward for driving me all the way to Santa Fe and back. In addition to visiting multiple bead stores, art stores, Trader Joe's (which I love beyond reason and am still flummoxed as to why we don't have one) and Whole Foods. Coconut pudding.



Kitchen helper in her natural element



Maya is back to her awesome puppy self. She's running around the house with a full tail wag and giving lots of kisses if she stops moving long enough!

This week I'm trying to get caught up at work while also packing up to hit the Big Apple for a girls weekend. Lots of fun and more pics to be had. I'm gonna have a lot of photo cropping and studio time when I get back.

Easter Snow?

Seriously, who would've thought it would look like this on March 20th?

More of New York

This was the view out the window of my hotel room. It took forever to get a good pic since the window only opened a crack otherwise it was me in the glare of the glass. Not such a good pic. I took it after having walked the neighborhood early in the morning. We stayed at the Soho Grand on W Broadway which was fabulous! My only complaint was that the windows didn't open enough and the air didn't work so it was incredibly stuffy for someone like me who likes it cold enough to hang meat in the house at night. Seriously though, this room was gorgeous and super comfy.



Lovely sign on the wall I saw when out for my walk. The color was amazing.



Couldn't resist!



Little piece of home in neon. I didn't try it since I had eaten nor did I want to be incredibly let down. I was still stuffed on gnocco, pizza and pasta from Gnocco. Truly out of this world. If you go just for the gnocco appetizer it's completely worth the airfare.



At the giant Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. Pretty cool.




Finally, if you ever wondered what I thought heaven would be like it's this. French bistro with super close seating and shared favorites with nearby diners. Fantastic hard cider (yep, check me out with the hard stuff), organic salmon, frittes, cheesy polenta and profiteroles... seriously, heaven. I actually had visiting here on the list of things to do before checking out the pearly gates so checked it of the list and plan to visit next week for girls weekend.



Tonight I'm working on finishing up a necklace I started this weekend. Tomorrow, packing for mini-road trip to Santa Fe for long weekend. It's cold with chance of snow! Woo hoo.

For those folks related to us quick Maya update. She's doing much better with the shots and starting to be up running around like her old puppy self. She's back up to giving regular kisses and demanding pets.

Few pics of me in New York

I was in New York last week for work and we managed to get a few outings in.

Enjoying Times Square and the Liberty for Target Marketing.



Yes, I'm 5.








I have more to add once I get them off the camera.

New York

Seriously tired but it's been incredibly productive including dinner @Balthazar's. If you follow me on twitter I took pics of the fabulous dessert. I'll post pics when I'm back home.

Sunday Greatness

Today was a great Sunday. I woke up super early and got in a few housekeeping duties but then spent lots of time in the studio while Rolland slept. He woke up early, I have no idea why, and then we got our front garden cleaned up. I think spring has hit and we're completely rejuvenated and inspired to make things like this:



It also helped that I'm now able to listen to Sirius radio on these.



Tomorrow I'm heading to New York to meet up with our team of folks that work in, well, New York. It's my first time to visit and I'm super excited. Hopefully I'll get a lot accomplished on the work front but also want to hit the streets after work and get lots of pics. Now, it's time to finish packing and hit the hay. Our flight is at 7:00am which is a typical day but with the airport we're heading out about 5am which is when I usually get up. Ick.