on the bench.

Ben and I are in some serious negotiation right now on the future of our front porch. I welcome you all to weigh in with your thoughts. I am determined to put a red bench on our front porch. Ben, on the other hand, wants rocking chairs. Now, I love me a rocking chair. But, we aren't geriatrics ready to rock out on the front porch, shouting at the young kids to pull up their pants up when they walk by and making sure no one parks in front of our fire hydrant. Quite the opposite. We are the cool, yuppie, young couple moving in with a good sense of style and I want a pop of color on the front porch. Not to mention, a bench is so welcoming! Just look at these below and tell me you don't want a red bench on our front porch.

We are working on a compromise. A bench with a rocking chair for Ben, but the man is almost as stubborn as I am...

P.S. If you happen to come across a bench on the cheap in the DC area, tell me quick! I will sand that sucker down and paint her up and you will forever be invited to come sit on the front porch!

flaxed.

Good Saturday morning! I have decided to do a test-run with flax seed. Does anyone have suggestions, recommendations? I figure I can use the fiber and I can just hide it in my smoothies, I'll let you know if I think it is worth it...

getting ahead.

Did you guys see this piece in the NYTimes this past week, Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?  It is really interesting, long but interesting!

summer dress.

Summer is coming, summer is coming! And, this dress makes me want it to come even faster....

ASOS - Love Shift Dress In Colour Block

...rock and a hard place.

Opening up the NYTimes today, this story grabbed my attention, Burmese Opposition Leader Attends Military Parade.  The events unfolding in Burma are astounding and Aung San Suu Kyi's (click here and here for previous posts) careful reconciliation is amazing and terrifying at once. I'm worried for her, she has put herself between her former captors and now her repressed supporters who are getting impatient.....she is truly brilliant and brave.

gifted.

I figured it has been a while since I passed along some gift ideas, so here goes just a handful of things that would make a great for the hostess, mother, friend, etc....

West Elm - Baggu Bag Collection

Terrain - Ticking Stripe Apron

Cusp - Chamak by Priya Kakkar

SheInside - White Sleeveless Butterfly Dress

World Market - Large Blue Melamine Batter Bowl

light switch.

Who knew lighting is so expensive? I guess I did in theory but it is all coming home now, excuse the pun. Here is a shot of our kitchen/dining area.

We love the space. And we especially love all the wood in the house. With that said, we want to balance it out a little with some metal and glass. Specifically, for this space, we want to replace the fan/light and find something that has a subtle and comfortable statement. Here are some beginning thoughts...

Right now, our leading choice is that top one from CB2. We like the look of it but also like the price-tag! What do you think? Any good recommendations? Today, I started thinking maybe we should consider something with a little more metal, a little more rustic and industrial looking. Kind of like this...

Ben had strong feelings against anything that looked like this! So, as of now, those first ones are leading the way...

reading list: the newlyweds.

The Newlyweds is the next book on my to read list, have any of you read it yet? I swear I heard about it recently and then around the same time saw this NYTimes Book Review. I am intrigued and ready to dive in...

top 20.

Guess who made Smithsonian's list of the 20 Best Small Towns in America? Petoskey! And Walloon got a mention in it. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing...we don't need more people finding out about the best kept secret.

But yeah, on this slushy day in DC, I am mentally putting myself on the dock right now....

Click here to read the rest...(go to page 7). 

knobbed.

Speaking of projects, take a look at these great knobs I picked up on sale yesterday at Anthropologie! They were in the bottom of a box in the sale section and I snagged the only six I could find. I am hoping I can find an old dresser on Craigslist to strip down and refurbish, aren't these knobs such a great color? If not a dresser, I am thinking they might be great for a bedside table or even closet knobs for organization.

invisible war.

I was so exhausted yesterday I didn't leave my apartment. However, I did finally get around to watching The Invisible War. It has been on my list to watch for a while and it was a powerful 93 minutes. The documentary focuses on the epidemic rape of soldiers in the military and the military's abhorrent treatment of the victims after they have been sexually assaulted. It is certainly worth watching.

pending.

Did I mention we got a house?! In all that has been going on, I haven't properly filled you in. It's true and we are thrilled. We are beyond excited to be able to grill in the little backyard. The house has loads of light because it is on a corner. Most of all, we can't wait to have people over. When family comes to town, we have a bedroom for them and enough room to finally have some proper dinner parties.

The house is in really good shape and nothing like the DIY we had anticipated finding. With that said, we are already brainstorming projects and ways to make it our own. The backyard will be a full project at some point soon and we have some serious painting to tackle, and of course little projects along the way. I can't wait to share everything as we move along....stay tuned!

el chucho.

Couple of weeks ago, Ben and I went to El Chucho with Erin and Josh.

It was great! We enjoyed the margaritas and snacked on chips and salsa.

Filled up on corn, tacos and finished it off with this sandwich. It was small and cool and worth the trek to Columbia Heights. Go check it out!

mj.

Well it has been quite a couple weeks. I started a new job just under two weeks ago and at the same time we also bought a house! I promise to tell more and show pictures soon but I wanted to be sure to check-in since I haven't been able to post lately. Fair warning that my posts will be less regular for the foreseeable future but I will do my best to update as much as possible.

In the meantime, to mark the start of March Madness and to celebrate what is absolutely one of the best days of the year - the first day of the tournament - I have to give you something related to basketball.

I used to be fully obsessed with Michael Jordan. My affection for him has waned (basically since Game 6 of 98'). Buy me a drink sometime and we can talk about how conflicted I am about Michael Jordan and how sad I am by how disappointing he has been in his basketball after-life. But I digress and there is still no forgetting those Michael years and all that pure basketball genius. He is, as an athlete, unmatched and as a person/athlete really a very interesting character. So in honor of all this, you have to go read this piece, Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building.

But that's not all I got for you. After you read that, now go read these two pieces by Thomas Lake about MJ's high school coach, Did This Man Really Cut Michael Jordan? and A Letter to Michael Jordan: Shame On You For Refusing to Help Pop.  I don't know how I missed all this last year. Devastating.

Oh basketball, what a game, what a game!

ramen & pencils.

Another great weekend. Ben and I found another house that we love and are going to put an offer in on later this week - cross your fingers for us! We also went to Taan last week and I forgot to tell you about it. It is the new ramen place in Adams Morgan and was very good - even gives Toki Underground a run for its money.

And look at this amazing birthday present from Erin and Josh! It is this very cool pencil sketch of Washington DC.  Love it!

read of the day.

This should be your read of the day, The Good Racist in the NYTimes.

black list - sri lanka.

I talk about my travel wish list a lot and Sri Lanka would be at the top except that any travel here would be inexcusable. Any money spent would support the government there. Not to mention, I think traveling to a country is your personal endorsement of the country. I have been reading and watching Sri Lanka for years. Its history is tragic, the violence is devastating and the government's brutal repression against the Tamils is just disgusting. I finally finished reading this recent report by Human Rights Watch, "We Will Teach You a Lesson", documenting the use of sexual violence by the Sri Lankan Security Forces and it is a harrowing reminder of what is unfolding and getting so little attention. I hope one day to be able to visit, but in the meantime, put it on your black list and think about supporting Human Rights Watch for their incredible work and advocacy around the world.

label maker.

I found these labels for jars and kitchen organization on Pinterest yesterday and am all about them. I plan on tackling this project this weekend. You can find the free printables here on this blog. The only thing I am going to change is that I am going to laminate them before I put them on the jar lids so that I can wash them and also write on them with a dry erase market if I want to.

snowquester.

I don't know if you all heard but the federal government was closed yesterday. Snow day! Except that "snowquester" left less than an inch of snow and was really more like a mild rainstorm. People started cancelling meetings and announced delayed school hours when the sun was still out the day before. Gotta love DC.

No complaints though. Ben made this great salad for lunch with blood oranges, almonds and onions.

I also made this great honey orange cleanse smoothie with radishes and mint. It was delicious - recipe here. 

We finished watching House of Cards. So good but I am relieved the season is over! And we read. I read About Alice by Calvin Trilling that I mentioned here a couple weeks ago. I cried reading it.

Ben also cooked up a huge pot of Chili and my freezer is now stocked full.

call me maybe.

Everyone should go buy Carly Rae's terrible music and show some support!

bay bridge.

How great is this public art installation on the Bay Bridge in SF? Love it and can't wait to see the next time I am out there for a visit. The New York Times has a full video and feature of it on their website called Bridge of Light.

summer prep.

Summer is coming, summer is coming! First, we have "snoquester" coming tomorrow in DC but after that, full steam ahead. And in that spirit, here are a couple pickings to prepare.

I wore these sandals into the ground last summer and am thinking of grabbing another pair...

Banana Republic - Mazzy Flip Flop

Ever since this post all about JFK's phenomenal sunglass style, I have had my eye on finding a stylish pair of clubmaster sunglasses. These hit the mark...

Ray-Ban Clubmaster Sunglasses

Bensimons just keep getting more and more popular. Now Madewell is even carrying them...they do look like the perfect summer slip-ons....

Madewell - Bensimon

And finally these earrings from Etsy...