Happy (Halloween) Friday!

 

{My Cup of Te! (Let's be serious, black coffee to be exact) At Andrew's Coffee Shop, an old breakfast haunt, a stone's throw away from my dorm on William Street!} 

Hi darlings! Who's ready for the weekend? I know I am! You can bet your lucky dollar I'll be throwing my hands up in the air and flyin' like a G6...all Hallow's Eve style. Mwahahah Well honestly I don't exactly have a costume planned out, but that's nothing a drink and shoppin' the closet won't fix, right? If you can't tell, I'm in desperate need of letting it all hang out (I never really liked that phrase, but it seems to fit) as in keep 'em coming bartender. I made a lot of tough, tears in tow decisions this week, okay enough with the dramatics, maybe just one, but I'm banking on it...while I gather my marbles, here are several posts that are definitely My Cup of Te! Cheers to Halloween loves!

Not what you think

A New York State of mind aka my everyday state of mind

The cutest idea ever!

I miss feeling like this

Red-rum! I just peed myself.

"Quick work on the calculator reveals that Cruise's $6K Halloween costume would equate to $11.07 in average-American terms So if she shows up on your doorstep on October 31st, make sure to throw an extra Snickers bar into her sack"

It's a revolution, baby

Speaking of babies, I will attend a baby shower with hard cocktail in hand and one of these

Would you spend $1300 on this? I'd have to opt for the Trader Joe's .99 bag or the monogram.

When I was younger, my brothers and I would sneak out of their bedroom window and on to the roof to look at these

You tell me, I'll cook it

Tie the knot...no white gown ness

Man Up

I'd trade (jk, I want both) my Kate Spade China for this

Mushroom and Blue Cheese risotto..can you say comfort?

I want this tank

Food Adventures {The Great Recipe Swap | Pumpkin and Feta Muffins}

 The other day as I was eagerly awaiting my lunch, in the form of a lackluster microwave meal mmm mmm not so good, I began to daydream of all the yummy things over which I wished I could be delighting. Immediately I wanted to rush home and make quite a stir in the kitchen, but it seemed as the countdown to my frozen feast inevitably dwindled down so did my culinary curiosity.

In serious need of inspiration, I immediately thought of you, my darling blogger friends, who provide said inspiration on the daily! By the time I was forcing down chicken à la king (okay, not really, I would never), I had come up with a brilliant idea, or so it seems in theory, why not host a recipe swap and at the end (next Monday!) let you vote on which one I shall make and share! Via a blog post and pictures of course because a virtual dinner party does not a party make!

Would you be game my loves?  I'd love to hear from you and perhaps find new blogs along the way!  If you'd like, just add a link to your recipe, or even better a link to your blog post, below! Here we go!

The First Ever Great Recipe Swap...(yay I'm so excited!)
p.s. I'm pretty fearless when it comes to the kitchen, you name it I'll attempt it, unless there is a lot of blood involved then I may very well pass out and become dramatically squeamish so please my dears, do me a favor (kindly considering!) and show me what ya got;)



Now it wouldn't be any fun if I couldn't play too so here's my entry...

{101 Cookbooks}

My affinity for all things pumpkin never ceases to fail.  As soon as I hear the slightest mention of this fantastic squash variety, whether savory or sweet, my mouth begins to water.  I especially adore adventurous takes on what could easily be tried and true.

Pumpkin and Feta Muffins

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups / 9 oz / 255g cubed pumpkin or butternut squash, 1/2-inch cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1 large handful of baby spinach, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped parsley or cilantro
3 tablespoons sunflower seeds kernels
3/4 cup / 1 oz / 30g freshly grated Parmesan
100g / 3.5 oz / 1/2 cup cubed feta
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup / 180 ml milk
2 cups flour (see headnote!)
4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

Preheat oven to 405F / 200C, with rack in the top third. Use the butter to grease a 12-hole muffin pan and set aside.

Sprinkle the olive oil and some salt and pepper over the squash. Toss well and turn onto a baking sheet or roasting pan. Arrange in a single layer and bake for 15 - 25 minutes or until cooked through entirely. Set aside to cool.

Transfer two-thirds of the squash to a large mixing bowl along with the spinach, parsley, sunflower seeds, Parmesan, two-thirds of the feta, and all of the mustard. Gently fold together. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk together and add to the squash mix. Sift the flour and baking powder onto the squash mix, top with the salt and a generous dose of freshly ground black pepper and fold together just until the batter comes together, be careful not to over mix.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, filling each hole 3/4 full, top each muffin with a bit of the remaining squash and feta (see photo up above). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops and sides of the muffins are golden, and the muffins have set up completely. Let cool for a couple minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack. I like these muffins cooled a bit, served just warmer than room temperature.

Makes 12 muffins.

A Haute Halloween

Who says spooky has to be snooze worthy?  Forget the black and orange!  Say goodbye to black and purple! I'm loving these new color schemes that up the style ante with a sophisticated kind of spooks...

Haute Halloween #1: Deathly pumpkins and spiderwebs galore!

A Haute Halloween #2: Eerie portraits, tall taper candles, and glowing pumpkins!

A Haute Halloween #3: Enter if you dare!

 

I love them all, but Martha has all the trick and treat I could ever wish for on All Hallow's Eve.  p.s Do you have a fabulous costume lined up?!  Happy Haute Halloween!

{Via Sensational Color and Susu}

Is your desk slowly sucking the life out of you?

Isn't life too short and fabulous (Who am I kidding? Since when does fabulous constitute as...) to sit at a desk?
Well due to the fact that not everyone can be a celebrity... Once again who am I kidding?!! Can you say Snooki?

  
...and most of us have the same ol' 9 to 5's, it's quite important, if not vital for sanity, to have a little inspiration and not just your computer screen staring you in the face all the live long day.  Enter Color Me Katie.

 {A giant desktop scrapbook made of pictures, plane tickets, and maps from life outside of work!  Although for this one lucky gal some of it is her work.}

Don't you love what she's done with her table top? I see no good reason why any boss would protest a little baby collage. Perhaps you might be a little more inspired through out the day? Perhaps said desk might even bring a smile to your face as you type away instead of slowly trying to suck the life out of you.  What would you include on your desktop scrapbook? I would definitely have to include plane tickets from my globe trottin' adventures and plenty of silly photo opps!

{Via SnookiNicole and Color Me Katie}

Champagne & Sparkles, Mulberry Street, or Wall Street?

Ahh Monday, Monday. The beginning of the week always calls for a little extra inspiration! If my grande soy latte weren't enough, I found that little bit of "extra" over at Rue...

{Poppin bottles in the ice, like a blizzard, when we drink we do it right gettin slizzard}

{Downtown chic, yes please!}

{When I think of Wall Street I think of money and power, and I'd have to say this edit is looking pretty rich and sexy }

If you haven't been over to Rue yet, I recommend you visit!  They have the most fabulous features and inspiring edits like the ones above. I think I'd most like to take a walk down Mulberry Street?  How about you?  Hope y'all had a great weekend...Happy Monday loves!

Happy Friday!

 {via}

Hi loves! It's Friday!  After almost three weeks straight of being away, I'm finally enjoying a weekend at home.  A and I are going out to dinner tonight (temps are supposed to drop to the upper 30's, should I bust out my fur vest?!) and ALL day tomorrow I'll be in top secret training, which I promise to tell you about later! Maybe on Sunday I'll get to sleep in for once and by the good grace of God maybe, just maybe my fantasy football team will pull through with a W! What are your weekend plans? For now, here are a few posts that are definitely My Cup of Te!!

After seeing Olivia P. pull off sick leather leggings, I will be ordering a set of these

Not your average shoestring

Next time I make pasta, I will require anyone who partakes to don the following through the entire dinner.

Conversation starters if you're trying to do more this weekend than just shovel cocktails while dancing your ass off.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Designer pumpkins!

What my kitchen looks like when I attempt to bake

God Bless America

When trendy crosses the line to inappropriate

I don't own one, but I need one.

Cat Eye. Yes, please.

Forget a magazine subscription, how about a weekly fresh flowers subscription?

A frugal and fabulous Halloween

Where do your dreams take you, loves?

I'm over the TB gold wedge, I want these

Incognito

Aren't there some days you just feel like going incognito?

 

Hidden behind a pair of over-sized sunnies and a blacked out guise?

{Oh Olivia, why must you be so damn stylish and skinny?}

I'm feeling slightly in a shamble today, loves.  I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the weekend.

{Via Fashionising and The Vogue Diaries}

Food Adventures {Pumpkin Alfredo}

 

{Irish, Polish, Vietnamese, and Vegetarian Yogi}

This morning on Regis and Kelly, Maggie Q made an appearance to promote her show Nikita.  She was absolutely stunning and so toned and fit that I'm as positive as I am that I could stand to lose 10lbs that there is not one ounce of fat on her hot little body. Kelly (you know I'm a huge fan!), who is such a fitness freak herself, of course asked how she stays so fit.  Maggie replied, "yoga." That's it?! What the hell kind of yoga is she doing?! Please let me in on it. I had to google her since I had never heard of the actress and sure enough she's not only a yogi, but a vegetarian. Go figure.  I instantly decided I was going to clean up my diet and start doing more yoga.  And then...I saw this...

{Vegetarian, yes.  But with the recipe calling for 1 cup each of heavy cream and parm, I can kiss Maggie Q's toosh goodbye.}

...Pumpkin Alfredo looking even more divine than Maggie Q's lean physique. As I'm currently obsessed with all things pumpkin and eating is high on my list of favorites, (aye, aye, aye, I'm such a fatty), I will definitely be making this savory looking dish before week's end, perhaps, after a session of Bikram yoga. 

{Pumpkin Alfredo}

Yields 4 large servings

1 pound fettuccine pasta (I used spinach noodles)
4 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 cup pumpkin puree (or canned pumpkin)
Pumpkin seeds (for garnish), optional
Salt and pepper, optional

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion, red pepper, and mushrooms and sauté until the onions and mushrooms have softened. Turn the heat down to medium and add the cream, stirring to combine. Allow the cream to simmer for a few minutes, or until the sauce begins to thicken. Now add the cheese and stir until the cheese has completely melted and incorporated itself into the sauce. Stir in the pumpkin puree and continue cooking for a few more minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add more cream (or milk) to thin it out to the desired consistency.

To serve, spoon the sauce on top of the cooked pasta and garnish with pumpkin seeds. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy! 

{Via Chocolate and Tea}

Key to My Heart

{A hand drawn skeleton key laser cut from vintage picture book covers. Paired with a small manila envelope that reads "to my heart" across the front, a small blank card to write a note, and a little foil heart to seal it- how sweet!}

 

I've never been big on anniversary gifts, cards, flowers, etc. Where's the excitement in flowers on Valentine's Day? A standard card on an anni or your birthday? I guess I'm saying my enthusiasm over the former depends on the day. As confusing as this may be to those of the other sex, avoid the expected!  Make up your own holiday. Send flowers (hint, hint) on a random Wednesday. Leave a note (like the adore one above) when she least expects it.  In other words, the key to any girl's heart, well at least one of the many (sorry guys, as A felt he needed to remind me last night, we are complicated), is to keep it random!

 

And on another note, it's been raining all morning and although I would probably look like quite a spectacle, I really could use these Tommy Hilfiger over the knee duck boots.

 

 

What's the key to your heart? Happy Hump Day, loves!

 

{Via A&G Merch}

I'll trade you a cookie for the Chanel 2.55

 

I'll tell you what, Karl.  You send me the Fall collection in all its fantastical entirety (my size, not sample), and I will pass on the next pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.  Deal? Thanks.

{Image via Skinnification}

Weekend Recap {A pish posh of things}

I love when fashion and interiors transform elements that can be so rudimentary or even juvenile into something much more chic and glam.

{Polished polka dots} 

 {Clutter. C'est chic}

 {A mismatched masterpiece}

My working weekend could have used the same transformation of sorts. Fortunately there was a little excitement around the showroom in the form of Jane Seymour.  She came to visit yesterday and was down to earth and gracious as usual.  She got to know some of our dealers, played around with different fabrics, and made herself at home in her own collection.  Obviously celebs are real people with real lives as Ms. Seymour proved with her genuine friendliness, but I couldn't help but to think at least once of her hilarious scene in the Wedding Crashers...

{Mom and Dad with Jane who by the way is playing a cougar on How I Met Your Mother as we speak}

I kept it low key on Saturday night and opted for several glasses of wine al fresco- Fall evenings are awfully delicious and crispy! I made dinner at home and made the entire house smell like Thanksgiving- think cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, and a whole load of spices!

{Finishing touches! So excited to share the recipe..it was delish!}

I wrapped up my Sunday night by spreading the Martha Stewart love (y'all know I'm a fan) while eating enough Halloween candy to produce a stomach ache.

Aren't my spiders presh?! They made me smile as soon as I walked in the door tonight. Hope y'all had a great Monday and an excellent weekend!

{Images via The Blonde Salad, Some Form of Addiction, and Just Be Splendid}

Happy Friday!

 {via}

Hi luvies! Today was my first day at the High Point furniture market. I've been going since the age of 6 so the novelty has definitely worn off- if there ever was any! I grew up playing with my brothers and sister in the back of my parents' factories, turning furniture frames into jungle gyms, working as receptionist during the summers, and now to the delight of my parents more than my own (because public speaking makes me clammy and produces a speech impediment) giving trend reports at the sales meetings.  I have to admit walking around InterHall and seeing all the new product (and imagining it in my home!) is quite inspiring so I'll try to report back like I did during spring market here, here, and here.  For now, here are some posts that are definitely My Cup of Te. Happy weekend darlings. 

17 Things Every Women's Magazine will tell you ...That you should ignore.

By far the coolest and freakiest invite (home-made people!) that I have ever laid eyes on

Exotic bubble tea served up in a southern mason jar? MMM.

I really want to be the Mad Hatter for Halloween. I'll need this skirt and a bustier as well.

If I were in NYC tonight, I would be having cocktails with Derek Lam and Jenna Lyons

Want your man to be more manly? Douse him in tobacco, whiskey, and wood

As I lay me down to sleep, please dear Lord make me as stylish and slim as any one of these ladies

"An old fashioned lady with modern needs?" Well, you neo-trad, here is laptop case just for you.

Bookcase of the Day complete with hot pink pencils and a bouquet of tulips!

Bold color and quirky eccentricity.  Mary McDonald, please give my condo a makeover

I need these booties because Rachel said so

A blog that features fantastic places for afternoon tea!

What's for dinner at your house tonight? Besides a big glass of cab, this is what's on the menu at mine...

A Fall Wedding {Pink and Fig}

This stunning wedding shoot has been saved under my favorites for quite sometime. It's titled "Pink and Fig." Doesn't that sound so much more lovely than pink and purple? The latter makes me think of a cheesy Valentine's Day card and the former...well, you'll see...

This shoot was posted in August, but the velvety burgundys and deep purples make for a rich, sumptuous color palette, that for me, is so reminiscent of Fall.  And we all know Fall is my fave! I would've died to get married during the Autumn season, but due to the silly college football schedule, and the fact if I had gotten married in this month like I had wanted, I would've been one brother down. Pumpkins? Brother? You can probably guess who won that debacle. Let's be serious, there really was no debacle between an inanimate object and my own flesh and blood...

Do you have a season in which you'd much prefer to say your vows?  One that you would shed a tear over if you couldn't have your way? Yes, I cried over a pumpkin. Actually 6 or so...who knew there were so many varieties!

{Via Bonnie Tsang Photography}

Martha Stewart I don't care if you served jail time Part II {A Spooky Spread}

 {A pumpkin, a Scot, a cheerleader, a sailor, and ladybug, and one more cheerleader on top makes for a perfect pyramid *Note: please excuse my place as the interiors were and still are a work in progress!} 

About this time last year, I had just stuck it to the man (much sweeter than you could ever imagine, even if you do, er I mean did, work for Jet Blue), and I went a little overboard with all the free time on my hands. I've always loved Halloween to begin with so this was the perfect opportunity to invite my friends over and put my pent up energy to work!

Speaking of the devil, she was on Oprah the day after I wrote about her, in all her Martha Stewart brilliance, and all the treats and goodies below can be credited to her creative genius, or maybe just all the time she spent in the slammer...

From what was questioned to be a Matzah ball, (Queens and Brooklyn re-pruuhh-sent! Thanks for guessing Jenn and S&S!)

turned out to be a pumpkin sitting in a pumpkin patch!

 

{Pure cheese mixed together in a food processor topped with the butt of a broccoli stalk! For the "hay," which was my idea, thank you very much, add Triscuits!}

Happy Owl-a-ween! 

{All you need are moon pies, brown m&m's (it was fun to eat the rest of the colors!), oreos, candy corn, and melted chocolate for your "glue"}

And voila!

{Finish with Popsicle sticks and pretty ribbon!}

Goodie bags, you say?

{How adore are these candy-stuffed brooms?!}

I got quite a kick out of them myself...

{You're a witch looking for a broom too? Martha's got ya girl}

For a savory versus sweet treat, my "muenster" (get it monster? bwahaha) eye sausage balls!

{I didn't have my own picture of the cooked version, so you can see Southern Living for the image and the recipe!} 

 

And last, but not least, my mini witch hats...

{For the witch hats you'll need hershey's kisses, frosting, and fudge cookies}

{I heart pumpkins! Even in the form of my baby sister.}

Phew, now that was a long one! I hope one of y'all got a good idea or two ;) And whatever you decide to do, or be, this year my loves, I hope you have as much fun as I did planning my Spooky Spread.

 

Cheers luvies, 

Roxy