The Bahamas were freaking awesome. Part I.

Get ready for an entire week of vacation photos. Deal wit it! I took a lot of pics and dayum if they all didn't turn out great because you know what? There's sun shining there. And it's warm. And delightful. And there are tasty beverages and lots of coconuts and shellfish and delightful beaches. I feel so much better now that we've had our little break. DC welcomed us back with a weekend full of rain but 50 degree weather and what appears to be Spring so I'm happy.

Let's start with our take-off from Miami. Now, after being stuck in Miami overnight on our return trip, I can say for sure that Florida is much better from a higher altitude. That place is WEIRD and scary. Warm, weird and scary. But the beaches looked pretty from the airplane.


We got to our hotel early and were totally stoked.

Exotic plant life to greet us!

And a basket full of none other than Washington apples in the lobby! Represent.

This is our hotel, "Pelican Bay" from the marina side. We could see our room from the boat here. It was so peaceful! (except for when the booze cruise rolled by - more on that later)

The view from our room's deck. I woke up the first day and said, "HELLO BAHAMAS!!!"

After checking in, we wasted no time getting some local Bahamian beer ("Sands"). I have airplane hair/makeup here but I'm totally happy to be drinking outside without a coat on.

Holi, Hindu Festival of Colors

So my coworkers were telling me about Holi, a "festival of colors" and it sounded totally amazing and like something I'd never seen or heard of before. In India this is a Hindu tradition where people throw powder colors at each other to welcome Spring. I LOVE all the colors. Now I want to have a color-theme party! {see the entire slideshow here}

image courtesy Babu / Reuters

image courtesy Krishnendu Halder / Reuters

What kinds of things will you do to celebrate Spring?
I'm going to the Bahamas(!), gonna do a good clean/purge of the apartment, and we'll go out for Easter brunch which always makes me feel like Spring is really here...

Baconopolis 2010: Hollah!

It is a food-centric week, people! Y'all, I've got my MansionMogul spies working for me everywhere, across coasts! It's so great to have my people gathering great photos of their awesome experiences :)

My pals Paula & Dennis: MansionMogul delegates at the 2nd Annual Baconopolis, a gathering for those who respect and worship all things bacon.

This hogfest went down at one of Tom Douglas' joints, The Palace Ballroom (I have to go there some day!)

Elvis serving up "The Elvis" - Peanut butter, banana, and bacon sammich

Dudes choppin' up the "Whole Cider Cured Pig" - WOW, bring. it. on.

Tower of teeny tiny bacon cornbread muffins, and some Bacon Fried Rice!And last but not least...Pork 'n Beans :)

Expect to see my first-hand account of Baconopolis III in 2011!

A Story of Many Mansions.

I just heard about this fascinating tale of mansions thanks to my girl, Alicia...did you know that there's a 103 y.o. lady named Hugette Clark who has a ton of mansions but no one has seen her in forever? Where IS she? Read and see more of "The Clarks: An American story of wealth, scandal and mystery" on MSNBC. Hugette, if someone is reading this blog to you right now, I'd be more than happy to be the next live-in caretaker for one of your lovely estates!


"Le Beau Château," one of her homes in New Canaan, Conn.


What I would give to tour her NY penthouse...o.m.g. This Fifth Avenue manse overlooks Central Park. It has 42 rooms, 15,000 square feet, the 8th floor and half the 12th worth $100 million. I just fainted.


The Clark home in Santa Barbara, "Bellosguardo."

This is Hugette in white, with her sister and father, William A. Clark. On the right is Hugette in her early 20's. She looks like a super classy lady.

I wonder if I'm a distant-distant descendant of the Clarks? Boo-ya! I totally want to live to be 104, mysterious and with a portfolio of gorgeous properties. That would kick ass.

(Annie: this story could be of particular interest to you, since it has some old timey Butte gossip!)

Chasin' this Dragon since 2007-ish

I've decided to make "Chasin' the Dragon" a regular feature, since I really do have a lot of foods n' things I am pining after.

You guys have probs figured this out by now but I really love SANDWICHES. And SAUCE. And GRAVY. Pretty much of all kinds. On all foods. So this one Saturday, one Summer, for whatever reason my girl Annie and our friend Ryann were jonesin' for some brunch. We didn't know where to go so we stopped by a little cafe in Fremont, Seattle - Persimmon. It's a cute, tiny spot with mostly organic ingredients and a long wait. We were STARVING, which might have something to do with why my breakfast was so damn amazing. But anyway I ordered the croque monsieur. This is basically a glorified French version of a grilled ham & cheese. Only it has fancy gruyère cheese and it's topped with more cheese and then Béchamel sauce. That's right - sauce. This sandwich was so good that I've been lusting after it ever since. It doesn't even look like they have it on their menu now! I have to go to a French restaurant and order one again like...ASAP.

BBQ Pork

Did everyone have a good weekend? Did you do all that you set out to? I did but I might've overdosed on tv Saturday. I loved every minute of it though :)

What is this a picture of? So last week Safeway had this giant pork shoulder on sale and of course Keene could not resist. So we brought it home, he doctored it up, threw it in the slow-cooker with some onions, bbq sauce, syrup, Frank's hot sauce and worchestershire...8 hours later...lots of pork was ready to be had.

I made a quick slaw salad to go along side it, and put mine over toast. Slow cooked meat = brilliant every time.

Craft o' the Day & Question Friday

Instead of List & Comm we have more paper bead projects and Question Friday! (aren't you excited???)
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I made these a while back for ♥Valentine's Day♥:


This project is from the same tutorial to make these paper beads, but I used my new heart-shaped punch. I think I like these hearts even better. I kindof want to get my hair styled in a beehive to wear the earrings with, and get a ridiculous manicure and some cat-eye glasses.

Now what I want to know is: What are your weekend plans?
I have almost none...lots of "to-dos" but making pancakes on Sunday which is going to be the highlight! :)

Chasin' the dragon since 2002

You guys, I've got a fever, and the only prescription is a Turkish/German dönner tasche! Yeah, I subsisted entirely off dönner during my 3 month internship in Germany and I haven't had one since. This is freaking criminal. I try to put the dönner out of my mind, but it just keeps coming back, taunting me...it's all, "haha, you have to come back to Germany to get me...I don't exist in the States...Hahahahaha". Rude.

Let me give you the rundown on the specifics of the dönner tasche:
There's your typical giant rotating meat (you've seen this before, "gyros", a sorry excuse for the dönner kebab, have this basic ingredient as well). You're off to a great start.

They put that delicious shaved meat into a flat bread "pouch" of sorts. Then there's the Tzaziki-like herb garlic sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, red pickled cabbage, cucumber, onions and peppers.

Then they press it all in a panini press - BAH!
I'm all like:

Some day, you guys. Some day I will make it back to the motherland and get me one (or ten) of those dönner from Efes deli. Some day!!!

Any of you chasing a particular food dragon? Everyone has their own taunting food daemon!

THIS JUST IN: We're going to the Bahamas!!!

Life's better in the BAHAMAS, people! OMG, I'm so excited, for this:

And I'm sorry to say, but we need this, badly. The weather has been so miserably cold and wet and gross (dirty snow = not cute) and it was just so damn time.

OMG. LML.

Things I'm excited for:
*SUN
*Feeling warm, not wearing socks...or gloves, or scarves, or hats...yeah
*OCEAN!!! Dayum I miss the ocean, and this one's turquoise!
*Umbrella drinks, poolside!
*Ima eat a conch shell or whatevs, or however you eat that stuff
*Mosey-in' around, not working
*go to the outdoor market, buy tourist crap
*drink Kalik beer ("What’s great about cowbells? Anyone can play them. What’s great about Kalik? Anyone can drink it.")

Things we may or may not do, depending on if we want to make the effort:
*nature ride in jeep around national park
*swim with dolphins (honestly, this is "ambitious" to me)
*go to the Casino, win hella money
*snorkelin'
*fishin'

We'll probably just sit our asses on the beach staring at the clear water and that thing called "the sun" drinking pina coladas the whole time...I can't wait. Crap I need to stock up on more SPF Murtaugh+.

Random Cool Things

$72(!) "cupcake bell jar" that is ridiculous cute. {by Whitney Smith Pottery, via Poppytalk}

Shelter Island Cottage: I die for this outdoor room...or maybe I'm just heavily craving Al Fresco dining at the moment. {via NotYourAvgOrd}


Had to post this hot Manhattan manse for my NY lovers. {also via NYAO via LoftLife}


Coming to visit us in DC? We have luxurious accommodaaaaahtions. {from WhiMSy love via Craft}

AOTD: Kitty City

For all you cat people..."Kitty City" by Tim Barber. {via Cute Overload}

When you need a pick-me-up...

::Drink:: Oh wait just kidding who said that?!?! I meant...check out a hot manse.



I just got this tip about Flaming Lips front-man Wayne Coyne's home by Fitzsimmons Architects and Studio F Construction. Also I had to post this since I think Paula will love it. I dig how this manse feels modern but not boring or sterile. {more pics on Fitzsimmons site}

Brilliant Date at the Apt.

So you guys know that we are a couple who really likes to go out to eat. This Valentine's Day, however, I didn't mind skipping the fancy restaurant (usually I'll take any excuse to go out!). I'm not a huge fan of waiting, crowds, or prix fixe menus, so we decided to make dinner at home. I was not into actually doing much work, so we splurged a bit and picked up some more of those AMAZING raviolis from Eastern Market. This time they had some ♥TOO CUTE♥ red, heart-shaped lobster ravioli, so we had to get those along with trying some of the caramelized onion and mushroom raviolis. We also bought a vodka sauce, so all that needed to be done was heat it all up and throw together a salad (for the nutrients). Dudes - this stuff was decadent and awesome. I totally think it's worth the money because all the hard work is done for you and they are really, really good. Ravioli. Mmmm...we also did our taxes and watched more Olympics. Go TEAM USA! What were y'all up to on Valentine's Day?

♥Happy Happy Love Love♥

Happy Valentine's Day to all my peoples! I love all of you in my life!!! :)

And I love anteaters. They are so cute! This lil' anteater babe was born Feb 8th to mama Cypress, at Discovery Cove in Orlando. ♥ADORABLE♥ {from none other than Cute Overload}

List & Comment Friday: Old Loves

There's something special about being twelve years old. I am not really a "kid person" but one of my favorite experiences was being a camp counselor for fifth graders. Fifth graders are just old enough to get that they are funny but not too old to enjoy the best things in life.

Things I love love loved when I was twelve:
(ok so I still love all these things)
*Lisa Frank stickers (also "fuzzies", "scratch n' sniff", and "sparkly")

*Disney preview channel week
*Pentels

*Labyrinth

*Troll dolls

*Uno
*Stretch pants
*Headbands, Perms
*My teachers
*My cul-de-sac, my neighbors
*Waterballoon fights
*Summer
*Back to the Future

*My unicorn pencil box (still have it!)
*"Shoop" by Salt n' Pepa
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Now it's your turn, guys. What were some of your faves at twelve?