gianormous fur baby...

this will be my next dog...

image via eric roth photography

snowpocolypse 2013...

remind me why i still live here and not south carolina???...

image via weather.comhttp://www.weather.com/

more musical heaven...

amazing. energetic. powerful. beautiful... this was my tuesday night...

i rarely pay attention to what seats i've bought for concerts, i'm an airhead like that, i just take what i can get... so we were pleasantly surprised at how awesome our seats were for the show. and what a show it was, probably the second best concert i've ever been to (adele is still the best show i've been to). these guys rock, if you get the chance to see them please do. so talented, so genuine, so much energy. oh, and i loved the lights, the lights strung from the ceiling to give a massive place like the garden an intimate feeling... i need these lights for my backyard...

and as their show ended, it actually just began... the walked THROUGH the crowd to a small stage towards the back and sang a little acapella for the people. i have never heard the garden be so quiet & still...

quotable...

this really spoke to me today...

tuesday night is concert night...

are you ready to be insanely jealous of me? well, get ready. we're going to the mumford & sons concert tomorrow night at the garden...yup...sold out shows all over the place people...

i saw them a couple of years ago at the house of blues before they became mega stars, i love seeing awesome bands in small-ish venues the most. and even though the garden is mammoth in size i'm still pretty excited to see them this year because the felice brothers AND ben howard are opening for this show. what?!?!?

a weekend homebody...

soooo, this happened this weekend...

it was a cold weekend so being a homebody came in handy... cooking, sewing, laundry, a catching up on television was the order for the weekend...and i loved every minute of it.

quotable...

a southern voice...

i've said it before and i'll say it again...i love author rick bragg. i look forward to each issue of southern living magazine just because his 'southern journal' piece. his recent expose, elements of groveling, is no exception...

day trips...

i love a good weekend day trip to a flea market, antique store or vintage/consignment shop. i can't wait for it to be antique/flea market season again. a friend told me about haberdash vintage recently. i can't believe i've never heard of this! so they have a bus/camper that they travel with...

and it looks as though they've recently opened a storefront too, the compton collective in worcester. i soooo need to go check this place out...

a co-worker also told me about muzio designs in essex... essex also happens to be a great place for a million other (expensive) antique shops and a lunch stop at woodmans for some lobster rolls...

comfort food for the weekend...

there is no better comfort food than beef shorts ribs. ok, ok...so there is one better one, mac & cheese, but whatever. the boyfriend is going to be the lucky recipient of this delicious recipe tomorrow night... i'm already drooling thinking about it...

Ingredients:

5 pounds bone-in English-style short ribs, meat and bones separated

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped medium

1 carrot, peeled and chopped medium

1 celery rib, chopped medium

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried 

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups dry red wine

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Arrange beef bones in a dish and microwave (in batches, if microwave is small) until well browned, 10 to 15 minutes; transfer to slow cooker.
2. Dry short ribs with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12‑inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of short ribs well on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and remaining short ribs; transfer to slow cooker.
3. Add onions, carrot, celery, tomato paste, and thyme to fat in skillet and cook over medium-high heat until onions are softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in wine and vinegar, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out any lumps. Bring to simmer and cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 5 minutes; transfer to slow cooker.
4. Stir broth and bay leaves into slow cooker. Cover and cook until beef is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.
5. Transfer short ribs to serving platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil. Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon. Strain braising liquid, discarding solids, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in parsley. Spoon 1 cup sauce over short ribs and serve with remaining sauce.

playing in my head...

my one boss repeatedly comes into work each morning humming whatever song he just heard on the radio...today is was taylor swift (to his defense, he drives his kids to school in the morning and it's whatever they want to hear). so inevitably said song gets stuck in my head...which is really annoying. but apparently my boss is in the know about bands that cover songs like this, so he told us about walk off the earth's version of this song....waaaaayyyy better than taylor swifts version...

jonesing to wallpaper & reupholster something...

after stalking galbraith & paul textiles i'm jonesing to wallpaper or reupholster something in one of their insanely gorgeous patterns...i'm obsessed...

fabric...

wallpaper...

winter creativity...

umm, hello, look at the ring around the sun on my ride down, amazing.

confession: i was an epic failure at the girls sewing/knitting extravaganza in little compton over the weekend. i was too busy blabbing my mouth and asking the serious sewers & knitters a million and one questions about their own projects. but i did learn the basics of knitting (thank you amanda!) and regardless, the weekend was perfection...and these are the photos to prove it...

yeah, so this is the morning view from the house, no big deal...

sweaters, scarfs, bags, quilts, pillows...there was so much production & creativity happening. we nicknamed the house the 'sweatshop' for the weekend...

and holy hell, the best breakfast i've had in years. i will never cook bacon the same way now that i know the secret to the perfect piece of bacon. i wish i had photos of the beef bourguignon from the dinner the night before, but i was too busy shoveling it into my mouth...

ok, i lied, i did one little project...homemade valentine's...which weren't super successful since we couldn't stop eating the swedish fish...

thank you sarah, for hosting, you are awesome. and thank you amanda, meggin, stephanie & emily for letting me listen to your stories, watch you create beautiful items, and making my heart feel full and warm on a cold winter weekend ...and for all the talk about crystals too!

pesto stuffed portobellos...

ok, so not to keep harping on veganism, because really, i swear, i am as carnivorous as they come. but i took my mom & stepdad out for my mom's (ahhh, 60th!) birthday dinner last night to a vegan restaurant in somerville, true bistro, (side note, i would have thought an uber liberal/crunchy/hippie/free thinking place like nearby cambridge would have more vegan restaurants, but they don't) and it was SO good. so good, that i would absolutely, 100% eat there again. so good, that i actually stole the menu and gave it to my parents so they could study it and maybe recreate some of it home. so good, i've actually been making some vegan recipes of my own...

i found this vegan pesto stuffed portobello recipe that looked pretty yummy, but just couldn't bring myself so make it 100%, so i faked it a little... umm, i used regular store bought pesto & i used shaved parmesan cheese too (because that vegan 'cheese' just looks plain nasty), and at the end i took off the foil and turned the heat u to 375 to brown the cheese a little on top... and holy hell does it taste good!..

 

currently reading...

i am fairly certain that i am not the only person on the planet who goes around target and other stores that have book titles that look interesting, snapping photos with my iphone, right? i came across these two books and have them on hold for me at my local library. the first is the girl who fell from the sky by heidi durrow...

the second is unsaid: a novel by neil abramson...not going to lie, the picture on the cover of the book sucked me in...