04/25 Our Apartment / Tips

Plant Tour: Care + Tips

At one point my plant count maxed around 20 and as I’ve dwindled down to 9 I learned that 20 is beyond my capabilities for giving each plant the best home possible. I can handle keeping 9 alive though and no longer feel the frustration of plants constantly dying on me, especially since understanding the limitations of the living conditions our small apartment provides. Now I know what works for this space, from both the standpoint of design and not killing so many plants. These are all the plants in our home that have survived with me over the years and how to care for them.

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03/26 Style

Spring Wardrobe Refresh

My desire to maintain a pared down, edited wardrobe came from being deeply stressed out by my closet being the biggest source of chaos in my space throughout the majority of my life. It was during my massive Marie Kondo purge almost 4 years ago (shared about it then on the blog, remember it??) that for the very first time I assessed every single piece of clothing I owned and got rid of most of it with good reasons. Since then, I’ve tasted the unparalleled joy of having a wardrobe consisting only of pieces I love and actually wear, and I intend on keeping it that way forever.

The flaw here is that clothing doesn’t last forever, and sometimes neither do tastes, where one year you can be in love with a sweater and the next year you’ll wonder why you even got it. Even with having nailed my style down pretty good by now which generally involves keeping to simple, comfortable, and versatile pieces that last, sometimes I get it wrong, or I change my mind, and I use the changing seasons to remind me to re-evaluate what’s taking up valuable real estate in my closet.

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03/21 Food

Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is not the recipe to use when you want to eat cookies asap. In fact, these are pretty time consuming, where after I read the instructions for the first time and saw the minimum 24 hour resting period, I didn’t even want to try the recipe because what’s the point if I can’t have cookies now? But after reading repeatedly about how those 24 hours are essential to deepening the flavor and creating the exceptionally chewy but firm texture for what is considered by many the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, I made an exception to my impatient “no waiting” rule. This is Jacques Torres’ famous chocolate chip cookie recipe, a favorite as of late with a couple small changes I made and some tips for the best results.

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03/18 Life

A Little Life Update (Mostly About the House Hunt)

So so many times I’ve tried to write posts to give updates on the house hunt that has been ongoing for almost two years now and I never could put something together that didn’t sound like complaining. Some would more kindly call it interesting (updates about house hunting are what I get asked about most + I love hearing about your experiences and the encouragement you’ve shared with me so far) but the air around it has been so negative for us that I didn’t think sharing about it would be anything more than a downer for both you and me. Plus, I thought I’d have good news by now! Maybe this post is to say there is a little of that still. No we haven’t found a house yet, but let’s chat.

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02/19 Food

Build Your Own Breakfast Board

I recently traveled to Stockholm and of the many things I love and miss about being there, the breakfast bar at the hotel is one of them. Breads, cheeses, meats, butter, jam, hardboiled eggs, pastries, yogurt, fruit, it might sound similar enough to breakfast bars anywhere but it’s so different and special from what I normally experience. I consider this a particularly feel-good and hearty spread, where I’ve observed specifically in Scandinavia that open-faced sandwiches on whole rye/grain bread are favored. I’ve learned quickly that those are my favorite, too. Wanting to bring that home, I put together this board that I like to call “Everything I like at European breakfast bars, plus sesame bagels” and made it easy to re-create by sourcing it all from our favorite place (Trader Joe’s). Read on for the shopping list and some tips for putting together your own breakfast board.

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