Danger! Danger!

My tastespotting addiction yielded a very beautiful result several weeks ago when I clicked upon the stunningly lovely La Tartine Gourmande. Hours upon hours can be spent reading her tales, drooling over her recipes and sighing at the sheer brilliance of her photography + styling.

Danger, danger! Don't even think of clicking this link unless you are prepared to spend hours loving the site for its fabulousness while simultaneously loathing it for making your cooking (life, recipes, photography...insert any number of terms here) look quite bland!


All photos copyright Béa of La Tartine Gourmande.

They Draw and Cook: I Love!

So glad I found the They Draw and Cook blog. Artists submit their illustrations/drawings + recipes. It is such an amazing collaboration. I'm hooked!

Gimme a Pizza That!

So I have to fess up and admit that I have hundreds of recipes bookmarked, torn out from magazines and dogeared in the many cookbooks I own (I collect them). That's not the confession part. This is: Of these hundreds very few have I actually tried. But over the last year or so I've really made an effort to cook beyond my "regulars" and the hundreds (although still in the hundreds I'm sure) are dwindling. But as fast as I can attempt these recipes I find more that I add to the list...I'm thinking of have a tastespotting addition too but that's another story for another day. Okay, so I feel better now.



Good news is I found a recipe last that nearly made me jump out of my chair run to the store and get ingredients right that very second. It is good news because it only took me a week to find this recipe and try it. And boy oh boy am I glad I did! Last night I made the famous Pioneer Woman's pizza dough and made this tasty little number. Hubs and I had tried a pizza like this a few years ago on vacation so I knew if it tasted as good as it looked in Ree's photos it'd b good. And to quote my hubby, it was "phenomenal." The pizza dough was so easy to I'm going to be a pizza making queen now. I can't believe I waited this long to try a PW recipe.

Do you have a fave recipe that you found online, in a magazine or cookbook? Please share...I surely need to add more to my list. ;-)

P.S. Please excuse the goofy title + bad photo...the pizza smelled so good I couldn't focus on getting a good shot for fear of it cooling off before I tried it!

A Year Of Giving

I thought I'd share with you another inspiring project (that I wish I'd thought of and wish I could do myself). When stumbling upon the blog "A Year of Giving" I became instantly hooked. The next 30 minutes were spent reading through Reed's daily posts.

The basic idea of the project was inspired by his mother and is quite simple. Even more inspiring is the quote that Reed says inspired him "When you're going through tough times, that's when you most need to give back." Reed lost his job and was face with rough times so he came up with this idea to give back--every day for one year he will give $10 to someone with the hopes that it will help them out and inspire them to do a good deed of there own.

Inspirational right? Makes you contemplate what more you could be doing and how you could give. Mostly it reminds me that there are good people in the world who even under dire straights will seek to create good.

Reminder: Be Grateful

I don't know where I've been or how I missed this but Crow and Canary decided back in January to make this a year of gratitude--so up my alley! During the last week of every month this year Carina will be giving away two boxes of thank you cards from two different designers as part of her "gratitude campaign." The goal is to remind you to be grateful--not just for the obvious things but for the every day things. I love a good thank you card and of course a sign of gratitude so I wanted to pass this along. March's giveaway is still up and you have until April 2nd to enter.

Overlay Giveaway

The talented Jess of vol.25 is giving away sets of her overlays. I love how they can add so much fun + whimsy to any photo. Her talents never cease to amaze me! If you'd like to find out how to win check out her blog, the giveaway ends on Monday. I have my fingers crossed, I'd love to have these to play with on fun spring photos.

Pretty in Pink

It is a beautiful, beautiful day here in LA. I'm having a hard time being motivated to do anything but lay in my hammock outside. I thought I'd share this beautiful pink and black wedding with you guys to day (as seen on Snippet & Ink). It just looks so spring-like and feminine. Love!

NOLA: Living Lovely

It makes me so excited to find bloggers near by me, so I was thrilled to come across Black.White.Yellow. This blog is home to Jessica, an architect who is living in New Orleans, LA. Now I am hooked on her blog and also loving her new apartment photos. Her style is eclectic and fun...a true embodiment of the city itself. She said she wanted to "create a space on a shoestring budget that screams happy." I'd say she succeeded, wouldn't you?

My 5 Things

My buddy Melisa of The Lil Bee has been posting and hosting "My Five Things" on her blog.

She wrote: "My Five Things will be a place to share the 5 things you want to do in this lifetime. They can be things simple and small or vast and life-altering. There are no rules. Just a collection of goals you wish to accomplish. Because I truly believe that by putting it out there, you're that much more inclined to make it happen."

Today she featured my own five things. Click on over and take a look. What are your five things? Leave a comment, I'd love to know!

Inspiration

I've written before about Tracie, an amazing lady I call a friend...even though we've never met just chatted and come to "know" each other through the blogosphere. When I first stumbled upon Tracie's site several months ago I was hooked and inspired. I spent a lot of time reading all of her posts. And just last week I spent at least an hour reading and rereading her posts again. It is just that kind of blog. She's just that kind of woman--inspiring, talented, creative and the list could go on. Today she posted another one of her heartfelt, motivating posts that moved me to tears. I knew I wanted to share it with you all. Thank you Tracie for continuing to be such an inspiration and wonderful friend.

*I have Tracie's blog under my "inspiring reads" section in the right column of my blog so you can always click over to her site that way.

My Wish Gift List

Sweet Kelly of Design Crush rounded up some lovely bloggers for a special series she's doing called "Wish Gift Lists." Each blogger posts ideas of what they'd love to give the people on their list. There have been so many great ideas from bloggers like Erin of Design for Mankind, Carolynn of Two Brunettes, and Melissa of The Lil Bee. I count myself flattered to be amongst these fabulous ladies Kelly chose and my list is featured today on her blog. Take a trip there to see what I'd like to give this year.

What are some of your favorite finds you'll be gifting this year? I'd love to hear!

Little Italy

"Little Italy" by Jennifer Altman is now on sale and I'm dreaming of owning a copy of my own. If you've never visited Jennifer's blog Nectar & Light you are really missing out as it contains a plethora of amazing and inspiring photographs. This book is her first and I imagine that it will be wildly successful.

The sixty pages in this hardcover book detail memories, polaroids, a few recipes and a story or two. The book includes a limited edition print and loads of inspiration. Jennifer says of her book:

"I want it to inspire you to follow your heart - to step on foreign ground, to feel that ground reverberate through your body. I want you to hold the hand of your best friend and lose yourself in magic moments together. I want you to laugh until you can hardly catch your breath and remember that beautiful moments with friends can heal your soul and grant you vision anew. I want to inspire you."

Now that sounds like something that belongs in my collection!

Art From The Every Day

It constantly amazes me how creative artists these days are! Taking inspiration from the every day, an art director at Shopping Losts takes found grocery lists and turns them into art. I always find it interesting to see what is on other people's lists and who hasn't found a forgotten one in their cart at some point!? What a creative way to turn these notes into something fun.

Halloween Survival

Mrs. Limestone never fails to blow me away with her creativity! She just posted her Halloween party invitations that came to life as Creature Survival Kits. I totally wish I was close by + invited to her parties...can you imagine getting such a unique package in the mail? It is not every day the mailman delivers holy water, a stake, bullet and matches all in the name of All Hallows Eve.

Have you done any creative Halloween projects? I'd love to hear about them!

Just Because...

I heard about the most heartfelt of tributes via twitter yesterday. Liz, the creative force behind Linda & Harriet papers wrote a beautiful post about memories of her mother who passed away in 1998. She said of her mom: "the thing people tell me most about my mom is how she would do things for them that always made them feel special... It was these little things she did that made her her - and in turn made us feel special, feel thought of, feel loved."

So in honor of her mother on her birthday she is giving away note cards in exchange for the promise that you'll send it to someone just because. What wonderful way to celebrate a person who did so many things "just because" in her lifetime. To sign up to spread a little "just because" cheer visit her blog for details. Hurry, the sign up deadline is Monday.

Dreamy Kitchen

The styling and photos over at Urban Grace Interiors have me swooning.  My kitchen is one of my favorite rooms in our house but there is always room for improvement and I'm always open to change.  On this site I think I found my dream kitchen...

I love the apron sink, the subway tiles, the light airy feel, the pale blue accent color, and the mix of old and new. Be sure to check out Erika's site and blog. Along with more beautiful designs she also recently had a baby girl..another great design, and it full of inspiring stories.

Do you have a dream kitchen? Leave me a link...I'd love to see!

Guest Blogging

Hello friends! Tina over at The English Muse is taking a blogging hiatus until September so I'll be joining some very talented ladies to guest blog there. My first post is up now so head on over and leave me some love! I think you'll really like this post--so pretty! And when you get a second browse her blog for lots of lovely posts.

Pastel Party

Some of you may have been lucky enough to have seen these photos already but if not you are in for a treat! Livy turned 21 and threw a party. A pretty, pretty, pastel party. These are the type of photos I'd just like to jump into and stay a while. Gaze at them for a bit and you are sure to feel cheery...guaranteed!

Wisteria

When reading my comments I came across one from reader, Ruthi who is a display coordinator at Anthropologie. Yep, she pretty much has my dream job (I have a lot of dream jobs lately). While reading her blog for an extended period of time the other day I found much inspiration including this Wisteria tree she crafted for the bedding area at her store. She says it reminds her of the Secret Garden and I couldn't agree more. I'd love to have one of these in my own bedroom--it's magical! Visit her blog for more inspiration!

Basket Pendant

I signed up for this fun swap and in turn was introduced to this blog. I'm so impressed by her DIY wicker pendant! Makes me think of endless possibilities for customizing lighting. Who knew it was so easy!? It looks straight out of Pottery Barn and I bet it was way cheaper!