A Valley of Flowers weekend

The Valley of Flowers in Himalayas, India via Bestourism

This is without a doubt the prettiest thing I've seen this week.  Wishing you a long weekend filled with beauty and serenity, much like the Valley of Flowers in India. 

Would you like a necklace with that tee?

Of course I would.  These are just adorkable - the base colour tees are pretty as well.  Which one is your fave?

WSJ!

Look - even the WSJ is highlighting KD's backpack!

Summer heat... and humidity

Summer season is about to officially kick off here - the swimming pools are all packed and the interns are just arriving in the office.  And the heat and humidity have been ratcheted up a notch.  That means not being able to step outside during the day or night for 15 minutes without obtaining a slight sheen of sweat on your face.  That means the ability to bake a cake and cookies in your car after its been sitting out in the sun for half an hour.  That means patio season is over as the buzzard-size mosquitoes have begun to swarm.  That means the citizens of this humidity oppressed city won't feel a cool breeze until after Thanksgiving.

There are few ways to mitigate both the heat and humidity and I've come up with a few clothing alternatives that will help you survive the summer months.  All of these were found on Shop Nasty Gal's site and are in my virtual closet.  Here's to hoping that someday they'll make it to reality.

Chiffon back blazer from Shop Nasty Gal  - Try to look past this chick's shorty shorts and see the potential of a WHITE blazer with a SHEER back!  You could even layer this blazer casually with a work office and know that it'll hold up in the summer heat.  In short, this blazer is like a mullet - business in the front and party in the back.

Poppy pocket tank by Motel - I like this bright burst of colour in another sheer, light top for the summer.  No doubt you'd have to layer it with some modest undergarments but this top would allow you to feel any hint of a summer breeze.  Pair this with some denim and you're Miss Fourth of July.  Or keep it light and white.

 Chaser tees - I love tees.  I love casual, worn in, soft sleepable tees to wear with anything.  And that is why I like Chaser tees.  I would wear them to work if I could.  My heart belongs to Texas but I think my style may belong to California.

To come, how to dress for a summer trip to visit Frenchie's folks

What's in her bag - the Remix

No, I'm not gloating after the Mavericks' win over the Thunder tonight in overtime, coming back from a 15 point deficit in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter.  Not at all.  Today, we are going to examine the contents of the Thunder's star (and former UT Longhorn alum) Kevin Durant's backpack.  KD has been impressive ever since he joined the NBA - a freak talent, US Basketball World Champ and only 22 to boot.  Durant wears his backpack to every post game press conference, of which he has participated in quite a few this post season.

Source: Damon Fontenot

The contents of his backpack were only revealed this month as the questions and speculations from the media reached a peak.  We have seen magazines editors, celebrities, fashion bloggers - heck anyone's got one - spill what they stow away in their bags.  So it would seem remiss if I didn't bring you - What's In His Bag - Kevin Durant edition.

I substituted a Kobe Ultimatum Gear Nike backpack but Nike is soon coming out with KD's own version so that will do until we get our mitts on that one.  Plus, we all know that Kobe Bryant does not wear backpacks.  Okay - so the "big" reveal was a bit of a letdown.  None of the contents were scandalous (Ooh look, he uses women's deodorant).  But check it out - homeboy has three cell phones.  Who needs three cell phones???  One for work, one for family and one for friends?  Or one for work, one for friends and family and one for the laaadiiesss?  How can you even keep straight the numbers of each of the three?

Who'd have thunk it?

Would you have guessed that this 3,000 bottle wine cellar...

... is in this farmhouse?



This deceptively small New York farmhouse, which is actually 7,370 square feet, is a WSJ House of the Day.  Check it out here and buy it for a cool $6 million.

Change of plans

I feel that in order to be happily flexible in life, it's important to never have your heart set on plans, particularly, vacation plans.  The key word there is "happily."  We had a slight change of plans this past week with our booked hotel on the beach in Mexico.  That weeklong trip has been canceled, with good cause, which is disappointing since I looked forward to snorkeling for the first time and spending some quality time just relaxing.  But every cloud has its silver lining, I'm now instead looking for a short weekend getaway.  Do you, dear readers, have any suggestions?  New Orleans is a quick jaunt for us and I've also been looking at Napa / Sonoma.  I'm sure that later this summer, after all of the summer weddings, we'll start looking at long vacations again but I just need something to tie me over until then.

Pretty print illustrating my attitude this week

Gourdough's - Texan for FAT DELICIOUS LOVE

Yum yum yum!  I love Gourdough's.  It sits in my belly and sticks to my hips.  Take one incredible donut.  Add fried chicken / bacon / cream cheese / cake batter / honey butter / brownies / oreos / fudge icing / marshmallows / etc. and then dump some ice cream on top.  Heaven right?  You must check out the menu here.  Everyone that I've brought here loves it and everyone's favourite is different.  Some love the chocolate overload and others like theirs with fruit and cake.  I can't even remember which donut creation I like - actually, there are none that I dislike. 

Gourdough's is in an airstream trailer on Lamar and you have to wait 15 minutes after you order to get your donuts.  But trust me.  It's worth the wait and the calories.  Yum yum yum.

Perla's Seafood and Oyster Bar

I first went to Perla's Seafood and Oyster Bar the weekend of my sister's graduation on a whim - we were strolling down South Congress around dinner time, saw its Maine-inspired decor and decided to stop in.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere was very familiar yet different from everything else in Austin.  We were seated on the comfortable outdoor patio and watched as the sun set over the downtown skyline.  Strings of lights were dangling overhead and it felt like vacation.

After our first dinner there, we saw Anthony Bourdain's interview of Lawrence McGuire and Thomas Moorman Jr. (chefs) and so we decided to bring Frenchie's parents back when we were in Austin this past weekend.  The restaurant is decked out in a decidedly preppy seaside theme, with its waitstaff dressed in Vineyard Vines collared shirts and belts.  The cocktails were nice - nothing extraordinary - but I had the best mussels here that I've had anywhere.  And I do like my mussels.  They were steamed in Fireman's 4 Blonde Ale and the chunks of fennel sausage were an added bonus to the broth.  The Frenchie family enjoyed the vegetable sides a great deal, which was a surprise give this is a seafood restaurant and veggies are obviously not the focus.  Definitely do try the wood-grilled brussel sprouts and lobster stock, cheddar and green onion grits if you get a chance.  Frenchie and his dad also really liked the oyster offerings.  Our waitress was honest and refreshingly open with her opinions on the menu offerings and overall, the dining experience and food is one that I think is a must try in Austin.

Torchy's Tacos

Goodnight!  That's the one word that sums up the food experience that one has at Torchy's.  This past weekend, I went to Torchy's Tacos in the Austin, Texas 1st Street Trailer Park and - Goodnight! - I love their green chile pork tacos.  As described by their menu, this taco is made up of slow-roasted pork carnitas simmered with green chilies and topped with queso fresco, cilantro, onion and a wedge of lime served with two corn tortillas.  All the flavors are married together perfectly and the cilantro and lime add something special to it.  I could eat these for days and not get tired of them.

Frenchie's mom ordered the fried avocado taco, which is a hand-battered, fresh avocado fried and served with vegetarian refried beans, topped with pico, lettuce and cheese and topped with a poblano sauce.  Although the rest of us loved the green chile pork the best, she enjoyed this one a lot better. 

Each of these tacos are less than $4 but you definitely can't just eat one.  I also love the fact that they come out of a food truck.  I've never waited less than 15 minutes in line for these and they have been worth it every single time.  I know the next time I should try another type of taco but I can't waste stomach room on a non-carnitas taco.  Goodnight!

To come... more food weekend stories 

Sneak peek of my weekend

Beautiful weather.  Even better company.  And oh so much food - crawfish, tacos, seafood, fried doughnuts and more.  I'll add the details later!

WkShp tees

I love tees.  Drapey tees, v-neck tees, Calvin Klein men's tees, any tees as long as they are soft and comfortable.  I apologize, as I'm late again to fashion trends but I really like these WkShp tees and may need to pick up a few.  Perfect, breezy, wispy summer weekend wear.  Follow their blog and also find where you can pick up these tops.

Dope-yo!

Around two / three years ago, my morning breakfast used to be doppio espressos on ice from Starbucks.  I could down one of those suckers in the morning followed up by a latte in the afternoon.  Those days, I was pulling 100+ hours a week and delirious half the time I was at work.  Since then, I've been able to tone it down to one tall caramel macchiato a morning and have that as my only caffeine intake during the day.  Today, as a tribute to the past, I had a doppio espresso on ice and my head almost exploded.  I got the shakes almost immediately and was bouncing around the office looking for food and things to keep my hands and feet still.  I had to retype everything during the afternoon because my fingers were going twice as fast as normal and typos were running rampant through my emails.

I'm glad that I have lower caffeine tolerance than I used to - it's good to know that espresso will do it for me and I won't have to take NoDoze like in the old days (bad idea).  Caffeine is no longer my coping mechanism for stress.  What are your stress relievers?  Any caffeine addicts out there?

Rise No. 1

For pre-Mother's Day dinner, despite my sister's request to go to a sport's bar to watch the Pacquiao / Mosley fight, my family went to Rise No. 1 in Inwood Village in Dallas.  It's a French restaurant that centers upon souffles.  My parents have both been vegetarians for 20+ years and Rise had several options, not just one option, for veggies.  My mom gets really excited whenever we take her someplace different so we decided to give this place a go.

The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating and the atmosphere is very country-style chic.  The glasses were made out of recycled wine bottles and the linen napkins are 80-year old French linen.  The store is lined with bookshelves that hold old board games, books and other tchotchkes.  We ordered a bottle of cab and my mom and dad had artichoke andree and marshmallow soup starters.  The marshmallow soup was a tomato basil with mini souffles (that look like marshmallows) floating in it, almost like a savory version of hot chocolate.  We were worried that the souffles were not going to be filling enough - each of us ordered our own.  The restaurant has both vegetarian and meat / seafood options for souffles.  Rise has an open kitchen concept and while you're waiting for your food, you're surrounded by the aroma of cooking butter and cheese.  We also placed our dessert souffle orders, one chocolate and one Grand Marnier souffle.  The Grand Marnier souffle was definitely the better one with a wonderful cream sauce.  And let me tell you, don't be fooled by the size of the souffles.  We were STUFFED after the main course.  We of course finished the dessert souffles but were groaning with belly pains as we walked out of the restaurant.  We were full until noon the next day.  Overall, my family had a fantastic time and my mom really appreciated something different.  Rise is quite a nice restaurant with some special touches:

• Each plate you eat off of is a unique piece and stampled with the restaurant's name and logo
• You can purchase the glasses, napkins, bread cutters and more from the restaurant in its "store" as well as several souffle cookbooks
• They gave us each cookies on the way out because we made a reservation

Note: Pictures from Rise's flickr account

Recent read #9: Boneshaker

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest is a novel with a steampunk setting, with zombies or "rotters" running rampant in it.  That alone should sell you on it.  The book follows two characters - teenager Zeke and his mother Briar - through an infected area of long ago Seattle, Washington.  The "Blight" as it's called is seeping from the ground and turns those who breathe it into zombies within minutes.  The city center, the source of the Blight, and the surrounding areas are walled off and those within it were left to die.  Zeke enters the quarantined zone in an effort to clear his family name, which has him and his mother living in penury on the Outskirts.  Briar follows him to bring him home, knowing that Zeke is unable to handle the horrors of the dead city.  The book does not skimp on action and I could see this easily being made into an action / sci fi movie.  And like any good steampunk book, there are plenty of dirigibles and even a dirigible chase sequence.  The end is quick and vague and there is a moment where Briar reveals everything to Zeke that is a bit of a letdown.  But Cherie Priest is a good story teller and her alternative landscape of America is one that I look forward to reading more about in her other novels.

Itty bitty bicycles

I am fan of how this printed summer dress flows longer in the back and looks super cute from a distance.

But look at the print up close!  How awesome is that.  It'd be a secret between you and the dress, surrounded by millions of itty bitty bicycles.

Moody sweatshirt

This is what I say to you, Thursday... MEH!

  

When you sit next to the food table...

My office at work is located right next to the food table.  That means when we do Friday Breakfasts, the aroma of fresh bagels / breakfast tacos / doughnuts / kolaches wafts over to my desk effortlessly.  That means when co-workers bring in their extra Halloween / Christmas / Easter candy, I sit next to mounds and mounds of candies.  That means when we order pizza for dinner at work, at least once a week, I'm enveloped by the smell of melting cheese and greasy crust.  And that means that right now, because it was Fajita Lunch Wednesday, randomly, I have been constantly smelling leftover crispy chocolate chip cookies.

It's a wonder that I haven't gained 50 pounds just from sitting in this location in the office.  However, it has also made me the most popular person on the floor.  Everyone needs to walk by my desk in order to get at the goodies.  And if that's a position of power in the workplace, I'll take it.

Open sesame

I don't have kids but I love this concept called the Minjjoo Door.  Do you remember being small and wanting everything to be "me" sized?  You've also gotta appreciate the fact that you can draw on the door as well.



I love it when little kids stand like that with their bellies sticking out.   I don't really know why.



Cankles and Recent read #8: Jar City

I must be allergic to mosquitoes.  This weekend I walked outside of an Anthropologie for two minutes and my ankles were mauled by them.  Today I have fat red ankles and the bites hurt!  I wrapped an ice pack around them and my co-workers had a good laugh until they saw my cankles and then laughed some more.

Anyway, this is going to be a terrible segue into my most recent read.



Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason

As you'll soon discover through some of my recent reads, I quite enjoy mysteries of any kind and was convinced that I'd like this one, particularly due to the endorsement by NPR.  It's an Icelandic murder mystery set in cold, grey Reykjavik with a promising main character in Detective Erlendur - a gritty hardworn man with the typical health and family dysfunctions associated with detective heroes.  The mystery starts with the death of an old man that could have easily ended up a cold case if not for Erlendur's relentless probing and willingness to chase what seem like dead end leads.  The dead man ends up being a serial rapist and the list of suspects begin to grow as more victims are uncovered.  The novel picks up in the middle with a scientific twist of a genetic disease that throws a wrench into the story.  However, I didn't feel as though it was enough of a pick up to take the book to a satisfactory conclusion.  This is the first of the Reykjavik thrillers but I don't think its caught me enough to pick up the series.  Have you read any good mysteries lately?

Mother, May I?

Mother's Day has sneaked up on me this year (it's tough to swallow but "snuck" is not a word) and I need to find something suitable for my mom.  She really likes this day in May, partially because my parents have never, to my knowledge, celebrated their wedding anniversary which is in the same month.  My mom keeps every single birthday and mother's day card that my sister and I have ever made or bought for her in her bedside table.  I suppose that's partly where my love of stationery comes from, the importance that she placed on those marker and crayon paper creations.  You can bet your buttons I'm going to get her a pretty card this year and also pick out something wonderful for her as well.


Michael Michael Kors Grayson Bag


Bedside carafe for those drinks of water mom always brought you in the middle of the night


Beautiful summer carafe since I broke her other pitcher last summer making sangria (oops!)

I've been thinking of taking Mom to the Anthropologie in my hometown and letting her pick out some airy summery things that will keep cool in Texas and other fun things for the home.

Cautiously, I'm also going to seek my sister's suggestions and maybe we'll come up with a joint gift idea.

PS - How adorable is this bowl?!