Wild Things Do Halloween

I'm not a huge Halloween fan (in fact, I've spent today so far enjoying some early morning yoga and, I am now going to stand in line for flu shot..., excuse me, FluMist - yeah that sounds like it'll work). Love these guys, though, for going all out. And for resisting the urge to go for the "slutty children's book/movie character." So cliche.


(via Alana Taylor, Casey Donahue)

Villanova Thriller at Hoops Mania

That's my team. :)

And for legitmacy's sake, we did go to the Final Four last year. So don't mess.

Pictures in Bed

I love photographer Jacob Pritchard's new photo series, Pictures in Bed. The photos are intensely personal, but also quite fun. I think they have a little something for the voyeur in us all, but also exude a calmness of how homey and safe our beds can be.

(via TONY)

Wonton Pierogies and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

When the boyfriend and I get the house to ourselves (once in a pigs flying over the blue, hell-freezing moon) we like to ... cook.

No, really.

One of our favorite things to do in college when we would visit each others' schools (oh my, that is a heavy-feeling past tense) was making something new for dinner together. Besides our shared love of food (perhaps a little too much love, says my skinny jeans), our relationship grew in the fun and innovation of our tiny, grimy college-apartment kitchens. Even with little counter space, sinks that always seemed to be overflowing with dishes, and Telfon-flaking, cancer-causing, non-stick pans, it was our thing and we often miss cooking together now that we live at home.

But this weekend got we got a little of that back. I've been meaning to try out the ever-versatile wonton wrapper for a while, and they did not disappoint in fashioning a make-shift, low-cal pierogi (hey, hey, that is low-fat cheese and fat-free sour cream in the below photos). And then, you know, to balance out all that low-cal jazz we made pecan banana chocolate chip pancakes. Totally normal.

Click on the photos for some super, in-your-face deliciousness. Although, admittedly, our styling could use a bit of work. Don't worry, Smitten Kitchen, you're safe.

Jon Stewart's Pregnant Gourmet Bride. I scoff. And chuckle.

So. We all know. Conde Nast closed Gourmet, Elegant Bride, Modern Bride, and Cookie this week. The amount of jobs lost is nearing 200, and every recent magazine journalism graduate felt the tug to go back to law school a little more severely than even during long distance phone calls to their parents. Print is washed up, everyone says. But lest we not forget that these magazines were chopped during the worst advertising downturn in recent history at a company that cares more about paying for Anna Wintour's town car than it does a sound business model for its other creative ventures and superb staffs whose names are only found on the masthead and not on a front row seat at fashion week. I'm just sayin'.

The bright spot out of all of this is that it allows these people the perfect excuse to start their own ventures in the fields in which they have become experts. For instance, editors of the late great Domino - much moured by even the online design community - have started an online magazine called Lonny. It's already getting a lot of lauded exposure. I can't wait to see what interesting ventures the ex-editors of the closed food, bridal, and parenting mags have up their sleeves. But maybe not something quite like Jon Stewart suggests.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Pregnant Gourmet Bride Magazine
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

So I went to DC and then fell off the face of the Earth...

I'm sorry. Eep. Um... I've had a stressful, time-consuming few weeks? Is that not excuse enough? Well let me say that I would have certainly been more excited about writing to all of you than fact-checking prices of purple buttons and crafting the oh-so-creative-enough cover letter (sigh, summer has officially ended).

But anyway, I did in fact still go to Washington DC with the boyfriend, and we had a great time. Then - by chance - he went to DC again a few days ago but more on that later I promise. Back to me. And these photos:


Even though I thought the monuments were kind of overrated as a kid, we decided to tour the Capitol and the White House, as well as take a walk to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Verdict? The Capitol tour was fine - cool to see because I never had, but pretty rushed. And of course this guy:

He's demonstrating how the rotunda can carry sound across it - I wanted to do that part, but FINE. The White House tour is hardly worth mentioning - they basically parade you through all the unused rooms of the house and past awkward portraits of First Ladies and then kick you out. There's not even a guide, just a pamphlet. But hey, we were there. Obama was not. But more on him in that post to follow (really).

(The boyfriend has a pretty sweet camera. Don't ask him about it if you aren't ready for an earful about how he NEEDS a tripod. But, you know, good photos.) Seeing the monuments at night was very nice, I'll admit. It definitely beat the sweltering heat and company of dozens of grade-schoolers with which I last saw them. We lay (laid? Shit - I promise I'll figure that out if I get a copy-editing job) at the base of the Washington Monument and just stared at how immense it was while mosquitoes nipped at our sweet skin.

The WWII memorial was also lovely at night, but perhaps a bit over-the-top compared to the understated power of say, the Vietnam Memorial.


The Lincoln Memorial is my favorite, especially when it's all lit up (this photo, of course, is about as lame as they come). Or at least it was until we overheard some couple getting engaged on the steps, hijacking my perfect proposal spot. It's going to be hard to get the BF to remember that while making him forget about the other couple that STOLE IT.

The next day we went to the Newseum! To avoid making this post sound tour-guide-y, I won't overly elaborate, but I can say it's first time I wasn't bawling out of boredom during a three-hour museum visit in a long time. So yeah - Berlin Wall (neat), September 11th exhibit (very sad, but still good to see), 3D theater (um - I'm kind of scared of 3D cinema, so I was not a fan), interactive newsroom (gimicky, but love it anyway), and really good photo ops:

It was also known as The Day Lauren Wore a Blue Bra and Everyone Knew. My mother would be so proud.

Okay. SO. Now to one my favorite parts of the trip. Really Good CUPCAKES. Have I mentioned them before? I have very good friend who went to Georgetown - who doesn't even like cake, mind you - that implored me that I HAD TO GO to Georgetown Cupcake if I was ever in DC. Well, you know me. Sugar desserts fashioned so adorably that you must buy TWO? I'm there. And, let me say, she was not wrong. YOU HAVE TO GO.


Totally worth the wait ...


... and the boy's usual skepticism on how good these cupcakes could possibly be.

Red velvet - GC's classic option. SO GOOD you'd never know I wasn't a fan of cream cheese icing.


I was a happy camper.

So was somebody else, Mr. Skeptical.

So, about half this post is now about cupcakes. Heh. I clearly have my DC priorities straight. How straight you ask?



Our last stop involved making a beeline to Smithsonian to make sure we saw Julia Child's kitchen... and that's basically it. Oh, and okay, Lincoln's hat. Psh.



I hope the Smithsonian isn't mad at me for posting these. Hm. Guess we'll see. Bon Appetit, DC!