Posts in Home
Our bedroom project is (maybe) finished!

You guys, a bedroom has never been my biggest priority in settling into an apartment. It never feels as important as the living areas, especially since it's usually covered in clothes and really just a place for sleep. But I'd been craving a change to this mindset for a while. And so for the first time in a long time (probably since living in our childhood homes), our bedroom feels truly purposeful and thought-out. It's a curated mix of bright, eclectic, lived-in, and cozy. I'm loving how this long work in progress has turned out, and the fact that very few things were actually new purchases...

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Perfecting a couple of dishes for seamless entertaining

Entertaining is intimidating for a reason. It’s really difficult to feel like you need to be in two rooms at once, providing your guests with entertainment of some kind, all the while knowing that you have to serve them food that tastes good in a timely manner that didn’t completely stress you out to make. Entertaining is the scariest, though, when you try to tackle things that are far beyond the scope of what you’re (honestly) capable of. That’s why I think that the best trick is to serve something that you’ve already perfected and are proud of...

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Shameless Product Plugs - Installment #2

It's time for round two of my Shameless Product Plugs series, the first of which you can check out here. As a refresher, this is a time for me to gush about all those (material) things for which I thank my lucky stars nearly every day that I'm going through life with them by my side. Now things don't make people happy; money doesn't buy happiness. Obvvvv. But when you find something you really love, it's sorta like the cherry on top, or at least the sprinkles.

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The best Bloody Mary bar

In my tiny corner of the world, there’s not much better than a great Bloody Mary. And don’t get me wrong, I love the taste of one, but even more so, I love the Bloody Mary environment and culture, if you will (does that statement make me sound uncultured?).

The hours-long brunch with nothing else to do and nowhere else to be. The long pause and “hmmmmm” and “sure, why not” to the waitress when she sees that your glass is getting low. There’s just nothing else like it—a boozy brunch with friends or lovers or, hell, strangers even. 

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My teeny tiny office space

It's been a long time since I've been able to call even the smallest nook my "office" space. And to be honest, I still do most of my blogging from my couch or my bed. But I've been spending some time slowly cultivating a unique little workspace of my own—thanks to this cutest desk that Jon gave me for Christmas to be the centerpiece of it all.

I think it's bright, comfortable, tidy, and eclectic—the best combination for me.

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Weeknight activity: "Chopped" with friends

I’ve got a new wickedly fun weeknight activity for you: "Chopped" with friends. (For those who aren't familiar, check out this). We had been tossing this idea around for months with our friends Matt and Julie, and we finally hashed out the details and went for it! What ensued was a super fun night of cooking and experimenting that felt much more exciting than simply cooking dinner for ourselves.

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My favorite Christmas playlist

December is here! December is far and away the best (read here as the only acceptable) month of the winter. There is a crispness about the freezing cold air, an extra bit of warmth to every light that brightens the dark night sky, a certain magic in the stillness. The smells, sights, and sounds of Christmastime are nostalgic and exciting, whether you're five years old or fifty, and I love that.

I have been looking forward to this month since the beginning of The Pastiche because of all the holiday-oriented content I couldn't wait to talk about.

One of my very favorite things about the first days of December is slowly reintroducing Christmas music into my daily listening when cooking, cleaning, or having people over.

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Splitting holidays and this brilliant solution

The one thing about holidays that can be slightly more stressful than enjoyable: the splitting of family time. It’s a wonderful thing to have enough family members for this to even be an issue, but it can feel like an issue nonetheless. Christmas, although seemingly a more important holiday to many, is actually the less difficult one, I think, compared to Thanksgiving—given that it’s really a two-full-day celebration at minimum. Therefore, most people I know don’t have too much trouble splitting it someway between Christmas Eve day and night, as well as Christmas morning and night. However, Thanksgiving can feel like the trickier one due to its meal-centric nature. It’s hard to have an early meal at one location and then move to the next place to endure your food coma and not partake in that meal. It’s ok, of course, because company is still enjoyed, but there’s something about not being able to partake in the meal that just doesn’t feel right.

A good friend of mine (Hi Julia!) has a tradition in her family that I think is an absolutely brilliant alternative to splitting time...

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