That's A LOT of candy!

I had a wonderful weekend with Melissa. We shopped, had lots of good meals, lots of good talks, and many cups of tea! We also had lots of candy! We stopped by Economy Candy in the lower east side. It's this tiny candy shop that is literally filled to the brim with all types of candy, old candy from childhood, jelly bellies and anything else you can imagine. We made ourselves sick yesterday eating our purchases (as a disclaimer, not all the candy in the photo was for us)! It was such a great weekend and the moment we said goodbye this morning I started missing her already :(

My bff...

is getting ready to get on a plane right now to come see me!! I can't wait, I am so excited. I haven't seen her since Christmas. I have a million things to do before she gets here so I am leaving work now to get everything done. Have a great weekend everyone!

Ugly soap!

I'm down to one Lavender Cream soap in my inventory and I have attempted twice in the last week to make more and for some reason it's giving me HUGE problems. This is the most difficult soap I make because it's a milk based soap and when lye mixes with milk things can get a little hairy! The first time I made this soap it came out perfect, no problems at all. For some reason, every time I attempt it now, I have issues. It's one of my best sellers and one of my favorites so I am not inclined to give up on it yet but it's so frustrating to throw out an entire batch of soap. I have been researching other methods of making milk based soaps and I think I am going to try a different technique once my supplies come in. On a good note, I did successfully make a new batch of White Tea and Ginger which will be available in the shop soon. I tweaked my classic recipe a bit and added a couple of new butters to the mix to make a more moisturizing and lathery bar. I am really happy with the result.

My boys

I was going through old pictures and found these of PeeWee when he was a puppy, the first photo is from the first night we brought him home. He was so tiny!! He weighed 2 pounds and he didn't have his snout yet so you couldn't even tell he was a dachshund.




This is Marley, the dog we had to leave behind when we moved to NY (He's living with Mike's mom). He is 90 lbs and PeeWee is 9 lbs so it was a very funny site to see them together. When PeeWee was little they were only allowed to play if PeeWee was on the couch and Marley was on the floor. It was so cute. PeeWee used to run back and forth on the couch and taunt him. PeeWee never knew there was a size difference, he used to climb and chew all over Marley. Luckily Marley did realize the size difference and was always so careful when he played with him. They used to run around the house and chase each other, Marley would start out chasing PeeWee and then all of a sudden they would stop and change direction and PeeWee would start chasing Marley. It made for great entertainment!

Easter Weekend

Mike and I made a yummy Easter brunch this weekend. Well actually Mike made the brunch, I, uh...supervised? Mike did a spin on eggs benedict without the heavy sauce, it was sooo good. We also made crepes which are one of my favorite breakfast foods!





It was a nice weekend, aside from a few minor soap setbacks. I don't know what is going on lately but I can't seem to make a decent batch of soap, maybe it's the full moon! I'm more than frustrated at this point because I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'm going to take a break from it for a few days and try again next week. I need to order more supplies anyway so hopefully the break will provide some insight.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Andrea at Stones and Starling! Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So here goes...

1. I LOVE bread, when I lived by myself I used to get these amazing frozen french baguettes from the grocery (they came 2 in a package), you pop them in the oven for 10minutes and they are ready to go. I would eat one entire baguette for dinner with lots of butter, it was delicious and one of the things I miss about living on my own!

2. I hated red wine until I turned 26, then all of a sudden I had a taste for it, just like that, out of the blue!

3. I hate to have my food touch, I blame this on my mom, she is the exact same way. I even go to the extent of having a second plate with my sides on it if my main course has a sauce or something that might leak into all the other things in the meal!

4. I have major arachnophobia, to the point where I can't even see a spider on tv without freaking out.

5. My dog PeeWee didn't have a name for over a month. My boyfriend and his roommate ended up naming him because I couldn't choose something and we were just calling him dog.

6. I am completely addicted to Dominos Cheesy Bread and Cinnistix, there are hundreds of restaurants in my neighborhood and when Mike and I order takeout I always choose Dominos!

I am only going to tag one person because I usually get crap for tagging other people! That lucky person is my bf, Melissa! Sorry hon!

Taking a short break

I am taking a short blogging break. I am running low on creativity and blog post ideas so I am taking a short break but will be back next week! Have a long (for those who have tomorrow off) and wonderful Easter weekend everyone!

Find Your Spot

Mike and I have been talking a lot about where we will go when we do finally leave the city and buy our big piece of farm land in the country. We have scoped out a couple of areas that we like but haven't yet committed to a place. Last year I found this great site online called Find Your Spot. You take a short quiz and the site gives you four pages of results of places it thinks you would like based on your answers to the questions. It then gives you a four page overview of each city. I just re-visited the site and took the quiz again. Of all the picks, I like Clarksville, TN, Chattanooga, TN, and Roanoke, VA.

My next vacation...

Blackberry Farm is a 4200 acre real working farm and hotel located in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. I'm already planning a trip here, it looks amazing!

Please stop the banging

Mike has officially lost his patience with our radiator. When we moved into our new apartment we got rid of screaming, running babies and in its place received loud, banging radiator (it's true, there really is no such thing as a quiet Manhattan apartment). We've tolerated this banging because we knew that spring was around the corner, the heat would be turned off, and we would get peaceful sleep once again. Last night we reached our breaking point, at least Mike did. I managed to sleep through the banging, it was the fight that Mike started having with the radiator pole that woke me up. If you shake the pole a little it helps the water run through it and stops the banging...at least for a minute or two. I sleep closest to the pole and have worked out a routine with it. If the heat has just turned off you have to shake the pole at least three separate times to get the banging to stop. At 1 am I woke up to Mike trying to reason with (shake profusely!) the damn radiator. In the end, the radiator won and Mike slept on the couch. I guess all of this is better than the heater in our first apartment which was possessed and would turn on and bang and screech in the middle of the night, even when it was un-plugged! Why can't spring just get here!!

Farm Life

I think I may have mentioned before that one of my dreams is to move to a farm in the country and be able to grow all my own food. Thankfully, Mike shares this crazy dream with me. In fact our plan is to one day leave the city and do just that. I know it sounds strange to go from BIG city to small town rural living but it is something we both want very much. We even subscribe to farm magazines, just so we are prepared when we finally make the move! So I was elated when I stumbled across the blog, Farmgirl Fare. I am hooked, I have been reading it non-stop, her recipes look incredible! She also has a collection of newsletters from her first years on the farm in a separate blog, Writings from Windbridge. She has a story about deer eating from her garden that is hilarious.



On a separate note, the destash shop has been updated and I hope to add more over the next few weeks.

I Heart NY

I have lived in NY for almost two years now and the city never ceases to amaze me! This Saturday Mike and I decided to brave the rain and head out to Standard, a screen printing supply store in Tribeca, to pick up some supplies. Of course we neglected to check their hours before venturing down there and they are closed on the weekends! As we were getting ready to jump back on the train we decided to walk instead, even though it was pouring down rain (thank God for rain boots!). We walked up to Soho and somehow ended up on a street we had never been on before which is always an adventure when you are in New York. We stumbled upon some of the neatest stores. I found this old antique shop that had all these beautiful vintage Louis Vuittion trunks.


I would LOVE one of these. I think it would be such a beauitful piece to hold blankets in a guest bedroom (which I of course don't have, but it's a nice thought). I was afraid to ask how much they were and they were the only items in the store without a price tag! It's going on my wish list!
We also found this gallery, Elizabeth Street Gallery. They had this amazing collection of antique objects from all over the world. This is what I love about the city, all the amazing things you find just by walking around. It was such a great day!

Food Coma

So Mike and I have been on this Ben and Jerry's kick lately. The bodega we shop at has a constantly revolving supply of the stuff so we usually each get a different kind and then sample (steal) each others! I kind of have a knack for picking out the REALLY good flavors. So, the other night I was feeling the need to indulge my sweet tooth so while we were picking up stuff for dinner I stopped at the freezer to see what they had. I found a new flavor called Cinnamon Buns. I, being a lover of Cinnabuns thought it sounded interesting...Mike showed no interest in it and said he didn't want any but I grabbed it anyway and had some after dinner that night. Can I just tell you, it is AMAZING!! It is the best Ben and Jerry's I've ever had and for those of you who like Ben and Jerry's, you know that's saying a lot! It's caramel ice cream with cinnamon bun dough and caramel streusel swirls. Mike had one bite and wanted to finish the entire carton! So much for him not wanting any ;)

In addition to Ben and Jerry hanging out in my freezer, the girl scout cookies I ordered are in. It's a good thing these things only come out once a year. I have already had 3 somoas and had to hide them in a drawer to keep from consuming the entire box! Not to mention that we are having Crumbs cupcakes here at work today for someone's bday. DO you hear that? Yeah, it's me gaining 5 pounds as I write this!

Spring is here...at least in my closet!

While spring might not be in full swing yet, I am all ready for it and have already started my spring shopping.

My two newest purchases from American Eagle




And in anticipation of shedding the winter boots I also have my eye on these flats from J.Crew




Now I'm off to see what I can find at Anthropologie!

How to Brush a Dog's Teeth...

What you will need:
1 child size toothbrush
hydrogen peroxide
1 mini dachshund with VERY bad breath!

In a bit of a funk....

Well I am finally feeling better, I was able to rest this weekend and am starting to feel normal again! I'm in a funk though, I am ready for it to be warm...I am so over winter and it seems like spring has arrived everywhere but in New York! I can't wait to see the tulips bloom, that is one of my favorite things about spring in New York. Since I was still not feeling well this weekend I was not able to update the destash shop but hope to add some items throughout the week. It's so hard to get back into the swing of things after being sick so bear with me. I'll be back to normal soon!