My (snowy) weekend in images

View from the living room when we woke up on Saturday!

I love when it snows on the weekend: I make sure my fridge is full of food (although really, in our house it's just important to have chocolate, eggs, and bacon), I break out the snow gear, I make a plan for one ambitious city activity - and then let the snow fall. This weekend we decided to make a trip to the museum of natural history - one of my favorite places ever.  Here's what we got up to:

Starting off Saturday morning with a cappuccino in a cozy cafe and some window snow watching is never a bad idea.

...especially with friends

We bundled up and took the bus to the west side

The Rose center was the perfect place to watch the snowstorm ... the light in there is just fantastic.

Of course as soon as we got to the museum, she was hungry - why does that always happen? She was super happy with a grilled cheese sandwich from the cafe on the first floor (it has better choices than the food court) 

Can we talk about this travesty for a second?  Why does this "astronaut bear" have to be a space princess in order to appeal to a girl?  This annoys me more than I can express in words. Why can't we just encourage our girls to be regular astronauts instead of pink frilly space princesses?

Make sure you get to see the butterfly exhibit at the museum. It's steamy, and the butterflies land all over you!

Truly one of my favorite places in the entire city. I never, ever get tired of visiting.

Sunday was a lazy day compared to Saturday's adventure. We stayed in, cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, went through old forgotten clothes and packed bags for donations, ventured outside for short walks, went swimming, and drank lots of hot chocolate. It wasn't as taxing, but equally as fun :) I hope you guys had a brilliant weekend as well.

With seconds to spare

Sorry for the internet silence in this little space. Work and home obligations completely overwhelmed me, and I didn't have a spare second for my little world here.

I hope all of you celebrating Thanksgiving had a lovely day. It was bitterly cold here in the city, so we didn't move far from our apartment, nipping out quickly here and there for supplies. We set the table with Christmas lights for a little extra sparkle, trailed pumpkins up and down the table, and ended up eating dinner by candlelight and twinkle light. 

Even though I wasn't here for two weeks, it didn't mean I wasn't looking at the blogs. Here are some of my favorite recent posts.

food

It could be that i have my eye on beginner kitchen stuff because I have a brother and sister recently in their own apartments, but I loved this starter kitchen gift guide from Big Girls Small Kitchen. I have to say, even though i have a well-established kitchen, I still want some of the items from this list. (Why don't I have a cast iron pan yet??)

Like Aran, I crave a different type of apple pie, and her apple cranberry custard tart would definitely hit the spot.

Winter is for soups, soups so thick and creamy that you barely need bread (although a hunk of buttered warm bread is the best). I'm adding this rice and smothered cabbage soup from Molly at Orangette.

interior design

No one does Christmas like the Scandinavians. No one. Check out how My ScandinavianHome decorated her gorgeous place in a minimalist holiday style ... so pretty.

Ah, the entryway bench. I haven't gotten it right yet, but this roundup from Kirsten at Simply Grove helps me on my way, I hope.

other links

I love this post from Sydney at The Daybook where she surprised her husband with a trip to a cabin in the wilderness of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I'm craving that kind of rustic experience at the moment.

Ok, it's true that in NYC we wear a lot of black. And I'm a book editor, so I feel I'm supposed to be in double black at all times. I don't, actually wear that much black, but this all-black ensemble from Creature Comforts has me scrambling to put together that kind of streamlined look.

It could be because I'm finally reading Dan Brown's Inferno, and now I've got Italy on the brain, but Nicole Franzen is only making me crave it more with the shots from her insane trip.

I'm so glad to be back here. I hope you'll come visit me here again, too. Leaving you with a shot of Central Park from my run this weekend. Just magical, that park. And the run wasn't so bad, either. 

Star gazing

 I was able to get up on the roof of my 32 floor building a few nights ago to watch the NASA rocket launch from Virginia. I stood there with some neighbor friends, craning our necks back to catch a glimpse against the city lights, but unfortunately we didn't see it ascend into the darkness. I'd had never been up on my building's roof before, and I took a look around (although not for long because the wind was turning my hair into freezing whips, I was like an icy Medusa by the time I was done up there).

We could see south, as far as the Empire State and way beyond

And then east to the East River and Triborough (now RFK) Bridge

I can't even imagine how incredible a sunrise or sunset would be from up that high. I'm going to do my best to get up there for both of those next year (with a proper camera, not just my iPhone).

While I wait for Downton Abbey to return, I'm falling headlong into Parade's End on HBO. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch (could his name possibly be any more perfect?) from Sherlock (the best!) and it's written by the incomparable Tom Stoppard, whom I've loved since my heady days in 12th grade english class reading his tragicomedy Rosenkrantz and Gildenstern are Dead.

Interior design

Did you see the Domaine feature on Susan Feldman of One Kings Lane? Her Hollywoods Hills home is drop dead gorgeous, and I'm drawing major inspiration from everything I see there. Clearly she gets to draw from her awesome position at One Kings Lane, but still, it's pretty amazing.

I've been looking for ages for a chalkboard for our entryway, one where I can note all of our various appointments and to-do lists. I eventually caved and got a glass whiteboard but now this Apartment Therapy chalkboard roundup is making me reconsider that whiteboard.

I appreciate this honest and refreshing post from Nicole of Making it Lovely. It's not often that a design blogger will give us a candid look at a room in their home, one that isn't necessarily done up to perfection as we're now wont to expect because of idealistic sites like Pinterest.

food

As Adrianna says, you shouldn't make this rose apple pie with bourbon glaze if you're handling the major part of the Thanksgiving meal. But seriously, the one is a work of art.

I have trouble loving kale, I'll admit it. But here's a kale recipe I could get behind. See Bev's sausage and kale pasta bake here. The kale is completely buried, and that's fine with me.

Or you could travel to Marrakech with David and Luise and enjoy a raw key lime mousse with pomegranate while you gape over their gorgeous shots. I was there so long ago, without a great camera, and this post makes me long to return (not that I needed much prodding, really).

And then some pretty moon bokeh for you to close out the post

My holiday table

Am I the last person to know about H&M Home? After Abbey posted her favorite star items from their site, I had to jump over and see what else they had. Result? I've just figured out my entire holiday table:

1. star-shaped metal candle holder    2. white glass vase   3. white tea light holder   4. gold star-shaped candle

1. owl plate   2. bird tablecloth  3. cloth napkins   4. small metal cake plate

My weekend in images

Thursday: Somehow this little one turned 2 last week. How did that happen so fast?

Friday: Had to pause while chopping leeks to admire the colors. They were used for leek and cauliflower soup (with ground cashews as a cream base!)

Favorite item of the week: cute mama and baby fox from IKEA (used when dancing to "What Does the Fox Say?", of course!)

Saturday: The beginning of a butternut squash, apple, and brie galette. Next time I'll add more brie and make my pie crust with no sugar. It felt like I was having a sweet pie for dinner.

Location: tiny park on 2nd avenue and 91st street. I can't get over the colors this season.

Location: same park as above. We were the only ones out and about most of the day on Sunday. The rain kept others inside. Luckily we love being outside in the rain.

Location: 91st street between 2nd and 3rd avenues. It was this kind of weekend, misty, foggy (so foggy we couldn't see past our building at one point) and the trees are in that florescent phase right before they go dark for the winter.

Location: 93rd street. I saw this chair on my street on the upper east side on Sunday. Unfortunately it had been raining all day otherwise I would have picked it up immediately, and found a way to reupholster it. Although, after I posted this shot on Instagram yesterday, several people ooohing and aaahing over it made me regret my decision to leave it behind. I told myself if it was still there on my morning walk that I'd grab it. It was gone :( 

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Happy weekend, friends!

I hope your weekend is shaping up well so far. I'm firmly ensconced on the couch with some chocolate babka from our new Breads bakery, and perhaps there's a movie in my near future. (Correction: it's 1am and that movie is finished - we watched The Heat - not the greatest use of $5.99 ever, I have to say) I have plans for the apartment this weekend, plans that include paint and IKEA. I also have a date with Central Park. I've been dying to shoot the autumn foliage and it seems to be particularly glorious this year.

interior design

Bri Emery did some research on Airbnb and found us some cool places to stay in California. Now she has me dreaming of a trip there.

Who wants some Anthropologie bedding? Camile Styles has an Anthropologie bedding giveaway that you just have to enter. Or don't enter -- so I can have a better chance.

Sarah Yates of A House in the Hills has some serious decorating talent. Just check out her living room. I'm dying over that round mirror. It would be right at home on the wall over my kitchen table.

food

Kelsey of Happyolks never fails to get me thinking with her essays on life, love, and the power of womanhood. And there's a recipe for a butternut squash and brie galette. Seriously? Delicious food AND food for thought.

If you weren't lucky enough to be in that sold-out room at NYU last week to see Luisa Weiss, Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perleman and Food 52's Amanda Hesser speak about food and blogging and Luisa's book, My Berlin Kitchen (now out in paperback!), then you can watch it here.

I fear my husband is going to ask me for marshmallow topped sweet potatoes again this year, and I just can't bear the sweetness (are all you Americans frowning and unsubscribing from my site now?). BUT, I may have found an alternative in  this coconut-pecan slow cooker sweet potato dish from Aimee at Simple Bites.

hard to define - but all about NYC

This is clearly a sponsored post, but I love seeing New York  through photographer Jamie Beck's eyes.

Did you know Banksy was hanging out in NYC for the month of October scattering incredible artwork all over the city? Here are his top 10 pieces that had fans scrambling across the five boroughs to track him down.

Jenna of Sweet Fine Day has prepared her annual NYC calendar, and it's available for sale now on her website, check it out here. Plus she has some interesting musings on our soon to be former mayor.


Happy weekend, friends!

Emily

Emily Dickinson has to be read in the winter, when the sky grows dark before 5pm and the wind reaches little tendrils down your neck. She has to be read from inside the window, while the light creates shadows on the glass and your forgotten tea steams quietly beside your trembling hand.


"Hope" is the thing with feathers

"Hope" is the thing with feathers-
That perches in the soul- 
And sings the tune without the words- 
And never stops-at all- 

And sweetest-in the Gale-is heard- 
And sore must be the storm-
That could abash the little Bird 
That kept so many warm- 

I've heard it in the chillest land- 
And on the strangest Sea- 
Yet, never, in Extremity- 
It asked a crumb-of me. 

-Emily Dickinson

Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R.W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)