Famous Artists and Their Cats

Gustav Klimt

It may not be Caturday, but I couldn't resist posting a link to this slideshow of famous artists with their cats. Enjoy!

For Your Monday

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Fake townhouses hiding mystery underground portals. (via Making it Lovely)

A new museum opening near DC.

Photos of artwork being installed.

One of my favorite TED Talks.

How coffee has influenced the course of history.

Happy Caturday!

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Isn't this sketch sweet? It's part of a series of pictures letters written by Beatrix Potter to Noel Moore in the 1890s.  Interestingly, Peter Rabbit began as a series of picture letters to the same boy. The Morgan Library recently displayed some of these letters in the exhibition Beatrix Potter: The Picture Letters.

Breaking Out the Grill

Summer weather feels like it's just around the corner and when we invited our good friend Courtney over for dinner last night I thought it was time to break out the grill.  I planned the menu of grilled lamb chops and roasted veggies and Ian cooked it up (good system right? ;).  The night was just warm enough to eat outside comfortably and we're looking forward to a few more meals on our back deck before the big move.

Here's the recipe we used for the lamb chops.

Hamming it up

Lute feeling very pleased with himself after worming his way between Ian and I on the couch. Have I mentioned that he likes attention?

For Your Monday (and house hunting update)

Our soon-to-be new home! Photo by Ian's brother Andrew

Well, what a week, right? Ugh, with the events in Boston and the stress of negotiating the purchase of our first home, I haven't felt much like blogging. Ian and I flew into Portland last Friday and began our house hunting in earnest the next morning.  As you know from my post last week, I was starting to feel a bit discouraged by the limited number of homes for sale in Portland and felt our chances of finding the right home for us were slim.  Imagine my surprise when the first house we viewed was practically our dream home! Ian and I fell in love with it right away. While we saw about a dozen other homes over the weekend none of them gave us that same feeling as the first home. We decided to put an offer in on Sunday afternoon (there were 6 offers altogether on the home!!!!!), and found out on Monday morning that the sellers accepted our offer! We are thrilled! Now I just have to sit tight until we close on May 17th. Please send good thoughts our way. I don't think I'll believe the house is really ours until I have the keys in my hand!

Enjoy these links!

The women of the Bauhaus.

Have you heard of HBO's new show Vice? Ian and I haven't caught an episode yet, but we're looking forward to watching it.

LOVE these ceramics! Via Design Sponge.

What a great dog costume.

A pretty wallpaper pattern. Maybe I'll find a spot for it in our new house!

A history of culinary revolution.

Happy Caturday!

Cherry Blossoms

Tidal Basin

Over the weekend, Ian and I headed down to the Mall to check out the cherry blossoms. We missed them last year and since we won't be living in DC next spring we felt like we couldn't NOT go to see them this year!  And we were so happy that we did! The weather was perfect and the blossoms were beautiful. While the Tidal Basin is one of the best known spots to view the cherry blossoms, I really enjoyed the Enid A. Haupt Garden next to the Freer and Sackler Galleries, behind the Smithsonian Castle. Enjoy the photos below!

Enid A. Haupt Garden

Enid A. Haupt Garden

Tidal Basin

Enid A. Haupt Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Smithsonian Castle

Tidal Basin

Tidal Basin

Enid A. Haupt Gardern

Ian and I are off to Portland tomorrow morning for a quick house hunting trip. We really hope we find our dream home, but are feeling a bit discouraged by the low inventory in Portland. Wish us luck and fingers-crossed!

My favorite flats

A mini heat wave has hit DC this week and all of a sudden it feels like summer. I've replaced my winter boots with my new favorite ballet flats. For years I've struggled to find well made ballet flats that don't blister and bloody my feet and are under $200. (It's crazy how expensive flats can be, right?!?!?) I recently splurged on a pair of J.Crew's Cece leather ballet flats and have been so happy with them!  While they were a bit more than I wanted to spend I think they've been well worth the price (a quick fyi... J.Crew offers a 15% discount to students). They are super comfortable and really nice quality. I currently have the flats in nude, but J.Crew has tons of fun color options. I'm also putting this pair of J.Crew's Quorra ballet flats on my wish list for summer:

Do you have a favorite pair of ballet flats? I'd love to hear about other good options!

Art Everyday

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Alex Prager, Desiree, 2008

For Your Monday

Photo by me. Taken on Spencer Butte in Eugene, OR.

Modern Art desserts.

LOVING this living room makeover.

Dr. Seuss's WWII political propaganda cartoons?!

If celebrities moved to Oklahoma.

This story is both heartwarming and infuriating.

Now that we have a little one on the way, maybe I should invest in some of theses...

I enjoyed this interview with Anthony Bourdain.

Happy Caturday!

These two look like good friends. I barely trust Jack and Lola out on the porch with supervision...

Big News!

Ian and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting a baby! I'm about 5 months along and we just found out that we're having a GIRL! So far I've been feeling great and am getting so excited to meet our little one. She's due at the end of August, so between the big move and her arrival we're prepping for a busy summer!

Lutey-Poo

Our good friends Sam and Robin were staying with us last week and Robin snagged this great photo of Lute.  I love his face! Thanks for sharing it with me Robin!

Art Everyday

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Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lady Lilith 1866–8

When Ian and I went to the National Gallery to view the Gregory Crewdson film we had just enough time before hand to swing through the newly opened Pre-Raphaelite exhibition. Check out this review of the exhibition by Roberta Smith in the New York Times and a response to her review by Thomas Germano. While I don't agree with all of Roberta's assessments, for the most part I think she's right. Now when I look at Pre-Raphaelite paintings the first thing I think of is Thomas Kinkade!

A Spot of Tea

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Have you heard of Harney & Sons Fine Teas? I have a few of their teas and love them.  While the tea is great, what I especially like are the tins!  They are just so darn pretty! I'm always excited when I use the last tea sachet and can re-purpose the box. Right now I'm using one to store ribbons, one to store buttons and garment threads, and I want to make homemade candles using my next empty tins. What would you do with one of these empty tins? I'd love to hear your ideas!

For Your Monday

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The beauty of airports.

This gives me nightmares. It's almost as bad as sinkholes.

I had no idea these two were married in real life.

One of the reasons we're looking forward to moving to Portland. 

And speaking of DC real estate...Yikes!

Inside the bunny suit at the White House Easter Egg Roll.  Fun fact: Ian participated in the White House Easter Egg Roll as a kid! He's parents still have the commemorative egg.