Lady Nine

Christmas day games What the heck is going on?!  I’m posting once a month?!  (insert bug eyes and crazy eyebrows here) To all of those still checking and looking for my posts, I thank you for staying with me through some really busy times.  Here is what’s going on…. Jon and I bought a condo! Yay!!! It all happened so fast (we closed a month after we initially saw the place) and then we went to Utah for Thanksgiving and then the holiday season began full force.  Normally, I would be sharing photos, DIY projects that we are working on, and even updates throughout the space.  Sadly, none of those things are happening because we haven’t done any.  I’m lucky I got a Christmas tree up! As much as I LOVE the Christmas season, I am also looking forward for it to be over so I can paint, drill, make, repaint, etc.  Even though the place isn’t how we are dreaming it to be one day, it’s a lovely space for Jon and I.  It has a real wood burning fireplace (unheard of in a condo!) and a

This has been the best year of my life.  I can truly say with confidence that I have never felt so blessed and fortunate to have the friends, family, and experiences like this year.  We are spending this Thanksgiving with my extended family in Utah, and I am so happy to be surrounded by loved ones to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! XO

One more walk around Lake of the Isles before the snow comes Wow! It has been a really busy couple of weeks. In fact, this last month has been a bunch of lovely chaos.  The best part is that life is running its course right now, and I am in the race.  I am hoping that things continue to move upward for me, and I promise to do my best to keep posting through the madness. Thanks for sticking with me and my blog. XO

We are one day away from the start of the holiday season!  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and Jon and I always dress up and go out with friends to sing karaoke. We went out this past weekend as Ms. Scarlet and Mr. Green from the classic game/movie Clue. It was a fun costume to put together (thank you Target.com) and we had a fun night out singing our favorites.  Here are a few of my favorite Halloween blog posts to help you celebrate this year. Happy Halloween everyone! A spooky punch to serve at your party or for the adults that stop by with the trick-or-treaters Even though I'm a dog person, I do love these   photos of Blackie . I don't have baby fever, but Taza's kids make me want little ones to dress up! Especially as Anna Wintour ! I still find myself looking at wedding blogs, and here is an gothic inspired wedding  perfect for Halloween! Put together a last minute Halloween dinner for some friends!

Years ago, I remember sitting in my college apartment, reading an email that just told me I was accepted for a study abroad program in Florence Italy.  To be honest, I was shocked.  For some reason, I didn't think I would get in.  I think because none of my other sisters had studied abroad, so for some reason I didn't think I was meant to either. Months later, I was living in a beautiful apartment in Florence, living with girls I had just met a few weeks prior. I have thousands of memories and stories from my time there, but a few of them stand out more than the others. This is one such story.  Towards the end of my time in Florence, I was getting very homesick. It's hard to even admit now because I would do anything to go back and live there again!  However, I had lived there a few months, and was really homesick. I missed my friends and family, but mostly I missed my sisters. (this was before Skype or FaceTime was popular).  The first weekend of November, my friend

Sunshine through the autumn leaves It has been a busy week and I am very much looking forward to the weekend.  Work is picking up and I find myself setting a goals outside of work hours that keep me just as busy. However, I am happy to be working on so many things that I love and still having the time to spend with Jon and my friends on the weekends. I hope you all had a great week and have something special planned for the weekend, even if it's perfecting the art of doing nothing. Cheers! These candles smell amazing and I love the wine bottle touch It's never to early to teach kids to cook Special mid week social at the Hotel Ivy Gorgeous architecture at the Itasca building

I have most of Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. They have such great recipes and I always find them easy to follow with delicious results.  I wouldn't call this Wheatberry Salad a fail by any means, but it definitely did not turn out the way I expected.  The wheat berries took twice as long to cook as the instructions said, and I they didn't really turn "soft." It was more like "chewy."Nonetheless, it was an easy dish to make (I even made pesto sauce while waiting for the wheat berries to cook) and I look forward to having it for lunches this week. Raw Wheatberries I use Alessi coarse salt when I salt water for cooking Ombre Onions Fall Colors

As most of the country begins their slow decent into the autumn season, Minnesota tends to jump in full force the moment we have one day less than 70 degrees. The leaves are turning beautiful colors of orange, yellow and red, and the chilly weather is making it tough to leave my house in the morning without a jacket and scarf. I welcome the change of seasons and have already made updates to my wardrobe and living spaces. Here are some quick tips on how you can make some easy changes to embrace the autumn season. 1.  Stock up on baking items.  Do an inventory of your spices, baking ingredients, and tools to see what you need. I just picked up some new cookie sheets from Kitchen Window as my old ones needed to be donated. Baking is much more fun when I know that I already have everything I need, and then I can make my pumpkin bread during the week. 2.  Switch your bedding.  This is something that a friend of mine showed me, and I am determined to do it this year. Current

I have to admit, I am a total wuss.  I do not like horror films and I rarely get pleasure out of being scared.  That is not to say that I would not be good in scary situations, (I would never follow a serial killer into the basement of his home as Jodie Foster did in Silence of the Lambs) and I like to think that I can think fast in panic situations.  However, I do like the spooky spirit of Halloween, and enjoy watching some semi-scary movies made for wusses (thank you Disney) this time of year.  Old movies in black and white are my favorite, and the scary movies give me enough thrill to watch in the dark on a chilly October evening.  Here is my list of movies I will be watching this weekend while I begin to put together my costume for Halloween. 1. Hocus Pocus 2. Young Frankenstein 3. Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein 4. Clue 5. Practical Magic 6. Rear Window 7. Death Becomes Her 8. The Craft 9. The Birds

I was totally thrilled to find a new acronym this fall.  PSL was posted on so many things around my office and pinterest, it took me a minute to figure out what the heck it meant.  PSYis the pistachio nut  guy with the funny dance, PS4 is the video game thing where I can play mario cart...What the heck was PSL?!?  And then it dawned on me, it was like someone threw a pumpkin at my head and said, "Guess what time of year it is?!"  It's pumpkin season! Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back!  Ok, confession, I've never had a PSL from Starbucks or any other mass coffee producer.  To be honest, those fancy coffee drinks aren't worth the calories to me.  However, I do love all things pumpkin, so I figured I should see if I can make this recipe at home first. Thank you pinterest for being a better search engine than google in times like these.  I found this lovely recipe and whipped up a batch of pumpkin spice syrup so I can add it to my coffee any time.  Side note: this ma

When Jon and I moved in together, we had a coffee table way before we bought a couch. There would be nights we would sit on next to the table, and eat dinner while watching our favorite shows.  Once we got a couch, we decided to forego the coffee table and got two small ottomans with trays for entertaining, storage, and/or sitting. A few months ago, Jon and I were doing some weekend shopping at West Elm when we came across this coffee table. Jon looked at me and said, "This is an AMAZING coffee table!"  Now for anyone that knows Jon, he's a pretty easy going fella, and does not have a strong opinion about home decorating or furniture for that matter. He was so into this coffee table, I was totally shocked.  He said, "We have to get this!"  Since it was a little bit of a financial investment for us (our previous coffee table was from Ikea), we decided to think about it for a little bit. Weeks later, Jon was still talking about the coffee table.  So when We

I'm usually pretty good about following recipes.  However when it comes to soup, I feel like all the rules can go out the window.  Soup is so versatile and easy to make, it's a great addition to your weekly menu. Since I can never cook for two people (I think that's one reason Jon married me), there are plenty of leftovers for lunches or even to put in the freezer for a busy week ahead.  For this soup, I made up the recipe since I couldn't find one that I wanted to make. So I'll do my best to get all of the details written out for you, so you can try it at home.  Have fun and feel free to add or omit things to your liking!  Buon Appetito! Angelina Zuppa Zuppa Makes: 6-8 servings 3 Tbsp olive oil 1 yellow onion diced 3 garlic cloves small diced 2 lbs sweet Italian sausage casings removed 2 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper 2 tsp dried oregano 3 tsp dried thyme 2 tsp dried basil 2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp red pepper chili flakes 2 bay leaves 1 Zucchini diced

It's official; fall has arrived! The nights are cool and pumpkin spice is the new black.  It's my favorite season and I am excited to change my style, home interior and eating habits!  We had a lovely weekend filled with visiting friends, late brunches, and a bonfire at my sister's house. Hope you had a great weekend too! Soup season! Recipe coming Wednesday Shopping at Jonathan Adler My new autumn tea from Teavana My brother-in-law showing us his farm . Organically beautiful.