suspended indefinitely

I'm shutting down this blog, but I'll still be visiting yours! I'll get in touch and let you know where I'll pop up online next.

Ashley

the start of an era: thrifting

I'm not one of those cool people with an apartment adorned with second-hand, thrifted, "vintage" items (anyone else find that people are using vintage to describe almost everything??), but....

I might eventually!

This past weekend I was in Bellingham, WA (about 1.5 hours north of Seattle) and had the afternoon to myself to walk around. My favorite stop was a store called Penny Lane that was just brimming with all sorts of odds and ends at fantastic prices. I scooped up this fan and can't get enough of the gently worn teal base and red logo. I've been shopping for similar fans in the Seattle area but haven't been able to find one for less than $80, so when I saw this for $26, I just had to snag it!

I think thrifting and I are going to become great friends.

It's tyrosine!

This morning while my coffee was brewing, I stared lazily at a rind of aged gouda sitting on the counter (need to clean the kitchen--bad) and thought, "That was a good cheese. It had those little crunchy bits in it. I wonder what those are? I like gritty gouda. Hmm...gritty gouda sounds funny, tee hee." Then the coffee was done and I went about getting ready for my day.

Then this afternoon rolls around, and the answer to my musings this morning shows up in my google reader! And as you might have guessed from the title of this post, those gritty bits are called tyrosine. Mystery solved via the kitchn.

Shoe score!

While fawning over the shoes from my last post, I ran across another pair of Faryl Robins that I instantly just had to have. This time, though, got them (as in, they're already shipped and on the way to my office!)!

The best part? I was just about to make the purchase on Zappos, when I decided to google them for a deal, just in case. I wasn't expecting much since I wasn't able to find a deal on the pink pair, but to my surprise and utter delight, I was able to snag these for $55 at Luna Boston (yeah, I hadn't heard of it either, but I talked to them on the phone and they are super nice and helpful). Woo hoo!!

Can't wait to wear them with a pretty skirt combo like some of these from Anthro:

image from anthropologie

And meanwhile, because apparently I'm obsessed with shoes right now, I also have my eyes on these from Frye:
Too bad the $55 I already spent on shoes is $55 over my budget!!

shoe images from zappos

being good.

How in love am I with these shoes?!?!? $188. Ouch. I will just have to admire them from here...

@ anthropologie.

Look over there!

I wrote a guest post on Angela's blog today about...drumroll please...whipped egg whites.

Check it out.

Oh, and that is my black Pomeranian, Aiden, who just got a haircut for spring. Isn't he the cutest?!?!?

...and more chocolate

Ok, this is getting serious. My newfound penchant for bittersweet chocolate is only getting worse, mostly because I have no will power there are so many new kinds to try. The latest? Endangered Species Chocolate. This is one of the more common brands I see around, but I've never tried it because, well, images of sad animals on the wrappers don't make me think "dessert."

Now, I love animals as much as the next person, but I wouldn't necessarily trust a group of animal lovers to be fine chocolatiers. But oh! how wrong I was! Oh, the chocolate! I had the bar with the bat (bat? chocolate? see what I mean?) on the wrapper, which turns out is dark chocolate with cacao nibs (70% cacao). Now not only am I enamored with bittersweet chocolate, but oh! cacao nibs! I wonder if I can eat those plain. As in massive quantities. Every day. Must do research.

Anyway, what is a cacao nib, you ask? I wondered too, so thanks to wikipedia I learned that cacao nibs are the cacao tree seeds after they've been fermented, dried, roasted, and shelled (and before they're processed further to render chocolate). I must eat more chocolate with nibs--can't get enough of that crunch!

I have a feeling I'm going to be saving a lot of animals at the rate I'm anticipating eating this chocolate.