Annie Novak & The Eagle Street Farm

I used to be super obsessed with Todd Selby.  Now I would say, I'm moderately obsessed.  Like normal obsessed (if that even makes sense?).  I check The Selby is in Your Place now and then.  But no more stalking.  Although... after seeing these photos, I may have pitched myself back into the realm of super obsessed.

This is Annie Novak and her rooftop farm in Brooklyn.  Are you in fits?  I'm in fits.  I could go on, an on, and on about her and her flowers, veggies, bunnies, etc.  But I'm sure you'd rather just check out Selby's photos and visit the homepage for the Eagle Street Farm.

Ensemble

I've had these illustrations saved on Pinterest for... forever.  I love them so much.  And I feel compelled to finally share!  I found them on Every Guyed, a pretty awesome style site for fellas.  They are designed by Glenn Michael of Moxy Creative House and illustrated by James Alexander.  The series is entitled Ensemble: The Style of Music and features iconic outfits of 20 male musicians.  Go check out the rest, some are hilarious (Prince and Michael Jackson)!

Reading List

On Tuesday I was checking out all my favorite blogs and found a link to a great new one: Sacramento Street.  Author, Caitlin Flemming asked 5 of her blogger buddies to compile the ultimate spring reading lists.  I've been reading and re-reading the suggestions, there are so many!  If you too are in need of literary material, head over there now.  It's a great mix of classics, magazines, self help, memoirs and more!

I finished my last book a couple weeks ago... maybe three?  I've been so busy that I  haven't missed my reading time on the train.  I've relished the 20 minute commute; closing my eyes and getting lost in my iTunes.  But, next week I'm destined for warmer climates.  All that traveling means that I need a book!

Found via {wit & delight}
Photos by (the incredible) Stewart Shining from Calikartel

NYC's Veg Fest

Yep, yep- this Sunday is the Vegetarian Food Festival!  They'll have lots of live music, world-class speakers, contests, and (best of all!) an array of tasty food.  There are so many incredible vendors on the list; from big name product companies like Earth Balance and Coconut Bliss to local restaurants* like Foodswings and Sacred Chow! Admission is free, so go check it out!!!

* I love that these two restaurants will both be in attendance.  They are both super amazing and demonstrate different extremes of vegan eating.  Foodswings is heavy, guilt-ridden, and absolutely delicious, glorified junk food.  Sacred Chow is all organic, healthful, flavorful dishes for the casual gourmet diner.  It goes to show that a veg diet can still be varied, including both sinful and nutritional meals!

Photographic veg collage by Laure Joliet.  Do go look through Laure's photos, they are more lovely than words can express!

Pencil Love

I have a feeling that today will be a lovely day; I see sunshine out my window!  I'm not so sure I'll be able to enjoy it.  Today's activity forecast includes sketching... sketching like a madwoman.  Not much else.  I guess the bright side is that I have hours and hours of springtime-bright natural light to work under.  Ah well, I can think of worse ways to spend a day.  My pencils and I wish you a happy Wednesday.  I hope you do something fun and/or creative : )

Photo available for purchase as a print or card on Etsy.  Found via Pinterest.


P.s. Thank you for checking out my sweet BF's guest post yesterday, traffic here was booming!!!

Guest Post/ Curl up with Curly's!

My sweetheart wanted to help lighten my workload (such a sweetheart). He suggested writing a post for w&w and I said, "Heck yeah!" So readers, I would like to introduce you to my BF and his favorite brunch haunt, Curly's Vegetarian Lunch.

It's only Tuesday and I'm already daydreaming about getting brunch at Curly's this weekend. It's been a little while since the GF and I have been there; and by "a little while", I only mean 2 or 3 weeks!

Champs Bakery has definitely been a distraction lately. And while every bite of their vegan raspberry danish and cream cheese pumpkin muffins are absolutely delicious, it's still tough to compete with Curly's giant "Slumberjack" breakfast. Fresh fruit over a stack of vegan pancakes, alongside a serving of "sham", curly fries and the best tofu scramble in New York. (Seriously though – they have perfected tofu scramble; it's crazy!) All this for what it cost for that bottom shelf vodka tonic you had at that birthday party the night before. Throw in a dollar or two more for coffee and sangria. A proper brunch.

The GF is partial to Curly's "Breakfast Anytime" menu, particularly the Scrambled Tofu with Portobello mushrooms and Daiya cheese (not pictured, but also quite tasty).



The other thing I love about Curly's is their fun atmosphere. The place is small, quaint and absolutely charming. Each table has a little cup of crayons (sometimes good, sometimes bad) for you to get creative on your paper place mats. Perfect for rediscovering your inner childhood and drawing hand turkeys or monster trucks, while you wait for your food. If your work of art is good enough, they may hang it up on their wall amongst the every growing collection of Crayola masterpieces!

Lisa Congdon

Ooooh, how I love birds!  Owls too!  It's just about time for me* to hang my little bird house out on the fire escape again.  Bird houses have such wonderful associations for me.  I can't help but smile when I think about little feathered fellows perching atop or within them, swaying in a balmy breeze, chirping and trilling.

But, back to hese sweet illustrations!!!  Don't they win you over with their cheerfulness!  Artist, Lisa Congdon is a lover of nature; namely the trees and birds that filled her childhood in upstate NY and northern CA.  She is now based in San Fransisco.  You can read more about her journey as an artist and her work here.  And, if you're interested in adding a cute creature to you household decor, visit her Etsy shop.

* What I really mean is, that it's time for me to ask my BF to hang the bird house.  He's good at those handy things.

Pretty Picture/ Have a Sweet Tuesday!

I'm so dreadfully busy at work (again) this week, my sweets!  I promise not to leave you post-less.  But please do forgive the lack of complexity, ingenuity and frequency of my content.

Apologies aside, may I exclaim, "What a pretty picture?!"  I forget how exactly I happened upon Anzu's Flickr, but I'm so glad I did!  Besides these pink Japanese candies, I love her photo of blue boats.  If you find a moment in your busy day, do go check out here photostream.  You won't be disappointed!

Flowers & Fashion

Starting Wednesday in Rockefeller Center, two of my favorite things are coming together.  Saipua's  floral arrangement installation will sit amidst the eclectic clothing, accessories and house wear of Anthropologie.  I cannot wait!!!  If you're in the New York area, I promise this will be an epic joining of worlds!

Adiu March

It's the first day, of the last week of March.  Can you believe it?!!!  Time flies...

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  Mine went by very quickly and included a lot of travel; by foot, train, bus, and car.  It was a very pretty weekend, clear and sunny... but unfortunately very cold.  Winter seems to have sprung back with icy claws!!!  I also slept a lot.  I've never been one for napping, but the last couple weekends have seen quite a few mid-day naps.  It feels so luxurious to curl up for an hour or two, and then have a late lunch (especially when it's toasty indoors)!

This beautiful illustration by Cate Parr is available for purchase on Etsy.  It's a steal too, prints are only $35!!!

Four for Friday

I hope you're all headed toward a super weekend!  Whether the next two days are packed with special activities or spent luxuriously lounging, enjoy them!!!   As I depart blog-land this week, I pass to you the following four fun and fabulous vignettes:

- One of my new favorite places is The Daybook.  I found this lovely style blog earlier in the week and have had so much fun brosing the archives.  If you're like me and make the blog rounds then, no doubt, you seen this photo.  Cute little Sydney, I can't get enough of her quirkiness!

- Have you heard of Sweet Studio?  It's chock-full of incredible featurettes on artist and designers!  There are photos galore of artwork and work spaces.  Read more about the authors and their awesome blog here! 

- Another find this week, is Stresscake.  OMG, the photos of French Onion Soup have me salivating.  The BF doesn't like onions, so I'll have to try this recipe out on my own sometime.  There are lots of other good-lookin' eats, so check it all out!

- And lastly, my favorite virtual-world shop, Three Potato Four is hosting a real-world Spring sale.  In their barn!  If you are anywhere near Philly please go check it out!  Then you can take photos and tell me all about it.  Just kidding.  They host the 'barn sale' on the last weekend of every month, so I'll be taking a road trip down to PA sometime soon!

Weak End

What a downer title, eh?  Sorry guys-

I try not to let it show around here, but my work week has been killer stressful.  No es bueno, mis amigos.  For the majority of the last five days I've felt like I was battling a hangover; tired and nauscious with a throbbing headache.  Five days of intense presentations and fittings and production touch-bases and selling reviews and testing recaps and hand-offs and assortment workshops.  Agendas booked solid from 8am to 7pm.  I have 327 unread emails in my inbox (that sounds bad, but on Wednesday I was just shy of 500).  Basically, Monday felt like Friday.  And at this moment,  I feel like I've aged a full ten years within a week.  No es bueno.


I've got a huge volume of sketching to work through this weekend.  Which is not quite... exactly... prescisely... how I hoped to spend my time away from the office.  But, I'm leaving for HAWAII in a little less that two weeks.  My spring line needs to be ticked and tied before departure.  So that means 12 more days with a lot more stress.  At least I've got HAWAII too look forward to! (Sorry about the incessant italicized caps.  But, it's HAWAII!!!)

Besides putting the mechanical pencil to the sketch pad, I've got a few fun things outlined:
- Tomorrow night I'm going to a wedding!  Congrats Norma!!! 
- I'd like to turn 3 weeks into a full month of Champs Bakery weekend patronage.
- My Mom's birthday is coming up; time to do some research!
- Try to veganize the family recipe for Chile Relleno Casserole (Hello there silken tofu and Daiya cheese, aren't you looking foxy?!)

I love this photo so much, I saved it to my Pinterest about a month ago.  It's by (the very talented) Katie Miss of For me, For You.  Definitely go check out her blog, it's one of my favorites.  I promise, you'll fall in love with it!

What to Wear

I saw this photo by Tommy Ton, up on his Jak and Jill blog a few days ago.  I earmarked it, and since then have been mulling over what the accompanying content would be.  I considered the trends this gal's hit; color blocking, the un-constructed tote, polka dots, the tie-neck soft shirt, futuristic quilted leather, and color: red, camel, pale stone, and cognac.  She's spot on.  A page out of 'what to wear'.  So... that's what this post has become; a shout out. Nice outfit lady!!!

P.s. Don't you really love those cognac pants?!  I really, really love those pants!  The color is so delicious.  I'm obsessed.  Check out this incredible Lanvin playsuit.  And, these (much more affordable) Vero Moda and Asos pants.

Pigeon Toe

Have you heard about Pigeon Toe? This is such a fun, random-array-of-objects type shop!  They carry tons of thing (useful and decorative) that add beauty to your home or garden.  There's an array of stationary and paper goods.  And don't forget all the really cool handmade jewelry!!!

Trinkets, clockwise from left:
- Gold Dipped Crystal Necklace by Laura Lombardi
- Copper Ladder Necklace by Laura Lombardi
- Nicolette Earrings by Fay Andrada
- Gold Fringe Necklace by Laura Haupt

Found via Creature Comforts (thanks Ez!)

Etsy Love/ Fortnight Lingerie

My newest Etsy affair is with Fortnight Lingerie. Don't you think these flirty basics are lovely? Classic satin in boudoir neutrals, mesh and lace mixed, color blocking... loving it all!

You can also visit them at their web site. They offer a large range of sizes and have lots of helpful charts, so that you can find the perfect fit! They also share helpful care tips to help you keep your underpinnings in pristine quality.

Each piece is handmade in Canada and, "...combines strong, sexy aesthetics with highly tailored sizing to create undergarments that are both luxurious and versatile".   Aren't they awesome?!!!

Discovered via i am a greedy girl

Spring Green

Yesterday we had freezing temperatures, rain, sleet, snow.  And then, last night closed with a crazy hail storm.  Needless to say that springtime is toying with New Yorkers.  This morning I walked to work with very pretty (and sparse) snowflakes falling from the sky.  I thought to myself, "Sheesh, this is nice.  But I'm so over winter."  Then, just before I ducked through my building's revolving door I noticed the curb side tree.  It was covered in little green leaves.  What do you know, spring is here!

Photo from Andrew Caird's Flickr.  I also love his series of sliced fruit; strawberry, tomato, grape and banana.

Going Dutch

I'm feeling so inspired by the wild, loveliness of it all... Stella's botanical printed looks, a collection of paintings by Dutch master Willem Van Aelst, and the Flower School's gorgeous arrangements. Are you taken aback?

Photo at left by Hanneli (Stella McCartney's Spring 2011)

Photos below from the Flower School's Dutch Masters session

Style Crushes

I crush after it-girls. It-guys too.

Once in a while a flash of white-hot hate will eclipse my love for them. Yeah... it's jealousy-provoked. After all, I'm only human. And they're it; unattainably chic, wealthy, successful and beautiful. Do you still have crushes too? Style crushes? Celeb crushes?

Personally, I don't care a lick for actors. Once in a blue moon is a musician crush-able. But fashion forward it-girls & it-guys always rope me in. Current crush: Taylor Tomasi Hill. Former crushes: Leigh Lezark, Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe, Waris Ahluwalia, Vanessa Traina and Chloe Sevigny.

Top photo: Marie Claire
Photos below, at left:  Refinery 29
Photo below, at right: Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist

Raw-ish No-bake Faux-Cheesecake

First off, huge thank you to Allyson at Manifest: Vegan for the amazing recipe! You ROCK Allyson!!! If anyone out there is looking to fix up a delicious meal or dessert that falls under the vegan or gluten free diet category check out Allyson's blog!

Next off, a little background. About 6 months ago I started off on a hunt for a super vegan cheesecake. I tried a couple. Very unsatisfactory results. Not because they were vegan. No, no, no. It was because I have (on average) a slice of vegan cheesecake each week. And it's perfection. Absolute dreamy, creamy, perfection!

(Made by Vegan Treats, and distributed weekly to restaurants, grocers, and bakeries all over NYC!)

So, after the first couple failures I put my cheesecake baking quest on hold. I can't really remember why, but last month I got the cheesecake itch once again. I googled and googled, and discovered... raw cashew cheesecake? The photos were be-u-ti-ful. Go to google images now- you'll see! At that point I knew, this cashew cheesecake thing had to happen. Then I found Allyson's blog. Eventually a weekend freed up. And the rest is cheesecake history! With no further ado, the how to:

Mini Raw-ish No-bake Faux-Cheesecakes with Strawberry Topping

Crust
3/4 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup Medjool dates (I only used a 1/2 cup and the crust didn't stick together very well)
Filling
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup turbinado sugar*
1 3/4 cup raw cashews
Topping
1/2 pint strawberries
1/4 cup turbinado sugar*

- Soak cashews in water for an hour or more
- Place almonds and dates in a food processor, finely grind
- Scoop heaping tbs of crust mixture into each cup of a non-stick muffin pan
- Compact crust crumbs (I used my espresso tamping tool. Use whatever you have: spoon, the bottom of a small glass tumbler, fingers, etc.)
- Puree soaked cashews in a food processor
- In a saucepan on low heat, melt coconut oil, constantly stirring**
- Add melted coconut oil, water, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt and sugar to the food processor
- Incorporate all ingredients thoroughly
- Fill each muffin cup with cashew batter
- Place in freezer for a couple hours
- Clean strawberries, mix with sugar and mash by hand over low heat in a saucepan for 5-10 minutes***
- Transfer topping into a covered dish and place in the refrigerator
- After mini cheescakes are sufficiently frozen (poke with a fork to make sure) remove them from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  After that, they're ready for eatin'!!!
- Slide a small knife around the edge of each cheesecake to release it from the pan. Mine popped right out! Transfer to a small plate and add a generous spoonful of strawberry topping.
- Ta-da!!! Stick it in your face!

* I forgot to buy evaporated cane juice or agave syrup; hence the 'raw-ish'. Crystallized sugar isn't raw, babies. Even if it's marketed 'in the raw'.  It is vegan though!!!
** For the raw way to melt coconut oil check out Allyson's recipe directions.
***Yeah... I chose to forgo the raw topping. I love my classic topping recipe too much!!!





For the original recipe, visit Manifest: Vegan's Pretty Darn Raw Vegan Cheesecake with Blackberry Topping. I halved Allyson's recipe and made just a couple little tweaks. My version yields 12 mini cheesecakes.

Loving Those Beets

When we eat at the Wholefoods bar, my BF will tease, "Are those hot beets?  Are they shredded beets?"  Unless I'm painfully hungry I play along.  Typically just repeating, "Shrrrrrr-ed-eeeeed" in my best growly-rocker voice.  We laugh.  We're simple people.

All kidding aside, I love my beets!  Oddly, I thought that I hated them until a couple years ago.  In retrospect, I don't think I'd ever actually tried one!  Ridiculous, I know.  I think the gorgeous colors that they come in are half the reason I was won over.  So beautiful!

Right now I'm itching to try these two recipes:
- Yellow and Candy Cane Roasted Beets with Garlic Soy Yogurt Sauce, adapted from Butterfly Food
- Roasted Red Beet Salad with Pistachios and Diaya Motzerella, adapted from the Quarter Life Cooks at Big Girl, Small Kitchen

This lovely Candy Cane beet was from my Aunt Julie's garden in CA.  The root and greens were de-licious!!!

More Ballet

I had a lot of downtime while things were a cookin' and a settin' yesterday.  A friend of mine sent me this adorable and hilarious video (thanks Ben!), which prompted an avalanche of YouTube ballet watching.  I love this one, which follows Yuhui Choe, a soloist at the Royal Ballet, through a long day of classes, rehearsals, physical therapy, and rounding out with an evening performance.

I also spent a half hour checking out new photos at the Ballerina Project.  I've visited them quite a few times since their birth.  (When the handful of photos was completely torturous; I wanted more!!!)  There are so many now!  This series pictured, of Elina, photographed in Chinatown by Diane Shitagi are three of my favorites.  Check out Diane's site for tons more loveliness!

*In case you were wondering, I included the videos as links (rather than just plopping videos in the post) because I feel like they make the composition of my page incredibly unsightly.  Hope you don't mind venturing over to YouTube!

P.S.  I just found one of my previous ballet related posts scraped.  It was by a blogger that I follow, no less.  If I helped introduce you to a photographer, artist, or web site it's proper etiquette to give credit.  Let's all be friends, yes?  Good! : )   

Whadda Weekend!

The preceding two days were super lovely.  On Friday, I was prepared to come into the design office and work the weekend away (not voluntarily, might I add).  But the winds changed by late afternoon and the word spread throughout the office; we would not be required to come in!  I wasn't prepared for the freeing up of my calendar... what would I do?

I had fun.  But I'll be more specific...

- I went for a long walk through Williamsburg.  Bedford Ave is wonderfully quiet at noon on Saturday!  All those cool kids are sleeping off the night before.  The sidewalks are sparsely peppered with joggers, or couples with dogs and strollers.  I liked it!  Especially the dogs.

- At the tail end of the morning walk, my BF and I found ourselves (for the third week in a row) at Champ's door.  We indulged; airy doughnuts (one flocked with coconut, the other drizzled with chocolate and encrusted with peanuts), a maple-pecan filled cinnamon roll (obscenely gooey!) and a moist banana muffin (ideally 'muffin topped' with globs of cream cheese and crumble strudel).  I died.  And then I miraculously revived myself, so that I can live for another weekend at Champs.

- My BF and I went to an early movie.  I never do that!!!  It was awesome, the theater was empty!  Well, not really empty.  It was just uncrowded.  As in, you could have a prime seat and still leave your bag and coat in the chair beside you and not get a dirty look.  Which in NY is really rare.

- Stogo ice cream.  Half salted caramel pecan, half oatmeal raisin cookie.  Heaven.  Bite of BF's Salted Pistachio.  Bliss.

- Afternoon nap.  Hors d'oeuvres dinner; hummus and red peppers.  Mint tea and 2 rounds of dominoes.  Part 2 of the Matrix marathon.

- Sunday was less diverse... but it started productively with a delicious cup of French pressed Irish Cream coffee.  Yum.  I can still smell the hazelnuts!

- I did end up going into the office for a few hours; I had a lot of Spring color assorting to do.  Next was grocery shopping.  Note to self: if weekend trip to Whole Foods is necessary, make it noon on Sunday or bust.

- Upon reaching home, there was a baking explosion!  So... Today I was really hoping to share a post (or two!) with you about my baking (and raw/assembling) adventures.  But both the desserts required setting overnight.  I planned to photograph the final outcome in this morning's radiant sunshine.  But there was no sunshine.  Fingers crossed for no rain tomorrow; and you'll get to see the decadent outcome of an afternoon (and evening) of sweet labor.





Hope you had a full (and fun) weekend too!

Photos 1.the BF, 2.Champs blog, 3.Limitless home page, 4.Gothamist reviews, 5.Restoration Hardware, 6. Arizona Coffee, 7. Print Quote blog, 8. Yours Truly!

Happy Monday!

It's the second day of Spring (and fittingly) very, very rainy.  I swear that on my way into work a thunder clap issued from the dark skies above.  It could also have been the echo of a trash truck a few blocks away.  But I like to think that it was thunder.

Sometimes showers leave me feeling dismal and groggy.  But, despite flipping my umbrella inside out twice in 10 minutes (and receiving a face-full of water) I'm loving the wind and wet!  This morning I feel enthused.

Readers, do you enjoy a gray monochrome atmospheres full of water droplets?  Or do you shun showers and wish for sunnier skies?  Maybe you're like me, and it just depends on getting enough sleep the night before!

I'm also smitten with this photo.  Isn't it awesome how this trio of men embrace the weather; enjoy it rather than flee!  (And their umbrellas are gorgeous too!)  The photo is by Marco Niemela.  He briefly discusses this image as an exercise in square framed photos.  Brouse his work on Flickr or his portfolio site.

Image via Flickr

Day of Silence

Hi there dearies, I hope your week ends with lots of lovliness!  Friday the 18th will be quiet here on w&w.  I'm joining the Blogger's Day of Silence, organized by Ever Ours and Utterly Engaged.  If you're thinking about making a donation please visit Shelter Box or the Red Cross.

Also concider:
- The Little Flower School Benefit
- any one of the 9 options at For Me, For You

See you on Monday!!!

Green Goodies

Planning on whipping up a festive something today? Need to find a Saint Patrick's Say recipe that's a little sweeter than this? I've compiled a few of my favorite Irish themed treats:

For: The Afternoon with Kiddies
Make this fun snack with your little ones! Everyone loves a Rice Krispie treat, especially when it's fashioned into a bar o' gold!!!

From Twig and Thistle

For: The Chic Cocktail Party
At the end of your hors d'oevres bar, set a platter of these French cookies.  Everyone love a macaron.  They'll go fast, make extra!

From Zoe Bakes

For: The Evening Soiree
Elite and refined, lime sorbet is definitely a grown-up's treat.

From Use Real Butter

For: The Girls Night In
It's decadent and guilt-ridden. A perfectly festive comfort-cake for the evening spent with a handfull of your best gal pals.

From Twig and Thistle 

For: Desert with a Special Someone
Get all liquored up with that guy or gall you fancy. Whiskey cake, in a jar. Good stuff.

From Sprinkle Bakes

Happy Saint Pat's!

Are you wearing your green?

I realized last night (for about the 15 year in a row) that I own no green.  Woe is mine.  Bring on the pinches!

Clover image via I Sew Cute

Garance on Illustion & Reality

Take a moment to hop over to Garance's site.  I love her post about two mischievous mirrors in a Milan hotel.  Her suite mirror (the beauty) and the elevator mirror (the beast) seemed to be battling it out over Garance's confidence and sanity.  Ever find yourself in the same predicament?  I know I have!  Which mirror won out over your self image, that which reflected an illusion or the reality?

At the Barre/ Part Deux

It's Wednesday.  It's also rainy.  I'm sleepy and busy; killer combo.  More than ready for my second cup of coffee.  Wish I was in a light-filled studio, stretching to the soft melody of a nearby piano.  Sigh...

Photos, left to right: Uliana Lopatkina via Aula, Susan Jaff via 4Dancers, by Natural Born Creative on Deviant Art