It's An Issue

If you are easily distracted or can get sucked into the internet for hours on end reading and looking at a variety of fascinating and creative things, do yourself a favor and stop reading now.

Seriously.

OK, consider yourselves warned. What happens next is your own dang fault.

I'm not kidding.


Have you heard of a little website called Pinterest? If you haven't - be prepared to spend about the next 6 hours straight on it. It's a site where you can pull and collect images from the internet that inspire you for whatever reason, and store them all on a "board" of your making. All in one place. Home ideas, recipes, fashion, art, photography, DIY projects, pets you want, places you love, vacations you want to take, things you want to try someday, you name it. Anything you want, basically. Oh yeah, and you can look through everyone else's boards too. Yeah. there goes your whole weekend.

You have to email Pinterest to request an account and they will email you in a week or two with an invite to join. I found it through that darn Sherry at younghouselove. Darn her. And through her blog I found this link, which allowed me to join right away (scroll to the bottom of that post for the direct invite). Don't know if that link will still work. You kinda should hope it doesn't if you have any hope of every doing anything else again.


Happy Pinteresting!

My Double Life

Casting director by day, Bad-ass Event Filmmaker by night. Or by weekends at least.

These photos were taken at a wedding I shot with the AMAZING photography team of RAW Photo Design, Eric and and Amber Langelois, who are completely beyond cool, and I will be forever grateful for them making me look even half as cool as they actually are. This was only the second time I'd led a team solo (without Geoff), so I was using the regular cameras (with technology I can actually understand), while he was on another shoot with the Fancy Pants Amazing Cameras. Eric and Amber had a set up a photo booth for the guests and at one point when I took five from filming to grab a water, they encouraged me to jump into said photo booth and do my worst. Though reluctant at first, I quickly got into the spirit of the thing, zhuzhed my hair (joojed?? - how do you spell that???!?), put my shades on and gave them my best. They even included me in their blog post about the wedding. (Also, if you look in the "About" section of their website, you will see a picture of them with their kids that pretty much sums up them and their infinite cool-ness).

I will be channeling this bad-ass persona as we shoot another wedding this weekend. Man, I swear they photoshopped me skinny and that has earned them my undying love until the end of time.

And Now, Your Host...LONDON (Part 2)

Don't worry, there's more......

And Now, Your Host...LONDON (Part1)

When we were at the Tower of London, Geoff turned the camera on me and this is what happened. Shouldn't quit my day job, huh?

I Can't Help It

Is it me, or is this one of the best things ever?

Assuming you've all seen the video of the guy that inspired this, you have GOT to agree. I love that guy. And this dog. Clearly.

The Barn Girls Take DC

It was all over far too quickly. This past weekend I skipped out on shooting weddings and headed to Northern Virginia for a girls weekend with the 8 ladies I lived with in college. I'm amazed every time I see them at how much we as a collective unit have dealt with. Good and bad. And as always, its good to feel known, supported, encouraged and loved for exactly right where you are. Not always perfectly so, but we don't strive for perfection, we strive for genuine relationships.

We're all quite different...in personality, in faith, in politics, in opinions, but I think it's safe to say we all take comfort, refuge and encourgement from being around people who want to really know you and who do their very best to listen, love and ask questions that help you to grow. I know I for one was HUNGRY for this weekend. I needed it. I needed to get out of the city. I needed a weekend with more than 1 day off. I needed time with girlfriends. I needed to be with people who have known me for almost half my life.

We spent a lot of time here:


Doing a lot of this:




And as I looked back through my pictures, we also spent a lot of time listening. Which I love. I love that I have so many photos of us listening to each other...







There were wonderful breakfasts, amazing margaritas, a zillion kinds of desserts, and a fantastic dinner out at a local restaurant featuring a tomato & feta salad that I will dream of for possibly the rest of my life. For serious.

There was this gorgeous butterfly who was digging hanging out with us in the backyard.


There were lemon & sugar facials on Sunday morning that were super simple and pretty stinkin' impressive. And came complete with a crazy instruction video.


And there was not nearly enough time with this guy.


Ali's youngest, Ryan, who is about 4 months old and possibly the most perfect angel child there ever was. He never cried once the whole weekend. And he makes the most amazing faces.




He even got in on the Listening...


And he's such a cuddler



I love these friends






Kate, Mary, Michelle, Courtney, Christy, Kathy, Becca & Ali


And yes, you are not mistaken, that is an Actual Barn near Courtney's house that we were able to take a picture next to. Come on...how perfect is that?


Girls, I miss you already. You can find more pictures (and an extensive photo shoot of Ryan) here. I'm already thinking about the next reunion. I'm thinking late summer 2011 at Cape Cod....who's in?

Sunday Morning Muffins

I made these.

Banana Blueberry Oatbran muffins.

And now...a bike ride to Brooklyn to see Alison for a late lunch.

Gosh, it's nice to have time to have a life on the weekends.


PS - Per your requests, I found the recipe on Epicurious. After reading the reviews, I substituted 1% milk for the soy milk, and wheat flour for regular flour. I used 2 bananas instead of 3 and subtracted 1/4 cup flour in order to have a full 1/2 cup of oat bran. (So 1 & 1/4 c wheat flour, 1/2 c oatbran instead of 1 & 1/2 c flour and 1/4 c oat bran) I think next time I'll add a few more blueberries and maybe some oatmeal on the tops for some texture.

And true confession: of the 12 we made, there are currently only 3 left.

friends

Alison and Sarah.
Like two peas in a pod.

Here they are at lunch in Brooklyn today. And as always, in classic form.

Friends from Geoffrey R. Boka on Vimeo.

Here's a link to the pictures

A Vodka Malted

The other night Alison and I met for dinner before seeing the invited dress of American Idiot (amazing). We had a lovely chat, and a couple of lovely cocktails and I ordered a second drink for myself. With drama all around us (mine at work and hers in her move), it seemed like the obvious choice. She hesitated about ordering her second (silly girl didn't drink the first one fast enough, THAT was the problem), so I suggested we share mine.

Maltshop style.


(the author would like to be forgiven for the use of bad iPhone photography)

I believe I initally suggested, "You can share mine. We can share it Milkshop style. No, wait. That's wrong. Milkshake style? No. Geez. MALTSHOP Style." And then I decided I will forever after refer to this as a Vodka Malted. Which is what Hugo Peabody so charmingly attempts to order in Bye Bye Birdie at a bar he is far too young to get into. And that made me smile.

Other than that though, this story basically has no point.

Happy Friday!

I'm Not Afraid

Spring is springing.

I am flat out WEARING a yellow peep toe slingback and a flowy blue scarf.

I flat out am.

I am not afraid.

I'm Such a Sucker

First of all - and completely on an unrelated note - this was the fruits of "February Fury". Seriously? Oh please. Granted, cars are still snowed in on the sides of the street. But still. "Fury" seems a bit strong.

Back on topic - I am a complete sucker. I usually wait until Jan/Feb to buy my calendar for the year. Because by then they are usually about $6. So I went on Amazon.com last week. Sure enough...super cute William Wegman puppy calendar. $6. So I add it to my cart.

And then they get me.

Because they say "For only $32 more, you qualify for FREE SUPER SAVER SHIPPING!"

Free? Hm.....interesting. Tell me more.

And because I'm a complete sucker for anything that even seems free, I end up buying these.


I'm so excited. I love to read. Always have. When we went on vacation when I was a kid, I remember reading 13 books during one trip to Maine. There is definitely less time for reading now, but thats one good thing about the subway. I can read at least a half hour every weekday. And if a book is really good, I'm not afraid to read it walking down the streets of Manhattan. Not afraid. (Not when I cross the street, don't worry)

I've already started The Help and know I'm going to like it.
The Glass Castle I'm excited about because I read her other book, Wild Broke Horses and really liked it.
The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo is supposed to be in the style of a Charlie Huston novel, so I know I'll like that. I actually know (and love) Charlie Huston's wife personally, so I initially read his first book Caught Stealing because of her, but then loved the whole triology because they're good. And they should be made into a movie. They read like a really great action thriller. There I said it. I actually need to read his newer ones. I'm so behind. *sigh*
And The Elegance of the Hedgehog I wanted to buy over vacation but had to limit myself on books. And it was cheaper this time anyway.

So yay me. Yay for reading. I'll let you know how I like them.

Sometimes I don't mind being a sucker.

Special Delivery

We got a little special something in the mail yesterday. Remember Kim & Joel? That sweet couple whose wedding we shot and who gave us a sunflower to grow? Well....they sent us a LOVELY surprise in the mail!


Lets push in a little closer shall we?


"The Date Box?!?" I exclaimed. Um.....yes please. Tell me more! We opened it to find it filled will all sorts of amazingness!


Amazing.


And these...


What?! Truffles?! Clearly they haven't heard about the Great Diet of 2010 that is taking place at our house. But I can ration these out, right? One truffle won't kill me. Right? Right?!?

Um. Clearly, this will also be trouble.


And how adorable is this?


Kim remembered from a post that I needed a small storage container for pesto. So she sent me one! SO THOUGHTFUL. It's the cutest.


And her favorite kids book that reminds her of us. She's a teacher. Haven't read it, but I so can't wait!


And this uber snuggly amazing blanket.


Seriously? That was maybe the most amazing care package ever. Thanks so much guys! I can't wait to dig into all of this! Even if I do have to ration the truffles.

Happy Friday!

Julie is My Julia

We watched Julie & Julia the other day. I'd heard people say they hadn't liked it very much, which I just couldn't understand. I thought it was the most fun. And the food looked amazing. There's a scene where Julie makes an amazing bruschetta that has her husband wolfing it down and muttering how amazing it is with every bite. And Geoff said he wanted me to make it someday.

So I did.

Most interesting to me was that she fried the bread in a pan instead of baking or broiling it. I'd never seen that before. So I tried it.


Prior to the putting it in the pain, I dipped both sides in some olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper and fresh garlic.


I will admit that there was a SIGNIFICANT amount of olive oil used to make these. Significant. But, since this was an experiment and since we are embarking on a SIGNIFICANT diet in 2010, I didn't let myself feel too badly about it. I'm sure they would also be good if you just spread a little on both sides.


Then the requisite tomatoes and basil....Julie clearly used heirloom tomatoes in her bruschetta, but those didn't quite seem to be in season in Queens at the end of December, so...I made regular old tomatoes work. Added sea salt, cracked pepper a smidge of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.


And they were amazing. Geoff had his eyes closed as he ate them. He couldn't stop saying "wow. oh wow." He was basically Hanging Up The Phone. So I knew they were a great success. And it was fun to be inspired to cook and try something new. Thank you Julie & Julia.

Now come on over and I'll make you some....