shhh...

spa day. be back soon

thank you thursday

sunday night orange-creamsicle-cocktails with the new roomie,

 for this song that plays in the lobby - that heather and i promptly break out in dance to,

a brand new coffee maker and knives set (yes. i'm really that excited about it),

and for (slowly) learning that it's always better to communicate.

*oh yes - and new haircuts too :)

oh, hey ryan.

yeah. i'm pretty sure we just made eye contact. not sure if you noticed...but i definitely did. lemme know if you need a dinner reservation somewhere okay? hell, i'll even call in your order for pizza delivery.

sincerely,

black-girl-with-bangs in the hotel lobby

#59 learn a recipe from scratch from grandma

lately i've been trying to cook at home more. i've realized it is true when people say you save money when you eat at home. who woulda thought!?!

thursday night's dinner all kind of started a couple of sundays ago when i scouted some sweet potatoes at the melrose place farmer's market - i picked up a couple, brought them home, then promptly forgot all about them. finally i decided that i should do something with them (other than bake them) and make candied yams. every thanksgiving and christmas dinner i beg my grandma to make them for me - so i figured...why wait till the holidays - let's cook these suckas up!

after a few phone calls to my darling grandmother (who so patiently sat on the other end of the phone while i had a few tantrums) she talked me through not only the recipe for candied yams, but for collard greens too.

i think it was a successful dinner for one and i knocked #59 off the list without even trying!

“You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.”  - Tinkerbell

"I don't want just words. If that's all you have for me, you'd better go."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

thank you thursday*

*tonight i find myself restless and even though it's technically friday, this is one of my favorite weekly posts and it would be a shame not to remind myself of what i'm thankful for this week.

...for a dinner that ended in a sunday night bar crawl,

my grandma who patiently helped me cook dinner over the phone,

last minute lunch dates with my best friend,

and for two days off with absolutely nothing to do.

speaking of olympians...



via

 let's just add ryan to the list of swoon worthy swimmers

thank you thursday

for another new blog crush,
hammocks in griffith park,
a dinner - that lead to bowling - that ended in karaoke,
the (ongoing) search for a ukulele class,
and for learning something new every week.

midnight blueberry cheesecake baking

super late on monday night, i got the urge to start baking the cheesecake that i saw here.

i've never baked a cheesecake before (well...except for the time gina and i were left home alone and tried to bake an entire cheesecake using her easy bake oven) but i knew that it would be a bit of a challenge.

to my surprise, it was pretty simple! other than the two hour baking process (which kept me awake until 3am!) the ingredients were easy to throw together.

now i just have to find a group of friends to pawn off all this blueberry decadence to...