MING MAKES CUPCAKES

I found this site via A Cup of Jo, and I have fallen in love! I can't wait to try one of these treats. They are so so beautiful, like tasty pieces of art. Also, there is more than just cupcakes. Ming shares cookies and savouries too. Thank you Ming for being so brilliant and sharing your creations. Go here for so many exciting recipes!!

xo

Philly Time

I just spent a wonderful 5 day weekend in Philly, catching up with old friends and celebrating Halligan's 28th birthday. It was more fun than I could ever have asked for! It was a beautiful weekend too, despite the rain- on Saturday, I actually got sun-kissed while laying in Penn Treaty Park of Fishtown (my old hood). And on Monday while the skies opened up, I chilled on Halli & Adam's sofa and took an afternoon nap. This was a real vacation. The kind I really really like and need more of. The night before I left, all of my Philly friends gathered for Karaoke to celebrate Halli's bday, and In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry was my favorite pick on the line-up. The video especially made me happy, and so ready for summer in the city...
enjoy!
xo

p.s. great boots, huh?

FAREWELL MR. & MRS. GEORGIA (a little overdue)

These two sweet peaches have left us behind here in NYC and headed back to their Southern roots in Atlanta, GA. I am so very sad to lose the company of Ed & Ginny B. Stelling, but I am also excited for their new beginnings! It's gonna be so great for them to be home and close to family and old friends. I can't wait to visit them on my next tour of the south. I am really missing home these days myself! A little part of me wants to follow right behind Ginny & Ed. The south can certainly be a magical place, so I can't blame them a bit for wanting to get back.

Also, Ginny and Ed will be celebrating their one year wedding anniversary come the end of May. I can hardly believe it, the year just flew by, it feels like only yesterday I was here (click for more pics) spending one of the greatest weekends of my life with some of my very best friends!!
Congratulations G & E !
I miss ya'll already.
xo

*photography by Josh Goleman

TOURING CROSS CREEK

I have finally completed Cross Creek. I wanted it to never end. The life that Marjorie Kinann Rawlings lived is not for the faint hearted and certainly not for the materialistic. Her depiction of rural Florida life is truly enrapturing, though it is far from being P.C. and some of the backwards and old school ways of life are so appalling today (thank god for the Civil Rights Movement!!). I think that this book is a gem for capturing a time in our history so honestly and purely. Though I don't doubt that M.K.R. has romanticized life at the creek, she certainly doesn't leave out details of hardship in 1930's Central Florida. After reading this book, I aspire to be as hardworking and as great a person as Mrs. Rawlings. She loved her life and she loved those that made it possible for her live the way she did, aka her full-time workers. For those parts, she certainly lived a cushy life- but in a modern world- her life hardly seems luxurious!!
Right now, her home is my dream and visualizing every detail isn't enough! Luckily for you and for me- my sister, my sister in law, and my mother took a trip to Cross Creek a few weeks ago and they have been kind enough to share the tour with us via pictures. Thank you Afton, for the photography.
xo

P.S. Every bit of this Florida sunshine makes me yearn for home! It is truly beautiful.

People's Pops NYC

If you frequent the Brooklyn Flea in the Spring and Summer months, then you are probably familiar with the booming success and excellent flavor of NYC's People's Pops! For two years they have "popped" up at outdoor markets and events around the city, and now you can finally get a People's Pop all year long, any day of the week- and you will always know right where they are- People's Pops has opened up a little popsicle stand (made of popsicle sticks) in the Chelsea Market, at the South Entrance on 15th Street (or across from The Lobster Place from inside of Chelsea Mkt). This means, no more trips to the Brooklyn Flea in search of an organically fresh homemade fruit pop, to find they didn't make it that weekend or that the Pop people are on vacation- it's always a bummer when that happens!

I ventured over to Chelsea Market yesterday afternoon with Alex from Fleabags for the Peeps Pops Grand Opening, to find the stand slammed with business (they were giving away free shaved ice!), and though I know the shaved ice is tasty, nothing beats their popsicles. I had the delicious Rhubarb and Ginger, while Alex enjoyed the drippy yet tasty Raspberry Cream. Wow! I love People's Pops. Do me a favor NYC friends- please go and show your support at the Chelsea Market, and for those who don't live here- here is just one more reason for you to visit this Spring/ Summer.

P. S. All of these great photos were borrowed from the People's Pops Blog, go here to read more about the Trio behind the business!

P.P.S. How brilliant, yet simple is the People's Pop sign, shown directly below...

xo

KITTY AND THE BABY IS SUNSHINE READY

As you may know, Kitty and the Baby is my sister Afton's vintage goods etsy shop that she runs out of her little Arkansas home, and recently she has added some great pieces for your Spring & Summer wardrobe. In fact, I think I am going to spend a bit of this weeks pay here at Kitty and the Baby myself (but only if I get a sisterly discount!). I must tell you that Afton is my idol when it comes to style and she is a killer vintage huntress. She is constantly finding the best damn thing in a thrift store in a matter of minutes, and that's why it's a good thing we don't wear the same size! The greatest news is that this little finder never hoards it all to herself. I am constantly looking at Kitty and the Baby going- why are you selling that!? But she knows, that she can't keep everything, she wants you to have some too. Go shopping here, ASAP!

xoxo

xo