anniversary brunch

We chose to celebrate our one year with brunch at one of our favorite spots, the café inside The Modern. With their ever-changing menu, I chose the vegetable risotto cakes (I'm a sucker for anything with poached eggs) and Kyle ordered the steak sandwich (he's a sucker for anything with mushrooms). Spent the rest of our day hanging with the dogs, watching old movies curled up on the couch. Yea, we're total homebodies and we don't mind one bit:)

levitating self-portraits

How eerily beautiful are these levitating self-portraits by Natsumi Hayashi? Apparently it can take her up to 300 jumps to get the perfect shot!

(Via swissmiss)

pancho + skateboard

Yes, we bought our little bully his own skateboard. Are we hoping he'll be a natural like the oh-so-famous one on You Tube? You betcha.

wimbledon video

Saw this video earlier today and just could not resist re-posting. It's a recreation of the 2008 Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer, but in paper form (complete with sounds/noises from the game)! It's insanely creative...and in case you didn't know, I am a HUGE fan of tennis (blame my dad & sister)...even though I am the most uncoordinated person on the planet and can't play the sport myself...

(Via Design*Sponge)

one year

One year ago today, I married my best friend. People always say the first year is tough and I'm not going to lie...it wasn't always perfect. But other times it absolutely was. We've been through a lot together this past year, including:

*A honeymoon in Greece

*Living together in our new home

*Cooking and trying new recipes

*A whole lot of weekends

*Exploring a "new" city (1,2, 3, 4)

*Our first Christmas tree! (and our first Xmas card)

*Stranded in our first snow storm

*A scary dog attack

*Growing vegetables from our garden

*An adventure in Iceland

*Getting our bully, Pancho

...and I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. Happy Anniversary babe! xoxo.

(Photo by Nessa K)

bossypants

Now that we are official parents of a new puppy, so long are the days of going out to eat or catching a movie...we are lucky if we even stay awake until 9:30pm (most likely we are huddled together on the floor snoring away). Thankfully, I've been using this time to catch up on my reading and I just finished Tina Fey's 'Bossypants'! It is such a hilarious read that I caught myself laughing out loud many, many times throughout the book. I'm also the annoying type that proceeds to read random passages out loud to anyone in the room - even if it's completely out of context...resulting in 'are you crazy' stares. Yeah, it's that good.

stitched portraits

These embroidered portraits are totally and utterly mind-boggling...I still can't believe just how detailed they are. Can you? Oh and love me some Austin, Texas...

(Via A Cup of Jo)

high tops

One thing I noticed when I was in Iceland was the fashion footwear...in particular, old-school high top sneakers! All of the girls wore them and somehow they always looked pulled together, regardless of the rest of their outfit...dresses, skinnies or tights! I need to find myself a pair...

(Photos via weheartit)

pancho

In case you're wondering why I've disappeared recently...meet our new English bulldog puppy, Pancho!

More posts and pics to come, I promise. xo.

iceland, part 2

Getting the chance to see Iceland also meant making sure we visited all of the touristy spots too...so we booked a tour to see the "Golden Circle" which included 3 stops: the Gullfoss ("golden falls) waterfall, the geysers and the Thingvellir National Park. All of the sights were so breathtaking and getting to see and stand in the middle of the continental divide was pretty incredible too. Our tour guide also made a few extra stops at a volcano crater (shown in part 1), a geothermal plant and a few local greenhouses...but by far, my favorite moment was an impromptu stop on the side of the road to pet a few Icelandic horses. They were so furry and friendly!

Another favorite was getting to spend a whole day at the Blue Lagoon...with the milky blue, steamy waters around 100F degrees, you could say Kyle was really in his element:) The rest of the trip was reserved for exploring the city Reykjavik...we walked everywhere...visited a few museums, ate fish and chips by the harbor, people watched by the duck pond and had our share of Icelandic pastries. And we couldn't have asked for better weather or nicer people...they were all so proud of their country! While it was as expensive as they say, there were still less pricey options available ($2.50 hot dog anyone???) and we survived. Thank you Iceland for an amazing time...and for not exploding any more volcanoes while we were there:)

P.S. That last photo was taken at 10:30pm at night...we absolutely loved that the sun set so late there (also because we had blackout shades in our hotel room). We looked out the window later at 2am and the sun was already getting ready to rise again...

iceland, part 1

It's taken me a few days longer to post some of our Iceland trip photos, but only because we took so many that it made it hard to choose which ones I wanted to share! Some of my favorite memories include walking around downtown Reykjavik, exploring the fish markets by the harbor and seeing the rainbow colored houses from the top of Hallgrimur's Church (it really is just like in the pictures!). And of course the food...skyr yogurt, countless Icelandic pastries (mmm crullers, or "Kleinur") and a visit to a famous hot dog stand. A hot dog with "everything on it" came with both grilled and fried onions, mayo and mustard:) I'll post more photos of the sights we saw tomorrow...until then, good night!

beginners

I can't wait to see this this dramedy...doesn't it look fantastic?! Oh Ewan...

fried green tomatoes

Hello! Kyle and I got back from Iceland Friday night...and I just have to say, even though we had an incredible time and would have loved to have stayed an extra two days, having those days to decompress at home instead was pretty great too. I'd highly recommend it to any of you planning a vacation...it feels amazing to actually feel rested before returning to our every day lives.

It also gave me a chance to try out this fried green tomatoes recipe last night for the first time (green tomatoes provided by Farmer Kyle and his garden of course!). They were delightfully crispy and the perfect accompaniment to a fresh green salad and croissants with jam for dessert (I heart breakfast for dinner).