rach ramblings

The trip totally killed my NaBloPoMo goal.  Blah.  Still going to keep going.  I'm exhausted from the trip, but I did come to the conclusion this weekend that I would like a new laptop.  The DVD drive on my laptop is on the fritz and our old Macbook is on it's way out.  I'm thinking the 15 incher.  We'll see.

The Academy Is... played an acoustic version of their set for the San Antonio leg of the AP Fall Ball Tour since Butcher (their drummer) was out sick.  Boo, but thank goodness for Youtube!

Mark your calendars!  Nordstrom’s Half Yearly Sale starts next Wednesday.  I’m crossing my fingers the items I’ve been eyeing will be hitting the sales rack.

Ash Olivia Boot – I’ve decided on the Midnight Blue.  PLEASE GO ON SALE!  I will accept nothing less then 33% off.  It’s been almost three months, I’ve been waiting patiently.

 

Kelsi Rosabella Bootie  - Along with the Ash Oliva boots, these were featured prominently in Nordstrom’s Fall catalog and they too have yet to see a price reduction. 

 

L.A.M.B. Raina Bootie – I’ve already seen this at Neiman’s Last Call, but in a size 10.  Bugger.  If these have already made it to another department store’s outlet, surely they should go on sale soon.  SURELY.

 

 

I’m not sure about the following as they are fairly new adds to Nordstrom's inventory, but one can wish, eh?

 

Elizabeth & James D’Orsay – I love the color, shape, perfect addition to my closet.

 

And in the realm of “Cha right, these will never go on sale, but I’m still going to will them to anyway” Chloe boots.

 

 

 

 

I'm still on the lookout for a cross body bag.  I think I figured out why my search hasn't yielded anything.  I found the puuuuuuuuuuuurfect cross body bag a while back and no other bag has been able to live up to it, but it's way more than I want to spend.  The IT bag is the Louis Vuitton Mahina XS.  I lurve it so much, but gah, the price tag is a bit high.  The shape, supple leather and gold hardware are TDF.  Anyhoo, Marc Jacobs had tons of cross body bags on the runway for Vuitton's Spring 2010 collection, so I'm excited to see the bags when they hit the stores, maybe there will be something I love just as much, but for not as much dough as the Mahina XS?  One can hope, eh?.

I need these leifsdottir items in my closet asap.

Jean Paul Gaultier must have heard Cat & I are taking up tennis lessons because his Spring 2010 collection for Hermes took on a tennis theme complete with a grassy runway.

 

Holy crap, if I were in the audience, I would lunge onto the runway to kidnap this Birkin.  The color is perfection, I would carry it every.single.day.of.my.life.  Well, I would have to, to justify the cost.

 

 

Some models even carried tennis rackets down the runway, love!

 

 

I love that even though the pieces are obviously inspired by tennis, they are totes wearable in everyday life.  Well, if one were lucky to wear Hermes in every day life.  Le sigh.

One of my 2009 resolutions was to go to more shows and we've only clock in two shows since the start of the year.  All that is changing the horde of shows we're going to soon!

Jason Mraz

Boys Like Girls w Cobra Starship and A Rocket to the Moon

The Academy Is…

Snow Patrol w/ Plain White Tees

The Bravery

Owl City (pending tix from my coworkers)

Dashboard Confessional + New Found Glory

I’m bummed that I missed out on tickets to see the Aquabats!  I didn’t know they were playing with Blink and I passed on tickets because I’ve already seen them a million times.  Nevertheless, I can't wait for all the shows coming up!

 So after we checked into the Hyatt – we set off to find breakfast.  The only place that came to mind was Max’s.  The hubs doubted we were in the right area, but I have an awesome sense of direction. If I’ve been somewhere before – I’ll figure out how to get back.  Just don’t ask me street names.  Three blocks later we arrived, starving. 

 

Cornflake French Toast for me.

 

 

Corn Beef Hash with egg whites for the hubs.

 

I was surprised how dead it was for a Saturday morning.  I know it’s a touristy joint, but Union Square looked pretty busy.  I looked up Max’s on Yelp and whoa – the reviews were bad.  I thought breakfast was pretty tasty – over priced, but what do you expect in that area?

 

After breakfast we walked towards The Ferry Building per Fitch + Cam’s suggestion.  The Farmer’s Market was out in full force. 

 

These dudes were v. entertaining.

 

 

We bought some dried lavender for MIL.

 

We headed inside to check out the shops.  OMG – loved it.  We don’t have anything like it in Orange County.  Boo. 

Grabbed an Italian Nutella Donut to snack on while we perused the shops, cuz ya know, a five block walk takes a lot out of you ;)

 

Sampled cheeses at Cowgirl Creamery

 

Tried to find a Mother’s Day present for MIL at The Gardener.

 

The only thing she would have liked was this chair. 

 

This place was a winner.  Best name ever – they had me at their tagline.

 

 

I was completely smitten with Miette Patisserie.  So adorable – their packaging, décor – everything.

 

I picked up a box of Ginger Snaps.  Crispy with the perfect amount of chewiness – the ginger is definitely dialed up a notch in this one.

 

I also picked out two macarons – Strawberry + Pistachio.  Unforch, they disappointed.  Great texture, but the flavor fell flat – I couldn’t tell the difference between them and erm, Strawberry and Pistachio are quite different. 

 

 Then we took the Bart home.

Fun day at the Ferry.

I know, I know do I read any other foodies site except for Smitten Kitchen or Bakerella?  I do!  There are a slew of foodie blogs my Google Reader, but I seem to gravitate towards these two.  I adore Tartelette + Applemint, but their recipes are a bit too complicated – perhaps I’ll graduate to their recipes soon.  I digress.  This is the easiest “cupcake” recipe ever and the most delicious.   They remind me of my wedding cake – which I love.

This is the modified version of the Icebox Cake. I thought a cupcake version would be cuter and easier to eat and I was totally right. 

Ingredients:

 
Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers

 

1 Pint of  Heavy Cream

 

1 tsp Vanilla

 

1 tbsp of Sugar

 ** forgot to upload the pic of sugar - but you know what it looks like, right?

Make the whip cream by combining heavy cream, vanilla + sugar and then whisking on high until stiff peaks form.

 

 

Place one choco wafer into a cupcake liner.

 

Add a layer of fresh whipped cream.  Repeat.  My cupcakes had four layers each of wafer + whipped cream.

 

Decorate! 

 

Aren't they freaking adorable?!

 

 

** After you decorate - stick them in the fridge for about four hours or overnight so the wafers soften creating a cake!

You can also change up the recipe by adding fruit in with the whipped cream layer.  I’ve done strawberries and I think bananas would be scrumptious.  Enjoy!