nadine twirls

My summer

...is dinner outside on secondhand patio furniture in a yard with a zen garden, a rose garden (with a book-reading fairy tenant), and veggies growing all around.

My summer, is an evening with family, talking about everything and being reminded of what is truly important.

My summer, is a blond dog at my feet and an ice cold, strawberry daiquiri in a bright blue cup.

My summer, is being reminded of home--the home that you move away from but never grow out of.

on mother's day...

I graduated from Marymount University with a Bachelor's in History.

Surrounded by family (mine and Boyfriend's) and with a smile so big it nearly split my face in two, I walked across the stage at the D.A.R. Constitution Hall and collected my diploma. Four years after beginning college as a purple-haired sociology major, I'm finished and ready for the next chapter in my life.

Hoorah!

go ask Alice

Once upon a time, there was a little old shoemaker who was having trouble finishing his orders. In the middle of the night elves came and secretly cobbled his shoes. The shoemaker and his wife, unable to let the mystery remain unsolved, spied on the elves. When the elves saw the shoemaker and his wife they fled the little old shop--never to return again. Luckily, once upon another time, a girl stumbled upon a little old shop in Richmond and in there was a pair of those shoes cobbled by the elves. Ecstatic she swooped them up (for a mere eight dollars) and danced off into the sunset!

I dressed up for my mother's birthday and decided the outfit needed a tea cup to complete the look! I used my Grandmother's Wedgewood china, which sits in the cupboard in my kitchen tempting me every time I make a cup of coffee.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA

Today I get to spend the day with my wonderful Mama in honor of her birthday! Hooray! I've baked her a cake (*cross fingers* that it's good) and we're going to get coffee and relax and catch up. She just returned home from Hawaii this week and I can't wait to hear about her adventures.

This photo was taken this December on our family adventure to Paris!

Love you Mom!

black midnight cake

I spent Sunday at my Grandmother's visiting and looking through family photos. A lot of the photos were of various birthday parties for my aunts and uncles when they were kids. In those photos there was a delicious cake on the cake tray with candles being blown out. After looking at 20-30 photos of cake I decided I had to have cake. My mom offered me the family recipe for black midnight cake and cake pans and a sifter.

On Tuesday, Boyfriend and I zipped down to my grocery store and spent our afternoon baking this delicious cake. It was the first cake I had ever made and it was so much fun! There are two layers of chocolate cake and it's covered with chocolate icing--also homemade. I decided to add the strawberries to make it a little prettier! I am excited to have a family cake recipe that I can make for my kids. I never had this cake when I was growing up though, all my cakes for the past 21 years have come from Pastries by Randolph.

Now I'm craving cake again!

good news, good eats

Pictured above: My typical breakfast of grain cereal, fruit, milk, and coffee. Bangladeshi desserts from a place I went to in the East End.

More importantly, my parents are here! They arrived at 6 this morning and I was able to pick them up from Heathrow and escort them to their (super swanky) hotel before heading off to work. I'm actually at work now updating on my lunch break while stuffing my face with delicious pho. I love pho so much. My parents' arrival means there are only 14 more days left over here. On the 23rd we take the train to Paris and on the 29th we fly home! I'm keeping my eyes open wide and trying to soak in as much London as possible!

never grow up

The last time I was sick (well, the time before the time before the last time I was sick, I’ve been sick thrice here in London), Boyfriend microwaved me chicken noodle soup and brought me ice cream from the dinning hall. He stayed curled up in bed with me and watched SVU and NCIS for days and days until I felt well enough to leave the comfort of my room. My parents used to take off work when I was a sick kid. They would bring me soup and sandwiches and pester me to ‘drink some water, finish half that glass.’ When you’re sick someone is supposed to take care of you, right?

Well, apparently not when you’re an adult. When you’re living on your own there isn’t anyone to take care of you. That means, even though you’d rather stay curled up in bed, you have to walk to the corner store and buy cans of soup. Then you have to microwave the soup yourself, standing in the kitchen with your feet cold against the floor and your nose running. You have to remind yourself to drink water, and take the cold medicine, and buy more toilet paper to use as tissues. Sometimes you have to call your work and explain why you can’t come in. You have to email your professors and explain why you missed class, “hi Professor, sorry I wasn’t in class today. I have a really bad cold and I drank NyQuil to help me sleep and then I slept through your class. Sorry.”

Normally I love that I’m growing up. I love the freedom that comes with working for my money and paying for my own things. I love not having to ask permission or to apologize for breaking rules I didn’t make up. But this past week, as I lay on the floor of my room and struggled to breathe through my stuffed nose and my needled throat, I would have traded all the freedom in the world to have someone telling me I would be OK and bringing me bowls of soup and glasses of cold water.

stuff it

Tonight, I arrived home from work and took a glance in our teeny tiny fridge, which sits at the foot of our teeny tiny bunk bed. I saw in there two beautiful, plump peppers. I decided to make stuffed pepper for dinner. Except, those peppers were actually tomatoes. Luckily, there is such thing as stuffed tomato--so I decided to make that instead. I did some quick googling to get an idea of how to cook the dish but I made up my own recipe (first time ever!).

The first thing I did was put a chicken breast into the microwave in a bowl of water (for 7 minutes) to poach. Then I chopped up a fourth of an onion and emptied the tomato. I tossed the hard parts of the tomato but kept the meat and the seeds. I put the onions in a pan on the burner and with medium heat cooked them in olive oil. I added the tomato meat/juice/seeds and half an avocado (I'd eaten the other half already). When the chicken was poached I shredded it, using the two fork method and added it to the pan. I cooked until I felt it was cooked enough.

I stuffed as much of the mix into the tomato as possible and placed it on a baking pan covered in foil with some oil spread in the center. The oven was at 170 degrees Celsius (sorry guys, I'm in the UK right now). I couldn't fit all of the mix in, which is totally cool because it'll make a sweet omelet in the morning!

I popped the sucker into the oven and proceeded to stress over how to tell it was done. Every website told me that the "tomato would be soft." Dudes! Tomatoes are already soft before you cook them! I let mine cook for about 15 minutes and then took it out because I was worried about overheating. Since I'd already cooked the chicken there really wasn't any danger of food poising. I plated it with some bread cooked by my neighbor, Carolina, the night before and had some juice.


It was so tasty. Next time I may add some cayenne pepper for a little more spice. The great thing about this is it wouldn't be too difficult to make it in bulk--like I plan to do for my 'rents when they arrive (in 13 days!).

Well, that's my awesome made up stuffed tomato recipe and way too many photos for my own good. Is it wrong that I want to buy a macro lens solely for food photography purposes? I didn't think so.

Oh, fun fact: I drink with my left hand because my dad does. Neither of us are left handed; he started drinking with his left hand in college because if you're in a bar fight the second it takes you to drop your drink could be very valuable and it's better to have your dominant hand free. Haha. At least that is the story he tells.

thankksgiving

I spent Thanksgiving with my roommate and her family. I am so thankful that they let me into their family time and that I got to spend my first holiday away from home with people who are so welcoming and fun! I ate turkey, cranberry sauce, and cosmos! My co-workers also gave me Thanksgiving-day-gifts (how sweet) of chocolate and a fun little pin! It was a fantastic British Thanksgiving! && after dinner I got a chance to take some fun night photos. Yay!

home

I am back from Amsterdam. It was amazing and I'm already planning my next trip. I've seen Boyfriend's face and heard his voice. I've uploaded and given a cursory glance to my photos. I haven't slept in days (or so it feels). I'll do a million proper updates later; for now, I'm curling into my freshly made bed (iloveelle) and sleeping until sometime past noon.

Oh Mom, there's my new hair. Iloveyou.

solitary mo[u]rning

This morning, I woke up, still sick, and treated myself to a cup of vitamin c induced water. I took a shower and made myself get dressed. I'd spent all of yesterday cooped up in my flat and was determined to get out into the world-if only for a bit. I decided to set out and locate the local library. Despite the weather report calling for rain, the day was beautiful!

I wandered through back streets and mews and discovered a lovely little church.



A few hours later, around 11 am Stateside, I settled down under a tree in Hyde Park. Under this tree:

I tried to read but my mind was elsewhere. September 11th is now a day with a double meaning for me, both of them related to death. The assault that occurred nine years ago was violent and evil death. The memorial held today, for my almost-grandfather, was to celebrate an intelligent, adventurous, and long life. I spent the day alone, wishing I could be home with my family- my mom, my grandmother, and my father. Instead, as they gathered together in a chapel, I meditated in the park and sent all my thoughts to them.


Oh, I did find the library and am now able to check out books from any library in the Royal Kensington and Chelsea Borough. I picked the dinosaur card.

Even my nails are blue this week.

sparkly thrifted vest
white thrifted blouse
lee blue skinny jeans
black hand-me-down boots

Heading Abroad

As you may know, I'm in London now. Today is my 3rd full day. I'm taking a moment between tours to do a little post on my travels. I tried to do a photo an hour for September 1st (the day Harry Potter and I traveled to school) but once I was on the plane I completely lost track of time. I'll do a proper update once classes start and things settle down a little.
8 AM: Rosy red toes.

9 AM: Breakfast from Boyfriend (making faces).

10 AM: A quick run to make bank, what an appropriate statue.

11 AM: Saying good-bye to my closet.

12 PM: Lunch and coffee.

2 PM: Ice cream on the drive to Dullas.

3 PM: Checking in.

4 PM: Saying good-bye.

5 PM: My lovely plane!

6 PM: Boarding.

7 PM: Take off.

8 PM and onwards: Views from my window seat.



As a bonus shot, here is the view from my window! Where the people are standing is a lovely little pub called the Queen's Arms. I think I'll head over for a coffee before my two hour walking tour of Kensington.