Project 3: Simplicity 2215, View D, and Cake!

There's so much on my mind right now, both good and bad, and I want to turn a lot of it into blog posts but then I think, who would read that?  I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't benefit from a few girlfriends to just bounce ideas off of.  Nick doesn't care about pattern sizing or blogs; he doesn't notice if I paint my nails or if my hair dries weird.  I know one person shouldn't be everything to another, but that's where we are right now, and the boundaries are slowly disappearing.  (You don't even want to know what we talk about after work.)

So anyway, it was a long weekend, and I gotta say, not a terribly exciting one.  It was cold this weekend, so our hibernation plans were mostly achieved.  However, Saturday proved productive, once we actually got out of bed and out of the apartment: we managed to buy $130 worth of groceries (good lord) as well as some slightly-needed kitchen items.  When we got home and unpacked our food and fun things, I immediately thought of how nice it will be to someday have room for casserole dishes and espresso makers, for loaf pans and pitchers, and how we won't have to have these things spill over into the living room and onto the stove because there simply isn't space.  I hope that by this time next year I can stand next to Nick in our kitchen and not have to contort myself around him to get to the fridge or close a cabinet before I can open the oven.

Labor Day Weekend and Cake

Today seems like a wasted day.  It's rainy and dark and chilly - I should be at home reading on the couch, not sitting at my desk at work!  I definitely shouldn't be wearing a skirt either.  I should be in pajama pants.  Unfortunately, I don't think work cares, so I'm here.  I know it was a three-day weekend and all, but still, work schedules should be based on weather, not hours.

I'm trying to think back over the weekend, remembering what happened, what I can tell you, but I'm coming up with nothing.  I worked from home Friday so it seems like the weekend started forever ago.  Sometimes long weekends are like that, and while I'm not dying to get back to work, the disruption in my schedule is enough to make me crazy.  For example, by Monday afternoon I was about ready to stab Nick in the neck just because I was so annoyed with everything he was doing.  And it's not like he's a generally annoying person, but once you spend long amounts of time with the same person everyday, all day--well, they become the worst person you've ever met.  I'm sure he felt the same about me, so no hard feelings.  This is what happens in a one-bedroom apartment without friends.

We did celebrate his birthday finally.  Though I made him dinner (and cookies!) on his actual birthday, it wasn't until Friday that I had time to make a cake, and Saturday that we were able to drive to Virginia to eat at District Taco.  We also stopped at Total Wine because it is September, and September means fall beers are out.  As a result, over forty beers now reside in our kitchen, but not all of them will fit in our fridge.  We obviously need a bigger place.

We also ate at Taylor Gourmet yesterday.  I read about it in Dwell a couple years ago (while I was still living in Savannah) and was pretty much amazed that they owners were handsome men who could cook.  While we were in Bethesda yesterday we decided to stop for lunch.  We definitely weren't disappointed.  It's a collection of salads, sandwiches and appetizers, but the bread is fresh, the mozzarella is moist, and the turkey is roasted.  They serve Pellegrino and Boylan sodas.  And they have risotto balls!  We weren't hungry enough to buy an appetizer, but damn were they tempting.  I highly recommend it, whether you're on K Street, H Street, or Bethesda Row.

Here are some pictures!

My assistant

Friday was all Christmas, all day

My slanted cakes.  Apparently my oven doesn't heat evenly.  Oh well, once you put some frosting on top, who really cares?

It's officially fall!

Cake!  Ina Garten's coconut cake and frosting, with lemon filling between the layers

Two J. Crew skirts picked up from a thrift store.  Love it!

My new Colette Violet blouse.  Since this picture was taken, I've added navy bias binding and elastic to the sleeves.

So that's about it.  My birthday is this week, and though I've taken the day off, I currently have no plans.  Art museum, maybe?  Sleeping until 2?  (Probably not.)  I'm not sure.  If anyone has any free ideas, please pass on.  I don't have any money, but I have an entire day to myself.

The Birthday Song

I love my birthday.  I never understood how people (mostly the other members of my family) could be so blase.  Celebrate, dammit!  Have a good time!  Party and drink and shop and do whatever you want, because it's your birthday and you deserve it.  Why not?  This is all acceptable as children, but it seems once you cross the threshold into adulthood, you're supposed to look at your birthday as a necessary evil, not to be mentioned unless absolutely necessary.

Well you know what, world?  No.  I'm not going to abide by that.

Also, full disclosure: my birthday isn't until September.  However, I know that there's no way I'm the only person in the world who gets excited for birthdays months in advance.  So deal with it.

First of all, the Sound of Music sing-along is the day after my birthday at Wolf Trap.  The Sound of Music is my favorite musical and I know all the songs by heart.  In fact, the first time Kali met my aunt, it was over a game of Apples to Apples where my mom, my aunt and I broke into the Lonely Goatherd all at once.  This is who we are, people.  I love Julie Andrews, I hate that bitch who tried to marry Captain Von Trapp, and I always fast forward through Climb Every Mountain.  It's what I do.



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I think the best part of this is now I have a reason to play the soundtrack and watch the movie over the summer.  Nick's never seen it and he will be my partner.  I hope we look something like this:



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Also: cake.  Cake is very important to us.  I think that's why Nick and I fell in love, because I baked three cakes within our two-month mark, and one was a birthday cake for him.  But, because my parents are in Florida and will most likely not see my birthday as a valid reason to travel 800 miles, I'm sure I'll either be buying or making my own cake, which kind of sucks.  It should be considered unlucky to make your own cake.  I do plan on making Nick's cake (I'm going to try a coconut cake with lemon curd filling, combining his two cake loves), but for my birthday, I'd like this:



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Vanilla and caramel and salt, all from Cakelove?!  I'll take it.  But first, I should see if it comes in chocolate, because that'd be even better.  And you might need one too.

Next: party hats.  I've never had them at a party because my head is either too big or there isn't a party (normally just a few friends would come over to have dinner and cake...this year that number will be considerably smaller), so 2011 should include party hats.  I feel like we've really earned them



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Finally: gifts.  Yes, I already know what I'm asking for.  Why wouldn't I?  But be warned: they're incredibly boring and I should be judged for them because they make me an adult.

Yes, a hand mixer and an iron, from Macy's and Amazon, respectively.  It's weird, I know, and I'm only turning 24 this year.  I feel like a '50s housewife.  Maybe for Christmas I'll get a vacuum!  (Actually I've had my eye on the Dyson Slim, but that's beside the point.)

So that's my birthday wish list, over four months in advance, just because.  I've had a bit of a hectic week and needed some fun.  What's more fun than birthdays, I ask you?  Nothing.  Nothing at all.

Have a great Thursday!  It's almost Friday!