Stay Classy

Sometimes there's nothing better than a vintage photograph. I always seem to find myself having nostalgia for a previous time period that I've never even experienced. Yes, I am one of those who was born in the wrong decade. Pretty shift dresses, bold sunglasses, and bright lipstick can never fail you.

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Now playing: Uptown Girls by Billy Joel

Mama Mia

After watching Eat, Pray, Love, I was reminded of my love for real Italian pizza and the wonderful trip to Italy I took a number of years ago. My absolute favorite place we went was Florence, where we unfortunately had much too short of a stay. It's such a beautiful city with all the classic old world architecture you expect to see in Europe and excellent shopping as well.

View of the city and the Arno River

So I looked up another recipe from MyRecipes.com, this time looking for a rustic-style pizza to bring back memories of eating in a quaint pizzeria in Naples. I decided that the white pizza with tomato and basil sounded perfect, and it was indeed. Also from the quick and healthy menu, since my mom has no affinity for cooking and I am such a newbie, it took about fifteen minutes to prepare and was very light- unlike the typical delivery pizza you see now-a-days. If you like the traditional pizza margherita, this is very similar, just kicked up a bit with ricotta and pesto (which we were lucky enough to have some homemade).

Gustare il cibo!

Listening to: Postcards from Italy by Beirut. Hear it.

Stripes and Flowers

I will be the first to admit that I am a little leary about the mixing-prints trend. I feel like every time I open up Vogue or Bazaar I see pages and pages of mixed prints and find nearly all of them absolutely unwearable or impracticle. I've found though, that sticking to the conservative side and using striped and flower patterns of similar color palettes can create quite an elegant statement look that does not appear to be too over-the-top. These skirt and shirt combinations are perfect for a fun lunch date with friends or even a night out on the town. Hope you enjoy!

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Listening to: You and I by Ingrid Michaelson

Picture this

In art history this past semester we learned a lot about photography and the more believable illusions of realty it created. Cindy Sherman posed in staged photographs that were made to look like film stills, feeding into the phenomenon that not all photography is telling a true story.

Untitled Film Still #7 (1977)

Untitled Film Still #14 (1977)

Untitled Film Still #43 (1977)

Listening to: Act Naturally by The Beatles. Hear it.

Summer's Past

I'll never be condsidered a west coast girl, and that's okay. I can't imagine living in such a busy and ever-changing place like California, but I will say that visisting San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto and Sonoma Valley with my family was one of my favorite trips. We visited a beautiful winery, strolled through Fisherman's Wharf, canoed through a redwood forest, walked along the cliffs above the ocean, and had wonderful food although I'm not partial to seafood. It was such a wonderful trip.

Listening to: West Coast by Coconut Records. Hear it.

Your Road is Yours to Tread

How I am longing to be out on the ocean right now. From catamaraning from Boston to Salem or whale watching in the habors of Juneau, floating out on the water gives me a solace I cannot convey, not to mention to beauty of the landscape surrounding.

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hakusai

Now playing: La Mar by the Beautiful Girls. Hear it.

Fresh

Now that it's getting warmer it's time to revert back to the wonderfully delicious smoothie. Of course, I'm not suggesting going to Smoothie King and getting a large sugar-and-syrup disaster that will set you back by upwards of 500 calories. As a personal favorite of mine, I love to make my own and I have a very simple and healthy way to do it. You have to have a blender, but I prefer to use a  Magic Bullet, which even though sold widely on the info-mercial market, actually works very well. So get your magic bullet cup, put about four ice cubes in it, then fill it nearly to the top with your frozen fruit of choice. Personally, I prefer strawberries and peaches, but whatever you like works just fine. Then, add two packets of Crystal Light, the kind that you put in water bottles. There's a ton of different flavors, but my favorites are lemonade, raspberry lemonade, or orange. Fill it up almost all the way with water, shake, blend, and you've got yourself the most tastey and easily made smoothies yet. You can replace the water with milk if you prefer, but I like mine with just water, more crisp. Obviously, any of these steps and ingredients can be adjusted accordingly to your taste. If you don't want a ton of flavor, then add only one packet of Crystal Light. Enjoy!

Now playing: Far Away by Ingrid Michaelson. Hear it.

For now.
Elizabeth