A Bird's Eye Beverage View

Happy Thursday everyone!  And happy almost-end-of-March!  I've had a pretty packed week so far with work, schoolwork, going to class, going home for dinner, getting a haircut, etc.  Busy is good though, and I did get a little break on Tuesday.  I met up with the work girls for margaritas and then everyone came over to my apartment for a little after party.

On Sunday we had a big barbecue party with chicken, rice, veggies - the works.  Everything was delicious, and to top it off, we had grilled pears!  Combined with Bailey's-laced coffee, it was a perfect bake.  Now we're heading into another weekend.  For me it will be filled with work and homework.  Maybe I'll watch a movie one of the nights to switch things up.  You all probably have much more exciting plans.  Maybe not, but whatever you end up doing, have a lovely time!

(photos by e.hunt)

Separation of the S's

Good morning, everyone!  I'm sitting here at my table enjoying a slice of chocolate marble loaf and a fresh cup of coffee.  Mmmmmmm delightful.

I broke down and bought a pot of those cheap flowers at the front of Schnucks the other day.  It is officially Spring now, after all.  They do look nice, and brighten up the tablescape a bit.  As you can see in the picture, it is turning out to be a dreary rain day.  That's ok though; I have some homework to do and might read some of my book.  I'm still on The Handmaid's Tale, but I'm almost finished.  I have several books in the waiting room at the moment: A Brave New World, Clockwork Orange, and I've also been wanting to reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  This time around I want to underline things and write in the margins.  The first two were loaned to me from a friend down in Springfield.  He was shocked that I had never read them.  To me they don't really seem to be part of that you-have-to-read-this classics list, but then again he also sent me home with the movie Love Actually (that he was also shocked that I've never seen), so who knows.  Which one should I read first?

(photo by e.hunt)

A Couch in a Box, Fancy That

Happy first day of Spring!  And it really is Spring here in the Stl with temps getting up to 80 degrees today!  In a little bit I'll be walking over to the movie theater just across the street to meet up with Mom and Taylor to see Logan.  I've been a long-time fan of the X-Men movies since the first one way back in 2000.  They've ranged in quality from really really bad (The Last Stand) to really good (X2), but the consistent good factor has always been Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, the instant-healing, never-aging, be-clawed Canadian delight.  Logan is his swan song; his final foray into the X-Men world, and it is supposed to be extremely good.

In apartment news, I have started looking for a new couch to replace my thrift store find that has worked well for these last few months, but isn't quite as comfortable as I would like.  Surprisingly, Amazon has a pretty wide selection at good prices.  Apparently the whole thing comes in a box and you put it together yourself.  I've found three that have good reviews and seem like they would fit well in my little living room.

First, this traditional grey one looks comfy and you know my thoughts on grey.  It's dark enough that it wouldn't be too matchy with my rug and other grey chair.

Second, a bolder choice.  The berry color looks fun, and I love the tufted cushions.

And here is the third choice.  Another more traditional one, but the white piping adds a little whimsy. I also like the navy color.

What do you all think?  The grey and the navy look more casual and better for a relaxing movie viewing, but the berry one would be a great center-piece.  Hmmmm decisions, decisions.

(photos collected from comingsoon.net, and amazon)

I'll Never Outgrow the Excitement of Looking Out the Window and Seeing Snow

With the warm weather we've had over the last few weeks, the tree outside my window is alive with lovely little white-sprig blooms.  What kind of tree is this again?

And then yesterday and today I've opened my window to little snow flurries whipping around and landing on branches.  Yesterday's melted during the day when it got a little warmer, and today's wasn't enough to stick.  While it is exciting to see some more snow during this not-really-winter Winter, it's not enough for a pretty, snowy wonderland, but just enough to be a nuisance.  Come on, nature.  Work with me, here!

(photos by e.hunt)

A Good Laugh and a Long Sleep Are Two of the Best Cures for Anything

Did you all remember to turn back your non-iPhone clocks today?  I happened to take this weekend off of work, and didn't have anywhere to be this morning, so I didn't really have to worry about losing an hour of sleep.  I did sleep in pretty late though, still being exhausted from earlier this weekend.  On Friday I went down to Springfield to catch up with old friends and get out of town for a night.

It was quite fun, as trips down there always are.  We didn't get the 1-3 inches of snow that was predicted to come yesterday; although I did drive through some pretty farmlands with white-blanket roofs and snow-covered tree limbs.  After a little nap, I met up with Mom and Taylor for dinner at one of our local spots, PJ's.  It has simple, dependable bar food.  I always get the YPEC-approved big chicken caesar salad (no cheese), and it's always good.

Right about the time we were finishing up, Dad texted to say he was on the way back from his gig.  So we put our coats on and ventured across the street to another one of our usuals, Amigo's, for another beer and a Mexican meal for Dad.  Happy Daylight Savings Day!

(photos by e.hunt, and collected from rebloggy)

Under the Pale Sunlight

It's March inspiration board time!  I decided to go with pale, dusty pink for this month's mood.  It's trendy, but works well with this beginning-of-spring month.  I've included lots of different shades, but I'm leaning towards the lighter, almost-white version.  I think that's why I like it: not pure white, but not girly pink either.  Which is your favorite shade?

(photos collected from stylistmagazine, parisbytwo, suburbanfauxpas, instagram.com/acolorstory, ladyslider, bleucolette.tumblr, daisy-lemonade.tumblr, pinterest, vivaluxury.blogspot, artinourblood, instagram.com/niceislove, instagram.com/juliahengel, honestlywtf, whowhatwear, dominomagazine, memorandum, and pinterest)

Tell Us About Your Bake

Happy Monday!  And happy March!  Springtime is pretty much here, what with the trees blooming, flowers coming up, and strange storms blowing in out of nowhere.  I took this picture yesterday at work when I was taking the trash out.  The muted greys and whites are pretty, in a somber way.

And then I started playing around on an editing app called Layout.  After duplicating, mirroring, and flipping the image, I came out with some cool Rorschach-looking pictures.

After being sick with headaches and dizziness for the majority of last week, I was finally feeling better over the weekend.  I met up with Mom, Taylor, Debby, and Nana for dinner on Friday night, which was fun.  I hadn't seen Debby or Nana for several weeks so it was nice to catch up.  After that Taylor and I met up with a couple of his friends for a beer.  They've been friends since childhood so I've known them for a long time too.  We spent a good portion of the evening talking about old video games and whatnot, which brought out the nostalgia and was quite fun.

On Saturday I worked a long, stressful shift.  One of the espresso machines broke right in the middle of rush, and the ice machine was down too.  When things break at our store, they all wait until the same weekend so we can't get any of the daily cleaning tasks done.  Thanks, machines.  Anyway, I stopped at Schnucks on the way home for a salad and cookies, came home, watched a little tv, and was in bed by 8:30pm.  It was delightful.

Sunday was another long shift with more machines breaking, but I was off at 1pm and had time to take a nap before heading home for Sunday dinner.  Last week we started watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, and Dad tried a little creative baking of his own for dessert!  Look at these luscious baked apples with molten peanut butter on the inside.

After a bite or two I decided that the peanut butter was a little overwhelming and added some chocolate sauce over the top to even out the flavors.  Dad's critique called for bigger apples next time as well.  But in the words of the show, overall it was a marvelous bake!

(photos by e.hunt)