lazy days

watching this in bed on a rainy day in washington.  i love lazy days like these.

hangable art / warhol's rorschach prints

i first discovered andy warhol's massive rorschach prints at the lacma last summer. i was instantly smitten. for a while i had been loving the look of small rorschach prints in the home, but  the idea of massive overarching prints was so exciting to me. last week at the bma i saw one of these prints with a gold background- what could be more perfect?

warhol created 34 rorschach prints on a large scale in 1984. he modeled them after the famous psychiatric inkblot tests. to make the works, he painted on side of the canvas and then folded it to make the butterfly effect, much like how kindergartners create butterflies. the style and way he created the works mimic the abstract impressionists who believe in non-representation and removal of the artist. the works are massive, in the galleries they generally go from floor to ceiling, causing them to have a major presence.

could you imagine using a work like this in your home? where would you put it? 

fashion / summer staples to fall favorites

while i feel like it should be fall right now- the weather is telling me differently. this past weekend we have had a major heat wave in dc, so i have been limited in what fall items i can wear. i have been thinking about how i can turn my favorite summer clothes into fall ones, without having to splurge on more clothes. i have come up with three easy ways to do so: first, change your palette, then add fall accessories, and finally, change your shoes.  

anyone who has seen me in the last six months has probably seen me wearing this skirt. it is the most comfortable thing that i own. in the summer i generally wore it with a white or mint shirt, gold bangles, and my trusty sam edelman sandals. since it is now october, i wanted to change things up, but not die of heat and humidity. i added a grey tee that helped to tone down the brightness of the skirt. i went for gunmetal earrings (similar here) and watch (similar here), and added my new madewell purse. i think the shoes were the kicker on this outfit though- they really brought the whole thing home. the snakeskin combined with the black patent scream fall. i snatched them up at the rack a few weeks ago! i mainly love this outfit because it is comfortable and easy breezy. 

from my camera / baltimore

jarman and i went to baltimore last weekend and had the best time. we got there in the evening, and headed out to dinner and a baseball game. we ate seafood on the harbor, and made sure to get the maryland crabcakes that baltimore is known for. 

 we stayed with our friend who is an artist and goes to the maryland institute college of art- his place is really creative, i snapped a few pictures of my favorite parts. 

the next day we got up and went to the baltimore museum of art. it was mostly under renovation, but their 19th and 20th century galleries were open, as well as some more contemporary rooms. they had an entire collection of matisse's drawings of his daughter, and some great morris louis works.

we walked down the main street, North Charles St., and ran into a book market that was going on- we found tons of books we wanted to bring home but had no cash!

next we stopped into the walter's art museum and were inspired by some amazing early 19th century french works. tell me you're not dying over that painting!

we walked around the harbor some more, ate at cheesecake, and headed back to catch our train back to dc. our train ended up being delayed, so we spent our hours that we had to kill planning more trips! we have so many exciting things coming up!

currently obsessed / jalapeño lime pesto

i tried a new recipe last night for some delicious pizza. i marinated and pan seared chicken, made the pesto , cut all the veggies... all by myself. which doesn't make me sound that amazing- but considering that i hardly ever cook and when i do i make jarman do most of the work, it was a major feat. the sauce for the pizza is a jalapeño lime pesto, and i cannot stop eating it. i made a second batch today and put it on a chicken wrap with fresh corn, black beans, tomatoes, and leftover chicken (basically a wrap version of the pizza from last night). tomorrow i am planning to make a pasta salad with the pesto as the dressing. we have even been dipping tortilla chips in it. it's just that delicious.

here is the recipe for the pesto, you should go make it this second and put it on anything edible, you won't regret it.

Spicy Cilantro Lime Pesto

• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2 1/2 Tbspn toasted walnuts (i used raw pine nuts)
• 1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 2 limes
• 1 jalapeño seeded (leaving seeds in will make it hotter)
• 1/4 Cup grated parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients into blender, pulse until smooth consistency.

***photo and recipe from designlovefest