Voyeur

What do I carry in my trusty Longchamp bag? Lucky you, I just happened to take a picture.

A Kindle, my phone, a pack of tissues, two memory sticks, hand sanitizer, a bag full of fancy Mighty Leaf teas, a pharmacy/makeup bag, & my wallet! 

Custom portrait

This is the unveiling of my commissioned portrait from Ms. Sara Lyons for the blog! I looooove it -- check out those sweet ice cream cones, haha. Sara is an incredible artist (LOOK HOW CUTE MY PORTRAIT IS) -- you really need to go & commission your portrait now before she gets too big!!! 

Wednesday Round-up

Besides s'mores, I've been into some other fun things recently & wanted to share WITH THE WORLD, so here is the Wednesday Round-up. 

1. Mane n' Tail (and body):  Yes, there is a horse on the bottle. This horrifying shampoo is supposed to be good for sharing with both humans & animals in the shower. My boyfriend didn't want to use my shampoo, so he picked this out as his man shampoo at Safeway. I was adequately disgusted, but was eventually forced to use it when I ran out of shampoo. After a couple weeks of being too lazy to buy  my own shampoo, I discovered that this stuff is actually pretty nice! I have fine hair that gets gross & oily in a day, but this stuff keeps my hair nice & fresh for nearly two days. I'm a fan, but I will probably hide this if guests visit. 

2. Yoga: I've wanted to do yoga for a while & finally got my chance when a nearby studio offered free Sunday classes for the month of July. I was only able to make it to 3 classes, but I really enjoyed it as stress-relief & also strengthening of my core/ankles for running. I'm hoping to continue doing it once a week, keeping an eye out for more Groupons (I already have a 10 class pass) & also free classes.

3. Breaking Bad: BEST TV SHOW EVER & SEASON 4 WAS JUST RELEASED ON NETFLIX.

S'mores

Oh god, I've been super obsessed with s'mores recently & spend an inordinate amount of time looking at s'mores online, on Etsy, tastespotting, Google image search. I just want all of these in my belly NOW. 

Your typical, standard-fare s'more:

Moving on up in the world with artisan-made s'mores. Handmade graham crackers, marshmallows, & ganache!! Oh my:

& of course, the bastard hybrid children of cupcakes & cookie bars & cookies: 

Nike Women's Half Marathon

Earlier this year in April, I ran the US Half Marathon & I remember swearing to myself that if I could just finish training & run the race, I would stop running because I was sick of getting injured & sticking to such a rigid schedule. OBVIOUSLY, I seem to have forgotten my promise to myself because immediately after I finished the US Half Marathon, I signed up for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October.

I've been gearing up & training in preparation of training (I know...) for the past month or so & will start Hal Higdon's Novice 2 Half Marathon training program next week. I did his Novice 1 training program earlier this year & liked it, so I thought I would push myself & try out the Novice 2. The big difference here is that for Novice 1, I only ran 3 days a week, whereas with the Novice 2, I would be running 4 days a week. This will bump my weekly mileage up a bit & 3 of those running days are back to back, which is a bit daunting since I'm used to having a rest day in between runs. I'll see how it goes & modify as needed. For my cross training, I'll be either walking or doing yoga.

Macarons!

I went to a macaron class! My neighborhood restaurant AQ offers a couple classes (including one for LAMB BUTCHERING) & since I love their food, I headed over for the macaron class. Which was perfectly timed because I've been dying to make them & just recently acquired all the tools/ingredients to make them this weekend.

It was pretty fun & the pastry chef teaching the class was awesome. She's only 20 & has no formal culinary education, but she was so knowledgeable, friendly, & most importantly, was able to ensure that ALL OF OUR MACARONS TURNED OUT!

 

Excuse my horrible night-time "studio" lighting, but these are my matcha flavored macarons.



My batch came out a little hollow, so I'm going to try to mix the batter more & get it a little runnier, which will hopefully correct the graininess & peaks as well.

Gold Gradient

I'm a fan! Possible combinations for the future: red w/ gold (Chinese New Year!) & dark gray w/ gold.