deviant housewife.

artificial light

So, I finally bit the bullet and spent a gazillion dollars on some foundation. I just asked the guy what he recommended (his foundation looked pretty good) and bought it, so we'll see how it turns out.

I decided to do this on the subway on our last trip to new york. I was admiring how pretty a girl on the platform was, her skin was dewy and illuminated. I blamed her being 19 (at the most), but husband thought maybe her makeup was helping. He was kind of flabbergasted when I told him that I usually pick up makeup at the grocery store, and pretty much insisted that I go to a makeup store next time. I hated the thought of spending $40 for a compact, but you know he was right about the socks: I teased him forever for buying expensive socks when you can get a 6-pack for $10 at wal-mart and stuck to that until I actually bought an expensive pair on emergency one trip. They were so much more comfortable, it changed my whole day! Plus they last longer, so the price difference is pretty much made up for in the long run. Let's hope makeup is the same...

gigantic

Sucky movie with one good quote:

Some of the most important decisions we make in life are done in a matter of minutes, even seconds. It's your life. Do as you will.

and lots of good loft-y warehouse-y new york scenery:

girls in trucks

With all the things we are taught so deep inside of us, how did we turn out ok?

I always thought growing up was growing up no matter where you are, until I left New Orleans. I'm not sure if I would have liked this book if I didn't relate to it so well.

Side note: I like the author's comments at the end of the book about cover photos:

...the image acts as an introduction and an epilogue to the story. It's what you ponder before diving into the first sentence, and what you stare at while the last line reverberates in your head.

She is so right. Most of what have turned out to be my favorite books ever were chosen randomly at the bookstore based solely on the cover.

it is still july?

last week sometime, we ate this:

Cherry tomatoes with tiny balls of mozzarella, olive oil, and basil harvested from my little neglected plant. However long I leave my little plant, it just takes a dose or two of water for it to perk back up.

I was planning to make a cake from not-scratch for the little one's birthday, but when I cracked one of the eggs into the mix, it was full of bits of blood.

I think that it's supposed to be ok like that, but it looked so gross that I just couldn't, so I threw the whole mess away and started over with this recipe for simple white cake - adding 1/4 a cup of milk and beating the egg mixture for 10 minutes like all the comments suggested.

It was so good! Every time I make a cake from scratch I am surprised by how good it is, and how easy it is to make. [Except for the chocolate cake I took out of Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. Actually, maybe the trick is not to get them out of the cookbooks, but to take the ones that people have already made and commented on a zillion times on Allrecipes.]

I wonder why people bother with the boxes? I like it when birthday cakes don't look too perfect. Or even a little bit perfect:

Every time I bake, I think remember that I love these timers so much:

From Anthropologie, I like looking around the store, but it's not really my style. Always some cute kitchen stuff though, like these little measuring cups I bought for my sister a while ago:

Here's my new neighbor... you can barely see him, but he's laid out on on the branch with his limbs hanging down:

I thought he was sick or something, because he was there all day. But the next day he was fine:

new orleans

A cancelled trip to DC was replaced with a surprise trip to New Orleans last week...

and now I know for certain that our scale is wrong because it says I lost a pound when we ate so much (really good) food.

Franky & Johnny's for stuffed artichoke, mufalettas, huge boiled shrimp, and (disappointing) bread pudding:

Tony's Po-Boys (in Chalmette) for super fresh seafood platters with the best mac and cheese ever (drenched with oil):

Tony's has a twist on the deer heads you see everywhere in the south:

All washed down with Abita Amber...

and snowballs!

We also ate at Voodoo BBQ (the corn pudding!), and Ralph & Kacoo's (more fried seafood platters), but no pictures. I have to get in the habit of taking pictures of food and restaurant name at least. New Orleans is my food heaven, I have a list of places I want to again sometime: