Gemma . Booth . Photography

I love.love.love these lush pictures from photographer Gemma Booth:

Pretty . Little . Sweet . Treats

I have a love.hate relationship with macaroons. I love them because they are perhaps the prettiest little cookie ever made:



It doesn't seem like an understatement to say that (were they not perishable) a collection of macaroons would be a perfect little piece of art!



Unfortunately, I don't actually like the way they taste. I was bitterly disappointed to discover this, but they turned out to be too sweet for my liking. And maybe too crunchy. I guess at heart I'm a soft.chewy cookie girl. Macaroons -- as pretty as they are -- just couldn't compete with the cookie that I could eat morning.noon.night:


The Black & White Cookie!! With its cakey goodness + vanilla and chocolate frosting...perfection.

What's your favorite cookie??

Pics from Tastespotting and Flickr

S . Magazine

Various lovely.beautiful images from S Magazine, a Danish publication:

Cheesy . Goodness

I go through little phases where I want to eat one thing for awhile, and then I get bored and move on to something else. I've recently had the "grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup phase," the "portabella burger with lots of avocado and red onions phase," and once I had the "Cornpops for breakfast, lunch, and dinner phase."

As of late I'm on "penne baked with brie, mozarella, and butternut squash soup phase." (If you've never had pasta with butternut squash soup baked into it, you must!)

So as I was pouring through some other cheesy recipes, I thought I'd share one, late night:



Roll fresh goat cheese (any shape—log, crottin or pyramid) in one of the following mixtures to create a simple, yet impressive appetizer. Serve with crackers or crostini.
Sesame Thyme

½ cup sesame seeds
1 tsp very coarse ground black pepper
1 TB fresh thyme, minced (plus a few sprigs for garnish)
Fresh Herb

1 TB minced fresh thyme
1 TB minced fresh marjoram
1 TB dried grated lemon peel
2 fresh sage leaves, finely minced
2 fresh basil leaves, finely minced
(from Whole Foods)

Pretty . Little . Spring . Cleaning . Sale

Loads of lovely vintage frocks are on sale now at Pretty Little World. Stop by the shop for more details!

Shop . by . Color . (Shoes)

Thanks to a suggestion from the lovely Ana of On Dressing Up, here's a peek at some pretty little shoes from SS 09:







All shoes from LuisaViaRoma

Happy . Strawberry . Tuesday

Pics from: Cannelle-Vanille; Anthropologie Lip Balm; Juicy Couture Strawberry Dress; FavSpotting on Flickr

Claire . Danes

I officially want to be Claire Danes if only to have her hair. I realize that she's a celebrity, and attending events, but it's still not fair to walk around IRL looking like you belong in a shampoo commercial:

Maria . Bonita . Extra

While the name seemed familiar, I was relatively unfamiliar with Maria Bonita Extra. Thanks to a recent post from Oh Joy!, I went to check out the designer's SS 09 collection, and swoon, I love.love it!

The collection seems inspired by Marguerite Duras' The Lover...



...full of floaty silk dresses and menswear straw hats:

Cameron . and . Kate

I just couldn't help but post these recent pics of Cameron Diaz and Kate Bosworth. They always have such great fashion sense and these outfits are adorable. Kate Bosworth is looking especially radiant as of late! (I hate to say this, but she always looks so much healthier and happier in photos after breaking up with someone.)





Pics from Yahoo.

Cardinals

Sadly, it's very wintry again -- lots of blowing snow and icky coldness. But this has apparently not stopped two bright red male cardinals from fighting over a pretty little female cardinal in our backyard tree:

Shannon . Fricke

We've just started house hunting, which is both an exciting and daunting process. I don't know the exact style of house that I want, but I have a general idea. What I do know is that I have never, I repeat, never wanted to live in the country.

Living in the country seems charming until you think about it: you have to drive to get everything, you're more isolated, the land itself usually needs way more upkeep than a lot in the city, and so on and so on.

Though once I saw the first photo of Shannon Fricke's in-progress-but-now-remodeled-country-house on her blog, I had more than a bit of yearning for that kind of lifestyle:

Marchesa

Words can really not describe how beautiful this dress from Marchesa's Fall 09 collection is -- it's how I imagine the night sky would look as a dress:



Pic from Style.com

The . Last . House . on . the . Left

I first saw the trailer for the remake of The Last House on the Left a few days ago, and I've been obsessed ever since. I like horror films, though I have a feeling this one will be particularly.needlessly.horribly violent. (I'll go see it anyway.)

What's really caught my attention though is the way that the trailer is put together. Normally I see the trailer for a movie a few times in commercials, and I'm totally sick of it -- I usually end up losing interest in the film itself because the trailer is trite and probably shows the best parts.

This trailer haunts me. The collection of images from the film is fabulous, and the music they chose (a remake of GNR's Sweet Child O'Mine by Taken by Trees) stops me in my tracks. I've got to give credit to whoever put this trailer together, because it makes me desperately want to see a movie that I know I probably won't like.

My . Heart . Goes . Out . to . You

Flagrante Delicia; Urban Outfitters; Irene Suchocki; Marc Jabobs and MBMJ at eLuxury

Lyndie . Dourthe

There are a lot of cute little handmade-whimsical-faux-terrarium-esque things on ETSY that I would love to have, but most of them are very girly. As in, if I got one, B. would say, "Hmm, where are you going to put that?" meaning, "I hope that's going in a closet."

And I can sympathize. I wouldn't want to live in a house with only masculine influences, so he shouldn't have to live in a little real-life Wonderland.

This is why Lyndie Dourthe's creations are perfection. They're captivating and don't scream "girly." I sadly don't read French, and so can't translate more than a word or two on her site, though it looks like her amazing works are entirely made of paper (or perhaps paper and fabric):





If they're available for purchase, I have a feeling they might also be insanely expensive, but they're still lovely!

and . speaking . of . rainbows...

...my Christmas/Birthday present from B. finally arrived!! It's something that I've wanted for over a year (I nearly cried when I had to leave it at the Fendi store in Seoul). I've known what I would be getting, and it's been on order, but I just had to be patient and wait for it to come live with me! It took the patience of a saint, too!

So here she is, my pretty little Christmas/birthday embroidered Large Fendi Rainbow Baguette:





A little Fendi family portrait:



I can't wait until the weather is more springy and then I can wear it outside!