photography friday! week 5

YAY! It's Friday! And my sister, Carrie, arrived last night! And my sister, Lea, arrives this evening! I feel so grown up having my sisters come visit me and stay at my house. ;)

Due to a busy week cleaning, grocery shopping and readjusting to life back at home (and by that, I really mean, finally getting Real Marriage in the mail and reading it cover to cover!), I didn't get around to any photo shoots. So yep, that's right, this week I'm cheating... These are pictures my sister took, not me.

They're from her first visit to Chicago, when Selah was right around 2 months old. She has gotten so big since then!

That's my sister, Carrie! She's the photographer in our family so she never gets to be in the pictures! (So I guess I did take a few pictures...)

Oh. my. gosh. Those leg rolls. Looooove it.

Have a great weekend!

an invincible summer

I feel like that belongs in my house. 

awesome salad

It's no secret that I'm not the most talented cook... So I stick with simple, super easy meals that require zero cooking skills at all. Which is why I LOVE this incredible salad that Alison introduced me to. It's so easy and quick to make (like any salad takes that long anyway...). It's so scrumptious that I think I asked her to make it about 5 or 6 times in two weeks. You can call it 'Awesome salad' or 'Alison salad' or 'Awesome Alison salad.' Really, it's up to you. 

The dressing was equal parts evoo and balsamic vinegar, with a dollop of Dijon mustard, 1 clove of garlic and a dash of sugar. Easy peasy. 

Then, for the salad she combined a spring mix with some arugula, 3 diced avocados, 3 tomatoes (the brown Kumato kind you get from Trader Joe's is what we used, but any kind would be good), dried cranberries and Trader Joe's brand Spicy & Sweet pecans. You have to get those pecans because they absolutely make the salad. Ohhh, so yummy. 

I'm not a gorgonzola cheese fan, myself, but both Cory and Alison love to top theirs with gorgonzola cheese crumbles. 

This is definitely going into my weekly rotation. It's for sure one of my favorite meals! Now, go run to Trader Joe's and get those pecans and make this salad. Right now! 

musical monday! numero tres

Flo Rida? What?

Y'all, this song is perma-stuck in my head. I want it to GET OUT but it just stays there.

Washing the dishes. Ohhhh, sometimes, I get a good feeling.

Walking around HomeGoods. No, no. I get a good feeling. Yeah.

Strolling through Dominick's produce section. I get a good feeling that I never never never never had before.

Flo Rida isn't really my style, except for when I'm sloshing back vodka-water-splash-of-cran-lots-of-limes in the club. And then he totally is my style.

But I'd feel like I was cheating if I only spotlit Good Feeling, since, if your Top 40 station is anything like B96, it probably plays at least 4 times per hour. So, here's a little something more my style. More Margarety.



Spoo-o-n. Yeah, you read that right. I said spoo, and then I said o and then I said n.

big city weirdos

Have you noticed that there are a plethora of really weird people in big cities? There's something about the anonymity of a big city that makes people feel like they can act however they please, without consequences. 

For example, one summer I lived with my big sister, Lea, in the lesser known NYC neighborhood, Washington Heights, aka Little Dominican Republic. I liked to call it the Upper Upper Westside. ;)

Since I'm a paley pale WASP of a girl, I really stuck out amongst the Latinas in the area. Daily, I was harassed complimented by the overly cologned, gel-stiff haired Latino men, "Hola, Snowbunny!" "Blanca, you so sexy, come be my white girlfriend!"

In all sincerity, I think it was just the culture. The Latino men did not discriminate. White, Latin, young, old, sexy, not sexy -- it didn't matter, if a female walked down the street someone said something to her. But it really freaked me out. I just wasn't used to that kind of attention. I was so uncomfortable and didn't know how to react to their um, admiration. Usually, I'd just kind of nervously half-smile and frigid fast-walk as quickly as I could to the subway or bodega or wherever I was going. 

One night, I was walking home from my summer job as a hostess at Hill Country Barbecue (I was hired due to my authentic Southern accent), and it seemed like every. single. male I passed on the few blocks from my subway stop to the house had something to say to me. Feeling fed up and slightly unnerved by all the attention, I reacted the only way I knew how. 

I stuck my finger up my nose and started picking it and flicking it at every guy who said something to me. 

Well, I still got attention but it was more utter disgust than lustful appreciation. 

Anyway, having matured considerably since my summer in NYC, I react far less crudely these days. I now know exactly how I'll react to the next jerkface in Chicago who says something to me (there might be more nut-jobs in the Windy City, at least it seems that way lately).

The next d-bag who offers a "Hey sexy lady" my way, I'll whip out my purse wand and screech, 

EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!

Do you think that will work?

outtakes!

Sometimes I capture Selah doing some pretty funny things that I wouldn't necessarily deem "Photography Friday worthy." These are the outtakes from our photo shoots!

Bitsy kinda looks like she could be in a rap video with these moves.

Whoa-ohh-ohhh! This swing thing is hard. 

Selah is telling secrets to her blankie.

This is how you know when it's time to stop taking pictures and go home. 

happy half birthday!

I can hardly believe that six months have gone by so quickly! Didn't we just move to Chicago with our one month old? Time has just flown by!

My little Bitsy girl is growing up -- something I already have mixed feelings about! I wish she could stay just like this for a few more months so I can fully enjoy her little six month old self. She loves sitting up, rolling over, babbling, "reading" crinkly books, giggling fits, splashing in the bath, gnawing on her fist. She loves looking at everything. New sights and sounds are so interesting to her and she can stay happily entertained in the stroller or Bjorn, simply observing the world around her. 

I love this sweet girl to the moon and back. Six months old! What a big girl!