Moving to DC! Can I start a garden yet?

Dear Faithful Readers,

Suits and Aprons is moving to DC! Well, first, I will go back to California for a few months to study for the bar in the comfort of my parents’ home. Then I will be moving to DC to start my first job as a real attorney!

What does this mean for this blog? Well, it means that I will be decorating a new apartment in DC come August, and in the meantime, I will be sharing some decor ideas that I cannot wait to try. You may recall that I am slightly obsessed with super dark bedroom walls.

Another thing I REALLY want to get into: indoor gardening. I am also hoping we might have a balcony and next summer/spring I might try my hand at growing some edible things like tomatos.

Since I do not have a green thump (yet. I am going to try to learn). I will start off this indoor gardening with the usual suspects: bamboo, succulents, and cacti. They are less finicky than some other house plants.

I already have a bamboo plant that I have kept alive for three years (knock wood!). I might add another to the mix. The one I currently have is almost three feet tall, but it’s still a table plant. I would love to try to grow something more substantial (since I am worried I will kill a tree if I splurge to buy one). I am digging the long planter and height of this bamboo situation:

I really really want a fiddle leaf fig, but like I said, I am scared I will kill it. We’ll see. Maybe once I see how I do with smaller hardier succulents. Inspiration photo for the fiddle leaf fig, unsurprisingly from Emily Henderson (actually, now I am not certain that this is a fiddle leaf dig. Either way, it’s great):

Emily Henderson – Will you please be my friend? I love EVERYTHING about this room, but for this post, feast your eyes on that glorious tree! And take a close peak at that coffee table too, while you are at it. Are you freakin’ kidding me!?

I might invest in a dwarf meyer lemon tree before too long, because 1. They are cute. 2. They are affordable (relatively). 3. I love fresh lemons. 4. They smell really good and will make your apartment smell great. Plus, I just found this apartment therapy tutorial on growing a dwarf lemon tree indoors.

And while it’s not like there aren’t a MILLION pictures of cacti and succulents all over the interwebz and pinterest right now, here are a few of my favorites:

The colors in this one from A Beautiful Mess are stunning and that planter is incredible:

This HUGE cactus from Hommemaker. If you aren’t reading Orlando’s blog, you should. Not only is he funny and self-depricately self-obsessed (in a totally endearing way), he has a giant cactus, and he’s best friends with Emily Henderson, who I adore.

Also, this TEENY tiny clay pot (made from sculpey) with this teeny tiny succulent. I would put them in many random places (and hopefully wouldn’t forget about them resulting in their untimely demise).

So tiny.

And of course, I will try to plant a little indoor herb garden, since I love to cook. I am thinking: rosemary, dill, sage, thyme, basil? But we will see, since I think I should maybe start small and see how that goes. But if I only plant one herb, then I will use that one herb in all my meals. And then my boyfriend will be like, “Rachel, why does everything taste like dill these days?” And I will lie, “Oh, no reason.”

Anyway, I must return to studying or I won’t graduate, and then I cannot sit for the bar (maybe?), and then I won’t move to DC, and won’t get to have any plants at all. AHHH!

LOVE!

Rachel

Farro (or Quinoa), Feta & Grape Salad

BLOG FAIL! I haven’t posted in three months. I am back at law school for final semester, and that’s been pretty time consuming. I have done a fair amount of cooking, arts and crafts, but I haven’t had the time or energy to post.

I wrote the blog post below shortly after spring break (2 months ago) but never uploaded the pictures to post it until now. I am not going to edit it for time content, because (1) I am lazy; (2) I am in the middle of finals; and (3) my rant about winter still stands. It’s now sorta spring in NYC, though it should almost be summer and the seasons are taking their own sweet time rolling in. In other news, Punxsatawney Phil might start looking for another job.

Original post follows:

This winter is DRAGGING. I mean, I thought Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow and winter is supposed to be over already?

Because I get so sick of winter, I start pretending it’s spring. Doing things like wearing sandals even though it’s really too cold for them. I do it to spite nature, but in reality, I just get cold feet. Whatever. It’s my own personal form of protest against winter. It may or may not be very effective. Take that, WINTER!

One thing that I find is great for spiting winter without giving me frostbite is making yummy food that reminds me of warmer climes. This farro (or quinoa), feta and grape salad does just that. It’s got a great mix of textures. It’s a slightly warm salad, so it deals well with the winter chill, while being reminiscent of a warm weather meal that could be eaten on a porch or at a picnic table.  Plus, it makes great leftovers. Oh, and it’s super healthy. And really easy make. So basically, it’s freaking awesome.

Cook according to package instructions:

• 1 & 1/2 cups farro (or quinoa)

Meanwhile, saute in olive oil:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks of diced celery

After about 5 minutes, add:

• 1/4 cup craisins or yellow raisins. Continue cooking the onion mixture until its tender (maybe another 10 minutes).

Dice (but do not cook):

• 1 yellow or red bell pepper
• 2 cups red seedless grapes (I just cut these in half, do not dice)

When farro (or quinoa) is done cooking, mix in the onion/celery mixture. Let cool for a little bit.

Then add:

• 1/2 cup or so crumbled feta cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Chopped pepper
• Grapes

At this point, you can season with salt and pepper. Do not start salting the salad before you add the feta. The feta is pretty salty, so you may only need to add a little additional salt (or none at all).

While salad is still warm, serve over big bed of spinach. This recipe makes many servings (at least four or five, and then some leftovers – that’s how I roll).

If you want, you can switch out the raisins/craisins for fresh pomegranate seeds. Or, if you felt like really going for it, you could use BOTH the craisins/raisins AND pomegranate seeds! What?!?!

Ooooh oooohh! If you have access to fresh mint, some fresh mint in this salad would be awesome. Man! Why didn’t I think of that before I ate the last of these leftovers. Oh well. Next time.

Eat outside, even if it’s only 50 degrees, and pretend it’s summer.

Love,

Very Cold Rachel

PS. The sun was shining when I took these pics because I was in San Diego. It was not nearly so lovely in NYC.

Painter’s Crush: Cy Twombly

One of the problems of being in law school (aside from being in law school) is that I don’t have nearly as much time for crafting, painting, thrifting, cooking – basically all the things that I really love – as I used to. BUT I can spend a few minutes here and there looking at things online that I love. And then, I can present them you, my faithful readers, like I am some clever designer or museum curator. Then, you, my faiththful readers, can say things like, “Wow, Rachel over at Suits and Aprons really has great taste in (insert crafty/arty noun here)! Man, I wish I could have her over for a dinner party and we could discuss (insert same crafty/arty noun here). Then maybe we could go to Karaoke and Rachel would sing something awesome and we would be BFFs!”

All part of my master plan to Karaoke with my readers all over this great nation.

Anyway, I was surfing the interwebz when I discovered the incredible paintings of Cy Twombly. Wow! His stuff is incredible. (Click on any image to see it bigger.)

I mean, would you look at those colors? And how fast and loose Cy goes with the paint? All of these photos are from this website - which has a huge gallery of his work. Worth checking out. Not all of his work is as colorful as the ones I selected, but I liked those ones so much. Since I obviously love bright colors – no surprise there, faithful readers. I think that if I died and was reincarnated, I would like to come back as a macaw or a flamingo, or maybe a peacock (a male) because I want to be as bright and shiny as possible. Oooh – or an octopus: did you know octopuses can change color and texture? I would fit in anywhere!

Hope you like Cy Twombly. I am really digging his stuff right now.

Bright and shiny love,

Rachel

Giraffe Painting

After rediscovering my love of painting, I sat down to paint a second time. I, apparently, am very into painting jungle/safari animals at the moment. Or just large mammals. Time will tell what the category of animals really is as I paint more.

One of my dear friends once commented on how I have a strange obsession with painting all of my furniture blue. As I post more photos she will comment on how I have a strange obsession painting XXXX-type animals. I’ll let you know.

As usual, my photography  is mediocre. But, this painting, I assure you, is pretty adorable. It’s about 10″ by 12″ on canvas board in acrylic. Right now I am not into painting the backgrounds – I really dig blank canvas these days. I attribute it to my love of Matisse.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Giraffe as must as I do.

Love,

Rachel

 

New Obsession: Bedrooms with Dark Walls

If you repeat this, I will deny it… but I have spent countless hours (maybe seven or eight, maybe more) googling and pinteresting for bedrooms with dark, sultry walls. Navy, charcoal, black, inky deep walls. So incredible. A few of my favorites are below. For more, and believe me, there are more, feel free to check out my pinterest board of dark walls.

I don’t know when I will get to decorate another bedroom… since I don’t know where I will be living come August. Or for how long. Or you know…

But a girl can dream.

Here are a few things that I learned about dark walls (like, when I think they work and when I think they don’t):

1. Dark walls must be paired with lots of white. White bedding, white trim, white curtains. Maybe a flokati rug or two.

This vignette is great. Deep blue walls, white bedding, turquoise night stand with gold accents.

2. I don’t like them super shiny or enameled. I get the idea, but I don’t like walls to be reflective. I don’t know if it should be matte, eggshell or satin yet (does anyone have guesses on this front?).

3. They need LOTS of cool art. Preferably BIG art, or at least a gallery wall. Frames should be white or gold, with large white mats. I don’t like dark walls that are left too blank. It freaks me out or something.

The walls are a little shiny for my taste, but the gallery is awesome!

4. Dark walls look awesome with gold shelving units.

I see those shelves even when I close my eyes. Oh yeah, and can we talk about this rug? And those camel leather chairs? And this lucite table? I mean, can we just talk?

5. Dark walls are a neutral – so they can be paired with almost any other colors. Some of favorites with dark walls are turquoise, coral/tomato red, chartreuse.

More lucite and turquoise. This time, add some yellow and reds.

6. Natural wood looks great with dark walls too.

The art on the right needs to be bigger, or there needs to be more of it. But this table is to die for. And the rug is good.

I cannot wait to get a bedroom that I can paint. It’s going to be glorious.

Love,

Rachel

PS. The original links to the pictures are contained on my pinterest board.

Spicy Shrimp and Mushroom Soup

I wish I had a bowl right now.

It’s soup weather!

Inspired by this lovely soup that I saw on a Beautiful Mess, I wanted to make a spicy shrimp soup. I didn’t have the pineapple from that recipe, so I improvised. It’s super yummy, and healthy, and satisfying after a run on a cold winter’s day.

Warm and spicy and healthy, too!

You will need:

1/2 yellow pepper

1/2 orange pepper

2 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 pound deveined, de-tailed shrimp

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms

4 roughly chopped gloves of garlic

1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce (I always start small and slowly add more so I don’t hurt myself)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 very thinly sliced carrot

3 cups vegetable or chicken broth (low sodium)

Salt to taste

Spicy shrimp soup with rice.

 

1. Sauted peppers, carrots and mushrooms in 1 tablespoon coconut oil in saute pan until a little browned, but still the peppers are still crisp. Transfer to soup pot.

2. In same saute pan, saute the shrimp with the garlic until lightly browned. Add to soup pot.

3. Add the broth, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, other tablespoon of coconut oil, sriracha, soy sauce. Play with the salt, soy sauce and sriracha to taste. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, until heated through.

4. Serve over small bed of brown basmati rice.

5. Enjoy!

Makes 3 lady-servings, probably 2 man-servings.

Love,

Rachel

PS. Not to be super preachy, but I generally try not to eat shrimp, because shrimp farming is incredibly bad for the environment (as in after a year or two of shrimp farming, the mangroves where the farm is barely sustain any more life). Trader Joe’s now sells wild caught Argentinian shrimp, which costs a little more money. It is a much better alternative to farmed shrimp. For more details on sustainable seafood and what is the best to eat, check out this website.

Gold Leaf Lamp (How to Gold Leaf Awesome)

I have been wanting to gold leaf something for a while. It just always seemed so awesome.

I really love the idea of mixing gold leaf with matte finishes.

This old lamp was FREE because some guy was just cleaning out his garage. I thought it was a garage sale, so I made my boyfriend pull over (he LOVES it when I do that).

This is what the free lamp looked like.

First, I sprayed it yellow. I always meant to change the lampshade, but never got around to it.

That is, until I decide to gold leaf this thing! Then, I went to Walmart and got this lamp shade for just $13.

This is the lamp after I first sprayed it yellow. Ugly lamp shade, but it was free… so yeah…

I bought the gold leaf kit for around $10 on Amazon. It includes the gold leaf, the adhesive, and also the sealer.

First, I sprayed the lamp a matte white (after taping off the cord and the electrical socket). I love the look of matte finishes with metallics. The contrast is great.

Second, I taped off the stripes that I wanted. I used two different widths of painter’s tape (which is why some stripes are beige and some stripes are blue).

Use tape to mark off the parts you don’t want painted.

Then, I applied the adhesive lightly with a sponge applicator. Let it dry for about 15 minutes, and start applying the gold leaf. If you miss any spots, it’s OK. You can come back and fill it in by adding more adhesive and more gold leaf.  You basically just put the gold leaf directly on the adhesive and rub it with a brush or your finger to make sure it’s stuck down well.

The lines aren’t perfect, but that’s OK.

Finished! The light in the photo isn’t great, but the lamp came out awesome.

The stripes are not perfect. Gold leaf is not really a tidy adventure, but from a far, you cannot really see the less-than-perfect parts.

The gold leaf instructions say that you should seal it, but I figure the lamp won’t get man-handled too much, so I skipped that step. If I was doing something that would get more touching, I would definitely seal it.

I love how it all turned out. It only cost me a lamp shade and a gold leaf kit (I have most of the kit left too, so I am like Midas – constantly looking for more things to turn gold).

Gold stripes and matte white finish.

What else can I gold leaf?

What do you think? Do you guys freaking love gold as much as this girl?

Golden love,

Rachel