Kale Caesar
All hail Caesar. Or rather, all kale Caesar. Last month, I met my friend, Jennifer (who, by the way, broke this story for People), for lunch at Richard Blais’s newish spot, the Spence. While there, we spilt a burger and a kale Caesar salad with chicken. We both were blown away by this salad. I’m a Kale lover, but had never had it replacing traditional romaine in a Caesar salad.
I’ve always just stuck to steaming or making some sort of Asian-style salad with the leafy green (ginger, sunflower seeds, rice vinegar, oil) and that’s served me pretty well.
I tried to recreate the Spence salad for dinner to a great weeknight meal success. Just a mound of kale, prepared dressing (I know, I’m lazy, but I like Newman’s Own), grilled chicken that’s been seasoned with a healthy dose of salt and pepper, I threw on carrots because they were taking up space in the veggie bin, and gave a good squeeze of lemon from one that was just about a day away from walking itself to the trashcan.
All hail Caesar.
The Pop Five
Here are the top five things I’ve adored about this past week.
Danapop got a new look and a new headquarters! My office has officially moved (same address, different room). The custom built-in desk was installed and it includes this gorgeous marble top I get to write on everyday. Also, I’m obsessed with the new wall color – Benjamin Moore ice cap … it’s the prettiest hue of gray/pale blue.
I love driving past this image on Dekalb Avenue in Atlanta. It’s part of the Living Walls 2012 exhibit. The co-founder and executive director of the Living Walls project, Monica Campana, is speaking at this year’s TedXAtlanta on September 26.
I’m bouncing off the walls … my baby shower is this weekend (making all the changes in our life feel very real). Gifts are arriving daily and it’s taken everything in me resist registering for these adorable and totally impractical shoes. Want vs. need. Sigh.
We’ve got appetizers covered for the next year with my Grammy’s pepper jelly that I whipped up recently. Just serve over goat cheese on a pretty platter with crackers and call it a day.
I stumbled across this ingenious beverage company, Stacked Wines. The wine is already in the glass! Perfect for Shakespeare in the park, outdoor concerts, and evenings spent on the deck. Cannot wait until I’m able to partake.
Birthing Rider
Several years ago, when our good friends had their daughter, they had the genius idea to put together a hospital rider. Unlike the official birth plan, which spells out everything from a medical perspective, this is more like the celebrity dossier where you request everything from a specific cocktail post-watermelon pushing, to the best sashimi within a 10-mile radius of the hospital.
The above is a photo collage of mine, which I think is really basic. Candles, flowers (aromatherapy and something to focus on during the laboring part), comfortable pajamas, a soft blanket, salmon for lox that I’ve been craving, a bit of bubbly, and a great playlist (mood music for bringing this wee one into the world).
I’m sure at some point I’ll be screaming in a Chris Farley voice to, “Lay off me I’m starving!” but I’ve avoided putting a wheel of really stinky soft cheese that I can’t pronounce on here. Even though the chances of that request popping up while still donning a hospital gown are quite high.
On a similar note, this piece from McSweeney’s is a hilarious must-read and hits very close to home.
1. lorient long pajama set in azalea starfish, Marigot Collection 2. Nova salmon, Zabar’s 3. winter bianco floral arrangement, Olive & Cocoa 4. Blanc de Blancs wine, Sofia 5. soy candle in rosemary sage, Paddywax 6. TPS portable stereo speaker system, Nixon 7. chenille throw, Restoration Hardware
Let’s Roll
I sometimes miss this life. The newsroom life I left in 2005.
Fact: Veteran newsman Aaron Brown was slated to start a show to premiere January 2002 called, NewsNight with Aaron Brown. Show staff were in the process of being hired (including me) on September 11, 2001. That day, instead, became Aaron Brown’s first day on the job in which, according to NPR, he would report the news for 17 hours straight. I have no idea if that’s accurate, since I, among hundreds of my colleagues were running around like chickens with our heads cut off just trying to keep up and make sense of the story unfolding on the video feeds around us. Working in the CNN newsroom on September 11, and the days, weeks, and months that followed, was incredibly difficult—the raw footage and images coming into the network haunt me to this day.
My time on the NewsNight staff, which began January 2002, included some of the best work I’ve ever done in my career. I don’t miss it enough to go back. But, damn if this show and this show don’t make me a bit nostalgic for those days, and days like today certainly bring it all back.
An aside, the Maggie character on The Newsroom is completely ridiculous. Everything is state of the union with this girl. That’s what I call conversations that should realistically be about a sentence and end up being five hours long. The only thing that’s marginally believable in this show is that every single one of their personal lives gets interrupted with breaking news. My friend, Michel (who is in the news biz) said it best with a retweet from a Reuters editor, “I look forward to the episode of The Newsroom where they spend 3 hours doing expense reports.” Me too, my friend, because that’s the reality.
To me, September 11 always seems like a day of reflection. What was lost, how our lives have changed since, and where we’re headed. But, usually, in all honesty, ever since September 11, 2001, I don’t turn on the television.
Image: Courtesy of CNN/Turner Broadcasting
Controlled Chaos
Today is a new beginning of sorts. A fresh look to danapop. To mark the occasion, I cannot think of a better first post than to share all the hard work that’s been going on behind the scenes of my house.
This is what my house looked just a few days ago. Yes, that’s a mattress and box spring and bed frame in the eat-in-kitchen. And the desk in the middle of what’s becoming the nursery? Oh that’s just the home office for now. My favorite piece of furniture, my grandmother’s chair was blocking our front door until it recently headed to get reupholstered. In other words, don’t even try to come over to our house right now. We likely won’t answer. (Unless you’re here to pick up the mattress.)
We live in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom 1941 bungalow, which I’ve touched upon before. So, when we discovered we were pregnant, of course space came to the top of our minds. Our house is just fine with a baby. And in fact, the thought of putting our house on the market and everything that goes with that is so overwhelming to me with all the other changes, I don’t think I could’ve gone that route without having some sort of nervous breakdown.
My good friend Heather Hogan Roberts of HHR Interiors (and also principal of Ivy and Vine) envisioned the home office and nursery concepts, which we couldn’t be more thrilled about. While progress is being made, all it is too premature to post. Plus, it’s frustrating to me sometimes when all you get on websites are before and after shots like there wasn’t this whole window of time when your house looked a bit chaotic in the middle of the renovation. Because real life is an office in the middle of a room, a box spring in the kitchen, and doors that are all missing their knobs. Here’s to the hope that the “after” is all worth it, and in our case, the “during” is already looking great.
Bittersweet
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks packing up my office. It’s a mix of happy and sad at the same time. All of it. My office now moves to our shared dining room and kitchen area, and what has up until now been a combination guest bedroom and home office now becomes our daughter’s nursery.
I’m sifting through expired writing contracts and styleguides for companies I no longer write for, including an old “admin cheat sheet” from DailyCandy and MSN Postbox’s explanation of hybrid media. In place of that pile is now printed copies of birthing plans, parents morning out applications in lieu of daycare, scraps of paper jotted with custom cabinet measurements, and a stack of pendant lighting images.
It is important to me for our daughter to have her own space. A calm, quiet area of the house that is all hers. It is equally important for me to have the same for myself. I still want to feel like my career matters in-between the feedings and diaper changes and the monotony that motherhood brings (coupled with the giggles and wonderment). That said, I also want to be realistic with my clients and myself that my life as I’ve come to recognize it is all about to change. For the better, I’m sure of it, but in the process that means saying goodbye to a lot in order to create space for this new life.
Come next week, you’ll see the first tangible change I’ve created. Danapop is getting a shift in both design aesthetic and editorial focus. I’ll be posting more often in a simplified space and in a way, I hope, that is still as enjoyable for you to read as it is for me to write.
I’m thrilled for the possibility of what is yet to come.
Walking with Reindeer
For four years photographer Erika Larsen immersed herself in a project about the Sámi, the semi-nomadic reindeer hunters living on ancestral ground between Sweden and Norway.
Her beautifully quiet and poignant collection of images capturing the indigenous daily life of the Sámi is about to be released in book form. I was fortunate enough to interview this talented shutterbug about the Sámi way of life, her book, and the duality of beauty in the wild.
Single? Change.
No, not change your personality, but your outfit. According to comedian and writer Mindy Kaling’s fun read, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? every male writer she’s worked with puts their female characters in dark wash jeans and a button down. It’s the girl-next-door fantasy outfit. The ensemble is approachable, but apparently still has a hint of sex appeal (just make sure the shirt is tapered for a fitted look).
After I read the book I started noticing the trend on television shows. Practically every sitcom character from Modern Family (Claire, not Gloria), to syndicated Friends episodes with Monica rocking some version of this, to Liz Lemon’s dowdy version on 30 Rock, wears the common thread of jeans, a plaid button down, and classic jewelry. Who knew it was the guys dream attire for their future girlfriend?
Though, as simple as this outfit is, it’s sometimes just as fun (maybe even more so) to hear what clothing guys hate courtesy of manrepeller.com.
1. Longsleeve Check Shirt, Topshop 2. Classic Caroline Studs, Swell Caroline 3. Camden Watch, Nixon 4. Denim Skinny in Heritage, Shop Sosie
Love, Unspoken
I have very fond memories of my father, but none more sweet than the way he’d hold my hand. Whenever we’d hold hands to cross the street as a child, he’d give three short squeezes. I. Love. You. That gesture has stuck with me through adulthood.
My sister-in-law has a similar gesture she does with my niece. She’ll point to her eye, then her heart, followed by a quick point to her daughter. I. Love. You.
My husband and I have sort of our own communication when it comes to saying, “I love you” without saying one word. We spent years as a couple on very different work schedules. He’d be getting up to head to the office at a normal hour of 8 or 9 a.m. and I’d still be dead to the world, since I wouldn’t come home until about 11:30 or almost midnight the night prior. In the morning, he’d rouse me with a brief kiss on my forehead. Instead of even responding, I’d put my hand across my heart and open it up to him after, as if to say, “You have my heart, today (and always).” If we travel separately, we always do this before getting on a flight. And I’ve done it several times while doped up heading into surgery. It’s our own language, in which you don’t say one word, but say so much.
And right now, with this baby in my belly, we already have an unspoken love language. Lately, our favorite activity is for me to laugh and then for her to kick, which ultimately makes me laugh more and her kick more. We could do this game all day long. I’d like to think it’s our own endearing language of letting the other know we’re around.
Do you have an unspoken way to tell someone “I love you?”
Image: Courtesy of the most gorgeous website that I cannot read a single word, coolandbello.co.il
Where We Belong
In an endless sea of chick-lit authors, Emily Giffin manages to float to the top. Her incredibly well crafted characters are laced with very human elements like being flawed or making less-than-favorable decisions, paired with Giffin’s solid storytelling. All of this ultimately puts her as one of the most likeable and talented literary voices around.
I got a chance to interview Ms. Giffin just before an event in Atlanta where we chatted about her latest novel, role models, the publishing industry, and date nights.
