design inspiration

we just got word that we can stay in our current apartment, so that means i finally get to start redecorating plans! i need all the small space inspiration i can get for this teensy tiny 'winged 1 bedroom'.

apartment therapy has a great 'small cool spaces' series, like this williamsburg apartment.

home sweet homes #1-3

we've been moving around quite a bit lately. all the long-term leases we've seen seem too small, too old, or too far. but in the meantime we've had some amazing temporary homes that we've been sad to leave every time!

#1: we started out in adorable brooklyn heights with this view:

#2: then we had a brief stint on the UWS with this lovely puppy:

#3: now we've moved to this beautiful upper east side apartment where we're hoping we can stay for awhile!

sketchy miami

daniel and i spent a lot of time in wynwood this weekend: at panther coffee, the wynwood art walk and food truck rally, and my personal favorite - sketchy party #2.

sketchy miami is the brainchild of the beached miami blog, and has only one goal: to create a sketch of every person in miami. get it? sketches? sketchy? yeah. as part of this effort they have hosted two fantastic sketchy parties, where people from across miami can come to eat, drink, and be sketchy.

sketchy party #2 took place this past friday at the bakehouse art complex, which is amazing on its own. there were nearly a thousand people and what seemed like hundreds of artists there of all ages and backgrounds to sketch the people of miami. one woman even stitched her sketches into fabric with a sewing machine that she casually had on-hand.

we followed up the sketchy party with a midnight showing of 'troll hunters' at the nearby o-cinema. troll hunters is amazing and exactly what it sounds like - a film about norwegians that hunt trolls. epic.

panther coffee

along with my half-hearted attempt to eat healthier (these were my downfall), i also fully intended to kick my coffee habit this summer. this was made infinitely harder by the opening of panther coffee, a new cafe and specialty roaster in the wynwood arts district.

you can watch the beans being roasted right next to the counter, and the coffee is amazing. it's so hard to say no to an afternoon iced coffee when it's this good!

espresso blondies

i told myself i would eat healthier after tuesday's insanely indulgent food truck invasion. obviously that is not happening. last night we whipped up some chocolate chip and espresso blondies that were amazing. we adapted the recipe from smitten kitchen, which always gives me great results.

we made two batches - one chocolate chip, and one chocolate chip espresso which just requires a simple addition. here's how to make both.

{what you need}
1 stick of melted butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
for the espresso variety, add 1 tablespoon espresso powder (we used 2 tablespoons and they turned out very strong)
{what to do}
mix melted butter and brown sugar
beat in egg
add vanilla (and espresso powder if you like)
stir in salt, flour, and chocolate chips
pour into an 8x8 pan or muffin tins
bake at 350 for 20 minutes, and let cool
note: the espresso powder can absorb a lot of liquid, so if your batter is a little thick or dry add some milk until it is smooth and creamy

{batter should be smooth and creamy}

{we used muffin tins to make cute single servings}

{delicious}

food truck invasion

every tuesday night miami has a huge food truck invasion at tropical park. there's music, tables, chairs, and lots of food (about 25-30 trucks). we went last night and may have ordered wayyy too much food but it was so delicious.

{the view at tropical park}

{waiting for alcapurrias from rincon del coqui}

{amazing short rib cheesy spicy tater tots from dim ssam a gogo}

{crowd at sugar rush}

{deep fried oreos and chocolate oreo shake from sugar rush}

"a place for your rice, your cornflakes, your noodles"

searching for small space inspiration for our soon-to-be apartment, we came across this hilarious video of a man in a 258 square foot apartment. the apartment is actually amazing (it's modeled after a boat) with hidden kitchens and beds and tables and closets. it gave us some good inspiration for how to maximize our space, but more importantly, it is oddly endearing and gave us a lot of laughs. we may or may not have watched it twice in a row the other day.