Succulents

My orchid just lost all of her pretty blooms so I moved her into the sun room while I wait for the new leaf to grow and hope to have a new set of blooms in the fall/winter. I like having my large crock on the dining room server for now and thought I'd add some succulents, hopeful that they'll survive under my oh so deadly brown thumb. ;)

The above image from Terrain, mine below. 

I'm loving instagram by the way, as if you couldn't already tell, ha. ☺

I found this little mixture at Lowe's the other night and it fits perfectly inside of the crock. 

More inspiration from Terrain, they'll even deliver to your door!

I've read that succulents like a lot of direct sunlight and not much water. Any other tips for me? 

 IT'S FRIDAY~ YAHOO! Hubby comes home this afternoon after a long week in Europe for business. Check out these cool photos of the tulips in bloom from the AMS train to Rotterdam. So jealous I missed seeing it with my own eyes.

Hopefully this photo text from yesterday means that he's bringing me more of my favorite black tea from Fortnum and Mason in London.

Happy weekend everyone! 

xo~ 

Tricia

PS- Now that I've installed google chrome on my computer I'm not having any issues with blogger. In fact, I now have the option to make my photos x-large size without having to manually adjust, as I've been doing for the past 3 years.

BEST breakfast ever!

While we're on the topic of a healthy diet I have to share this with you. I just devoured a bowl of black rice porridge for breakfast and it was out of this world! I found the recipe on Coconut and Quinoa {cutest blog name!}.  If you're an oatmeal lover then this is something you should try. 

 I soaked the rice overnight, then boiled in water/almond milk/coconut milk for an hour this morning. Added some blue agave, coconut flakes and topped with fresh blueberries and strawberries for my breakfast.

Thanks to Amy for this yummy and oh so easy recipe!

Happy day all,

xo~
T

PS- is anyone else having a hard time with the updated blogger?  Pulling this teeny post together took me forever, ugh.

Eating right is a full time gig....

...for someone like me who isn't a foodie and doesn't really cook. I know we all find ourselves enslaved to our kitchens on a daily basis. After work it's a one-woman-3-ring-circus going on in my 11X11 kitchen! Unpacking the days lunches, preparing dinner, packing up tomorrow's lunches, cleaning up dinner then setting stuff out for breakfast. I've gotten our meals down to a science so it's actually a bit fun now to whip out ingredients for dinners and lunches and get to work.

Eating right takes time and a lot of effort. I'm still keeping up with the early am juicing, in fact I haven't missed a day since I got the beast (this post). I have grown to crave the smell and taste of my daily juice and I've had fun experimenting with different veggies. My favorite daily combo is still 1 beet root, 1 small gala apple, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1/4 cucumber, parsley, kale, and 1/3 parsnip. I'll throw a handful of spinach in and some ginger on occasion too.

Thanks to the power of pinterest, I've played around with a few new recipes and foods that were otherwise unknown to me (posts here and here). Janet's photo enticed me to pull the recipe for this cannellini bean and artichoke spread. I threw it together yesterday and it's so yummy!

My version on a slice of ezekiel toast with grape tomatoes for lunch.

I recently followed this recipe and sprouted buckwheat and quinoa seeds to make my own granola. I've been mixing it with my oatmeal or eating alone with Greek yogurt.  Mine got a little burned (pic below).

Source: mynewroots.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

I sit at a desk all day, 40 hours a week. If I don't have something healthy sitting within reach I'll eat candy bars and chips all day! I have to come to work prepared each and every day. Fruit, nuts, whole grain breads and healthy snacks.

My morning routine consists of; juice at 530am/ oatmeal (loaded with flax seeds, blueberries etc) at 830am/ kiwi and almonds for a snack around 1030am.

For lunch, I always bring a big salad, shredded lettuce and spinach greens with grape tomatoes, goat cheese, beets, 1/2 avocado and a teaspoon of grape seed oil as dressing. I rotate between bringing lentils, black beans, quinoa to mix into my salad but today I brought the cannellini bean spread with whole wheat pita chips.  Afternoon snack is typically an apple with a bit of almond butter.  I have a crazy sweet tooth so I keep a bar of Lindt 90% cocoa at my desk. One, dark and bitter square usually kills my sweets craving pretty easily.






































Dinners are mostly protein based in my house, grilled chicken or tilapia, lean ground beef tacos or a low sodium version of chicken tikki masala. Lunches for my daughter consist of plain pasta, strawberries, edamame, a Hawaiian bread roll, 2 oreos and organic chocolate milk.

So what's your strategy to eating healthy? Any tips or tricks on quick and healthy dinners for picky little eaters? The sites I linked to above offer such thorough information on the ingredients included in their recipes and everything that I've made thus far has been super easy!

Here's to a healthy new week all!
xo~
T

French preppy

Ooh la la, a new French design-inspired fashion partnership with JCrew and designer Joseph Altuzarra is on the horizon.

A piece from yesterday's article:

The seven-piece collection, available at jcrew.com starting on Thursday, includes sexy takes on mariner stripes as dresses and long-sleeve tops ($85 to $145 in cotton, $295 for a cashmere sweater); a classic gingham sundress ($228) or tie-front shirt ($175); and espadrilles in red or apricot versions ($345). It’s perhaps preppier than what you might expect from Mr. Altuzarra, based on his three-year-old label, but it’s certainly a French version of preppy. And, in a way, it’s a logical expression of the styles of both Mr. Altuzarra, who was raised in Paris, and J. Crew.

That little gingham dress is adorable and apricot espadrilles, mais oui! The line should be available at JCrew stores beginning tomorrow! See the full article here.

Love this cute picture of him.

Une journée fabuleuse mes amis!

xo~
Tricia

Jaw dropping house fix

I don't know about you but I need a gorgeous house fix post. There are so many amazing images out there on pinterest but I want to see the entire house, one that flows and oozes French~chic design. This is a new listing in the hood, designed by one of my all time favorites, Ginger Barber.

This is a real stunner with so much detail that you'll have to check out the full listing to read the details.

Enjoy the tour and try not to drool on your keyboards!

At first I wasn't sure if people really live in this house but after seeing the bedrooms it's more apparent.

So what do you think, good stuff?

I can't decide if I like the wide-plank reclaimed oak floors, or the wood ceiling beams, the 150 year old wood front door, the over sized kitchen island, the Italian marble sink in the downstairs powder bath, the fireplace on the master porch, the master spa retreat, the 18th century Provencal stone sink in the upstairs bath.

I could just live in the outdoor kitchen and laze around under the pergola all of my days and nights!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!!

xo~
Tricia

To see the full listing go here.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam~ a city filled with amazing architecture,
bicycles galore,

pancakes,


spires lurking in the distance,

large boats,

cathedrals,

beer,

canals,

ornate government buildings,

bridges,

more cathedrals,

more canals,

small boats,

clean streets,

locals soaking up the sunshine,

beer drinking party hounds,

uniform Dutch style,

open shutters, open minds,

small tourists enjoying themselves,

peaceful side streets,

colorful boats awaiting a grand voyage,

and finally, amazing historical sites.

You can see the Anne Frank House to the left and the line of visitors awaiting a tour on the right. I purchased tickets online several weeks before our trip so we simply went inside for our tour.

The main entrance to the house and looking up at the house. As you know, from the fourth story is a thin and steep stairwell taking you further up inside the house.

Photos from our journey from Bruges back to Amsterdam via Antwerp. The station here was lovely.

The second part of our stay in Amsterdam was cloudy and chilly. Remember how excited I was to stay in this hotel {post here}? Well we didn't love it at all. Our room was above a fast food restaurant that was open til 1:30am AND faced a busy street. The photo below shows the exterior and some of the public spaces within the hotel.

This is our room. After a few exchanges with the general manager after our stay I learned that our room wasn't one that was designed by a student. It was clean and comfortable but certainly no frills and the noise level from outside kind of ruined the whole evening here. Luckily it was just one night, but our last night which bummed me out.

A glimpse at some of the high end designer shops in Amsterdam.

A great shop where I bought the antique wooden bowl (this post).

We got to see what the large hooks at the tops of the buildings are used for. A pulley system to move things into the top floors of buildings. Very cool to see it in action, preferably from across the street. :)
Graffiti,

Monuments and the high end De B'Jenkorf department store in the distance.

The canal view on a dreary day~ still superb.

A fun dinner on our last evening.

Sunset in Amsterdam.

Locals making their way back to their homes after the work/school day.

Appreciative to experience a new place.

Thankful overall.

xo~

Tricia