Thanksgiving 2011

This was an epic Thanksgiving for me. Every year, since the beginning of time (or since the 1960s, when my mom moved to NYC), she has celebrated Thanksgiving with a long-time friend (and later, her family, which has always felt like an extension of my family). This year, our family friends had the opportunity to travel abroad over the holiday, so the tradition was put on hold. With that, my parents flew down to Austin for the long weekend. At first, I was planning to make reservations to go out. Oliver's and my jobs have been uber busy and the thought of spending hours in the kitchen over what was sure to be a lovely weekend didn't sound appealing. Then I remembered that I actually like cooking, and I especially love baking. It dawned on me that Thanksgiving for a small group could be less "maniacal party planning" and more "dinner for four;" simple, casual, relaxed and, most importantly, FUN. Let the planning begin!

Some favorite dishes came from Smitten Kitchen:
• Appetizer: Creamed Mushrooms with Chive Butter Toast
• Side: Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Goat Cheese

After spending the morning and afternoon with Oliver and my parents, hanging out and strolling around our neighborhood (it was 75º and sunny!), I got to cooking. Can you believe I was too wrapped up in cooking and enjoying myself to remember to take pictures of each dish? Thankfully, I'm not a food blogger because I would have failed, friends. I didn't even get a good shot of the Thanksgiving table, even though I wrote a Houzz article on eclectic holiday table settings earlier that week, and took some of my own advice! Here are a couple of detail shots:

I am pretty proud of this bouquet. It was fresh and bright, just like the day!


I just wanted to show off the cute little owl napkin rings I snagged in Mineola a while back. 

I did, however, snap some shots of dessert (you know, the most important food group): Mini pumpkin pies with fresh whipped cream!


They tasted delish after brunch and leftovers over the next few days, too!
You like those green rope-themed napkins? My mom made them years ago – aren't they great? 


The rest of the weekend was spent exploring Austin. We hit the Blanton Museum of Art, roamed around the UT campus, checked out the first-ever Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market in Austin as well as the City-Wide Garage Sale, drove to Wimberley for wine tasting, where we picked up a cute bar cart for pennies (post forthcoming), had happy hour at Hotel San Jose and popped into the shops along South Congress, and ingested way too many good dinners and brunches. I hope you all had wonderful dinners with friends and/or family – whomever makes you feel loved and thankful!

Happy Birthday, Husband!

Ok, I have a lot to catch you guys up on, and who KNOWS how long it'll take me to do that, so let's just start with the most recent stuff: this weekend! Sunday was Oliver's birthday, so we decided to put aside most work-related things we knew we should do, and just enjoyed the weekend for the most part. As usual, we were exhausted on Friday night (these 60 hour work weeks make us tired!) so I don't have much to report there, but on Saturday we made a delectable brunch that included a special treat for Oliver: raisin scones and clotted cream (we are privy to The Devon Cream Company's English Clotted Cream). If you haven't slathered a scone with clotted cream and jam, you're missing out. I was introduced to it when I lived in England, and Oliver fell in love when we celebrated mother's day at Lady Mendl's Tea Salon a few years ago. Go have some; one little ounce will fulfill your daily requirement of saturated fat, so you don't have to worry about that! Whew!

Back in December, Oliver's parents gave us some old birdfeeders they weren't using any more and Oliver has been looking forward to refinishing or painting them ever since. This was the weekend! He decided to spruce up the yard with a bright red paint while I sat around in my bikini taking photos.

The birdcages:


Oliver does a light scuffing with sand paper blocks:


After laying out a plastic garbage bag, he got to spraying:


After letting them dry for about thirty minutes, he flipped them and painted the other sides:


We let them dry outside overnight, then filled them up with birdseed this morning before hanging them up:



After another yummy home-made brunch, we made our first visit to the Barton Springs Pool, a three-acre spring-fed pool in Zilker Park, framed by century-old pecan trees. A destination for Austinites and tourists alike, we decided we had to see for ourselves what the hubbub was about. We loved it! The water is clear and COLD (68 degrees year-round), which makes it incredibly refreshing, especially for 100-degree days like we've been having (which, by the way, we are LOVING. For real!). We set up camp near the diving board and watched some pretty impressive moves on breaks from our own dips into the water. We didn't take our own photos, but you can get a feel for it's inherent beauty from these photos:



Not bad, eh? After a couple of hours of sun, we headed home to get ready for a celebratory dinner at Austin's finest (and rare nationally recognized) restaurant, Uchi. We samples all kinds of delectable plates and were thoughtfully treated to a creative dessert in honor of Oliver's birthday. Here we are, feeling very satiated after dinner:

There's the birthday boy looking debonair in his no-socks-with-dress-shoes get up – very sartorialist – with newly-minted birdfeeder in the foreground:

The deck isn't looking all that debonair, but what can you do? We have a deck and that's good enough for us!

Thus ends one of our most luxurious and enjoyable weekends of late!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream

Happy Mother's Day!

Before we moved to Austin, Oliver helped my mom digitize and archive wonderful old family photos. He spent entire days looking at pictures of me when I was a kid and came home every time saying that it looked like I had the most amazing happy childhood because I have huge, open-mouthed grins in every picture. 

Please excuse the food remnants on my face; I was a ferocious snacker

Gee, I wonder where I get that trait from: 

All joking aside, Oliver was right; I had a great childhood, and I can attribute it to my mom (my dad, too, but this is my mom's day, plus she carried me around for nine months, so she deserves a giant dose of extra credit). My mom is smart, creative, upbeat, patient, brave and is always up for an adventure. I forever tease her for seeing the glass half-full and looking at life through rose-colored glasses (an attitude I most certainly did not inherit, sadly). She has an innate sense of style, which is visible in her clothing and interiors – this is an apartment she decorated, how awesome does it (and she) look?!?! I hope this is a trait I did inherit.

I really hope she doesn't kill me for putting this up, but it's hot, she's hot, and I couldn't resist:


I'm lucky to have such an amazing mom in my life, and I hope she knows how much I love her. I'm also lucky, because we kind of look alike:

Left: My mom; Right: Me 
I'm especially fortunate because I happen to have snagged myself a fantastic mother-in-law, as well – I'm surrounded by amazing women!! Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there! I hope you have a relaxing, refreshing day that's all about YOU. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Design by Sarah Coleman

Holidays seem to make us all hungry for sweet treats, don't they? Well, feast your eyes on these delicious images this Valentine's Day.





Images and yumminess by Bakerella


Luxury Love Cake by Sweetapolita

With or without a significant other, we can all enjoy red, pink or gold snacks. Have a great one! xoxo

Welcome, 2011!

We rang in the new year Texas-style, with fireworks in the road!


This one just shot off in whichever direction it saw fit!



Wishing everyone a happy new year! I hope 2010 went out with a bang and that 2011 is looking bright. I'm looking forward to what this year has in store! Thank you to all of our readers for your comments here and on Facebook – I love hearing what you have to say, so keep 'em coming as we share the makings of a new life in a new year!

Thank you, also, to our wonderful clients, friends who became clients, and friends who are simply friends (or parents of friends, who we're getting to know via the blog) – you are all amazing people and we are lucky to have you in our lives. Our families have been unending sources of support and generosity for us, and we hope to make them proud in 2011! Oliver and I have battled yet another year together, making us stronger and more cohesive as a couple and as a design team. More to come!


The grande finale

Merry Christmas!

Via Elements of Style

Good morning! I can't believe 2010 is almost over and Christmas is tomorrow. This has been quite a year and I suspect 2011 has lots of exciting stuff in store. Thank you to everyone for keeping up with us and reading The Studiolo!

Chances are your holiday decorating is complete, but for those of you still pulling together last-minute gatherings and decor, enjoy this Christmas imagery.

Photo courtesy Domino

Great holiday party setup:

Source unknown

I can always count on Bakerella to come up with fun holiday designs for baked goods:


Holiday ornament cards by Baker, letterpressed by Studio on Fire.


Last year's cards are worth looking at, too:

Ornament holiday greeting card by Dingbat Press

Got a party to go to, but no gift to bring? Jonathan Adler could save you with these animal and banana ornaments:

Loving the color-coordintated interior, ornaments and gifts:

Photo courtesy Domino

Photo courtesy Homes and Gardens


Via Country Living

These are great ideas if you don't have much space, but want to have some big Christmas cheer in your home:

Via Martha Stewart


Source unknown


Photo courtesy Country Living


Source unknown


Via Design Sponge

Some fun tree/ornament alternatives:

Papered resin deer by Ruby's Lounge


Custom Christmas wall decor by ATLITW



Source unknown


Photo courtesy Domino, via Apartment Therapy

If you don't have a yard to create a Christmas scene, just bring it on inside!

Photo courtesy Domino

Merry Christmas to everyone!