Friday Love

(via me)

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My parents were sorta kinda hipsters.

:0

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My attempt at wedding cake flavored cake pops.

I am no Bakerella, folks.

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And because I am not a mother (yet) and everyone else in the world is, 

I thought I would show you pictures of me as a little bebe.

;)

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And because it is the day of the Royal Wedding, 

here I am dancing the night away on my own wedding day.

And I guess that is what I am loving this week.

Mostly myself, it seems.

HAH!

embrace your randomness

Happy Thursday, folks. 

For those of us that work M-F, the weekend is quickly upon us

and I am one that LIVES for it.

Tuesday night, I attended the French Culinary Institute's "Meet & Greet".

They had wine and hors d'oeuvres and not just any d'oeuvres, ones that were freshly made from the kitchen with the view.

Yup, we got to see the Culinary Students making them!

I met about 5 women that will be in my class but there are plenty more to meet.

Our class will consist of 22 peeps.

I learned a lot speaking to the folks in Admissions and to a few of the Chefs.

It is not gonna be easy, that is for sure but I am ready!

BRING IT ON!

Orientation is  May 10th!

It seems forever away but obviously it's not!

I cannot wait to make me some PASTRIES!

via lucile's kitchen

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And now it is time to . . . 

via pinterest

{sometimes kids are really bright}

via late afternoon

{i am in love with long skirts and this outfit}

via pretty little things

{i will make this one day}

via rules for flirting

{i think i want and need to be a day of the dead skeleton for Halloween. 
aren't they gorgeous?}




Are you embracing the random?

Festin' & and Winner

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicks off Friday and we are some sad not to be down there this year.

Storyville's newest design, "Festin"

{Available Magazine Street Shop -- NOLA Fairgrounds}

♥

I cannot believe it was only a year ago that we were down there enjoying the music, our friends, the food and of course, seeing my family.

I got to spend time with Daddy while he was doing a chemotherapy session.

He had just found out about the cancer and was very optimistic.

You can see for yourself below.

Always with me.

Muah.

Are there any festivals/concerts/shows that you look forward to each year???

If so, tell me where and what they are!

xo,

Summer Athena.

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PS -- the WINNER of the eyeglasses and/or sunglasses is . . . 

(the one and only)

DROLLGIRL

Yellow or Orange!?

I absolutely love our dining room table. 

It is a lovely dark wood and hand-built by my husband's grandfather.

However, I have a beautiful tablecloth/napkins(below) which you can see are light blue with a very thin brownish/grey trim.

I recovered the chairs once already and that was the hardest DIY I have ever done and probably why I am afraid to start a new one. EEEK.

So, those are light white.

 I think adding this pop of yellow would really make a statement next to th powder blue walls.

 [1,2]

OR . . . maybe orange?

Light blue and orange go nicely together!

However, I have accents of orange around the apartment in the lampshades, prints, kitchenware.

Hmmmm . . .

♥,

Summer Athena


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AND a lil FYI:


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Enter
the

here!


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Check this out. 
Email below for more info.

The twinkies, Micaela of Dolce Vita and Marianne of Royal Mail will be in town (EEK) and they invited me to
meet a few, new, NYC bloggers -- ({long distance loving}, Summer Year Round, bun&borough and Little LG in NYC this Sunday!

you are outta there, old!

i ♥ :

rain.

rainclouds.

rainbows.

raindrops.

(via i love doodle etsy shoppe)

Pretty weird since I'm named after the sunny season, huh??

I feel rain is necessary. 

We need it to wash away the old, so that the sun can bring in the new.

Each day, I work on believing and seeing the saying -- 'out with the old, in with the new" happening in my life.

my sweet friend, Jessica sent me this in an email, when i told her that i had a convo about making excuses about motivating in certain areas of my life:

"excuses or reasons, its all the same. You have a lot of emotions - that's good, and you feel the emotions instead of neglecting them. Part of feeling is looking for comfort. Loss is hard - very hard, and there are 7 stages of grieving.  3 years of hit after hit after hit...7 stages over and over and over again. It takes time, and when you barely finished all 7 for one thing and get hit with another, it's even harder. It's easy to say roll with the punches, but when you're living them and not getting time for air in between, it's amazing that you haven't been TKO'd!!! That's a very good thing. Another thing you should be very proud of. Like an ancient warrior with hundreds of notches on his sword handle!"

I never think about how much I have conquered.

I only see how much I have been through.

And that is in the past -- the OLD.

So, here's to looking forward . . . 

♥ CHEERS! ♥

So, tell me . . .

What truly motivates you and 

how do you take that first step?

PS:

Other prints from i love doodle that are . . . 

♥,

Summer Athena

Christos Anesti!

Easter Sunday was kinda somber at our place.

It was a year ago yesterday that Daddy told me he had cancer.

*Sad face*

Moving along to brighter things!

We were invited to have Greek Easter with our friends . . .

{thanks J and D, it was delish}

. . . so I had to try a new cupcake recipe:

Coconut Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

The Beginning.

I asked "A" to bring me an egg for my batter and 

he saw this:

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V

{Wait, that's not an egg}

Which turned into this:

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V

{I think he is asking for her hand}

Which unfortunately turned into this:

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V

{"A" told me something terrible had happened and to come to the kitchen quick. There was boy bun bun. :(

"A" thinks girl bun bun said 'no'}

And when asked if he ate boy bun bun cupcake, 

"A" told me 'NOPE" and then I found this:

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V

PROOF he had!

The End.

It's 3 am, do you know where your children are?

FYI: In 2008, Bradley Cooper did a movie called The Midnight Meat Train.

The Midnight Meat Train is a 2008 horror film based on Clive Barker's 1984 short story of the same name, which can be found in Volume One of Barker's collection Books of Blood. The film follows a photographer who attempts to track down a serial killer dubbed the "Subway Butcher" and discovers more than he bargained for under the city streets.

Oh oh oh! Brooke Shields, Leslie Bibb and Vinnie Jones (Snatch) are in it too.

What goodies you find @ 3 am when you can't sleep because your cats declared all-out war on each other.

{Not as sweet as they appear}

- blogged from the IPhone of a Saints fan. Who Dat!

Friday Love, FCI and a winner.

[via me]


grab it and play along

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Miss Lacey of Lacey in the Sky made this sweet one-sie for my friend Katie.
she lost both of her parents and i wanted her to have a little something with their initials on it for her new baby girl.

 these custom prints created by the sweet, KLAW over at Little Law's Prints and made as an extra gift for Katie's daughter's nursery.  
the small script reads -- Grandpa Don and Grandma Lou are always watching over you.

[above collage idea from the flowerchild dwelling]

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each summer, i get a new pair of beaded sandals. 

not sure why, but i just adore them.

i think these are the ones for the summer of '11!

[via UO]

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hipster cats and dogs

[1,2,3]

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  Wishing everyone a Happy Easter/Passover! 

[via me and shabby blog's blog]

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this gift from my sweet friend Nic. she has been amazing to me

and so helpful with everything adoption.

i just adore her.

i have one plant that has barely survived the past 3 years.

see below!

she also has an etsy store!

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Rasha of and this is what she said won the cupcake jar and cupcake decorating kit giveaway!

thanks to all that entered and to I-Zilla the Terrible for her damn good interview and self!

- - - - - - - - - - - 

On April 26th, I am heading to this:

And on May 10th, I will be heading to my orientation!


We are getting soooooo close. 
I am nervous-excited!

Smiles.

Hello world.

You know, sometimes I feel as if I cannot face the day . . .

{Tabasco feels this way too, it seems}

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. . . then I remember Daddy Butch and his saying,

" Like two fried eggs, keep your sunny side up" . . .

{one of the only eggs I will eat -- a chocolate one from Dean & Deluca}

 at $32, I refused to buy it, b/c I will be making my own chocolate eggs soon enough!

EEEEK!

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 . . . so I push through the day and ride this fast, subway car called life . . .

{my train, my commute}

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. . .  always remembering that I CAN control some things and that other bad stuff, well - I can "smile" it all away!

(even my dentist told me that 

I still have a beautiful smile 

even after all the sadness 

I have experienced.

awe.)

Dress:  

H&M (years ago)

Leggings: 

Chinatown

Shoes: 

Steve Madden

Glasses: 

OLD ONES

Smile:  

My Mom and Dad's

PS:

Enter HERE

to win some glasses, yo.

PS2: 
I decided on glasses numero uno!


PS3:
thank you to a blogger or two for the idea
to showcase my outfits in a new way.
My old way was tired.

(all photos were taken by me.

thank you. goodbye.)