ReVisit

I thought I would revisit an old picture I took of one of my favorite subjects...my main man, Axel. Between my home and office you can find this picture in no less than 3 places. It's one of my favorites! And as I was playing around with the colors on it the other day, I somehow managed to make the new edited version my new favorite picture! It kind of has that cool old 70's vibe...which I'm finding to be a new favorite aesthetic.

Just a Blonde's Take

Window Inspiration

If you haven't already heard, there is a big window design challenge going on at Bloomingdale's in good old NYC! Three home designers have accepted the challenge and you can see all 3 window displays and vote here! I have chosen to show you my personal favorite...Eddie Ross!! He created a fabulous window/room with modern and traditional elements. Eddie's blog is a frequent stop of mine. The man knows how to throw a party! He's my go to anytime I'm hosting an event...he's the hostess with the mostess! His ideas are inspiring and for the most part easily affordable. He has a wonderful knack for mixing and matching old china and dinnerware, while creating the most beautiful tables. He's definitely opened up my eyes for spotting treasures in thrift stores and flea markets! So it came as no surprise that I would just fall in love with his window...

Some of the elements are a little more traditional than what I normally would like, but I think he's made them all work in this space that I would have no problem with this being a room in my own house. Way to go Eddie! Which window do you like best?

Just a Blonde's Take

The Pioneer Woman

If I haven't mentioned it before I'm doing it now...I love me some PW! The Pioneer Woman, that is. Her name is Ree Drummond, but to her blogging family she is known as the Pioneer Woman, or PDub, or PW, or...well, you get the picture. She is a woman of many talents, she home schools her 4 punks (children), takes wonderful photos of her daily ranch life, has "like" the best blog ever, and she cooks. As a matter of fact she cooks up a hail storm! I believe she is one of the biggest influences I've had as far as becoming my own home master chef (still in progress)! I have developed a love for cooking, and a part of that has to do with Ree! She provides step by step instructions on her website along with...get this...wait for it...it's truly shocking...step by step PICTURES!! Yes that's right, in addition to putting things into lam eons terms for all of us she has pictures of everything she uses, how she does it, and most importantly the end result! It's really helped me in knowing what things should look like and if I'm on the right track. What exactly does a micro plane look like? What the heck is Welsh Rarebit? And how should roasted red peppers look in the oven? She has opened me up to a whole new world of food, and even better, how to make it MYSELF!

I've always loved food and trying new things, but sometimes I would be afraid of how I could possibly recreate some of my favorite "fancy" cuisine dishes at home. Cooking fish used to freak me out, along with any other type of meat for that matter. And sometimes not knowing what something should look like is a little unnerving. Now in addition to Ree's website, we now are going to have access to a wonderful cookbook of all the Pioneer Woman's favorite recipes! The Pioneer Woman Cooks: recipes from an accidental country girl; It's available for pre-order now! And this isn't your everyday cookbook with a few colored pictures here and there...no sir...her recipes are in full color and with her traditional step by step photos! Take a look at the layout:

And if things couldn't get any better she's going on a book tour!! You can believe that I'm going to be loading up on these and getting them signed for personalized Christmas gifts!! I can't wait to meet PW herself and all her red headed glory!

If you haven't visited Ree's site, please do. You won't regret it, well your waistline might, but it's so worth it! And as PW says...I love you more 'n my luggage!

Just a blonde's take

Face Lift

So for what ever reason, today I felt compelled to give my blog a little face lift. I'm not sure if all the black was getting me down or what, but I feel like I needed something to bring me out of my depressing sad cloud. It's strange but for some reason every fall...or in the words of my friend babalou, Autumn I feel the need to cleanse, make changes, start anew. Maybe it's because fall is my favorite time of year, or maybe it's because for so long fall marked the beginning of a new school year, and even though I haven't been in school for quite some time, the feelings still remain with me to get things going with something new and fresh. Please enjoy the new look and I will have a Halloween post up soon!

Just a Blonde's Take

THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA

I'm sorry folks, but I'm going to have to get on my soap box for a minute. I was just on PETA's blog and came across a story about a new sandwich that KFC is testing in a few states. It's called the Double Down. It consists of 2 pieces of fried chicken filet's (which serve as the "bread"), 2 different kinds of cheese (pepper jack and Swiss, I think), bacon, and some new creation called Colonel's sauce. Can you say NASTY? I've never really been a fan of the Colonel, especially after I found out how they treat their chickens, but when they came out with their mashed potato bowls filled with cheese, corn, chicken and all kinds of other nasty stuff, I totally wrote them off. Now KFC has sunk to an all new low, with this "please let me be obese" sandwich. KFC hasn't released the nutrition information on this sandwich yet, but it's estimated that there are over 1200 calories and 80grams of fat in this poor excuse of a sandwich.

And to make matters worse, as I was going through different articles people were actually saying they were disappointed that this sandwich wasn't in their city!!! SERIOUSLY?? Some even went on to comment that if you didn't try this sandwich that you were most definitely a G.D. terrorist! REALLY? I'm a terrorist now because I care about what goes in my body and I want to be healthy? This is what is wrong with America!! People are welcoming obesity into their lives with open arms. One lady even said her 5 year old loves sandwiches and he would love to try this!! What? Parents are so worried about their kids being exposed to Harry Potter books(because they supposedly encourage witchcraft and devil worshipping) and yet they are excited about feeding their children this crap? Way to teach some awesome life lessons! Don't read, just feed!! Ahhhh, I just cannot believe the kind of stupidity it takes to want to eat something like this and to encourage your children to eat it. And to be ignorant enough to say, well if you workout a lot then you can eat this and it won't matter. Hello?? Just because you work off the calories you intake doesn't mean that what you're eating isn't affecting your body in other ways! Not to mention there is practically no nutritional value in this besides protein, excuse me genetically-altered-growth-hormone-injected protein (that's really not good for you either, but that's a whole other story).

If you haven't seen or read Fast Food Nation, go pick it up and you'll have a new outlook on fast food chains in general. I'll leave you with these quotes from the movie...

"There's shit in the meat." "It is a sad fact of life, Don, but the truth is we all have to eat a little shit from time to time." -Not this blonde!

Just a Blonde's Take

FOOD INC.

My good friend babalou recently told me about a film that's going to be showing at our local museum theatre called Food Inc. Well, I'm always up for a good indie/documentary film so I went to their website and checked it out...only to find myself completely consumed by this film that I've yet to see (it doesn't start showing here until next week!). I've already bought the book that goes along with the film. I've only read the preface because it seems that they encourage you to see the film first and use the book as an added supplement, so I'm just dying to see the movie so I can race home and really start the book. The whole premise of the film is about our country's food industry. Where our food really comes from, how it's treated, how far it travels, how it's genetically altered, and basically how it's making us sicker, fatter, and poorer and what we can do about it. Here's the description from the film's website:


In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Now I've always been a person who wants to eat healthy and be healthy, but until this film was brought to my attention I never was really good about actually following through with it. Of course I would do things here and there, but until now I've never really adopted it as a lifestyle. I'm happy to report that I can barely remember the last time I ate fast food...which in and of itself is a huge accomplishment for this mademoiselle. I used my busy life as an excuse to eat fast food for lunch and sometimes dinner and I blinded myself to the truth (I didn't want to know) that fast food is really bad for you not only in calories, fat, and sodium; but the quality of the food is so poor. I have found a new joy/love for cooking. I can't wait to find new exciting recipes to make. Even the drummer is on board for the new lifestyle! I go to the farmer's market for my produce and buy local fruits and vegetables; you would not believe the difference in quality. I had some tomatoes from the farmers market and one leftover tomato from the grocery store, when I cut into each of them you would not believe the difference in color, smell, and taste. Local is the way to go if not from your own garden! And if I ever need something in between I always try to buy organic.

I have a friend who just this week found out she has colitis. She's only 27!! My age! My dad has the same issue and he's 56! There is no better time than the present to start taking care of our bodies! You're only issued one in life. Please check out the Food Inc. website and see if it's coming to a theatre near you. Here's the official trailer for the movie. Check it out!


What are you're thoughts after watching this? Is anyone else eating local and organic? Or do you grow your own veggies, fruits, and herbs?

Just a Blonde's Take

CHANGES EXPLAINED

Well, folks I'm back! Things haven't changed quite as much as I had originally anticipated. The drummer and I were going through some rough things. Moving out, breaking up, crying, being mad, crying some more were all apart of it. For now however we've managed to work things out. So hopefully no more melodramatic posts from me...unless of course it's about a new antique chair or something fabulous I've added to the house decor!
Some fun posts to follow.

Just a Blonde's Take