Life Lately According to Instagram

So much has happened in the past few months! I wish I could keep up with all these posts! Here is what we've been up to lately. Follow along on instagram if your heart desires.

@abitofbeesknees 

on Instagram

~ Early morning Espresso con panna pick-me-ups. Dan and I love our espresso maker

~ I made some white ceramic branch spoons!

~ Diggin' my new wax stamp.

~ Enjoying our CA winter with some mango smoothies in the backyard...sorry North East.

~ Shenanigans at our friends wedding

~ Mom's tea roses and dragon fruit from our favorite Asian Market.

~ Hiking in Idyllwild and surfing in San O

~ A cooking class and the soco farmers market

~ Our new favorite breakfast recipe {eggs over sauteed kale, caramelized onions and sausage}

~ Avocado honey. Yum.

~ Cortaditos and beach camping

~ Rosemary cranberry skewers and painting with Mom

Pirch Cooking Class

Last Saturday Dan and I took a free cooking class at Pirch {it's this super beautiful home design and fixtures wonderland. No joke.}. This place is amazing, even if you aren't a home owner, it's great to get ideas and look at all the purdy things. Dan and I are in the middle of building two rental houses, so we like to walk around this place and dream of the day when the houses will be finished or better yet, dream of the day when we can move into our own home someday {I love the little house we are renting, but it'll be nice to have a place we can officially call our own}. Oh I'll take that granite counter top and the built in espresso machine please -- if money only grew on trees right? Every square inch of the Pirch is spectacular!

So as I was saying. We signed up for a FREE cooking class! As soon as we entered the Pirch we were greeted by some lovely baristas offering us fancy coffee! What? Can we live here? Then two chefs gathered us for a walk to the local SOCO Farmers Market where we learned about organic farming and free range livestock. After sampling cocoa almonds, blood oranges and avocado honey we walked back to the Pirch to begin our cooking lesson.

Our awesome chefs John and Craig.

        Me and Danny concentrating on choppin' veggies. 

Eggs over sautéed kale and chard. Dan's new favorite dish...he's made it twice this week! I love it when he cooks! I even managed to take it to work with us {hot out of the oven}! I looked semi- ridiculous carrying a hot pan to my car in the morning, oven mitt and all. Worth it.

It was a fantastic class and a great start to our weekend. I can't believe they offer it for free! So cool. A big thanks to the Pirch for being so amazing. We had a lot of fun! 

Pictures 1,8,15 and 16 thepirch.com

Life Lately According to Instagram

So much has happened in the past few months and I wish I could keep up with all these posts! Here is what we've been up to lately. Follow along if you would like to stay in touch.

 

@abitofbeesknees on Instagram

 

~ Checking out a tree tunnel at a local art gallery

~ Cooking Vietnamese Spring Rolls with my love

~ Dinner in our backyard...finally invited the parental units over!

~ Attempting my first scarf on a weekend morning

~ Kumquat tea from China Town in Los Angeles

~ Celebrating our One Year Anniversary at Eat Chow

~ Surfing and camping in San Clemente

~ Daniel got to be a groomsman in our friend Ethan's wedding {More pics to come!}

~ We got to dig into that year old wedding cake and some special Champagne

~ Lots of cooking and artsy projects in between

~ A trip to Chicago to have dinner with our favorite chef Rick Bayless {More pics to come!}

 

And I'm still missing so much more! I need to catch you guys up on my trip to Israel, some fabulous road trips and our European adventures. Stay tuned! I'm hoping I can write a post on each country we visited and give some photos and a recipe from each. Oh I am so excited to get them started! Lately it's nothing but work, work, work and building these houses {I am extremely grateful for them, but this building stuff really does take over all your free time...hence the lack of posts}.

 

 

5 Joie De Vivre {Simple Joys In Life}

Joie De Vivre. 

The simple joys in  life that I am thankful for.

The things that make me smile.

 

{Passion fruit chocolate caramels}

 

{Fresh pink tulips and a travel magazine on our coffee table!}

 

{Striped paper straws}

 

{Almonds, walnuts and brazil nuts...my attempt at healthy snacking on the go}

 

{A fresh bowl of fruit. Pears, grapefruit, guavas, apricots, tangerines, bananas and avocados}

Hue Design Challenge

Hello lovelies, I entered a "Hue Design Challenge" on Pinterest for Grandin Road. I actually made it to the top 10 finalists! Yay! I need your help to win. Click here to vote for me. Thanks guys, You're the best!

You can vote once everyday until May 8th 2013!

Pretty Tree

I went for a walk the other day and came across this pretty tree.

These blossoms are amazing. I was almost tempted to ask the owner for branch...but that would be weird right?

 

{can you find the little bee?}

New Art in My Shop {Artsy Love Bug}

{Artsy Love Bug}

Click Here!

 

5 Joie De Vivre {Simple Joys In Life}

Joie De Vivre. 

The simple joys in  life that I am thankful for.

{Rose drops imported from France. They taste like the smell of a dozen fragrant roses. So lovely -- an instant feminine pick-me-up}

{Last Thursday evening the clouds looked warm and cozy. They cast an amber glow all over town. It was a brilliant feeling -- best described as a cloud hug}

{It's almost lemon season.}

 {I bought a dozen red roses for the house. It's such a treat to have these on the table.}

{Homemade nutmeg coffee with my man.}