WILW 12.18.13 Christmas Wishlist Edition

It was nearly impossible to compile a Christmas wishlist because (aside from a huge pile of money and a car) I have everything I could possibly want. Here's a few things I've been swooning over lately, however.

1. Nacy Blue lacey ballet flats from Mod Cloth. I have some sort of obsession with the color blue lately. I don't know what it is. I think it stemmed from really being into sapphires (my birth stone). These shoes are so perfect.

2. I want a chained set of hairclips. End of story. I've been doing much more with my hair since I cut my bangs. I'm just trying to have more fun with it.

3. I keep trying to bid on this eyeball bracelet on Ebay but keep being outbid. I won the ring about a week ago and would love to win the necklace as well. Kind of an oddball piece. Like I need another one of those.

4. This beautiful black fitted dress from Mod Cloth. How pretty is this? And paired with a colored cardigan and some matching shoes? Blah. I love this dress.

5. This set of celestial tea set photographs. I would hate to change the colors in my kitchen (black, white and red) but I may make an exception for these!

So to appologise for my lack of posting, how about a playlist?

1. Terraplane Sun - Get Me Golden
2. Strange Talk - Climbing Walls
3. Stroke 9 - Little Black Backpack
4. Capital Cities - Kangaroo Court
5. Jake Bugg - Lightning Bolt

Making An Apple Pie (Recipe)

This Thanksgiving was one for firsts all right. It was the first time I didn't go to my parent's house for dinner, the first time I met my boyfriend's grandparents, and the first time I was asked to bake a pie. Now, I have never baked a pie before, despite the fact that I do enjoy baking quite a bit. Here's the recipe I followed (and modified). I hope you all will give it a try!

The Crust

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 chilled bowl of water

1 egg

2 sticks salted butter (or lard/fat)

• combine your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
• break egg into your water bowl and mix it in.
• cut the butter into the dry ingredients bowl and mix it in. I dove right in with my hands when it came to mixing so that I could more thoroughly do it as I didn't have proper mixing tools.
• begin to mix in your egg/water mixture. Do so only 1 tablespoon at a time. When it starts to stick together, it's good!
• divide your 'dough' into two equal portions and put into two ziplock bags. Flatten all of the air out and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• after the hour wait, flour a rolling pin and a cutting board and roll out one portion of the dough. place the pie plate over the dough to check the fit then fold the dough in quarters then forths to pick up and place into plate. Unfold with center of dough in center of pie plate. (*if your dough rips here, just get a little bit of water on your finger and smooth it back into place.
• with a small knife or kitchen shears, trim the edges of dough to fit the plate.
• repeat the rolling process for the second portion of dough and once it is flat, cut 1 inch wide, long strips for your lattice.
• put your cut apples (see filling recipe below!) into your pie plate on top of crust and start placing your lattice strips onto apples. Once it is how you like it, seal and crimp your edges with a fork then put into fridge for 30 minutes.

The Filling

Ingredients

8-10 Granny Smith Apples peeled, cut and cored

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tbs flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

• preheat your oven to 425 degrees and turn on a burner to high heat.
• in a sauce pan pour your butter and 3 tbs of flour, stir, and let cook for 1 minute
• then add in your sugar, packed brown sugar and water. let this mixture come to a boil and reduce. cook like this for 5 minutes.
• pull your pie out of the fridge (if/when ready) then pour your filling mixture over the crust. smooth out over the top with a spatula. most of the filling should flow into the lattice work on your pie and what is left on top will make your crust even more flaky.
• pop your pie into the oven for 15 minutes
• then turn your oven down to 350 degrees and cook for 35-45 minutes.

and that's all! I improvised a lot of this recipe to make it work for us and I was glad that Josh had offered to help me with the apples and filling. It was a lot of fun and came out deliciously! There should also be another picture to your right on my Instagram widget so you can take a peek at the process.

What I Love... Friday? 11.1.13

How many weeks late am I with this post? Two? Sorry. I've been running around with my head cut off between having our Halloween party  (which I think was a smash!) and custom orders, and now problems with our plumbing. Just arugh. Frustrating. Here's a few things I love from the past two weeks.

Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre

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The first thing I actually love and have been listening to (probably thanks to Halloween) is the opus by French composer Camille Saint-Saens. I remember playing and practicing this song over and over again when I was in the eight grade and an excellent flutist (second chair, not to toot my own horn [pun intended!]) I love the way it sounds like Danny Elfman could have composed it and I love how you can almost hear ghosts flying and bones clattering through different instruments as it was intended. It'll probably always be a favorite.

AmazingPhil

Amazing Phil has been keeping me company all week. Every video he has ever put out always puts a smile on my face. He reminds me of a me a few years ago. That sounds weird. He's just fun and random and colorful and I feel like I can relate a lot.

Owl To Go Mug

I found this beauty searching for my own items on Etsy (hey now, I wanted to see what page I was on and how I could modify my key words!). I love this mug and I want one in every color. I am in awe at the craftsmanship.

Merry Christmas Ugly Baseball Tee

This shirt is so fun and it totally makes me want to watch my second favorite Christmas move, Home Alone! I have a feeling that this shirt will be joining the army this season.

3 piece wall decor

I know y'all don't care about the massive empty wall space that I have in my house, but I was thinking of re-creating something like this (possibly with three different sized canvases or more) to fill them. Just a thought I've been tossing around. I really like this one and the Jackson Pollock feel it gives off.