mayfest

the weekend before last T and i went to tulsa for some family time (i'll post on later) as well as check out mayfest/blue dome art fest. both festivals are held downtown about a block away from each other and feature great local art, goods and music.  

i love walking through both fests to check out all the great art that's featured. one of my regular art favorites is based out of chicago but always makes a trek down here each year. (unfortunately, i was not allowed to take any snapshots of the art but i love her mix of fantasy and real-life...kind of a new take on alice in wonderland) if you would like to see a little taste of what we viewed, check out her website

after awhile though, the 90+ degree heat started to get to us so we sat down to enjoy a few drinks, cool off and catch a little of the live music playing...

we then hopped over to a little gelateria nearby where they had my favorite of all flavors, stracciatella! (the italian version of chocolate chip but instead of chips, chocolate shavings..mmm!)

(and this gorgeous entrance way is where we got to enjoy our gelato...built in the glitz of the 1920s, i.e. beyond intricate details and amazing material)

after gelato we walked back towards the festivals and stumbled upon this: a local dance troope decided they would boogie out to the lindy-hop in the middle of the street and they.were.good!

then, over to blue dome where we saw this local artist and their beautiful glasswork, and tried some local oklahoman wines. the wines were great and i love the story of the vineyard owners renovating an old, abandoned schoolhouse to help bring tourism to a small town! T and i have decided we will be making a trek out there sometime this summer for another tasting :)

i love this shirt by Darby & Dash. they had boat loads of great shirts like this with oklahoma themes including one with the lyrics to the song oklahoma.

we were having such a great time but i needed a rest! fortunately i found this seuss-like chair to take a breather from all the walking which T made fun of, saying it looked like i was sitting on a bolt. i guess he didn't find these chairs to be as cool as i did ;)

then we were off to a bbq to have some much needed family fiesta time!

pup diaries

so my mom may have told you but i got a new brother. he's pretty fun and i like his puppy toys...they're squeaky and easy to steal from him. but sometimes, i just want to play with my toys. like this stick.

and i won't be distracted...

unless he goes for my tail!

boba

lately..

[T and i had an impromptu dinner al fresco and one of our local favorites]  

so the past week+ has been some what of a crazy whirlwind blur...in a good way though! so i figured i would give a photo recap of our life lately :)

[we fell in love with little solo..especially me :)]

[T and i enjoyed a director-like viewing of a new summer flick]

[i whipped up my favorite pesto-filled chicken recipe..mmm]

[i tried oysters for the first time and LOVE them]

[my sweet friend indulged my daring interest and we had a girlie catch-up. love.]

[solo found his new favorite place to nap. i didn't mind too much.]

[we spent mother's day with T's family and i witnessed one of the sweetest moments ever...seriously, even i teared up]

[i baked an old childhood favorite]

[i had gotten a stomach bug and found peppermint tea was my only relief]

[boba and solo have found new sweet ways for us to love them even more]

[we found a new way to kick up summertime wines...by adding in frozen peaches. yumm.]

[boba helped supervise solo's first bath]

[we cheered on big boy moments with solo]

[and we took advantage of recipes using prosciutto and asparagus...a dream of flavors]

this weekend we are excited to head off to tulsa to celebrate mother's day with my family and check out mayfest/blue dome art festival. for those who don't know, these two festivals are held in downtown tulsa less than a block away from each other. it's kind of amazing and we can't wait! (i especially can't wait to see my family!)

happy weekend!

the new addition

soo i've been buzzing with excitement lately as T and i have a new puppy addition to our little family! please welcome sweet baby solo....

for anyone who is curious he is a 6 week old white-blonde lab with the prettiest blue eyes you will ever see. i am kinda in love :)

we had to wait a WHOLE week before we could bring him home so we could get everything ready for him and believe me, no one was more excited than boba. seeing all the puppy stuff around, he knew something was up but then, solo and i came up to the door and boba went nuts!! he was so happy to play with his new brother and since we brought him home, they have been the best of pals. (boba's tail just happens to be solo's favorite chew toy)

hip-hip-hooray! we couldn't be more thrilled and can't wait to see him and boba grow up together!

mini miami heat

i don't know if you know this, but last friday i went on a date with mr. miami heat. he looked like T, sounded like T, but with an airy linen button-up + a fedora and POOF!, i suddenly found myself on a date with the miami guy-about-town :)

while this seemed like a typical movie date it was anything but as the mini miami heat treated me to a special director's suite viewing of the avengers! this was my first time to see a movie this way and i am SO on board! it is a smaller theatre screen but only 30-40 people per viewing, heated recliners and wait service...seriously, if you haven't tried it, it will be your new favorite way to watch new movies. it was bananas how awesome it was!!

so hey thanks mr. miami, this was a pretty fancy date and i suppose i wouldn't mind you taking me out again ;)

the pizza

while pizza isn't new to me, making one completely from scatch is and up until recently i hadn't tried it out. but one day not too long ago i thought T and i would give it a go and boy, have a found a new love! it may take a little extra prep and time but it is beyond worth it...so, i thought i would take you through the steps! (if you want my recipe, let me know, i am happy to share)

so first you have the dough. what i thought would be the most difficult part of the process, but surprisingly easy, messy, and fun. if you were like me and thought dough didn't make that much of a difference, you (and i) have been fooled! the most under-stated part, but also adds so much. if you haven't tried it, please do...you will love it. although i would say to make it the day before, cover it and place in the fridge overnight. when you are ready to make it, let it warm up to room temp for thirty minutes.

plus, who can resist pretending to channel their own pizza maker within by fliping the dough mid-air :)

then the sauce...simple to make, needs few ingredients, just needs time for all the flavors to come together. like all the cooking shows say, what makes a difference in soups, stews and sauces is time. more time = better sauce

then the cheese (my favorite part), the only part we didn't make. but it's the best part because the cheese makes all the difference! for first timers, i would recommend making a traditional margherita (mozzarella and fresh basil) or goat cheese (goat cheese, minced garlic, diced tomatoes and banana peppers). if you are an asaparagus fan, try mozzarella with shaved asparagus on top...delicious!

and of course, the best ingredient...a cute pup awaiting for you to hopefully drop the whole thing so he can have it to himself ;)

over the weekend part 2

as fun as T and i were having at the festival last weekend, what we were most excited about seeing was our very own camille harp! she was set to play on one of the main stages and was joined by a curly-haired musician by the name of john calvin. we had never heard them together but we were over the moon at how killer they harmonized together! it was the sweetest of surprises and i for sure cannot WAIT to see them again. until then, they are working on a curly-themed name for their duet :)

[sweet friends enjoying the amazing music]

T and i then decided to check out the carnival side, which i don't think i've ever gone to since it is mainly for little kids but we had SO much fun!! T even got conned into playing some of the games for prizes...most surprising part though, was how excited i would get when he would win!

even though they are meant for kiddos, i loved getting to pick out my prize. and here he is!

from far away i could have sworn he was a giraffe but i guess he's a dino. who knew!

with prize and goodies in tow after hearing some sweet jams, we headed back home to play with a very jealous pup. can't wait for next year! until then...

happy almost weekend!!