Eggs on Pizza

I mentioned last week that I was going to cook for Mark and attempt Smitten Kitchen 's breakfast pizza recipe.

Let's just do a side by side comparison:

source

Photography aside, tinfoil backdrop aside, broken yolk aside, non-homemade hockey puck strength crust aside....I'd say, a valiant effort was made!

I was going to replace the bacon with crispy shrimp, but remembered I had bacon in the freezer and that seemed more economical. 

The process:

Pre-cooked Organic Pizza Dough: Sounds good in theory

Pre-Oven

I know I am the messiest cook. Honestly, the amount of counter space I am working with though...

Post-Oven

What I learned:

Spray tinfoil with cooking spray prior to placing hockey-puck strength pre-cooked organic whole wheat pizza crust on it. 

Because it will stick if you don't.

And you and your boyfriend will have to rip pieces from tinfoil with bare hands. 

Also, invest in circular cooking pan.  

xx it's good, no?

Winnah

I have an addiction to entering contests. 

When HGTV was giving away their Urban Oasis Dream Home 2010, a luxury condo in the W hotel in downtown Manhattan, I entered twice a day everyday for myself and another 2 entries per day for Mark. 

Wanna know who won?

This kid...

Source

A college student from Florida who only entered ONE time on the first day because his mom told him to. Obviously.

ANYWAYS, I saw on some fashion blog last week that David Yurman was doing a Mother's Day giveaway, all you had to do was 'like' them on Facebook and you were entered to win a pearl and diamond ring. Easy contest, the best kind. I 'liked' them and I forgot about it.

Fast forward, one week, I am procrastinating on Facebook and see a post from David Yurman in my news feed that says:

 A big congratulations to Mari Theodossiou- you are our Mother's Day prize winner! Thank you for celebrating Mother's Day with David Yurman and we hope you enjoy your DY piece!

I had not received an e-mail from them or anything so I am thinking: ME?! REALLY ME?!

Long story short I got the e-mail a couple hours later confirming it and I really did win! I won something! Pretty cool...and yes, I did offer the ring to my mom as a Mother's Day present but she told me to keep it. 

You can see it here: David Yurman Diamond Cable Pearl Ring

xx its good, no?

Flower Spanx.

WOWZA. I am really bad at updating this. Days went by and I knew I should update it but then life was all crazy and I felt uninspired. It happens.

Ok so my parents (hi mom) came to visit a couple of weeks ago which meant one thing: I had to clean my apartment. Which was great because if they had not come to visit I probably would not have cleaned it....umm or gotten to see my parents! :)

In the attempt to make it just EXTRA special I bought some tulips from the corner store, and the very nice flower man gave me a free second bouquet! Ok, well he also said "I was going to throw these away..."

Thanks. I love garbage tulips.

Yes I got photoshoppy on my crappy blackberry pic.

And then environmental karma kicked my a$$ when i realized that in the move I had tossed all of the vases that ever came with a bouquet of flowers that Mark gave me. Thoughts at the time:

a) These are just cheap vases

b) They are heavy

c) My arms hurt 

d) eh, I never buy fresh flowers anyways. 

I tried to fit these in a pretty glass I had, but tulip stems are pretty much the equivalent of noodles and they kept drooping over the sides. I asked myself, what would the brilliant florist in me do??

WELL... I would take the leaves I plucked off and tuck them around the rim of the glass, working essentially as flower spanx! 

Even noodley tulip stems need a little spanx to hold them into place.

xx It's cute, no?

Cafe Curtain Call

When we moved into our new apartment I originally had envisioned long VELVET drapes in a deep jewel tone for the three windows in the living room. 

Inspiration: 

Ina Garten's Manhattan apartment. Silk, velvet, orange a-mazingness. 

Link: hookedonhouses.net

Pottery Barn eggplants. 

Pottery Barn

However, because we have 3 windows in a row, it would have called for a lot of curtain and would block all the gorgeous sunshine that floods the room during the day. 

So this was my next inspiration:

Cafe Curtains.

Provides Privacy but also lets the light shine in! More Parisian chic than Country though.

Last night I just decided to experiment and yank my current curtains down to half-way.

I like the concept...

I just need to replace these with shorter, white, breezy curtains and it will look 19304039494 times better.

The view is pretty good too, I pretty much wanted to live in Manhattan for the cityscape, why cover it up ?

Thoughts? Are cafe curtains cheesy? Are my windows too ugly? 

Its Cute, no? xx

Follow-up Friday

Just wanted to post a quick follow up to my weekend project #1: Table a la orange..

Those windows are probably my favorite part of the apartment, they let in SO much amazing, glorious, spectacular sunshine. 

One more vignette for you...

A couple of interesting tidbits about these items:

A) That lamp is from Ikea and the product name is "Jonesbo Egby". 

B) The cloth on the table is actually a pillow cover a co-worker brought back from India for me.

C) The un-identifiable black piece is actually a bust of an Egyptian pharaoh that my grandfather gave to me last time I was in Greece. His family lived in Alexandria for many years and this was something he had from those times.

D) The porcelain sea urchin's were a birthday gift from my lovelyyy friend Anna :) They are super cute with little tea-lights inside. 

So this weekend's goal:

 Fix my framing issues; gallery wall (see previous post) and these (courtesy of mom) :

I think they are too high and wayyy crooked. GRR.

Well... Happy Friday!

It's cute, no? xx

Pathetic Attempt

First, the pretty stuff. I really love these at-home photo galleries. Creates interesting pattern on a somewhat BORING wall, interesting conversation with guests and a fun way to curate your own home. 

So let's start with OTHER people's lovely home galleries...

 Erin Gates from Elements of Style posted a photo from her own Boston home about a year ago and I was SUPER impressed by her photo gallery she admittedly did by eyeballing the entire thing. I like the the round frames in particular.

Image from Elements of Style

Different approach from Lonny Oct/Nov 2010 issue. Frames are different sizes but all the same color, except for one tan one that I spot...

Also, off the topic of photo galleries for a moment...How awesome is the black stripe painted on the ceiling molding?! I would do this in a heartbeat (if i had gorgeous ceiling molding). That is all.

Image from Lonny

AHHH.  

Image from Lonny

Ready for the bad?? aahhhahahaa. This is so laughable, my own PATHETIC attempt at a home gallery.

Obviously there are some major flaws: 

A) I need more frames. 

B) I need a measuring tape.

 C) I need to start OVER.

I am inspired though by the first two images. Im thinking of painting all the frames white and black and doing ONE orange one (I have a lot of left over paint from the table project). 

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? 

(besides how much of a pain in the a$$ is it going to be to fill all those nail holes if we ever move, I know)

It's (kinda) cute, no? xx

Where in the world

If I EVER ever ever ever ever am LUCKY enough to A) Buy the house of my dreams B) Build the house of my dreams, I will most definitely be recreating this dream veranda

Courtesy of Vintage Rose Garden-Tumblr

So many things: The stone fireplace, exotic chandelier, Ionic inspired columns, the painted plaster wall surrounding the space. Im dying. 

Also so amazing is how the addition of some over sized pillows and a floor lamp really transform it from JUST an outdoor area to a cozy living space. 

I would want to throw an intimate birthday party here with good friends and lots of WINE and pretty candles. 

 I wish I knew where in the world this was. 

It's Cute no? xx

P.S. Working on a new post about apartment transformation, hopefully up tomorrow!