madmen yourself

madmen yourself.

it was this show that inspired me to start this blog and i cannot WAIT for it to come back on, even if it means scouring sidereel the morning after episodes air since i don't have cable.

antiquing

good morning! i got an early start this morning with some breakfast at the french place near my apartment (iced latte and a baguette with jam and butter), sorted through the unemployment mess (i think i fixed it, cross your fingers for me), and decided to play a little dress-up to show some of the things i got at the antique fair and make up for the laziness of last night's post.

first let me go through the weekend a bit. i had a nightmare of a time getting to newark airport - i've never so much as set foot in jersey before, but was told that it would be easy enough to get to penn station and then just take any NJ-bound train from there. my flight was super at 6:30 am, so i decided to just leave early in the morning/late at night and get to the airport early to sleep, so i was sure not to sleep through my flight. of course the trains to jersey didn't start running out of penn until after 5 am (a fact i unfortunately discovered upon arriving at the station at not quite 4 am) so i ended up barely making my flight on time and getting about 2 hours of sleep in the process. sam picked me up from the airport and we went to his parents' to pick up the pup and then went straight to sleep. noon-ish we got up and headed to jam, a new brunch place right near sam's apartment. it was incredible (and sam's buddy alex designed the logo, and sam the menu, so we ate for free.) i had an eggs benedict with pork belly and spinach hollandaise; it was the first of much pork belly to be consumed this weekend. i'm kind of obsessed.

after breakfast, sam took me to the antique market on randolph. somehow during my five years of life in chicago i never made it out there - it is incredddible. sam says it's usually bigger than it was this weekend, too. of course my stupid camera died before i had a chance to take any photos of it, but i did pick up quite a few gems, and here's an outfit to show it.



hat: vintage, bought at antique fair
shirt: quail
skirt: actually a dress from h&m, i folded in the top (and i like it much better this way)
shoes: devotte
gloves: vintage, antique fair
clutch: vintage, antique fair
brooch: vintage, gifted from dee

there's more, too, but too much to involve in one outfit. and there was a woman there selling vintage fancy schmance purses (can purses be couture? what do you call fancy purses? this from the girl who seriously, until about 6 months ago, thought haute couture was pronounced "hot coacher.") not realizing how much gems such as these can cost, i picked up this miu miu and inquired about the price; upon hearing it i quickly set it back down. but it's amazing. and for a split second, i was tempted.


this bag was nearly impossible to find on the internet - i think it was only a concept bag never released in the US (or so it seems from my googling.) maybe it would have been worth the investment after all. . .


last, a quick post to tag the clothes i wore on the way to chicago: they're new, and new favorites as well, so they need to be labelled.



shirt: interlud, from smith & butler
pants: rodebjer, from dear fieldbinder
shoes: jeffrey campbell, from oak
belt: anthropologie


much love, muchachos -

xo audrey

black and blue all over

greetings! i had a lovely time in chicago this weekend (best.ever.) and then went straight to class to suffocate in 100 degree heat with what must be 90% humidity and then slump home to find a stack of paperwork from the new york state unemployment office giving me the runaround AGAIN, (ffuuu) and now i am cranky and i just want to go to bed. i'll post more later. but here are a few photo highlights from the weekend. . .

EWR to ORD:


shirt detail (my new favorite):


pork belly scrapple for brunch:


the winning outfit: (i added gloves and brooch, subtracted the hat)


we went to the antique fair on saturday and i got some amazzzzing stuff. this clutch is one:


sam and his amazing car:


the ORD to EWR outfit:


thanks to everyone for your input on the outfit to the shedd - it went over very well, it was comfortable and it was sam's favorite. more from me soon (that's a promise.)

xo audrey

edit: not sure why some of these photos are a bit blurry. i'll do a full-fledged outfit post tomorrow. hope everyone had a lovely weekend! lovehugs

a little help from my friends [or: three dresses, one pair of shoes.]

hallloooo! lots of things to post today. yesterday i woke up early (for me) to head over to market publique for a photo shoot. now. you have probably noticed that it is a very rare occurrence that i show so much as a profile of my face on this blog - and all these pictures are taken when i'm alone in a room (with the exception of an obvious few.) i am not comfortable with having my picture taken. in truth, i'm a pretty awkward girl, so when pamela suggested that i model some clothes for the site i said i'd be happy to, but warned her that coaxing a decent picture out of me, especially one with my face in it, would not be easy. the shoot was actually a lot of fun, though! pamela and the photographer, karen, were very sweet and cool about everything and it was kind of fun to just get to try on outfit after outfit. i'll post photos once i get them, but i DID get these shorts from the shoot yesterday, as a sort of payment for modeling:



shirt: thrifted from salvation army a few years back
shorts: from pamela at market publique!
shoes: steve madden
belt: thrifted
necklace: ebay

okay. now i have to ask your advice, all of you. i am going to chicago this weekend and sam scored us tickets to an event at the shedd aquarium, complete with djs and open bar and dancing and [i honestly don't understand what else.] regardless, the occasion seems to call for an Outfit, and i can't decide which i should wear. so i present to you three options. please please, let me know what you think is best?



dress: vintage, thrifted in chicago and hemmed up by my friend dee
shoes: nine west



dress: stevej and yonip
necklace: blueberi
shoes: nine west



dress: quail
belt: thrifted
hat: ebay
shoes: nine west

i'm honestly stumped. i don't want to pack too much so i need to figure it out by tomorrow. your opinion is greatly appreciated!

until we meet again, much love -

xo audrey

because you loved me

good afternoon! i'm fresh off two cups of coffee and an onion bagel (smeared with what i thought was cream cheese but turned out to be goat cheese - stupid mistake or THE GREATEST MISTAKE EVER?!) i guess i covered most of the weekend already, but let's pick up where we left off!

saturday night i went out and dancedancedanced. sunday i slept in (had to sleep off all that mad dancin') then got a coffee and headed to central park for the weardrobe meetup. about 20 yards from the red balloons i got really nervous and realized how strange it might be to meet all these people who know more about my life than my own mother (sad and probably true). i needn't have worried. yes, it was weird to be instantly recognized when i walked up - but everyone was so sweet and friendly and i had a really great time. was it surreal? absolutely, but also so satisfying to finally put real faces to the names i see and hear all the time. a special hiya to christine, jenni, and martina, whom i spent most of the time gabbing with.

pamela from market publique was also there, and afterwards she and i headed into williamsburg and got dinner with her husband john at bozu. i couldn't have asked for better company and the food was amazing (even if it wasn't REAL sushi. wink.) it was a long day, so after that i headed home and went to bed.



dress: urban outfitters
belt: thrifted
hat: some trashy store in greenpoint
shoes: etsy
necklace: ebay
balloon: weardrobe meetup :-)

woke up at the crack of dawn this morning and got a coffee on the way to work. i really love waking up early enough that it is cool outside and i can get a hot coffee and sip it to stay warm on the way to the train. anyhow. got to work, made a couple of pies, and came back home and caught up with kt, who'd been way too far away all weekend. came downstairs and found a package waiting by the door - the second half of my birthday present from my favorite person on earth (who just happens to be my boyfriend [awwww, ewww. i know]) sam. in addition to the greatest present of all time. . .


(this guy)

he sent THE CRAYON RINGS. I KNOW. he reads. he pays attention. he gets it. hi sam. you're the best.



along with a foodie magazine. mwah.

haha, and now you can see what i look like after pitting 5 bags of cherries. what you don't see is the grime of vanilla bean seeds trapped underneath my fingernails and in my cuticles. FUN FACT! why are vanilla beans so expensive? it's because when they are farmed (not grown in the wild, but actually planted and cultivated,) they don't get pollinated as they do when they grow on their own. as a result, a farmer has to go around every morning and fake-bee the plants, pollinating each one by hand. it's quite a process. thus $10 beans. (for more on this, listen to the planet money podcast on NPR. i am a hopeless NPR nerd and this show is really informative but still interesting and great.) so i am messy, but at least it's delicious (and expensive) mess.

i guess that's all from me for now. have a lovely monday!

xo audrey

cavorting to the gansevoort

happy weekend! we started sugar in class yesterday (amazing timing, given that the air conditioning wasn't working at school, we're on the fourth floor and sugar boils at 316 degrees) and afterwards i went out for a drink with a few kids from class. this morning i slept in and then went for breakfast in dumbo and decided to sneak onto the roof of the gansevoort hotel in the meatpacking district for some hot pool action. the pool is douchey to an unbearable degree, but if you can take yourself out of the place and just enjoy the sun, the water and the drinks, it's rather nice.



yesterday i wore:

dress: american apparel
tights: american apparel
shoes: nine west

i just baked some filo dough and peach compote goodness, now drinking red wine and preparing for the night. and, okay. i haven't worn this dress in ages because it shows every single part of your body in that "oh i didn't even know i had fat there" way that only american apparel clothing can. my options are limited - most of my clothes have been locked away in vanessa's car since i moved; i promise i'll bring them in and be a better blogger. cross my heart.

xo audrey

yesterme, yesteryou

yesterday i woke up late and had crepes with my new friend kt who lives upstairs, then did a slow meander over to urban outfitters to finally spend my gift card from winning the romper contest a few weeks ago. i found an adorable dress that is part of the hawks line - geren ford for urban outfitters. i had heard the brand name before but never really looked at his stuff (i am kind of label retarded) but the dress is gorgeous and i have a new brand to covet. i think i'm saving it for the weardrobe meetup in central park on sunday. (sunday, sunday, sunday. i kept thinking it was on saturday. beating it into my brain.)

this dress was my roommate rachel's, i borrowed it a few times and stared at it covetously every time i was in her room. she didn't wear it much so we arranged a swap - my black greek lady dress that i hemmed up a couple weeks ago for her zachary's smile re-worked blue jersey dress. it is so comfortable and i love the straps.



dress: zachary's smile, from rachel
necklace: ebay
shoes: borrowed from vanessa, charles david

a whole day off today, and little to do with it - which sounds glorious.

have a lovely almost-friday,

xo audrey

how to get shot by the sartorialist

okay, also, saw this on refinery 29 just now and thought it was hilarious. original story here. click the image below to make it bigger.

xo audrey

makes pretty things

i just came from work and i am covered in flour and cherry juice and have sugar crusts on my elbows, but here are some tasty things we made and plated in class last night. a small bribe, if you will, until i post again.


chocolate mendian with clear vanilla sauce, cherry compote, and chocolate fence


white chocolate hazelnut panna cotta with nougatine dust, chocolate sauce and peach compote


exotic fruit soup with almond custard cubes, fruit salad, sesame tuile and orange ice cream


plum soup with poached plums and peach ice cream


pannetone with grilled peaches, sabayon, pistachios, and i could lie about the kind of ice cream but i just don't remember.


champagne sabayon with macerated raspberries, poached peaches, and lavender-honey sorbet in tuille cup

xo audrey

edit: ah! EB's comment reminds me that i meant to give a shoutout to my friend and former coworker and all around talented and cool dude nick, who designed the polaroid app i use for my iphone. you can see his non-iphone photos here and buy the application (called shakeitphoto) on itunes.

bastille day

happy happy! the french are taking over the streets of cobble hill, and i am going to eat crepes with them.

have a lovely sunday, i'll be back soon. . .



swimsuit/top: vintage from flea market
skirt: american apparel
shoes: gift from pamela at marketpublique
hat: some store on manhattan ave in greenpoint
belt: from thrift store in chicago

au revoir!

xo audrey

raspberry pureé

i am hoping you read that title to the tune of "raspberry beret" by prince.

so, i had my first day of work on tuesday. i woke up with a great deal of effort at 6 am and sleepwalked to starbucks for a large coffee. i made my way into work at 7 am and got to work making a sextuple recipe of pie dough by hand, basically by using 2 knives to cut the butter into the flour. i then chopped and skinned 24 cups of apples, 12 cups of peaches, and pitted 10 cups of cherries. it took about 10 hours, but i made everything i had planned to, plated a serving for everyone to try, and basically stood back and bit my nails as i waited for the reaction. the plates were clean in less than a minute. everything turned out great! everyone there is incredibly friendly, and everyone made a point to tell me how good it was and welcome me. i left work, i think for the first time in my life, feeling satisfied and proud, flushed from the intense heat of the kitchen and nearly 12 hours on my feet but so, so happy. i go back in tomorrow (in 7 hours, auauagh) so i have to try to keep this short so i can get to bed.



shirt: american apparel
necklace: blueberi
shoes: pour la victoire
belt: anthropologie

note the raspberry hue of the necklace and belt. found the necklace at this AMAZING and beautiful store in dumbo today, on major sale, and grabbed it. i don't wear a lot of black but this necklace is so insane that i felt it required a very simple backdrop.

i decided to attempt my first sneak culinary initiative today. i have a partner who sometimes makes buttercreams during the half hour we have for dinner, and i had a hankering for some macaroons. they take a lot longer to make, of course, but i thought i could probably whip a meringue unnoticed, perhaps pipe them out in a corner out of view. i snagged some leftover pastry cream and whipped it with some raspberry pureé to put in the middle. and of course, i got totally caught by my chefs, but they were cool about it. and they turned out great.



and there. raspberry. bam. bedtime.

xoxo,

audrey

use less, feel more

i am going to tell you a story. months ago, back in september of '08, i was working for a post-production company that made tv commercials. i had pretty recently moved to new york, and i was still kind of reeling from the switch. i was also broke as hell. as it happened, one of the editors i work with asked me to record what is called a "scratch track" - a rough cut of a voiceover, just to serve as a stand-in until the professional comes in and records it for real. this particular commercial was for downy's fabric new fabric softener, ultra downy® april fresh. the client, upon hearing my version, liked it so much they asked me to re-record it, slightly differently. then decided they didn't need to pay a professional at all, because they liked my version so much. i was sent to a recording studio in midtown (a story in and of itself,) stepped into a recording booth for about 20 minutes, signed some paperwork, and went back to my job. i figured i'd get my check for $500 for the recording, which i was frankly delighted about, and that would be that.

last monday i picked up what is probably my 12 or 13th residuals check from this commercial. i don't say this to brag or wave it in anyone's face, but to acknowledge my extreme good fortune and explain what else i did that day. sunday night (while procrastinating from packing,) i posted a few dresses that i was dying for. i beseeched someone to give me $300. well, low and behold, "someone" (in the form of a talent agency based out of chicago) did. and then some. and so, ladies and. . . gentlemen?. . . the dress.



i just got back from california this morning, then went straight to class from jfk; i am exhausted and mostly just not feeling very verbose. i have more to post, and more to say, and yadda yadda, so i will try to post again tomorrow after. . . drumroll. . . my first day of work!

hope you all had an awesome weekend (i did,)

xo audrey

move, movers, moving, moved

what. a. week. it has been, already.

first of all, i want to apologize to (and pour some out for) my fellow weardrobers, who all went out last night (well, tuesday night, i guess it is technically thursday here) in manhattan and. . . well, i guess i don't know exactly what they got to do, because i didn't make it. i really, reallllly wanted to; it would be so cool to meet you guys in person, and if ever i needed a cocktail it was last night, but it also happened to coincide with my moving day, which, as they tend to do, continued late into the night until i was dirty and sweater and had been splashed with mop water and slammed my shins on various boxes/wall corners/bathtubs. but it was absolutely not a waste of a night, in fact it was quite a good one: at 7 pm i splashed some water on my face, threw on some mascara, slipped on a blue church and state blouse (but, hellll no, no pictures) and went over to a restaurant near my apartment to talk to the executive chef about becoming their pastry chef.

the surprise? i got the job.

okay, it starts off really small - two days a week, pay not worth writing home about (although it did warrant a quick phone call,) but i get to do WHATEVER I WANT. i am the dessert chef. it's just me. that means i get to make a menu of whatever i want to do. i get in before every one else and have a few hours to blanchir and slice and cuire a blanc to my heart's desire. my menu for this coming week: (i start next tuesday)

french apple pie
fresh cherry pie
peach cobbler
(all of those will be served a la mode, optionally)
coconut creme caramel with raspberry basil garnish
blackberry brioche bread pudding with vanilla creme anglais

okay, so i have to make 3 pies or cobblers, and one has to be apple, so i don't get full control. still. i am really excited about the last two, although i am trying to keep everything pretty simple this first week so i don't overextend myself and get my feel of the kitchen. but, man, guys. this is like a dream for me. i can't believe how quickly this fell into place. this is huge. i am a happy, blessed girl.

and just now, after dragging an 80 pound bag of laundry 6 blocks down the street with a 35 pound duffle bag on my shoulder, i leaned against the counter and took a photo, because i may be sweaty, but i'm sweatin' in style.



shirt: anthropologie (and vanessa's)
jeans: cheap monday
shoes: a gift from the lovely and thoughtful amy!

tomorrow morning i leave for california for 5 whole days!! and by tomorrow morning i mean i have to be in a car in 7 hours. and i should probably pack and go to sleep.

i am bringing my camera and swear to be better about posting this week. . .

much love!

xo audrey