Snacking On: Blue Cheese

Eating up this creamy Blue d'Auvergne from France (made from cow milk) and this spicy Valdeon (made from goat and cow milk) from Spain this Friday afternoon. (Purchased at the lovely Antonelli's in Hyde Park.) Stinky. Moldy. Delicious. Amazing. Blue cheese.

Throwback Thursday: Clueless Fashion Edition

Clueless turned eighteen last week. Adult. Mind. Blown. My friends and I were obsessed with this movie when we were teenagers. It added fashion fuel to our already-burning Contempo Casuals fire. Also, Paul Rudd. Enough said. And it definitely affected us in ways I didn't even notice at the time, like our desire to wear pastel cardigans and awesomely bright hats. Some evidence for nostalgia's sake:

Disaffected youth. Note the thigh-high socks and miniskirt, 

and also the white T-shirt under the baby-doll dress.

 Lavender shirt. Check. Obligatory hat. Check.

My sister on the far right, wearing the oh-so-Cher-Horowitz lavender cardigan. 

And some plaid pants on me. Of course.

 More lovely 90s hats. (Also, who put that dolphin poster up in my room? Not me.)

So very Tai, post makeover.

Bonus: Ask a Grown Man with Paul Rudd.

Spanish Wines: Rueda

I've been in a wine rut of sorts. All I try are the same French, Italian, and American wines over and over again, and I'm basically one cat and/or baby away from becoming That Old Married Lady That Drinks BORING NAME OF BORING WINE HERE A Few Nights A Week While Watching INSERT EMBARRASSING REALITY SHOW HERE. And I figured all this out when we stopped to have a quick drink at Barlata, a new tapas place that opened in South Austin, because I didn't recognize any of the wines on their menu. Nary a one. And I felt weird about it. Because I love wine. But how much do I love it if I don't really know that much about ANY OF THE WINES OF SPAIN?

So, Spain, I'm on mission to conquer some of your wines, one slightly tipsy reality-show-watching night at a time. First up: the Rueda region. So Spanish wines are designated by region similar to French wines, and I didn't even know that before a few hours ago (denominacion de origen on the bottle). KNOWLEDGE, Y'ALL.

Also, this New York Times article made me feel less embarrassed about never having heard of this kind of wine before. More knowledge, y'all.

We picked up Naia's Rueda white wine from 2011 at Central Market to go with the scallops we bought. (We're pescatarian this week.) During dinner, Chris described the wine as: fruity, grassy, crisp. (In real life though, if either one of us were to get all wine-adjectivey on someone, describing a sip as floral or palate-pleasing, we would sound like total and complete snobs. Unless we became friends with the guys in this movie. Then we would be totes fine.) (But in the comfort of our own home, we allow wine-adjectivey-ness to run wild. That's basically true love right there.)

Anyway, we both liked it! Trying new things is almost always awesome. (Exception: probably a lot of things? Just let me be excited about this.)

This and That

Maria Popova on I'll Be You and You Be Me by Ruth Krauss.

Kitten mushroom costume. Too cute.

Interesting Kickstarter: The Mask You Live In.

Wine sippy cups? Yes, please.

High school fashion in 1969.

Great TED talk on body language.

Twenty pies to make this summer.

Awwww.

(Image via Pinterest)

Coral Bridesmaid Dresses

Our bridal party picked their own dresses, and they looked amazing all dolled up in their chosen outfits the morning of the wedding. Some brides prefer a more unified look, but I just wanted everyone to be comfortable and buy something they might actually wear again someday. And look super pretty!

I emailed them an ombre Pantone color palette of the range of coral I wanted them to choose from months before (basically a pinky coral to an orangey coral). To unify all the different dresses, we collectively decided to have matching hair accessories and bracelets.

Bridesmaids' accessories:
Hair: Off-white silk mini pom-pom flowers from ban.do. (Still available.)

Jewelry:
Green friendship bracelets from J. Crew. (No longer available, but Madewell has some cute and affordable ones.)

Dresses:
Maid of honor (to the right of me below): J. Crew
Matron of honor (to the left of me below): BHLDN
Other dresses are from Dessy or are vintage.
(Also, my dress is by Theia. Headpiece and bridal sash by Amanda Judge.)
(And the gorgeous bouquets are by Petals, Ink.)

 Maid and matron of honor (my sisters) walking down the aisle with the flower boy (my sweet nephew, who was handing out green flowers to the guests)

Wedding photobooth fun

The best bridesmaid accessory: Sofia Blanc de Blancs

Pre-ceremony good times

(Photos by Nathan Russell Photography)

Foreign & Domestic's Oyster Night

Two-dollar beers and dollar oysters are basically all this girl needs to get her ass out of her desk chair and into the car heading to Hyde Park for F & D's Oyster Night. (And it's good beer, not gross beer. We had cans from Austin Beerworks and Hops & Grain Brewery.) (Also, I love that the Hops & Grain beer Chris is drinking below is called The One They Call Zoe. Maybe one of the best beer names ever? You decide.)

Please note the lack of actual oyster pictures below because we ate them too fast to actually stop and document them. Sorry/not sorry! Definitely the most delicious Tuesday night deal Chris and I have stumbled upon in Austin.

The deals are on the smaller menu to the left.

The One They Call Chris

 Bacon and Chorizo Arancini Hush Puppies

House Corn Bread and Butter

Embedding Instagram Videos

You can embed Instagram videos now! This totally made my day. (It takes very little to make my day.) Click on the three-dot drop-down menu on the bottom right-hand corner of the video in your feed (on your desktop, not mobile device). Click on View Video Page. Then on the far right you will find an arrow-share icon. Click on it to get the embed code. And voila! Anna Kendrick's video is on your blog in all its glory.

 From Anna Kendrick (annakendrick47 on Instagram):

And then Tavi Tulle's is (tavitulle on Instagram):

Summer Cocktail: New York Sour

It's hot outside, y'all. Like creeping up into the beyond okay territory. That's why we all need a drink, preferably a whiskey one. Ideally, this one from Bon Appetit.

You'll need:

2 ounces rye whiskey (I used Bulleit.)

1 ounce lemon juice

1 ounce simple syrup

1/2 ounce red wine

Combine the first three in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a glass over a king cube. Pour the red wine (the BA recipe said to use a fruity red wine, but I just used a cabernet we already had, and it was still delicious) over the back of a small spoon just over the drink to make the wine float on top. Drink quickly and love life a little more slash feel the heat a little less. XO

Fourth of July Pie

Just picked up this gorgeous cherry and blueberry pie from Tiny's Tiny Pies. I hope everyone has a lovely Fourth of July holiday weekend! XO

Antonelli's Pop-up Picnic

A little fun from our weekend:

The picnic, er, actually, PIGnic, was at Laguna Gloria on Saturday. Just another reason to love Austin.

This and That

What Jane saw.

I cried at the end of this Modern Love.

Fourth of July printables.

Love: Charles Eames proposal letter.

Cronut, anyone?

Excited about this restaurant opening.

(Image via Pinterest)