Humidity is Hair to stay.

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Hannah

Once upon a time, there was a time when my hair could look awesome on a regular basis. That time was called April, maybe you remember it here from mere weeks ago.

But now May is here.

Despite the fact that this May has been drizzly and unimpressive, it has ushered in just enough humidity to release my hair from all semblance of order or beauty. The frizzy mane is here till fall. Every year this happens, and every year I am equally unprepared and saddened. I usually continue in denial for a couple weeks, pretending that the way I style it in the morning will hold all day, and into the next day. It worked a couple weeks ago so it should work now…. right???

WRONG.

Thus, until October, it’s goodbye Beyoncé waves…. hello summer updos! Here are some of the ways that I hoping to wear my locks this summer, along with those maiden braids that I can’t stop wearing:db832d764b76cf7247b2c76980db0f2b 69565a10bc94d1037b16c79bfcbe5048 fc56ab72440ed15049b1f2adcd9cff77 8dd285674ea4de51a9cd17fa78fd63b1

 If I do leave it down, I will probably have to resort to this method to force those ringlets into place. Sigh.

On another note (can you tell that I just need a serious hair talk/intervention?), I am at that horrible stage that every woman knows well: shaggy bang stage. My bangs are pretty long right now, and by that I mean flopping all over my face like an unkempt puppy. But it also means that they are long enough to start thoughts of growing them out. Any thoughts? Are bangs in this season? HELP. I have a haircut scheduled in a couple weeks and some big decisions must be made…

How do you keep your hair looking great during the summer months? Give me all your updo/magic product secrets! Especially if you live in DC, because then you understand that looking awesome in an airconditionless swamp is tricky…

*Hair links via  my Pinterest.

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Spontaneous Spring

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Hannah

This past week of cold rainy days made me a little distressed that we would skip spring and go straight to summer. I am willing spring back for a couple weeks more by sharing some glorious glances of spring around DC from last weekend.
flowersprimarycolorbike^^^Hooray for the primary colors!!!! You will always be my favorites.^^^DSC_7965And of course, what would spring be without an ee cummings poem?

osweetspontaneous

bebebirdies^^^Oh look — baby birdies from those pretty eggs! James has given me very specific instructions on not removing them from the nest and trying to domesticate them… but that doesn’t stop me from watching  and squealing!^^^

What has this spring been like for you? Any favorite signs of spring?

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Gluten Free Gluttony

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Hannah

Carolinecake3You all have probably figured out by now that I am not exactly one to ascribe to the grain free craze that has swept the nation. Yes, every single one of us would be healthier if we ate less pasta, bread, cupcakes, scones, and Totino’s Pizzas. This is just plain old logic. I did the primal thing in the months leading up to my wedding and I did indeed loose weight, have clear skin, and feel awesome.

But donuts.

And Italian food.

And CAKE.

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Which means that on the whole, James and I eat more veggies, meat, and fruit than carbs… but I’m not one to turn down a burger or some delicious pizza, even though I acknowledge the superiority of the grain-free diet. I will just suffer in bloated silence every so often and run some extra miles.

The grain free craze has taken over the cooking world and restaurant scene. And some of it is really good, mainly the stuff made out of butter, or the stuff that didn’t have flour of any sort to begin with. But for a lot of it… don’t you try to feed me sawdust and call it cake. Blasphemy. Just give me some ice cream and drop this charade.

However, this past weekend I ate my words… literally. I had the joy of photographing Christine and Craig’s beautiful wedding, which culminated in a dessert bar that was totally grain free, mostly sugar free, and absolutely delicious. Her sister and father made the cakes (let that sink in) and I would never have guessed that they were missing my favorite cake ingredients, which is to say sugar and flour.  Caroline is finishing up a degree to be a nutritionist and she keeps up a blog with grain free and sugar free recipes that you really should check out. To start with, I encourage you to try the chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and coconut flour cake with lemon curd that she made for her sister’s wedding. My personal favorite was the lemon one, a conclusion arrived at after eating big slices of each, purely for scientific purposes.  Grain free or not, you should  make these cakes as soon as possible and then eat them totally guilt free because hey, they are practically good for you, and they are definitely some of the best cake I have eaten in a long while.

carolinecake^^^No big deal… just the Maid of Honor assembling the wedding cake during the reception without getting whipped cream on her dress… a feat of which I would surely be incapable.^^^carolinecake2 Are any of you all gluten free? Sugar free? Any other diets that make you feel awesome? (Oh wait… diets are so 1999… now we all have “intolerances” instead…)

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A weekend like Spring.

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Hannah

Friday bridal brunch followed by errands and grading followed by a wedding welcome dinner where only two guests were willing to do what it took to stay warm. Christine and Craig’s wedding day with an early morning garden first look, a blue vaulted church, and a delicious brunch reception. Rush home for Derby research then head out with ridiculous hat in place to watch the race. Lots of explaining to James about Derby lore and tradition. Sunday morning brunch and celebrating our visiting friend publishing his first article in the New York Times. Bridal shower for Liz where amazing grain free/sugar free cupcakes joined the list of delicious food from the weekend…dump chocolate ganache on said cupcakes to cancel out the sugar free quality. Head from the shower to the woods then back to Eastern market to take engagement photos for some friends. Crash on couch and watch 24 with husband.springweekend

This weekend was like Spring itself. It was fleeting, fast, and full of gloriously beautiful things. The evenings were chilly but the days were bright and warm. It was one of those weekends with so many things to anticipate that you keep on wanting it to slow down but it doesn’t. It was wonderful… and I am exhausted.

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Sometimes.

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Hannah

Sometimes the days go by too quickly and the week still feels so long. Sometimes there are so many things to do, to buy, to watch, to finish, to start – that you walk around with your head only half in the moment and half fixated on an endless to-do list. Sometimes you are stressed, and you don’t even know why you’re stressed, because life is going just fine, but then you find yourselves reading articles online until you want to cry in the fetal position because everything you are eating will supposedly kill you, and every life choice you are making is wrong, and everyone seems to hate each other in the world, and it’s just too much. Sometimes you just can’t stop comparing your one life with the conglomerate curated best of other people’s lives and it will always come up lacking. Sometimes you are distracted by all this and you are running out the door to do one more thing on that infernal list, and then you look down. And you stop. And you see something beautiful, and fragile, and unexpected. And for some reason, it calms you, and you remember how incredibly blessed we are to live in this one wild, changing, frustrating, confusing, and beautiful world.

birdsnest

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Anna & Wade

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Hannah

WadeandAnna_2A couple weeks ago I headed down to the Tidal Basin at sunrise to take some engagement photos of Anna and Wade. We had hoped that the blossoms would be in full bloom (and by hoped, I mean obsessively stalked the Cherry Blossom web cam), but finally decided that we would have to settle for partial bloom, as the crazy cold spring we had this year stunted the peduncle elongation. (Yes, that’s an official term. I consider myself a blossom expert these days.)  Of course, every other photographer in the area had the exact same idea, which meant the basin was pretty busy that morning.

Despite the cold, traffic, and crowds… it was still pretty amazing. WadeandAnna_7annaandwadecollage annaandwadecollage2 annaandwadecollage3

annaandwadecollage4annaandwade5After the sun fully rose all the way over the Jefferson Monument, we headed to Dupont Circle, where Anna and Wade met, then up to Georgetown, before finishing at Zeke’s Donutz. I am now of the opinion that all photo-shoots should end in donuts.  It was such a joy to spend the morning with these two!annaandwadecollage6annaandwadecollage7annaandwadecollage8

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Consider yourself warned.

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Hannah

This is a public service announcement to let you know that this blog is about to get real girly for the next couple months. It will be taken over by lovely engagement shoots, beautiful weddings, and all sorts of other feminine things before resuming it’s usual course of truly gender neutral features.

Who am I kidding? You know me. This space is always pretty girly, but James wouldn’t let me do our bedroom in yellow toile so I have to let out my inner Lisa Frank loving, pearl wearing, Disney Princess side somewhere.

But it is entirely possible that it will be a little more devoted to weddings etc. over summer than it has been since the time I dragged you all through excruciatingly long posts recapping my own wedding day. Sorry (ish).

To start it all off, here are a couple shots from a shower that we threw this past weekend for my former roommate Liz. I am so excited about Liz’s wedding this summer and I basically love any excuse to pull my May Day bunting out of the closet. Plus my other former roomie Sarah made this amazing panzanella salad (yep, I had to google it too) so good that it disappeared before the strawberry trifle, multiple cookies, and baked brie.
Liz'sshower3Happy Monday all!

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You are my adventure.

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Hannah

NYC_65

After our great weekend in New York, we were still so happy to come back to D.C. While walking back from Union Station, we got talking about this special wonderful stage of life. This is the time where we can take adventures. We don’t have yards to mow, kids to watch, or pets to take to the vet. In one sense, we can be utterly selfish, focusing on not much beyond each other. One of the great things about marriage is having my best friend with me and dreaming about going on adventures. We like to talk about trips we would love to take, trips to Australia and New Zealand, back to France and across Germany. Even if we don’t get take all this trips, it’s fun to dream about them.  For now, we settle for smaller adventures. New York for a weekend, or Charlottesville, or Pittsburgh, or even just late night milkshakes when we should be eating healthy. Each one a little adventure.

It won’t always be like this. Someday our adventures will be taking our kids on fieldtrips, or trying to buy a house, or staying up late to help with homework.

But I’m still counting all that. Because this man is my adventure.

youaremyadventure

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Out-takes

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Hannah

Confession: For every great picture you see on this blog, there are at least 5 terrible ones.

I have no shame in the fact that I curate the images that I want to put on here. If you wanted to see fifty of the same blurry image with bad lighting showing something of little importance and no beauty, you would just go through any given Facebook album. No, I prefer to share photos that are beautiful, or at least interesting, and of which I am proud.

But I also don’t want this to become one of those blogs where life looks perfect. Those are the blogs that I love to hate. You know the ones — you read every post and consistently feel like your life isn’t as awesome in comparison. You wonder how those people have money to wear those clothes and eat out all the time, or how their children are always cute and better dressed than you are, or when they actually work.  Because the fact of the matter is that anyone can curate any life to the point where it looks perfect. That’s why I try to share things with you like my Pinterest wedding breakdown, that nasty purple ankle, and the time I tried to domesticate a squirrel.

And so, today I wanted to share with you some of the truly awful out-takes from last weekend in New York. Because in between the great shots of pretty streets and delicious meals, there were lots of pictures like this one, of James making bad faces while I set the lighting:NYC_61

Or these photos, which show how I charge James to take the camera back after he takes a photo… and he doesn’t stop taking them which means there are A. LOT. of shots of me with my bossy hand up and my mouth unattractively open. It also shows off the awesome bandaid that I am wearing as I have a propensity to cut myself on any remotely sharp object in the vicinity. Sometimes James and I like to take stock of how we would know if a body snatcher replaced one of us. Body snatcher Hannah would not constantly be wearing bandaids, but real Hannah is a perpetual boo-boo.

talktothehand

Or these photos, of a failed jump shot attempt. Because sometimes your hair just gets all up in your face and you show off your controlling side with aggressive counting.

failedjumpshot

How do you feel about overly perfect photos on blogs? Anyone else like a good reality check now and then?

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Uptown Girl

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Hannah

aweekendinnycInstead of actually unpacking my suitcase from last weekend in New York, I decided to blog about it. That’s almost the same thing, right?

Last time I was in New York, I basically followed Joseph and Ana-Joel around blindly… which was painfully evident when I was fending for myself. I am almost ashamed of how long it took me to get from Penn Station to where we were staying in Uptown. (Sidenote: New Yorkers just assume that when they say “Oh that’s Uptown/Downtown/Mid-Town” everyone knows immediately where their destination fits in that. Nope. Some of us start instantly singing “Uptown Girl” in our heads the second you mention it and we can’t hear anything else you say or make any reason of your logic. Go ahead, listen to it now and sing along. I’ll be here when you get back.)

But I finally did make it to the Upper East Side, and all of my orientational difficulties were forgotten as I consumed a lot of baked goods from Orwashers Bakery, curtesy of Suzy, my apartment swapping buddy. We switched keys and they headed off to DC, leaving me to head out into a perfect spring weekend in NYC! For a gigantic city covered in concrete, this city sure is in bloom right now.
nycinbloomI couldn’t have been happier this weekend because one of my besties from home was in town for work.  Rachel showed us around some of her favorite places and joined us for some new adventures. She also humored me by being in photos after James had reached his limit.
nycrachOn Saturday, I decided that the best way to explore the city would be on foot. Because that seemed like a good idea at the time. This meant that we walked from brunch down to Wall Street, up to the 9/11 memorial, up through SoHo and Greenwich Village, to the top of the High Line, then all the way down the High Line. Oh and some exploring in Central Park thrown in for fun. I mean, why take advantage of a very extensive subway system when you could just walk 5 miles? nyccollagePlus, walking for hours on end justifies what is always my favorite part of traveling: FOOD.  Oh New York — you are a cornucopia of delicious places to eat. I might have felt sick on the bus-ride home and had to buy gas station carrots to convince my stomach that I hadn’t given up on vegetables but it. was. worth. it. Thank you so much for all the recommendations that you gave from comments,emails, texts, and Facebook messages! This time around we were able to hit up Lady M Bakery, Cafe Habana (if anyone knows how to make THAT CORN at home — TELL ME NOW!!!), Little Cupcake Bakeshop, Cookshop, Schiller’s Liquor Bar (a brunch so good…. that trekked all the way down there both mornings we were in the city), and the Donut Plant. I’m holding onto the rest of your suggestions till next time!nycfoodDear New York: You are overwhelming and big and crowded and I stood out as a pair of red pants in an endless sea of black pants, black boots, black everything. Your metro subway was under construction at every stop that I needed and there was never a map when I wanted one. Your sidewalks are pretty dirty and your sky is hidden by big buildings who also hide your legendary skyline.

And yet.

Somehow…. you are still pretty amazing. Till next time, Big Apple. nycbw

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