Pretty Light

tattoos, pups, plants, and peppers.

Scenes from Newport Folk Fest 2011

1. Playing catch on Block Island
2. Lobster nets at the Barking Crab
3 & 4. The Civil Wars
5. My franzz
6. The crowd on Fort Adams
7. Moon mats
8. A couple's commute home from the festival
9. The Freelance Whales & PS. 22 Chorus
10. The Civil Wars
11. Charity from the Head and the Heart
12. Freelance Whales & PS. 22
13. The Head and the Heart <3
14. View from the ferry home
15. ...and one of me enjoying myself, for good measure.

Theres plenty more on my tumblr.

Shots from Newport

Gingerbread house making, ghost stories on the dock, cliff climbing, lots of jumping and zumba dancing. And of course, copious amounts of hugging.

How was your long weekend?

Life is a Cookie... A Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies

Yes. This recipe combines the two most wonderful things, chocolate chip cookies and CHEESE. Of course, it's cream cheese so they don't taste like cheese or anything. But the fluffiness of the cream cheese adds some fluffiness and cakeiness to what would usually be the traditional chocolate chip cookie, which is already delicious on its own.

Is this recipe worth a try? YES. Especially if you are a fan of dipping cookies in a nice glass of milk like I am. These cookies are maybe the best milk-soaking up cookies I have ever encountered.
For the original recipe, take a gander at How Sweet It Is, a blog I stumbled upon when in search of an interesting twist on chocolate chip cookies. I pretty much followed her recipe verbatim, except I noticed the cookies needed about 12 minutes of cooking, not 8-10. Blame these high New Jersey altitudes:

Cream Cheese Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter

3 oz of cream cheese

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and mix. Stir in flour and salt, just until blended. Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 8-10 (12!) minutes or until edges are golden brown. The cookies will remain light in color.

Meal of Champions.

Last night, I had Prosecco and cheese for dinner. Hope that's ok.

a few things on tumblr this week that made me smile

Something pretty.
(via girlinlondon)

Coffee! My first love.
(image via palahniukandchocolate)

A baby giraffe is born!!
(from thedailywhat)

A Dr. Seuss quote. After seeing Suessical recently, I have a renewed sense of appreciation for him these days.
(image via quote-book)

tumblr seemed to be a little quiet this week. but as always, here is a link to mine, where a bunch of lovely things are compiled into one convenient location.

a few things on tumblr this week that made me smile

How could you not love cupcakes in a cup? (via prettyfoods)

I knew they were real! (via thedailywhat)

The most perfect thing about summer. (via booklover)

So simple and so true. (via papertissue)

Click on the pictures for more. But of course, you can always just visit my tumblr :)

Snow Day

Me, Jess, and Grandpa last Easter

So, my grandfather passed away earlier this week after 89 years. Especially after my great-grandmother's death only a few days earlier than that, everyone around here has been wondering what the hell is going on in the universe right now that all of these things are happening all at once. The last funeral I had to go to was my grandmother's over ten years ago, and all of the sudden its one after another. My grandpa was the most loving, hardworking man I ever had the pleasure to meet, and he leaves behind a family that loves him very much. Needless to say, it's been an odd couple of weeks.

Although there's been a lot of sadness, the incredible timing of everything recently has really blown me away. The things that are happening right now can not just be coincidence, there's reason behind it, and I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what those reasons could be. I won't go into specifics, because it would be very long winded and a little too much to share with the world wide web. However, I will say that the snow day we had on Wednesday was my grandfather's gift to us. I think he knew we needed a day off from work to just relax and wrap our heads around these changes. For that one day, it was nice to have nowhere to go and nothing to do. It was a beautiful snowstorm and I took some time out to take pictures, something I don't have too much time for these days.