Everybody does love Elmo! Especially birthday girl Harper Lapin. I had so much fun shooting her Elmo- themed birthday last week. She had a blast playing with friends, family and of course, Elmo.
Archive for September, 2008
Elmo’s Right
Friday, September 26th, 2008Covering the Clinton Global Initiative
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Fun Fun Fun
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008I had such a great time shooting Amanda Espy’s surprise birthday bash last week. The crowd was beautiful, the band rocked, and the grub was a chic play on comfort food (mini pizzas, burgers and onion rings- oh my!). Plus, I ran into an old friend from high school. Perhaps one of the greatest things about growing up in this wonderful city is that the natives rarely leave, ensuring you’ll always bump into someone you know from way back when.
One of the Many Reasons to Love Fall
Monday, September 22nd, 2008Ah… Fall. The air is crisp, the leaves change to red and gold, and pumpkin makes it’s way into our mouths. It’s in the lattés at Starbucks, and beer at Heartland Brewery. My friend Sandra loves pumpkin so much, she hosted a dinner last year to honor it!
Below is another great recipe from Lauren at Gotham Caterers. I love a bowl with a glass of mulled cider or wine. Enjoy!
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups pumpkin purée
4 cups chicken stock
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
¼ cup toasted green pistachios
crème fraiche or sour cream and pistachio oil for garnish
Heat olive oil in a small stock pot and add the onion and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes, but do not allow the mixture to color. Add the chicken stock and potatoes and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, add the pumpkin purée, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, just simmering, for an hour or until the potatoes are soft.
Remove the bay leaf and transfer the mixture, in batches, to a food processor and purée until smooth.
Return the mixture to the pot, reheat and adjust seasonings.
Pour soup into bowls and garnish with a swirl of crème fraiche, drizzled pistachio oil and some toasted pistachios.
Pistachio oil can be found in your local gourmet market. The color is as intense as the flavor. This oil is used to season, not cook.
It’s Emboss Time
Saturday, September 20th, 2008A black-tie wedding amidst the grandeur of the Manhattan skyline calls for some classic elegance, I thought to myself when deciding on the simple, but sophisticated look of our save the dates. I hired Greenwich Village-based calligrapher Nanette DeLuca to design them, which showcase her beautiful flourished script. Since we’re having a very small wedding and need only around 25 mailings, she suggested I order an embosser for the return address on our envelopes to avoid printing costs.
Usually a print order (whether it be offset, engraving or letterpress) needs to have a quantity of 100 or more for the print run to be worth the cost; Most of which is derived from manufacturing a custom plate. For this reason, the smaller the quantity, the more you will pay per unit.
After doing some research, I decided to order my very first embosser. An embosser is a tool that works like a stamp, with no ink. The plate makes a raised indent, similar to Braille.
I will always remember visiting my father at his office. He had a large brass desk embosser. The indents and designs it made on the paper fascinated me when I was little. It was much like printing in the darkroom for the first time, and watching your image swirl to life.
Below is the style we chose from Paper Source.
What I love most about the embosser is its versatility. It can be used over and over on a variety of envelope sizes. So, I can use them on our save the dates, invitations, personal letters and greeting cards- everything. I also love that it’s unexpected, old-fashioned, and makes a great texture.
The Power of Thank You Notes
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
-Marcel Proust
As my friends know, I am a huge fan of thank you notes. I love writing them as much as I love to receive them. My fiancé jokes that, I alone, could support the USPS!
Joking aside, gratitude is so powerful; It lifts you up by acknowledging that you have something to be thankful for.
Expressing gratitude through a hand-written note enriches not only the writer, but recipient too. I have heard many times over how touched someone was when they received a note from me in the mail. In this electronic age, a hand-written note makes a lasting impression.
Express your gratitude in style with personalized stationery- even better!
I am quite fond of a trend among my grandmother’s generation, and is shown in this month’s Vanity Fair article on Marilyn Monore (who seemed to have a love of correspondence as well). The trend was to add a “Mrs.” in front of your husband’s name (as Marilyn did above with Arthur Miller), or simply cross out his first name and add yours.
To see other notes written by Marilyn, click here