MIDSUMMERTIME DREAM.

Just some random photos from the past week or so.
Coney Island, our weekly Beauty Bar Happy Hour & Whole Foods to sum them up.

These are the first sets of photos that I've taken with my new camera, the Nikon Coolpix L120 and I love it! The quality is really an upgrade from the L110 and there are so many more features... I'm really excited to film a vlog with it before the month is up - Most likely will be a "Summer Favorites" video, so stay tuned for that. Life has been awesome. Summer is going great and is probably one of the best summers I've had in my lifetime so far. I'm currently planning an overnight trip to DC, just to hit a few museums and restaurants, can't wait for that. Speaking of restaurants, Restaurant Week in NYC is almost up (July 24th!)... Once my Momma returned from her trip to Africa, her and I visited one restaurant so far - The Russian Tea Room... It was interesting, to say the least. Nicely put, I don't think we'll be returning. Before it's over, I'm hoping to be able to check out Yerba Buena and Tao, they both seem delicious, so we shall see. The temperatures have really been rising lately, today was 95 degrees and tomorrow we'll be hitting 100. Aside from the suffocating heat and humidity, today was pretty awesome. I was presented with an opportunity to help a friend of mine interview Kreayshawn in the Lower East Side, so that was pretty awesome and the interview turned out sweet. Following that, I met up with my main shorty Alys for some lunch at Piano's, then some brancing (browsing & prancing - We made that up today, bless us) in some stores, then finally finishing up with some weirdo watching in Whole Foods. I have tons of film to develop (4 rolls, to be exact), so hopefully the next post is a film photo overload - Fingers crossed! All in all, life is grand.

Hope all is well for everyone & thanks for reading.
XOXO

JULY, WEEK #1: THE RUNDOWN.

We kicked off the first week of July with the Yours Truly BBQ/Pool Party on Saturday, July 2nd.

The previous photos were taken by @manuallfocus.

@ R Bar with my main shorty.

On July 4th, boyfriend and I had a romantic evening in. We were able to watch the beautiful sunset and the entire Macy's fireworks show from the apartment window. For dinner, we stirred up some fresh fruit Sangria and I made jerk chicken, along with rice & peas and banana bread. It was delicious and one of the most enjoyable nights we spent inside in a while. Sweet and relaxing.

On July 5th, I attended the Dom Kennedy show at SOB's with Neesha and my boyfriend.
These two photos were taken by Neesha. It was an awesome time.
The following day, we had some company over for dinner,
including Neesha and our darling friend, Milly.
I made some baked ziti, stirred up some more fresh fruit Sangria (latest obsession)
and baked a homemade apple pie.
I had never baked a pie before and for this one being my first, it was exceptional.
Here are the ingredients I used/steps I followed:

1 box of Betty Crocker's pie crust mix, 2 cans of Musselman's apple pie filling,
brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, flour, water, 1 egg (for the egg wash).

You prepare the pie crust in 2 sections: the base and the cover.
For each mix, you use half of the bag of pie mix and add in a teaspoon of vanilla, 2 tablespoons of cold water, 2 teaspoons of cold water and cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar at your discretion.
Blend and mesh this mix with your hands and form into a ball, ready to be rolled out.

Lightly flour your dough to prevent it from sticking to the counter and rolling pin.

For the base, thinly roll out the dough into a large enough
circle to stretch and fit the bottom and rim of your pie pan.
For the cover, thinly roll the dough and slice into strips to cross-hatch over your filling.

For your filling, in a large bowl empty the two cans of apple pie filling (which is VERY bland)
and mix in your seasonings (cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar) with a large spoon until satisfied.
Empty your filling into the bottom of your pie crust.

I kept adding more and more brown sugar and cinnamon because I'm a huge sweetie.
On top of the filling, I also added a few teaspoons of butter, for melting purposes.

Once you've completed your pie filling and sliced your pie dough into strips as a cover,
begin cross-hatching from one side to the other.
As you lay the strips over the top,
be sure to pinch the base crust and cover crust together to seal the pie.

Pinch all around the sides of the pie to make sure it's completely sealed.

To finish off the pie before it heads into the oven, brush an egg wash over the top of your crust.
Mix one egg with 2 tablespoons of water and brush on thoroughly.

Bake on 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the crust dark golden brown with a simmering filling.
Complete this dessert with some vanilla bean ice cream: Delicious.
Hope you enjoyed my recipe... We sure did!

I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July!
If you're wondering why most of these photos weren't taken by me, it's because my digital camera is currently undergoing repair by Best Buy. I've been shooting with film lately and my camera should be returned to me by no later than next week, so please bear with me.
Thanks for reading, darlings.
XO

JULY, YOU ARE ALWAYS MOST WELCOME.

Small collective haul from over the last month or so.
Including purchases from Forever 21, Bath & Body Works, Target & MAC.

I apologize for the tiny outburst!
I was having far too many interruptions to hold it together.
Thanks for bearing with me, darlings.

I'd also like to bring some attention to the few minor modifications I made to the blog today.
On the sidebar, I've added a clickable link to my Tumblr "Art Diary",
as well as a Google search bar at the very bottom that allows you to specifically search my blog.
Last but not least, finally a new ID picture... It's about time, heh.
Any suggestions, questions, comments, concerns?
Feel free to share!

Thanks for reading/watching & I hope you enjoyed.
XO