what does chanukah smell like?

Was in über home decor store and noticed all the holiday home accents.  you know the candles, centerpieces of dried unidentifiable shrubbery and nuts, stockings and the like...Yankee Candles pulled at my heartstrings reminding me of Christmases past with smells like, home sweet home, mistletoe, Christmas cookies.  then there are the glittery apples and balls and leaves in unnatural colors like blue for the Sophisticates' Christmas, which drew me to the Chanukah side of the accent aisle.  and looking through all the blue candles and sacks, the dreidels and gold coins, i couldn't find it.  i couldn't find a Chanukah smell.  and there were no alluding accents to nature or leaves or food or whatever.  then i thought, well, what does Chanukah smell like??  does it have a smell?  

joy is useless unless SHARED

and this is definitely worth sharing...

PUPPIES DRESSED AS CATS!

thanks coco...

xoxoxo

and my creativity is feeding me.

i love food and like to cook at home and lately my cooking skills have been ON.  i was so impressed by my reawakened domesticity that i had to document it.  thanks to the internet and chance (totally went dada on some recipes) it seemed insanely simple: mix uncooked noodles, milk, cheese and some melted butter in a pan and bake for an hour.  to be honest i stopped reading the recipe after i read the ingredients and skipped to the bake an hour part.  i wasn't even certain that anything more was involved.  before i popped it in the oven i had reservations; it looked like someone puked after eating fettucine alfredo or some junk.  but i had faith.  to top it off i shortened the recipe and came out with a single serving the first night.  the next night i was able to get leftovers for a couple more meals and it came out perfect with crunch edges and everything.  YAY!  i added some diced onions and fresh spinach on top and well, here it is...

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Wish i could make these but i haven't tried to yet.  Occasionally i treat me self and on my way from NY Burger I ran across this cute place called Madeline's Patisserie.  Needless to say these gems in the window caught my eye i heart them!  i think the colors attracted me, then i ate one and loved them so now years later i'm all about the ever elusive macaroon.

There were so many kinds at Madeline's, that they had a menu just for them.  these were the most i ever paid for them so i got just a few - no need to blow all my money on sugar (i was still sipping on a vanilla milkshake from burger place).  of course i got pistachio ones and a praline.  This is my dessert to my insanely easy mac & cheese dinner.  fridays at my crib - you will get fed...

ohhhmmmm

Taking time out is important.  That's why I took off a couple of days and finally slept in for the first time in weeks...

I'm also getting really good at throwing out things that are no longer useful: brochures from a million different yoga places nowhere near my job, scraps of tracing paper and gift bows from like six years ago.  i decided to do something fun with the bows before turning it into garbage...

 xoxo

From Russia with Love.

Someone very empathetic told me today in their wonderfully soothing russian accent that they have a saying that life is like a zebra.  They pointed to my striped sweater with the light stripes contrasting the deep blues intimating, sometimes life is light and sometimes it can be dark.

let us play with your look some more

thank you jimmy fallon...again.

stuff i find and run into...or something.

The Government of The Future (?)

l. to r.: the guy from Robocop, Kyle McLaughlin, Lynch and Bowie.

I saw Kyle in chelsea a few days after I found this photo on, well, fffffound.

ahh synchronicity...