black bass hotel
In exploring Pennsylvania, we were brought to The Black Bass Hotel in Lumberville. In an area rich with revolutionary history, this hotel sided with the British and still boasts a decor reflecting this. The bar held giant displays filled with china and memorabilia dedicated to the royal families through the years. It was beautiful.
i’m in veggie heaven
I keep trying to come up with the words to describe how totally in love with Veggie Heaven I am, but I think it’s fairly clear from the photos how utterly amazing this restaurant is. It’s a little spot in New Jersey we go to whenever we’re in the area (which is not all that often). We visited this year the day after Christmas and the whole place was packed. I’m sure you can imagine why; vegan sushi. We’re not talking about your average cucumber rolls and tofu tempura. They have spicy “tuna” rolls, seitan eels rolls and a bunch of fancy combos like the Dynamite Roll. Every dish is just spot on for flavor and while there are tons of vegan offerings here in Los Angeles, there really is just nothing that satisfies my sushi cravings like Veggie Heaven.
pizza love
This past Saturday was Shawn’s birthday. To celebrate, we ate lots and lots of pizza (and made ice cream sundaes, but that’s for later). We had pizza with cashew cheese, with teese, with follow your heart and pizza with daiya. There was buffalo chicken pizza with ranch dressing, pear and truffle oil pizza, pepperoni pizza, avocado pizza and many variations in between. Though there were many kinds, we kept each pizza simple by using only a few topping on each one. I think there were also about 3 pizza ideas that never made it to the table, but we’ll just have to make those next time.
So much pizza. So much delicious pizza.
What’s your favorite kind of pizza?
2011 in Review
Here I am, snuggled up on the couch, with my little cats, and the sun shining in over my shoulder. I’m welcoming 2012 with open arms. I feel as if there is a new hope and openness with the turn of the year and I am trying to embrace it with hard work and creativity. In moving forward, I also think it’s important to look back and to find your current place. So here is a glimpse at all the wonderful things that happened in 2011.
January was filled mostly with wedding planning. I sent out our handmade book wedding invitations. My mother and her friends threw me a beautiful bridal tea party filled with exquisite china and scones. We also celebrated vegan pizza day. Yum!
February was the month we got married. So that was the best ever.
We started March on our honeymoon in New Zealand. We hung out with alpacas, went camping and hiking and had an amazing time. When we got back, I introduced you to these little creatures in our home and we made toadstool terrariums. I also shared photos from our rehearsal party with Seabirds Truck and took you all on the adventure of making our wedding cakes.
In April I finally was able to share the beautiful photos from our wedding. We found a new place to live, packed, moved and then had a huge, wonderful, fancy Easter brunch.
In May I did a lot of cooking. I made fresh bread, chocolate chip cookies, and mint infused vodka. I also finally got my own camera. We celebrated Memorial day with BBQ and s’mores.
In June a tragic thing happened, our favorite restaurant, Pure Luck, closed its doors forever. We went to the second Vegan Beer Fest, ate awesome food and sampled a ton of great beers. Kim and I launched A Moveable Feast, a vegan secret supper club. I started making our wedding quilt, even though I’d never made a quilt before. I started writing a little bit more about films I love like The Piano and A Woman Under the Influence.
July was filled with fun events. We attended the Renegade Craft Fair in downtown Los Angeles. Plant Based Parties had a kickoff dinner and we sampled some great vegan delicacies. To top it off, we threw a Batman birthday party for Shawn’s brother, Kyle.
August was exciting because I performed my first aerial silk routine since I was a teenager (and even posted a video). I made possibly my favorite pizza ever. There was a little glimpse into our home and some of our collections. Not to mention, Kim and I pulled off an amazing Spanish style secret supper.
In September, I finally shared a few rooms of our home, including the bedroom and dining room. I made some more crazy dishes like fried green tomatoes and vegan nutella.
October was huge. To start it off right, we went to the horrorthon at the New Beverly. Our film, Brainwashed Love, was in the LA Femme Film Fest. I made lentil loaf. I decorated the mantle with smiling pumpkins and made cute bat cupcakes. Then of course we had our 4th Annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon, which was crazy and a huge success. Plus, I made Shawn his very own black velvet cape.
November held some life-changing experiences. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving at Madeleine Bistro. I turned 28. We went to AFI Fest and saw some of my favorite films of the year including Snowtown, Oslo August 31 and Kill List. It was so inspiring to see such well crafted films. Then, we went to our dear friends’ wedding in Ojai, which I attempted to dye a dress brown for.
And finally we’re in December. This past month was full of celebrations for holidays and friends. I finally finished our wedding quilt. We went on a really nice little trip to Palm Springs. I got a surprise delivery from a new friend. Last, but not least, we spent the holidays on the East Coast with Shawn’s family and had quite the adventure. I’ll get to share some tidbits from that over the next few days including some fantastic restaurants we went to.
Looking back, this past year has been filled with wonder. I feel truly lucky and fulfilled. I can’t wait for what this year brings, as there is so much in the works. I’m nearing the finish of writing our second feature film, a psychological thriller set in the woods, that I’m so excited about and honestly really proud of. Both Shawn and I have a few short projects that we’re going to put together as our major goal of the year is to make more films. We’ll be going to at least two film festivals in the next few months and in just a few weeks I’ll be attending Altitude Design Summit. Major stuff. I love it. Hooray for 2012!
farewell 2011
The end of the year is truly upon us and only a few hours remain of 2011. It seems everyone is excited about the new year and things to come as am I. 2011 was a major turning point for me as it is the year that Shawn and I got married. A lot of other cool stuff happened too. I see a little roundup of the year coming in next few days.
I’m sure that 2012 is going to hold many magical things as we already have a few things planned, and after our little winter vacation I’m feeling inspired and content.
Generally speaking I’m not much of a resolution type of girl, but I do have a few this year, both big and small. On the small end, I want to keep track of the films that we watch this year, so I can look back at the end of the year. On the slightly bigger end, one of my other goals is to live life more simply.
Many things will be happening on the blog in the next few weeks. I have lots of lovely photos from our recent trip to share and hopefully there will be a bit of a redesign in the near future.
Wishing you you all a wonderful new year!
Much love,
Alix
