an aggregate of all things Johnson

J.Crew slays me every season with their beautiful new stuff. It never fails. Every three months, here I am, writing about my undying devotion to the retailer. It is getting more than a little repetitive, but I can’t help myself! Have you seen their new fall shoe collection? I feel like I could fit each and every pair into my wardrobe and be totally, but subtly on trend for fall. Above are some of my very favorites:

• Langford platform oxfords
• Jane platform heels
• Cracked leather boots
• Clara platform pumps
• Camden suede brogues

I can’t buy them all… which style would you choose?

Related posts:

1. lovely j.crew shoes
2. summer sandals
3. j.crew gets me every time!

I missed my little dog, Crusher, so much while we were traveling last week! It is really a little bit crazy how much I love that dog. He is my baby and my companion while I work at home… he is just so loyal, it is impossible not to love him.

Thank goodness my brother, Seth, came to NY to babysit Crusher while we were away. It was so much better to have him here than when we left Crusher at the kennel last time we traveled. Crusher was traumatized by the kennel and came back completely filthy and encrusted in urine. It was awful. This time Seth took wonderful care of him – even taking him to the dog park each day!

We got Crush two souvenirs at Disney World – a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a stuffed yeti from Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. Crusher loves the yeti, but he isn’t too fond of clothing. He is totally spoiled.

Related posts:

1. the rehersal (complete with mouse ears)
2. good bye, vacation!
3. Halloween baby

Travis and I got back late yesterday from a wonderful week in Florida. You can guess by the photo where we spent our time…

Due to a paranoid concern for safety, I usually try not to advertise on the internet where I am going until after I have left there. That was the case for our trip to Disney World this summer, but I also felt a little embarrassed telling people where I was vacationing. Disney World may not be the most “adult” destination for four childless twenty-somethings (we went with my brother & sister-in-law — Hi Chels & Scott!), but it was an easy, affordable, sunny, and happy place to spend a week. We planned this trip last year after spending an incredible 17-hour day together at DisneyLand in California.

Say what you will about Disney (too commercial, too saccharine, too dependent on gender stereotypes, historically incorrect, etc…), Disney World really, truly is a very fun and wonderful place. I am not sure how anyone could dislike a place that’s main purpose is making children happy. It reminds me of New York City in that we saw people of every color and heard dozens of different languages, but unlike NY, at Disney the streets are impeccably clean and everyone is happy and polite and not in a hurry. …well, unless they are rushing to get in line for Space Mountain!

We had a great time. I love roller coasters and funny shows and tasty treats! I got mocked for constantly exclaiming how pleasantly surprised I was by the quality of the food. (I mean, I was not sure I could survive a week on “carnival food,” but I shouldn’t have worried.) My favorite ride was the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios that takes you up in an elevator and then drops you a bunch of stories over and over. So fun! I think we rode it seven times! Each day was packed with lots of activity – the time flew by!

The most surprising outcome of the trip: I cannot wait to take my children to Disney World (or Land) someday. And you know what that means… I am finally getting down to the business of thinking about having children. That is a big step!

You can see way more photos than you probably want from the trip over on my Disney World Flickr pool.

Related posts:

1. home, home, home . . .
2. holiday trip wrap-up
3. what a weekend!

I mostly intended to review New York cupcake shops here on the blog since there are so many, but I can’t pass up the chance to visit bakeries in other locales… so today you get a special Washington DC edition of the cupcake review. On Monday, I visited Red Velvet Cupcakery near the Chinatown and Penn Quarter areas of DC with my two aunts, Dana & Amy.

Red Velvet Cupcakery is a locally owned shop which has recently started to open additional locations. They use “only the highest quality ingredients available on the world stage and believe in supporting the community that has supported us,” including local dairy. Dana had received a recommendation for the Cupcakery from a co-worker and it was easy to find after we arrived at the Chinatown Metro stop.

The Red Velvet Cupcakery has an adorable store front, but a very small interior. There is no seating in the shop and because they only offer one thing – cupcakes – the menu is simple with twelve different flavors to choose from. The bakery case was filled with pretty dome-topped cakes, so even with the limited selection we had a hard time deciding on flavors for our to-go order.

One of the other customers in line ahead of us said we had to try the Vanilla Bean flavor, so we did. We also added a Devil’s Food, a Key West, and a Cookies N’ Cream to our order. They looked so cute in their specially made carrying box! We carried them to dinner and then back to the hotel to enjoy later…

And did we ever enjoy them! They were amazing cupcakes. The cake was moist and flavorful and the icing was light and fluffy. I ate the full Key West flavor and it had just the right amount of lime in the cake without being tangy or sour. The white chocolate icing was the perfect complement to the citrus. Yum! My aunts enjoyed the chocolate cakes and both said the were delicious without being too rich. We split the Vanilla Bean cake three ways, and I am glad we did because it was unanimously our favorite. Thank goodness we listened to the other customer’s suggestion! The vanilla icing was perfect in texture and flavor, with flakes of vanilla bean throughout. Extremely delicious!

The Red Velvet Cupcakery earned a near perfect score on my cupcake rating. It lost a point on frosting because some of the flavors were not as strong as others. Vanilla bean was the best. It also lost one point from the “overall impression” category only because the shop was so small and the selection was limited compared to other cupcake shops. However, Red Velvet Cupcakes are excellent and should definitely be tried if you get the chance. I am so glad I had the opportunity to sample them!

Thanks for the fun day, Dana & Amy!! xoxo

Related posts:

1. cupcake review: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
2. cupcake review: Butter Lane Cupcakes
3. nyc cupcake review: Crumbs Bake Shop

I have been threatening for over a year to have a party/open house at our “new” New York apartment, but the time just never seemed right… until yesterday. Travis and I finally invited our friends over for what I deemed our “Party in Park Slope.” Sounds pretty wild, right?

It turned out to be a really fun evening with a great mix of people. (Above is the group from Team In Training.) It was awesome having access to our roof because it allowed us to invite more people and really spread out. We also played some raucous Rock Band thanks to the generosity of Brian (second from the right above), who dragged his entire set over to our place. I would love to share the video I took of the band in action, but I’m afraid that certain people may never speak to me again if I do… so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

I was nervous about what type of food to serve, this being my first New York City party, and all. I imagined that New Yorkers enjoy much more sophisticated food than what I was used to serving at midwest parties… but I went ahead and made the pigs in a blanket anyway. And, of course, they were a hit. Turns out, everyone loves pigs in a blanket. Also a hit, Baked by Melissa cupcakes. If you are having a party, get them. They are so cute and easy to eat! All in all, I think the food (and the whole party) was a success…

Related posts:

1. bachelorette party
2. a little like home…
3. butte to butte (and an anniversary)