Following Rabbits Blog

Now that I've made the switch from iced to hot tea with the weather cooling down, I'm craving a tea party! I found some fab tea party essentials on etsy:

invitations by tomkatstudio, 'eat me' cupcake tags by pinkcherrymama, Alice notebook favors by TheGiftShed, tea party cookie cutters by cutesupply

loose tea from peacelovetea (clockwise from top left): forest park blend, pumpkin spice chai, coconut chai, vanilla peach apricot blend

assorted tumblers and mugs by utilemud (clockwise from top left): bright teal tumblers, turtledove mugs, turtledove tumblers, olive and pink mugs

I'm really enjoying all this fabulous food I have leftover in my fridge! YUM!

WATCH IT: videos I peeped this week that you should too
As the Guggenheim gears up for their YouTube Play exhibit on the 22nd, they have narrowed their choices down to their shortlist. Of 120 videos, 20 will be chosen and shown in the museum next weekend. You can view the shortlist here. Definitely some amazing and artistic stuff!

HEAR IT: songs I downloaded this week
1. Bend and Break by Keane 2. Running Up That Hill by Placebo 3. Breakable by Ingrid Michaelson 4. Giving Up by Ingrid Michaelson 5. Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne 6. Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna 7. My Best Theory by Jimmy Eat World

...cause who wouldn't wanna crowd surf at the museum of natural history?!
(photo via flickr)

DO IT: things to add to your calendar
Get your drink and dance on, tonight at the Museum of Natural History. $25 gets you access to DJs, bars, and hours of dancin' it up with T-Rex and the solar system. 

Saturday check out the Edible Garden with celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Michael Psilakis at the New York Botanical Garden. Samples of sustainably produced food on the Tasting Terrace, booksignings by chefs and gardeners at the Cookbook Collective, and guided tours; $20 admission.

Check out the Grub Street Food Festival on Saturday as they present the best of NYC street-eats at the Hester Street Fair. Admission is free; 10a-6p.

Pickles anyone? Sunday is the 10th annual NYC Pickle Day on the Lower East Side. 

Last weekend I met someone new... we'll call him a person of interest and leave it at that for now. I invited him over for dinner, then panicked over what to make. I had a lot of people putting in their two cents about what I should cook-- including my entire office. I was reluctant to cook anything remotely resembling Italian, since he comes from a big Italian family, and I'm less than gourmet level in my chefness. The CEO of the company I work for offered to pick up some fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes from a market near his house in Jersey. We decided as a group I couldn't go wrong with chicken, some sort of starch, a vegetable, and the tomato/basil/mozz to start. The morning of my date, my boss called me from the checkout line at the market-- along with my app ingredients, he also bought organic chicken, lawry's seasoning salt, fresh chives, rosemary and parsley, fresh green beans, garlic, onion, sea salt, an orange and lime, olives, a hard cheese for crumbling, orecchiette pasta, strawberries, dipping chocolate, "and an african violet centerpiece... it was only $1.99!" What a guy! Everything I needed for my dinner, top to bottom. He gave me instructions for how to put everything together, and sent me on my way. I picked up a baguette from the bakery near my apartment, and set to work. 

The chicken went into a glass casserole dish. I squeezed half of the orange over it, added the lawry's seasoning salt, rosemary, parsley, minced garlic, and a drizzle of olive oil. That went into the oven at 350* for 30 minutes. 

In the meantime, I put the pasta on to boil, nipped and cleaned the green beans, and cut up the tomatoes and mozzarella. I sautéed minced garlic, butter and olive oil to toss the pasta in, adding a dash of sea salt, cheese crumbles, and some chopped basil and parsley to the mix. 

I was running out of time before he arrived, so I cut up the bread, arranged the tomato/basil/mozzarella and olives on a plate for the table, and ran to change and touch-up my makeup. I threw the green beans in for a quick steam and pulled out the chicken. A little spritz of lime to the chicken, and butter and lime on the beans, and voila! Probably the tastiest, nicest dinner I've ever made. Yay!

A friend of mine recently turned me on to Irregular Choice shoes-- I'm so in love! I've always been the type to buy shoes that standout... I don't want what everyone else is wearing. I want to turn heads. It was a big deal in my small town high school to have shoes that no one else had. I got on board when I was the first to buy metallic blue Doc Marten boots when I was 15, and I haven't stopped since. I love colors, patterns, textures-- anything over the top or unusual. Going along with my love for anything whimsical and worthy of Wonderland, Irregular Choice shoes are gorgeous enough to be called art. Here are my favorites:

 How fun are these?! The embellishment on these basic black pumps make them extra flirty and super cute from the back!

 I was on board with the spats look ages ago (I even made my own pair)... it's a big trend this fall.

 I'm picturing wearing these pumps with a fab baby blue dress with a white bib... get all vintaged out.

These boots are fab! Check out the white rabbit in the teacup on the heel- awesome!

Queen of hearts, anyone? These are amazing.

Not sure what I'd wear these with, but they're fantastic. Gothic Alice- I'm loving the stripes. 

Irregular Choice is located on Lafayette, or you can shop online. These shoes are definitely on my Christmas wish list already!