+ I am tired... it is a little bit passed midnight...but I am going to pretend it is still Thursday.

+ If you have been reading my blog for more than a year then you will remember my winter character Bjorn the Woodsman.  + He is one of my favorites. I plan to make some paper-mache sculptures of him here soon...Below Bjorn are pics I saw online today of some Holiday windows back in New York....That righteously inspired me to make a little vignette of Bjorn and his daily tasks while out in the woods.  There is an apt. that Jesse and I are waiting to hear back from and if all goes well and we get to move in...the living room has PERFECT eye level windows for me to do my very own holiday window displays!!!! Oh I hope sooo badly we get into this place!  It is crazy how many BEAUTIFUL old homes there are here in SLC to rent/own.  Plus they are insanely affordable...well, compared to New York...

pics found here

Also,  if you happen to live in the SLC area....my boss and good friend Allison Dayton is having her annual

holiday sale on all jewelry!!!! YEAH!  It should be an event you won't want to miss! 

One can never have too many cowl neck scarves....I came across this designer awhile ago and instantly fell in LOOOOVE! Yokoo makes goregous oversized knit scarves, hats, shawls etc. that will make your mouth water, well for me they do! 

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wishing I could go Here today

especially with it being all nice and snowy-like outside...

A long time ago...gosh, I think it was 8 years ago...I took a shoe making class at Make Workshop back in New York City, I took it with my favorite girlfriends Jenny & Erin ----- Wish I could go back to NY and taking their knitting class with the two ladies.... someday....
but I must get ready for work now, I hope everyone has

a wonderful Thanksgiving ---- I am driving to Idaho today with the fiance and his family for the Holiday... I am hoping where we are going looks a little bit like this painting of Grandma Moses's!

Today we got an awesome blizzard! 

I got to leave work early

This called for a celebration

+ Bake up some chocolate chip cookies +

::::::: using a Nestle Toll House recipe...with a few tricks* up my sleeve :::::::::::

It was so cold I could see my breath.....

I have been using this recipe for 8+ years....has yet to fail me. :)

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tspn baking soda

1 tspn salt

2 sticks of ROOM TEMP. BUTTER

3/4 cup of BROWN & WHITE sugar

1 tspn vanilla

2 eggs

chocolate chips [jumbo preffered]

walnuts 

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my *secret trick:

make sure the butter is soft but firm...
mix EVERYTHING but flour together. mix it good. mix it for more than 4 min. SERIOUSLY!

then add the flour in slooooooooowly...but add 1/4 MORE after the 2 1/4 

hand mix in chocolate chips & walnuts

then dollop the cookie dough on to sheets with spoons..do not form with hands

bake at 375 degrees for 8 min! 1 min before taking out, sprinkle some SEA SALT on top of 

the cookies. voila! You now have the one of thee best chocolate chip cookies EVER!!!!!!

p.s. this is what I was listening to over and over while baking tonight...

My wedding photographer friend Joshua Brown introduced me to this music/art video yesterday --- this was made by his friends Chateau Bezerra & Alpha Smoot back in NY.  I have watched this about 10 times now... my favorite part is of the cross walk people going back and forth! You will loooove this and I bet you will be just as addicted! Plus, the song is perfect!

On Melancholy Hill - NYC Lights from Chateau Bezerra on Vimeo.

This last week has been crazy - but good crazy! As you all have read, last Wednesday I got engaged [which was awesome!] and then....the next day, I was offered a full time position at DownEast Outfitters where I work, as their Home Store Merchandiser! That has been a huge blessing, mostly because it means I can now start paying my School debt off!!!!

Have you gotten sick of my marriage talk yet? Don't worry....it will all be over in 59 years!  So I need to move out of my ultra cozy cottage apartment here come next month. I cannot begin to tell you how sad this makes me. :( I wish I could stay here for a good long time, but Jesse is 6 foot 2" and this apartment is made for someone 5 foot 11"....truth! I am 5 foot 4" and it fits me like a glove. I hope to find a tenant to take over my lease who I think will be sweet to this lil lady of a place. She loves to be clean, smell good, sing songs, bake cookies and cakes...oh and looking out at the mountains from the living room and kitchen window. If neglected, she gets really sick...will catch a cold easily... and then....oh gosh, I don't even want to think of what could happen to her...upon my first night's stay here, lady apartment and I stayed up all night talking...she told me of old tenants who use to occupy her...they were mean... we cried that night. :( 

So to help me find the perfect tenant to take over my lease, let me introduce you to my apartment. 

I  already know what our wedding cake is going to be/look like [that is a surprise till after the wedding!] :[) But here are some cakes that are just as beautiful and interesting! 

Sugar Peaks Wedding Cake from Martha Stewart Weddings

The Caketress

 

I have slowly been collecting candle holders, mini vases etc. at the thrift store to make some cakestands... My color palette for my wedding is off white, white, gold & silver with touches of a slate blue [Jesse added that last one in there] and I am going for a vintage theme...trying to stay in between the 20's and 40's...I really like the look of the tarnished candlestick holders and can't decided if I should polish them or not...these are things that are keeping my up at night now! hahaha lol - retarded!

 

Wednesday night when driving back from Buca Di Beppo, where we had dinner after the proposal ---- we decided to go rent a move - we chose one of my VERY FAVORITES... Everyone Says I Love You by Woody Allen, another favorite! This movie is the best movie to watch if you like comedy, musicals, and over magnified seasons in New York! But before getting to Blockbuster, I was all giddy and antsy in the car and couldn't stop smiling, and Jesse said he knew just the song to play right then!!!  MY VERY VERY VERY FAVORITE! Empire of the Sun's "Walking on a dream!" We were singing and car dancing as best we could! Gosh, that song puts anyone in the best of moods!   So I have that song for you my friends and a new favorite of mine by Kennedy called "Karate" - just listen to the lyrics, they are HILARIOUS! The best line "I drive like a gangsta when I'm coming to see you" oh yeah!!!!  Have a great weekend - more engagement stuff tomorrow!

Empire of the Sun

Kennedy

 

Part 1: 

 It is true my friends!!!! Last night Jesse proposed to me up in Immigration Canyon [here in Utah] I was definitely surprised [more about that in my "how he proposed post" ] even though we have been talking about getting married.  I have to get ready for work now, but I just want to share some photos of the beautiful ring and my fiance!  Have a great day everyone!!!! :-[) 

+

We stopped to take some photos on our Drive back to Salt Lake from just having dinner at my mom & stepdad's in Alpine [June 2010]

And finally! The ring he proposed to me with! A blackish gray diamond friends! :[) And I get to design a little band that goes with it! Because I am an idiot and don't know my ring size...I told Jesse awhile back that it was a size 7!!! lol yeah, more like a 5.5...anyways, we have to get it sized down... So if you want to know more about our story together, check back late tonight!

 

Geisha posters found here

Japan is one of my favorite countries I have visited. I used to be married to a Japanese guy [hence my last name Asami] and we would visit Japan every year for Christmas & New Years.  This country is chock full of design inspirations and fabulous destinations! Check back later today for more Japanese inspiration. :)