A Thousand Threads

52 dates // 25

The date // A late birthday dinner down south.

On Saturday, still dazed from our 12am return from Alt and 6am swim team wake-up call the next morning, I’d just ordered Chinese and settled into a zombie-like state on the couch when Mark — slowly, carefully, so as not to provoke the tired beast — proposed an adventure.

And hey, who am I to turn down an adventure?

Or, more accurately, who am I to turn down an adventure that involves food?

We’ve wanted to visit The Shack for months now, and haven’t had the time to make the 3 hour drive down to Staunton. But given that we pretty much forgot to celebrate that whole birthday thing (and let’s be honest, Father’s Day before it) we were overdue for a little party.

4 Comments | Posted on: June 23, 2014 | Category: 52 Dates, Adventures, Style

Printable thank you card from Coco and Mingo

Hello 1000 Threads readers! I’m Jessica over from Coco and Mingo and I’m so very happy to be helping Laicie out today while she’s enjoying her time at Alt! Whoohoo! Can’t wait to hear all about it when she gets back!

8 Comments | Posted on: June 20, 2014 | Category: DIY

Insta-game changers from Otherwise Hope

Hey there! While Laicie’s rocking it out at Alt and celebrating the first anniversary of her 29th birthday, she (very kindly!) invited me to share a few photography tips. Photography is a long-held love. It’s one of the few things I can truly lose myself in. While I’ve always been an observer, it’s through photography that I’ve learned to examine, visually compose, and process my surroundings in a far more active manner. Since wrapping my fingers around an iPhone a few years ago, hardly a day a passes without capturing (at the least) a few images. What I’m sharing here is twofold: things to consider when shooting and a few inexpensive, but wildly indisposable tools to help improve your photos.

11 Comments | Posted on: June 19, 2014 | Category: Business

European style from The Likes of Us

BULY 1803 // A.P.C. coin pouch // Dieppa Restrepo loafers // Equipment Blouse // Illesteva Sunglasses

Hello all! Just checking in from a lovely second day in Salt Lake to wish you a beautiful week! And also to introduce you to the first of a few amazing ladies who will be filling in for me while I’m away. Alecia just came back from an insanely beautiful trip through Europe, and she has some incredible things to share. I hope you enjoy, and I’ll see you all back here on Monday!

1 Comment | Posted on: June 18, 2014 | Category: Style

A World Cup Brunch // Liege waffles

Nothing shuts DC down like the World Cup. (Well okay maybe this, but…)

During the week, day games mean the television moves from C-SPAN to ESPN, happy hours are that much happier (or more depressing, depending on your friends’ teams) and work gets done somewhere in between the cheers and jeers… I think.

But on the weekends, there’s really just one thing that can make the fun of the World Cup even better — and that’s brunch. So this week, to celebrate the World Cup, I teamed up with Bing to provide a little brunch inspiration.

I’m not sure if you’ve already seen it, but Bing has a cool tool to predict the winner of each World Cup game — all you have to do is type “World Cup predictions” into a search. And if you take a look right now, Bing has Belgium winning today before moving on to Sunday’s game with Russia.

So while you tune in to watch their next match, you can celebrate Belgium’s win with a brunch buffet that includes these tasty liege waffles.

Your brunch guests will be so psyched they’ll barely even notice the USA game on later that day.

… okay maybe not. But they will love the waffles regardless of who they’re rooting for, and that’s probably worth it right there.

5 Comments | Posted on: June 17, 2014 | Category: Recipes, Sponsored

52 dates // 24

The date // Wine, cheese, and at least an attempt to relax on Father’s Day.

It was the weekend just before a vacation, so you already know it wasn’t exactly serene. Add Father’s Day and a Sunday market to the mix and we found ourselves searching for even the tiniest bit of time to carve out for ourselves.

I won’t say it was much, but in between shooting posts, selling pies, and getting Austin safely to bed, on Sunday evening we popped open a bottle of wine and sat down for a few minutes together.

Sometimes even the tiniest moment can be just what you need.

Earlier in the day, Austin and I gave dad some pretty prints for Father’s Day. Digital photos make it so easy just to file things away that we hardly ever print anything anymore, so we decided to order a few of our favorites for him to put around the house, in his office, or wherever he’d like.

All in all, it was a crazy day, but a good day. And soon we’ll be on our way to Salt Lake for a little bit of work, a whole lot of fun, and hopefully something that looks a little bit more like an actual break. (Although we’ll see.)

Tell me, what were you up to this weekend? Did you find any time to relax?

3 Comments | Posted on: June 16, 2014 | Category: 52 Dates, Adventures

Happy Monday!

I thought I’d share a few late, lovely links — because they were just too good to miss. (Those berry s’mores? Brilliant.)

Hope you’re having a beautiful start to your week!

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Eye this dress — totally acceptable party garb ya?

Buy Rifle Paper Co. wallpaper!

Make this diy face mist.

Bake these roasted berry s’mores.

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Because I’m a nerd.

Money mojo for creative entrepreneurs.

A June playlist from The Flashdance.

Huckle & Goose – such lovely seasonal recipes they’ve collected here.

1 Comment | Posted on: June 16, 2014 | Category: Link Love

Thirty

I’ve been putting this annual birthday post off, partly because I’ll actually be away next week on my birthday, and partly because I don’t think I’ve quite had the time to let the whole 30 thing sink in.

For most of my life I’ve assumed that the inevitable approach of that birthday that’s not the new black would be terrible. But then, I’ve made a lot of assumptions over the years, and most of them turned out to be far from the truth.

At 20, if I didn’t think I’d be running the world by 35, I at least thought I’d be pretty well on my way.

I assumed I’d get a good job straight out of college. I assumed my first marriage would stick. I assumed I was analytical – as opposed to creative – and would be satisfied with a purely analytical job.

At 20, I tried very hard to fit myself into a box. I assumed that if I was one thing, I couldn’t be another.

I thought I had to choose. But at 30, I still can’t.

The difference is that now I’d never try.

I love politics and the issues I work on during the day. Surprises like the majority leader’s defeat and the ongoing shakeup in Washington give me an almost childlike thrill. I love to dig deeply into a subject and try to understand its inner workings, to monitor negotiations in Iran and attempt, somehow, to predict an outcome… but I also love to spend the whole day in the kitchen surrounded by a mess, with scorched hands and sore feet, creating something I can touch and feel. And I love to see the joy on someone’s face when they take their first bite.

16 Comments | Posted on: June 13, 2014 | Category: Adventures, Ramblings

The best Alt Summit reading & resources

Whether it’s your first or your fifth, if you’re headed to Alt next week I’d be willing to bet that right now there’s not much else on your mind.

It’s okay, I know how you feel, so today I thought I’d share a few of my very favorite resources I’ve come across — or what I like to think of as the no bs, down to business advice you really need.

// First and foremost, what not to stress about.

// You especially shouldn’t stress about what to wear.

// But just in case you can’t stop stressing, here’s ALT’s Flickr so you can see what folks tend to wear for yourself. (And then you can stop stressing and just be yourself.)

// What to do now to get your blog ready for Alt.

// A checklist of items to carry in your purse. (Another tip: I love to keep my business cards in a few small baggies and replace them with the cards I gather each day.)

// 21 really fabulous tips. (Like drink water and take chapstick — more important than you know.)

// And most importantly — more than anything else — if you see Mark and I there please come over and say hello! (Given the usual ratio, I think he might be easy to spot.)

Okay all, now speak up. Are you headed to ALT next week? What other resources or tips have you found that you love? If it’s your first time, are there any other questions I can answer before you go?

Folks staying home, any particular notes I can bring you back? (You can see the schedule here.)

Photo by Yvonne Rock.

0 Comments | Posted on: June 11, 2014 | Category: Business

Local strawberries with sabayon

I can’t remember just when it was that I learned to cook. There was a homemade marinara lesson, bestowed on me by someone’s (though I can’t for the life of me remember whose) lovely mom from 4-H, a fancy Belgian waffle recipe (from my own mom of course, who’s never done anything halfway, and taught me to whip up waffles with folded in egg whites before ever even thinking about grabbing for a box of Bisquick) and a creamy berry “goulash” that we used to make after a long day of picking mostly salmonberries, huckleberries, and wild blackberries, but also the occasional thimbleberry (if we could keep ourselves from eating them immediately and actually allow one to make it to the pail) along the dirt road that led to our house.

When I think about learning to cook, my mind wanders over an endless series of moments, flavors, and techniques, but there is no one lesson, no one “beginning” I can point to. Cooking, and even more – baking – feel as if they’ve always been and always will be a part of my life.

I didn’t have an easy-bake oven, but my grandparents had an apple orchard, and both my grandparents and my parents kept a garden. I can see now where every tiny bit of influence over my love of food grew and evolved through the years spent eating raspberries from the bush until my fingers were red. But I’m always learning. And there are a million things out there I’ve yet to learn how to make… more and more that I’m able to tackle each day.

This weekend saw two of those firsts. My first croissants, and my first sabayon.

7 Comments | Posted on: June 10, 2014 | Category: Recipes

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