Current Obsessions: Wacky Nails, Beautiful Bathrooms, and Chickpeas

Taken by my sister at Suerte, during my bachelorette party earlier this month in Austin, Texas.

If this seems like an insane blog post title….well, it is, and it is a symptom of my current reality: 100% scatterbrained. Our wedding is only a month away (!!!), and we’re trying to dot a zillion i’s and cross a trillion t’s. On top of that, I haven’t been able to breathe through my nose since Sunday due to catching the world’s worst summer cold. But anyway, here are three things I’m currently obsessed with…

Wacky Nails

One good thing about being stuck at home, sick - - you have time for an at-home manicure.

Multi-colored and patterned manis are absolutely everywhere right now and I LOVE IT. I’ve been into rainbow nails since 4th grade, so I’ve always been a fan of the style, but I love how people are getting so creative/oddball with the color combos. I never thought of nails a self-contained color story - I usually just went full rainbow, or did a 9 nails in green with just 1 in baby blue. Now I’m thinking of them as an added tonal element. For example, I’m currently in leopard pants, leopard shoes, and a black sweater - to accent the fall-energy of my outfit, I have each nail in a different color: raspberry, matte nude-ish pink, deep orange, coral, and dark purple. As far as patterned nails go, I’m not dexterous enough to attempt my own intricate design, and not nearly cool enough to have a nail-tech in my saved contacts, but I’m dying to try this weird abstract-looking modern-portraiture manicure I’m seeing all over the internet.

Beautiful Bathrooms

Image via Domino.

I’ve been taking a lot of long baths recently - it’s my absolute favorite way to relax, and it’s the best place to get deep into a great book. (Just finished Conversations with Friends, now into Nobody Knows My Name.) I love my bathroom, despite it’s tiny size and weird quirks - but I’ve been dreaming of when I can design and decorate my own bathroom and fully optimize it for relaxation & inspiration. This has resulted in a TON of Pinterest-digging…enjoy!

Chickpeas!

Alison Roman’s Herbed Chickpeas, from Bon Apetit. Photograph by Alex Lau.

Yes, yes, I know they’ve been trendy for years now, but guys, chickpeas are amazing. They are a $2 wonder: insanely versatile, a great canvas, and really add some heft to otherwise light recipes. The first chickpea recipe I was floored by came from Bon Apetit, and was written by none other than Alison Roman, my culinary hero and patron saint of the chickpea (and I became obsessed with the recipe long before I even knew it was hers)! If you need convincing on how amazing chickpeas are, start here: Bon Apetit’s Herbed Chickpeas. 6 ingredients, all of them probably things you already have in your kitchen. I’ve tried these on pasta, with added red pepper flakes, over eggs, with butter, smashed on toast, with torn kale and not-quite-ripe avocado tossed in…it’s all delicious. 10/10, would recommend. (I also just made Alison’s Crispy Chicken Thighs with Carmelized Lemon & Chickpeas this week, and it’s fabulous. I added some rosemary & parsley, and, weirdly, a bit of sugar while the chickpeas, onions, and lemon cooked down in the chicken fat. Absolutely delicious.)

Here are a few other favorites. Click each picture to be linked to the recipe.

There! I did it! A blog post!

xoxo,

-Marie

Bridal Brain Attacks!!!!

I haven’t written here since April!!!

Wish I had a better excuse, but here it is: every spare ounce of my mental capacity has been eaten by wedding planning. The moments I used to spend planning outfits, reading fashion zines, and taking photos have been replaced by bridal mutations: planning outfits for my bridesmaids, reading bridal magazines and blogs…you get the idea. I used to spend my hours on Pinterest browsing art, fashion, and interiors - these days it’s rehearsal dinner outfits, place settings, and wedding arches. Don’t get me wrong, it’s mostly an absolute blast!! But I was definitely not prepared for how all-encompassing it is 😂 I consider myself to be a pretty low-key bride (a bride-chilla, if you will…), and even though we’re foregoing a lot of the trimmings, pomp, and circumstance of traditional/big weddings, the number of details to nail down is absolutely bonkers. This is probably why rich people hire wedding planners….

Anyway, the big day is coming up fast!!! I wish it were tomorrow ❤️

We’re done with most of the big stuff, and we’ve barely begun on all the little stuff. In an effort to combat the overwhelm, I’m trying to carve out very specific time for wedding planning each week, and then not let myself get dragged into it during other hours. We’re also trying to make sure that we don’t spend every date just talking about the wedding. There have been shoot-up-out-of-bed-in-the-dead-of-night moments of panic when I realize I forgot to send an email or finalize a detail with a vendor, but generally my fears have been around letting the craziness of the planning/day pull me away from how beautiful & exciting it is to be marrying my partner. My reoccuring bridal nightmare is that I get to the wedding and I’ve forgotten to write my vows because I’ve been too busy with all the other wedding stuff. I understand where the nightmare comes from - I see, respect, and luuurrve the shit out of the part of my subconcious that is wise enough to remind me I have a tendency to get swept up in craziness. It’s just my inner soul nudging me to be present & stay connected to the real point of it all: I’m marrying the man I love. That’s what really matters. At the end of the day, all we really need is an officiant, each other, and a little champagne. The rest is frosting.

Anyway! I wanted to explain the absence. I’m just busy, but I promise I’ll be back soon.

I hadn’t planned on writing much about the wedding here - but would you guys want to know anything about what it’s been like? Or is the idea of wedding-related posts on SWIILPT making your eyes roll into the back of your head? Send me a note!

xoxo,

-Marie

True Romance. [A SWIILPT playlist]

I have a huge reveal to start out this blog post. You ready? Are you sitting down?

I am an absolutely hopeless romantic.

….What, that didn’t shock you? 😂

I’ve always been a sucker for love, and this playlist is full of real romance: the light of first glances, the pull of memory, the angst of honesty. There’s songs about the terrifying magic of being completely yourself in front of someone (“Naked” by Ella Mai), songs about the way a real, supportive partner can lift your entire soul (“Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin), songs about the vulnerable fever of wanting someone that isn’t good for you (“Stay” by Rihanna), songs about realizing you’ve found the only one that matters (“No One Else” by Amel Larrieux), songs about staying committed even when you’re scared (“With You” by Mariah Carey).

Be prepared to feel all the feels by the time you’re done with this one.

xoxo,

-Marie

#iloveyoucalifornia: Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

I’m taking you to a very special spot for my first #iloveyoucalifornia post in 1,000 years 🙃 Point Lobos Reserve is one of my all-time favorite corners of this gorgeous state. It’s just off highway 1, south of Carmel, and North of Big Sur: the perfect 2 1/2 hour drive from San Francisco. It’s a gorgeous exhibition of everything that makes coastal California so incredible: coves, forests, cliffs, marine life, rich history, breaking waves, hiking, birdwatching….I could go on. There’s even a tiny cabin that was built by Chinese immigrants in the 1850s that has been converted to a museum housing information about the history of the area. It’s dope.

Point Lobos has some very accessible & low-stress hiking trails, which makes it a perfect place to bring family when they visit and want to experience some coastal goodness. It’s gorgeous in all seasons: foggy & moody in the summer, and chilly & bright in the winter months. The picture below was taken in December, and is totally unedited - the water becomes insanely blue when the sky is clear. One tip: if the parking lot is full, which it usually is, you can park on either side of Highway 1 outside the entrance to the park and just walk in.

xoxo,

-Marie