Look Linger Love

I’m back from a quick weekend in Chicago. And I’m exhausted. We kept moving the whole time and I landed back in Charleston at 11 last night. It was such a fun time. I stayed with my friend Jeanette, she and I are friends from high school.

I’m off to Chicago for a girly weekend. It’s going to be freeeeezing there. Not exactly the fall weather I was expecting…. oh well. See you next week!

Above, a few things going in my suitcase.

At least in my mind. Sally King Benedict, Kate Long Stevenson, Mary Nelson Sinclair, and Amanda Talley joined forces for a show at Blueprint in Dallas last weekend. Talent abound. You have no idea how bummed I am that I wasn’t present for this greatness…

These photos are taken from the artists themselves. They’re not fancy. They’re just real. Enjoy :)

Kate…

 And Kate’s husband showing off his woman’s work…

 Sally King Benedict, y’all!

 Kate…

 Sally again… These colors… so good.

A little Mary Nelson… she’s one of Sally’s long time besties. Pretty freaking good, right? That bottom middle piece makes me want to pull out my wallet. I just looked it up though, it’s sold.

And Kate again, that middle one might be my very favorite and should be in my house.

Oh look – Amanda Talley! Hello genius.

Here’s a picture of Mary Nelson. Isn’t she the cutest?

I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl. When I was little we lived on a farm. You do the math. I’ll never be able to give up cheeseburgers or fried chicken. But I try to eat a variety of foods, too. And one thing that I do struggle with is making vegetable at home. And the fact that I can get the most awful tummy aches after eating vegetables and fruit doesn’t help. What gives with that, anyway? Plate of fries? No problem. Sleeve o’ cookies? Easy. Broccoli? I’m miserable for at least 5 hours.

So when Claire of Heavy On The Veggie reached out to me, I took it as a sign. She’s a nurse practitioner with a focus on nutrition and exercise. And we have a few friends in common. Wasn’t long until we had a cooking party on the books…

So the focus for dinner was eating vegetables simply. IE, something I might actually try to cook myself at home. We roasted broccoli (I know, at home I’ll switch it to cauliflower or something), grilled some okra, and made veggie pizzas. Even better, we had fun doing it.

Hey look, my friend Lulie was there. Again, this post is not about art, damn it…

But it is about wine.

I know okra seems like such a southern thing, but I swear it’s tasty. And I had never had it grilled – divine. Claire just tossed it with EVOO, seasoned salt, and a little red pepper.

For the pizzas we used tomato sauce or pesto (I did half and half) on Naan bread and then loaded up the veggies. Roasted peppers, onions, mushrooms, whatever you want. We make pizza at home a lot and I regularly use roasted red peppers. So good. The broccoli was just tossed with EVOO, salt and pepper and then roasted in the oven at 400 for about 20 minutes. Claire squeezed a lemon over it before serving.

Good, healthy food with good people just makes you feel good. I’ve made it a priority to eat more veggies during my day. Thanks for the gentle push and guidance, Claire. Your blog is such an inspiration! I’m feeling Heavy On The Veggie.

PS: I’m pinning lots of veggie recipes here. Don’t judge the other yummy recipes mixed in there. It’s all about balance, right? ;)

Forgive my lack of post yesterday. You see, I found another woman in my bed over the weekend.

Lastly, a great big thank you to Miss Sarah Yang at House Beautiful for sharing my blog on your site (and reading LLL!). Made my day when I saw this.