June was such an epic month that I couldn't squeeze this post in before it ended. Lots of fantastic things happened, like bridal showers, my birthday, beach trips, a few awesome evenings in Philly with friends, Nutella Latte Popsicles for #popsicleweek, blogger meet-ups, and more - some of which I will go into more detail about below. July better bring it if it wants to keep up, that's for sure.

APPRECIATING

My Bridal Shower - My maids of honor, bridesmaids, family and friends threw me the most amazing bridal shower I ever could have hoped for. It was 1950s-themed, and everyone was told to wear an apron, pearls and lipstick. They could not have picked a better theme for an apron-wearing food blogger. Props for that go mostly to my mom, since I think it was her idea. As soon as I showed up at the party I was abducted by my two maids of honor, who put an apron on me, pearls around my neck, and lipstick on my face. Party favors were mason jars filled with chocolate chip cookie ingredients and a recipe to go with it, which was also perfect. We played a few [embarrassing] games, ate some tasty food, drank wine and I opened a lot of gifts. As a food blogger, my bridal shower felt like my own personal Christmas. Every gift was an opportunity for a new recipe or a new food styling prop for future posts. Highlights included (but are not limited to): a recipe book with notecards of recipes submitted by each guest, some cookbooks (naturally), a collection of aprons from Robert's grandma that have been in their family since the '50s (!!!!), a ring that used to belong to my grandmother, a fancy electric tea kettle with special settings for different kinds of tea, the most beautiful ceramic teapot I ever did see, a little bouquet of kitchen utensils, animal butt magnets, beautiful napkins from Anthropologie that I've been coveting for years, and SO MUCH MORE. I still have to put all of it away ... but I also kind of enjoy seeing it all in a big pile. My talented Uncle Bill was asked to crash the party to document it with photos, which he did marvelously (as was expected). You can see some of the evidence below. Thank you so much to everyone involved - I can't even begin to tell you what a treat that party was for me.

ENJOYING

Beach Time - My family recently went to the beach for a week (Ocean City, NJ), as we do every summer. I did not stay for the whole week because I was saving my time off of work for my honeymoon in August. I was lucky enough to be able to go for the weekends bookending the trip. But more importantly, on my birthday, Robert and I took the best photo booth pictures we have ever taken. On the boardwalk there is a retro photo booth that probably dates back to the '60s or '70s. It could be the same one that my parents used to take photos in as teenagers. It prints out in black and white only, complete with light leaks, and you have no idea what your pictures really look like until you wait the 3 minutes for the machine to develop them and spit them out for you. I love this set we took in particular because I feel like each shot could be a still from a really weird horror movie.

READING

Delancey - I used to read novels alllll the time. As I've gotten older, I've found/made less time to read, and these days in particular I'm mainly reading cookbooks and food magazines. I miss reading novels the way I used to, so when I'm at the beach I have a few simple goals that I stick to: have fun, don't get sunburnt, take naps, go for runs, drink alcohol (but not too much) and read as many books as possible. This year, with only two full days for sitting on the beach and reading, I succeeded. I read two whole books - one for each day. My favorite was Delancey by Molly Wizenberg. I had been anxiously awaiting the release of this book (and the chance to read it) because I read her first book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. I just adore the way she writes - it feels so cozy, like she is an old friend that you're having a conversation with over coffee or tea, seated at a worn-in kitchen table. I appreciated in this new book of hers how honest she is with us, the readers, about her struggle to stay sane and supportive while her husband opens a pizza restaurant. I could definitely relate to her mental state throughout the story. Overall it's a wonderful read, and it made me really want to go to Seattle so I can eat at their restaurant. (The other book I read at the beach was this awesome time-travel romance, which I enjoyed as well.)

OMG-ING

Blogger Picnic Lunch - On Sunday Robert and I drove up to NYC for the day so we could share a meal in Prospect Park with a bunch of amazing people from the internet. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we hung out with so many amazingly talented people and ate some of their food. Marian and Sarah from Food52 provided the best loaf of focaccia I've ever eaten, along with something mind-blowing called "zucchini butter" (both of which I need to make ASAP) and a blueberry rhubarb galette. Lindsey from Dolly and Oatmeal brought a refreshing chopped salad with tahini dressing that I also can't stop thinking about. Cynthia from Two Red Bowls made the best tofu I've ever had in my life, which I begged her to put on her blog (please do!). Linda from The Tart Tart and Catherine from Food52 both brought donuts (you can't have too many donuts). Yossi from Apt. 2B Baking Co. showed up with a ridiculously buttery and delicious sour cherry crumble pie thing which just confirmed in my mind that she is the kind of baker that you always listen to. Molly Yeh contributed tasty morsels from Brooklyn Larder, and her food photographer friend Donny, who runs a blog of interviews with other food photographers, joined us as well and supplied some chips and cookies. Robert and I didn't bring anything because we were slackers who drove there from Philly that morning and thought we were going to buy stuff at the farmer's market which ended up being nonexistent on Sundays. Oops. But they were all as sweet as you would have expected them to be and they let us hang out with them anyway, and even sent us home with leftovers. Need I say more? It was basically the best day ever, and I hope it happens again.

Prints of my illustrations (and other products with my work on them) are available in my Society6 shop.
Bridal shower photos by my uncle, Bill Ecklund, and picnic photos by Robert Cornelius.