beautiful arrangements: emily blincoe

I have a lot of free time when I work at the coffee bar because the customers are so nice and easy and leave me alone except for quick refills of black coffee for the most part. Half the time I am taking artsy photos for social media to encourage people to hike on down here and visit me:

new seating outside!

fancy bean jugs

Emma's birthday tulips

I discovered this very interesting photographer Emily Blincoe. I really enjoy all her images but I am particularly drawn to her creative arrangements! I have no life news of my own to share, so here's some inspiration.

easter egg shells

rainbow pebbles

abc noodles

the inside of tomatoes

colorful citrus!

*last five images from Emily Blincoe's Instagram

xoxo

new orleans chicory coffee

I am home from NOLA and so exhausted but mainly desperately missing the food and COFFEE! New Orleans traditionally brews my favorite drink with ground chicory, the dried root of the chicory flower.

Brief History lesson: Chicory root is harvested much like sugar beet and primarily comes from France and South Africa. The ancient Greeks and Romans used chicory as a veggie and in salads! When Napoleon enacted the Continental Blockade in the 1800s, the French had a very limited coffee supply and so began cutting the bean with ground chicory. The trend continued even after trade resumed and spread to French influenced Louisiana in the 19th century. New Orleans continues to cling to this coffee heritage, not only for its history and distinctive taste, but for many supposed health benefits! Read more here [ I did not fact check this site, why would the internet lie to me :) ]

 It was so delish, a little like chocolate, a little deep nutty flavor in the coffee.

beautiful Nicki enjoying some iced cold brew outside French Truck, home of the best coffee I have ever ever tasted.

myself enjoying the sunshine and the caffeine buzz on the NOLA river walk!

I'm going to stop by the grocery store/ spice store tomorrow to get some chicory myself and then report back!

xoxo

P.S. on the plane I read The King's Curse, the newest Philippa Gregory novel on the plane!! It follows Margret Pole, daughter of George Plantagenet (Richard of York's middle brother, the one who was drowned in a vat of malmsey wine) through the childhood and first four wives of Henry VIII. It was excellent, better than some of her more recent historical fictions. I love everything she puts out though, her stories are so captivating.

Winter again..

How was last Sunday 74 degrees... It's 19 degrees right now and the snow is coming down fast. Luckily I am inside at work with a giant sweater and my knitting to keep me warm! Though it's nothing like woods hole:

Buddha is buried in my mom's back yard

we in Virginia are still expected to get 8 inches today and tonight. Fingers crossed we get snowed in and I can skip work tomorrow!! 

Today has been pretty slow, probably people are inside staying warm! I read this book today, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. I really enjoyed it, obviously it was a quick read. This novel is smothered of the world as we know it sort of story, but much more practical and realistic than a lot of what's out there. Told through the eyes of a middle school girl, Miracles follows what happens when the earth's rotation begins to slow. It was very interesting and also a little sad, I recommend it if you are not prone to anxiety!

Back to all anyone can talk about, the snow!

• Click to continue... and see some art work!

I'll take some coffee with my milk, please.

It has been SO SLOW at work lately, so I read two books the past few days.

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr came highly recommended by my father. It just recently came out, so I could only get it from the library from their "7 day only" loan shelf because all the other copies were out. This novel is set during the lead up and the final days of WWII. It follows two young people, a blind girl living in Paris and a German orphan boy. Each "chapter" is only a few pages or less and vacillates between their narratives. The writing and descriptions in this book is are so lovely even when writing about the atrocities of war. I very much enjoyed this book - highly recommended for everyone. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is a fun one I picked up on the recommendation of someone in my book club. I liked that this book had a vaguely magical aspect without anything magical happening. The narrator is a young man who had recently graduated from college and promptly lost his job in the recession. He becomes a clerk at a 24 hour book store in San Francisco. Eventually he notices that some of his customers are acting curiously and taking out books entirely written in code and he sets out to discover what is happening. This was a very fast and interesting book! 

My dad asked me to post some pictures of the IX Building location that I have been working at lately: 

Click to keep reading!

where is winter?

It's 40 degrees in Charlottesville right now and we have an estimated high of 54! Where is winter?? The other day (tuesday i think) we had a thin dusting of snow and people freaked out, no one could drive, all the sorority girls broke out their uggs, it was ridiculous.

image from tumblr

I have been making non-fat chais ("do you have non fat soy?") alllll week for the girls rushing sororities. ("how many calories does this gluten free cupcake have?" "Can I get six forks so we can share this one cupcake?")

Today is my day off (yay!), it was a long week back, i've worked 6 days this week and work 6 next week, although it is still not full time which baffles me. I've been doing some redecorating and organizing this morning, Keegan just got up and is watching the Arsenal game, we have to go grocery shopping at some point. Keegan's friend Dan made fun of us last night over text message for being boring. However, his night of hosting a huge party at his frat because it's rush week and having people totally trash the place does not sound fun to me in the slightest.

this is the extent my "partying" ever gets to, eating chinese food and watching someone else drink beer