What's happening to our bread?

One thing I miss most about living in Europe is the fresh bread.  Bread in the States doesn't seem nearly as fresh and tasty as it does in Europe.  That being said, we do have our favorites here too but last week our local grocery store stopped carrying it. What are we going to do without our favorite loafs?  We tried a variety of other breads over the last few weeks- some too flimsy (even after toasting it), some too small, some too oddly shaped.  So, I decided to make my own (still oddly shaped).  I saw this easy recipe. It's fast, looks pretty tasty and seems to have very little down time. It is looking a little funky but it smells delicious. I guess I will have to try and perfect this over the next few days.

....and I tried it again, this time I let it rise a little longer than the suggested 10 minutes (about 30 to be precise). It filled out a little and the end result was prettier.

What we read last night- a favorite

Before bedtime we always read a book (or two). As Sas has gotten older, the books have gotten better. No longer is she interested in just pictures of objects but she is enjoying short stories and beautiful illustrations that go along with it. "I can fly" by Ruth Krauss with illustrations by Mary Blair is one of my favorites. We read it last night. The illustrations are whimsical, the book is not too long and you can start reading the first sentence and have your little one finish it.  What is your favorite children's book?  Do you remember your favorite illustrator?

Baby room tour: Cloudy with a chance of baby

Our littlest one has the biggest room in the house. This room used to be our office and was most logically going to be the nursery since it is right off of the master bedroom as well as on the same floor as Sas' bedroom.This room is great for many reasons, it has 2 huge windows that let in a ton of light, great hardwood floors as well as 2 doors (one opening into the master and one into the hallway). I didn't plan for the baby room to have a theme (clouds) or particular color scheme (yellow/black/white) but it all fell into place in the end. My first inspiration came from a picture I saw on instagram of a half painted black wall with some book shelves (I prefer browsing instagram over pinterest).  Besides having an inspiration room in mind, I wanted to use furniture, art work and toys that we already had; Sas' old white crib, some left over paint from the t.v. room and a couple of salvaged shelves as well as some of her books.  Paul painted the entire room white so I could start of with a clean slate. After (re) building the crib and adding a chair to the room, it still felt a little empty so we looked for a large rug. Crate and Barrel had this yellow and cream rug on sale (that is now no longer available in yellow) and it added the right amount of color and warmth to the black and white room. We added a few colorful prints above the crib (by artist Dalek) and it instantly transformed the room into a cute and cozy baby room. Also, a lot of Saskia's toys were used as decorations around his room; some building blocks, colorful books, bunnies and some new toys sent by family and friends. Finally, I added some wooly pockets to add some oxygen and greenery to the room, after all he will be spending countless (restful) hours in his room. 

Happy Friday from this cutie!

TGIF! I'm working on a post for this coming Monday: a baby room tour. This cutie has the largest room in the house and pretty much the cutest room as well. Below you see a sneak of his gallery wall. More details to come on Monday. Enjoy your weekend.

Sweater weather!

To be perfectly honest, I think I should stay clear of sweaters and sweatshirts. I find sweaters to be bulky and unflattering unless they are very thin or have a fun graphic print on them. However, it is difficult to not cozy up in sweaters especially when it gets to be cold outside. Below are some of my picks for this winter. I already own the 3.1 Philip Lim for target sweatshirt below- BOOM! There is something so fun about wearing it. You can see me wear it here. Also, I am madly in love with Wildfox couture, they are fun and girly. p.s. their swim collection is not to be missed.

Sweater weather! by sabinehogan featuring an adidas sweater

from left to right, top to bottom 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9

Friendship is magic!

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My daughter loves "my little pony friendship is magic". What a shock that an almost 4 year old girl loves pink and fruity colored little horses. For her upcoming birthday she gave me very specific instructions for this years cake. Namely, she wants a my little pony chocolate cake, filled with m&m's and cinnamon toast crunchy bites. Now, I am not 100% down with the flavor combination but I will try to include m&m's and some kind of cereal. I will try to built a momofuku like cake from the inside with a major pony explosion on the outside. Here are some of my current favorites from around the web. I will definitely include a rainbow made out of fondant with clouds (she always draws rainbows that way) as well as some nice smooth fondant around the cake.  As a cake topper, I will most likely use an edible print of the entire pony gang. Also, how amazing are these sugar cookies below?

sugar sugar bakery, photo credit

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photo credit via sugar cookies cake and more

Jersey and Pearls

What is better than a vogue magazine and champagne? Well, not much but a vogue magazine and salted caramels are not bad either AND it travels a little better than champagne.  I wrapped up a little welcome-to-San-Francisco package for my bestie who just moved to SF after having been in LA for a long long time.  The other day Paul and I were shopping for vintage props for one of his shoots while we bumped into an entire stack of old school vogue magazines from the 60s and 70s. This particular vogue from January 1965 grabbed my attention right away especially since it was filled with fashion outfits that could be worn today. Also, it contains a great editorial on Jersey and pearls (that might have to be the name of my future blog). Below are some of my favorite images as well as some of the caramels that I made.