teacups and cinnamon

You guys!!!!!!!! I have SUCH exciting news!!!!!! After years and years of searching, I have finally found the perfect brownie recipe! Yes. I said it. Perfect. They have the perfect texture (not too cakey, not too fudgy) and the perfect taste (chocolately and rich).  I found the recipe somewhere on allrecipes.com (can't remember the exact link because it was a while ago) but I did...

Every year my friends and I throw a small Christmas party. This year my friend Kayla (the girl in the bottom row, left) threw it at her new Seattle town house :) Fancy, I know. At these annual Christmas parties we just eat good food, listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies. But mostly, we just talk and catch up. Since we...

Hi guys! Long time no talk! Seriously. :( I have no excuses for my long absense (except for the fact that i'm in school or doing school stuff 24/7!) Anywho, I'm finally on winter break so I'll be able to give this sad blog some attention :) I have a few recipes coming (so stay tuned). But the first one is Potato Leek Soup....

Hi guys! Long time no talk :( Sorry for this long hiatus, I've just been pretty busy these last few weeks! I had guests coming in from Russia so I had to spend a week doing a lot of chores and then a week spending time with them. During this time I also started volunteering at a food bank, which just drains energy...

Last Friday I took my good friend Kayla and her two younger sisters, Amy and Daley, on a fun photo shoot! I had been begging them to let me take photographs of them because 1, they are gorgeous, 2, I thought it'd be fun, and 3, I needed practice. This was my first ever "professional" photo shoot that I had done. I'm always taking...

Hi there! So a couple of friends and I decided to throw our friend Julie (in the blue shirt), who had just come back from a month long yoga school in Costa Rica  (lucky!), a welcome-home surprise party. At first we were planning to do it at my house but then decided to do it at a small beach in Seattle, which was...

Hello! I have a really delicious recipe for you guys today. Oh and it's healthy! Let me introduce to you.... my favorite chili ! :) I've made this chili a couple times this summer and it's a hit with my family! It's full of all the good flavors, plus a bunch of healthy ingredients! Lots of beans, veggies and lean meat with no...

Hi there! So yesterday my lovely boyfriend and my awesome dog went swimming!!! yeah!!! :D We were originally planning to just chill around the house, maybe try to do some garage saling or thrift shopping, but the weather was too nice to pass up! So we decided to go up to Lake Tapps (which has been our favorite lake this summer).  ...

Hi there! So yesterday my friends Kayla and Ryan and I went hiking at this incredibly gorgeous Snoqualmie/North Bend trail, Annette Trail. We were originally supposed to go to a different hike near by, but after some difficulty planning we decided to drop that place and go here. And I'm so glad we did! Washington is such a beautiful place and it has...

Michael Pollan, author of many food books, including the famous In Defense of Food (which I still need to read) asked people to send in their rules about eating, and I've posted a few of my favorite here. There rest you can find in this NY Times article.  I think a few of these are really good! They are simple and easy to follow. Being...

Wow! I cannot believe that it's already August! :( I know, I know, it is so cliche to talk about how time passes so quickly and how we don't even realize it. But it's true! I've been on vacation for 2 months already, but it's really only felt like a few weeks. Life kinda sucks I guess.  It's a bit bittersweet when the months...

My dear cousin Irena K. and her love Andrey B. got married on February 2nd, 2013. I attended the wedding with my family and I brought along my camera. They had a professional photographer (who btw, was incredible!) but I decided to bring it to capture a few candid shots. And for practice of course. At that time, the camera was fairly new,...

Hey everyone!! I've got a really tasty recipe for you all today! :) These are twice baked, stuffed potatoes! Filled with a load of delicious ingredients (cheese, sour cream, half-and-half, butter!), these aren't the healthiest per se, but hey, having them twice a year won't hurt ;)  ...

Hi there! First of all, I gotta let you know that you are about to see the most amazing looking muffins you've ever probably laid eyes on (no joke). And second of all, those amazing looking muffins you are about to see are delicious. Nuff said.  ...

So this last Saturday, my boyfriend Vitali and I went hiking! woooo! :D It probably wasnt the best idea for me, because i had a pretty intense workout the day before, so i was sore as heck! And hiking with sore legs is no bueno. We headed up to Mt. Rainier National Park and hiked up at Sunrise Hiking. Click read more to view...

Hi guys!!! So my parents finally let me go camping without them! I know I know, how lame... I'm 20 years old and my parents still treat me like a child. But that's ok, I liked camping with them ;) they would provide all the food and all the cleanup and I didn't have to pay for anything.... ;) But, in all truth, camping with...

Hi there :) So today, I decided to cook dinner and I was determined to make clam chowder and biscuits! I don't care that it's best for the winter months, good soup is good anytime of the year! Especially on hot, spring days ;) And I love pairing cheesy-garlic biscuits with clam chowder. I'm not sure why, but I do :P ...

It's only been a few days since school ended but I'm already feeling so much more relaxed and happy! Knowing that you have absolutely nothing to do for school is such a nice feeling (although it did feel pretty awful right after finals, knowing that there was nothing more I could do to raise my grade:P). But now that I've come to terms...

I can't believe another year has gone by! It felt just like yesterday that I was getting up early and fearfully taking the bus to my new school, Seattle Pacific University. I remember that day so vividly, as if it was just last week. I was a little nervous about starting at a new school, especially one so different than the University of...

The Truth About the Blues The Blues are sad, they say--but I deny Their lie! The azure sky; the saphir sea; The beryl, rippling brook--do they imply A state of darkly stained melancholy? Just gaze into a lake's clean cobalt glass Of boundless shades in joyous, unpained hues No other Earthly hue can Blue surpass, It sky and sea and soil--and us--will fuse...