Bites of My Life

Goal of the week is to post more than just a bites post. Let's see if I can do it. Fingers crossed! The restaurant I have been devoting all of my time to the past 6 months finally opened last Thursday. Opening a restaurant is no joke. An industry I have coveted for years, and I finally found my place in it. If you're new here, I am the marketing manager for a local restaurant group. I get to mix my love of social media, promoting, marketing, food and restaurants into one dream job of a day job. Life has been crazy lately, so excuse me while I wrap up the past two weeks into one post!

-Have you ever seen something more "Annie"? The Raspberry Matcha Latte at The Jones Assembly is everything and more. 
-When there is a bibb lettuce shortage at the restaurant and you have to buy out the whole stock at Whole Foods...
-All lit up!
-One step closer to opening our doors.
-Mi familia at our last and final soft opening!
-Got to take off my marketing/hostess/server hat for a few hours to sit down and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
-The smoked salmon bagel from Kitchen No. 324 will always be my favorite. 
-The amount of times I've eaten chips and salsa for a meal in the past two weeks is absurd.
-Hi, I moved! My favorite little nook at our new place.

-Words from the wise, become besties with the barista at the restaurant you work for. I'm now the resident matcha and latte taste tester. Pictured here a pineapple matcha.
-Which leads to you becoming the matcha girl and people bringing you matcha Kit Kats. 
-Post StudioHop class calls for Organic Squeeze, especially when your punch card is full and you get it fo free!
-The countdown is over!
-7/13/17 The Jones Assembly is now open! The most rewarding thing I've ever been apart of!
-The hardest working crew ever!
-Cheers to #chefbritt and the team! We're open!
-First brunch at The Jones in the books. Followed by brunch again the next day. Yes I work there and yes I'm obsessed. 
-Started as a bandwagon fan, and now I'm a full on Garth Brooks superfan after his midnight performance this weekend. 
-Beyond Studios is one of my favorite studios that is accessible via StudioHop! Use my code AnnieHop20 in checkout to get $20 off your first month!
-Dessert at 11 am because Chef Owen's Flourless Chocolate Cake is irresistible. 
-Finally things are starting to slow down and Sunday night was the first chance to break in my new kitchen and cook dinner for the first time in about a month. 

Annie

Bedroom Reveal

I have been pinning bedroom images for years just waiting to have the chance to finally decorate a room exactly how I want. I couldn't wait to move into my little campus house and finally bring my ideas to life. 

Patchy walls, a bare bed and hand me down furniture just waiting to be brought to life.

White, white and more white. Oh, and a few touches of navy and gold. Now follow me as I give you a 360 tour of my room. 

Along the wall across from my bed, my clothes and TV are displayed prominently for easy viewing. The clothing rack serves more as a decorative piece being that I actually have plenty of room in my closet. As for my TV, you can expect Food Network to be playing 24/7. 

Moving around the room we come to my dresser and mini gallery wall. This dresser has been in my room since I was born. Gold handles and a coat of shiny white paint have transformed it from the hand painted pink, blue, and green Laura Ashley design that it had when I was 6.

I've never been much of a bedroom person. I would rather be in the middle of the action hanging out with anyone who is around in the central room of the house. Now that I have this perfectly curated space, I can hardly get out of bed. I eat, study, blog and create in my room at all hours of the day.

If I'm not in my bed, I actually sit at my desk. Most people have a desk in their room just as a place to throw junk on, but I actually use my desk on a regular basis. I'm more productive if I'm sitting up with a table space in front of me. Yes, the drawer of my desk is filled with random knick knacks, but I try to keep the top clean of clutter. I have a crush on my room. It's my favorite thing right now and I'm always enveloped with positive vibes when I walk into it. 

"My bedroom is my sanctuary. It's like a refuge, and it's where I do a fair amount of designing - at least conceptually, if not literally." -Vera Wang

You and me both Vera.
Annie

HoMe

Home sweet H&M home goods! See what I did in the title their? The H and M are capitalized cause I'm punny and stuff. 

Anyway, have y'all seen the home department at H&M? It is goooood! I knew they had a home line, similar to Zara's, but I hadn't checked it out yet. I was happy to find out the H&M in Georgetown was fully equipped with their home goods. The thing is, although I walk by the store everyday I had yet to go inside and see it because whoever does their window displays decided to put their least beautiful (nice term for ugly) things in the window, totally causing me to turn my nose up and keep walking by. 

That was until my ultra fabulous boss was raving about the line, so I figured I'd actually step inside the store this time. Complete 180. Everything is white, cream, bronze, silver, black or some shade of pretty. 

1. silver storage basket 2. cardboard cake stand 3. bathrobe 4. gold rimmed pitcher 5. silver cake stand 6. faux marble tray 7. duvet cover set 8. metal bowls 9. turquoise throw 10. dark gray throw 11. copper wire basket 12. braided basket 13. metal basket 14. black dotted throw pillow 15. shiny throw pillow 16. light pink dotted throw pillow

I wish I was staying in D.C. for a more substantial amount time so I had a reason to decorate my dorm with all of the H&M pretties! Unfortunately that's not the case. But, I do have my cutie house in Norman waiting for my return. Not to wish away the summer or anything, but it is time to start getting some things together for my house back home. 

I think I can pretty much guarantee that the silver bin, marble tray and one of the throw pillows will be getting shipped home from D.C. to Norman!

You must go check out all of the goods they have online, and if you are near an H&M with the home stuff in store go see for your own eyes! Oh, and did I mention how insanely cheap everything is? And by cheap I don't mean the quality. Their products are still constructed perfectly, but they also have the perfect price tag!

Annie

Bites of My Life

I'm baaaaack. We are all moved and working on getting settled in our new house. I had a friend tell me last week that she did not like the fact that I was taking a few days off from the blog. She said didn't know what to do without Take a bite in her life! Bailey, if you're reading, I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again! But know that it totally made my day to hear you care so much about my posts!

Last week was the official start of summer! I have two weeks to do nothing as well as do a ton to get ready to move to DC. I'm savoring this time of having a full kitchen to myself, so expect a lot of foodgrams and recipes posts coming up!

-Running out of class because it's officially summer!!!

-I found this new caramel macchiato flavor of Dannon greek yogurt and was very intrigued. Tried it, didn't love it. 

-It wasn't much of a welcome home when I come in to find a room full of boxes.

-Two days later my little room was completely empty. I should be sad, but I'm not. For being such a traditionalist, I'm loving the new adventure of my parents moving to a new house.

-Had to make a trip back to Norman to celebrate two of my favorite, now, 21 year olds!

-We have an abundance of mint at our new house, so I made my favorite salad for lunch on Saturday with mint instead of basil. 

-A delicious and easy side dish composed of eggplant, pine nuts, basil, balsamic and feta! Be looking for this recipe coming up. 

-Any holiday should be celebrated with cake, so I made a four-layer coconut cake with swiss meringue buttercream frosting for my momma! P.s. I love the way food photographs on our new marble countertops. 

-Some of the components for our brussels sprout salad we had with dinner on Sunday night.

Annie