saturday @ the sill

today i visited the sill, a little shop in the eastern part of chinatown/LES that sends gardeners out to nurseries in long island and select plants which could thrive in nyc apartments! although the store itself is relatively small, just around 300 square feet, their selection is quite extensive ranging from miniature succulents to 7 ft tall fiddle leaf fig trees. most importantly, the founder and specialists there are all very knowledgeable and their priority is to  recommend the best plant for each person's needs.

kevin actually discovered the sill from reading one of the blogs that i subscribe to, and got one my birthday presents there: a miniature succulent in an ivory ceramic pot and a generous gift certificate.

the shop has glass on two sides facing north and east, and was relatively warm and humid inside when i visited, giving the feeling of being inside a greenhouse. the first thing i noticed was that all the plants inside were vibrant and flourishing in the naturally lit environment. how do i create this environment in our apartment? well, a couple more humidifiers in the winter for starters!

i had a chance to speak with sam, the store manager, who gave me tips on how to care for our new fiddle leaf fig tree and snake plant. the former has started to shed a couple of its lower leaves, which have been slowly yellowing, so i've been feeling a bit sad and worried about it. 

she also introduced me to a host of other small plants which might be appropriate for a wall which i'm thinking about lining with plants. the wall i am thinking of faces south, but gets indirect natural light, so she suggested a number of low to moderate light varieties such as the zz plant, pothos, and philodendron. the philodendron is actually known for cleaning the air (similar to the snake plant, it removes formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and benzene), and it's also quite pretty so that's a plus.

afterwards we stopped by the shop to pick up our finished cutting board! the board and class were actually kevin's birthday gift from 2014. it was such a fun couple of weeks in class, meeting pete, learning about his passion, his business ideas, and being able to bring home a gorgeous work of art that we created with, yep, our bare hands. a labor of love :)

i had a craving for italian tonight so kevin suggested l'artusi, one of our favorite spots in the west village. actually let's be honest - it is my favorite italian spot in the city. kevin and i both threw each other surprise birthday parties in the second floor wine room a few years ago, and we try to go back from time to time, though we now opt for bar seating to catch glimpses of the chef and line cooks.

we were seated at the bar in front of a cheese and pastry station, where we watched a young asian cook prepare dozens of trays of hazelnut desserts, cheese plates, and ice cream. it reminded me of kitchen confidential and i thought about how much experience she must have had to get to this point in her career. the head chef was in the center of the kitchen, basically acting as the brain of the entire operations as she liaised with the wait staff, the line cooks, and checked every single dish before it was brought to the table. such a cool (though tiring) job!

l'artusi's menu, wine list, and service is as we'd recalled - impeccable. we ordered the butter lettuce salad to start, and our favorite dishes - the spaghetti with garlic, chilies, and parmesan, and the hangar steak with crispy potatoes and salsa bianco. they took a little longer than usual with our steak, so the chef sent over a complimentary dish of roasted brussel sprouts. usually the spaghetti is the most memorable part of the night for me, but tonight, it was the medium-seared steak and buttery crispy potatoes. always the best!

best: we saw two HUGE - i mean, 7-8 ft tall, snowmen in the area. haha ... it's been a while since i've seen snowmen, and i don't think i've ever seen one this big!

worst: found out that our pete doesn't make custom shelves. darn. we really like his style and his respect for his art, and would have loved to have one of his creations in the loft. he says it doesn't pay well enough - i guess i can understand that. it is business after all.

smile: happy birthday, jayjay! he turned 11 today :)

feels like home

a loft is not easy to furnish, especially when we moved from a space approximately 1/3 of the size and 2/3 of the height. i think one of the hardest parts is not having walls/boundaries between the different areas - it requires you to do a whole lot more measuring and imagining. 

when we moved in on october 31, 2014, we had +80 boxes of our belongings, but no furniture for the living room. even though we have heaps of boxes in every room, the space felt massively empty. after a few months of unpacking, donating, and scrupulously shopping at the rate of one piece per month (we are slow lol), we've finally acquired a few pieces which make the loft feel like home.

most recently we picked up this black walnut and rosewood sideboard and placed it behind our living room sectional. it feels like an anchor piece, and has helped to separate the living and dining space so our furniture doesn't look like it's just floating around anymore. then kevin spent THREE evenings this week polishing it, as well as every other piece of walnut furniture in the apartment, with orange-glo. i grew up with a father who was very involved in the daily household chores, and i was lucky to marry a man who helps out too :) the wood looks really nice after it's been polished, the colors are richer, and a little bonus is that everything smells like oranges afterwards!

kevin and i both grew up in the suburbs: me in holmdel new jersey surrounded by small, local farms, and kevin in stockton california in the heart of the central valley agriculture. we both love the outdoors and miss the greenery, so we are trying to bring some of the outdoors indoors. i repotted our snake plant aka sansevieria trifasciata (also known as the "mother-in-law's tongue"), but i'm not sure if this exact location will be his home quite yet. we'll see how the light works out.

well, my friend liz asked to see a recent photo of the place, so here it is! it's the only one i can show you because there are boxes everywhere else still. and because i am the queen of collecting knick knacks and magazine hoarding, this is probably the least cluttered you will ever see our place. bookshelves are expected to arrive in march, and hopefully we'll get our bikes mounted up on the walls as well. yay!

best: korean body scrubs on a chilly evening after a long day at work.

worst: how walking by dirty water dog street vendors at a brisk pace for even a quick minute makes your hair smell like smoke and grease for the rest of the day. bleh :p

smile: the title of this post is coincidentally the title of the chantal kreviazuk song that we danced to at our wedding at the boathouse :) it's one of my favorite songs from "how to lose a guy in ten days".