Wall Décor for the Home

Now that we're all settled in and the major pieces of furniture have been bought, I've started thinking about what to hang on our bare walls. Aside from photos from our travels and our families, we want to have some fun art on display that add some needed color to our rooms and serve as conversation starters. I didn't grow up in an artsy household so I never really bought into the whole art collecting thing - until A. and I walked by a SoHo gallery in December and were immediately mesmerized by Peter Lik's The Sentinel hanging on the storefront. We could have stared at it for hours and wanted so much to take it home, but alas, $9,000 is way more than we can afford.

Below are a few prints and wall décor that have been collecting in my bookmarks folder over the last month and are much much more gentle on my wallet. I just discovered The EveryGirl's prints and I'm kinda obsessed! And I'm really hoping that Congo Studio restocks her shop soon, because I was so disappointed to see that the "Some Things Take Time" print had been sold. As for Emily McDowell, the woman has been on absolute fire lately, getting tons of buzz left and right, and am excited to attend her meet and greet at Pink Olive this Saturday!

1. Anek Plums print | 2. Felicita Sala Maple Apple Cake Illustrated Recipe | 3. Anek Wine Anatomy | 4. Cute Stencils Geometric Triangle Wall Stencils | 5. My Igloo Shop "In My Kitchen" | 6. Red Raven Studios Porcelain Envelope

7. My Little Pixels Beach Set | 8. Alicia Bock "Floating on a Cloud" | 9. Paperchat Shoppe Treat Yo Self | 10. My Little Pixels Nautical Set

11. Jessica Illustration World Map for Dennis | 12. Teacup Piranha Carpe Diem | 13. Famille Summerbelle New York Papercut | 14. Maybe Sparrow "Balloons over New York City"

15. Emily McDowell "Peter Pan" Waiting for Me | 16. Emily McDowell Strangers on the Internet | 17. Emily McDowell Though She Be But Little | 18. Congo Studio Some Things Take Time | 19. The EveryGirl Success Is Not Easy

Who Do You Follow On Instagram?

Instagram has grown to become pretty much my favorite of all social media. I love that it's so visual and easy to maintain while providing a fun and simple way to engage with other members. While scrolling through the accounts I follow, I realized that my feed is filled with colorful posts, beautiful photography, soft lighting, whimsical treats, and a lot of creativity sparks. It's almost like Pinterest, but so much more digestible.

Below are some of my favorite follows in case you were looking to add a few more to your feed.

TheFlairExchange + OhJoy

ElizabethMessina + FreutCake

LostNCheeseland + MaybelleImasa

CreatureComforts + BrittniMehlhoff

SFGirlByBay + TheBantuGirl

IAmTravelSize + KateAndBirdie

Odess + Khiesti

Are you on Instagram? If so, you can find me at instagram.com/DorkysRamos. See you there!

Burning Man Dreams

It's been two months since I've been back from Burning Man and do you know I still get cravings for that festival? And I probably will until I set foot on Black Rock City again. I could be strolling along the street at night and as soon as a cyclist rides past me with a blinking light on his helmet it's like *whoosh* and the memories come rushing back. Today I get to relive those days once again as Latina magazine has published one of my favorite photos for its final page on the December/January issue, which hit newsstands today.

It's funny that with all the articles I've had published, I'm rushing out to buy multiple copies of this issue. But it's my picture...all big! Plus, A. got a photo credit in a national magazine so he's pretty happy about that.

Yakitori Tori Shin + Humans of New York

One of the things I was going to miss out on if I left to Cameroon was A.'s birthday, but I decided to go anyway because, you know, "it's Africa." Still, I wanted to make sure I fulfilled my loving girlfriend duties before I left and that I set up some surprises for him while I was away.

For over a year, A. had been wanting us to have dinner at Tori Shin, a popular Japanese yakitori restaurant by his apartment, but we just never pulled the trigger when it came to treating ourselves to a fancy meal. Plus, it's so full during dinner time that it's not a place that you can just drop into on a whim; reservations are the way to go. But like A. mentioned, you know it's a good spot when the tables are filled by Japanese men in suits so I booked us a table for the Friday night before I went away, got dressed up, left our phones at home, and walked on over to the restaurant for my first taste of yakitori. A., who's been raving about his dining experience in Tokyo for the past three years, was excited about what was to come.

I didn't know much about what to expect, but the night was just incredible. He and I spent the next couple of hours just being fed a stream of skewered meats - mostly chicken - and vegetables grilled to perfection and sipping plum wine. While you can order set entreés from the menu, part of the delight of yakitori restaurants is that you can choose to be surprised, which we did with the Chef's Omakase menu ($55 per person). The chef cooks up whatever he wants - a selection of fresh meat and produce with a few surprises - and you just decide to go along for the ride. It's not for picky eaters (though you can tell your waiter what you absolutely won't eat like, say, organs), but it makes for such an awesome dining experience.

You'd think 10 tiny plates couldn't fill you up, but by the time they wrapped up dinner with chicken and eggs over rice, soup, and then green tea sorbet for dessert, we just could not handle any more food and walked home happy and dizzy from our impending food coma.

As for A.'s other surprises, I had a box of his favorite cookies from Levain Bakery delivered on his birthday as well as a copy of Tumblr blogger Brandon Stanton's beautiful photography book Humans of New York, a New York Times best seller that happened to be released on A.'s day. We both enjoy following Stanton's work on Facebook every day and never cease to marvel at a) how many stories are lurking within all these strangers around us and b) how Stanton gets them to share something so intimate with someone they've never met. One of my favorite quotes was given by the woman below who said, "When I was 20, I made a plan to get a good job and be secure. Now I'm 35, and I need a plan to be happy."

Images: handi-eats.blogspot.com and facebook.com

{Happy Weekend}

I don't think I'd ever been as sad to return home as I was right before my train pulled into Grand Central Terminal Tuesday evening. I'd only been in the boonies of Connecticut for a week, but the shock and discomfort I felt when I stepped off the train and into the rushing crowd almost took me by surprise. Neema and I had such a great time goofing around, working on projects, taking pictures, and just motivating each other to go for ours. I, for one, am so proud of the strides she's made with her photography and plans for her future gluten-free bakery business, Cupcakes & Chai, and can't wait to see where she goes from here.

As for me, well apart from my usual part-time gig, I've been busy working on a relationship story for Latina, a home tour and travel piece for Anthology, and I'll be contributing a few pieces for The Academy's newest column Your City // For Creatives. So I'll be sharing all the ways New York City is a creative spirit's heaven! In the meantime, here's some link love:

Souvenir Foto School starts up again this weekend! Sign up or apply for a scholarship.

CreativeLive and Function are two great resources for online creative workshops and seminars.

Free printable blog planner.

Ballet dancers in super slow motion.

A. has started reading Sex at Dawn and I've grabbed a copy of The Ethical Slut and been taken by the blog Sex Love Liberation. Should make for some interesting pillow talk.

August Empress has opened an online shop with digital patterns, social media buttons, and graphics.

Free Easter printables.

You know what book I just devoured? The Hunger Games! A very good quick read though it could've used some more depth and fleshing out. Then the movie glossed over so many nuances and emotion that it almost magnified the book's shortcomings. Have you read/seen it already?

How to turn a Moleskine notebook into a planner.

I LOVE this keyboard transformation.

A printable Instagram photo-a-day calendar template.

Speaking of Instagram, did I ever tell you that I upgraded to an iPhone 4S? Yup! Now I'll be taking more photos on the go and share them via Twitter.

Happy weekend!

Image: neemasyovata.com