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hello!

photo credit: josh benoit

My name is Darraugh and I started this blog to share my health and wellness experiences - and how those have changed the way I view life. Wonderfully, it has grown to be a place where I share what inspires me and awakens my senses. I believe in honest, simple food. I love traveling  - and dreaming of new places. I'm a design enthusiast with a love for vintage treasures. I believe in sustainable living, and work to learn more and be better every day. I enjoy documenting life through photographs. And I'm forever in love with a place I once called home - New York City. I'm a professionally trained pastry chef with a MBA in International Business, and the spirit of an entrepreneur. I write from sunny Florida St. Louis with one lazy cat, and one handsome boyfriend...and dream of the loft on Broome.

archive
cookbook love
  • Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life
    Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life
    by Jamie Oliver

    Jamie is a rock star. I'm a huge fan. The colors, photos, and illustrations are lovely.

  • My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness
    My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness
    by Gwyneth Paltrow

    Gwyneth is awesome. I'm not sure why there's such a nasty fuss about her. I'm a Daddy's girl too, so this book speaks to my heart. I made Lalo's Cookies- easy and delicious.

  • Organic and Chic: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets That Taste as Good as They Look
    Organic and Chic: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets That Taste as Good as They Look
    by Sarah Magid

    I love these beautiful cakes using organic ingredients. I only wish we could make natural food dyes that are worth a toot.

  • If It Makes You Healthy: More Than 100 Delicious Recipes Inspired by the Seasons
    If It Makes You Healthy: More Than 100 Delicious Recipes Inspired by the Seasons
    by Sheryl Crow, Chuck White, Mary Goodbody

    I love this book! Great, healthy recipes that look delicious. I can't wait to try them.

  • Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
    Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
    by Heidi Swanson

    Heidi's recipes are pure, natural, and encourage you to experience ingredients and combinations that are both delicious and unique. The photographs are stunning.

great reads
  • The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
    The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
    by Eckhart Tolle

    This book was a huge aha moment for me. I practice every day to be an observer of my mind and to fully appreciate this very moment.

  • Me Talk Pretty One Day
    Me Talk Pretty One Day
    by David Sedaris

    If David Sedaris wrote the owner's manual to my car I would read it cover to cover. He's brilliant and makes me laugh out loud in public places.

  • The Help
    The Help
    by Kathryn Stockett

    I started this 450-page book on Friday evening and finished it Monday night. I couldn't put it down.

  • Bossypants
    Bossypants
    by Tina Fey

    Tina Fey is a funny, fearless, female powerhouse. Did I mention, funny?

  • Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love
    Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love
    by Larry Levin

    I want to meet this dog, more than I want to meet certain people (except George Clooney).

  • Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You
    Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You
    by Margaret Floyd

    A wealth of amazing information in this book. I'm confident you will walk away learning new things and seeing food differently.

  • Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
    Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
    by Barry Estabrook

    We need to bring dignity back to farming; not just in quality of food, but how we treat those who feed us. This book focuses on the tomato industry and you will be astonished at what goes on in our own country. Plus, you will learn why tomatoes taste like absolutely nothing.

  • The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!
    The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!
    by Mark Hyman

    Everybody needs to read this. Everybody.

  • The Acid Alkaline Balance Diet, Second Edition: An Innovative Program that Detoxifies Your Body's Acidic Waste to Prevent Disease and Restore Overall Health
    The Acid Alkaline Balance Diet, Second Edition: An Innovative Program that Detoxifies Your Body's Acidic Waste to Prevent Disease and Restore Overall Health
    by Felicia Kliment

    This book has so many great nuggets of information. I cannot recommend this book enough!

myTunes
  • 21
    21
    by Adele

    I loved her first album, and this one might be better. Amazing voice for a 21 year old.

  • Be Ok
    Be Ok
    Cabin 24 Records

    Ingrid's music is amazing. All of her albums get heavy play in my house.

  • Easy Wonderful
    Easy Wonderful
    by Guster

    Our great friends introduced us to this group and we recently saw them live. Awesome. This is my favorite album of theirs (well, today anyway).

  • Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates
    Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates
    by Hall & Oates

    I am a child of the 80s and I love it! I also love Hall & Oates and recently bought this album. I forgot just how much I love their songs. Classic.

  • Gossip in the Grain
    Gossip in the Grain
    by Ray LaMontagne

    This man has a gorgeous soulful voice and his songs will take you back to another era.

  • Mission Bell
    Mission Bell
    by Amos Lee

    Amos Lee is burning up my iPod. This is really good music.

  • Backatown
    Backatown
    by Trombone Shorty

    Trombone Shorty is a twentysomething trombone player from New Orleans. Great horns with a side of funk and New Orleans Dixie.

  • The Ultimate Collection
    The Ultimate Collection
    by Sade

    Masterful.

  • Brothers
    Brothers
    by The Black Keys

    I love these guys - great music. And I've got a crush on the one with glasses.

  • Radio Music Society [Deluxe Edition CD/DVD]
    Radio Music Society [Deluxe Edition CD/DVD]
    by Esperanza Spalding

    I loved her performance at the Oscars. I'm intrigued by any person who plays bass - especially a female - and with a beautiful voice.

  • Little Voice
    Little Voice
    Epic

    I'm a big fan of her music. It's simple and pure.

  • Born and Raised
    Born and Raised
    Columbia

    We are John Mayer fans. I don't know if I get him as a person (who he dates and all that nonsense), but his music is always so easy to like.

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Entries in australia (3)

Wednesday
Apr102013

inspiration: propped and ready

DateWednesday, April 10, 2013 at 9:59AM

I have dreams of being able to switch out chairs for different occasions. Like a chair wardrobe. Perhaps this is the type of business I should have  - a prop business! Glen Proebstel and his company, The Establishment Studio, does just that. Just think of it, a store with tons of linens, glassware, chairs, and home accessories - all waiting to be used as visual candy. I will say it again, the Aussies have such great visual taste.

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Wednesday
Aug012012

on my radar: threefold foodstore and eatery 

DateWednesday, August 1, 2012 at 12:05PM

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Aussie design - and Threefold Foodstore and Eatery in Melbourne is one more example. I appreciate when business owners put equal emphasis into the design of their space, as they do into their product.

*images via Habitusliving.com

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Friday
Jun012012

inspiration: the grounds café and coffee shop

DateFriday, June 1, 2012 at 11:02AM

The Grounds is a café and coffee shop in the Alexandria area of Sydney, Australia. What makes this place such an inspiration to me is how it combines a garden and hens directly at the source of where the food will be eaten. So, you not only get to enjoy the food, fresh roasted coffee, and atmosphere, but also walking and sitting amongst the herbs and vegetables being grown - and the hens laying eggs. This is a concept that speaks to my heart because it combines some of my favorite things in one unique business idea. I would love to do this here. Tell me you wouldn't love to enjoy some coffee, or some of this beautiful, fresh food...

One of my favorite blogs is from Australia-based food photographer and stylist, Katie Quinn Davies. Here are some of her photos of The Grounds prior to its opening:

*above images via What Katie Ate by Katie Quinn Davies

 

*the rest of the images are individually linked to their sources

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