Links I Like

This is not exactly a glamour shot.  The cake I made this week tasted alright, but it is not very pretty.  And the inaugural voyage of the new bundt pan too!  Something went wrong with the whole make your own frosting deal.  And then I got frustrated and took the frosting bowl, overturned it on top of the cake in one flip, and let gravity take its course.  The hole in the center was full of frosting.

I told Debie my new career is domestic goddess.  That was before I did that to the frosting, set off the smoke detector, and opened the fridge, somehow breaking one of the shelf doors so that all the condiments fell out onto the floor, mustard and jam and ketchup bottles everywhere.

Anyhow, the chocolate sour cream bundt cake tasted good, that's what counts.  The recipe is from my beloved Joy the Baker cookbook.

This week, I wrote about a really nice, brand spankin' new hookah place on H Street for Scoutmob.  Highly recommend if you are in a hookah-smoking mood. [Scoutmob]

I visited the new rustic and manly Epic Smokehouse in Pentagon City. [Eater]

I also photographed some of the crazy fun of Fashion Night Out in Georgetown [BizBash]

A ton of links from the rest of the Internet:

So I made it all the way to the end of this gif-based tumblr about how everyone is married. [#MyFriendsAreMarried]

Stumbled on this interview with writer Molly Young, and it made me want to read her work.  Loved her articles (1, 2) on Cosmo's Helen Gurley Brown! [Into The Gloss]

Bet you can't read this eulogy about a horse who loved children without tearing up.  Big fat tears rolled down my cheeks while reading this at the Pentagon City mall food court. [WaPo]

In case you want to look like Kate Moss.  Well, the makeup and hair at least.  Seems more attainable than the pricey wardrobe and extreme thinness.  [WhoWhatWear]

NOOOO! They are my Brangelina. [NY Daily News] 

Snarky take on the dead-horse VMAs: "Recoil at the torrent of teenaged girls stuffed into outfits every color of the day-glo. There are streams of Snookis." [Spin]

Love Design*Sponge's Grace Bonney, and here's a quick interview with her on an interesting website that uses a questionnaire answered famously by Marcel Proust. [The Proust]

Scoutmob grades D.C. politicians' Twitter accounts. [ScoutmobDC]

France INSTAX

So happy I dragged my Fujifilm INSTAX camera to France on our vacation.  Sure, you look like an uber tourist when you pull out this gigantic honkin' camera, but the little print-out photos are so much fun.  I love the fact that it airbrushes all your blemishes away, ha. Don't we look retro? It's like real life Instagram.

I finally learned how to hook up my new wireless printer/scanner, so I can share these photos now.  I had to chat with a Comcast representative to figure out how to change my wireless password, and it took a few representatives for me to figure it out.  My first reaction to tech conversations is always utter despondency.  "This will never, ever work," I told Joe, instantly abandoning all hope as I chatted online with someone named John Anthony from Comcast.  And I mean furiously chatted, typing a full paragraph of frustration about exactly why I was unable to change my password.

"You don't need to type all of that," Joe said.  But I wanted John Anthony to thoroughly understand where I was coming from.  "Why don't you just write, 'Yes," Joe said.

John Anthony suggested something I had already I tried.  "I knew that already," I wrote.  Throwing some shade.  I could've written "DUH" or "DOY" but I refrained.

Tunes Tuesday, "I Can Only Give You Everything," Nick Waterhouse

No matter how many iPads we buy and tweets we send, it seems that retro soul will never die.  I make this assertion partly on that Heineken "Love Letter" commercial, the one that plays after every other ad during the U.S. Open this year.  (Don't get me started on the "It's a monkey, Daddy" Federer commercial, which was cute the first ten times and not so cute 500 airings later.  I've obviously been watching too much tennis.)

Links I Like Sunday

 If you live in D.C. and love decorating your home, please check out my exhaustive Refinery 29 list of some of the coolest home decor stores in Washington!  This was my dream assignment.  I had so much fun going shopping and putting the list together.  There is a gilded chair at The French Apartment that is calling my name.  And I'm headed to Trohv again tomorrow to window shop with my friends.

And because I love office supplies, I pretended I was going back to school shopping for this roundup of seriously cute desk accessories.  Click here for neon pens and polka dot staplers.

For Eater DC, here's a first look at reviews of Todd Thrasher's intriguing new TNT Bar.  There's a $17 cocktail! 

And the rest of the Internet:

I think Lady Gaga looks gorgeous in these backstage photos. [Terry Richardson's Diary]

The new anti-texting and driving commercials are so scarily effective, especially the "Yeah" commercial.  What a nightmare.  Here's an article about why reckless driving laws in Virginia may be changed. [Washington Post]

Which of these design-y chairs will stand the test of time? [NY Times]

Ohhh... advice columnists (including my favs Dear Sugar and Dear Prudence) talk shop. [Hazlitt]

Going to attempt to make this mango flan cheesecake on Monday. [Design*Sponge]

I've always secretly liked Pink.  Find out why she puts more than half her earnings in her "F You" account. [EW]

Upstate New York Lakehouse

I submit that there's nothing that can make you feel like more of a jerk than forgetting your mother's birthday. I actually forgot it twice too. I realized I forgot a day after the fact, but then once again forgot when I saw her in real life and prattled on until she brought it up. I remembered Julia Child's birthday for goodness sake's, and she's long dead, but forgot my own mother's birthday.

Apparently, the only one who remembered was Rain the dog, and my brother. That came out of left field. Go Danny. My dad forgot too.  At the end of the day, he reached into the cabinet to get the dog a treat, and my mom said, "Do you know what day this is?" Dad froze, hand outstretched into the Pup-Peroni container. The gears in his brain turned. He knew he had done something wrong, but what?

So we all screwed up except Dan. Hopefully a family togetherness trip to our lake cabin in upstate New York made up for it.  Joe drove six hours to visit too, that was so sweet of him.

This is one of my favorite places in the world.  It's very modest, but so peaceful.  There's nothing to do here except watch my cousin's children and the next door neighbor girls play with our puppy.

I read a few books, watched a documentary about Finnish sauna culture (few channels here), and went swimming too. I'm brave about lake swimming, but there was a humongous spider on the dock, and of course, she lived right on the ladder to get into the water. I chose to jump off the possibly broken diving board instead. Warning, crazy big dock spider pictured below, I'll hide it behind the jump for sensitive souls.

Links I Like Friday

First of all, drumroll please... my Refinery29 Dating Coaches article!  I got helpful dating tips from an awesome group of D.C. dating coaches.  Which ones appeal to you?  Personally, I think you should always go on the second date (as long as your date wasn't a total oddball).  It's good to give people a chance.

Other interesting articles I read this week:

Venus and Serena are such remarkable people, not even considering their freakish tennis talent. [NY Times]

This article perfectly sums up how I feel about Cat Marnell. [NY Times]

This may be a smart savings strategy but boy, does this couple sound boring. [Washington Post]

Poppy Delevigne is effortlessly stylish. [Refinery29]

Maybe U Street isn't being "swagger-jacked." [The Atlantic]

This "gastro-bar" sounds more up my alley than the original Rogue 24. [Eater]