Sarah Doherty

Always thinking. Always dreaming.

  1. Homemade Quiche Lorraine

  2. Finally, Aidan is Useful



  3. Interior Decorating, Apartment Therapy and How it Changed My Life

    For anyone that knows me even a little bit, interior decorating has become a huge hobby of mine over the past few years. I’ve always enjoyed the layout and aesthetic of things from an early age – I was much more interested as a child about building and putting the furniture in my dollhouse than actually playing with it.

    A few years ago I found out about Apartment Therapy, which is a wonderful collection of websites on interior decorating based on geographic location and specialized sites for the kitchen, home tech, etc.

    Last year for my 24th birthday, Ryan saw I had added Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure to my Amazon wishlist.  Not realizing what he was getting himself into, he purchased it and so began our whirlwind into trashing/donating/eBaying/Craiglisting a good portion of everything we owned and didn’t use.  The book also gave us a sense of style, and allowed us to form new decorating opinions as a couple.   More than anything it set us on the right track – how to truly keep our lives decluttered.  I can say that we are still on this path.

    For Christmas this year, Ryan purchased me the new Apartment Therapy book, Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions.  Although I have barely scratched the surface of this book it has already inspired me in one of the first paragraphs:

    “At its essence, Apartment Therapy offers real design solutions or real people.  High-end interior designers are inaccessible to the average person, and television makeover shows whet the appetite but are unrealistic in their reliance on a team of carpenters and designers to turn around a space. Design magazines are also a tease.  Most are not about comfort or beauty, but about showing off expensive design statements that often have little relation to the people who live in the homes.  Most of us benefit not from seeing how celebrities and the ultrawealthy live, but from seeing how real people create real homes.”

    If you live someplace- an apartment, house, dorm room, tiny sublet or even in your parent’s house I encourage you take on these books.  They are easy reads and inspire you to look at your life in a different way.  You emerge from these books with a new outlook on life, a helluva lot less clutter and a sense of style.  It’s a pretty good 2009 resolution, don’t you think?

  4. New Sunglasses & Diamond Earrings



    A very good start to the holiday ’shutdown’!

  5. The Amazing Handmade Ornament Ryan Got For Me



  6. Eve of Christmas Eve

    Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays, more because of the traditions than anything else.  Christmas Eve in my family has always been a tribute to my Slovak heritage and the good food that has been passed down to share with family and friends.  Ryan and I started the majority of our Christmas Eve dinner prep today by going to Los Gatos Meats & Smokehouse, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Safeway and finally Bed Bath & Beyond.

    We did some food prep this evening – some of the appetizers, tiramisu and homemade eggnog.  I’ve also found that it’s a lot easier to set the formal table the night before so I can concentrate on cooking the next day.  Ryan snapped some pictures of the table setup which I’m pretty impressed with.

    You can take a look at more of them here.

    Happy holidays!

  7. Lady Fingers: Acquired!



  8. Eve of Christmas Eve

    Back from running errands for Christmas Eve. We found a great butcher down in Los Gatos – now all I need to do is go to Trader Joe’s and Safeway tonight. Win.

  9. Tired, But Working

    Just started a ‘Me Today‘ category via WordPress to track all this fun with Photo Booth. Looking back on photos over the years its pretty insane how we change over time, so why not document it? 

    Today has been a crazy coffee morning, trying to stay awake. Props to Banana Republic for the killer sweater.

  10. All Groomed!



  11. Eating a Hot Dog is Hard!



  12. Working Away

    So happy its Friday. I’m loving the scarf and Banana Republic sweater
    combo.

  13. Oh Charles David Pia, I love you!



    I can’t wait to wear these with some holiday ensemble for Christmas Eve!

  14. Gmail Stickers

    I got my Gmail stickers in the mail today. Thanks Gmail team!

  15. Bum Gloves at Work!



  16. Sacramento Railroad Museum



  17. J. Lohr Holiday Feast

    Ryan and I spent the evening at the J. Lohr Holiday feast which was catered by Chef David Page. As huge foodies and winos this was an absolutely awesome event. The people we met were awesome and all of the Lohr’s were in attendance and got to share lots of information about their family and the wines. At the end Chef David Page came out and everyone clapped — we even got a chance to say hello to him as he went around to greet each table.  Overall, probably the best meal of my life. I definitely think we are going to have to start doing this every year!

  18. Christmas Tree & Decorations Are Up

    We took Aidan to pick out our tree tonight and spent the rest of the evening decorating the apartment. I definitely feel more in the Christmas spirit now!

  19. Wedding Announcement in RIT University Magazine

    As dorky as it sounds I have been pretty excited at the idea that Ryan and I would get our wedding announcement in an RIT alumni university magazine. I submitted our information a few months ago and it finally made the Winter 2008-2009 publication. We had quite a few RIT grads in our wedding party and at our wedding, so I wasn’t too nervous. Still, pretty cool to see our names in the print, and at the same time kind of sad. I’m assuming it will be the last time the name ‘Sarah Friedlander’ is printed anywhere!

  20. Del.icio.us Bookmarks for November 3rd through December 8th

  21. Dinner!

  22. My ‘Main’ Birthday Present from Ryan



    LOVE it!

  23. Sookie Stackhouse Books!

    My sister and her boyfriend got me the Sookie Stackhouse books for my birthday. As a huge True Blood fan, I can’t wait to start reading these. I’m hoping to have a lot of free time later in December when work has a 1.5 week shutdown. Bon Temps, here I come!