Nine Favorite Things.

Thanks for joining me for another Nine Favorite Things post.

Photo by Kristen Kilpatrick.

I hope you’ve all had great week! If you’ve seen or read anything (or experienced it) about what’s been going on here in Colorado, then you know it’s been a crazy week. It all started off with a huge snowstorm on Sunday. Way too much snow, more than anyone knew what to do with. It was/is beautiful, but it definitely caused some problems with travel.

On top of that the wet snow created historic avalanche conditions, causing extreme avalanche warnings. Highways, resorts, and schools were all closed throughout the week. Here is a video of an avalanche that occurred not far from our house on I-70 near Frisco. There has been more than 300 avalanches in March alone here in Colorado. Many cars have been buried…even a tow truck…but all were rescued! We even got a whole new chute (looks like a ski-run) on the mountain I look out my window at!

Sadly, we had to postpone a photoshoot at the studio with a popular magazine. It was later cancelled completely, which I’m pretty bummed about, as I was really excited for this shoot. Guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

With the highway shut down, it took about 5 hours, and a different route, to get down to Denver on Tuesday night for my flight out to LA. Honestly, all things considered, that wasn’t too bad. I was one of the lucky one who at least got there, but it was a tad stressful. Thankfully I made the last flight out, and had a wonderful trip in LA (more on that below!).

PS. biggest shout out to my dad, who not only drove me down to Denver Tuesday, but also picked me up Friday night in the middle of yet another snowstorm! He basically spent 2 days driving, just to get me to and from the airport. Always grateful to have him as my right hand guy.

Made it home Friday night and got right back into a huge project that will be taking over my life until March 31st. Over the next couple of weeks I need to hunker down and focus solely on this project. In order to meet a very serious deadline, I’m going to be sharing a little less, and putting out shorter posts. It kills me to do this, as writing HBH is what keeps me going. But I need to stay hyper focused. The majority of my efforts need to be put towards finishing up this very exciting project (sharing details soon!).

Lastly, if you missed anything from the past week, be sure to sign up for our newsletter here. Hope you’re all having the best weekend, and enjoy this Sunday’s Favorites!

1. Inspiring Me This Week. 

Kristen Kilpatrick

I have been following Kristen for years. She’s hands down one of my favorite photographers. When I met her for the first time last year, I discovered that she’s also one of the kindest people. And we’ve kept in touch ever since. This past week in LA I finally got the chance to shoot with her again. We had the best time. We might have been working, but it sure didn’t feel like it. She’s a true pro and the best at what she does. And you guys? She is SO young and crushing it in the photography world shooting for clients like Vogue, Tommy Hilfiger, the Bush family, and pretty much everyone cool you can think of. She’s just damn good at what she does!

And on top of that? She’s mastered the art of hiring, which is something we are currently struggling with over here. Anyone who’s running their own business knows that hiring is one of the hardest parts about growing a business. Kristen’s done it, and she’s sailing through the process. I am genuinely both inspired and so proud of her! She’s the greatest. If you don’t follow her on Instagram, you need to change that. Her stunning photos will make you stop the scrolling and just gaze for a minute.

Follow Kristen HERE.

2. Inspiring Me on Pinterest. 

photo from my home board.

from my flowers board.

photo from my photos I love board.

from my style board.

photo from my home board.

from my flowers board.

photo from my home board.

from my Let’s Go Places board.

photo from my home board.

from my style board.

photo from my inspiring board.

3. Obsessing Over Easter Entertaining…

4. Questions of The Week: 

q: How do you find inspiration for all your recipes?
a: I get a lot of inspiration from my family and friends. They’re constantly traveling the world and always sending me photos of dishes I should recreate. Right now I’m really having fun experimenting with different cultures. I’m also very inspired by the seasons…I love to create recipes based on in-season produce! Sometimes just a pretty color, flower or photo can inspire a recipe for me. Seems crazy, but I am a very visual person!

q: How did you start food blogging?
a: I had been cooking for my family for a while. I actually bought the HBH domain name when I was 16, but never did anything with it until I graduated. I was going to go to school in LA for fashion styling, but then I decided on a little career path switch up and jumped full force into HBH.

q: Where do you buy all your groceries? especially the fancy ingredients?
a: I live in a small town so I shop mostly at Kroger or Whole Foods. Anything I can’t get there I buy on Amazon.

q: Any Pets
a: None are technically mine, but they’re my fams, so that kind of counts, right? We have, 1 dog, 1 cat, 7 goats, and 15 chickens. Fun fact? Did you know I can milk a goat?? (I’m the only one who will do it other than my dad).

q: Any new ingredients you are experimenting/cooking with?
a: Gochujang. This is my favorite! It’s Korean chili sauce and I use it in sooo many recipes!

q: Do you still keep in touch with your high school friends?
a: This is so random. I had a very odd high school situation and actually took college courses for most of high school. This allowed me to graduate early with an associate degree too! I Always disliked school (so much), so I wanted out as quickly as possible. But yes I have few from middle/high school that I still talk to every now and again! Shout out to everyone in Rocky River!

5. New Video:

roast chicken gyros with tzatziki and feta fries…title says it all. so good.

breakfast quesadilla with soft scrambled eggs and avocado salsa… my current go-to breakfast.

6. My Trip To LA. 

As I mentioned, most of my week was spent in LA. It started off with a complete downpour of rain ALL DAY on Wednesday. So yes, for everyone who says it never rains in LA, I’m here to tell you that it sure does. And oddly, this is not the first time I’ve been caught in LA rain. Wednesday was still such an amazing day, celebrating International Women’s Day with my favorite non-profit, The Little Market.

I talk about The Little Market all the time. So I hope by now that most of you are familiar with all the incredible things they’re doing for women. They are a fair trade organization that supports dignified income opportunities for women in need. They sell exclusively hand-crafted, ethically sourced, products from over 70 women-led artisan groups and social enterprises. In 2018, purchases from The Little Market generated over 148,000 hours of dignified work.

Kind of amazing, right? So humbled to be able to work with them and their incredible team. They held a lovely lunch to celebrate International Women’s Day and I was honored to be able to attend.

The rest of Wednesday was spent running around LA grabbing a few items for the next day’s photoshoot with Kristen. The shoot took up most of the day on Thursday, but again, wasn’t really work!

Friday was crazy packed, but so much fun. Excited to share that I have a 3 way collab coming with 2 of my favorites, Donal Skehan and Claire Thomas. We spent all day filming an incredible brunch spread. Cannot wait to share this with you all very soon! Then, it was off to the airport to catch a flight…which I thankfully just caught. I am an anxious traveler, so arriving 45 minutes before the flight is set to take off is not ideal…but I did it!

And of course, I stayed at my home away from home in LA, the La Peer Hotel. I talk about this hotel all the time, but I cannot say enough good things about this hotel. The staff is the kindest, the rooms are chic, comfy, and CLEAN, and the entire hotel is gorgeous.

7. A Few Links I Am Loving…

interior designers have spoken…the trends for spring.

what former New York Times columnist Mark Bittman is eating now…if you love food.

the ultimate guide to kitchen knives…if you needed some guidance.

7 simple yoga poses for good posture…i need these.

Goop’s new NYC retail space…love the fresh and clean look.

American women…in the west.

how to make cauliflower gnocchi…should I take a go at it?

the 1 minute hack to feeling more confident…keeping this in mind. always.

‘XX’? but I hardly know her…how do you sign off on your emails? it’s always different for me depending on who the email is to.

how to grow out your eyebrows…because I love a thick, bold brow.

the 17 best clean beauty oils…what is your favorite?

8. My Favorite Early Spring Finds…

9. This Week’s Dinners:

Monday: skillet Filipino coconut chicken adobo

Tuesday: Mediterranean chickpea and egg salad jars

Wednesday: spicy tomato parmesan stuffed spaghetti squash

Thursday: healthy slow cooker turkey and white bean chili

Friday: khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread) with kale and herb sauce

Check out all the past Favorites posts here.