IT'S TIMES LIKE THESE THAT I REALIZEHOW DOMESTIC I AM

While I was browsing my favorite tried and true blog sites this morning I came across a post about some acrylic containers for cold beverages at Pottery Barn. Well, I got all giddy and thought to myself "How Cute!". Then I took a step back, shook my head and had to have a laugh at myself for getting so excited over a modified cooler! Maybe by looking at these you can sympathize with me at my over-excitement. Although now I'm trying to convince myself it was due to the delicious mouth-watering drinks inside- yeah that's right the contents are what's great about these...

COOL CUPS

Anamorphic Cups. These utilize the reflective property of the mug to re-display the morphed words on the saucer back onto the cup in perfect alignment. Very cool idea.

By Ross McBride

Check out more here

CRUSHING ON: AMY TISCHER

Why? Because she has taken the simplest approach to her design, and created an understated and beautiful tea-light holder. Lately I have been inspired by incredibly simple and clean design that focuses more of the lack of decoration than the overly ornate These are exactly what I want surrounding me while of sit on a patio with a glass of wine in my hand.

Summer Do's

It's that time of the year where I'm needing to get my hairs cut. I was looking through some etsy postings last month, and instead of being amazed by the clothes I caught myself loving the girls hair!

I'm not a big fan of printing out photos of hair styles I like and bringing them with me to the Salon, so I may attempt this myself-or wait until one my friends or sisters is around to help out. I really think that is one of my biggest frustrations. I know I could cut anybody's hair like that with no little to no problems, but doing it to myself? Ugh! Damn back of the head blind-spots!

THE BEST THING SINCE WHAT?

Sliced bread you say? This is a cute concept, and I totally dig it. I have a soft spot for any type of stationary, hence the reason I just bought a 3-pack of mole-skin journals, and...I don't keep a journal. But now I think I might, especially since I have journals to write in. If it weren't for my recent purchase I would probably go out and score myself a new set of these sweet slices of bread.

From Burak Kanyak

COLLAGES

Collages are one of those things that I like to admire from far away. Mostly this is due to the fact that I lack the ability to be decisive about my selections, but alas I love them. This picture is one of many from Concrete & Honey's flickr account. She takes B-E -Youtiful photos, and I encourage you all to check them out.



Concrete and Honey

THE HUMAN CONDITION

Is absolutely freaking amazing! This woman (Ariana Page Russell) has a rare skin condition called dermatographia that makes her extremely sensitive to pressure and scratches on her skin. For everybody in my family- imagine Stephen's odd welts and multiply that! This picture below is from an exhibit where she had used her on self inflicted marks as body-art and then photographs herself. It's beautiful, scary and cool!

REWIND

To the late 80's early 90's to my childhood, and then explain to me why Legos has waited until 2009 to release these.
Frank Lloyd Wright Collection LEGO's! My kids are totally going to rock these building blocks.





Guggenheim and Falling Water !

RECIPE ALERT

Chai Bars with Honey Ginger Icing

Holy Tamole! I'm making these bad boys ASAP! I know Chai is one of those acquired tastes that is definitley not for everybody, but Tony and I are Chai addicts and these are the icing on the cake, well actually if these are the cake... eating them would be the icing? Either way I'm glad I'm a glutton who spends hours a day looking at food blogs, because recipes like this make up for the strained computer eyes.

Here is the recipe from savour-fare.com link here

Chai Bars with Honey Ginger icing
For the cookies:
1/2. c. brown sugar
½ c. white sugar
1 cup butter, softened.
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 pinch salt
1.5 tsp ginger
1.5 tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp. cloves
¾ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp ground star anise

Mix butter and sugars in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined. Add egg and mix well. Add flour, spices and salt, and stir until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Press into a 9X12 baking pan that has been greased with Baker’s Joy (or buttered and floured) and smooth with a spatula until the dough is even and flat. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are a pale golden brown. Let cool.

For the icing:

Mix 2 T honey, 1 t ground ginger, and 1 c. powdered sugar together in a bowl. Add water until the icing is at a spreadable consistency, and spread over the cooled cookies. Cut with a pastry cutter or pizza wheel. It will take several hours for the icing to become firm enough to transport, so plan accordingly.

STUNNING

Simple yet absolutely stunning! Canvas artwork using paint and thread. I may just borrow this idea for my own projects. There rest of Gillian Bates "textile art" is on her website : www.gillianbates.co.uk

WHY I BUY OLD STUFF

It's not that I don't like new things, in fact I love new things and shopping is one of my favorite past-times, but I just can't convince myself to spend money on new things that I know will only last me a year or two. For example: IKEA. The idea is simple, and fantastic. Yet extremely wasteful! Buy this cheap- it looks great now and it will be in style for the next few years! Then, throw it out when the styles change! Buy new cheap stuff because hey, you only pay $10.00 for it! But this idea is so flawed and wasteful that I probably couldn't fit all on my reasons into this one post. So, I buy old stuff! Mainly because A.) if it's 50yrs old- it's probably going to last another 50! B.) I'm not going to go out and see the exact same thing in somebody elses home or on another person C.) There is no packaging or excess wrapping that creates waste, and last but not least D.) Usually it's cheaper!

So if I could encourage everybody to stop buying... I don't know, paper towels and use dishcloths instead, or buy tins and mason jars instead of Tupperware, I think I'd be a happy girl! So with that said - look at this awesome vintage cake carriers- yep no saran-wrap/ frosting tragedies here folks!

CRUSHING ON: TYPEWRITERS

For sometime now I have been coveting the idea of owning and using (on a daily basis) a retro typewriter. As a kid we had one or two and I remember my sisters and I sitting and typing for hours simply because we loved the noise and the motions of changing sheets out. Weird, I know... but still something that I thoroughly enjoyed, and to this day I am a hard clicker on my keyboard because I just simply like the noise it makes. Check out those vintage babes above (swoon).

VIA foxtreemiscellany on Etsy.

CUTE CALENDAR

From Linea Carta- A graphic calendar depicting weather patterns typical for each month. I love how February and November are lighting and rain- pure misery!

TATTOO

Cool idea, kind of creepy. Maybe you have seen this before?

SOWA ART WALK

Next Weekend : 5/16-5/17! Boston is going to be insane that weekend because I'm pretty sure that all 50 colleges and universities in Boston are holding their graduation ceremonies that weekend too!

Peter Bjorn and John

I'm in love with this video, and this scene right there is the highlight. In a few words: Japanese greasers doing choreographed dancing. AWESOME!

WHEN WE MOVE TO MIAMI

These pieces would be perfect for our home. In fact this whole collection would be wonderful! Right now however, not so much. I couldn't justify having something so beautiful be hidden for 8 months of the year.


VIA Lekker, Heath Ceramics Seasonal Collection

I KNEW IT!

Someday I knew that a designer would create a wreath that I would want to buy. It was only a matter of time! This powder-coated steel cut mod wreath is schmazmitaztic! I'm making up words I'm so excited! I can't afford it of course (although at $60.00 it's not bad at all), so it may just be a new item to tack onto my "to do list".

Pic: Mod wreath by Kenneth Winngard.

HEY! I OWN THAT!

I love it when I recognize objects that I own in stylish settings. It's like a pat on the back for an Interior Designer. a little bit of reassurance that maybe I do know what I'm doing. Unfortunately I can't take all the credit for this piece- it was a gift from Tony's parents. This pitcher is perfect, and we use it all the time, however not quite like this...

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE

Loving this pendant from Das rote Paket . It's called te BlAD pendant, and I have no idea what that means, but I still like it!

WISH LIST

Add this one on please!



Geometric Laser Cut Acrylic Pendant from Aleximo on Etsy

HIBISCUS MIMOSA

This morning on the KITCHN there was a post about mothers day brunch and some ideas for cocktails. This one sounds amazing, and despite it's intentions for Mothers day - I could see this being a great summertime drink at anytime of the day!

Here is the recipe:

1 Wild Hibiscus Flower
1 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1 oz Pink Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Wild Hibiscus Syrup
5 oz Dry Sparkling Wine

Place flower in champagne flute. Shake next 3 ingredients on ice and carefully strain into champagne flute. Top with dry sparkling wine. Garnish with long grapefruit zest.*

WHO MAKES THIS?

You probably wouldn't guess Wal-mart huh? Well it is, and I love it! Despite Tony's qualms about the big box heathen- I think I'm might just buy it

COOL THINGS

My Mom called me up the other night with some really exciting news. My Dad is renovating thins 1950's ranch with an original kitchen, including sinks and cabinets similar to the one posted here. He was able to salvage them all, and now they are sitting back at our house. The bad news... She wants to sell it, and for some reason I want it all!!!!

I WANT...

...to know how to make these!?

URBAN GARDEN/ PROJECT 1.0 UPDATE

Finally the weather cooperated today and the little seedlings were able to spend some quality time outdoors in the sun!

THE TO DO LIST

Do you have a pile somewhere in your place of things that "could be cool"? Tony and I do. We also never touch it! Well, at least not until it's time to move. Then the decision of "toss it" or "keep it" comes into play, only to restart wherever we land next. I'm determined to not keep that cycle going this time, so I decided to break into that pile recently and finish some projects that I didn't even know could be projects. This first one consists of a wall panel sample I stole from school my senior year after our directed studies class. It's some funky milled MDF piece that is supposed to be placed with more of its kind to create a highly textured wall surface. A cool concept- but I think it's much more cool to be used singularly. I had some left over paint from my failed attempt to try and use an accent color in our living-room, and I stepped it up a notch with a silly profile of a cat - in honor of our dear Leche- the fattest cat I know. Now we finally have something fun and colorful in our bathroom that doubles as a screen over the field of nail holes in the wall!

BUSY BEE = ME

I realize now that it has been over a week since I last updated this blog with any worthwhile information, so my sincerest apologies to all of you loyal followers... you do exist right? Tony's final thesis was presented over the weekend, and with that huge hurdle out of the way we both have been lounging in blissful nothingness for the past few days. However spring is in full bloom here in Boston, and I can't be too lazy. At least not while the sun is shining and birds are chirping! This morning after an earlier morning meeting I headed to TJ's for some weekly groceries and decided that today was a day for baking!

I attempted to make some whole wheat loafs, and two turned out quite perfectly, however the last bit of dough was a bit tough and I guess also a bit "stringy" . So I decided that it probably wasn't going to bake up pretty or potentially at all, so I used the dough as a bit of an experiment adding mango chunks and coconut to the batter. I plumped the brick into a bread pan and crossed my fingers. Well the baking fairy was totally watching out for me today and that bread is the bomb! After averting a near disaster with some burning, smoldering coconut flake drippings onto the oven bed, the loaf came out with a crispy yet chewy caramelized coconut top and sweet mellow mango flavoring in the dense, moist center with surprising spring. I have to admit this was the luckiest mistake ever, but a mighty tasty one at that!



Pic: The yummiest mistake ever: Mango Coconut Bread