If I didn’t already have a (chinoiserie) coffee table that I have already DIY’d (painted turquoise), I’d consider Ikea hacking this project - I think it looks like 60’s mod Italian design. It would look pretty cool with my Olivetti Valentine sitting on top of it. I also like how the ‘hackee,’ like the Native Americans, used all parts of the ikea shelves to make it, wasting nothing.
These are just too pretty, and festive. I’m a sucker for anything involving cut paper - but this little project is a combination of ephemeral and affordable that is just perfect for a party.
This is a variation on that plates-and-cups-glued-together tea tier craft that we’ve seen - but I think it’s an especially clean, modern and vaguely Scandinavian take on it.
The cats knocked over my floor lamp with a drum shade, shattering the plastic on the inside. I freaked out - because drum shades are really hard to find, and expensive when you do (and this one was particularly cute - white canvas with a black branch pattern). Seeing this little tutorial for how to make your own drum shade a day or two later made me sigh with relief.
I tend to swoon over adorable, high-end childrens magazines. This one is free and on the internet, so I don’t have to feel weird about paying money for a magazine about something I don’t have (yet).
And really, I would wear every last outfit in there if they made it adult sizes. There is some gorgeous, swoon-worthy stuff. Check it out.
It’s a pumpkiny season, and there is a bumper crop of squashes out there to be scooped up at discounted prices, so a New York Times collection of pumpkin based recipes is pretty timely. Plus, pumpkins are delicous.
Ombre is pretty. Crafts are fun. These pretty and fun ombre crafts live in that unique Martha Stewart universe where crafty projects end up looking high end, and elegant. You know, as opposed our own dimension where the words “Crafty” and “Elegant” are often mutually exclusive.
Karen over at Say It With Pie has long sung the praises of these hand made, artisinal undies. They went on sale, so I finally broke down and bought a set - a days of the weeks set, to be specific - because who doesn’t love an adorable days of the weeks set of underwear? And they’re typographic underwear, no less! Monday is Cooper Black!
Karen says, on top of being really cute, they last forever, and are super comfy. So far I’ve already found the latter to be inordinately true. These things are heaven. Plus, I am strongly behind any operation that simply does not believe in thongs. Sing it, sister.
A great sounding mineral makeup company. Vegan, enviromentally friendly, super inexpensive, safe for sensitive skin, tons of colours, cute packaging… Need I say more? Oh, ok then, there are free samples to be had (free! I know!). Go. Run. Get some.
An amazing sounding diner cooking hardcore American comfort foods - but always with a twist. There are over 900 menu items! This place sounds like priority number one for when we finally make it to NYC. The cookbook sounds amazing too.
I’ve been looking for a cute bag for a long time, and I’ve finally narrowed it down to a Moop duffel in black. The bag is sturdy, has lots of pockets and is water resistant, the companies run by an awesome lady, and everything is environmentally friendly, handmade and designed from scratch. What can’t you find on Etsy?
I’m pretty proud that I was one of the first people to discover it, way back in the spring of oh-seven when it premiered on AMC (before that if you count me salivating over the ads). To be fair, a show made by the classic movie channel set in an early sixties advertising firm surrounded by vintage office equipment, mid-century furniture, fabulous fashions, saturated colours, excellent writing, and some very good actors (including former cast members of pretty much all my favourite TV shows and movies, ever) combines ALL of my favourite things in the universe into one beautiful little package - wrapped up in ribbons and bows like a present just for me.
Believe it or not, devoted Mac customer that I am, Apple hasn’t done much that has gotten me excited. Not in years. Not even the iPhone.
But I do like these new Nanos. Mostly because I’ve always been a sucker for a good chromatic rainbow. Also because, wow 16 gigs? That’s a lot. That’s a real lot when you consider my first 2nd gen ipod only held a measly ten gigs, and was the relative size and weight of a brick.
But mostly? They pretty.
The whole iTunes Genius thing sounds pretty cool too, I guess.
I just added him as a flickr friend. He’s so web 2.0!
I would also like an Obama 08 t-shirt at some point, because I think his campaign logo (you know, the O with the swoop?) is some of the sexiest logo design I have ever seen. I like this version, in particular (but for the record, I also like this one, which has nothing to do with politics, it’s just super cute).
Gah. I wish I was American so I could vote in their exciting, history making election instead of our boring, boring, boring and depressing one.
Stephen and Stephane’s respective charisma combined couldn’t match the charisma found in Obama’s left pinkie.
Well, we’re still pretty busy ’round here, especially since we are leaving for a bit of vacation soon (nothing too exciting, just returning to Liam’s hometown for a week to attend one of his oldest friend’s wedding).
We spent the other night on the set of a TV show, which was pretty cool. Even cooler was seeing a good friend, an old friend, take charge and kick ass like the awesome producer she is.
Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that I was just a kid, and now my friends are lawyers, and producers and doctors. It’s weird to know real, live, important grown ups. It means I must be one myself (scary).
Anyway, I might try apprenticing on set in the art department - which has always been one of my (admittedly many) dreams. I even took a course or two in set design.
Talk turned to the completely unglamorous work that goes on behind the scenes of these things, and it was mentioned that one should be prepared to get covered in all manner of messes at this particular shoot.
Of course, only I would turn that conversation into an opportunity to wear a cute outfit… But of course I did.
People are always surprised to find that I have no fear of getting messy - but you can’t do things like art or cooking or gardening without getting a little dirt under your nails, a little flour on your collar and a little paint in your hair.
You just have to prepare yourself for a mess - and that includes wearing proper attire.
So at the moment, I’m dreaming of cute kerchiefs and cuffed coveralls, worn Rosie the Riveter style. Something like this gorgeous little pic from this months Marie Claire (found via Jezebel, of course):
Which is probably more the route I’ll take. Particularly the scrounging thrift and surplus stores for a deal part - because I’d rather not get cement, and mud, and wood glue, and paint all over something I paid more than twenty bucks for. It’s kinda the point of wearing coveralls in the first place.
I was uploading pictures, when I realised I actually have a lot to share, even if I haven’t been sharing. It gets like that in summer I guess - too busy making up for our vitamin d deficiencies to spend much time on the internet.
Well, in between getting my hair-cut and a yearly physical (and having strange hands on pretty much every part of my body) I went into one of those discount housewares stores, downtown. They had a whole display of barbecue stuff, and mixed in with it was the cutest, teensiest little barbecue.
It’s a Sagaform bucket grill. It’s available from a bunch of different online retailers. Apartment Therapy recently gave it a pretty goood review. In fact, we had first seen it at an expensive gourmet shop around the corner from us here. It was 30 dollars there (not bad) and, being barbecueless we were considering getting it.
It was 10 dollars at the discount shop. There were also a bunch of pretty, matching, off-white, Scandinavian designed tools for it too. Also at a deep discount. Score. Altogether I spent 25 dollars, including tax on pretty much everything I needed. Awesome.
Last night was pretty hot. I did not feel like cooking indoors.
Instead we hunted down a bag of charcoal (not as easy as it sounds on the cusp of Canada Day weekend) and a terra-cotta tray to put the little guy on, to keep him from burning the wood on the top of my little cafe table (my genius idea BTW, and I highly recommend it - it holds the bbq in place and catches all the ash to boot - and it was cheap!).
Then we hunted down something to cook. There was not a lot left at the grocery store (again, Canada day weekend and all) but some nicely marbled striploin was on sale. Third score of the week!
The little bucket grill was pretty easy to light. There’s a bucket inside of the bucket proper that sits on top of a little second grill which is where you put the charcoal. This keeps the air circulating around the hot bits, lets the ash fall into the bottom of the bucket proper, and keeps that pretty off-white finish from burning (or from burning you - the exterior actually stayed suprisingly cool).
Altogether, it’s a deceptively simple, but clever design (them Scandinavians are good at that sort of thing it seems).
After doing a little research I learned that lighter fluid, beyond being scary, is also just generally no good. It makes food taste like chemicals. So instead we used these wax and sawdust things we usually have around when we need to start a campfire. I lit it and piled about a dozen bricks of charcoal on top of it, and that seemed to do the trick. After about 10 minutes I rearranged them to make sure they were all getting evenly singed, and then after another 10 minutes I mixed them all up, popped on the grill top, checked the heat with my hand (3 Mississippis and I had to pull it away - that means it’s hot enough) and started barbecuing.
A little while later, we had a delicious steak dinner, with some grilled asparagus and green-garlic couscous, and a salad of simply dressed tomatoes. It was pretty perfect.
Today I cleaned up the grill - everything washed right off him, good as new. I popped back the little legs on the bucket, and tucked it into a shelf. It’s like last night never even happened. He’s so compact, I’m thinking we can definitely take him camping with us later on in the summer.
If you’ve got a small deck like we do (and if you can hunt one down) this little barbecues’ going to be your new best friend. Even if you don’t have any outdoor space (in our last apartment we didn’t have any), this guys worth checking out to take camping, or to the beach.
He’s a bit more complicated than a gas grill would be, but the flavor and convenience (not to mention the price, and beautiful design) far outweighs all that in my mind. He’ll look cute sitting on your patio, but he can also be folded up and hidden away. Plus, he’s a whole lot of fun! I’m looking forward to using him all summer, but first we’re heading up to my family’s cottage for the weekend.
It will be nice to get away from the city heat - if it doesn’t rain on us all weekend.
Do I even need to explain to you how awesome this is? Awesome. Buckets of awesome. Unfortunately it is also millions of dollars worth of awesome. Those are swanky digs, even without the fact that everything in every room is a custom designed clue.
