diy bridal shower gift

I like to justify my large quantities of craft supplies by making gifts for people.  For a friend's bridal shower next week, I painted some pre-cut cork coasters from Michaels with pale blue Martha Stewart good-for-everything paint using an initial stamp I picked up for a dollar, also at Michaels.  The coasters are a pretty good deal; I think they were two or three bucks for four. 

I used a paint brush to paint the stamp itself, pressed that on the cork, then delicately filled in the impression with more paint.  Cork is porous and has a mottled texture, which worked for and against me.  Even this fairly straightforward stamp gave me some trouble so a more intricate image definitely wouldn't work well.  I didn't do the best job of painting but I think the graininess of the cork actually hides some of the imperfections.

I'm going to tie these with a little ribbon and give them as a supplementary present to break up the (enjoyable) monotony of opening gifts my friend specifically registered for.  A pretty easy and inexpensive outlet for my craft craving.

getting in the spring of things

Spring showers are getting a bit of a late start here but we're getting our money's worth now; the forecast shows lots and lots of rain in the next week.  The rain is certainly good for flowers, though.  These peonies at Fresh Market are luscious but I'm happy with the multicolored bouquet of lilies that my husband got me this week.

For a Memorial Day barbecue, I made this veggie orzo pasta salad.  I was craving fresh food and this packed it in.

I used Giada's red wine vinaigrette from here (with vegetable oil in place of olive since I'd run out of the latter) and customized my salad components.  I boiled a pot of water, scalded some very thin Peruvian asparagus, then dumped a package of whole wheat orzo in the asparagus water.  I chopped the asparagus into 1-inch pieces, about half of an orange and half of a yellow bell pepper, about a third of a red onion, half a pint of grape tomatoes, and a zucchini.  Once the pasta was cooked, drained, and cooled a bit, I mixed everything together, sprinkled in most of a small container of crumbled feta cheese, and drizzled enough of the vinaigrette to coat and flavor everything.  I had a little bit of orzo and vinaigrette leftover, which I used the next day with the rest of the uncut veggies.  This is best served room temperature or only slightly chilled so you can actually taste everything.  Yum.

P.S. I'm pretty sure I spotted these white mixing bowls (blue lids not pictured) on the latest "Keeping up with the Kardashians" in Bruce's man-house.  Also a bottle of, I'm pretty sure, Pace Picante salsa.  This tells me that even rich guys would live like college kids without their spouses to surround them with high-end accoutrements.  I once saw the family use a set of black and white plastic Missoni for Target tumblers but that was more about employing the high-low trend.  Pace is pretty much low-low. 

today's goings on

Last week I went to a paint-your-own-pottery place with a few other ladies.  I browsed around for a good while weighing my options, most of which were too expensive and kind of random.  I finally settled on a ring holder, which I've wanted for a while now.  The other women were a little ambitious with their color choices.  Since paint-your-own-pottery tends to turn out kind of streaky, I went as light and simple as possible, with a pale, almost-Tiffany blue and white polka dots.  It only cost me $12, which is less than most options from Etsy I'd been considering.  I picked it up today and promptly used it while doing dishes.

As I walked up to our door, I spotted this *huge* butterfly (moth?) in the hallway.   I told him not to mind me and he didn't.

Then I proceeded to make three things:  salsa; Jell-O (yeah!  It had been so long.); and Rice Krispies Treats.  Old school.  I decided to mound the Krispies on a baking sheet rather than pile them into a baking dish.  Kind of like how Ina Garten makes her meatloaf.  It worked nicely.

I've had a lot of time to cook and bake (and do the ensuing dishes) lately but I really *don't* need to eat entire batches of cookies and RKTs and scones by myself.  Luckily I can send my husband to work with the majority and feel better by just eating a few.  It's hard to part with these puppies, though.

daily reading material

Pink calla lilies (and assorted other flowers) at The Fresh Market

I try to avoid reading the news.  I know it's a bit willfully ignorant of me but I just don't want to know most of the time.  I do, however, make habitual pit stops at these blog sites:

A Beautiful Mess (their output is impressive and so varied)
A Cup of Jo (she has her finger on the pulse of, like, everything)
Boxwood Clippings (I love that they love Target as much as I do)
Little Green Notebook (one of the coolest ladies ever; no idea how she does all that she does)
Look Linger Love (Charleston, art, clothes, and occasional profanity - done)
Lovely Indeed (cheerful and full of everyday projects)
Oh Happy Day (mother of all DIY garlands, photo backdrops, and party hats)

Weekly stops include my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen and Spoon Fork Bacon.  Understandably, neither blog has daily entries but the weekly wait for the next recipe is kind of exciting.  It's the little things.

These are among the many blogs that I'll stop by when I feel the need for inspiration (/distraction).  Over the years my regular blog choices have changed and there always seems to be another awesome site to discover.  This sounds so cheesy but the collective creativity out there is so awesome.  What if we could harness it to bring peace to the world?!  Somebody should get on that.

more on rifle paper co.

Over St. Patrick's Day weekend I found myself in Winter Park, FL, and happily discovered the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival taking place along Park Ave.  It was beautiful weather and there were tons of people out and about, looking at art, sampling the fair foods (we had fried Oreos and they were super amahzing), and patronizing local restaurants and shops.  The intended purpose of going to Winter Park was not the festival, though we were led there eventually by the smell of a multitude of deeply fried food.  My main goal was to visit the worldwide headquarters of Rifle Paper Co.  And it just might be my most favorite place on Earth.

Rifle Paper Co. had a little sidewalk sale going on in honor of the festival.

I broke into a sweat upon entering their store, which also serves as their studio.  Being surrounded by all of their products was overwhelming.  The shop girl and I bonded over blogs when she complimented me on my Boulevard purse and I told her it was Little Green Notebook who had posted about it years ago (I got mine from LA Plates but Tuckernuck now sells them in a few different colors).  Anyway.

Vintage stamps and some notebooks in the background.

I love Rifle Paper Co. products because the color composition is always perfect.  Their stationery and notebooks and illustrations have a hipster-vintage feel but not too much so.  They're cute but not cutesy.  They're clever but not so much so that I don't get them.  They're printed in the United States, which I appreciate.  The quality is high.  The founder, Anna Bond, seems like a mega cool person and is successfully running my dream business.  If only I had her talent.  At least I have a talent for spotting talent?  Here's what I bought during my visit:

My love of stationery is insatiable.  I'm considering framing the pug card.

I definitely don't need another notebook but I really need *this* notebook.  Plus this cute gold spoon!  Por que no?

I joked to the young woman working in the store that day that I planned to use the gold spoon for caviar.  I don't even eat fish, let alone fish roe, but I would start if it validated this purchase.  These beauties have been added to my existing collection of RPC cards and a cities-around-the-world calendar I received for Christmas.  Such a successful shop and a personal triumph to visit one of the stationery/design businesses I admire most. 

wisteria in the wild

I've been doing some driving up and down 95 lately and I love seeing wild wisteria growing amongst the trees.  The purple vines make the highway a lot less ugly.  They're also nice against a whitewashed manse in DC (even on a cloudy day):

I like to daydream about owning a beach house one day and I'm pretty sure I want the landscaping to consist of purples, greens, whites, and some yellows.  Wisteria will be a requisite for sure.

mirror, mirror on the malm

I popped into Ikea last night (as one does on a Friday) primarily to decide whether I could live with Ikea dining chairs (yes) but of course I picked up a few random things (an extendable arm bathroom mirror, heart-shaped ice cube tray, cork stopper for my old but still in production carafe) and slowly browsed the whole store just to see what was new.  It was rather enjoyable to be one of the only people there.  In the bedroom furniture section I discovered they now make mirrored Malm dressers but I can't figure out whether I love them or think they look cheap.  In person, the mirrored effect is slightly wavy, along the lines of cheap pretend makeup compacts for little girls, where the mirror is really just a piece of moderately reflective, adhesive plastic. 

Overall, though, they're pretty hot.  I took the liberty of digging my fingernail into one of the floor models to see how tough the mirrored coating is and I didn't leave a mark, so they appear, at least in that one regard, to be pretty solid.  Reflective anything seems to be really popular right now - sunburst mirrors, distressed mirrored tabletops, etc. - and for good reason, since they reflect light and make virtually any space brighter.  These Malms are pretty mod; perhaps too mod for my place (not that I need any more furniture, anyway - except dining chairs!) but still a cool feature, especially since so much widely produced, inexpensive furniture - Ikea and otherwise - is so boring.  These definitely make more of a statement than most other pieces.  I bet if you laid some painted (black?) fretwork on the drawers, you wouldn't even be able to tell the dresser was from Ikea.  I'm considering ordering decorative fretwork for my own Malm (in Ikea's iconic "black-brown" - ha!) from O'verlays.  Such a smart idea to offer professional means to an Ikea hack end.

springtime in savannah

The other weekend I took a day trip to Savannah with my mom and sister.  For the third trip in a row, I started off my visit at the Paris Market & Brocante.  So I was told, brocante means a sort of second-hand/vintage/flea shop.  There's a cool mix of new (Bellocq tea, Tocca perfume, washi tape, soft knits for babies) and old (vintage beads, china and glassware, canes, animal x-rays) all jumbled together in a two-story corner lot.  Oh, there's also a little cafe that serves Italian sodas and coffee.  The place is a bit like the home section of Anthropologie with a heavier focus on interiors (they offer some design services and sell really pretty linen-covered pillows, chairs, and sofas).  This time I left with a vintage mink stole courtesy of my mom, a few French salted caramels, two rolls of washi tape, a brass bead, and a starburst wall ornament (like the cheaper ones mentioned in this March 2012 post).

(This photo of amazingly beautiful silver, domed egg cups is from my February visit.)

After making pit stops at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes (the whoopie pie I tasted was yum but I heard the cupcakes were too sweet) and the gleaming Tervis store (a store devoted to cups; somehow it works and is awesome), we had a light lunch at Gryphon, staffed by SCAD students and housed in an historical building.  Initially I was drawn to the place because they serve afternoon tea, though I ended up with a salad.  And scones as an appetizer.  The interior is dim and book-sy.  We love, love, loved the studded green leather banquettes. 

We then popped into shopSCAD and bought a few cards and screenprinted tea towels.  They have some neat jewelry, super hot leather tops by student designer Brooke Atwood, and lots of other things.  So great to see students' creations sold commercially.  On the way out of town we saw a few shops and a gourmet grocery in what appeared to be a converted gas station; they'll make the itinerary next time, after the requisite visit to Paris Market.

for the record

For years I've been wanting to host a doughnut party.  For years my family and friends have scoffed at me.  Doughnuts weren't hip enough for them, evidently.  And yet, now we find ourselves witnessing the eclipse of the cupcake.  Welcome, fine doughnut shops across the land.

Astro Doughnuts does doughnuts and fried chicken, which I saw being pulled upstairs on a dumbwaiter into their tiny store front like the Phantom of the Opera.  Line out the door and down the block in its first week, which was last week.  Co-owned by a former Caps player.  Done.

I have yet to try GBD in Dupont but it does doughnuts and chicken and stays open well past midnight.  Quite the niche market.  With Krispy Kreme brick and mortars few and far between these days (although there is one in Dupont...), it's comforting to me to see the next generation of shops specializing in sugary fried dough.  It's really the American version of the European way.

a family meal

Two weeks ago my family made a last-minute trip to New York to visit my ailing great aunt.  My siblings and I arrived late Friday but knowing the next day would be spent in a nursing home, with the bagpipes from the parade drifting on the breeze through the window and a drunken mess of a city to bid us adieu upon our departure that evening, we decided to make a rather mad dash down to Momofuku Noodle Bar.  This place has been on my NY bucket list for XX years; I don't even know.  Were my expectations high - yes.  Was it everything I'd dreamed of - um, yeah.  We toasted our great aunt and dug in; pictorial review below.  Some of the photos, taken with my phone, are a bit blurry due to the fact that I had to take them just faster than we ate, which was really fast.

We'll take one of each.  If not three.

 

Eat me!

The bun, rendered translucent by the grease of the pork belly, reminds me of Homer Simpson's one-time reverse diet, where a sandwich wrapper had to be see-through enough to confuse a flying bird in order for him to eat it.

I didn't have any of the oysters but I heard they were delish.

Not only was it after midnight on a Friday (technically Saturday) so we could eat meat but the chicken wings, for the purposes of my Lenten resolution, were not *technically* fried as they were crisped by their own sizzling fat.  The rice balls were starchy goodness, like savory rice candy.

Splitting soup is hard to do.

I mean, just...yes.  A group favorite.

The remains of chaos.

 

 The beet-lime soft-serve was refreshing but I was the only one really eating it because everyone else was distracted by these:

Cake batter balls could probably solve many of the world's problems.