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I splurged on a $7 bunch of flowers from the farmers market over the weekend. Now purple flowers are brightening spots all around the apartment — including the bathroom. This slate tray on top of the loo is from a favorite, Jamali Garden. I just love seeing fresh flowers everywhere — hooray for an instant pick-me-up.
70 is my favorite number when it refers to 70 percent off some find at Anthropologie. I don't make it a habit to replace switch plates at home, since we're renters (even though it's a little decorating detail that adds a great dose of style.) But the switch plate for our kitchen lights had mistakenly not been installed, and this was too pretty to pass up. I'm so happy I peeked in the sale area of an Anthropologie shop over the weekend. And this tin roof switchplate, which I scored for $7.95: it will be coming with us to the next apartment. Trust.
I baked some fudgy brownie cupcakes yesterday. My dad's staying with us this week, and I did something totally out of character: I went the easier route. I don't bake very often, so when I pull out the cupcake tin, I like to try some tempting recipe from a cookbook or blog. The kind of recipe that makes you feel like a rockstar when you gear up your KitchenAid for some work. But I knew this: there would be no time for experimental baking or measuring out a list of ingredients yesterday with everything on our to-do list. Luckily, my friend Liz had shared her super simple cupcake recipe with me. It goes like this:
1 box of Trader Joe's brownie truffle baking mix + Reese's peanut butter cups
the steps: melt 1 stick of unsalted butter, whisk two eggs, and combine with Trader Joe's brownie mix in a bowl with your spatula. Fill your tin, placing one peanut butter cup in the centers. (I covered the peanut butter cups with a little batter.) Stick in the oven. Done!
I still love the idea of baking brownies in a cupcake tin. (I made my favorite brownies the same way — so much neater than cutting brownie squares.) Liz's genius idea of putting mini Reese's peanut butter cups in the middle of cupcakes made from a brownie mix — or brownie cupcake surprise — is my new favorite instant dessert. Everyone enjoyed a sweet baked treat after dinner. And I felt like a rockstar, even though my cupcakes came from a box.
a few things discovered that are making me happy:
Do you like Pinkberry? I will always opt for the real deal — homemade ice cream on a sugar cone — but this tangy soft-serve tastes nothing like TCBY or any other brands connected with the '90s craze for fro yo. If you like Greek yogurt (like my favorite, Fage), you'll probably love Pinkberry. At my last Trader Joe's run, I discovered a pint version of this pleasantly tangy non-fat frozen yogurt. It's that same delicious, tangy flavor. Just top with fresh raspberries, and you have your own at-home PInkberry dessert. And I have to admit, the packaging is what first caught my eye.
I stumbled upon Alli MIchelle's site after reading a comment, and her blog Hooray Design instantly sucked me in. This afternoon treat she baked looks so delicious: she filled loaf pans with leftover cookie dough and topped with ice cream. Simple and genius.
And I love this mini wreath she made as a wedding gift for a friend. So pretty!
And check out Hooray Design's just-opened Etsy shop! I tagged these camera bags as a favorite.
{photographs via hooray design}
The photos from Pietopia made me smile — and seeing all that pie makes me want to find a pie shop this weekend. Congratulations Tricia on designing such a cool event! I love the winning prints — and here are the recipes for the winning pies. {photograph via eating is art}
Emily dreamed up a vacation to Cape Town. And I especially love what she'd pack in her bag.
And Twig & Thistle is offering this fun freebie: the template for these adorable strawberry shortcake baskets! Yes, I'm still loving a strawberry festival. {photograph via twig & thistle}
happy weekend!
I have a weakness for cool containers. And I've had these steele canvas baskets stamped in my memory ever since I used one in a photo shoot for Real Simple years ago. Back then, I found this utility basket on wheels from the Museum of Useful Things. I spotted one of these the other week at Nightwood's studio — the amazing Myriah of Nightwood is now gathering salvaged wood and designing a custom desk for me (I'm so excited about it!). Seeing the basket again in person prompted a curious search, and I found this site full of these industrial wheeled baskets in different sizes. I love the idea of using them for laundry, stashing sports equipment + hiking boots, corraling gardening gear or bulky toys, or keeping boxes and packing materials handy for gifts to be shipped out. These steele canvas baskets are not exactly cheap, but there's a gazillion ways you could use them, and I'm betting they'd last through multiple reincarnations of storage jobs.
I've lost most of the minimal French I'd absorbed from high school French class. But seeing the Paris series by Darling Clementine prompted an immediate je l'adore. You get a dozen cards printed on thick paper with these fantastic illustrations celebrating the French language. Darling Clementine, I think your Paris series is simply darling.
A friend of mine gave me an amazing gift when I was engaged. She took me to Fresh for what turned into a makeover of my skincare products. It was six months before getting married, and I was desperate for some peace of mind that I wasn't going to break out right before the wedding. Some girls dream of white dresses. This girl dreamed of having clear skin for her wedding. And lucky for me, a little exfoliation was all I needed to have a clear glow for my big day last September. I'm still hooked on a few Fresh products.
But I instantly noticed something other than the cool-sounding lotions and scrubs (with ingredients like wild strawberries, sake, and umbrian clay.) Fresh props its shops with fantastic containers and dishes for soaps, toiletries, or whatever. These accents have a unique, ethnic boho style, and add a pop of color to the otherwise sea of white at Fresh. And they're all for sale.
I'm not sure whether each Fresh shop carries different home products — and you can't find these treats on their website. But I can tell you the Fresh shop in Union Square, here in the New York, is now carrying containers similar to these suzani containers, above, from Tozai Home (might even be from Tozai.) I sorely wanted to take one home, but they're running $110. So I opted for this dish instead (on sale for $6.) I'm using my little rooster dish by our kitchen sink to keep my rings safe while I'm cooking and working on dishes. So now I have two pulls to this fancy skincare shop. Its life-changing brown sugar face polish and checking out what home accents are on the shelves.
