smart salvage

i think we all have at least one eyeshadow or blush that has dropped or just generally degraded to where what was once a solid is now not so solid anymore. it gets messy, dusty and doesn't go on right anymore. so i love this glamour mag recession-friendly beauty tip on salvaging those downtrodden faves. for containers for this project, i love these.

so easy that it's kind of like, why have we not been doing this since the beginning of time? or at least since the beginning of middle school...

tuesday morning

this is the part of winter that feels long and dark, isn't it? this morning felt like the kind of morning where a bunch of flowers goes a long way. i'm a fan of grouping them by color for display...part because i love all things monochromatic, but also because the simple act of grouping and arranging and putting like with like can feel calming. there's something orderly about it that we just don't get very often in the chaos of real life. agree?

i'm listening to this song this morning as i write and sip my coffee and it makes me smile and feel happy. happy tuesday.

flower power

 

have you ever seen flowering tea? it's the prettiest thing! though i think i've seen pictures, i first saw it in person at a business lunch here, and it was a sight to behold...simple, whimsical and other-worldly. i bought a pouch of the magical little balls at this tea shop in woodstock over the weekend. 

the instructions say to let each ball steep in hot water for 5 minutes and then watch the beauty take shape. i can't wait to try them!

image, image

another great martha idea

love this! here's the how-to.

flex your wrist

have you seen flex watches? i love them! they don't ship until feb 1st but what a nice spot of brightness in the cold winter to look forward to! they're fun and playful, sporty and sleek. and they support good causes - eleven of them! 

the watches (only $30 each) come in eleven colors and each supports a different cause - gray is for imerman angels,  red is for mariners outreach, blue, which is my favorite, is for nika water. oooh and i love the black too. i love all of them, really. especially this light blue one. i guess i'd be a good candidate for the ten pack. the ten pack would be a great way to save $5 per for next year's holiday gifts or bridesmaids gifts. or for oneself. there's always that too...

they also sell just the bands for $15, so you could opt for the white or gray watch (silver face) and then get a few different color bands that would work with those faces. the possibilities are pretty much endless.

globe favorites

 

who were your favorites?

video conference

there are so many videos constantly being emailed around and so much tv to watch on every screen that we're all on overload from time to time, right? add to that the fact that i work in television and am married to a television lover, i am often on MEDIA OVERLOAD. but there are certain videos that i still watch from time to time just because they make me feel good, and i wanted to share them with you this morning. 

do you remember this awesome wedding entrance? i still get chills because it's just so fun and thinking about the amount of effort all their friends put in to learn it and step outside their comfort zone to actually do it. obsessed. plus it's a great song. 

then there's this michael buble video that i just find contagious. first of all, i just love him so much. the song is so catchy, the video is so kitchy, and the horns...love those horns. and all the paper confetti reminds me of the paper confetti moments at my own wedding and at my sister's. priceless.

and you've seen the honey badger video right? omg. if you haven't, you're going to need to go somewhere where curses are okay, and watch it immediately.

oh, and one other music video. have you heard of lenka? i love this song of hers and the video is cute and quirky too. this is totally one of those songs that just makes me smile and tap my feet in a way that reminds me of my grandpa and makes me smile even bigger.

as lenka says, just enjoy the show! see you tomorrow.

top image, my wedding image, my sister's wedding image

favorite

do you own an item that you just love so much you irrationally want another one? that's how i feel about the ikat scarf i got from h&m last year. i just DIE for it, over and over again, every time i look at it. when i'm not wearing it, i have it draped on my desk chair or over the side of the couch in my living room. the color story in it - blues, orange, pink, mustard...oh my god. i just can't. 

what good would having a second one do me? none. it doesn't even make sense. i just love it that much. although....now that i'm giving it some thought, if i had an extra one, i could use it to reupholster the antique bench i rescued from a junk pile...

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a chic coupling

what do you think of blake's braided updo? i think it's so beautiful and chic, and i love how it's undone and polished in the same instant. here are instructions...

this look reminds me of another of my recent obsessions and you wouldn't normally make the association. a new colleague of mine has introduced me to the wonderfulness of these pencils, and i'm a total devotee now. she sticks them in her pulled-back hair. it's so effortless and bookish seeming - i wish i could do it without seeming like i'm single-white-femaling her, which i would be...

oh yeah, and she tops the pencils with these old schoolerasers. well maybe i'll get my own old school eraser like this pretty white one which i've often admired as i stock up on office supplies each time i get bored of my highlighter and post-it selections. 

...although i don't think these erasers would look as chic in my hair, even with the chicest of braids.

dawn of a new day

it's a funny feeling to have a whole year ahead of us, isn't it? it seemed from facebook and the media and just the general sense of things, that 2011 was a hard year for a lot of people. it was an exceedingly hard year for me and mitchell, and we have spent the last couple days talking a lot about the hope...so much hope... for a better year ahead. hope is precarious in so many ways - it means you stand on a precipice and look out -- one eye open -- and choose to believe that you'll be okay. it takes faith and guts and a lot of trust. i know so many of you have had challenging years...some that started out that way and got tougher or maybe better...some that started out wonderful and strong and ended on a scary and uncertain note. 

one thing i know for certain is that i'll be back here writing regularly again, which had gotten a little spotty, admittedly. so together, we'll meet 2012 with faith and guts and a lot of trust, okay? what's really the alternative, right? and while we're at it, we might as well make it look and smell lovely, taste good and make us happy. so here we go. a few thoughts to get us started.

i'm beyond thrilled that voluspa has brought back their best candle scent ever, baltic amber. apparently, i wasn't the only one miffed that they'd done away with it.

i made this classic spinach dip on new years eve just exactly the way the recipe says to, though i used light mayo and light sour cream. it was REALLY GOOD. and i totally did pack it into a bread bowl and served it with cubes of fresh sourdough. first rate.

a few weeks ago, my cousins and i had our semi-monthly cousins outing at a private "beauty bash" at the super girlie benefit boutique in soho which was so fun and such a steal! for $50, you get a brow service (thread, pluck or wax) and $50 of product credit PLUS drinks and snacks. new favorite benefit product? definitely this plum mascara.

and speaking of plum...i'm re-obsessed with essie sole mate for nails...i just feel happy every time i see my hands. heaven.

did you have any real favorite gifts this holiday season? i think these retro handsets for cell phones are hilarious and whimsical. i also love the footsie pajamas at target...i just worry a little about overheating and not having an easy exit plan...

i've watched every episode of up all night at least once this past week on my vacation, and i love it. i'm also completely caught up on tori and dean, blissfully netflix-ensconced in both mad men and parenthood and entirely excited for the return of pretty little liars, mob wives and gossip girl...WTF chuck??

bring it 2012.


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keeping our heads on straight...three minute cleanup

 

one of the things that never fails to make me pleased with myself rather quickly is the three minute cleanup. i just made that name up, but that pretty much says it in a nutshell. take this morning for example. as i stood in the bathroom getting ready for the day, i found myself annoyed by how cluttered the sink area was. where did all this come from? long-ago-finished magazines, clothing that - though once probably fine to be put away - now needs to be washed from makeup residue falling on it day after day...wrappers and packages everywhere - how does this happen??

if i were being as perfect as martha, this wouldn't ever happen, but luckily it doesn't take very long to gather up all the mess and put each thing in its rightful place. a quick swipe of the counter with a nice smelling wipe and it's over. done. the dawn of a new day, with even a place to put my coffee. such a nicer way to start the day.

good morning

this was today's daily thought from real simple (do you subscribe?) and i liked its simplicity and truth.

on display

yes, this is in fact the second time in a week i've made reference to melissa gorga's song. awkward. 

well, moving right along, i wanted to share some pictures from last thanksgiving. i was responsible for the decor, and decided that rather than the average flowers and gourds, i wanted to go more literal on the cornucopia idea. i visited the farmers market near my office the day before and picked up lots of kale, carrots, leeks, potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts and whatever else looked good. i corralled them in casserole dishes, vases, and on trays and placed them around the house. at the end of the night, i sent thanksgiving guests home with their own little cornucopia of fresh produce to cook throughout the weekend. i taught ina everything she knows about sending guests home with leftovers, didn't you know? me and ina, we're like two peas in a pod. or two brussel sprouts in a vase in this case.

i was really happy with the way it all came out, and i felt like it was worth the approximate $50 i spent on the produce itself, especially considering that the remains went home with people and continued to be used and used up. for a lot less money, i think you could easily make an abundant display with just a few, really cheap varieties. at the grocery store, you could buy 5 lb bags of potatoes in varying colors and pile them high in bowls placed around. i feel like the more purposeful they look, the less cheap they look. so you might buy two or three different color potatoes and i would display them monochromatically, so maybe on one surface, you'd do all the red skin ones and on the other, the brown or tan ones. you could do the same with the large bags of onions in shades of white, yellow and purple, and that would look gorg as well.

clean sweep

are you on stuff overload? i'm really trying these few weeks to purge as much as i can. mail? go through it every day. or something like that. i'm also trying to really scrutinize the stuff we have laying around and be ruthless about getting rid of it. i don't want to be one of those people whose home looks like a model home with no personal affects (well maybe a little i do...) but i do want something a little closer to that than i currently have. 

it was definitely time for another closet sweep which is always gratifying...i've been feeling the thrill of that purge since i've starting losing weight and it really doesn't lose its charm - the combined victory of being smaller than you were, making more room in your closet and helping others. it's a perfect cocktail, really.

and another thing i've been doing, and it's so small really, but so powerful, is getting rid of anything i see that doesn't serve a purpose or doesn't work properly. like these umbrellas for example. they're pretty and i've been so sad to see them break. but i've been stuck in stupid, still trying to use them despite their less than functional functionality. i've lamented their broken frames for long enough and it's time to say goodbye. it has felt oddly satisfying and renewing to trash them.