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...

another great martha idea

love this! here's the how-to.

salty and sweet

are you being hosted this weekend? hostess gifts can be both easy to shop for and hard...on one hand, there are several quick, easy wins. a bottle of wine, a bunch of beautiful flowers, or a nicely presented plant can't go wrong and i'm a big fan of all those options. but then there are the times you want to go a little different. for times like that, i love the idea i saw on my baking addiction of giving homemade vanilla sea salt. 

first, i think it's beyond lovely to give something you made, and what's different about this is that it's not a batch of brownies or a cake that's eaten and then over that day, one and done. this is more of a slow burn - something that can be kept in the pantry of the recipient and used many different ways over many weeks and months, and each time they taste it and discover a new use for the salty and sweet treat, they'll think of you and the lovely hosts they were on the night they got it from you. i love that! 

 

if you're not fancy with a crafting tool that makes perfect labels, which is like a different language to me, i think a plain paper tag (even one neatly cut from a grocery bag) with a hand-scrawled "vanilla sea salt" is kind of more charming. and this way, there's no mistaking who made it...from your kitchen to theirs.

special sips

 

i'm always a big fan of having a special drink when people arrive at a wedding or another special event. at my sister's wedding, sparkling water with fresh raspberries punctuated the rosy, blushy hues of the day. at my own wedding, we offered guests water and sparkling apple and pear ciders to signify the fall season. 

at a bridal shower i planned at work a couple years ago, chocolate was the theme so i did cups of chocolate and plain milk but made them look more special with bright pink straws, all tilted matchingly to the side. yeah, matchingly. made it up.

so...these wildflower ice cubes are begging to be tried, particularly at a spring party like a bridal shower or wedding, don't you think? they actually seem pretty doable based on martha's instructions, and you could employ the same method with any number of things...fresh herbs like mint to put in a mojito or a long island iced tea, or berries to put in a fruitier cocktail. love. this. idea.

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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.

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.

fiesta flowers

i couldn't be a bigger fan of flowers for centerpieces, nighttable accents, really any old thing. but sometimes flowers just aren't the thing - whether it's a budget restriction or just not the mood of the gathering, i like to have some other ideas at the ready and i really love this mexican paper flower idea. 

dare i say it, but i actually feel like i could create something that looks somewhat like this with no instructions (famous last words...) , but i might end up needing a tutorial. or a xanax. or both! and if craftyness fails me, they're also available to buy pretty inexpensively here. 

i think they look really pretty in a multi-color bunch like above, but i'd also love them in a two-tone bundle...like light and dark blue or lime green and a grapey purple. thoughts?

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sweet and simple

i love things like this...ideas that come together often out of necessity or even laziness, but then they create something so sweet and so simple. some of my favorite little corners of my favorite homes seem to have come together this way. do you have an impromptu tableau that reminds you of this? 

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plain and simple

i think everyone interested in home design knows about the truly amazing selection of drawer pulls and cabinetry hardware available everywhere from anthropologie to urban outfitters to home depot and the myriad ways it can spruce any room. they make such amazing ones that are pieces of art in themselves.

but the dresser above was a pleasant reminder of how lovely it can be to choose a very simple and unfussy option - they don't have to be expensive or complicated or vintage or anything in particular. doesn't this combination look nice?

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a ribbon in my hair

i've been daydreaming about braiding a ribbon into my hair recently. you know i've been liking braids, and a ribbon seems like a total elevation of the braid, but in a clever, unexpected way.

i can't decide if i would do it like this tutorial where the ribbon is treated as one strand of hair within one of the three sections, OR if i'd rather treat the ribbon itself as a whole section, which is what the photo above seems to do. 

if i fall in love with it as i think i would, i might even consider trimming down some of the beautiful scarves i love but hardly ever wear to use as ribbons.

a quick coat

so you know how i sometimes do a single coat of light nail polish in between manis? well now it's perfected - i've found the perfect polish for it...it's revlon top speed in sheer cotton or sheer pearl and it dries in one minute. literally.

done and done. they also have tons of other colors to choose from, but for me, the sheer light color is the one to go with since i'm utterly untalented at polishing my own nails.

shutter at the thought

isn't this a lovely idea? what i love most about it is that it requires zero skill in crafting, which makes it a great project for me. painting an old shutter in one solid color is something i could (probably) handle and that's all it takes to make this pretty tableau. you could even leave it with whatever state of worn-ness and color it comes to you. i love it for pictures and postcards as it's shown above, but it would also have a pretty functionality if you used it for messages (even at work!) or mail.

this has been a light writing week for me as i'm adjusting to a very busy new job and juggling many other things, but i promise to be back next week with more. let me know if you have any specific wishes for posts.

have a wonderful weekend.

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the scented letter

i spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning out closets and drawers with so much more to add to my seemingly endless clothing donations. i sorted sunglasses and found a new, larger home for all my beloved bracelets, since the collection has grown like it has. 

as i went through drawers and cleared out garbage and things i'd been clinging to just because, my spirits were lifted by the lovely scent of my lavender drawer sachets, which is all the more reason i know i'd love a beautifully scented sachet with my initial on it like this one. in the category of little extras, who wouldn't want one or a few? would also be a lovely hostess gift for a beach visit to come or a darling token for a bride-to-be with the initial of her new last name.

need more ideas for hostess gifts or bridal shower gifts?

mason jar meals

pursuant to our conversation about deconstructed salads, how completely cute is this idea? mason jar meals! it looks so charming this way, but a more commute-friendly way might be to use tupperware. it would be really cute to send kids off to school with this kind of healthy spread (or stack, as it were).

i'm tempted to make something like this for mine and mitchell's trip to see james taylor at tanglewood on sunday (!!!), but i'm having trouble picturing mitchell's response to this sort of visual presentation. kind of makes me laugh and want to try just for fun.

i could see using this idea for grilled chicken, feta, olives, tomatoes and maybe some tzatziki or hummus (much like this idea) or doing a taco one...spicy ground turkey, sour cream, scallions, some black beans...oooh now that's one mitchell might like!

what would you put in yours?

fishtail

do you love the fishtail braids we're seeing everywhere? i think they're sweet like all braids, but even a little cooler. i might have to ask my always ahead of the curve sister for a tutorial. she probably had it figured out long before it graced any glossy pages or blogs.

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time out(side)

 

i've always felt like a special place outside is so important to my mental health. it's huge to me to be able to sit somewhere quiet and enjoy a breeze, a cool drink and watch the trees sway. it's a bonus if there are birds and flowers and a windchime.

over the years, mitchell and i have lived in places with abundant outdoor space and places with less, but i've learned that even when you don't have a lot, it's what you do with it that counts. i'm totally inspired by these pictures which show different ideas with all kinds of spaces...some large, some small, some with everything perfectly matching and coordinated and others that look like they came together at a moment's notice, from the necessity of having somewhere lovely to be.

do you have a place to be outside? if you don't, could you throw one together this weekend? i bet you could do it without spending a dime...

images from here, here and here