Fun with camera phone

Cute apple cookies at Susie Cakes.

This bird head was outside near my car at work. I first spotted it on Wednesday. Today is Friday and it's still there. Where is it's body?

New shoes!

Homemade kale chips: toss kale leaves with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay flat on baking sheet and bake until crispy.

New rug! Finally!

A picture my pal Kristine took last Saturday. We were heading to lunch at El Ranchito. Kyle is somewhere back there too. This picture is also what we will call a "hair reality check"... yikes.

Z had to try on my shoes before me, you know, to make sure they were safe. She's so thoughtful!

Pussybow? PUSSYBOW!

I have always called these ascots and only within the past few weeks have started hearing them referred to as "pussybows". Hahaaa! (Side note: I am immature and find this funny. Along with all poop and fart jokes. Send them my way.) So you bet I will be calling these pussybows from now on.

via asos

via asos

via dear creatures

collars via top shop

clip ons via sunshine and carousels etsy shop

oh, hello friend: pop up shop

On Saturday morning, Kristine (one of my greatest pals) and I drove to La Habra for a pop up shop hosted by Danni of the adorable blog and etsy shop Oh, Hello Friend. It was really neat. Homegirl must have a little bit of hoarder in her because she has a lot of stuff! But it’s not junk, it’s good stuff! Kristine scored a really neat vintage lamp, rug, globe, and metal wall shelf thingy, all for 45 bucks. I bought some cool vintage gold clips to hang on my wall as a way to display prints, a metal letter “H”, and a cute little notebook. Danni told us that there will be a bigger version of this with a lot of other sellers in L.A. sometime in November. I really love that things are happening here in Orange County – it was a quick drive there and back, and we didn’t have to make a day of it. Bonus points: Danni’s husband was wearing a tee I designed for Toddland! That was awesome!

Want list

1. Swan flat in taupe, Free People, $120.  2. Polka Rounds Clutch, Anthropologie, $148. 3. Bone grip bracelet, Old Gold Boutique, $75.  4. Vintage owl brooch, eBay.  5. Feminine bow shirt, romwe, $48.99.  6. Ballerina glitter flats, Zara, $69.90. 7. Evening Class Jacket, ModCloth, $62.99

Doodle

Print junkie

I am kind of a print junkie. Top selection is by wolfum, and bottom selection is from ferm living. 

A much younger me was all about The Smiths and Morrissey. Still a fan, just not one of those über fans. Morrissey popped up in my iTunes mix just now. It’s kind of a gray day today, so a really good day for it. 

New fabric designs

Eating out: East/Borough in Costa Mesa

East/Borough is a cool little Vietnamese eatery serving up fresh salads, sammies, and spring rolls. It's literally just an outdoor patio at The Camp in Costa Mesa, right across from Native Foods. Order at the counter and try to snag one of the few tables, or get it to go. It's a perfect lunch place... if you can find a parking spot!

East/Borough at The Camp

2937 Bristol St
Ste D102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 641-5010

Missoni for Target

Target designer collections are an awesome thing. When they did the Orla Kiely collection, I went all over, to every Target in a 15-mile radius, to score the goods. And I lucked out! I’m an Orla Kiely fan, and I got a lot of good stuff that is still on display at Xanadu. We eat off our Orla Kiely plates and drink out of our Orla Kiely cups every day still. But do you ever get the feeling that some people just want designer stuff for the sake of having it? That’s the feeling I got yesterday as I read through all my friends’ Facebook statuses and scrolled through Twitter seeing how excited people were to go to Target and score themselves anything Missoni.


I had seen some sneak previews of the stuff, and it seemed okay. Nothing great, although I did like a blanket, and thought a pair of flats would be a nice pop with a jeans and t-shirt kind of outfit. To be honest, I wasn’t really hip to Missoni before I heard of this collection, so I had no reason to be excited. But everyone else was, so I decided I needed to get in there and check this stuff out! And what I found was... disappointing, really. All these stories of women duking it out at Target, and people spending $1000+ on a mediocre zig zag print? Really? So I decided to dissect this stuff, just to amuse myself. Warning: you may read some stuff you don't like. Read something else and pretend to still like me. :)

By “The good(-ish)” I mean that these are the things I like enough from the collection. In most cases, not enough to buy, but I see them and think “Okay, I can see how someone would want these things”. That psychedelic print on the makeup bag is cute in a small dose. There were a couple of other makeup/travel bags that could have been in this mix. The baby stuff is kind of cute, and there was a baby blanket I kind of liked too. Of the home stuff (plates, etc) I really only like the tray above. The plates are a weird shape that I do not like at all (square with 2 rounded off sides).

The whatever: these are just a great big snoozefest. Not particularly cute, but not particularly ugly. Just... whatever. Had I not known about the Missoni collection and I saw these things at Target, I would have probably walked right past them without giving them a second glance. Okay, maybe I would have looked twice at the rain boots. But I love rain boots.

The fug. This is where you may want to avert your eyes. My co-worker went to Target yesterday morning and got a couple of things, and she said the entire clothes section was wiped out. And I ask you: WHY? Look at this stuff! Look at that flappy purple sweater – no sorry, TURTLENECK – that looks like it would get all stretched out after an hour of wearing it. Most of these sweaters look like some crap you would have found at Mervyn’s in 1997. I can totally picture some random girl in high school wearing the “polo sweater” with ill-fitting too-bright-of-blue jeans. Are you picturing it with me? I even just Googled “90s jeans” and found you this picture so we can all see it together. The print and colors on the ottoman/pouf thing looks like the interior of an airplane or something.

So... That’s my honest take on the whole Missoni thing. How do you feel about it? Do you love it? Do you not understand it? Do you despise it? 

Bright and whimsical: Donna Wilson

 

I did a Donna Wilson post last year, but I thought I'd share some of her newer pillows/cushions. I still love her stuff.

New fall wreath

On Saturday night, Rachael and I got together for a cocktail and some craftiness. We made fall wreaths. It was fun and relaxing. I now love making felt rosettes and yarn pom poms. I see many nights in my future hanging out on the couch making pom poms while I watch tv. Just to have them for future projects.

Here is a tutorial for making fabric and felt rosettes.

Here is a tutorial for making yarn pom poms.

And here's a tutorial for making an entire wreath out of pom poms! I love this, maybe I will attempt it for the holidays.

Some things I like right now...

Things were kind of slow for me this week, but that’s okay. I think I will ring in the weekend by sharing some things I like right now. Do you have anything fun you always do on weekends? Kyle and I always eat burgers on Friday nights. Usually on Saturday mornings, I clean. That part is not fun :)

I love the clothes (top shirt especially), hair and photography in this photoshoot by Sessun (via Where the Lovely Things Are):

I love beanies with pompoms and these ones from ASOS happen to have giant ones! Come on, Fall.

This vintage whale planter from etsy shop domestikate. Too bad it was already sold when I found it.

I know it's a little early, but I can't help myself. This "Autumn" scented candle by Slatkin & Co. at Bath & Body Works has been making Xanadu smell reeeeal cozy. When they have a sale, I think I will buy one or two more.

I'v been enjoying this cook book called Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson who does the blog 101 Cookbooks. After eating from this for 2 weeks I dropped 4 lbs without even trying. Just making and eating her recipes. They are all really simple, and all vegetarian. It's kind of cool because I love meat. Carne asada, burgers, sushi: yes please. But I kind of hate cooking meat at home. I hate handling flappy slimey chicken breasts, and it always smells funny to me. So this book is great for me because there are some pretty hearty recipes that fill even Kyle. I’ve been saving my meat-eating for Friday night burgers!

If you go to the website for the book, there is a preview with some recipes. Out of these we’ve made the “mostly not potato salad” and the “little quinoa patties”. Both yummy. A lot of the recipes make pretty big batches, so I've been making things like the potato salad on Sundays and taking it to work for lunches for the week.

And finally... My copy of the new Design Sponge at Home book by Grace Bonney arrived in the mail yesterday! I didn't even open it yet because I wanted to wait until I had time to really get in there. And I kind of want to wait until my friend Kristine gets her copy so we can dork out on it together. I hope her copy comes today! If you want to check it out and can't wait, it's also available as an e-book.

Happy weekend!

Islands

A good weekend... + recipe for wee ones!

I did some sewing!

It was me-n-Kyle’s anniversary and we ditched the kid and went to Disneyland. Just kidding, actually it was kind of traumatic because Zoey spent the night at my mom’s house and it was her first night away from us. We missed her so hard. When we were at Disneyland, it seemed like we were constantly saying things like “I wonder if Zoey will like classic Mickey”, “Wouldn’t that be neat if Zoey pulled the sword out of the stone?”, “What’s a good age to bring her for the first time? 4? 5?” and so on. We’re so obnoxious, I know. We went on the new Star Tours for the first time. I never go on that ride because those kinds of rides give me motion sickness. I can do roller coasters with no problem, but anything that has video or spins, no way. But I just had to see what it was like all revamped! Bad gravy, man. About 30 seconds into it I had to find a focal point and stare at it. By the time the Yoda hologram came on, I had to close my eyes and keep them closed for the rest of the ride and I got all sweaty. Luckily, I snapped out of pretty quick and enjoyed Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, Indiana Jones, and It’s a Small World. After Disneyland we went out for a nice, quiet dinner at Houston’s. The whole point of having Zoey spend the night at my mom’s was so we could stay out as late as we want and sleep in as late as we want. We ended up in bed by 11 and neither of us could sleep past 8! 

After we were reunited with our child on Sunday morning, we headed out to the Orange International Street Fair. Kyle especially looks forward to this every year. They block off the Orange Circle and surrounding streets and there are vendors selling different kinds of food depending on what street you are on. Mexican street has tacos and churros, American street has BBQ and funnel cakes, Ginza Street has sushi, Denmark Street has ebelskivers, and so on. I like Greek Street and my favorite thing to get is loukoumades (deep fried balls of dough soaked in honey).

You know when you eat like crap for a couple days, all you want to eat is veggies? After a day at Disneyland and the street fair, I was there! I made this yummy open faced sammie for dinner Sunday night. It had avocado, thinly sliced apple, cucumber, and radish, micro greens, some goat cheese crumbles, and a drizzle of olive oil. It was so tasty, I made it for lunch the next day too! I got the idea for it from Oh Joy’s “Oh Joy eats lunch with” feature.

And speaking of making lunch, I made Zo the best pasta! I would call it mac and cheese, but Trader Joe’s didn’t have macaroni, so I used a different pasta and pulsed it in the food processor to chop it up a litlte smaller. And just in case you have a little one and would like to sneak some more veggies into their diet, I thought I would share this recipe. I didn’t take pictures as I made it because I didn’t plan on sharing the recipe until I saw how she devoured it! I also didn’t really measure anything, so do everything depending on your tastes. Ready? Here we go!



Pasta:

• Cook the pasta of your choice (I didn’t measure, but I used about 2/3 of the bag) according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

• Meanwhile, shred, dice, or slice whatever veggies you want to add in. I shredded zucchini and sweet potato. Set those aside. I set aside some fresh spinach for later.

Sauce:

• Make a roux by melting 1-2 tbsp of butter and 1-2 tbsp of flour in a medium-sized sauce pan. Let that cook for a couple minutes while stirring it.

• Gradually add in milk. I used about a cup and a half, maybe 2 cups. When I am making sauces like this, I like to add a little bit of milk, then stir, then a little bit more, then stir, and so on, to make sure it stays creamy and smooth and not lumpy.

• Cook the milk for several minutes until it starts to thicken. Once it’s thick enough to coat a wooden spatula, add in your choice of shredded cheese. I used about half a cup of a swiss & gruyere mix, but any cheese would be yummy. Stir that and let the cheese melt, then take it off the heat. 

• Next, put a couple of big handfuls of fresh spinach into the food processor, and add about 1/3 of the sauce. The liquid helps. I pulverized the bejesus out of the spinach. Zoey still doesn’t have back teeth (they are starting to come in now), so eating leafy things is hard for her and sometimes she ends up choking. So you can be the judge of what baby can handle. To be safe, I processed this mixture until the spinach was practically disintegrated. It looked like pesto. (side note: I had baked some kale chips earlier, and I tossed a handful of those into the food processor too)

• Add this spinach/sauce mixture back to the rest of the sauce, using a rubber spatula to scrape the inside of the food processor bowl so you get every last bit.

• Stir the veggies you prepped earlier into the sauce.

• Toss the pasta and sauce together.

Bake:

• Pour the pasta and sauce mixture into a baking dish. 

• At this point you can top with some more cheese, or bread crumbs or whatever you want. Zoey loves goat cheese, so I sprinkled goat cheese on top. I thought she’d be able to taste it better that way (instead of putting it in the cheese sauce).

• Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, just until the cheese on top melts.

This recipe made a medium-sized baking dish full of pasta. Zoey can eat it for lunch during the week, and there’s enough for my niece to have some too.