The Most Beautiful Plates in the World

Sigh. My Mom visited this past weekend and it was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. We shopped and baked and brunched and farmers market-ed and had an all around lovely time.

And as if that weren't enough, she brought me the the Taika plates that I have coveted for over a year as a birthday gift.



So beautiful and unexpected!

The Great Rug Debate

Our living room has been slowly morphing into the dream living room that I see in my head. It's been a process more than an overhaul, but I think I've benefited from the time. A fuchsia, Moroccan leather pouf seemed absolutely necessary for about a week. But now I'm grateful that I had to mull it over for a few months.

My most recent design mulling has been over a rug for the living room. The fella and I live in a rental apartment, which already (unfortunately) has industrial, beige wall-to-wall carpet. The living room is quite spacious and we use half of it as our dining room. My plan is to get a patterned 5x8 rug to use in the "living" portion of the room to break the room up a bit. And to hide some of the wall-to-wall.

The two contenders, in no particular order are:

The Stacked Stripe Rug from Williams-Sonoma Home


And the Nautical Stripe Rug, also from Williams-Sonoma Home


They're both currently on sale. They would each lend the clean, preppy lines that I'm looking for to the room. I'm genuinely torn. What do you think?

Return to the Kitchen

In a way, it feels as though I'm rediscovering the pleasure in life. Work, family, etc had my days flying by at a high gallop last year and although things have calmed down, I am only beginning to find my footing again. I have been hesitatingly beginning small projects, with the fear that they will no longer appeal to me. That they will feel like a chore. But my capacity for enjoyment is much stronger than I give it credit for and I want to keep a record of all of the little things that have made me happy lately.

For example, I'm cooking again. And enjoying it! Cooking has been a mixed bag for me the past couple of years. I always considered myself a good cook until I started dating a vegeterian almost five years ago. (Actually, we're engaged now.) All at once, it felt as though I lost my culinary vocabulary. I've figured it out slowly. But it's only recently that I feel like the kitchen is really mine again. I'm improvising, rather than following recipies. I'm making a bit of a mess. I'm having fun.

Exhibit A, these lemon cakes:



I made them for my friend Kate's birthday brunch. They're loosely based on Ina Garten's lemon cake recipe. The glaze was a bit too thin, but they were a blast to make. And to eat.