Believe the Hype

Yesterday, I tried two things that have been receiving a lot of attention on the blog-o-sphere lately. Malin+Goetz Cilantro Conditioner and La Tur Cheese. I'd been holding off because I felt that they couldn't possibly live up to the hype. I'm going on record officially as admitting that I was wrong. Brothers and sisters, believe in the conditioner and cheese!


First the conditioner... I only had to use about a quarter of the amount of conditioner that I usually use. (I have long hair.) And I could tell as I was rinsing it out that it had done something to my hair. Even soaking wet it felt noticeably softer and smoother. But my hair dried, I was amazed. My hair is thick, with a fairly rough texture, but this miraculous stuff made my hair feel soft and light as a baby's. I'm going to seek out the Peppermint Shampoo next.


And then the La Tur Cheese... Where to begin? I think that angels may have invented this cheese after humanity did something really, really good. I can come up with no other explanation for how amazing it is. Unfortunately, it probably undid all of my good work at the gym this week. But, honestly, it was worth it.

Socks for Julian

What's this peculiar looking thing? Why it's only the cutest little baby sock in the world for my friend's new baby, Julian!


Ok, it's probably not the cutest baby sock in the world, but it's the first one I've ever attempted & I'm feeling proud. I'm using the Striped Socks pattern from Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino 2 book, with a few modifications. It knits up super fast on two needles. I knit this up over the course of two hours last night. (Full Disclosure: I knit really slowly and I was watching Lost. I'm sure the pattern actually knits up much more quickly.)

You just sew up the back of the piece to make it sock shaped. Plus, it doesn't have a ton of ends to weave in because you carry the alternating yarn colors up the side. So far, I'm a big fan of two needle baby socks. I'm actually mentally designing a pair right now...

Heather Ross on Spoonflower

Some of Heather Ross' classic designs are now available for order on Spoonflower! Squee!





The palates have been reworked, so they're not identical to the originals. But I think they're grand! And isn't Spoonflower just about the coolest thing you've ever heard of?

Succulents

My grad application is in! And to celebrate, I picked up a tiny succulent from Winston Flowers.


They has them displayed in little, square, glass vases and I'm loving the whole look.

I haven't been in a Winston Flowers in years. The last time I was there, I thought their arrangement seemed so forced and formal. Either they've changed or I have. Because their shop today absolutely delighted me.

More Screen Printing

Here's phase 1 of my next screen. The blue dots are the screen drawing fluid. Once they're dry, I'll coat the screen with screen filler. Then, after that dries, I'll rinse the whole screen off and the blue dots will wash out, leaving a pattern for printing.


As you can tell, the screen printing bloom is still on the rose.

Little Sandwich Cookies

Lovely, lovely weekend. Spent some serious quality time with friends and finished up my application to the graduate playwriting program. I also indulged in a few of these beautiful little cookies from the Hi-Rise Bread Company.




They're basically a much improved, freshly made version of the Oreo. And, in a polite nod to their lineage, named "the little sandwich cookie".

Granny Squares and the Dresser

The granny square blanket is looking a bit wishy-washy to me, so I've decided to add a more pronounced border. I'm going to use the two purple tones that I've already used in the squares. Cross your fingers.


Oh and here's a long overdue shot of the new dresser. It needs a picture or something, but I still can't get over how clean it looks (excepting the screen printing materials and loom on the right).

Valentine Cookies

Final Valentine post, I promise. Here are the cookies con marmelatta that I whipped up for BB.



The recipe made a ton of cookies, so BB also received an accompanying, less photogenic tin full of them. We had friends over after trivia on Sunday, so the cookies from the tin disappeared pretty quickly. So generous, that BB!

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Why do long weekends always go so fast? This morning, I was convinced that Boston was going to pull off the elusive three day weekend + snow day combo, but no such luck.

On Saturday, BB and I went to the Total Eclipse of the Heart: 80s Love Song Sing-Along at Coolidge Corner. It was amazing. We wore Haul & Oates mustaches and did the Love is a Battlefield Dance.


The highlight of the night for me was Lionel Richie's "Hello", until a couple got engaged during "Total Eclipse of the Heart". How can you top that? Sorry Lionel.

Hermes Drawer Liners

I decided to go with the Hermes drawer liners. They were the least cutesy and they smell incredible; sophisticated and exotic.


I wish that there were a candle with this exact scent that I could keep in our living room. I've found some contenders, but no exact matches. If there are any scent-savvy folks out there with the candle of my dreams, please let me know.

My contenders (so far) are:


Diptyque Galliano Candle


Malin + Goetz Vetiver Candle

More to follow...

Babies and Grannies

The granny squares have been assembled! School was let out early yesterday, which gave me an unexpected and lovely pocket of free time to work on Erin's blanket. It's not quite ready for its unveiling yet, as I'm still working on the border.

And in far more exciting news, my friend Brandy had her baby last night! They had a beautiful boy named Julian. And now I'm trying to figure out how to make a butch version of the baby bloomers. I don't know that it's possible.

Here's a little of the baby boy inspiration that I've been perusing while I ponder.




*all beautiful baby gifts above are from Oeuf

Pavilion Gray

And the new color for our living room is... Farrow & Ball Pavilion Gray.


My quest is over.

Bleak House

In 2008, when I embarked on my mission to reread all of the books that I hated in high school (and was surprised to find that, for the most part, I really enjoyed them), I couldn't quite muster the strength to take on any books by Charles Dickens. For the better part of my life I've been quite convinced that I can't stand his work.


But this weekend, after much hemming and hawing, I picked up Bleak House at the library. And I love it. I'll have to wade deeper into the works of Mr. Dickens. I may even grow to enjoy his lengthy description of fog.

Con Marmellata

On our honeymoon, BB had at least three biscotti con marmellata every day. So for Valentine's Day, I've decided to bake him some. I'm going to use a modified version of Ina Garten's Jam Thumbprint Cookies, sans coconut.


The ones we had in Italy were usually apricot or citrus, but I think I may go with raspberry. The color seems much more Valentine-appropriate.

I thought I'd put them in an airtight jar with a heart tag. Too cute? Just cute enough? It's so hard to tell.

Granny Square Distraction

My granny squares have been completed and are laying out, ready for assembly. The assembly will be happening tonight, in theory. But Lost is on and I suspect the evening will have more smoke monster than crocheting.

So here's a little granny square inspiration to keep me on the righteous path.





So pretty. I will crochet tonight. I will only partially pay attention to the smoke monster. I will persevere in the face of explosions, time travel and wild exposition.

Oh, on the granny square front, Alicia Paulson is selling the pattern to her Sunshine Day Baby Afghan. it's absolutely gorgeous and well worth checking out.

Weekend at Looc

Fabulous, fabulous sale at Looc Boutique this weekend! (I just love this store.)


I braved the winds and plummeting temperature on Saturday to check it out and was rewarded with a lovely Epice scarf:


and a dainty set of Amulette lingerie.

The rest of the weekend was spent eating pho and working on Erin's granny square blanket. Oh, I love weekends.

More Drawer Liners

On the drawer liner front, I just found out that Sabon also carries them:




I love Sabon's scents and I love their quality, but I can't say that aesthetically I'm loving these liners. It might just be that they don't go with my dresser. They would probably be lovely in something less streamlined.

Tame Those Drawers

I've been sick the past two days and haven't had a chance to get my new drawers organized yet. So this morning, I'm looking up lingerie/sock drawer tamers. So far here's what I've got:


Tweed Drawer Organizers from the Container Store


Eco Stripe Drawer Organizers from the Container Store


Silk Drawer Organizers from the Container Store

I'm not sure that any of these are exactly what I'm looking for, which is the holy grail of organizers. Something that makes me strive to live up to its organizational perfection. But as I don't think that really exists, any one of these would do quite nicely.

Drawer Liners

My lovely dresser arrived last night and I spent the evening polishing it up with Murphy's Oil Soap. I just love the smell of that stuff. While I was playing around with how to arrange it, I started thinking about drawer liners. I've never actually used them before. They seem terribly ladylike, but do they shift about if you go digging for a sweater at the bottom of the drawer?

A quick search on drawer liners yielded what I perceive to be the top three brand choices for drawer liners, but no answers to my questions.

Liner choice #1:


Hermes - Classic, discrete and undeniably luxurious


Giana Rose Atelier - Flowery, ladylike and a bit boudoir-ish


Crabtree and Evelyn - Simple cottage charm

What do you think? Line the drawers, yay or nay?

Reside

BB and I made our first visit to Reside in Huron Village yesterday & I walked away with a new dresser. My old one looked good, but was falling apart and the new one is a really well made piece and was a total steal to boot. Here she is:



As I'm sure you've already read on many other Boston blogs, Reside is amazing, amazing, amazing. Beautiful pieces at beautiful prices. I'll be swinging by there regularly.

And in the meanwhile, I'll be doing a little prep work for my pretty new dresser by weeding out the clothes that are long overdue to be donated.