More wish list items...

... this time c/o Humunuku Shoppe on Etsy.

What's not to love about vintage postcards with chickens, goats and ostriches!



I'm really getting into mailing people back home and in different cities, just note cards to say quick hellos. Not least because I have an box full of cards that I collect, and then feel I should share with the world instead of keep to myself! Perhaps I'll treat myself...


Not sure what I could put in these, but again, you've got to appreciate a porker like this one here.


Photos c/o Humunuku Shoppe

Farm Dinners

I wish I had a garden.  Like, a big ole chunk of land where I could plant a vegetable garden and have a goat roaming around for easy cheesy goodness.  Then we could constantly supply not only ourselves with fresh veggies and goat cheese but also our friends and the community.  We could have community farm dinners like Anne and Paul Cure of the Cure Organic Farm and the brains behind Meadow Lark Farm Dinners

I love this idea and wish I could attend a dinner.  The menu sounds like it is always amazing, there's wine, and dinner is served outdoors at a super long table with enough room for 36 guests!  They collaborate with various other farmers in the area. 


This happens in Connecticut too.  In fact, it happens all over the country.  It just seems so lovely to spend an evening eating such delicious food in such a beautiful environment and surrounded by your neighbors and the people behind the produce.  What's not to love?!





Sign me up!

{last photos via}

Spring Painting



Yesterday, B and I decided on the colors we're going to use to paint the condo this weekend. I am super-excited. Not only will it (hopefully) look awesome, but it's another 30-before-30 (experiment with colors on walls).



We're going to have a yellow living room, which reminds me of bicycles



my wedding flowers



and submarines


And a green bathroom, just like my favourite chocolate



and peppermint creams



and ancient jade Buddhas


And my dream of a bright blue kitchen is coming true, too! It'll make me think of oceans



and Peter Rabbit



and beautiful bridesmaids :-)


I think these colors should usher in a spring full of sunshine and a summer full of light.

Can anyone share tips and tricks for painting? Ideas for my next project (some kind of art painted directly onto a wall)? What colors are you putting on your walls and why?

Dress help!!

Attention everyone:



I need help.  I seem to have perused the website of every clothing store I can dream of, looking for an olive green dress.  Why is it so hard?  Is that color 'so 2003' or something?!  You see my dears, I'm looking for the perfect olive green dress for my sister-in-law, Gina, one of my lovely bridesmaids.  The poor thing has been searching up and down, inside and out, around the town, the web, you name it, she's looked.  My mom is constantly on her case about finding the dress (my mom is worried she'll end up naked at the wedding or something, who knows).  And not exactly for the sake of urgency-oh-my-God-I-need-this-right-now-can't-wait-any-longer-or-she'll-end-up-naked-at-the-wedding do I need to find this dress, but because I feel bad, because the poor woman is a) not a shopper and b) we just want to put my mom's mind at ease.  So I'm asking, begging, on bended knee, for some serious help. 

For those of you that don't know, the wedding is in August, in sunny wine country, California.  My bridesmaids are all wearing shades of green, on the sage side, with some brown cowboy boots.  So not only does the dress need to be a specific color but it also needs to be comfortable, supportive (physically and emotionally I suppose) affordable (she found a dress she likes but the price tag doesn't seem to like her!) and preferably re-wearable.

So.  Wow that really rules a lot out, eh?  No wonder we're having trouble.  But I thought this would be easy! (stomps feet on the ground in a fit of rage). 

So please...help?  I would so very much truly appreciate it.  So very much.

XOXO,
Mo

photo

Cuuuute!


Last night, I was able to speak to my favorite little kids in the whole wide world.  Except the littlest one, Ally, did not wish to speak to me other than the usual hi, hello, how are you's.  No sir, instead, she wanted to speak to Badger!  Not me!  I found it funny and adorable.  I love that she loves him and isn't afraid to talk to him on the phone.  After all, he has been around since she was a wee little baby!  They went through the routine questions, and she gave him the weather report.  Nope, it wasn't snowing in Kansas.  It makes me go weak in the knees!  Kids are silly :)

Photo via wide open spaces

Whoot!


Love Etsy, and love these awesome handmade owls from BWinks


Cute, functional (?!) and supposedly they bring you good luck.


Look at those eyes!

Pics from BWinks on Etsy

Still lusting after spring

The weather forecast is calling for 70 degree days later this week.  I simply can not wait! 


Photo via


Wedding rings

On Friday after work, we met up halfway between our offices at Jeweler's Row to check out wedding bands.  The first store we walked into ended up being a gold mine (pun intended) and we walked out of there much poorer than we went in, but left much richer than expected.  We each tried on a handful, immediately finding "the one" as soon as we started.  It was amazing!  Our rings are both pretty simple, but we're both incredibly happy and satisfied. 

What's your ring style?  If you were getting married, would you choose a ring like this?


Or like this?



Or like this?


Weeeeee!!kends


We made it through another week, and at last, dear sweet Friday has arrived and 5 o'clock is nearer.  What are you all up to?  Badger & I are using up a Groupon tonight at La Méterranée in the west loop for some French-Italian fusion food.  I hope it's as delicious as it sounds.  We're also planning on doing a lot of hang time with good people.  Hopefully the weather is warm so this bbq Inna & Alex are having is nothing but awesome.  Have a happy weekend everyone!

Photo via ffffound

Spring cont.

Yep, it's still cold here in Chicago, but:

1. I haven't complained about the weather once this winter (thanks again, A.J.!)

2. When I jogged yesterday, I saw some of these guys out:


If they can do it, so can we, right?

I'm planning on spending the weekend appreciating spring by meeting it where it's at right now, and filling the weekend with friends, good food and plenty of yoga to work the winter out of my joints. How will you enjoy the changing season this weekend?


Photo here

Mein Führer


Our dearest AM sent out an email earlier today with some surprising information about the American public and it's views of our President. It was not surprising to learn that Democrats and Republicans have different opinions. However, the percentage of people (on both sides of the aisle) buying into all the fear mongering crap that's been floating around is rather astounding.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,320 adults surveyed online between March 1 and 8, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

  • He is a socialist (40%)
  • He wants to take away Americans' right to own guns (38%)
  • He is a Muslim (32%)
  • He wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (29%)
  • He has done many things that are unconstitutional (29%)
  • He resents America's heritage (27%)
  • He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (27%)
  • He was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president (25%)
  • He is a domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitutions speaks of (25%)
  • He is a racist (23%)
  • He is anti-American (23%)
  • He wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (23%)
  • He is doing many of the things that Hitler did (20%)
  • He may be the Anti-Christ (14%)
  • He wants the terrorists to win (13%)

Majorities of Republicans believe that President Obama:

  • Is a socialist (67%)
  • Wants to take away Americans' right to own guns (61%)
  • Is a Muslim (57%)
  • Wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (51%); and
  • Has done many things that are unconstitutional (55%).
  • Resents America's heritage (47%)
  • Does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (40%)
  • Was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president (45%)
  • Is the "domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of" (45%)
  • Is a racist (42%)
  • Want to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (41%)
  • Is doing many of the things that Hitler did (38%).

Even more remarkable perhaps, fully 24% of Republicans believe that "he may be the Anti-Christ" and 22% believe "he wants the terrorists to win."

While few Democrats believe any of these things, the proportions of Independents who do so are close to the national averages.

These replies are also strongly correlated with education. The less education people have had the more likely they are to believe all of these statements. Consider these differences between those with no college education and those with post-graduate education:
  • He is a socialist (45% and 20%)
  • He wants to take away Americans' right to own guns (45% and 19%)
  • He is a Muslim (43% and 9%)
  • He was not born in the United States so is not eligible to be president (32% and 7%)
  • He is a racist (28% and 9%)
  • He is anti-American (27% and 9%)
  • He is doing many of the things Hitler did (24% and 10%).

You can read the full report here:

http://news.harrisinteractive.com/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView.asp?BzID=1963&ResLibraryID=37050&Category=1777



All photos found via a hilarious Google Images search......

Greasy may not be so grossie...or is it?

I just received my daily Refinery 29 email in my inbox and was quite...baffled by some of the content.  You see, my whole life I've had to battle the greasy hair problem.  If I don't wash it once a day, it gets embarrassingly bad.  Up until about 10 months ago, I lived with this problem.  That is, until I discovered the wonders of dry shampoo.  Do any of you use this?  It's a miracle worker!  I can't believe I, the sufferer of greasy hair for so many years, who longed for a cure to end this suffering, never knew about it until I was 26-years-old.  For the love of Pete! 



So what I'm finding out here, is that designers such as Alexander Wang, Cushnie et Ochs and Acne have taken the greasy approach to models' hair for the runway.  In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, What is the deal with that?  Is this the new hair trend?!  I mean, if Ms. Sevigny is doing it then certainly I must.  Hahaha, wait, you don't actually believe me there, do you?  (Quite frankly, she looks rather nasty in the image above)  So tell me, dear readers, will you be sporting the freshly-showered-four-days ago look the next time I see you, like these models here?


Aye yay yikes!

All photos via refinery 29

I got the fever



"It's spring fever...you don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" - Mark Twain

Why is it cold again today?  Makes me so sad.  But in happier news, I saw budding tulips on my walk home last night and it put a big ole smile on my face.

Photo via here.

Badger's seitan recipe of pure deliciousness

Boy has got it going on!   His cooking never ceases to amaze me.  I'm a lucky lady, that's for sure. 

Tonight he was craving chicken.  I'm not opposed to him cooking chicken at all.  But he claims to not like making 2 different meals in a night.  Whatevs, I say.  But it always works out in my favor because now he is in the kitchen whipping us up some chicken-style seitan.  SCORE!

Here is the recipe.  It's the kind of recipe that you can change things to adjust the flavor of the seitan, pending on how you want to cook it.  This always yields about 3 meals for the 2 of us, or works perfectly for a dinner party.  Please, invite me over if you plan on making this!  All in all it takes about an hour and a half to prepare, unless of course, you get distracted by racing your friends in New York at Mario Kart....

Serves 7 - 8 people
1 3/4 cups Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper - or, to taste
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground rosemary
1 tbsp. chopped cilantro
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cayenne pepper (you can add more, some like it hot!)

Whisk all of the dry ingredients together.  In a separate bowl, mix the cilantro with the wet ingredients.  Combine into one.  Stir until it forms a paste and sticks together like dough.  Knead 20 times, I kid you not, he says it's one kneady seitan!  Let rest for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, bring a "big pot of water" and 1 cup of dry vermouth (you can substitute with other things, he sometimes uses triple sec) and 1 tbsp. table salt to a boil.  Cut the seitan roll in half, form each half into a hockey puck shape.  Boil for 45 minutes.  If it looks like brains a-boilin', then you're on the right track!
Usually he adds soy sauce, tomato paste, etc. as he usually follows this seitan recipe o greatness.  But he wasn't digging that tonight.  No siree. We ended up having it breaded and fried like scallopini.  He created some type of orange sauce that we drizzled over it, which was chalk full of white wine!  It was delicious.

Since I didn't have the patience to take a picture, this will have to do!


It looked nothing like that but I couldn't resist this picture!  Via Goop.

Etsy love, continued...


As a girl madly in love with a (david) Badger, I find this t-shirt irresistable.  Especially the description:

"Mr. Badger is a very refined gentleman.  As you can see he is not about parading himself in the nude like his other animal on bike counterparts.  He is well-dressed, well-topped, and ready for anything on his fine penny-farthing bicycle."

I'm sold.

 

My niece would look so so cool in this t-rex on a bike t-shirt.  And look, he's nude! 


"The underwater emissions were becoming of concern for sea predators so this one decided to stop fussing and start a revolution."

That's one smart shark.

You can find these lovely t-shirts via Etsy at dark cycle clothing

Thank you


I just wanted to say thank you to all of our readers and followers and friends who visit the blog, or those who stumble upon it and leave a comment.  It truly brightens our days!  I really love this blog we started and I look forward to sharing things with each and every one of you as often as I can.  I am amazed by the blogging community and grateful for getting to "meet" new people and share such wonderful information with one another.  I look forward to meeting new people and finding new blogs.  This is definitely something I will continue to do for a very, very long time.  I've really discovered a lot of things and a lot about myself.  Thanks for being a part of this everyone! 

photo via here.  It's just a lovely picture that reflects my mood at the moment :)

Interesting. Very interesting.

Last night, we watched a recorded episode of Jeopardy!  Say what you will, laugh and sneer, but we love that show and look forward to watching it every night.  So the particular episode we watched last night was Celebrity Jeopardy!, featuring Anderson Cooper, Aisha Tyler and Cheech Marin.  I kid you not, it started out just like the classic Saturday Night Live Celebrity Jeopardy! skits.  You know the kind, where "Sean Connery" and "Alex Trebek" bicker and Connery throws out "that's not what your mom said last night, Trebek" burns?  Or how "Burt Reynolds" would change his name to Turd Ferguson or come out wearing an oversized hat that he "found backstage". 


Anyway, this episode really started out that way.  Nobody was following directions, Aisha buzzed in and said the correct answer AFTER she already buzzed in once with the incorrect answer.  It was funny, to say the least.  But what really, really baffled me was this.  Cheech Marin beat Anderson Cooper with flying colors.  At his own categories too.  Categories that Mr. Cooper should have owned.  I loved it.  Seriously.



I just wanted to share because I find it so awesome.  Congrats, Cheech!  Way to show the world that guys like Cheech & Chong are smart! 

pics via and via

Dose of Tuesday Humor

These cards from fomato.com are not only pretty, but funny and unique.

I don't want to spoil the punch lines, but here are a couple (front, back and inside) that I hearted a lot.

Here's a birthday card about tea. Of course I like that one then.



And here's one about cheese. Of course I like that one too. Anyone see a theme emerging that looks a lot like my everyday diet???



OK, and here's one that doesn't recall something that I eat everyday - it's called Sea Cucumber with Citrus, and it's foolishly cute.
I love the combination of cute animals, foods and fun facts (see the "Educational Sort Of" page)




Go grab some cards and bring back snail mail so we can all get nice things in the post! x

All pics from fomato.com

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