Type B&B: January 2008

Currently

A random collection of things I'm into at the moment:

Philly

Nice Philadelphia design guide featured on Design Sponge and created by Joy of oh joy!
Tinto Restaurant - tapas and wine bar
Honey's Sit 'n Eat - brunch
Kaizan - I'm intrigued by the kaiseki-ryori
La Golosa - dessert

Recipes, mostly chocolate

I need to be better about noting where I find recipes. Sorry for the lack of acknowledgement on most of these!

etsy love

This collection of leather bags from Neiko designs in New York. My heart nearly stopped with I saw this one, prompting me to consider an "expensive yet classic" handbag fund. Here is their etsy shop.
Glass mobiles from Leah's glass creations
Crocheted wire jewelry from Precious meshes
paper and ribbon from angelaliguori
cool urban calendar from feYerwerks

Beauty/Health

Teamine eye complex - I originally saw this in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Blueprint (RIP). I've been using it for about three weeks and I think it's working. I have recruited another study participant and will get back to you on this.
PCA skin protecting hydrator spf 25 - I've been looking for an oil-free moisturizer with sunscreen for some time now, after deciding that the one I'd been using was too heavy. I'm really happy with this so far - it moisturizes without being greasy and my skin looks and feels smoother.
Bumble and Bumble thickening spray - my hair is thin and fine, and if it had it's way it would part straight down the middle and lay flat against my skull. I spray this on wet hair and dry with a round brush for volume. I've tried many many hair products and this one actually works.
walkjogrun - a running route planner that allows you to click on a map and calculate distance/time

Labels: misc links etsy beauty recipes

Suggestions?

Can anyone recommend good restaurants in Miami? We're open to pretty much any cuisine, and will probably be there for dinner. Moderately priced ($18-$25 entrees), with a good wine/drinks selection. We are not familiar with the city at all, so any comments about the neighborhood/surrounding attractions would be greatly appreciated!

A couple that I've found so far:

Talula
Bistro Bisou
Cohiba Brasserie
Joe's Stone Crab
Michy's
Michael's Genuine Food & Drink

Labels: travel restaurants

32

Today is my birthday! We celebrated last night with a great dinner at Gayle. I had their warm winter salad (lentils, grilled artichoke and potatoes with a warm lentil vinaigrette) followed by the best tuna I've ever had (and I've tried quite a few since it's a favorite): the tuna itself was seared and served rare over basmati rice+buttered leeks, with curry ice cream on the side. It sounds odd but it totally worked. For dessert I had a little molten vanilla cupcake with a dark chocolate terrine. Mmmmm.... so good. R. also surprised me with this.

Unfortunately I'm stuck in the lab all day. I have a very flexible schedule during the week so I normally don't mind working weekends at all. But today I'm feeling a tiny bit bitter about it.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Over there

on the right side, below my friends. I've made a list of blogs that I enjoy. I also have a bunch of cooking blogs, craft blogs, design blogs etc. that I frequent - I'll try and add those at some point too.

Labels: blog

Reminder

The Complete Jane Austen is on Masterpiece Classic, starting with Persuasion last night. Northanger Abbey is up next, and here's the full schedule. You may also enjoy The Men of Austen.

When I mentioned this to the girls at school last week, there was a long unappreciative pause, followed by: "nerrrd bommmbbb" from our lab tech. Hmph.

HOWEVER when I reminded R. last night that it was starting at 9, he was totally excited - I have found my perfect match for sure!

Labels: TV

Thoughts...

..on the co-op:

1. I can't say it's pleasant to shop there - it's a tiny space and that makes for cranky customers.
2. Some things are very reasonably priced, like veggies, prepared foods and dairy (they stock Pequea Valley yogurt, my new obsession). The co-op also runs a farm, one reason why the veggies are so cheap.
3. Breads and meat are a bit more pricey, but there is a nice selection
4. You have to pay for bags, so almost everyone brings their own. I'm finding that this is a good thing for me, because I can only carry so much and I only buy what I really need. It also forces me to make an organized shopping list; I try to list things in the order I will encounter them in the store.
5. I worked for the first time last Thursday from 7:30-9:30. I chose "floor" duty because I thought it might help me familiarize myself with the store. I re-stocked the dairy case, moved crates of veggies into the cold room, vacuumed the carpets and tore apart cardboard boxes for recycling. I actually sort of enjoyed it.
6. Once the CSA starts up again, I will be able to buy everything I need at these two locations. No more Whole Foods and their ridiculous prices/congested parking lot!!

Labels: CSA co-op

In the works

New pillow for our (beige) couch which sits in front of our (white) walls atop our (cream) carpet. Blah. The only color constraint I had was that our lampshades are green.

Here are the first few strips:

After quilting:

A close up:

The pattern is loosely based on a log cabin pillow, which I originally became interested in when I saw some examples on Lisa Congdon's blog. Designing a nice color palette is more difficult that it seems! In this case the solid red and orange really take over even though I really wanted to highlight the leaf pattern fabric. Next time I'm going to work almost exclusively with patterns and see how that turns out.

Speaking of fabric, the leaf fabric is Liberty of London Tana Lawn from purl soho. I totally love it but I only had a tiny piece (it's expensive)! I buy most of my solid cotton fabrics from equilter.com. Speaking of purl soho, they have an online journal that is a great place for craft ideas, color palettes, etc.

As you can probably see, I took on a rather "freestyle" quilting pattern, partially in an effort to camouflage my crooked sewing! I'm pretty happy with the result so far. I'll try and post a final photo once I'm done.

Labels: sewing crafts apartment intheworks

must.resist.temptation.

Here are a couple of recent etsy finds - I shouldn't buy anything, since we're going on a trip to Marco Island in Feb, but maybe you can!

Felted brooches from jenmenkhaus.

Wall graphics from oneupdesigns

Brainy whale Tshirt from spittingimage
This seller had a great "favorites" section (when you are on the main shop page, there's a link on the right hand side that includes profile and favorites info).

Tshirt from timberps

felted purse from lusitania

original etching from maseman

soy candles from Martinsville emporium

cinnamon, clove, cardamom and orange travel candle from Gabriel's aunt

Coin purse from oktak

Have a wonderful weekend!

Labels: etsy gifts shopping

2008 to do list

School:

Set up my committee and arrange my first meeting
Complete my qualifier

Health/beauty:

Continue running
Try the cardio kickboxing class offered at the gym
Re-evaluate my skin care regimen - current one is not working!
Try to be more healthy about guilt and stress - either do something about it or let.it.go
Have a better attitude and expectations about my body and how it will age and change as time passes me by

Apartment

Frame prints/photos and hang above couch
Find and purchase piece of furniture for horrible blank wall in living room
Make pillows for the couch
New curtains for living room
New bookcase(s)?

Misc.

Make all gifts (if possible) rather than purchasing them
Decrease my computer time at home
Recycle
Replace our tupperware with glass containers

Strengths in 2007:

shopping locally
eating healthy
cooking a lot and trying new recipes
plenty of craft/creative time
research was fairly productive

Room for improvement!

Spent too much time on the internet
Worried a lot about fitting things (ie school kids travel where to live etc etc) comfortably into my life
I'm sure there's more but why dwell on it, right?