Happy Halloween!

Vivre

Vivre is the catalog version of the store you window shop and look at, but never dream of buying. Never dream of buying. As in, not the store you window shop at and wish and dream and hope to someday splurge on a purchase, but the shop that you look around in, and walk out thinking, wow--I wonder who would buy that? How do they incorporate that into their life? I love perusing these types of wares. Very provoking and sometimes inspirational. Here are my Fall 2007 wonders...

Billard Ball Cufflinks $295

Golden Papoose $1100

Skull Stationery $120

Wooden Clutch $630

And there are so many more outlandish, wonderful things. I could go on forever...fur-lined hammocks, custom acrylic cases for old upholstered, splintering or cracked leather furniture by an artist who has shown at the Louvre...You should order a catalog...don't bother with the website...you have to see it in print...

Halloween Fun

To me, Halloween isn't complete without attending some kind of ghoulish soiree... This season, we decided to co-host our own and had so much fun! I wanted to share some of my favorite elements to our haunted evening as I just found them so delightful:

Getting Ready with Skull Candelabras, Raven Wreaths and Gummy Eyeballs!

Hot Apple Cider pressed at last weekend's Apple Squeeze

"Rita Skeeter" writing with her "quick quotes quill" about the noteworthy halloweeny cupcakes (I absolutely love these Martha Stewart cupcake wrappers & sprinkles). This square cake stand has a raised edge so I filled the bottom with candy corn for some festive flair!

The week in a Nutshell

Enjoyed: Leather clutch & nesting boxes. A tale of a visit to Heath. Finding a new blog - Svet Dresher.

Thought about: doing crazy things too.

Getting ready to: sit down with a cup of tea and the new Victoria. Have you read your's yet? How is it? I hope as good as it used to be...

Gearing up for: baking a german chocolate cake for Mom's bday. Halloween Madness. A Board of Director's Meeting. A trip to NYC.

(This photo I found on flickr here.) And speaking of nutshells, have you ever read through this fabulous, tiny set of books?

Terri's Acorn Shortbread Cookies

ACORN SHORTBREAD COOKIE RECIPE

2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
2 c. sifted all purpose flour

Cream butter, sugar, salt and vanilla in mixer. Add flour and beat until well mixed. Form cookie dough into a flattened round and wrap in saran. Refrig. at least an hour. Preheat oven to 300. Roll cookie dough 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into acorns using acorn cookie cutter and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 20-25 mins. until they are pale and just beginning to turn light brown. Cool on racks.

For the Frosting:

1 T. salted butter
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet choc. chips
1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Melt butter and choc. chips in a double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, or in a microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted.

Dip the acorn tops in melted chocolate and then the chopped pecans. TIP: Use 1/4 to 1/2 of your chopped nuts at a time, as rolling the chocolate into your nuts makes a mess. It's nice to have a fresh pile of chopped nuts to move onto!

Thanks for sharing, Mama!

Tea & Toast...and Fig Jam

This evening I treated myself to tea and toast (my favorite way--which is moderately toasted honey wheat bread, buttered with this, some white cheddar cheese and most any kind of jam.) This Pear and Port Jam Mom and Dad brought back from their trip...I think when they were in Texas. I've been saving it for the Fall, and I'm glad I did...it tasted perfect tonight.

Speaking of jams, this fig and date jam recipe looks pretty good...I haven't tried it yet...let me know how it goes if you do!

Amy Butler Patterns

This bag makes me wish I knew how to sew. This one too.

More of Amy's great patterns here, and some fabulous free patterns on the bottom right of her website too. Her book is loaded with them as well.

Two Interesting Websites

I love stumbling on websites with interesting graphic design.

(Astier de Villatte tea cup, available here.)

Astier de Villatte is a French homeware company. There website is one I've admired for a couple of years now. It is odd odd odd, but nonetheless great. To fully appreciate it, you have to spend some time to hit every aspect of the site. (Here's you're first hint: Click on the glowing ball.)

Reform School is a Los Angeles store with a recently revamped site.

(The Happy Cup, created by the same guy
who started one of my most-visited websites.)

Candles

This looks like a great way of using some of those little pieces of vintage glass that we can't seem to pass up sometimes...a fun fall-winterish project...


Or for the lazy ones (wink, wink) this firewood-scented candle by Diptyque is also wonderful. Most scents, especially holiday scents, are too overpowering for me, but this one I found in a shop last week and loved it! We're not for lack of firey smells in Southern California right now, but maybe as the season progresses and I start missing a fireplace...

Acorns "en trois façons"

The other day, Betz posted about autumn and acorns and I loved it...hopefully she stops by our site this week, because I think she'd really enjoy seeing the acorns that our Madre sews that double as needle sharpeners. Really, it should be Mama writing this post, but I'll share a little about what the Bone home is looking like this season and maybe with you're encouragement we can talk her into writing a tutorial or at least sharing her cookie recipe...


Have you ever heard of Sally Mavor? Seen the book Wee Willie Winkle, Jack & Jill or Mary Had a Little Lamb? What's really good is her craft book which can inspire you to make little fallish fairies like this!

I (usually) hate carnations!

Some of you know I've spent the past few months gearing up for a big work event... which is finally over! I'm looking forward to getting re-acquainted with my knitting needles among other aspects of "normal life."

The highlight of the festival? This little party favor that I just had to share as I'm so enchanted with it! Imagine these adorable balls of various sizes resting on the dinner tables:



I was shocked upon inspection to realize they were made from carnations--one of the only flowers that I don't like. I brought it home and have been enjoying it--along with disecting it so I can make them myself! Its merely a green styrofoam floral ball, soaked in water, with carnation stems about 2 inches long stuck in tightly all over. I love it!

to Grandmother's house we go...

Last week we headed for the Desert and got to see two of our four sets of grandparents. It was wonderful. We are so lucky to have so many grandparents...rumor has it that we might get to see some of our others this coming weekend too!

Anyhow, I thought I'd share some pictures from our day at Aamie & Papa's house because it's not every day that you get to see petit sock monkeys peeking out of tea cups or get to read books like this or this or this. (And the book I really want to share with you I am forbidden to until a certain time...)

I've always thought this little figurine would look so cute on a boy's birthday cake.

The moving finger types, and having typed...

Here he is.

Paper + Cup and Recipe Organization

Last week my love of paper was fueled when I learned of Paper + Cup from an email that See Jane Work sent out (sometimes it's worth signing up for spam!) They have great products, a great site, and even a blog (I found the pictures from a recent paper conference especially interesting.) My favorite product so far is this binder which would be great for something--recipes maybe? It might be a fun recipe book gift idea.

I store my personal recipes in an alphabetized moleskine book right now, which works really well and which I can't take credit for (it's one of the best tips I picked up from working with the chefs.)


Oh, and speaking of moleskine--you may enjoy their blog which shares how people all around the planet use their little black books.

GP's Kitchen

Most of Gwyneth's Hampton home is not my style, but I can appreciate her taste and enjoyed the tour. I like her kitchen the best. Which room do you like?

Here is the notebook of resources...

Ikea Trix are (not) for kids!

Admittedly a cheesy title, but maybe you're smiling anyway. Everyone I've met loves Ikea, or at least is intrigued by the store in some way. Here are my 3 Ikea tricks from the last 6 months...

1. In one of their summer issues, Blueprint published a blurb about Bemz and I finally got around to reading it last week. The company has a great idea--they make slipcovers in fun prints for stock Ikea furniture so that you can have semi-custom yet cheap pieces in your home.
2. Ikea Hacker is a helpful (if not sometimes hysterical) blog about "hacking" Ikea products into other forms and uses. From art to closet doors, cribs to pet beds, check it out for some wild ideas.
3. If you don't have a headboard--do what we did! These are the super cheap pine frames in the downstairs of all Ikea stores. We stained them an espresso walnut color and sepia toned some family pictures in a pattern above the cal-king. Altogether it cost about 30 bucks instead of whoknowshowmuch for a headboard. Someday we'll get the real thing, but for now...

Duplex to Dreamplex?

Since chatting with my Mama recently, I've suddenly gotten the urge to redecorate our duplex. My mom just added this to her living room and somehow, I can't stop thinking about it, having recently returned this one (beware--it didn't make the quality control cut!). I think things just need to be funk-ti-fied a little bit with a few more splashes of color... and voila!

I'm making a list of those items I'd like to spice up our decor... Like this faux bois mirror, or a couple of these Barcelona Chairs in red! Maybe this black bed? Anyway, fun to dream...

I'm loving this Emile Chair from Anthropologie, recently spotted in Domino Magazine. I'll add it to the list too!

And of course I must accessorize while I'm at it right? Plus, who can resist these gardening gloves from Hable Construction?

And while I'm there, since my sister just got new pillows, I'd better pick up some Hable Fabric and make a couple too...


The finishing touch on my newly redecorated dreamplex is definitely this adorable tea towel from Three Potato Four... I guess what I'd really better get is one of these Money Trees...

Hey Batter Batter

Eating breakfast for dinner any day of the week is fine by me, but Waffles on Sundays are definitely my favorite. Last night we had our families over for the evening and Wade cooked. Ever since we got a waffle iron for our wedding, he’s been trying out recipes and last night was the best yet. He found the recipe on MrBreakfast.com (I didn’t even know this site existed, and I’m supposed to be the cook around here!) Anyway, here is the recipe—if anyone knows of another great recipe, we would love to try it.

(This photograph comes from Jen’s flickr—I think she is such a talented photographer.)