Mood Board Monday - Moss Green & Chocolate Brown

Welcome back to Mood Board Monday!

This combo might be so 2008, since it was in fact my wedding color combo (along with orange) way back then ;-) But I still love the combination of a mossy green and chocolate brown. It's so earthy, retro and modern all at once.

Here are the sources of my inspiration...

Top (from left to right):
1. Moss Monogram from my wedding, photo by Jon Koch
2. Onesies with a green and brown striped necktie, by SuperSweetCreations, etsy seller
3. Tree at the Chicago Botanic Garden, photo by me, on flickr
4. Missouri, by Frank Chimero, on flickr (I own the Missouri and Illinois print and LOVE them).
5. Geometry 20" Pillow, from Crate & Barrel
6. Tetra Bowl, Scales, from Anthropologie
7. Green Lotus Fabric Note Cards, by Lockette, etsy seller
8. Eat Good Food print, by LuckyBluebirdArt, etsy seller

Enjoy!

A Few Springtime Delights

I was doing some online window shopping last night and came across a variety of cute spring things that I definitely don't need, but thought were fun & shareworthy none-the-less. Here are my finds:

Bird Napkins Rings from Zgallerie -- Set of 4 for $19.80

Farmer's Egg Crate (in Sky) from Anthropologie -- $14.00

Marimekko ® Kimara Tablecloth from Crate & Barrel -- $39.95 - $109.00 depending on size

tweet bird feeder from cb2 -- $29.95

Enjoy!

Simple, Scrumptious Macaroon Mix

I almost feel silly posting this since they required virtually no effort on my part, but yesterday I opened a box of Barefoot Contessa Coconut Macaroon Mix which I bought a few months ago from Crate & Barrel.

(again, please excuse the quality of my iPhone pics, I've been too lazy to reach for the DSLR mid-project lately.)

Then I added, 6 tablespoons of hot tap water, stirred with a wooden spoon, scooped 20 or so onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and baked for 20-ish minutes.

The result was a pan of amazing, home-baked coconut macaroons.

And right now this mix is on sale at Crate & Barrel for only $4.95, reduced from $8.95, so it's a simple, scrumptious, steal! I might buy another box and try dipping them half way in dark chocolate next time for a truly decadent treat.

Today's Catalog Finds

Today, I had jury duty and I needed a way to fill my time. Since my favorite past-time is normally online shopping, and I was sure to be without a wi-fi connection, I brought all of my latest catalogs along so I could browse those instead. And wouldn't you know it, I have dog-ears in every one of them! Whether I purchase these items is another story, but I thought I'd still feature a few of my faves particularly from Williams Sonoma & cb2.

First, was a flip through the Williams Sonoma catalog where I spotted this very cool ravioli maker (they call it a ravioli mold in the print catalog), for only $24.95:

I was tempted to purchase this until I realized I would also need this terrific-looking, but terribly impractical Imperia pasta machine, $69.95, in order to make the pasta sheets:

It's not really the price that deters me, it's my lack of counter-space and/or storage that is holding me back since I know I wouldn't use it regularly. We shall see...

I also got excited about these adorable message-in-a-cookie cutters, only $19.99. At that price they might be too delicious to pass up:

And as I am catching up on my google reader I also noticed that Andrea has the same love-affair with these cookie cutters, so great minds think alike. Or at least swoon alike ;-)

Now let's move on to my cb2 catalog finds. This abacus wall art also caught my eye, $149.

I also love these oliver appetizer plates, $2.95 each. Not just because they are completely kitschy and fun, but because I also got a chance to see the graphic designer & illustrator who created "Oliver", Jana Kinsman, speak last month at a Chicago AIGA event and hear her story. She definitely has two sides to her: organizing information for the consumer in the clean, bold, heavily typographic style that is typical of Crate & Barrel but then she has this quirky, hand-drawn illustration side to her that cb2 has now embraced.

This one is my favorite:

I'll probably pick a few up at some point to give out as hostess gifts down the road!

Prepping for our First Thanksgiving

This year we will be hosting our first Thanksgiving feast!

Instead of going home to St. Louis like we do for every major holiday, we finally convinced our parents to make the trek to Chicago so that we could try our hand at making the family meal. It will be bittersweet since we will miss out on seeing our extended families that day, but now that we are married and have a ton of things which we registered for that we never use, I really wanted to start taking our turn at hosting it. Plus, now that my sister lives in Chicago as well, my parents have one more reason to come up north.

Last weekend, armed with 11 Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons which I collected over the year, we picked up some extra odds-and-ends we'd need for the big day like a baster, a pie keeper and a few more things.

One of them was this great Counter Art Bamboo Carving Board:

I can't want to make my first turkey and carve it on our new board with our nice, Wustof carving knifes.

Another good find, was The Nifty 3-Tier Oven Rack.

I never would have thought of this, but I think this will come in extra handy for keeping multiple dishes warm at once on one half of the oven, while still having a large turkey on the bottom rack of the other half. At most Thanksgiving dinners, each of our family members have always been responsible for bringing different dishes and casseroles in a pot-luck fashion, but since I will be hosting out of town guests this year, our parents won't have an additional oven and prep space so that won't be possible. Thus, this will allow me to have more things in my oven simultaneously.

Another find was at the Crate & Barrel Outlet. I just think these are adorable. Dave thinks they are silly which is why I initially took them off of our registry last year, but now that we are officially hosting a meal requiring gravy I just had to get my hands on these super-cute Individual Gravy Boats from Crate & Barrel:

Besides being adorable, I also think these are practical and eliminate the need for reaching across the table or waiting for the graving boat to be passed around, resulting in immediate gravy gratification :-). Plus, they are only $1.95 each.

Now that we have all of the supplies it's time to start planning our menu. I will be preparing a dinner for eight and am just starting to brainstorm some recipe options. If any of you have delicious Thanksgiving recipes to share, please leave comments with recipes or links!

Tea Inspired Bridal Shower Gift for "T"

First, of all I don't think that my coworker Tonya reads my blog, or even knows I have a blog, but T if you are somehow reading this, please stop now or you'll ruin your bridal shower surprise!

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Ok, now that that's settled, I want to show off the cute little "tea themed" gift that I put together for my friend Tonya's bridal shower. Not only does she LOVE tea, we also call her T so I think it's fitting.

First, T registered for this Bamboo Tea Bag Box from Crate and Barrel so I picked that up off her registry:

Then, I added two of these cute little Teapot Teabag Rests from Crate and Barrel:

Next, I ordered this great book on Amazon, called All the Tea in Chicago . It is basically a super-cute Zagat style guide to all the tea spots around town:

And last but not least, I couldn't complete a personalized gift without heading to Etsy to see what I could find. And low and behold, I found this adorable high tea stationary to complete the gift from Etsy seller Three Wheels Design + Paper :

I can't wait to wrap it up for T and give it to her next weekend!

New Wall Decor: Crate & Barrel Outlet Finds

Since it's "busy season", Dave had to go into work on a Sunday...boo! So I dropped him off at work this afternoon and then I made my way to the Crate and Barrel Outlet armed with some wedding gift cards to see what I could find. I was excited to find some fun wall decor at drastically reduced prices.

First, I found these Crate&Barrel Medley Prints; $14.95 each reg. $29.95

Next, I grabbed this great Crate&Barrel Green Lacquer Mirror; $19.95; reg. $54.95

It looks like the mirror is no longer online, but it also comes in orange and white, so if you are lucky enough to live near an outlet you can stop by and check out what they have left.

I hung the mirror in our bedroom but still need to find the perfect spot for the four canvas prints. The ideal spot would be behind our TV in the living room, but there was no way I was going to attempt hanging and leveling those puppies alone, and risk toppling over onto the precious flat screen in the process. So I'll save that for a day when we can both participate in the hanging :-)

Our New Bed: Delivery Saturday!!

While home in St. Louis the day after Thanksgiving, my mom and I went to Crate & Barrel for a few things. I showed her the bed that Dave and I were thinking of eventually getting with our 10% registry completion, and low & behold she pulls out a 15% off coupon...good on anything! So I called Dave and he said, "Go For It!" and I put in our order.

Today I got the call that our bed will be delivered first thing Saturday morning! Woo Hoo!

Check it out, it's their Archer bed! And I promise to post real pics after it's in our posession, but for now the stock photo will have to do:

I used to think leather was too "manly", but even my mom agreed it looked very nice, even better than the fabric version so I was sold.