June 29, 2007

Tazo Tea.

I’m a big fan of hot tea. I even went through a short phase of preferring it in the morning over coffee, which is saying a lot. The Tazo brand has long been one of my favorites. And its design presence is what initially turned me on to the tea.

The Tazo Tea site is beautifully designed with elegant type and photography. But it’s also got personality with its funky expanding menu, animated details, ethnic music and, my favorite, a Tea Leaf Oracle whose creepy eyes follow the mouse wherever it goes.



Posted In food, packaging, web design
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June 28, 2007

Pretty Cleo Chair.


This chair from Anthropologie is fabulous. I love the big, bright yellow print and the pleasingly plump proportions. It would be really cute in my bedroom, but I think I’d want it out in the open to see all of the time. But costing $998 as it currently does, it won’t be coming anywhere near any of my rooms unless the Chair Fairy pays me a visit. Oh well, I can enjoy the pictures. Maybe I’ll sit on the pictures of it and pretend, you know, like Phoebe did in Friends with the bicycle box. Only I won’t make anyone drag me around the living room on it.

Posted In furniture, house and home
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June 26, 2007

Summer at Anthropologie.

One of the few things I miss about Cleveland is living so close to an Anthropologie. It was located in a great little plaza along with a Barnes & Noble and Trader Joe’s, as well as some amazing restaurants and specialty stores. I don’t visit their site too often because it just isn’t the same as the store. There isn’t the huge sale area and there isn’t the ambience. Sigh. So recently I sucked up my sorrow and checked out the goods and actually found a couple of great things. I’m especially loving the tea towel.




Posted In house and home
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June 26, 2007

Rehabilitated Dishware.

Rehabilitated Dishware by Sarah Cihat is an exercise is sustainability that reincarnates existing products. Used or unwanted ceramics are redesigned and resurfaced then presented as new collections. Interesting designs and modern colors enliven the dish, extending its life cycle past the thrift store or overstock pile. Rehabilitated Dishware is a subtle statement of the importance of recycling and the renewed value of unwanted things.


The process begins by buying dishware from various second-hand stores, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, or rummaging through reject piles at retail stores. The dishes are then glazed and refired. Most are priced between $34 and $59.


Posted In create, kitchen
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June 21, 2007

Blackboard Paint.


Up until now I’ve not been a huge fan of blackboard paint used in adult environments (i.e. outside of a kid’s room). I don’t know, maybe I just associate it way too closely with that nails on a chalkboard sound. But I think Ikea finally did it right by painting all vertical surfaces in a kitchen with the paint. Or maybe it’s that really hot stainless steel refrigerator right in the middle. Fine. It’s a combination of the two.

Posted In house and home, make it, walls
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June 21, 2007

The Cupcake Deck.

I am a cupcake connoisseur. I love baking them, I love buying them and I love eating them.


The Cupcake Deck is really cool because you don’t have to worry about lugging out an entire cookbook, propping it open, keeping it clean… You get the idea. You can just pull out one of the 25 cards and go to town! No worries, just lovely cupcakes. You can buy your own set for $14.95 here at Amazon.

(On a separate note, I think that this may also be a book and that I already own it. Hmmm….)

Posted In food
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June 19, 2007

Magazine Envelopes.


A few days ago I came across someone on Etsy selling homemade envelopes. Seeing them made countless memories of summer camp in Ligonier, PA come rushing back to the forefront of my mind. Not only did I spend two weeks of my summer at Camp Ligonier for three years in a row, but it’s also where I met my first legitimate boyfriend, Adam. This was back in the day before email had really arrived, so we wrote letters back and forth after the two weeks were over. Adam’s letters to me always arrived in envelopes ripped from the pages of Rolling Stone and Spin. My boyfriend was. So. Cool. Magazines became a new outlet for creativity – instead of reading the articles I immediately flipped through the pages looking for the perfect page that was coincidentally centered so I could fold one rockin’ envelope.

Posted In make it
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