Tchochkies from the Sea

 There is so much sea life themed decor out there these days, especially of the silver-leafed sea urchin variety. I think they are lovely, but why not use the lord’s own knicknacks instead of an expensive reproduction of nature? I like porcelain and metallic sea creatures as much as anyone else, but they are just as beautiful in their natural form. Shown above are an actual 4 inch long spine urchin, 6 inch english urchin, and a 17 inch sea fan (suitable for framing), all available from Sea Shell City, and ranging in price from $9.98 to $29.98.

Or, there’s always the Steuben Ocean Reef Bowl, $24,000!!!

5 Things I Love for Under $20

We have an exciting new feature today! 5 things I love for under $20. As with all of our features, this one will be sporadic. I don’t think the concept requires much explaining, if I really like it and its under $20 you’ll find it here. Today’s 5 items are in no particular order, although I do admit that item #1 is my favorite. So, without further adieu (drumroll please) I introduce to you 5 amazing things that we can all afford!!!

This Old Navy printed silk scarf is 100% silk and is only $8.70. Since shipping is a flat fee of $5 you may want to consider ordering a few other things or actually driving to a store to pick this up. This scarf would be perfect for a Sunday afternoon when you didn’t feel like washing your hair (say for instance right now) or could be worn around your neck or tied to a handbag. Its only 24″x24″ so I think it would probably be too small to fit around most waists. I’d even use it as a tablecloth on a small side table.

This Kiehls lipgloss in black raspberry for $14.50 is my favorite of all of my beauty products. I also have the black raspberry gloss in a pot but I prefer the version in the tube, I think it has a little more color. This gloss tastes so delicious, its like I’ve just bitten into a delicious fresh raspberry! And the texture is perfect and not too sticky.

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Condiment Post

I didn’t feel this justified a regular daily post, but I had to share something I discovered this morning while at my favorite breakfast spot- Heinz Curry Ketchup! Maybe everyone knows about this already but I have never seen it before, so I bought some in the coffee/food shop attached to the diner and tried some, it is pretty good! Mr. Countrymouse would rather starve than eat certain foods without ketchup so we are always happy to try new varieties. I find the spice covers up a little of that weird corn syrup taste normally in ketchup. Please don’t tell my husband I said that.

Let There be Light

Sometimes I think we would need an army to keep up with all the good stuff at Target: besides the well publicized designer lines, there are always well designed items from we know not where available on the website. For example there are roughly 4,000 lamps available, and many of them are quite good looking. I am in the market for a pair of bedside lamps, and I really love the wood oval one shown above for only $39.99. It totally looks like something I would try to steal from my grandmother’s house (by “steal” I mean hint around in a very aggressive way about how much I love them until she gives them to me).

In the interest of full disclosure, I used to think that paying a lot for an expensive lamp was totally crazy considering there is almost always a knockoff available, but two lamps from Mitchell Gold were recently placed in the reception area of our office, and I have to say, they do seem much more solid than the myriad target lamps I have at home. Not that I won’t keep buying the cheap ones, I’m just saying there is an appreciable difference between cheap lamps and expensive ones. Not appreciable enough for me, but it is there.

Anyway on to the cheap lamps! Continue reading »

Back Together Again

This is sort of like the day that Dylan McKay returned to 90210.  Today, after five long years apart, the Pottery Barn and I got back together!  I admit to having had a long standing love affair with the Pottery Barn back in college.  I truly thought it to be the epitome of fine design.  What did I know, I was 20.  Anyway, I got older, we grew apart you know how it goes.  Until today!  When the Pottery Barn catalog arrived today I spotted this orange lattice rug on the cover.

The Moorish Tile Rug is strikingly similar to West Elm’s Taksim Tile Rug which can be found in CountryMouse’s living room.  However, the Pottery Barn version is a loop rug so would be a bit more cushy underfoot and while it does cost a little more than the West Elm version it is still quite reasonable at $599 for an 8′x10′. 

But I’m not the kind of gal that would get back together with a store just because of one rug!  That was just enough to get me to flip thru the rest of the catalog, which is when I found this gorgeously horsey Chain Rug!  It manages to be both equestrian and nautical at the same time and is the kind of rug Kelly Wearstler might try to sell me for $8,000.  If this rug came in orange I would marry it!  All of this and its still just $599 for the 8′x10′.  This rug would look amazing in a room with lots of framed Hermes scarfs.  If the future Mr. CityMouse is reading this, be afraid be very afraid! 

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Happy Hunting Ground

Oh man is this Vera Wang Lavender Label Dress a delight or what! The best thing about it, other than looking feminine and structured, classic and unique all at the same time, is that stripe down the front: it is made of white bugle beads on a black placket, and that placket is covering functioning buttons. Yes, what I am saying is that it is secretly the greatest shirt dress ever- it is even 100% cotton!

Anyway I have been stalking this dress for a long time: in my dreams I own this dress and never, ever spill anything on it. But, because I can’t afford anything Vera Wang, lavender label or otherwise (except maybe the Simply Vera line at Kohls), I make it my business to follow dresses like this all the way to their final resting place, which as far as I can tell tends to be Blufly, Filene’s Basement, or, my very favorite place on the internet: the “Last Call Clearance” section of Neiman Marcus.

Don’t be fooled by the regular old “sale” section on the Neiman’s site! The Last Call Clearance section is a whole different area (see it hiding there in the sale section next to “shop by designer”?), and I find it to be continually full of beautiful things that I can almost afford (almost being a vast improvement from never in a million years). The dress above for example is currently $205.00, down from $595.00! Here are a few other gems I found:

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Paper Chase

I have been perusing stationary sites like a crazy woman trying to decide on a concept for our wedding invitations. In doing so I have developed a huge obsession with all things paper. My favorite wedding blog, Style Me Pretty, had a link last week to some amazing paper goods from Elum, so I rushed right over to check them out.  These cards from Elum are so gorgeous and at just $16 for a set would make a wonderful hostess gift. Elum has several other to die for patterns as well. And for those of your friends who deserve an even bigger thank you, check out this amazing stationary set for $39.99.

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Imaginary Gardening

I am a person who drives 40 minutes to work, which means I always have sitting-induced wrinkles in my skirts, and I have to extricate myself from a sticky car while my co-workers skip in from their condos located mere steps from the office (and probably mere steps from anywhere else they would like to go). It is a huge pain, but it is totally worth it to have my favorite thing in the world, the 1/8th acre’s worth of dirt surrounding my house! I LOVE my yard*, I love spending every saturday morning at the garden store in the spring, I love the rusty water that comes out of my garden hose. And this is my favorite time of year; there is lots of online garden accessory shopping, but no actual work because it is still too cold to work outside.

Of course my innate cheapness when it comes to furniture goes double for patio furniture, I mean, bugs are going to crawl on it. Here are some things I have my eye on for this summer, some of which can also be enjoyed by you city dwellers with a roof deck, fire escape, or at least a window large enough to stick your head out of:

This patio set from Walmart is much cheaper than the others I have seen around, and not bad looking. It is $368 for the entire SIX piece set. I would probably lose the cushions that come with it and either make some or use some from Ikea, there are SO many good looking outdoor cushions at Ikea right now, like these, and these, and these:

* Shown above is Oscar de la Renta’s vegetable garden as shown in Domino Magazine. That guy is so lazy.

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The Bee’s Knees

Hooray for the Subversive for Target jewelry line! I love this edgy meets preppy combo that culminates in a fabulous granny chic lucite bee bracelet for only $14.99. I will say that much of the other items in the line fall more to the side of edgy on the edgy/preppy spectrum, but not this bracelet. They also have some adorable button earrings that I’d like to have as buttons. And for those of you who love prefab charm bracelets and have been wondering why the heck they are so expensive, check out the cute killer bee bracelet for $29.99.

Crazy Peeps Easter Cake

Happy Easter! Although many of you may not celebrate the holiday, this post is about something people of all faiths can enjoy: Marshmallow Peeps. I made the above cake, which I have entitled “Crazy Peeps Cake,” with Martha Stewart’s homemade peeps recipe- instead of piping the birds onto sanding sugar to be eaten seperately, I just piped them directly on to a frosted layer cake, sanding sugar on top. I kind of made this for fun, but I am so pleased with the slightly insane looking results I’ll probably serve it at our Easter lunch tomorrow! Won’t my guests be impressed/frightened when I tell them I applied each little eye to my flock myself with tweezers!

Read on for the recipe/instructions Continue reading »