A Lotta Links

Happy Saturday!  I’m in the Catskills this weekend visiting friends.  The Catskills are the home of the fictious Kellerman’s Resort!  In honor of my trip, this week’s Lotta links will be Dirty Dancing themed.

First, the “Dirty”:

My Social Design had a great post this week about environmentally friendly cleaning products.  I’ve always been a fan of Dr. Bronner’s and was suprised to learn that it is organic, biodegradable and veggie-based.  And here I thought that I was just buying it for the packaging and nice fragrance!

And, on to the “Dancing”:

Snippet and Ink had the most beautiful inspiration board this week.  The theme was “swanky sultry jazz soiree.”  I love how the board was so beautiful without using a ton of colors, I guess less really is more!  If you’ve never been over to Snippet and Ink you MUST check it out.  Even if you aren’t getting married, its a beautiful and entertaining site.

In the category of “nobody puts baby in the corner,” PopCrunch is reporting that Ashlee Simpson and new husband Pete Wentz were unable to sell the exclusive announcement of Ashlee’s pregnancy to any of the celebrity weeklies.  Apparently magazines that shelled out big bucks for details on the couple’s wedding did not sell well and the tabloids have lost interest in the pair.

“I carried a watermelon.” Just in time for Summer, Serious Eats has provided us with plans to turn a watermelon into a keg.  Brilliant!  I don’t even like watermelons but this is such a great idea that I can’t wait to try it.

The Cheap Seats

These colorful folding stools are perfect for extra seating outside, in a children’s room, in the mud room, really anywhere you want a punch of color and don’t feel you need fine furniture (in my case that would be the entire house). They are about 10X more fun than folding chairs and are just as portable and maybe even cheaper, at $19.90 each. From Pearl River Mart

Have Meat, Will Travel

With Father’s Day approaching, I thought I should share with you this totally awesome grill I spotted in the current issue of Domino.  It folds completely flat and has a handy carrying handle, so once you reach your barbequing destination, Bob’s your uncle it’s a grill- and a very cool looking one at that.  For only $31.49 the Bayou Classic Hotspot Notebook Portable Grill is a heck of a deal for something so convenient and stylish.  I can’t wait to add this to my ever growing collection of polo accoutrements. 

100$ Outfit: Yellow and Grey Stitchy Plaidy Work Outfit

Hey look, $100 outfit is back! As is often the case, this one begins with a dress, because let’s face it, a dress is about the most economical piece you can buy. They also pull you together in the event you are unable to cobble together a wildly imaginative yet flattering seperates look. That kind of creativity is admirable but often takes time I don’t have. What I do have time for: pulling a dress out of a dry cleaning bag and finding a belt and some shoes. 

Anywho, the above dress is Simply Vera by Vera Wang, at Kohls, on sale for $58.50. Things are really looking up over there at Kohls lately. The shoes are from Delias, $39, and I have to say for $39 these shoes have a pretty good design detail in the Prada-like toucan beak curve of the heel. The yellow woven belt is $7.70, at Forever 21.

Maybe some of you mathletes are wondering why this $100 outfit costs $105.00. Well, I suggest we not think too hard about it.

One other note, has everyone been enjoying the wonder of Polyvore? It is a free site that lets you gather items far across the stratosphere of the www and arrange them as a vignette, including the all important foreground/background arrangement.  The one above is pretty rudimentary, but if you go on the site you can browse tons of elaborate groupings created by others.  I am able to maneuver on Polyvore, by which I mean, it is super easy to use.

White is the New Black

Its white pant season again!  As a small bottomed girl I LOVE white pants and I couldn’t be happier that white pant season has returned.  For those of you who think you’re too messy to sport white pants, I’d like to remind you about bleach.  If I am clean enough to wear them anyone can.  My personal favorite pair of white pants are white trouser jeans.  Banana Republic currently has a pair on sale for $61.60 that are very similar to my favorite pair.  I love white trouser jeans because they can be dressed up with a tunic and heals or dressed down with a polo and flip flops.  For me they are the perfect summer pant!

Stop and Smell the Rhubarb

If  raisins are nature’s candy (or is it almonds?),  rhubarb is nature’s sweet tart.   I love rhubarb- it is one of those rare foods which is both extremely flavorful and low calorie, and it conveniently matches my kitchen, being pink and green.  I remember chewing on squint provoking stalks of it from my neighbor’s garden as a child (weirdly enough we also loved to eat raw chives, which always came up reliably in my mother’s otherwise hit- or-miss garden).   For pretty-pretty cleaning fun, check out Mrs. Meyer’s new rhubarb scent, available in a cute little starter kit including counter spray, liquid soap, all purpose cleaner, and window spray, it is $14.99. 

Nigella Lawson has a thing for rhubarb as well, there are several dishes with it figuring prominently in one of my favorite cookbooks, How to Be a Domestic Goddess.  Here is the recipe for rhubarb tart, as annotated by A Spoonful of Sugar

Ah, to be Young Again

Pottery Barn Kids has some really great outdoor fun suff for kids right now.  Same basic concept as when we were all young, something cool looking to hook your hose up to, but done in a much cuter way.  I love the Octopus Sprinkler for $59.  The Octopus Sprinkler is one of the many items in the Water Party Collection.  Everything in the collection is super cute, but as I’ve mentioned before I don’t think you need to spend a lot for kids to have a good time.  I’m pretty sure that just the octopus would be enough.  But, say you thought your child would require one more exciting item, how about the Jumbo Inflatable Bowling Ball and Pins for $89.

A Lotta Links

Happy Sunny Long Weekend everyone!  Here in Massachusetts it is a lovely day, and supposedly should be decent all weekend, a rarity around here.  As I write, Mr. CountryMouse is out renting a roto-tiller, due to a garden-related nervous breakdown I suffered on my lawn yesterday evening.  So I will be gardening my heart out today, which is fine by me!  Shown above is Martha Stewart’s disgustingly perfect vegetable garden, there is a tour of it on the website.  Continue reading »

So Notoryous

It seems like everyone is having a major Memorial Day sale this year.  My inbox is chock a block with coupon codes!  The sale I’m most excited about is the Tory Burch Spring sale.  I love Tory’s style but I just can’t bring myself to pay full price for weekend wear.  I can totally bring myself to pay sale prices though!  Here are a few of my favorite things.

The Ellis Dress is on sale for $210.  Yes, those are tiny little cougars in the print so if you’re an older woman heading out to a bar to try and sink your claws into a younger man I’d leave this one at home unless you’re a big fan of ironic clothing. Continue reading »

Oh, Melamine!

I see that Jonathan Adler now has a line of super pretty peacock blue patterned melamine table wear out!  Good Work!  I remember when melamine was actually hard to find and weirdly expensive but now it is everywhere and thank goodness.  If you are over the fact that it is essentially plastic (totally over it)  it can be a nice way to get some good patterns you otherwise might not be able to afford.  This plate is $12. 

Continue reading »