Well-travelled Mid Century tables from Morocco and Scandinavia

Man, I love these tables; the collapsible mahogany spider legs, the hammered brass top incised with a paisley pattern, the perfect amount of age, ethnicity, and modernism. It would add some worldly "gravitas" to a spare, modern space.

Available in the shop now (along with some other goodies!)










They're teak, they nest, they are wearing some beautiful hand-made Scandinavian tiles in black, brown, cream, orange, and mineral green. They are lovely. Get them here, now.

Stealing Beauty-Travels in Barcelona...first 24 hours

Day one: first thing first; reassemble the longboard.

Curses to IKEA and its ubiquitous LACK table! Did I expect Spanish antiques in a rental apartment? Well, a girl's gotta dream.

French doors/bedroom/Catalan tile/first evening taking pictures of everything mode.

Surveying the land: looking right and left from the apartment balcony. In the Eixample District just off Passeig Saint Joan. Quite a bit like Paris.

la Rita

Swank. Packed with Spanish ladies who lunch. Gorgeous interior.

First meal that did not consist of cafe con leche and jamon in baguette standing up.

We all look like we got punched in the eye sockets. Yay jet lag!

Entrance, La Boqueria

Meat gold at la Boqueria.

Something about the look in his eye...he seems bored? Also a little put out that one of his mates is on his head.

Not a placenta. Well, maybe an alien placenta?

Nutty

>

Architecture spanning Roman rule in the 800s to the 1700s in the same square

Very Montagues and Capulets

From inside Christopher Columbus's head.

Well, his monument's head. I totally forgot he was sort of a big deal in Spain.

Looking towards city center.

And towards the harbor and Montjuic

Is there an exhibit to get inside a teenager's head? No, it would be too scary.

Don't just stand there-make something! Whole wheat cranberry scones with Greek yogurt

I know that at least 90% of you hipster ladies have all the ingredients for this on hand, and since it's a little chill and cloudy today I thought just maybe you'd like the smell of cinnamon and vanilla baking to fill the house. I swear, there is NOTHING like a pile of fresh-baked somethings, a cup of tea, and a Sunset magazine to make a lady feel new again (even if the Sunset magainze is from 1997 and you stole it from the dentist's office).



These are not the stiff, hard scones of yore but are rather more delicate and soft inside with a crunchy exterior (when still warm at least). I combined a few recipes and changed things around to come up with the perfect mix of health and taste.



I hope they cure what ails ya.



Take Two and Call Me in the Morning Healthy Yogurt Scones

DRY INGREDS:
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup regular flour + 1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


6 tbsp cold regular (salted) butter

WET INGREDS:
1 egg
3/4 c. Greek yogurt plain
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 400
Soak cranberries in hot water 10 minutes, drain
Whisk together dry ingredients
Cut in or rub in butter with fingers until crumb forms (pieces of butter should be no larger than pea size)
Mix in cranberries
Mix wet ingredients, add to dry ingredients and mix until JUST combined
Scoop 8 mounds onto lightly greased cookie sheet
Bake 20 minutes, or until golden and firm

GLAZE:
1 c. powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp orange juice (or lemon juice or milk)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix and drizzle over completely cooled scones.

{p.s.-according to kitchen law, the cook is entitled to all spilled glaze}

DIY Franz Kline Large-Scale Abstract Art

I've been bookmarking paintings just like this for several years now. For someone who redecorates DAILY it's a real good sign when I like something for that long. It means I must really, really like it and I won't be trying to sell it to you on Craigslist within the week. It might even last a year!

I love the graphic face-slap of the black and white and the heavy strokes, and I feel like it really balances out the fussiness of an old home.

Dudes, it is NOT easy trying to introduce the 60s to the 20s. Sometimes you put them together in a room and they get all awkward and quiet and shuffle their feet and then you realize your intergenerational design marriage has failed. Slowly I'm learning how to make these opposites do the rhumba together in this neo-English mini manor house of mine.

So yesterday I finally got out some materials and made myself a real, live, super-fake Franz Kline.



It's not finished, and I hung it up unframed and wet being the instant-gratification princess that I am. It's crooked and hanging on an old nail. If anyone sneezes, it's a goner.



My art critic oldest child says, "You need to feather the lines more."

My husband said, "What's up, Picasso?"

My youngest has probably already wiped a booger on it.

After it dries, I might feather the lines more and maybe build up the paint a little for more texture. It's a simple and super-cheap project, but it's deceptively complicated trying to get a few lines to look just right.



Materials:

A pre-gessoed (prepped and ready to paint) canvas from Michael's

left-over exterior latex semi-gloss paint from Glidden in Onyx Black (from my front door)

oil paint in white

a regular 4" paintbrush from Home Depot (don't get those short, cheap ones...it would be impossible to achieve the look of a bold stroke)

a pencil for sketching

an old nail for impatiently pounding into your lovely wallpaper to see the results

Technique:

To make it easier to get the proportions right, I printed the picture out from my computer and divided it into quadrants. Then I penciled out quadrant marks on my canvas. This was really important and only took 15 minutes or so.

I sketched out the lines, and then painted the negative space white first. Then I added in the black strokes and spent about an hour feathering the edges, standing back to look, and adjusting elements that just didn't look right.

The total cost (because I bought the canvas with a 50% off coupon and had old paint) was about $25.

I plan to make a simple black frame for it, and even hang it on a real picture hanger. Soon, I promise.

An Increase in Natural Disasters-What Does it all Mean, Modernhaus??

I hear your cries for my leadership on this matter. So believe me, I am formulating some ridiculous thoughts to share. I am culling from the most cutting-edge research and will be prepared to disseminate my findings soon. Which is different from inseminating them, which is technically impossible (but I bet there's a lab in China where they're trying it out).

Is it global warming? My armpits say yes. I have indeed observed an increase in rank sweat flow. It can only mean one of two things: 1)the Earth is becoming hotter, or 2) I am becoming a old European man.

If, despite my personal experience you are still skeptical, here is shocking proof found buried in the research of this acclaimed researcher (government cover-up? I think so!)

You should know that the image you are about to see is graphic, and some may find it disturbing. Especially those with good taste in lawn furniture.



I'm sorry you had to see that. But now you know. Global warming is a fact, and the end is nigh.

Do we have any classes together? or Does anyone blog in the summer?

It's been awhile. But I promise I thought about you all summer. How I should call you more. How we should catch up over a couple of Dairy Queen ice cream cones. Ride our bikes down to the park and lay under the big pine and talk about which is grosser; having someone stick a finger in your bellybutton or your eye (I will vote bellybutton and you will vote eye, every time). Compare leg tans (you always win).



Summertime blogging is kind of like that summer between 9th and 10th grade. The one where you crushed on some boy hard, and guiltily ditched your best friend all summer to hang around him. But as school approached you start hoping she'll forgive you. The guy turned out to be needy and have sort of bad breath. But her? She's perfect, as best friends always are in that intense, you-were-made-for-me, symbiotic girl-love sort of way.

You call to offer your best tank top for her first day of school outfit. A guilty trick to woo her back, and it works. You compare school schedules and arrange to ride together on the first day. She's forgiven you, and you love her all the more for it.

I'm gonna GOOP you Gwyneth-style with some Spain deets shortly. But first I had to make sure...you'll still sit with me at lunch, right? I'll let you wear my Esprit tank top if you do.