Thursday, a mad scientist's lab, and Etsy (girl edition)

"vintage biology wall chart - frog" via luckylittledot

So I wanted to design a mad scientist's lab, but wanted it to be cute and fun because I imagined it belonging to a super smart and cool middle school girl (I was thinking specifically of Janie, the science-lovin' bff of Harriet, yes, of "Harriet the Spy"). So this room is a bit madcap with its mix of sciences (an English teacher put it together, after all), but the room also has plenty of girlishness (hello pink in the amazing vintage biology wall chart up at the top of this post).

And, I know, I went a little nuts with this week's room. But I was so nerdy excited about the idea of it and I found so many neat things on Etsy that I could not pass up. It definitely is one of the favorite rooms that I've done for our Thursday Etsy posts.

Anyway, does anyone else think that one heck of a cute monster could be made in this room?

And if a monster if to be made, a scientist will need 2 key tools - a vintage microscope and a pair of Victorian scissors that would make Mary Shelley proud:

"Small Metal Microscope" via Hindsvik

"Victorian Scissors Necklace" by mamaslittlebabies

The basics for an evil genius:

Safety first! "Lab Assistant goggles" by doubleastiching

"Vintage 1960s Chem Lab Chemistry Set" via AustinModern

"Vintage glass jars" via bluebellbazaar

"Vintage Pyrex Labware Colorful Chemistry Bottle Set" via 26olivestreet

"Vintage E. H. Sargent Red Litmus Paper Glass Vials" via MachoMachismo

I don't know much about biology (or robotics or chemistry), but the following things seem to make a lovely starter kit for making a buddy for Frankenstein's monster:

"Antique Anatomy Model" via shavingkitsupplies

"Porcelain glove molds" via bluebellbazaar

"Velvet Dental Case" (with teeth!) via Hindsvik

"4 Tiny Vacuum Tubes" via BookBasement

"Happy Crocheted Heart" by taterutus

And because a girl has to have interests aside from the animation of bodies:

"Knitting in Biology 101 in an actual dissection tray" by CraftyHedgehog

"Fungal Specimen Box No. 2" by specimen7

"Wild Mushroom Environment" by jessrees

Philippines China Sea Butterfly on vintage map by REALBUTTERFLYGIFTS

3 real butterflies on a vintage map of South America by REALBUTTERFLYGIFTS

For taking notes and corresponding with those kids at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory:

Robot notebook by presentandcorrect

"Elementary" notecards by radiolaria

"Microscopic Life Postcards" via SnowBearProductions

A scientist needs some beautiful walls too:

"Illustrated German Pull Down Biology Charts (Mammalian Embryology Reproductive Organs)" via HelloVictory

"Doll House no 311 (with heart and lungs) - Original Mixed Media Assemblage" by sushipot

"Bricolage no 37 (with intestines) - Original Mixed Media Collage on Panel" by sushipot

"Crankobot Paper Robot Puppet Toy" by crankbunny

"Moss for your Wall 5" by Ottoman

"Lichen for your Wall 11" by Ottoman

And, of course, our girl needs a lab assistant:

"Robot with a strawberry heart" by Littlebrownbyrd

Baby's Books

Recently, friends have asked me about helping with book selections for baby shower gifts. As much as I love the idea of shower hosts requesting guests bring a favorite picture book to build a new baby's library, I know it can be stressful for folks who have not given much thought to children's books since grade school. I also think everyone tries to avoid an onslaught of Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are- as timeless and treasured as they are, it is nice to be able to bring a unique title to the starter library.

I think there are countless beautiful picture books out there. If there is one title that is special to you then that is obviously the right choice, but if you are stumped then this list could help. I decided to narrow it a bit by choosing books for the very young. Often the books guests bring are for older children and though always appreciated, it is nice to have some titles you can read in that first 18 months.

Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers depicts the first year of life for babies in charming rhyming text and with beautifully detailed watercolors.

Sebastien Braun creates simple, but lush and engaging double-page spreads of various animal mothers with their babies in I Love My Mommy (and I Love My Daddy).
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes is silly, suspenseful, and comforting- all in beautiful black and white.

One Beautiful Baby by Martine Oborne is an incredibly sweet and whimsical counting book.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. introduces colors, animals, and rhyme -not to mention it has fantastic Eric Carle illustrations.

Rhythmic text and enchanting art make I Spy a Sun in the Sky a wonderfully engaging read-aloud.

Images courtesy of Google.com

forts and tents and childhood

I saw "Where the Wild Things Are" yesterday and loved it to pieces. It was so beautiful and wistful and sad. It really captured the essence of the book, the mood - which is something much more difficult to grasp than mere plot points. Not a movie for children, per se, but definitely a movie about childhood.

One of the things that it brought back for me was my long lost love of forts and tents. My sister and I used to make pretty elaborate ones in our bedroom on the weekends and we loved sleeping in it (it'd always have to be done before "Golden Girls" started on Saturday night. Apparently, the experience of sitting in a fort made out of your bed blankets and sheets is only made better by the banter of the elderly).

But isn't there something so magical about sleeping in your own homemade (or bedroom-made) fort? The coziness of it. The way the light comes through. How secret and safe it feels to be inside, but yet it is so vulnerable (the structure itself, yes, but also the you inside of it). As an adult, I think there is also something so incredibly romantic about it too. There are scenes in movies like "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" that really capture that romantic aspect as well as the security and desire to have an even more inside space (more private, more yours) than the inside your own home or your own room. Anyway, here are some of my favorite images of homemade tents and forts...

image via home sweet home

image via nine kinds of crazy

image via somerset

image via somerset

image via Fifikoussout

And, yes, it is a "real" tent and not homemade, but Richie Tenenbaum's tent was still perfect:

image via ready to die

image(s) via be my cupcake

Remember that scene under the covers in ""Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? It totally counts as a fort moment:

images via this michel gondry fan site (dialogue via imbd)

Clementine: Joely?

Joel: Yeah Tangerine?

Clementine: Am I ugly?

Joel: Uh-uh.

Clementine: When I was a kid, I thought I was. I can't believe I'm crying already. Sometimes I think people don't understand how lonely it is to be a kid, like you don't matter. So, I'm eight, and I have these toys, these dolls. My favorite is this ugly girl doll who I call Clementine, and I keep yelling at her, "You can't be ugly! Be pretty!" It's weird, like if I can transform her, I would magically change, too.

Joel: [kisses Clementine] You're pretty.

Clementine: Joely, don't ever leave me.

Joel: You're pretty... you're pretty... pretty...

P.S. In my search for fort images, I discovered the Wild Things Forts' Contest! I think it's over, but I hope they put up some more images soon.

Five (pairs of) golden rings

My title? Yeah, I know - a little awkward, but my point is that I'm on the hunt for a pair of gold hoop earrings. In terms of earrings, I'm pretty boring. It's either gold or silver hoops or the occasional jazzy set of amber earrings or thrift store finds. And I don't live much of a raucous lifestyle, but apparently my earrings think I do because they get lost or broken with great frequency.

So I'm hoop shopping on etsy for the first time. I've narrowed it down to the five sets of earrings below. Yes, they do seem to be very, very similar, but (to me) there is a world of difference between each of them (size, texture, price) so either humor me and put your two cents in - I'd love some input!

(And just to make this purchase a bit poetic - a lovely poem - with gold hoops.)

"Gate C22"

by Ellen Bass

At gate C22 in the Portland airport
a man in a broad-band leather hat kissed
a woman arriving from Orange County.
They kissed and kissed and kissed. Long after
the other passengers clicked the handles of their carry-ons
and wheeled briskly toward short-term parking,
the couple stood there, arms wrapped around each other
like he'd just staggered off the boat at Ellis Island,
like she'd been released at last from ICU, snapped
out of a coma, survived bone cancer, made it down
from Annapurna in only the clothes she was wearing.

Neither of them was young. His beard was gray.
She carried a few extra pounds you could imagine
her saying she had to lose. But they kissed lavish
kisses like the ocean in the early morning,
the way it gathers and swells, sucking
each rock under, swallowing it
again and again. We were all watching--
passengers waiting for the delayed flight
to San Jose, the stewardesses, the pilots,
the aproned woman icing Cinnabons, the man selling
sunglasses. We couldn't look away. We could
taste the kisses crushed in our mouths.

But the best part was his face. When he drew back
and looked at her, his smile soft with wonder, almost
as though he were a mother still open from giving birth,
as your mother must have looked at you, no matter
what happened after--if she beat you or left you or
you're lonely now--you once lay there, the vernix
not yet wiped off, and someone gazed at you
as if you were the first sunrise seen from the Earth.
The whole wing of the airport hushed,
all of us trying to slip into that woman's middle-aged body,
her plaid Bermuda shorts, sleeveless blouse, glasses,
little gold hoop earrings, tilting our heads up.

"14k Gold Hoop earrings" by FirebirdJewellery

"Classic 14k Gold Fill Hoops" by Christinapdesigns

"Just Right Gold Hoops" by FusedNTwisted

"LARGE and skinny 1.5 inch 14K gold filled forged hoop earrings" by muyinmolly

"Hammered Satin Gold Hoops - Medium" (but I like the large too!) by CocoBijou

image of hoola hooping ladies via fashion necking

Thursday, a mudroom, and Etsy

Growing up I had a mudroom in my house and I thought they were a part of every home until I started really paying attention. Turns out it is a pretty unique space because new construction favors the foyer, but in my parents' antique colonial I always liked coming into the small entry room that they kept both welcoming and functional.
If I had my druthers I would make a mudroom look something like this-

A simple welcome- canvas floor mat at the door.

welcome floor mat courtesy of gildem

A bench with pillows, not so much for lounging, but as part of your guest's first impression of your home, it is more than just a spot for pulling off your boots.

sessio bench courtesy of ruppeldesign

pillows courtesy of lindylou2

For the windows, some dressing- nothing too fussy, just simple beauty.

custom stitched tree branch design curtain set courtesy of jessedirk

The only other furniture in this entry space....the all important storage and a display piece.

black storage cubbies courtesy of simplyuncluttered

s.a. sofa table 1 courtesy of MattDownerDesigns

On the wall- making the most of every inch- mirror, shelf, and coat rack.

mirror box courtesy of MattDownerDesigns

Graphic wall calendar (brings a new look each month) and a single amazing piece of photography rounds out the walls.

2010 Letterpress wall calendar courtesy of 1canoe2

Burning Heart courtesy of IchaPhotography

Finishing touches on the shelf and table......

set of two porcelain red/purple vases courtesy of NewMoonStudio

set of 5 Blue Birds courtesy of redhotpottery

poppy bowl in turquoise and red courtesy of clearmountaincraft

string of buttons, crassula variegated succulent plant courtesy of SucculentsGalore

A modern mudroom....more than just a place to rest your boots.

Songbook

Image courtesy of postmodern.com

You know how you have that one mix tape, well now I guess it is a mix CD, where you just love every song and you have a compulsive need to explain why you have chosen each one and you want to share this incredible compilation with everybody because it is just so perfect? Well, author Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) does just that in Songbook and the result is pretty amazing.

I am not saying this because he picked all the tunes I would have (I was actually unfamiliar with about a third of them), but it is how he talks about song writing, music , and how a musician can tap into something within you. As you get lost in his pondering about these 31 song choices , you also wind up thinking about the music that has punctuated your life and why. Sometimes it is more than just the catchy tune that makes a song linger in your mind and nobody explains that better than Mr. Hornby. This "music as memoir" publication is difficult to find in hardcover with the 11-song CD inclusion, but if you are able to find it- it is definitely worth a read and listen.

Fall in France

Though I'm in North Carolina and not France - these gorgeous pictures taken in and around Montpellier's Botanical Garden by Sonia of CozyMemories feel very right to me on this rainy fall day in NC...

Apples

Apple picking season is finishing up around here and I have two big bags of apples that are looking to become something special....

Image courtesy of 101cookbooks

Caramel Apples from Food Network

Ingredients:
6 apples
Craft sticks
1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
Remove the stem from each apple and press a craft stick into the top. Butter a baking sheet. Place caramels and milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, stirring once. Allow to cool briefly. Roll each apple quickly in caramel sauce until well coated. Place on prepared sheet to set. They can be rolled in chopped nuts for an added touch of flavor!

Image courtesy smittenkitchen

Alice Waters’s Apple Tart from Smitten Kitchen

Dough: 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour1/2 teaspoon sugar1/8 teaspoon salt6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water
Filling: 2 pounds apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted5 tablespoons sugar
Glaze:1/2 cup sugar

MIX flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.
DRIBBLE in water, stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.
PLACE dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400#176;F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.)
OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.
BRUSH melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over dough edge and the other 3 tablespoons over apples. (Deb note: I found it nearly impossible to coat it with this much sugar, so I used a little less–more like 3 tablespoons. It made a lightly sweet tart, which we found perfect.)
BAKE in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.
MAKE glaze: Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth.
REMOVE tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.
BRUSH glaze over tart, slice, and serve.