Does -anyone- out there make a cool Christmas Tree Skirt?

I promise to soon write about my dietary adventures, and other interesting tidbits of stuff. But I'm into holiday mode here...aren't we all?...so there's a ton of merchie merch I have to show you.

I decided once and for all I will not use the ugly Christmas tree skirt we have made by Martha Stewart. Although Martha deserves much praise, I think she mailed it in with the Kmart deal. The Kmart/Martha Brand was junk. And my ugly tree skirt is an example. I won't post it. It's too ugly. So quickly, I found a few cute ideas. I'm not crazy over any of them, but so far this is what I found.

The first is the cheap Santa skirt I'll probably buy from Amazon cause it's cheeky fun, and the expensive pretty skirt I found on Anthropologie is the second. Lastly, I tried to find a real sheepskin tree skirt as my when-I-don't-have-kids idea but only came up with the photo below which you could easily pull off with a couple of IKEA's inexpensive skeepskins.

If I were really crafty I would make my own. Maybe someday. Anyone have any other ideas?

Wouldn't we all love our presents to be served up on this super soft sheepskin rug this year?

Cool cheap stuff

The shopping season is here. Need some good ideas?


Whenever I go to NYC, I always always always hit Pearl River Market in Soho. Anyone who has been knows that it's great for getting good, fun, interesting cheap stuff. The goods news is that they have a website now.  I grabbed a few cool things to show you, but the Website has tons and tons more. You'll see instantly what I'm talking about. Fun stuff, great gifts for kids especially - great stocking stuffer items...most of which none of their friends will have. Here's a tiny sampling...


The shoes below. So sweet. I buy a bunch for my daughter every time I go. They are between $3-$8 EACH. Cheap!

Does your child love paper airplanes? Origami Packs - $16.95

Silk Butterfly kite.  $9.50  Fabulous colors. I dream of my daughter's birthday party with a bunch of these hanging from the ceiling. Wouldn't that be beautiful?  With a toy accordion for $1.50.

And for a boys party....I think this is $9.95

 For the moms. Sweet little black ballet shoes. $4.95. Seriously!

Protect your loved one

My husband Peter bought me an iPad for my birthday.  Woohoo. You can say I'm officially an Apple nut. I've acquired so many Apple gadgets it's odd and slightly uncharacteristic of me, but what can I say, I love their products. So ofcourse I immediatly started thinking about how to protect this thing. And ofcourse the average boring black cover case will not do. I had to find something hip. Well, here's what I found. Aren't these great?  Although the funky hand-made fabrics below are very cool, I really love the bamboo case at the bottom. Sturdy, eco and sleek.

What do you think? Anything out there that I'm missing?

Etsy Seller Blytheking $65-$85

Hard Candy Bubble Sleeve $49.95

iLuv Flexi Case $29.99

ColcaSac iPad sleeve $35-$40

Vers Wood Case $79.99

A house to inspire

Came across this amazing house in Dwell Magazine recently, located 20 miles off the coast of Maine. It's inspiring, not only the amazing views, but the small footprint. Check out the fridge that's barely noticeable.  The design is so smart that it seems like the house has everything it needs, but with a footage of only 500 square feet.  I love everything about it. Wouldn't it be nice to have someplace like this you could go to as a hideaway every now and again?

I've always been in love with small space living because I've always lived in small houses and apartments. Living in a small space forces you to use what you need, keep only the possessions that you love, stay very very organized, filter often, and use every inch of your space well.  It's a fun challenge actually. What do you think? Could you live in a 500 square foot house? I could, especially if it looked like this one!

One other thing:

New holiday Butter nail polish called Fairy Lights. 

Perfect color for this holiday season. Looks great on, very shinny and metallic. Pinkish lavender which I think is now my new favorite color. Check it out. I Love It.

White Chocolate Rocky Road. This is serious.

A perfect antidote to my post yesterday. I almost want to make a poster out of this it's so pretty.

Recipe by Gluten Free Foodie

Ingredients

14 oz. good quality White Chocolate (you may use Dairy Free White Chocolate, but follow the manufacturer's directions for melting rather than ours)
2 oz.  pistachios, lightly toasted
2 oz.  macadamia nuts
6 oz.  multi colored marshmallows
3 oz.  fruit flavored, multi colored jelly candies
3 oz.  dried cranberries

Directions

-Line the base and sides of an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9  baking pan with wax paper and set aside.
-Roughly chop macadamias, marshmallows and candy and place in a glass or stainless steel bowl.  Add the toasted pistachios and cranberries and mix gently.
-Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for approximately 45 – 50 seconds, then stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds then stir again. Repeat the process if necessary, until all the chocolate is evenly melted and has reached a relatively thin consistency.
-Pour the melted chocolate over the fruit, nut and candy mixture and mix well to ensure all pieces are thoroughly covered in chocolate.
-Pour into the  prepared pan and then level with a spatula.
- Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours (preferably overnight), then remove from the fridge, place on a cutting board (the paper will be very easy to peel off) and cut into your desired shapes and sizes. This will keep very well for at least two weeks, though it will soften slightly at warm room temperature.

Veganism, status update

So, things are going OK. I'm not eating entirely vegan, but I'm eating very consciously (except last night).  I am still attracted to the vegan way of eating, because if you're creative, you can eat really well and after reading Eating Animals I don't want to support the animal factory farming industry in this country in any way.  But there is so much research on the importance of good quality, clean meats in a diet, along with good fats: olive oil, coconut oil, butter, lard, that it's hard to make the switch the more I read. I'm beginning to think the key is to understand what your body wants and needs, and not throw yourself into a rigid way of eating. That said, I do think everyone would benefit from removing and really limiting sugar in most forms, along with grains, soy and processed food. Dr Mercola just posted an interesting article on his website about the most common causes of cancer and how most of them are environmental, and insulin fluctuations are a big cause, among many others.

So what am I eating so far? Alot of vegetables and salads and millet bread and rice pasta and risotto and fish. I don't really like to cook vegetables and eat them individually (laziness!) so I either juice them or roast whatever I have and make a pureed soup. Doing both everyday. Both are really good ways of getting a few servings in a day at least. I'm also researching possibly getting a small extra basement freezer and finding a farm where I can buy clean, well raised animal meat and buy in bulk.  I'll let you know what I find out. From what I learned from the book, even Bell and Evans isn't great because although their chickens may free of chemicals, those birds I'm sure are not leading happy lives. I might try to look into this too to confirm my suspicion.


Here's a quick recipe I've been using everyday for a carrot curry dip. It really is a copy of something the Natural Grocer makes here in town. I don't have their recipe so I copied based on taste.


A bunch of carrots, maybe half a bag, skinned and chopped
1/2 to 1 t of curry
1/2 to 1 t of salt
olive oil
1/2 cp coconut cream milk


I basically boiled the carrots until they were very very soft, drained the water, added the curry, olive oil, milk and salt in the pan and blended until it was very smooth, tasting as I went.
Then cooled it in the fridge. It's best when cold and it's great with any kind of chips and/or rice crackers.

Here's the book by the way.  I think everyone should read it just so they are informed.

More later. Have a great weekend!

Tidbits...

Check out this gorgeous gorgeous toy store window display in NYC. Where else in the world would you see this kind of creativity!

Top Ten Baby Names for 2010.  Is anything here surprising?

1. Sophia (..sigh...)
2. Isabella
3. Olivia
4. Emma
5. Chloe
6. Ava
7. Lily
8. Madison
9. Addison
10. Abigail