Little Bro & Boston

Photo from BCoM

My brother has been accepted to Berklee College of Music and they've awarded him a scholarship based on his talent! Hooray!

I am so excited for him, and so proud (and so looking forward to having a place to stay in Boston, but that's just a bit selfish, hee hee). Sam, this officially makes you a (M)asshole! (I keed, I keed.) ;)


Good thing it panned out - otherwise these hand tattoos would've just seemed ridiculous (wait...). ;)

Congrats, little bro! That's major news (ha - dorky music pun...).

R is for...

is for Rachel.



...Or rabbit, rose, Royal Air Force (that just happens to be my initials too, thank you very much), radical, rambunctious, raunchy, ridiculous, reserved and a slew of other things - some of which I am, some of which I am not. (I am fairly certain I am not a rabbit. I do like carrots a lot though.)

Anyway, the point is, I love Daily Drop Caps by Jessica Hische! I've posted about them before (see here for more letters and info), but she's on to another set of all new letters, so I thought I'd share.



oger that.





ver and out.




Daily Drop Caps by Jessica Hische.

Bubbly pour vous?

Photo by George Barris

I'm generally not a huge Marilyn Monroe fan (not that I dislike her, I've just never been that into her), but more and more after reading some of her quotes, I think she seems like she'd have been really fun.

Just check out this hilarious thank-you note from her to a Mr. von Fuehlsdorff:

Spotted on Oh Hello!

So funny. Also, is it really nerdy of me to say that I miss typewriters? Not that we even had one in my lifetime, but the letter above looks so much cooler (than today's Word doc!) all typed out like that. Perhaps I'll get myself a typewriter and do all my correspondences on it...

Call me Holly Golightly

I don't usually go for the Little Black Dress (LBD) when shopping, simply because I'm obscenely pale (black looks so good on tan people!) and I like to wear color. I think I'd be willing to make an exception for this amazing LBD from MQuin on Etsy, though.

Yes, it's $102, but it's custom. You looking like a million bucks in a dress that fits just right? That's so worth the hundred bucks.

Spotted on Design Crush.

What's cookin' in the kitchen

Image via Mary Ruffle

Gooood morning, moppets!

It's Wednesday! Normally I'd feel much more along the lines of "booo, it's Wednesday - blah" but since it's sunny, 66 degrees, and B has off on Friday (making today his Thursday), I'm definitely more in the "yay, it's Wednesday!" spirit today.

Most normal people would be excited to get outside and enjoy the sunshine, but for some reason all I want to do is bake today. Backwards, I know - welcome to my world. I probably won't actually do any baking - more like I'll just watch something on the Food Network to supplement my craving :) - but maybe I'll get ambitious and make something later this week. I figured I could at least share the in-the-meantime food inspiration with you all, and maybe one of you would actually do the baking in lieu of me. (And if anyone wants to share slash send me baked goods, feel free!) :)

Here are some of the recipes that have piqued my interest lately:

Tomato tart.

Photo from Herbavoracious

This one is actually seasonally appropriate (see? some things I do make sense...sometimes), as tomatoes are just starting to really pop up around here. I'm aiming to buy some amazing heirloom yellow and red tomatoes from Whole Foods (sadly, no farmers markets open here yet) instead of the mealy putrid pinkish ones my nearby Giant always has. It makes the tart just that much more pretty.

I found the recipe for this on the Martha Stewart website ages ago (here) and gave it to my mom to try for a pot-luck; she made it perfectly the first time and it was a huge hit at the party. My friend Sara made it shortly thereafter and hers was delicious too. Of course I then gave it a try and it was an utter disaster. Oy.

My mom has since gifted me with a proper tart pan (rather than an old, thick Pyrex dish), so hopefully it will be better on my second go-round. The tart (when made by anyone but me, evidently) is so, so good, and so, so easy. Mmm, I'm getting excited just thinking about it (too bad B doesn't actually like tomatoes - oops!).

Photo from Martha Stewart (the photo doesn't look so hot, but I assure you it is incredible)

Chocolate chip cookies.

Photo from Martha Stewart

I wouldn't usually think to make choc. chip cookies (maybe because if they're in my house, I will eat approximately 2,192 of them a day), but Jordan from Oh Happy Day posted about "The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipe from America's Test Kitchen and my mouth started watering immediately. Yumm. (Again, too bad B doesn't share my love of choc. chip cookies - he's more of an oatmeal raisin cookie guy. Booo!) The ATK recipe looks really easy to follow (step-by-step pics and all), so maybe I'll give it a shot.

I''ll definitely continue to use my grandmother's secret of refrigerating the dough before baking it though - it works like a charm. (Choc. chip cookies are one recipe I can do.)

Chocolate croissants.

Photo from Paisley Petunia

Okay, so this one isn't actually baking because it comes frozen from Trader Joe's (huzzah!), but you do have to put it in your oven, so that kinda counts, right?

Photo from Justinsomnia

I read about these on Kate Flaim (Girl Reporter)'s awesome blog and went out and bought a box the next day. They couldn't have been easier. Here's what you do:

Place them on a baking sheet. They'll look like this to start:


Let them "proof" for 9 hours. This is what they'll turn into:

Cool, right?

Then bake for 25 minutes. Eh voila:

This photo (and previous two) from Justinsomnia

They were awesome. Just as good as ones from a bakery, and they made my whole house smell delicious (with such minimal effort).

And last:

Asparagus gruyere tart.

Photo from Cupcakes and Cashmere

Emily posted beautiful photos of the asparagus gruyere tart she made using Martha's recipe. It reminds me of the tomato tart above. Do I sense a theme here? Dough, cheese (gruyere), olive oil, veggies? Yum, it's basically just a really fancy take on pizza.

I love asparagus (and pizza!) so I'm excited to try this.


Have you baked anything lately? Do any of these recipes appeal to you? Or are you outside enjoying the sunshine? Let me know if you've tried the asparagus tart - or if you have any can't-miss recipes I should know about.

A tree in the house is better than two in the yard...

...is that not how the saying goes?

I know I've talked about greenery here on sea*life*style before - about how my boyfriend can grow peppers in a third-story apt., how much I love this crafty plant table, and I talked about my lust for an indoor citrus tree, even posting this gorgeous inspiration photo:


But with the chills of winter, I had all but forgotten about the possibility of lush greenery. Today I saw this photo on Pretty Pieces and was right back into my verdant obsession:

This giant Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree, or Ficus Lyrata, is so pretty! After seeing this, I'm dying to add some true trees to our little house - not only for their beauty, but also for the air-purifying qualities. We're already doing a decent job of it with B's plants scattered about the guest room, but I think a big ol' tree would really seal the deal of green air in our home.

I've narrowed down my wont to either a fig tree or a citrus tree, and I've dug up a bunch of photos to illustrate my point of how amazing a tree in the house can be. Check it out:







So what do you think? Do you like the idea of a tree (or trees) in the house? Have you ever seen a Fiddle Leaf Fig indoors (I hadn't, either indoors or out!)? Do you like citrus plants inside?

Here's to spring's greenery - inside and out!

Photo credits: pic 1- here; 2- Grant K. Gibson's home; 3- House Beautiful, via Little Green Notebook; 4- Domino, via Dress, Design & Decor; 5- Grant K. Gibson's home; 6- House Beautiful, via Little Green Notebook; 7- SHELTER; 8- Abbey Goes Design Scouting; 9- Domino, via Dress, Design & Decor.

Work, work, work

Loving this quote (and so pretty in that script). I'm actually working right now, hence the late blog post. I'll be back later, but for now, I'm getting back to work!

Also, I'd be quite happy working here any day:

I have that chair and a similar desk, but I seriously need to do some styling to get to that level of decorated-ness (though maybe minus the zebra-print rug!).

In the meantime, work it out (or make it work)! :)

Quote via Destined to Design. Photo from Elle Decor April 2008, via Good Bones Great Pieces.

Back on track

Hooray! Blogger is back on track! The pictures have reappeared!

Photo by Paul Costello

Also, I was very rude earlier today and didn't even ask how your weekend was. Hope it was a fun one, and that you got outside before the rain came back. Cheers! (And see you tomorrow!)

xo, r.

Control, or lack thereof

Spotted on Le Love.

Seeing as how I'm not in control of my blog right now - not to mention countless other things in my life - I thought this quote was apropos. And just kinda pretty. Gotta make the best of things!

Lady in waiting

Something weird is going on with Blogspot/Blogger right now and it seems that photos aren't showing up. It's not just me - all the other blogs using Blogger are having the same problem - and hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

I've found a work-around for my photos from today only, but some of my earlier images are still missing. If you're checking out sea*life*style for the first time, sorry for the temporary absence of photos!


I guess I'll just wait here in a beautiful backless gown (oh so practical!) until the rain clears and Blogger fixes this issue...

Photo via Walking Around.

Products and polaroid scarves

I realized the other day that this blog is getting very...product-driven. Do I love packaging? Yes, yes and yes. I am a design nerd. Am I a shopping whore? Maybe - I do love the thrill of a sale and snagging a good find. Do I buy all the stuff I show on here? No way, not even close. Usually I'm just window shopping and not actually buying anything. It's a recession, people! I'm sure you're not buying all this stuff either, right? (Though I am seriously hooking up my friends and family with continual gift ideas, so they can thank me.)

Anyway, with all that being said, do you want me to slow my roll on featuring new stuff to peruse and possibly buy? Is it a slap in the face in hard economic times? Or are you like me, and love to look at some of the cool stuff out there, even if you're not going to spend a dime on it?

Let me know...

In the meantime, here's some more schwag to eye (hey, you haven't told me to stop yet):

Aren't these Polaroid scarves cool?


Available here, as spotted here.

Passover treat?

Typical. Pretty much universally, all kids out there who celebrate Christmas get beautiful gingerbread houses laden with candy and other delicious, commercial goodies; oppositely, only the luckiest of lucky Jewish kids - those with uber-ambitious and overreaching moms - get this:

Thanks for throwing the Jews a bone, Martha Stewart and co. Nice try, but matzo dressed up with dates and macaroons still sucks. The Jews' plight continues... (Ha ha - kidding, of course.)

At least we get to drink a lot of wine at the seder. Four glasses required to be consumed before the meal even begins - woohoo! ;)

Photo from The Crafts Dept. of Martha Stewart.

Have a great weekend!

Did I really just read that there is a chance of snow today?? I thought we'd been over this, weather - it's spring now - act like it! Jeesh. Fine fine, if this is just March's way of finishing up the lion part, and you're about to go out like a lamb, I guess I can deal for one more weekend...


Photo from Mary Ruffle

In the meantime, I'll be opening windows (after the snow, I suppose), enjoying the sunshine if it peeks out for a bit, and having a good weekend. We're going to a friend's 30th birthday fiesta (margarita! ay yi yi!) and then back in time for baseball for B - if it doesn't get rained out, that is. Either way, I'm excited for another weekend and some fun hanging out with friends.

Monday will be here soon; enjoy yourself in the meantime (and hope to see you back here Monday!).

Calgon, take me away

Holy cow do I love this bathroom:

Spotted on Destined to Design

Art in the bathroom can be a tricky thing (all that steam can take its toll on paintings), but those oil paintings are kinda too pretty not to include in here. Top it off with the blue bathtub, classic tile floor, and a plethora of fluffy white towels, and this bathroom is in business. That little yellow rubber ducky and I would take a bath in there any day. So beachy... love.

Herrrrre, pretty birdie

Sweet adorable B is such a nature boy. Even in our abode high up on the third floor, where we have no garden and no dirt, he's somehow managed to bring the outdoors in.

Now, he's harkened all kinds of creatures (okay, just birds and squirrels, really) to our windows by rigging a bird feeder off the deck and squarely in front of one of our living room windows so that we can sit on the couch and observe the wildlife high up here. He's so MacGyver meets Martha. (He even has bird calls on his iPhone - nature dork and tech nerd all in one! Just kidding, I love this kid to bits.)

I wonder if he'd like one or a few of these lovely original watercolors:


Watercolors by Dimdi on Etsy, spotted on I Suwannee.

Aren't they beautiful? She does other animals too:




And tons more... at only 25 coins each. Not bad! All available here.

No wonder the world thinks Americans are idiots...

You've all seen it, whether on the web or through a hilarious forwarded email that was going around for what seemed like years. Yes, I'm talking about People of Walmart, where America's best got to shine. Haven't heard of it? Let me enlighten you (or at least refresh your memory, if you got that forward, as I did):

Riiiiight, 'cuz that hair looks cool. (Or maybe he's just gunning to win as "World's Most Extreme Combover" - I think he's in the running for at least top 3...)


This is a good idea to keep the rain off your kids' faces. Very smart thinking, lady.


No comment for Spidey here.

In case you had tired of People of Walmart, here's a new one for you that I couldn't resist sharing: People of the Park - and by "park" they mean Disney World. Yessss.





Spotted on Roblahblog.