Sometimes it tastes better than it smells

This is often the case with food - especially "ethnic" food. I spent most of the weekend eating delicious stinky food. Salted fish in fried rice, which smells oh-so-offensive, made me squeal in delight. While on my own, watching Rupaul's Drag Race, I ate two cans of canned smoked herring.

Oh my walk back home, with three large bags of groceries in tow, I sniffed around and felt very irritated that someone had puked in the elevator lobby. However, as my olfactory continued to be assaulted by such horrors, I realized the smell was coming from me! The lid from the goat feta had come off and the cheese water spilled all over the groceries in the bag. Luckily - nothing got on me. Those three blocks home felt like 5 miles.

As I am typing this, I am eating that stinky feta with beets and dill. My office is a kaleidoscope of smells. I had a smoked salmon panini just seconds ago. But I'm cool - I closed me door.

Browsing around on my lunch break I came across this adorable, sunny (none stinky) pattern from the Orla Kiely website.

I am going to try to find away to incorporate something similar to frame the wall of windows in my apartment. Time to do more scouring.

Found em!

So in my post yesterday I had lamented that I wasn't able to find the chairs that I had been drooling over. Well, I guess I just didn't go far enough in the pages of Design Sponge because I was trying to leave some positive feedback on a recipe I had tried and there they were! These chairs are by Bend based in California. I want! I want! I want!

All images are from Design Sponge.

I dream of them in Hot Pink, Yellow and Lime Green. If I had a large enough house, I might have a room dedicated to chairs. All types of chairs. They would give each other stares as they sized each other up and then someone would break the ice and then they would all have a grand ol' time talking about their misadventures.

It's Friday - I'm delirious and ready for the weekend....

Sun in the sky and my wardrobe

I crave the sun and colour.  My apartment is full of colour:  yellow, pink and lime green.  What I can't get out there (points at the window where grayness scowls at me) I get in my sanctuary.  I noticed that my wardrobe is full of more and more neutrals, which wasn't the case a couple of seasons ago.  I like colour.  I'm really into silk knits and draped silhouettes and those garments tend come in neutrals but I'm on the hunt for some bold pieces that will stand out.  I want pinks, corals and kelly greens in my closet.  But not yellow or orange.  I'll just look like I have malaria or jaundice.  This Chinese girl ain't got no right wearing stuff from that part of the colour wheel.

Colour makes me excited.  It creates a reaction.  It inspires.  Seeing colour jolts my brain into visualizing a whole scene.  When I see the generous or purposeful use of colour in one's home, my immediate thought is that this is a home where a lot of life and happiness exists.

(I was going to post up some red wired chairs that looked liked the Bertoia's but with a bit of a twist - but do you think I could find it????  Nope, Nada.)

See more from Dalistigen

 

Mike's Masculine Mischief in Toronto

Alicante, Spain, 2008 - Annual Public Art Exhibition

Seeing Jenna Lyon's home was one of those A-Ha! moments.  I realized that I didn't like things from "Town and Country" and splashes of colour against a modern backdrop make me jumping for joy.  Colour, a bit of fun, quirkiness and whim keeps me inspired and lights up my day:

Last but not least - and probably a bit random, I feel that my salad deserves some mention just because it looks pretty:

Baby spinach, red sweet pepper, grape tomatoes, roasted kale with chili and smoked paprika, dill, roasted soy beans and a couple of squirts of lime.  Yum!

Suffering from "Iwantitdonenow-itis"

I'm still on the hunt for more artwork.  As mentioned in my previous post, I'm wondering if I should just wait and pick up something on a road trip.  I'm planning to go to Portland this summer which really isn't that far away.  I suffer from the syndrome "Iwantitdonenow-itis".

I often worry that my need to get things done supersedes my need for my things to have meaning.  Patience has never been my virtue.  This poster speaks to me (in a Barry White-like voice):

The only reason why I didn't get this print by Recovering Lazyholic is that it would have just made feel too guilty every time I looked at it.  Since I'm talking about Erin Hanson's work, here's another piece that I love:

 

What?  You like Erin Hanson's stuff, too? Check out the etsy store, then, my friend!

If I hadn't gotten this print by Claire Ingram:

 Claire Ingram

I would have purchased this print:

 

Wayne Pate's work is really adorable.  I'm certainly going to keep my eyes open for anything new that comes up.

I also contemplated the purchase of this fine piece:

 

"Holding Hands" - ongren 

but realized that it was going to be too large for the wall it would be living on.  I'll probably look for smaller prints (or postcards) and put them in large white frames.  This print just doesn't have the same effect when it's is in postcard form.  It sort of reminds me of being a kid playing cats in the cradle.  I sucked at that game.  I'd pull the same moves over and over again until my opponent would finally say "I'm bored" and I would win by default.  Clever clever!

4 walls = Home?

I'm just starting to get settled into my new home and in all honesty, it doesn't quite feel like home.  Everything is so new and staged.  I haven't found that perfect medium of making things feel comfortable and inviting but clean and uncluttered.  It's funny because none of my guests feel that my home is uninvited but they do say that it looks like a showroom (but not in a bad way).

I am often green with apartment/ home envy when scour the House Tours or House Calls on Apartment Therapy or the Sneak Peaks from Design*Sponge. 

This House Tour from Apartment Therapy is a perfect example of a house that is a home.  Marie and Nick's Festive East Bay Ranch is full of life and memories.  It's a perfect reminder to me that making your apartment your home will take time and knick knacks are far more precious if there is a story behind them.  Here some of my favourite pictures:

 

Check out the rest of the house tour here.

House envy!

More CL finds

Cute Mid Century finds :

Mid Century Couch

Chrome Swivel Chair

Floor lamp
I especially love the couch.  Too bad I already one - this is the type of piece that you base all your decorating on.

I have a lot of catching up to do... just not now.

Oh how I wish these were available in Canada - or that Heals UK even has them in production.

Heals UK Wire Cage Planter (no longer available).  Click here for a similar style.

But I'm happy to have found these!

I also found a pair of garden gnomes and ceramic mushroom water catchers at Diaso.


This is also an idea I'd like to incorporate but I have to wait and see how much room the Topsy Turvy will take up:

From Thirteen and South

From Nector and Company

I'm the laziest blogger in the world :(