Gettin' Present (& Correct) With It

Today on my daily stroll through Pinterest, I discovered an eclectic website that has been around for a few years but until now has escaped my radar. Present & Correct is an online business based in the UK that houses "a place for our own designs, things we love by other designers from around the world & vintage items which we discover around Europe, and sometimes further afield." Their inventory seems to lean heavily toward the office supply environment, but in a very unique & diverse way. Original posters from the 60s mix with new calendar designs, all in a site categorized by words like "mail," "organise" and "ephemera."

I love these Christmas stamps that could be used for all sorts of crafty feats - they're made new, but the 10 different designs have a distinct retro feel about them. And then of course the Roll Calendar from the 70s, with German text and a choice of green or white.

These old tickets are begging to be used creatively and I'm loving the numbered pins, which do indeed cater to my OCD side, as the description describes.

Vintage post cards featuring iconic London vehicles would be fun to send someone and can you imagine having 220 meters (over 700 feet!) of pure cotton airmail string to use at your disposal? I could see myself wrapping all of my gifts this year in nothing more than brown craft paper and this twine-esque embellishment.

What catches your eye on Present & Correct?

Mugtails

Just when I thought I was getting way ahead of myself by wishing that the upcoming holidays would come just a bit sooner, I got my December issue of Real Simple magazine in the mail. Oh the glory. The gift ideas, the decor suggestions and 30 different kinds of holiday cookies, which to a pregnant lady sounds pretty flippin' awesome.

The thing that really caught my eye, however, was on the very first page of their gift suggestions for women. Maybe I'm a little late to the game, but I had never seen these before and I think they're precious. Enter: Mugtails.

Via

I think my favorite is a tie between the the dainty fawn tail and the over-sized rabbit tail. I wouldn't complain having the full set though, and at only $16 a pop, it's not completely out of the question (I was expecting $30+ each). I would see myself using them more in a decor setting than a practical, "use for my morning cup of coffee tea milk" situation, but either way they'd make an appreciated addition to our world.

Via

One thing the magazine didn't mention was that they not only serve as drink-of-your-choice receptacle, but also as a tea light holder. Since the animal shapes are thinner than the rest of the cup, they serve well as the focal point when the light shines behind, like so.

Via

These might just be going on my Christmas wish list. What do you think?

Freshly Sharpened Pencils

Via Amazon

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."  
                       - Joe Fox

I've always loved You've Got Mail, though I'm a sucker for any of Tom Hanks' older movies. I've also always had a thing for school supplies...I know better than to head down that aisle during August (or any time, really). So a few months ago when Fall should have been setting in, here in Texas we were still experiencing 100 degree days and I started pining away for cooler weather. When school started up and all I could see walking through the grocery store were pens and pencils and folders and highlighters, it made me think of that quote from the movie.

So I went out and bought a pack of pencils. For like a dollar.

Then I stole the mason jar that I had turned into a pin cushion jar awhile back and after tediously sharpening all 40-ish pencils (funnily enough, doing it by hand ended up being faster than using the old-n-busted electric sharpener), I shoved artfully arranged them in the jar!

Simple, cute, and now that we're actually starting to experience fall weather here in Central Texas, appropriate.

Has the changing seasons made you do anything crazy? Did anyone else watch You've Got Mail many times as a teenage girl?

Forshizz Up the Spout. Honest to blog.

I was doing so well with posting on this thing until about two months ago when I was suddenly EXHAUSTED all of the time. All I wanted to do when I came home was collapse on the couch, so that's pretty much what I did. Of course, it made a lot more sense when I found out this little bean was amongst us!

I'm already in love with its nose <3

So while the thought of posting on here has crossed my mind many many times since we found out the big news, I've simply been too drop dead tired to do anything other than work and come home. I'm just now entering the second trimester (14th week), which I've heard is the golden age of pregnancy - no more nausea (though that only really hit me for about two weeks early on), a lot more energy and of course that "glow" :) I'm looking forward to this next stage, where I can get things done and hopefully have a little more motivation to do anything other than lie pitifully like a sack of potatoes.

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Now that I've gotten the ball rolling, hopefully I'll make a point to post on here more often and pick back up where I left off. On a side note, am I the only one who loves Juno? Hi-lar-ious.

Lindsey's Senior Pictures

When my in-laws came into town last month for a visit, we (me, the husband, my brother-in-law William and my sister-in-law Lindsey) escaped for a day downtown to take Lindsey's senior pictures. We first hit up Zilker Gardens and then made our way over near South Congress to sneak walk around the alleyways and whatnot to find some cool spots. Lindsey is, for lack of a better word, crazy. But the awesome kind. She's hardcore into basketball (she plays on her HS varsity team) but can't leave the house unless her hair looks perfect (you know it's true, Linz). Not to mention she's a ridiculous ball of energy. We love her to death and her silliness made the photoshoot all that more fun. She was a trooper, too - we walked around for about 4 hours in the middle of the day and in this summer weather, that means 100+ degree temps. Now that they have the final images on disc, I thought I'd post a few of my favorites. Including some outtakes at the end... :)

Um, yeah. Apparently playing basketball gives you killer legs. Sign me up! Also, if you're a boy, look away.

And now may I present to you: "Gangsta" Lindsey and Overly-Giddy Lindsey. She hearts haterz.

This last picture on the right is quite possibly my favorite of all of them. Classic Lindsey.

She might kill me for posting these last couple, but deep down she loves them too :)

This is Coming

...to my bedroom.

Yes, that is newspaper on my wall. No, it's not staying, but something else will be in its place. It's still in conception but I'm hoping to start on the project soon. I can tell you that 1. I can't decide between white and a color, 2. they won't be photographs, and 3. I need 64 total, but currently there are only actually 59 in existence.

I know that doesn't make much sense, but what fun is it to tell you ahead of time? :) Stay tuned...

My New Best Friend

Okay well "new" is a relatively loose term, I suppose, since I've had this particular product for seven or eight months now, but it is still very much my bff in the kitchen. When the husband and I got married last October, we received a new cookware set that we had registered for from his wonderful family as a wedding gift. I was super psyched to get them since I had been sporting a $20 set from Ross since sophomore year in college and I was done with that cheapness! *

One thing I didn't count on was my new pots and pans looking anything other than beautiful and right-out-of-the-box shiny forever and ever. I quickly realized that without a non-stick coating things tend to, well, stick to the pans. This is largely combated by generous amounts of butter and oil, but even if you prevent things from getting stuck, after awhile the pan starts to look like this....

Mmmmmm!

Pleasant, isn't it? Yeah, it looks like a layer of gunk, but we do wash our pans, thank you very much, and this is as clean as it gets! That is, unless you know my good friend.

Super cheap on Amazon

Yes, this aptly named can of powder is pure magic (though I suppose Harry Potter might argue that "scourgify" is a bit faster). In fact, if you visit that link I put up there in the first paragraph to our cookware on Amazon, the one thing it tells you that most customers "frequently bought together" along with the pots and pans set is this stuff. Easy to use? Why yes, yes it is. Are these visuals necessary? Probably not, but ignore that point and enjoy the pictures.

STEP 1: Wet the pan and dump out any excess water.

STEP 2: Put a generous amount of the powder on the surface that you want to tackle.

STEP 3: Start scrubbing with a cloth that you don't particularly care much about. Make sure it's wet as well so that the powder starts to make a paste. Depending on the severity of the surface, you might be doing this for awhile.

 STEP 4: Realize that the back of your pan has foreign markings on it as well and scrub some more.

 STEP 5: Rinse well and hand wash to remove any remaining residue.

Already looking better...

And now for a before and after, because those are my favorite things ever:

I don't use this stuff every day, but when I notice a pot or pan looking a little worn, I like to bust it out and make them look nice and shiny again. This powder will get out pretty much everything. If it can be removed, it will be, as long as you're persistent enough. This one pan only took me about 2 minutes. So if you have stainless steel cookware that needs a pick me up, I highly recommend it!


Do you have any "must haves" around the house?



* I realize this makes me sound like a horrible person, but you would agree, had you used those terrible pots and pans for so long.