Rainy days

When you have a rainy day you need lots of color, right? I make my rainy days fun with bright umbrellas, interior design books (look at that wallpaper), and colorful treats like macarons!

Interior design:

Jenny at Little Green Notebook recently moved to Brooklyn to fulfill her dream of having more space (inside and outside) to raise her three daughters. To that end she has constructed a beautiful playhouse in her back garden for her children to play in. I kind of want to live in it myself! Also, while you're over at LGN make sure you enter to win 5 pairs of Shoemint shoes, yes that's right, I said 5 pairs!

Need more art for your home? Who doesn't? Head to Design Mom to enter a giveaway from the online art shop 20x200 to win a framed print of your choice from their gigantic shop!

Food:

Start your weekend off right with these lemon poppy seed pancakes from Joy the Baker. Her pancakes owe their fluffy texture to buttermilk but if you don't have it on hand she offers all sorts of substitutes. No excuses, get flipping.

I'm kind of tempted to make this gingerbread recipe from the recipe book of Beatrix Potter shown here on The Kitchn. Sold just a few days ago at auction after being rediscovered in some Potter ephemera, this would be a treasured book in my household. I heard it went for only 700 pounds, which really surprises me. I'd pay more for a book of Beatrix Potter handwritten recipes.

Chili is going to happen this weekend. It simply has to. And Alli at Hooray has given us a basic chili recipe to try. I like to pour a bottle of beer in there too. I love the flavor.

Fashion/style:

Emily at Cupcakes and Cashmere puts together a very helpful collection of 15 essential pieces for your work wardrobe. I've had my eye on that Madewell leather tote for a while now and this may just push me over the edge to purchase it.

Everyone has to check out The Vine, Diapers.com's newest shopping site. It's filled with completely green products for the home. Also, The Vine is headed up by Josh Dorfman, so I'm extra excited about it. I had the pleasure of working with Josh on his two books, The Lazy Environmentalist and The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget.


I hope you all have a great weekend. We're going apple picking bright and early tomorrow morning and I can't wait to share the photos of that. Good night!