Easy as....

If only we weren't going out of town this weekend....sigh....
MAKE THESE PIES NOW AND TELL ME ABOUT THEM!!

Holy Milkshake!

Made a v.quick October-worthy dessert the other night.
Thought I'd pass it along! Mmmm....amazingly yummy ice cream.
Sorry Ben+Jerry's...this kicks your butt.Melt chocolate and put in parchment paper folded in a triangle.
Or a ziplock baggie, I suppose.
Cut a tiny tip in the corner of triangle or baggie.
Pipe a ghostly face onto the inside of a milkshake glass.
Pour in the shake (mine are usually hand-mixed).
Boo.

Is the K for your last name?

In response to the mantle post: yes, the k is definitely for my last name...and hudson's...and our other roommate's for that matter. Jamie = Kanter. Leslie = Kasahara. Hudson takes on the Kanter when misbehaving and my last name when simply angelic. Patrick + Devon call us the Kantaharas which I totally love.

Lucky enough for this alphabet-loving gal, I feel like I can partake in throwing k's all over the place because of this fun happenstance! Well, obviously just short of displaying three-k's-in-a-row...'cuz that wouldn't be coo'. Aaaand monogrammed towels. Can't do those. Do you not agree that monogrammed towels say "married" more than anything else you know? Like even more than wedding bands?

Oh, for SURE, you guys.

Don't scoff.

And those of you who think you're exuding marriedness by wearing those bands, but without the presence of monogrammed towels? You're exempt from this survey. ha.

I'm still working behind the scenes on the junk room and it's coming along at a snail's pace. Mostly because I stop myself from doing proper things like organize and look at window coverings. Instead, I waste time playing with leeeetle, teeny projects like color coordinating yet another K!

Got the letter + paper @ a craft store.
Traced both front + back. Cut strips of 1" for the border.
Mod Podge!!! Holla!
This schizz kinda smells funny.
I dampened the paper for pliability and podge-soakability.
Placed the paper on there from one end to another,
squishing those air bubbles as you go.
V. satisfying to squish air bubbles.
Make certain to get it all over your fingers like me.
You'll be cooler if you do.
A couple of coats to polish it all off and tada!
Another k.

ps. the one on the mantle is from anthropologie

Love.Hate Relationship with Office Supplies

Yup. That's what I have... a love/hate relationship with office supplies. I need stupid things like staplers and post-its and pens at my immediate grasp, but they're all so independently shaped and colored that desk clutter is seemingly inevitable. The junk-room "makeover" is slow and painful, but coming along decently and I take pleasure in figuring out little things like using a white ceramic candy dish to max tabletop space, keep clutter down, and leave lots of little things within my reach! Not just for mini cupcakes, you guys!

from Target!

What do you guys do to keep down the loose items in your office or other places in your home? Any advice?

p.s. I love fabric boxes or any other closed containers for a much more clutter-free approach, but my peasized brain can't seem to remember what I have in each box (or read the label, for that matter) and I simply prefer to leave them out and about.

Not-so-Extreme Room Makeover

It shall forever be known as the Junk Room.

To say this room has been through many transformations would be an understatement. We can't figure out what to do with the space and it just can't seem to shake the junkiness of its initial junk room status. Nothing seems to have its place and it's driving me insane.

• Junk Room - It kept full-then-empty cardboard boxes out of the way when Jamie first moved in. The red rug was added for an initial attempt at decorating the little room.
• Empty - v.uninspired. I think we got the bookcase on the right to help organize the mad paperwork and binders and magazines and jamie's spongebobsquarepants bobble head (huh?).
• Gym - We built our treadmill in here and stored our weights and ab-ball next to it. Uh, great intent, but I think we spent the least amount of time in that room with the damn treadmill. It's since been moved out to a corner of the kitchen and I've used it three times (progress, you guys).
• Guest "Bed" Room - We stayed at Devon+Patrick's and thought their raised-aerobed would be a perfect addition to our place for any future guests. It fits in the open space with 3 inches to spare on one side, door barely closes with it in there - snug as a bug in a rug. I got the chocolate brown curtains to go coordinate with extra bedding for when sister Amy came in January and thought it was all pretty cute! But folks haven't visited with enough frequency or length in time to really justify keeping it inflated all the time so the bed's being stored in the back of a closet.
• Office + Craft Room - I had been taking over every corner of our place with the fun creating I've been doing and was also feeling generally unorganized with real-work stuffs. I had managed for awhile with my laptop and miscellaneous file folders. The crafting, however, was getting ridiculous. Not v.compact and definitely required some desk space (can't rightly keep the sewing machine on my lap). One night, when Jamie was out of town, I moved all the bed stuffs out and threw a couple of planks onto TV dinner tables, creating a makeshift office. He really likes it when he comes home to everything moved around in the place. Especially when he can't find anything and I'm not home or not answering my cell phone to tell him where I moved it. I blame Devon every single time ("i learned it from watching her!").

Now that this mini-room has discovered its true identity, it'd be great to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible! I'm inspired by well-organized craft rooms that have been gracing my internet browser and by all the hours of HGTV I put in. For this quasi-makeover, I'm placing plenty of restrictions:

1. No paint change on the walls (tongue out to our otherwise v.nice landlord).
2. Cost needs to be kept as low as possible.
3. The space is desperately needed for storage. Jamie's home office occupies a corner in the living room so he needs a different spot to keep various paperwork, binders, etc. I need a place to keep old magazines, paperwork, crafty stuffs, and whatever other objects I gather throughout my day.
4. The table is way too low for me to sit at comfortably for long periods of time. I've been using that footstool as my chair and my back isn't able to take it any more. Am I getting old?
5. I store most of my clothing in the closet off to the right and there's a floor-to-ceiling shoe rack that does its job of, you know, holding my shoes. These things can't change. In fact, I'd love to really make this a big ole closet, but there are just too many needs for it.
   

Here's my inspiration:

Clean lines, punchy color, more fun, and less junk. I wonder how this is going to turn out! Stay tuned, I guess. And leave any suggestions or links to products if you can. I need all the help I can get on this one. :)

Happy Birthday to Me - love Jen.

I needed help "decorating" the pretty stark and yet somehow restrictive bathroom in our apartment. Here are the restrictions: uh...RED sink and RED tile + we rent so there are certain things that are just not worth it (like redoing the tile). I am totally not a morning person, but I have to tell you, this whole boring bathroom situation sure doesn't make it any easier to want to get my day going. Jen has heard me gripe about this room for awhile now and for my birthday she decided to take matters into her own hands!! Check it out.

Now go back to the top pic and note that she went totally out of her way to pick out Valspar paint chips...that's where Devon's Patrick works! Mind you, the girl has like two weeks until her due date. Crazy, huh? Don't you worry, I'm not THAT great of a friend; you know, one who will turn down some decorating advice for the safety of an unborn child? Nah. Here are the before photos. After photos to follow in awhile and shut up, I know I have to put away the Christmas bulbs:
Plus a photo of Jen during phase one of "b.room redecoration" thinking this would be a great addition to the b.room...waaaait a sec. What the heck does the Caller ID window mean? LuWamH?

She also took me to lunch @ Fenton's to split a yummy tuna melt and I got to get my own state-of-the-art ice cream sundae! "Petite" scoop of chocolate marble (petite? ya right.), banana, chocolate peanut butter hot fudge. Oh wait, here's a pic of Jen's...I must have already inhaled my own. But doesn't it look like a perfect sundae?