My Etsy Shop!

This is pretty exciting for me, even though its still in it's infancy.  I've opened an Etsy Shop!  Check it out here.  You'll see some recipe cards like below, but I plan to expand into many more things so keep coming back and looking.  And as always if you want a custom design, email me here!

Macaroons

Just because they're beautiful, and delicious.  And a recipe for those brave enough to try. 

Frank Lloyd Wright

This weekend I got to go tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home + studio in Oak Park, IL!  It was something I've wanted to do for a long time and I'm so excited I finally got a chance to go.
Below are some pictures of the outside of the building (no photography allowed inside) and some pictures I pulled from the interior.

Outside of his house in Oak Park

Outside of his studio

I appreciate that he's well known mostly for the home he built instead of giant sky scrapers or other such buildings.  Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style architecture is some of my favorite.  I was actually surprised though that from the outside, his house didn't strike me immediately as being very much in his style. 
Our tour guide talked about how Wright built this home at the time when he was just developing his prairie style of architecture and actually I thought this style was more evident in the interior, especially the interior which he added later.

This dining room is very prairie style to me.  This room (added later) to the house was by far my favorite space.  The way he designed the chairs to be so high and go around the table and create an intimate dining room space is lovely.  The intricate screen he designed to go over the lights and create a serene kind of ambient light, really genius.  I loved this room. Also, you can't tell but the walls are covered in a very light linen fabric. 

Here's the drafting room in Wright's studio.  The shape of the space was really unique, and the guide explained to us how Wright used a very intricate set of chain pulleys to keep all the walls in space.  Very cool space, I can see how it would be easy to be creative in a place like that.  After this visit, I love Wright even more!  (For those who haven't already, I'd also recommend the book Loving Frank.) 

Paint by Numbers

Friday I abused my lunch plate at work so much it cracked in half.  It's a cute melamine plate (a set of 4 I bought a long time ago!) with a paint by number scene of various wood animal on each plate.  The set is pictured below.

Sad things have happened to these plates.  Two still exist, one as I said, broke in half, you're definitely not supposed to microwave them although I did very often.  The last one was thrown away by someone, having mistaken it for a disposable plate! 
Anyway, all of this reminded me that I really enjoy the kitschy-ness of paint by numbers.  Here are a few things I've found recently that embrace it and do a great job!

This great zipper handbag from Etsy, here. 

And a very similar pattern of fabric but made into an apron!  Again on Etsy, here. 

Very cool men's tie with just the illustration (of the Mona Lisa) on it.  Found here.

Wedding Invites

Unfortuantely, October is just going to be a light month for blogging.  Got a lot going on and we're leaving for New Zealand in 10 days! 
But...here's a little eye-candy for you.  The mock-ups for my Aunt's wedding invitations.  Their wedding is in the mountains at a beautiful hotel in Park City Utah, in the fall.  I tried to reflect that theme while keeping it elegant and simple.  Let me know what you think! :)