What Does Your Bed Say About You?

Mike and I have been on the hunt for our bedroom set. He bought his last set with my input, but since he sold it before moving to Korea, we are now looking for our first set as a couple.

What does he want? Something that says "A man lives here. This is the king's bedroom". He said he wanted detail, and thick posts.

And that is exactly what he showed me. Seriously, some of these beds could have been in King Henry's vacation home. They aren't ugly, but aren't exactly my style.

This one is my least favorite, its too "blocky"

What am I looking for in a bed? Simpe, airy and elegant. Wanna see my candidates? The pictures won't save so I'll have to send you to the links really quickly . Here they are:



As you can tell, we prefer completely different beds. Mike thinks a bed like the Paula will break too easily and I just don't like the look of the huge blcky  beds. So, we found some beds we'd consider compromising on.

I like ^ that bed the best out of the compromise options. 

This is my least favorite of the compromise options

Which of the beds is your favorite? Which one do you think is the best compromise. AND! DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY....It'd make a great gift for a little one in your life

Chocolate Making and Blogversary Giveaway!

Being the chocoholic that I am, I was given a chocolate making kit from Glee Gum to review.

The kit is designed to teach children about the science beyond chocolate and I think it does a fantastic job. The steps are easy to follow, and the reasoning clearly explained. I also enjoyed reading about the history of chocolate on the back of the instructions. And the best part? EVERYTHING YOU NEED IS INCLUDED! It seriously couldn't get any better. Oh yeah, wait a minute...they included two cocoa beans for you to taste!

 Basically, I melted the cocoa butter in the microwave, stirred in cocoa powder and confectioners sugar, waited for the included thermometer to reach a certain temp, added in the starter crystals, poured into paper cups and then stuck those babies in the fridge for 15 minutes. And then...taste time! I liked the chocolate, but it was very sweet, so I couldn't eat a lot of it in one setting. But one piece is just enough for tiny tummies. And adding the optional vanilla (not included) would probably help tone down the sweet taste a bit.

I think my little cousins would love these kits!

Now its your turn! In honor of my one year blogversary, one luck winner (continental USA only, sorry!) will win their choice of Make Your Own Chewing Gum, Gummies or Chocolate Kit. Here's how you can win (Please leave your email address so I can get in touch with you):

Mandatory entry: Leave a comment saying which kit you would like if you win.

Bonus entries (one comment per entry)

1. Be a follower and leave a comment telling me so!
2. Share the giveaway on FB, your blog or on Twitter. Leave me a comment saying you did.

Good luck! The winner will be picked on December 10th!

Creamery Creek Goat Milk Soap

I recieved many fabulous items in the mail when I was in South Korea. One of those items was a bar of goat's milk soap from Creamy Creek.

My roomate and I  both used the soap. We both liked that the soap smelled nice but wasn't over bearing. I hadn't used bar soap in quite a while so I was expecting to feel a scummy feeling. Not the case. My hands felt clean, and even soft- not dry like I was expecting.

The little information card that came with the soap says that because of the soap's simple, recognizable ingredients and low PH it is great for sensitive skin and people undergoing chemotherapy.

Creamery Creek offers a wide variety of scents from Bayberry Rum to Pineapple Blossom. All soaps are $5 a bar.

"Lyric" and I are both loving this soap and will probably order more once our sample runs out. Now, we just have to get a cute soap dish!

* Disclaimer: I was given a free sample of Creamery Creek Soap in exchange for a review.



Out of Print Clothing

In the huge pile of mail I sorted last week was a tshirt from Out of Print Clothing. Out of Print Clothing sells book tshirts- what a perfect fit, since I'm a writing major


Out of Print offers several great designs. I recieved the Walden shirt, which is fantastic because I love Thoreau and even wrote a poem called Walden. And today I felt totally intellectual and wordy because of my awesome shirt.

Here are some other great designs I love:

They carry shirts for men too. The women's tees are fitted and said to run a size bigger. I'm wearing a large and usually wear a medium. The shirt feels a little (maybe a half size) big, but still looks great (and I did lose a little weight in Korea).

The tees are 100% cotton and super soft. I still felt like I was wearing  my pajama top after I got dressed this morning.

I love the little tags that came on the t-shirt. One looks like an old card used to check out library books (back before it was electronic) and the other houses a sticker you can use to register and track a book through bookcrossing.com .

And it gets even better! With every t-shirt purchase Out of Print sends a book to Books for Africa. How great is that?

Disclaimer: I recieved a free t-shirt, in exchange for a review.

In love...

I recently discovered Farmhouse Wares and baby am I in love. I wish they had a bridal registry or wishlist option because I would totally signup! Here are some of my favorite things:

Cupcake Stands! These babies are too cute!

I would love to make a big banana pancake breakfast and pour my milk from this:

This darling is perfect for helping me wrap gifts:




And I would have to find a reason to use these baskets:

Have you ever bought anything from Farmhouse Wares?

An {etsy} Deal Just For You!

The Etsy seller who offers the following two products (they were featured here) has offered my readers a 10% discount on the two items. Follow the links below to get to the product. Please leave a message for the seller letting her know you found the dicount here. She recommends putting RLB88 in the message to the seller box.

Lovely and Feminine

Warm and Colorful

A Few of My Favorite {etsy} Things

My current "big" dream is to be able to buy all of my Etsy favorites. Since I can't, I'm sharing my favorites with you. Consider it a new take on ATMS. Click on the descriptions to be taken to the etsy shop with the product:

Lovely and Feminine

Warm and Colorful

Yummy

Bright and Useful and Simply Delightful

Finally Added New ATMS

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to do all the bloggy things I thought I would. If you remember way back when I used to post abour  my ATM (at the moment) favorites and then add them to the rotating widget at the top.

Today I added:

Bride Magazine- I recieved a subscription as part of my entrance fee to a wedding expo. They've got some cute ideas- that have spurred much less expensive ideas of my own

Merci Chocolate- This stuff is absolutely amazing. When I registered at Target I got a coupon for a free 20 piece box. 7 different chocolate flavors. I'm hooked. Whenever I have a house, all of my guests are getting a box of this on their pillows. Mmmm.....

I want these:

I found these on A CUP OF JO's blog. I think they're freaking adorable. I want a red pair. Downside? I'm on a college-student budget and can't afford a $55 pair of shoes. I've looked on Amazon ($38 and free shipping!!!)  but have only been able to find them in black and purple. If anyone knows where I can get these for a similar low price please chime in!  

A New Widget for my ATM Favorites

I freqently post about my ATM Favorite things, many of which happen to be products. I've decided to place an ATM Favorites Widget at the top of the page. I hope to update it about once a week, and the updates will be accompanied by a post telling you what I think.

Here are the current ATM Favorite Products:

1. Real Simple Magazine   - I love  this magazine. Its got great organizing tips, planning tips and recipes. I love to just flip through the and look at the beautiful and clever ads. I was able to score a one year subscription for $5. It was my birthday present to myself

2. Wedding Planner-- I bought this the other night at Barnes and Noble. It looks like the sticker price is cheaper at Amazon, not sure about once you add shipping and handling. I was amazed by the variety of wedding planning books. There were books, bigger, smaller, pinker, gother, DIYer than this one. I loved that this book breaks down budgets, to do lists, and a monthly checklist of things to be done.It even has color pictures and descriptions of typical wedding flowers. I browsed through a book at Barnes and Noble about how to twist wedding traditions to fit your style, but it didnt include any worksheets, which is really what Iwas looking for,

3. Darius Rucker's History in the Making-- I'm really loving this song right now. The line 'this could be our last first kiss" really struck me the other day, when I realized that I've had my last first kiss. Its a really bittersweet, tingly feeling. Details? All you get is that it was at the movies.

4. Recipe Organizer- a gift from my roomate for my birthday. She knows I'm cooking challenged and included a few of my favorite recipes of hers. I can't wait to fill it up with recipes I learn.

5. Classic Bride Wedding Planner-- also a gift from my roomate. No worksheets in this one, but thats not what she was aiming for. Its got some great ideas,as well as expectations and explainations of traditons.

6. Last but not least, I got some window markers in my Christmas stocking. My roomate and I have had a blast doodling on our floor length mirror. We turned the bottom half of the mirror into an aquarium. The top half we made into the world of Ella and Lyric, two invented characters. Lyric dress like a kindergarten teacher and sings "I'm on a Boat". Lyric looks like she was drawn by a kindergartener, sports a crown and sings  "If all the lemondrops were gum drops and....jellybeans?" She also thinks she is part spider monkey.

I have an ATM Favorite Poem: It's Peter Meinke's "Email from Tokyo" and you can find it here. Its about having children, and how parents pass on bad habits, but its never NOT worth it. Its an answer to a poem by, Philip Larkin who is answering a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.

My ATM Favorite Smells Like Chocolate!

For Christmas my mother got me this delisciously yummy set of HOT COCOA scented lotion and body wash. It smells so good. Really, I've been tempted to lick my hands! She asked me if I wanted the small bottlw or the large and since I wasn't sure I'd like smelling like chocolate I opted for the smaller bottles and they came in a cute snowflake mug. Here'a pic of the lotion (it came from Kohls if you want to try it out):

ATM Favorites

Food:

My current food crush: Roasted Hazelnut Yougut. So creamy, so nutty, so have to have it right now. Love eating this for breakfast. I've only found this at Waitrose in Glasgow, but once I get home I'll be hunting around for it. Want it for dessert? Add bits and pieces of chocolate. Especially good with hazelnut and currant chocolate bits!


Product:

I'm not sure how new these are but my mom brought them over when she visited and I've fallen in love. Wait...did I just say I've fallen in love with laundry detergent? 'Fraid so. Purex makes 3-in-1 laundry sheets. You take a sheet put it in the washer, and you've got your laundry detergent and fabric softner. Move the sheet to the dryer with the clothes and you've got your dry sheet. Theres no mess. No need to lug 3 bottles to the laundry room, or remember to add in dryer sheets.

Entertainment:

I'm still in a country music mood, but its turning more into a country Christmas mood. Lovely.

I've recently started reading another one of those "trashy romance paperback"s . What can I say? They're my guilty pleasure. Excpet I never feel guity about them.  Its "The Charade" by Laura Lee Guhrke. Its about a run away indentured servant forced to spy for the Tories, caught by a handsome Whig, and forced to spy for him. Haven't found out which side she'll choose in the end but I have a sneaking suspiscion it'll be the handsome Whig.

Advertisement:

In Belfast, I saw the BEST AD EVER. Unfortunately, I can't remember what the product was so if you know what I'm describing PLEASE comment and let me know. I know it was for some bottled drink. Possibly orange juice.  The ad features (knockoff) Ken and Barbie dolls about to get it on after Ken showers. Well, Ken's  towel drops and Barbie notices Ken is missing his "important bits". The scence changed to Ken and Barbie in bed, Barbies back to Ken, Ken laying on his back. The announcer says something about how Mystery Company has all the "important bits" and the drink bottle appears where Ken's "important bits" should be. Love it, love it, love it. If only I could remember what the ad was for!!

Quote:
Its from a Skirt!setter blog:

"I am not graceful, and I have the barest of coordination skills. I am Steve Urkel in a bra" - Cathey_Franke

This quote totally describes me and my attempts to exercise! It why I hate doing more than machines at the gym because I feel like everyones watching me struggle and goof up. Even if they're not.

Best of 2009: Packaging

My favorite packaging of 2007 also happens to be somehting I discovered in Belfast. Look at you Belfast, you're just one happening little city!

Its a pizza box from Little Wing. Little Wing is a very cute pizzeria that is on top of the game.  Heres the takeaway box I loved:

Hmm. The photo thing is playing games with me and won't let me make the picture any bigger at the moment. But if you can't tell, its a blue and white photo of a VW bug. And they have smaller triangular shaped boxes if you have smaller portions to take home. Little Wing has given a unique, attention grabbing twist to a stale (take away world) necessity. If I saw someone carrying these takeaway boxes I'd want a closer look.  My artsy friend even asked if she could just have a box to do something artsy with.

Here are our other (also small) pictures from Little Wing (FYI: All Little Wing photos are courtesy of Caitlin Mohney)

This isn't part of the challenge, but I want to give my opinion on the worst packaging I've discovered in 2009 as well. I think the winner of that award would be boxed wine. Wine can connote so many different things and so can its packaging. Boxed wine= cheapy and icky. Enough said.