mundane aesthetic: voyeur view

Are there any Happy Mundane readers living in Hawaii?

Kmart: flora dinnerware

Stopped by Kmart last week, and noticed they had some lovely new dinnerware, from good ol' Martha. I was particularily attracted to these two sets of flora themed designs. These chocolate brown line branchy drawings looked almost black, and I also really liked this pretty blue sponge-y leaf print. It felt so very... french countryside-ish... kinda. but modern....rustic?

Both 16 piece sets are only $39.99!

Mag watch January 2007

I'm loving so may of the new magazine covers this month. First off is the fantastic cover of the February 2007 Dwell. Love the multi colors going on in the shelf. I wish my bookshelf could be so colorfully organized. The whole issue is actually a great read, centered around "the Craft of design" and has a neat article about the people behind Etsy. Next is Real Simple. It really should have been one of my "blue monday/tuesday" posts. I love the aqua color, and it totally caught my eye on the newstand. Also, love the cover of the December 06 World of Interiors. Hm... can you can guess why?. Unfortunately, as much as I love just about everything Jack and Kate Spade, the rest of the photos of their home didn't make a big impact for me. I just really love the cover shot. Modern, but with character... and those colors!! I love the yellow details especially on the artwork, and the two tones of grey for the wall vs. the ceiling are genius. Oh and speaking of which, did you see the last page of the British Elle Decoration? Just as I've started to wean myself of my grey obsession from last summer, "...they keep bringing me back!" Finally, if you subscribe to Wallpaper, you would have received the limited edition cover by design guru Dieter Rams, who is most famous for his work for Braun. Designboom has a great post on him. I just love how simple it is, and it's such a throwback to those classic covers circa late 50's early 60's. Lots to look out for on your newstand! Have you guys seen anything else you're loving?

Iconic Bowls

How gorgeous and graphic are these glass bowls by Sally Mccubbin? (via Mocoloco)

square eggs Part 2: they do exist!

Thank you to everyone that commented about the square eggs post. Super special thanks go to Zara who gave me the link to this video about egg molds. Well, I ordered an egg-cuber and it came to my office and last night I finally was able to test it out. O.M.G. It TOTALLY works!!! I documented the process:1. Boil your egg. (note my schazzy use of the Scoop&Strain. So handy I tell you.)
2. Once your egg is boiled, peel it and, IMPORTANT: while it's still warm, stick it in the egg cuber thing, and close the lid, and screw it down. The egg will get smooshed into the form.

3. Once it's in the form, put it in a bowl of cool water. Let it sit for a few minutes. I waited for about 10 minutes.4. Then I unscrewed it, pushed it out from the bottom. and voila!! A square EGG!! (It kinda looks like a slab of butter in the pic huh?)
Unfortunately, I don't think I kept turning my egg or something, because the yolk didn't stay in the center when I opened it. Does anyone have any tips on how to keep the yolk centered?

Happy New Year! 2007!

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2007! So, how was your holiday? Here are a few pics of how my home ended up being decorated for the holidays. I didn't do as much as I would have liked to, but I did get to clean up a bit. I'm still in the process of "healing", but much progress has been made. This year's decor revolved around lots of white and sparkly lights, with my happy colored accents that I've been slowly collecting over the years...
I can't believe it's now 2007! Where did the year go? 2006 has been such a weird but overall wonderful year for my happy mundane life. First off, this blog got started in March, and I was able to meet all of you fellow happy mundane-rs. So much has happened since then! I just want to thank all of you that take the time to check in here. I wish all of you the best in the coming year and look forward to sharing more of my mundane musings!

noodle bowl

I know it has no nutritional value, but there's something totally comforting about eating instant ramen noodles. They hit the spot when its cold (like right now) or even when its late at night (like right now). At the local Japanese grocery store, they have all kinds of variations, some are even with fresh noodles, all vacuum packed. The other thing that I love is to eat noodles while watching bad tv- which would be why I must get these Noodle bowls! I love how they have a handle like a cup, and holes for your chopsticks. I saw them at the Target Red Hot Shop- but I see they're also available at Uncommon Goods. I know I've seen these in person at a store, but I can't remember where just now.

For those of you who don't have to work this week, hope you're enjoying your break, and for those that do have to work... at least there isn't as much traffic?

West Elm Spring 2007

West Elm gave ApartmentTherapy an exclusive sneak peak into their Spring 2007 collection, which I posted this morning on the LA site. I'm really excited about some of the directions their taking. I love love the bird rugs (yeah, I know birds have been everywhere- but I still think they're pretty) and I think some of the runners could make great wall hangings. I also really love this mid-century/eames/r.day inspired molded plastic chair. I'm curious to the quality of it- but I love how the shape feels slightly updated and I love the legs. There will be a part two to the post coming in early January, which is also when much of the Spring Collection will start to hitting online and stores. Word on the street is that some of it is already trickling in stores now! Stay tuned....

Readysetholiday!

So... are you done yet? is all your shopping done? or are you just following tradition, like I am, despite what I vowed I wouldn't do, and wait til the last minute? Well, you still have a few days left, so don't feel bad. You're not alone. I recently was contacted and asked if I'd like to try out this new website, called ReadySetHoliday! It's put together by the people at Sears, and features products from Sears, Martha Stewart (Kmart) and Land's End. The site was created with your average homemaker in mind. They figured that for most households, the mother makes most of the buying decisions when it comes to the holidays, and so it's set up to make the task of holiday shopping easier. Although I am obviously not the target customer, I do make all the shopping decisions in my house (helps when it's your house) and was intrigued to see how it would all work. I even received a $30 gift card to try the whole thing out- So I was like- um.. OK! So off I went... www.readysetholiday.com....

It's actually a cool idea. I like how they've included a bunch of features, like ideas for "getting ready" or tips for "dealing with the unexpected..." and they've given lots of different ways to organize the products, such as by person, by price, etc... they've even put in ideas for recipies (they have one for mac and cheese-yum...) and ecards you can send.

After perusing, I now had to figure out what I wanted. To be honest, there wasn't a whole lot that I was interested in. It's not that they didn't have a ton of product, because, well.. there's tons to choose from. It's just my first inclination was to peruse the home decor section, and most of it was either past my $30 limit, or just not my style. I've posted about some of the more contemporary things Sears is doing right now, and unfortunately I didn't see a lot of that product being offered on this particular site. But tons of appliances at good prices (I just don't happen to need one right now.) One thing that did catch my eye was this super cute Hello Kitty sewing machine- super kawaii!! My only gripe besides the lack of more contemporary content is that they didn't have a "view all" function. Who has time nowadays to click through page after page?

Anyways- what I did find, and quickly ordered, was something I've been eyeing for a long time. The Craftsman Palm Grip Laser with Laser Trac. Lasers are cool. and I've been putting up more artwork lately, and this thing looks like it will be totally handy. And could be a good gift for a few friends of mine (unless i keep it for me... which will probably happen, hehe) So, click, order, and then I noticed this whole "pick up at the store" thing. Basically, what they offer is, you order your item, and it will actually be ready to pick up at a store near you within 5 minutes. Well, it just so happens that there's a Sears close by, so I was really excited to try it out- In the end, I got to Sears, eventually found the merchandise pick up place (it turned out to be outside the main store) but within minutes, got my new Laser Trac! Very exciting. So, overall, pleasant experience. I love the whole "pick it up at the store" thing. I know other stores are starting to offer it, but this was my first time actually trying it. I love the instant gratification without waiting in the long lines. I'll have a full report on my Laser Trac coming up. (I guess that means I'm keeping it) The readysetholiday site stays up through January 12, 2007.

it's ok. do it.

Sometime life (ok, well, Whole Foods Market) throws you a container of monkey-faced cupcakes. And... when that happens... you just have to eat them. All of them.

Let the Holiday healing begin!

As I've mentioned, my happy home is not so happy right now. However, I have big plans to bring up the cheery status this holiday break. I started the first of which the other night. Lets back up... It should be known that I have an awkward shaped kitchen. This isn't a necessarily a bad thing, but it leaves weird corners that end up collecting random things. One thing that was really starting to bug me was that one of the corners became a dumping ground for all my cookbooks and food mags. I wanted to keep them handy, but at the same time, they were visually cluttering my counter space. So what to do? After much deliberation, I determined the ideal place would be if I could hide them in one of my cupboards. I have a very standard set of typical "track home " cupboards next to my refrigerator. They can hold a lot, but they're boxy and deep. I knew if I could hide the books in there, they'd be out of sight, but also not easy to get to. My solution? These supercoolness pull out drawer systems! I found them at the Container store. (unfortunately couldn't find them online, but they are in-store.) Although a bit pricey (the one I got was $45) I am definitely pleased with the results. The kits come in several sizes, and I've seen different variations at the hardware store. I was looking specifically for a sort of solid tray (as opposed to a wire basket.) This version was exactly what I was looking for. Anyways- installation was snap, and they had one that was the perfect size. Now my books and mags are out of site, easy to get to, and I still have some room on the side to store other things. The healing has now begun!... next up... holiday decor... stay tuned...

square eggs?

I am so fascinated by this and dying to know how it works. Anyone have one?

yip yip

Shelterrific Tschotke contest

I also forgot- Shelterrific is having a great contest for all you tschotke lovers (like myself)-
GO check it out!! and ENTER!! you only have 5 days left!

IKW one year

It's hard to believe that it's been one year since my first blog, Its(k)notwood has been in existence. Without I(k)notwood, there'd be no happymundane! Just wanted to cross promote a little and mention we're giving away 5 fun woodgrain things- for free! Three of them are up now, we'll reveal the last two on wednesday- check out the post for more details!

beauty in disorder

As many know, I've been complaining and moaning about being under the gun of a massive project that has pretty much owned me for the past few months. I'm happy to say the worst is over and this weekend allowed me the first few moments of a somewhat "back to reality" weekend. Although I wasn't able to fully complete many of the maintenance projects I had planned to do, I was able to do a good assesment of the damage. It rained this weekend and it sort of nicely co-incided with the state of my mind. I took a few pics and found a strange beauty in the disorder of the aftermath. One of my pots has become incredibly overgrown (due to my neglect) and combined with the rain, gave up... and fell over. Lots of bright red leaves fell, leaving a beautiful gold and red carnage on the grass. And when I went inside, I noticed my poor lamp that has fallen apart and that I've neglected to repair for a few weeks. Oh, and then there's the fact that my house is basically one big disaster zone (note my "dramatic" use of flash. Cue sound of girl screaming...)It's a little sad, but at the same time, kinda nice to be reminded that your house has a life and character of its own as well. I'm sorry happy house, I have big plans to make it up to you this holiday!

Detergent bottle vase

Ok, normally, I'd be all over this. Here, they've taken the mundane detergent bottle and made it a vase. Not exactly a new concept, seen it somewhere before, but for some reason, I am not loving this. I can't put my finger on it... maybe it's the chrome finish? Perhaps if it was just simple white porcelain or something more matte? Actually, I wish it was glass, or why not just plastic- in fact, why not just reuse your existing ones (wash them out thoroughly of course.) Anyway, what do you guys think?

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Starbucks patterns

oh you necessary evil Starbucks you.. hehe- As I've mentioned previously, I've been working a bit too much lately (but its almost over)- and consequently I've been drinking a lot of coffee as well. It doesn't help that the closest coffee place to me is a Starbucks. Oh you evil peppermint mocha- keep away with your tempting chocolate minty goodness. But on the Happy Mundane side, I love the different retro-esque patterened sleeves that Starbucks has been using this holiday season!

blue monday: monster stockings

these are hillarious! too bad i don't have a chimney... (via Craftyrobot)

its a wrap

Stopped by Crate&Barrel last night and was excited to see these great Marimekko wrapping papers! I love how so many of these holiday designs are classic enough to be used year-round. Especially love the tree print... there are also green and red designs too. You could even frame some and have your own large Marimekko print for about $8 each!