Weekly links

Yes. All sorts of lovey-dovey images seen around the web lately. My guess is that we have a couple more weeks of it. Fine with me. Love is a beautiful thing. It makes the world go 'round. Love is blind...it conquers all...makes a house a home...it's a many splendored thing. Love...the only game that two can play and both can win. OK. That's enough.

Have a LOVELY weekend. You know the drill here:

make gluten free Pavlova (a meringue cake with a light, delicate, crisp crust and a soft sweet marshmallow center) for your sweetheart from The Crispy Cook

make a Valentine from an onion at CraftStylish

make the most of a small bathroom at Apartment Therapy

purchase this $1.45 million house in Aruba at The New York Times (The pool looks heart-shaped to me.)

cover the kitchen cabinets in fabric at Apartment Therapy
(I don't think so.)

knit a heart (the kind with valves) at Knitty

clean the wallpaper of fingerprints with bread at Apartment Therapy (I wonder if gluten free bread would work? I wonder if any kind of bread would work?)

(Photo via weheartit)

More artwork on plain walls...

Imagine how these rooms might look without the art? I know.

(Top photo via weheartit via poppytalk, bottom photo by James Merrell via weheartit)

What a difference a little artwork can do.

I posted last week about the passing of artist Andrew Wyeth. The bottom image is his Master Bedroom painting from 1965. It looks like he could have used some of his own artwork on the wall here. Don't you think?

(Photo via Apartment Therapy)

It's a cool thing.

We are so pleased that Vanilla Spoons was featured on Cool Mom Picks yesterday. Check it out!

Say it with a gluten free gift basket.

Just a reminder that Valentine's Day is less than three weeks away! So if you're thinking about what to do for the dietarily-challenged person in your life, may I suggest one of our gluten free gift baskets from Vanilla Spoons? It would be deliciously thoughtful.

(Photo source seems to have vanished...sorry!)

Check out the blue heart!

Are we sure about this?

(from i love you more than blank)

Weekly links

GOR-geous photo. Right? I found it here, and it's my fave. At least for now. Until I find the next one. Sooooo...here it is. My list of stuff for you to do. I'll be too busy looking for the next pretty picture.

discover ten ways to warm up your bedroom in winter at Apartment Therapy

make an ice lantern at Chez Larsson via Craftzine

make gluten free, dairy free, paleo spaghetti squash with spinach walnut pesto from The Good Eatah (I didn't know what paleo was either.)

knit cashmere fingerless gloves at The Purl Bee

make a stylish necklace out of recycled tights at Smaggle

make removable fabric wallpaper AND THEN install it at Apartment Therapy

learn how to make gluten free cookie bars at 5min (This involves watching a video that is actually 8+ minutes.)

*BONUS ONE*
learn the tricks of putting on a duvet cover at Chez Larsson via Apartment Therapy (I actually know how to do this one. Woo-hoo!)

Four Sweaters and a Funeral

I've been searching for a new sweater coat/cardigan. Long-ish, preferably in grey or black. Need to replace the one I currently wear. Everyday. For the past seven weeks. Here's an organic french terry cardigan from Urban Outfitters for $59.99.

How about this long sleeve rib cozy sweater from Bloomingdale's for $98?

A cable knit car coat from Nordstrom for $88...

Or...the Joie "Sydney" mixed cable sweater vest (Bloomie's again) for $208.80. Hmmm? While I do like the belt AND the color AND the knit on this one, it's missing some sleeves at this price.

Now on a completely different subject. But one which had been brought to my attention during the sweater search. American painter Andrew Wyeth died last Friday at the age of 91. I think my roommate in college had this poster puttied to the wall on her side of our dorm room.

Spread the gluten free love Valentine's Day.

Wouldn't you love to make these adorable heart-shaped waffles (gluten free, of course) for your valentine? First though you'll need a delicious gluten free waffle mix which can be found in Vanilla Spoons' Mix and the City gift basket. Order while supplies last. (I just wanted to hear how that sounds. The part about while supplies last.) Seriously though. You can place an order.

(Via weheartit)

I'm in the grey mood for love.

After you order a Vanilla Spoons gluten free gift basket for your gluten free love-ah this Valentine's Day, be sure to check out these LOVE Candy Prints from Made by Girl. They're hand silk-screened and printed on recycled paper. They're absolutely lovely. Can you say "love" four times in one brief description? That's five.

Weekly links

My dear readers. All four of you. Once again, here's my weekly list of homemaking, crafty, cooking type stuff that I would like very much to try but I won't. So I'm asking all of you to try them on my behalf. Enjoy the long MLK Day weekend.

learn how to fold a fitted sheet at Apartment Therapy

make gluten free mashed potato egg boats from Hey, that tastes good!

eliminate cooking smells from a studio apartment at Apartment Therapy (I wonder if this will work on a four-bedroom house?)

make a colorful recycled cardboard cat pad at Craftzine

figure out a solution for messy winter boots at Apartment Therapy (I totally should to be doing this one though.)

make gluten free pasta e fagiole at The New York Times

repurpose a paperback into an apple sculpture at WhipUp

(Image from here)

Eat it like Beckham.

Victoria, that is. Like Zooey, she also has a wheat allergy which I mention here. Just felt like using this catchy little post title today. The movie Bend It Like Beckham happens to be one of my all-time faves. A charming coming-of-age story with an intriguing glimpse at Indian culture in England. Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Superb soundtrack. (I rushed out to buy it the next day.) Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Getting back to Victoria. The third photo shows her wearing a $4 Goody Elastic Headband. Oh goody. An accessory of hers that I can actually afford.

Happy reporting in the land of the gluten free.

I'm happy to read that Dr. Nicholas Perricone's top ten beauty food picks are all gluten free. Yaaaay! The list includes: blueberries, apples, wild salmon, nuts, dark leafy greens, asparagus, olive oil and green tea. And I've saved the two best for last: red wine and dark chocolate. Yaaaay! (again)

Several, including the blueberries, dark chocolate and green tea, are great sources of antioxidants. Wild salmon helps keep skin young. Apples are good for your girlish figure. And we've all heard about chocolate being a potential mood elevator. I don't really care if it is or isn't. I'll still indulge.

Please note that the recipes you'll come across if you've followed the link, are not necessarily gluten free. However, I was surprised to see that the Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies are made without flour. Sounds gluten free to me. (No butter either!)

One last gluten free bite of reporting. I found it recently in the Orlando Sentinel. Heather McPherson placed "gluten free" at number eight for ten hot food trends to watch in 2009. She writes:

"Gluten as the new villain. Even though celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten, affects only about 1 percent of the population, proponents say a gluten-free diet can stimulate weight loss and help with chronic intestinal issues as well as diseases including autism and schizophrenia."

She does note, however, that these benefits are unproven. I'm curious to know if any of you would consider going on a gluten free diet if you didn't have to?

(Photo via weheartit)

Oh Mickey, you're so fine.

I wrote this post prior to his win for Best Actor last night at the Golden Globes. Perhaps I do have an ability to forecast winners and trends?

There seems to be a lot of talk about Mickey Rourke's comeback in The Wrestler. [I haven't seen it.] I did see him, however, at last week's Critics' Choice Awards. I won't even go there. It's kind of funny that it's referred to as a comeback. Where did he go? If you check out his filmography on IMDb, you'll see that he has been doing a movie (at least one) every year since 1979. Nothing in 2007 though.

I prefer to remember how Mickey Rourke looked in Nine 1/2 Weeks. I was smitten. Beautiful photography actually in this movie which was directed by Adrian Lyne. Same director as Unfaithful and Fatal Attraction. They all have a very similar look. I remember that Lyne had a thing for white bathrooms and beautiful women wearing white terry cloth robes. Watching this clip is like viewing a two-minute long photograph:



There we go with balloons again.

(Photo from Flickr)

So what makes a good photograph?

There are some pretty stunning engagement photos of Joanna Goddard and her fiance Alex posted on A Cup of Jo. Clearly Joanna and Alex are a good-looking couple. Yet I'm drawn to this one. It's funny and kind of quirky. Especially knowing its context within the whole engagement photo series thingy.

Taking a good picture used to mean dressing up, saying "cheese" and not blinking. Thank goodness there's been a definite departure from that way of thinking.

So what makes a photograph good? A few things immediately come to mind. Composition. Light. Ability to evoke feeling in viewer. Maybe color. Let's contrast and compare for a minute-ummm, excuse me [bashful smile] my art history major is showing-the other photos in Joanna's series with these ones.

Remarkably similar. Pinkish red balloons. Two triptychs and six stills. Tonal quality of these two:




Where are there differences? For sure the mood. Love. Dreamy. Whimsy. Romantic. Qualities seen in engagement pics, but not really in my display. More play with shadow in Absolutely Not Martha's. More juxtaposition of light and dark too. And no couples in my series. Couplehood is subject matter in all but one of Joanna's.

So there it is. Various art elements skillfully used by genius photographers to create images that communicate effectively to their viewer. Whaaaat?!

Weekly links

As stunning as this strolling spider may be, I can assure you that I won't be attempting this beautiful handcrafted whimsical goody at WhipUp.

Other stuff I won't be attempting:

persuade my husband to grow a mustache at The New York Times

recycle old light bulbs into hanging bud vases at Craftzine

accessorize one of our bedrooms like the Ace Hotel at Apartment Therapy

create a file cabinet out of a leather suitcase at Apartment Therapy

make gluten free African sweet potato soup with black-eyed peas and beans from Karina's Kitchen (although it does sound pretty delish...)

learn to arrange flowers like the French at Apartment Therapy

This one's for you.

This is Kate Moss.

This isn't.

And when you need a little Cabaret...

St. Barths Anyone?

I'm tired of winter already and it's only January.

(via weheartit, I think)

VS again. (And I don't mean Victoria's Secret.)

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I used to have these movie clips on my Vanilla Spoons website. Now they'll live here. VS, by the way, is an online gluten free (and wheat free) gift basket company. So here's a scene from a classic. The Graduate. It went with this gift basket. Think gluten free care package.

Zooey. She don't eat no wheat.

(Say this like Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding: "He don't eat no meat.")



I've already posted about Zooey Deschanel's wheat gluten allergy here. But when I came across these photos while searching for this one, I just had to post them.

(Photos via weheartit.)

Happy and magical new year.

Why are practically all the snowy wintry photos I view so amazing?

(via weheartit)