Shopping hiatus, week three

We had a couple bumps this last week, but we pulled through.

Some could be justifiable. Dustin is in desperate need of a new wet suit, so an exception will probably be granted in that case. When you surf three mornings a week, a worn out wet suit is a serious inconvenience.

Sadly, no such exception could be granted to my main temptation this week - new yellow TOMS in spring-y linen.
I've found that during the first few weeks of the shopping hiatus, it's best to go cold turkey on the usual sources of temptation. Avoid stores, recycle catalogs immediately, and never, ever open a sale email. After you get over the shopping habit, I find that I can go back to looking at pictures for inspiration, without feeling the immediate need to purchase something.

Unfortunately, TOMS are sold in my local Whole Foods, so I have to face down a whole wall of them every time I need to pick up a carton of milk. I tell myself it's a good exercise in self restraint.

The weekend, briefly

Saturday started off with a deluge.

{rain, freeway}

Perfect for tea.

{tea pouring}

And my favorite cozy socks.

{cozy socks}

And a bit of baking.

{muffins}

We poked through a pile of vintage hardware that my mom snagged for us.

{thrifted hardware}

And did some general lounging around.

{reading nook}

The sun peeked out on Sunday and we managed a quick early evening trip to Malibu pick up our wine club shipment.

{vineyard}

*Not pictured - grooming a highly reluctant (and now terribly angry) terrier.

Friday flowers

Freesia have appeared at the farmer's market! Spring is coming!

{freesia}

Freesia are one of my favorite spring flowers - they're so simple and not showy at all and the fragrance is amazing.

{freesia}

I hope they stick around until Easter.

Key lime meringue tart

D has the world's most non-existent sweet tooth. He never craves sweets, he doesn't care for cake and he'll walk past cookies. I can't imagine how he manages.

He does, however, love anything to do with key limes. And his requests for dessert are so few and far between that when he asked me to make the key lime meringue tart from the latest issue of Bon Appetit, I agreed immediately.

And then I read the recipe. Ouch. It takes up a whole page and involves the use of a double boiler, a candy thermometer and a fine mesh strainer. Signs that a recipe might be a bit more involved than I need it to be on a Sunday afternoon. I persevered. It really wasn't difficult - it just required that I actually pay attention to what I'm doing.

{key lime tart - not burned, just shadowy}

I made a simple change with the tart crust and pulsed the cold butter and cream cheese in the food processor with the flour instead of using the mixer. Because it is tart crust heresy to cream your butter and I couldn't bring myself to do it, even though that was what the recipe said.

I browned the meringue in the broiler because I don't own a kitchen torch. It worked a bit too well on the first try and I had to scrape the blackened meringue off and put a new layer on and try again (do not leave the kitchen, even for a second, if you have meringue in your broiler - that is my advice).

It was delicious, but quite a bit of work - I recommend it if you are feeling relaxed and want to spend a bit of time in the kitchen. I can't bring myself to re-type the recipe, but you can find it in it's entirety here.

New bedside "tables"

Our old bedside tables didn't fit in our new bedroom. Instead of looking for new ones, we decided to try a really simple option. We purchased some scrap wood from Ikea in the same finish as our bed and closets (they have scraps in the as-is section). Dustin cut some pieces to size and suspended them between our bed and our closets with framing angles (A-35s, in case anyone handy is reading).

Voila!

{new side table}

The floating bookshelf is made by Umbra. We have a tendency to let stacks of books pile up next to the bed, and this is a sophisticated solution.

{new side table}

I'm really happy with the clean lines - it encourages me to keep my side neat. My clock is from the flea market and my lamp is an old one that we used to use in the lab.

Shopping hiatus, week two

No major temptations this last week. I did see this book and I really wanted to buy it. I'm going to see if the library has it instead. It sounds like a nice mix of research and memoir.

As silly as it sounds, I do sometimes have to remind myself to slow down and make time for fun. It's easy for me to get stressed out and create huge, never ending lists of obligations and projects. One of my goals over the last few years has been to snap out of that mindset, at least occasionally.

Has anyone read The Happiness Project? Is it worth buying?

The weekend, briefly

Bouts of torrential rain this weekend. Perfect for napping. I took three naps on Saturday alone, which basically means I woke up a couple times during the day and managed to stay awake for an hour or so. I was a bit more productive on Sunday.

{rain, rosemary}


{gyoza}


{japanese kit kat}


{spilled beads}


{strawberries, flowers, sprouts}


{meringue}