eastvold coffee table

in many ways, i feel like i have restarted my adult life, like a fresh college grad, all over again.

my recent move was a small and a big one- i came with relatively little, as my roommate had a fully furnished apartment minus my bedroom furniture, so there was a lot that needed to be purchased.    

picking everything out has been a fun and simultaneously arduous process, especially when i saw the last couple credit card statements!  

my new place primarily looks like one giant ikea ad, with a few indulgent exceptions, one that i am particularly in love with: 

we purchased this beautiful, well-crafted, solid walnut coffee table off etsy from eastvold furniture, customized to our size specifications.  matt was responsive, and easy to work with.  even though we were originally sent the wrong sized coffee table, he sent a replacement and rectified the situation professionally without much trouble on our end.  i really appreciated his high level of customer service and friendliness.                   

this classic mid-century coffee table has been something i've been wishing for years, and we decided it was an investment... into our adulthood...or something? 

admittedly, owning something so nice is a bit stressful.   so my bffbf immediately ordered a custom glass panel to put over the top of the wood.   while it detracts a bit from the beauty of the coffee table, it's nice to have the added protection.   

maybe one day the eastvold credenza will be in the budget, but until then, a girl can dream.    

sample flor tile mini table runner

as you can see in my previous post, my new bedroom comes with hideous red stained concrete floors.  we wanted to rid ourselves of any traces of the red, and explored our options with flor tiles, so we ordered a bunch of samples.  

but what to do with the samples after we made a decision?  it seemed like such a waste to throw them away.

i lined four of them up on our new ikea ps 2012 dining room table (which, btw, is a great little table) to act as a mini table runner.  these particular flor tiles are made out of felt, which work very well as coasters/trivets.  

a perfect way to repurpose these samples! 

the mini runner is also a preview of our living room color palette.  the red you see on the wall also has to go.  soon.

in progress

moving.

again.

this is why i haven't been around. 

stay tuned!

washi tape accordion notecard

i've been busy getting sick, working, traveling for a wedding, working, and getting sick again.  yes, i said working.

so busy that once again crafting has fallen to the wayside.   the most i've been able to squeeze in is a quick washi tape accordion notecard.

all i needed was a sheet of cardstock, washi tape, and my corner punch (mine is from making memories), and five minutes.  i cut the cardstock into four notecards with my paper cutter, and put aside one since i only really wanted to make a trifold... is a trifold too small to be called and accordion?

placing two pieces next to each other flush, i ran a piece of washi tape centering it on the seam (i just eyeballed it), flipped it over and did the back seam.  i repeated this step for the last notecard, and also lined the very ends with more washi tape.  i trimmed the excess washi tape from the edges.

i then folded the notecard in half (so that it's just two layers, not all three), and used my corner punch to round out the edges.  i had to push pretty hard because it was so thick, but my trusty punch made it through cleanly.

as you can probably tell, i was so pressed for time that i didn't even bother pulling out my nicer camera and just documented the process haphazardly with my phone.  

the next couple of months will be equally busy but i'll try to be better!  what have you been busy with lately?

salt.

i came home to a package that my roommate had placed outside my bedroom door.   i hadn't ordered anything online recently and i happily realized it must be a present! a surprise present!!

opening the box, i found three carefully wrapped jars of salt- truffle salt, green tea salt, and lavender salt that my friend d- had sent me.

truffle, green tea, and lavender are all obsessions of mine and i can't wait to use them.

any ideas of what to use the green tea and lavender salt on?

surprises are the best.

brazilian cheese puffs

i was mindlessly browsing my facebook feed one day when i clicked on a recipe for brazilian cheese puffs that popped up from a friend of a friend.  if you have ever been to an allyoucaneat brazilian steak house, you've probably had these breads, served with a bunch of sides.  they are delicious and addicting, and i always find it hard to save room for the meat to come.

i have made these puffs no less than three times, with resounding success.  extremely simple to make and super delicious, the hardest part is finding the tapioca flour, which isn't all that difficult.   i recommend bringing a batch or two to a potluck-- i did a couple of times and they were devoured quickly.

the recipe is from my new favorite food blogger, kirbiecravings, who, coincidentally, also lives in san diego.  browsing through the rest of her blog, i've found myself developing a huge blog crush as her restaurant reviews and recipes excite me to the point of salivation (think i'm going to have to buy nutella in bulk from costco now).  from what i can surmise from her posts, we have fairly similar tastes in food-- and while it may appear from the general content of my blog that i am more partial to crafting and traveling as hobbies, i really love food above all else.

i think i want to make this next.  or this!  or this... oh boy. 

a friendly encounter

hello, friend.

so nice of you to drop by and visit.