The Happy Home

#Chowchow Face

emily — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:47:24 +0000

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Bowl-ing for Tchotski

emily — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:55:06 +0000

I’ve been living in LA for about five years now, and when I launched my etsy shop last week, I had three hundred bajillion people ask, “Have you been to the Rose Bowl Fleamarket?”

I hadn’t yet, but my bestie Gillian (and her mom and her aunt!) and I went on Sunday.

I didn’t pick up anything for the shop, because people were selling their wares at retail prices, not bargain prices. That’s not to say that everything was expensive; it’s just that everything was marked top dollar for what it was.

It was a mix of vintage housewares, clothing, and new stuff; one of my favorite booths was selling vintage eyewear.

And there was also an entire shop dedicated to what I called “Egyptian Revival.”

Didn’t even bother to ask the price on those. Yeouch.

Someone had a whole tray of vintage fountain pens from the 50s and 60s; if I’d ever thought they’d work again, I would have snatched up a few.

The one tchotski I got for myself was this adorable commemorative plate from Connecticut…

Best part was, it commemorated where I grew up: Danbury, also known as “Hat City.”

Yup. Hat City. Our high school mascot was a bowler derby.

There are some new things up in the Etsy shop. Check ‘em out! (And you can get free shipping on anything in the shop from now ’til 5/18, by entering the code DEBUT2012 at checkout!)Recent Posts:

Inspiring Posts, 5/11/12

emily — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:45:04 +0000

Jumping on the wagon of doing a weekly round-up of posts I loved. Here it goes!

Carson is happily waiting for the list…

I’m always on the lookout for new cocktail ideas, and I loved this Iced Green Tea Mojito from SkinnyTaste

“Healthy” Cheesecake Mousse from Dashing Dish? Yes, please

If you want to know more about my college experience, page through the When In Emerson tumblr.

Oh, and to toot my own horn, visit my new etsy shop, The By-Gone Bee. (And PSSST.. you’ll get free domestic shipping if you use the code DEBUT2012, until 5/18)Recent Posts:

Chow Chow Friday

emily — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:38:53 +0000

EDIT:

Dean was right and my original photo was too dark. Here’s an oldie but a goodie:

chow photobomb

Have a good weekend, everybody! I’m hitting the Rose Bowl flea market for the first time in the five years I’ve lived in LA this weekend, so I’ll try to take some pictures for the blog. Can’t wait to find some new treasures!Recent Posts:

New Etsy Shop: The By-Gone Bee

emily — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:18:56 +0000

I have a fun announcement to make:

I’ve opened up an Etsy shop!

A few weeks ago, my honey woke up and told me we were going to start scouring estate sales across Los Angeles, and dammit if I wasn’t going to start my own Etsy shop. I dragged my feet, but quickly got into the spirit of searching for treasures to put up on the site.

We’ve been culling weird finds for the past few weekends, and I finally got the chutzpah to photograph everything, write some copy, and merchandise all of our little treasures.

I was a professional copywriter/merchandiser for a big retail company right out of college, and I have a few bad memories about the experience. But now, doing this with products I really care about– it’s not a job at all. In fact, I love telling the stories of how cool the pieces are, and how they could be used in your house!

Right now, The By-Gone Bee is focusing on housewares and printed materials (HOW COOL is the Playbill from the OBC of “Promises, Promises”? SO COOL), but I’m hoping that, with time, I can venture into vintage jewelry and accessories, too!

Also: the Drink-O-Matic. So cool.

Looking through estate sales has really taught me about the culture of Los Angeles. While on the east coast, you can see the history of each city in its buildings and public spaces, it’s awesome to see how much more private the culture and education of Angelenos really is. The thing I’ve learned after only 3 weekends of doing this? The people who live in this city have always been the arbitors and true consumers of avant garde, cool stuff. The people who have lived in LA for decades are the people who first consumed every random book or musician or artist or type of food. So, this city may not have the world’s greatest architecture or memorials to battlefields, but it’s definitely been the driving force of art and culture for a lot longer than I realized!

There are only a few things up in the shop right now, but I’d love it if you took a peek at The By-Gone Bee to tell me what you think!

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Cinco de Mayo Cocktail Friday: Hello, Tequila Cooler!

emily — Fri, 04 May 2012 01:05:24 +0000

What’s this? ¿Que es esto? Emily is posting a *new* cocktail for Cinco de Mayo*?

Why, yes. Yes, she is.

I’m calling it the Hello, Tequila Cooler.

Why?

First, here’s the ingredients:

The second bottle from the left is where the “hello” comes from.

One of my favorite drinks is aloe juice– it’s light and refreshing and has weird little floaty bits of aloe in it. I’ll drink it in any form, and the other day at Target, I found FLAVORED aloe juice from Faraon. A Mexican food product company I would totally link to if they had any online presence whatsoever.

Aloe juice is delish, if you can get beyond the slimy balls of aloe that float all around it. Think of it as industrial OJ pulp. It’s weird and it takes some getting used to, but aloe juice is really good for you! Good for the GI tract, ifyouknowwhati’msayin’.

Anyway, I found MANGO flavored aloe juice (Faraon products are sold everywhere, and on walmart.com if you’re interested). It’s sweet and tastes like both mango and aloe juice. Double win!

Now, the “hello” joke gets explained. The first time I went to Mexico on a family vacation as a kid, my dad waved at an aloe plant and said, “Aloe, plant!” Like, “hello, plant!” Not sure if the joke comes across without sound, but it was cute. And now I say “Aloe, plant!” to aloe plants whenever I see one.

Aloe, Tequila Cooler!

So, here’s how you make one:

4-6 ounces mango/aloe juice (or mango juice, or mango nectar, or whatever mango flavored beverage you have on hand)
1 ounce tequila
1/2 ounce triple sec
1/2 ounce ginger vodka

Pour your ingredients into a shaker over ice.
¡Baile con tu bebida! (Dance with your drink! That’s all I remember from four years of Honors Spanish!)
Strain into a highball glass with ice.
Garnish appropriately.

I drank mine alongside a lovely salad, featuring the first tomatoes of the season from our garden! (The red ones are ours; the yellow ones are store-bought and were not nearly as yummy.)

In case you were wondering, yes the swizzle stick was another vintage offering from my Grandpa’s collection. This one is from a trip he took to Acapulco, which I’m thinking is fitting for a Cinco de Mayo drink!

*I feel as if it is my duty to once again point out that Cinco de Mayo is not actually Mexican Independence Day, it’s merely a celebration of the Mexican army’s defeat over the FRENCH in a battle. Really, it’s an excuse for white people to eat Tex-Mex food and pretend like they’re appreciating another culture, which it only sort of is. Though, the new Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials for Cinco de Drinko are really funny. “The line for his Cinco de Mayo party starts on Ocho de Febrero…” etc.

So, what are you doing to celebrate the drinkiest of drinky holidays over the weekend?Recent Posts:

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I Want More Dogs

emily — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:02:53 +0000

Actually, I think I’ll take any furry creature.

I’ve been asking David for a cat every single day for the past few months. I don’t know why, I just really want to have more fuzzy beings in the house.

Ideally, I’d want a orange tabby or some other such cat that would look like Crookshanks from the Harry Potter movies. Kind of scowly, disheveled, a bit on the dumb side. To match our other furbabies:

Really, if you have pets and DON’T have the Hipstamatic app on your iPhone, you’re missing out. I rarely break out a regular camera anymore…

We don’t have the space for a litterbox, so I won’t be getting a cat anytime soon. But I really want one. Or another pitty, maybe an elderbull. Something soft, fat and snuggly.

Do we really have the time, energy, or money for another animal? No. I logically know this, but for some reason, I really do think getting a cat will brighten up the days a little bit. Also, I think by law in LA county, you’re only allowed to have two dogs before you have to start getting permits. Bummersauce.

Maybe I should get a plant. But plants don’t cuddle (well).

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Meatless Monday: Staying Healthy

emily — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:17:07 +0000

I definitely fell off of the diet-and-exercise wagon this past week or so. I sort of fell back into a major funk, so I need to make a better effort to take care of myself.

I’ve written about incorporating Gardein products into my vegetarian/vegan food cycle before. Previously, I’ve made vegan lettuce wraps with their beefless tips:

And a chickenless pot pie

And a meatless shepherd’s pie

But recently, I made something exactly how they suggested– which is also a bit more warm-weather friendly. And by “I,” you have to realize I really mean “David,” who does 90% of the cooking in our house.

David used the Gardein dijon chicken to make the above salad.

Ours are sold in the fridge case next to the tofu, and the package looks like this:

They come two to a pack, so that makes dinner for us nice and simple!

Heated up in a skillet with a bit of olive or grapeseed oil, they make a healthy “chicken” salad take about 10 minutes to throw together.

The bed of our salad was an organic “herb” salad mix– it had some dill and radiccio in it, plus a few other leafie things that made it way more exciting than regular salad. David sliced up a red onion, and a large batch of grape tomatoes. Topped with the warm fake chicken and the dijon sauce, it was a hearty and delicious dish!Recent Posts:

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l’oignon

emily — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:02:49 +0000

really. download cinemagr.am on your iPhone then find me. i want to see your cines.Recent Posts:

Some Surprising & Wonderful News!

emily — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:41:04 +0000

Hey, guys, guess what?

I’m…

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no longer living next door to my landlord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(News from a blogger does not always mean pregnancy. Bucking the trend every day here, folks.)

We’re all very happy about this.

So, in case you’ve missed ~~my bitching and complaining~~ my courteous airing of frustrations about my living predicament, here’s the skinny:

Technically, David and I don’t live in a stand-alone house. We live in a ~~bright pink~~ two bedroom house that doesn’t share walls on three sides of the structure– but it does share about eight feet of wall with an apartment building to the north of us on the block. This is a unique architechtural concept that is only found in Southern California, as far as I can tell.

The dogs want a full yard.

When we first moved into the house, our landlord lived 15-20 miles away and we didn’t see him that often. Then, suddenly, one of our neighbors moved out and our landlord moved in to the apartment. He started showing up on a daily basis, walking onto the property without telling us, turning on the sprinklers while I was in the shower (note: the sprinkler control panel being right next to the bathroom window, so … yeah), and a whole lot of other fun things.

And now, he moved out.

In his stead, there’s a cute unobtrusive, quiet, and darling young couple that have a cute, little, mutty dachshund-looking puppers.

You know, our kind of people.

So, David and I are through the roof happy. Cannot wait to meet our new neighbors and maybe throw a nice little barbeque?

Strangely, my landlord was *not* the worst neighbor I ever had. As I can really pick excellent (read: horrifying) places to live, the Worst Neighbor Ever award goes to the chick who lived next to me in my college studio in Boston. Who was THE LOUDEST PERSON EVER, yelled into her cellphone at all hours of the night, and admitted to me that she fell asleep with candles burning (in our 150+ year old brownstone building, which was made out of newspaper and lighter fluid) on a regular basis. Also, I recall her having an *obsession* with Britney Spears’ music.

Who was your worst neighbor ever?Recent Posts: