A Couple Lovely Things That Also Make Me Somewhat Sad

I just re-discovered this blog, Inside a Black Apple. I say re-discovered because I used to be a devoted reader until I quit working and lost all of my bookmarks (cause...I did all my blog reading at work). So anyway, something reminded me of her tonight and I looked her up. I'm so glad I did! Her paintings are just so beautiful, I think. I love the colors she uses and the subject matter. She also has a very similar style as me and I'm often want-y of her decor and clothing.



This painting is beautiful. I just love everything about it. And what really does it for me are the trees coming from the pipe. It just makes me feel a way I like to feel.




Here's a photo of Emily's new studio. It's adorable. I hope to someday have a studio of my own. Until then, I'm more than a little obsessed with checking out the studios of my favorite crafty ladies (ie Posie Gets Cozy and Heather Bailey -- kill me!).

I have all kinds of jealousies on this girl. She has the top selling shop on etsy and she's been on Martha Stewart (see here). And, I just found out, she recently moved to Portland. For crying out loud. I may die.

Emily also has a fashion blog called Some Girls Wander. It's fun to see what she's wearing or what she's found.

Anyway, this kind of turned into a big commercial for The Black Apple. But, I just had to share because her stuff makes me happy. Even while she makes me depressed. Haha.

The Pillow Covers Saga Continues and Then We Eat Some Cookies

So, life is pretty funny. After spending over 3 months looking for the perfect pillows for our new sofa, I ended up trying to just make something similar to what we were looking for. They were pretty good, not perfect, but we were happy with them.

Well, yesterday we stopped by, on a whim, Restoration Hardware just to see their new fall stuff. We parked directly in front of the open store doors and both of our jaws dropped. The pillows on the sofa just inside the door were EXACTLY what we had been looking for all of these months. I was actually kind of mad that I had spent so many hours looking online for pillow covers and then so much time and some money making pillow covers only to then, less than a week later, find exactly what we'd been looking for this whole time. *Sigh*

So we bought the covers and they're amazing. The weirdest thing about all of this though, is that those four covers were the ONLY ones in the store -- we bought the displays. We looked in their catalogue and online and they're nowhere to be found. Spooky, right? It's like we were in some sort of alternate dimension and were supposed to find these. Eek!

Anyone need 4 brown and white pillow covers? Cheap as free!

Hopefully you won't hear any more about pillow covers from me ever again.

Okay, changing subjects now. As soon as September hits, I want to make and eat anything and everything pumpkin flavored: Raviolis with Pumpkin Sauce, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Lattes, Pumpkin Pie, etc. So, on Saturday I had to make these cookies. They're pretty much the best cookies ever -- really they're more like little cakes. I found this recipe in Martha Stewart Living in the October 2004 issue and had it sitting in a binder full of recipes to try until last year when I finally made them. And my goodness. They are dangerous little devils. I was going to link to the recipe for ya'll but I can't find it. It's on the Martha Stewart website somewhere but I am too lazy to go through the 1600 results it came up with. They are well worth searching for though. (EDIT: Morgan found the link! Go here for a recipe for heaven!)

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

And one more thing before I'm off to bed, this darling butter dish that Ruth gave me for my birthday. It's from Anthropologie (of course) and I've gently caressed it and wanted to buy it for probably the past year, every time I go there. But, I already had a butter dish so I passed. Girlfriends are the best for buying you things you don't actually need and wouldn't buy yourself. This dish makes me smile every time I make toast. :)

I probably use more butter now than I used to.

Holy Crap

Okay, so I realize that this isn't really news, I'm just a bit slow on the uptake. But have you SEEN the Martha Stewart stuff at Michaels??? I've known that it was there for the past couple months but didn't see it until today. And good heavens. Just look at it! It's too good. And $$$. I was actually really pissed off as I stood there in the aisle trying to take it all in. It's too pretty and I need mass quantities of it all. Damn you, Martha Stewart. Damn you straight to hell.