The Countdown

The countdown has begun!  Only 2 more days until the 3rd issue of Lonny hits your virtual newsstand!  If you have been trying to find a magazine to fill the void that was left when Domino went under and you haven't discovered Lonny yet, you're in for a treat!

Lonny December 2009 Cover

I can't tell you how many times I wished that my computer was handy while I am flipping through a great magazine so I can check out the sources online.  I usually put the magazine down and forget about researching the items I liked.  Well with Lonny, if you see an item you like, you can click on it and it takes you directly to where you can find it!  Genius!  For instance, the Iomoi bag in the top right corner caught my eye in the December Gift Guide:

If you rolled your mouse over the bag and clicked on it, you were directed right to the Iomoi page where you could buy the bag!  I only wish this feature had existed sooner.

Vanessa De Vargas' Home, Lonny December 2009

So, on February 10th, be sure to check out the latest issue of Lonny magazine.  They've been tweeting that it will feature some West Coast homes so I am really excited about that.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

More Love For Trader Joe's!

Like I said before, I am not someone who likes to celebrate Valentine's Day by going out to a fancy, overpriced dinner.  Instead, we like to cook at home or get together with friends and celebrate.  

Well this year, I can tell you what I'll be cooking for dessert!  Who doesn't love molten chocolate cakes?  They are so ooey and gooey, warm and yummy all in one little cake!  I am sure I could make them from scratch, but why would I want to when I can buy them at Trader Joe's and pop them in the oven!

I discovered them when I read this feature in the Jan./Feb. issue of the Food Network Magazine.  

They are now sitting in my freezer waiting for Valentine's Day to roll around!  You can find them at your local Trader Joe's in the freezer aisle for $2.99!  I plan to serve mine with a little vanilla ice cream.  YUM!

When I shop at Trader Joe's, I always love to check out the shelf where they feature their new products.  Look what I found this week - another treat to send to work with hubby!  

Now I don't want you all thinking that I send treats with him year round.  This is only a Valentine's Day thing.  A good excuse to send him to work with some love that will hopefully brighten his day!

Do you have anything fun planned for your Valentine's Day?  Do you like to eat in or out?  I'd love to hear what other people do!

Got 5?

Minutes that is!  If you have FIVE minutes, you can whip up the easiest dinner EVER.  I'm not kidding - FIVE minutes.  Did you ever think you'd be able to cook a dinner for your entire family that fast?  I bet the answer is NO!  You can't even microwave a meal for more than one person in under 5 minutes, let alone cook a meal!  OK, I'll let you in on my little secret:

Trader Joe's "Just Pasta" can be found in the freezer section at your local Trader Joe's.  You can get either Penne or Spaghetti noodles and each bag costs ONLY $2.49.  Pop it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, and your pasta is cooked!  YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO BOIL WATER.  It's a miracle!  You don't have to wash your pasta pot or colander afterward either!  Having to wash fewer dishes after a meal is a great thing in my book.

Inside the bag there are two 8 oz. bags of pre-cooked spaghetti.  I cook both bags for the two of us and there are usually enough leftovers for one person the next day.  I think they must measure the pasta once it's been cooked because even thought it's 16 oz. of pasta, it makes a lot less than 1 pound of dry noodles would make.  Either way, it's still the fastest dinner you will EVER make.

Just as I put the noodles in the microwave, I pour a can of sauce in a sauce pan to heat it up on the stove.  My favorite sauce is the Organic Tomato Basil Marinara ($2.29) from Trader Joe's.  I find that it has more flavor than other sauces you can find at the grocery store.  And if we're going to eat sauce from the jar, then it should at least taste good right?

If you don't like to use sauce from a jar, then you can use the sauce from this post which I like to make and freeze so I have it handy when I need it.

A group of women from my neighborhood were getting together on Saturday night for drinks a few doors down so I wanted something easy to cook before I headed out.  This time I browned some ground beef and added it to the pasta.  I prefer to use the organic ground beef you can find at Costco that comes in convenient 1 pound packages:

I store the individual packages in the freezer and they keep well.  So all you have to do for this entire dinner is brown the meat, heat the sauce and microwave the noodles.  It's as simple as that and you have dinner in FIVE minutes!  YUM!

Wondering about that garlic bread there?  That's the Barefoot Contessa's garlic ciabatta bread.  It was the best home made garlic bread I've ever made so I'll definitely write a post on that later!

I'd love to hear what your favorites are from Trader Joe's too!  I hope you'll share so we can all try them out!  

Domino Love

I dug through my OLD issues of Domino magazine to find this photo for today's post!  One of my favorite things I ever saw in Domino and implemented in my own home was to use an apothecary jar to hold my toilet paper!  Oh how I miss Domino.  (Sniffle, sniffle.)  It was featured in the October 2005 issue and I'm sure that countless people have now put one in their bathroom too.

Photo courtesy Domino Magazine, October 2005

The apothecary jar they featured is from English Creek  Gardens.  I found mine at Z Gallerie shortly after I saw it in the magazine, but they may still carry something similar.  If not, there are so many resources for apothecary jars - both online and in stores.

It's a great place to store extra TP, but the best part about it is that I now have it in our guest bathroom so the guests never have to search for more toilet paper when they run out!  Here's what it looks like in our guest bathroom:

See it tucked away in the corner?

Don't you miss Domino?  Do you have any fun decorating tricks you learned from them?  I'd love to know!

More Spring!

In case you didn't have time to click through the links in last night's post, here are some photos of the J. Crew items I bought that weren't on the site last night, but they are today!

J. Crew Tissue Garland Tank in dark pewter ($42.50 online, $45 in stores) 

This is how I was thinking of wearing it (but with jeans...I can't rock those short shorts!):

And here's the zipper sweater...a much better picture:

J. Crew Scalloped Zipper Cardigan ($98) 

There were a few more items that I spotted on the site today that I just might have to add to my shopping cart.  Darn you J. Crack!!!

J. Crew Thomas Mason Printed Tuxedo Shirt ($150)

 

J. Crew Vintage Bateau Top ($36) 

I am such a sucker for anything nautical and I love it when all the designers launch their spring lines with nautical themed pieces.  It must be the sailor in me.  And I love pleats - especially on blouses.  Thank goodness for my dry cleaner.  I think I drive them insane with all my pleated shirts!

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has sprung!  Well, not if you look outside, but in the land of J. Crew it has!

A few weeks ago I was invited by one of my favorite J. Crew J. Crack sales associates to a breakfast in the store to celebrate the launch of the Spring line.  I was so excited to see the new stuff that I could hardly sleep!  (Well, not that excited, but you get the point.)  The store had been a little bare over the last few weeks so I was ready for some new merchandise!

When I got there I tried to practice as much self control as I could, but it was tough tough tough!  I also kept trying to remind myself of the difference between want and need, but there were four things I just couldn't leave the store without.

The first was this sweet cotton papillon blouse which I picked up in white:

J. Crew Cotton Papillon Blouse shown in soft violet ($79.50)

Wouldn't it be so cute with black capris or skinny jeans?  They didn't carry black in the store, but now that I've seen black online, I might have a tough decision to make.  Which color to get and keep for Spring???

The second top I got was this dark gray ruffle tank top.  It's not online yet, but here's a photo I took tonight (sorry the flash washed out the color a little bit):

J. Crew Ruffle Tank ($45)

I looked for a fun necklace to go with this top and opted for something other than the usual black.  This is what the sales associate picked:

J. Crew Petal and Pearl Necklace in light amethyst ($59.50)

I can picture wearing this top and necklace with a lighter gray cardigan, jeans and my silver Capri Sandals from last year.

After I had checked out and was leaving the store, I spotted this sweater.  I tried it on and had to have it.  It's not for sale online yet either so here's a photo:

J. Crew Zipper Cardigan ($98)

It's a light gray cardigan with zipper, ruffle and satin details.  (Click on the photo to get a closer view.)  There were only a few left and the store had only had them on the floor for a few hours!  I got the last one in my size.  As they were putting it in my bag another woman who was looking for it asked to try mine on since we were the same size.  I let her, but since they were now sold out of our size thanks to me, she had to special order it.  I can't wait to wear it!  The zippers add such a fun unexpected detail.

So, if you are addicted like me, stop by your J. Crew store before yours is sold out too!

Spread the LOVE

I HEART VALENTINE'S DAY!  Not the romantic expensive dinner, spend waaaaay too much money on flowers kind of Valentine's Day, but the give cute small gifts, tell people how much you LOVE them kind of Valentine's Day.

I love telling my husband how much I love and appreciate him, so when Valentine's Day approaches, I have so many ways to show him too!  I like to put little treats or notes in his work bag when he's not looking in the evening so he discovers them once he's arrived at the office the next morning.  Last week I sent him to work with some tiny heart shaped sugar cookies from Susie Cakes which recently opened near my home.  Last night I put a bag of green M&Ms that were printed with special love messages in his bag.  I attached a little note & a HOT PINK bow and here's what he probably found today when he got to his office:

I found these special love message M&Ms at a drugstore near my home so I'm sure you can find them where you live too for your Valentine.  If I find out that he has a client meeting the next day, I usually hint to him that there's something in his bag...just so he doesn't accidentally pull out one of my notes or treats in a meeting!  Can you imagine???

I LOVE giving my nephews presents all year long so Valentine's Day becomes even more fun when there are kids involved.  Yesterday I spotted 2 great Valentine's Books at our local bookstore for them.  In my opinion, a child can never have too many books!  I wrapped them up and put them in the mail today so they can enjoy them and get excited for Valentine's Day.

The first was "Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse" from the author of one of my favorite books, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".  In it Mouse makes Valentine's for all of his friends and they are each different depending on who the friend is!

The second book I got for them was "Fancy Nancy: Heart to Heart".  I know, they are boys and Fancy Nancy is very girly, but the oldest is 2 1/2 so he doesn't know that and he LOVES learning new words.  He's always telling me that he wants to dine "al fresco" which he learned from a Fancy Nancy book.  I love it!  In this book he will learn words like bouquet, gorgeous and magnifique because according to Fancy Nancy, "almost EVERYTHING about Valentine's Day is fancy!"

I even found some wrapping paper in my stash that was perfect for Valentine's Day:

I topped the package with another GREAT find: hot pink ribbon from Costco!  Check out this awesome wired ribbon I found the other day.  Each spool is 50 yards and only $6.49!

I didn't get a picture of the card, but it was from Paper Source and it was letterpress with a picture of a dinosaur that read something like "you're a dino-mite valentine".  I hope they love their present!


Are you getting excited for Valentine's Day too?  I hope you are spreading the love!!!