New Stores

I wanted to give a very special shout out to a few of my new stores added in the past 2 weeks!!

Illinois:
Glenview - FUN cards and gifts
Hinsdale - Sass-N-Class

Indiana:
Granger - Festivities at the Crockery

Louisiana:
Baton Rouge - The Keeping Room

Oklahoma:
Edmond - Chirps and Cheers

Texas:
Beaumont - Mannings
Houston - Katie & Co.
San Antonio - Invitations, Etc.

Thanks to all!

Ring, Ring!

I love rings. Diamond rings, Ring of Fire, my Journey ringtone...

But I'm a design nut, and my favorite rings are the ones used as a design element.

Well, maybe second to diamond rings...=)

Rings are a very OLD design element, being used in celtic designs and medieval chain mail, and probably appearing before that. It's classic, gorgeous, and goes with anything. It looks old and new at the same time. Here are my favorite examples:

{this barstool comes in white and is only $89 from Target!}

{buffet from Layla Grace, Kraftmaid Kitchen courtesy of blog All That Inspires , Pianagonda circles ring at Neimans, Circles barstool and circles fireplace screen from Target, Demby and Soloman personalized labels, watch from Target, David Meister dress, mirror from Lamps Plus, Roberto Coin bracelet and circles sheet sets from Neimans, gold table from Layla Grace, invitations from Crane, unsure of console table and mirror, R & Y Augousti Brownclips tray, Mallory Marks hoop earrings at Barneys, Iomoi personalized coasters}

Spay Day 2010 Photo Contest

We ALL love our pets, and you can submit a photo to prove it! The Humane Society is having a photo contest/ fundraiser in honor of Spay Day.

If you've thought about donating, now is a perfect time. Upload a pic and people can buy votes for your pooch, kitty, ferret, parrot, mouse, hamster...whatever!

If you don't have one, vote for mine !

Thai Spicy Coconut Curry Chicken

I usually don't post about food, but here it goes...

I live in an average sized town. With average restaurants. So when I craved Thai food one night, I knew that going to my local Thai restaurant was out of the question. We got great Cajun and great Chinese. But no Thai.

So I decided to make some coconut curry chicken - my fave dish. I got the recipe from foodnetwork.com, and the BEST thing about this site is that people can comment on the recipe. Usually the comments consist of ways to make the recipe better and mistakes to avoid. So I altered the recipe a bit.

And it was melt in your mouth good.

I just had to share - for those of you out there WITHOUT a fab Thai restaurant around the corner:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• dash of olive oil
• 1-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
• 1 to 2 cans green chilies (usually found in the ethnic section)
• red pepper flakes
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 cans coconut milk
• 1.5 cups chicken stock
• 2 tomatoes
• 4 chicken breasts cut into 1 in cubes
• 1 vidalia onion
• 1 bunch green onions
• chopped jalapeno peppers
• chopped cilantro
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 4 - 5 carrots, sliced

Directions

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium
2. Add the onions, ginger, garlic and carrots and cook slowly till the onions are soft - 15 min.
3. Add the tomato paste, curry powder, cinnamon, chilies, salt and pepper and chopped jalapeno and stir well
4. Add the coconut milk and chicken stock and bring it to a simmer
5. Cook until the sauce has thickened - 30 minutes (some people said that they had to cook it for an hour until it thickened, but 30 min to 45 should do it with the adjustments I made to the ingredients)
6. Add the tomatoes, chicken, cilantro (just a bit chopped) and lemon juice. cook until chicken is cooked through - 15 min
7. Season with red pepper and cayenne pepper to reach the perfect spiciness!

Serve with jasmine rice.

New font - Swingdancer

I just bought a new font! I love it. It's so fab. And it was only $14.95.

I've never bought a font before, but I couldn't resist.

Find it here .

Behind the Scenes - Valentino 2010

I'm usually not a huge fashion person. I get inspired by fabrics, but the entire crazy fashion pedestal is a bit odd to me. The shows and the hoopla and lady gaga and the this and the that. It seems a bit much to me.

However, I saw these pics on vogue.com of behind the scenes of the creation of the 2010 Valentino Spring line. I thought they were gorgeous. Just stunning.

Petals falling everywhere

I love natural shapes, and I've started see the shape of petals and leaves everywhere. It's so beautiful and organic and way feminine.

Latticework has taken over our lives and I'll be the first to admit that I'm still gaga over trellis wallpaper. But there's something about natural shapes that really eases my heart rate and pleases the hippie inside.

{ Heidi Klum and Michael Kors Key to the Cure shirt at Saks, earrings and perfume and shirt at Anthropologie, earrings from Neiman Marcus, Romo wallcoverings, rug from Layla Grace, hydrangea necklace from etsy - Patrick Irla Jewelry , daily candy header illustrated by Sujean Rim }