Boston Busy Girlz

Holiday Trimmings

I'm one of those people that like the holiday trimmings more than the gifts themselves. To me, it is the act of giving and the care in giving the gift that matter. I also love seeing lots of gifts around the tree. Some might also find me a bit severe in my wrapping requirements.  I like sticking with the basics... red, white, and green. I also like brown paper packages - it suggests trinkets bought in small European boutiques. And, yes, this all makes me a bit neurotic. For years, I would scour to find wrapping paper and cards that were just right. I'm not sure anyone appreciated the time I put into this but over the years, my time became too precious to spare. Constraints often lead to innovation and in this case, it led me to find bulk online wrapping and packaging supplies at Paper Mart.  By buying in quantity, quality wrapping materials become much more affordable.  What I buy:

• Grosgrain Ribbon
• Brown packaging paper
• Celophane film (for baked goods)

Never, ever pay retail for ribbon.

UppaBaby Rules

Couldn't resist... a #BrandHaiku:

 

UppaBabby Rules

It gets Kate there and looks great

In. Out. Flat. High. Dry.

 

 

For more about #BrandHaiku see this post.

My Perfect House

Well, I've been busy... the irony is that my last post was about looking for the perfect house. Well, we found our perfect house - a big, old Queen Anne Victorian on a leafy wide road near a cute New England town center with a big yard surrounded by 100' trees and a stone wall. It's lovely and romantic... and full of projects whether it's the slightly outdated electrical system (ugg), broken windows, the rot on the porch, or the leak in a skylight. But oh, the garden and the parlors and the screened porch!  So... it will all be worth it but it will take some work.

In the process of looking for hardware, windows, millwork, and furniture I discovered the regional architectural salvage warehouses.  For someone like me who loves to 'discover' unique things, these warehouses are filled with treasures. Want a hanging wooden sperm whale sign? Old built-in butler's pantries (my favorite), or tables made out of old bowling alleys? These wharehouses are the place to go. If you are in the New England area (you'll likely have to drive a bit), here are a few options:

• Nor'East Architectual Antiques
• New England Demolition and Salvage
• Portland Architectual Salvage

What these places also excel at are providing doors, windows, railings, hardware, and bathroom fixtures. This is not only a great way to add character to a house, it's great re-use/re-cycling... and a good deal. Happy exploring!

 

The Perfect House

While I don't know if I'll really move any time soon, I love to house shop virtually. I think it feeds my imagination about what could be...which probably is not constructive to my day to day satisfaction but I can't help it, especially now that it is so easy. Online reality sites have come a long way and more realtors are taking extensive pictures of homes.

If you want the basics, you can go to Realtor.com but they offer almost no information on the neighborhood or the previous history of the house. ZipReality provides a lot more - information about price reductions and days on the market as well as sales trends for that neighborhood and school ratings. Zillow is another site that I like because it allows you to see the value of other houses in the neighborhood on a map and what they sold for, as well as 'Make Me Move' prices for houses that are not on the market per se.

It's a good time to buy - house prices are down, financing is about as low as it gets...here's to a white picket fence in your future!

Industrial & Recycled Furniture

I am always on the look out for unique furniture. While furniture from Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel is lovely, it definitely has that 'look' that says "I have no story to tell". And I like things that engage my imagination...not that I spend a long time ruminating about what past generations did with my dining room table but I like the fact that I could. But I also don't particularly like pieces that are too artistic - I know I'm horribly picky.

I found a few recycled industrial furniture sites that I just love - I hope you do to:

America Furnishings

Sonrisa Furniture

Get Back, Inc.

The recycling is just a bonus!

One of My Favorite Things: Restaurant Supply Stores

OK - call me quirky - but restaurant supply stores are some of my favorite places. It may reveal more about me than I really want to share but here's the thing - you can find commodity items at 1/5th their typical prices. You know those big chunky dinner mugs? $1.99. Spieglau wine glasses which are just as pretty (and leaded) as those really pricey Riedels - 6 for $40 (instead of $150) - and you won't feel like killing a guest for breaking one.

When I lived in San Francisco we had an excellent restaurant supply store that was open to the public on Saturdays but since moving back to Boston I just haven't been able to find one - even when making tons of food and I needed single pack storage containers and really looked online because I wanted to buy a sleeve of 20 instead of buying the really expensive 5-packs in the grocery store. No Dice.

But today...oh what a walk in the neighborhood will do! Less than four blocks from our house I hit the jackpot. Not only restaurant supplies (think pastry boxes, take out cartons, chopsticks, cleaning supplies) they also have bulk foods like spices, salsa, soups, rice, and cocktail mixers as well as the standard cooking tools, pots, and glassware. None of that driving out to the 'burbs to a Costco where you can't possibly get in and out in less than 30 minutes and paying a 'membership' fee.

So here you go. I'll share it with you. The place is BMS Paper Co. and while they have a website, there is not that much there. It's fantastic!

Ode to The Twin Dolphin

Salty. Serene vistas and crashing surf.
Baby scallops cooked in lime.
Sun and moon.
Fresh plums and butterflies.
A dip. A walk. Heaven.

I am not a resort type of girl.  I don't really like the idea of spending my vacation with 3,000 drunk strangers that are slowly rotissering themselves on deck chairs by the pool which is two feet from the beach.  So when we had a wedding near Cabo San Lucas to go to, I was a little ambivalent and spent some extra time looking for a place that didn't feel like a Disney-designed sardine can.

What we found was better than I could have ever hoped for. 50 bungalows with huge decks all sitting on the edge of the world looking out over the pacific. No TVs, no internet. We had amazing margaritas in our hands before we even got to the registration desk. 10 acres for the 100 or so guest with a nature trail where butterflies spilled off of the bushes. A snorkeling beach a short walk from the main resort. And the scallop ceviche was worth killing for - fresh baby scallops, red onion, vinegar, cilantro, tomato. I can still almost taste it. I ate it every day I was there.

And they tore it down. I recommended it so someone who could not find the website and then found that it had been torn down not too long after we visited. So sad.  And I finally thought the Halliburtons (who owned it) had done something good for the world. Sigh. The world seems all wrong today.

A Good Way to Be a Bad Daughter-in-Law; Restoration Hardware Can Help

How you ask? Don't send a card or gift on time for your in-laws' birthdays. It's not really a good idea. I am really bad with birthdays to begin with...which probably started because I have something like 20 first cousins, seven pairs of aunts/uncles, and various family friends who are really more like family to me. All of which makes me very lucky, but bad at acknowledging personal events like birthdays and anniversaries. But my in-laws don't know that.

So this year... I was as bad as ever but I did manage to find a great gift for my mother-in-law and because her birthday is in February, take advantage of a great sale price.  The problem?  I found out today, four days *after* her birthday that Restoration Hardware just sent the gift - even though I had paid for expedited shipping and a gift box. Why? They were doing warehouse inventory.  I am not happy.

While, as the nice customer service person said, they may have put a message on the order page - I did not see it.  What I find problematic in the workflow is that this news didn't arrest my order flow and it still allowed me to pay for expedited shipping.  I did get an order confirmation email but didn't look at it because, after all why should I? I know I just ordered something, I only keep those emails if something goes wrong. I only noticed when they send out the shipping confirmation email today. Why didn't they send an email explicitly saying that all shipping was being delayed by 4-7 business days?

Now you could argue that maybe it is my fault but I feel like Restoration Hardware was not all that obvious or transparent that they were essentially 'Closed' when I made the order.  I recently walked by a Williams-Sonoma on a Monday. They were closed...because they were doing inventory.  Now if physical stores don't even let me walk in, online stores should make it a little more obvious that I will not be able to actually transact business in the timeframe I want to. 

Please, please, please people - I need all the help I can get!

Cooking Classes

One of my favorite ways to slow down and relax is to cook - and not just any cooking - the long, complex cooking that requires trips to gourmet stores, most of my cooking gear, and plenty of time. It's not that I get to do it too often but it is a luxury to spend hours devoted to something magical.

Living in San Francisco I got a little obsessed with food - it is easy to do. There are fabulous markets, stores, vineyards, and farm stands all relatively easy to get to. But one of the best things that I did while there was to take some cooking classes. Some were more tool-based, like the knife skills class and some were more focused on one dish or one meal but regardless they exposed me to some of the tricks of the trade that has made cooking that much more enjoyable.

There are few places in Boston that offer similar classes:

Boston Center for Adult Education
Cambridge School of Culinary Arts
Helen's Kitchen
Rudy Chard Cooking Classes

While the weather is still yucky, these classes will get you thinking about spring!

I'm Feeling a Little UnLucky

Like most women I really hate trying to find pants that fit...and it galls me a little bit that men can walk in, pick up a pair of pants, pay for them, and then have them fit perfectly at home without ever having tried them on in the store.  It makes me wonder weather it wouldn't be a good idea to go back to skirts and dresses entirely.  But I digress.

A few years ago, I finally found a pair of jeans that not only fit but had some semblance of style...not too much but just enough I looked relatively with it. I found them at Lucky.  Hallelujah. I bought many pairs. Life was good. Until the last couple of months when they all gave out in rapid succession.

What do I do? Clearly run straight to the Lucky store. Multiple times. Because I can't find a jean that fits. Finally I ask.  You know what I'm going to say already. They don't carry that jean any more.

They don't carry that jean anymore?!?! Noooooooooooo. The saving grace? They still have them online. So I bought a pair (they are not cheap and without gainful employment it is all I will allow for).  But it got me kind of annoyed.  I am a little pudgy but not huge by any means but I carry all of my weight around my hips and thighs.  I don't like this but it turns out there is not a lot I can do about it. But Lucky has decided that girls who need extra room in the leg don't fit their sensibilities any more despite this jean having a five star rating from many customers at Macys.com - and it is not all that easy to get people to go back online and rate clothing. 

Sigh.  I'm OK until this pair wears out.