Erin McLaughlin: Blues and Neutrals

After taking a look at Erin McLaughlin's narrow row house, I'm ready to repaint our walls a light silvery white and add a couch to the dining room. Now, how am I going to convince the dude...

via Style at Home

Check out DecorPad as they recreated Ms. McLaughlin's dining room in their Look 4 Less section. Awesome!

Raised veggie box update

The vegetable garden is starting to get it's grow on...as well as the neighbor's weeds (see them trying to creep into the veggie box).

spinach and tomatoes

bibb lettuce, chives,

radishes, and hopefully pole beans

Stay away weeds!

This is the first time I'm growing spinach and lettuce. Any tips for growing and harvesting?

This post explains how we built the raised vegetable bed.

Celebrating Earth Week In My Closet

Your closet can give Earth a big high-five this week too. Check out these eco-friendly options to add to your wardrobe (I think I'll be doing some online shopping this week!).

zoe&zac for Payless
Currant Peep-toe Flat $24.99
(organic and flax seed blend cotton, recycled rubber soles)


American Apparel
Unisex Organic Fine JerseyShort Sleeve V-Neck $19
(organic cotton)
I have this shirt and would wear it everyday if I could. But that would be weird.


olsenHaus
Balance 2 Peep-toe Pump $219
(made of vegan-friendly materials)
Endless.com is offering $25 off on eco-shoes

Stewart + Brown
camilla dress $168
(organic crepe cotton, made in the usa)
Stewart + Brown's site also have a great sales section

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania and Melissa
Lady Dragon Ball $154
(breathable PVC)


Mociun
Tie-front dress $400
(organic bamboo)
I can't wait for this dress to go on sale!

Celebrating Earth Week In The Kitchen

When the dude and I first started dating, he mentioned that I was a little bit of a hippie. It's true! I may love to wear the tallest heels that I can find, but I've always been a little Earth conscious and um...cheap.

Here's some of the little things that we do to be a little nicer to Earth in the kitchen:

We compost our veggies, egg shells and coffee grounds. The Compost Bucket from gaiam.com does a great job of holding the yucky stuff until we take it to our compost pile in the back yard. The filters keep everything from getting stinky (um, yeah we've left some scraps in there way too long once and no funky stink from the bucket was detected). I know that there are cuter compost buckets on the market, but I'm cheap and it was a good price.

All of our compost made some awesome dirt that we used for our raised veggie beds. Oh the circle of life!

We haven't purchased small plastic bags in about two years. Washing them out and turning the bag inside-out seems to work for us. Aluminum foil also gets a rinse and reuse. I think I need to pick up this bag dryer from cooking.com to help in the drying process.

Remember the post where I made my own All-purpose cleaner. I'm still using it and actually just made another batch (this time with some drops of peppermint-grapefruit oil). This is another diy project that shows that you can be eco-friendly and not spend a boat load of money. This cleaner also makes my gas stove top really shiny.

Do you have any eco-friendly kitchen tips to share?

A new addition...

We have a new addition to our house! It's not a puppy (yet) or a kid, but an elephant!

A few weeks ago, I won a giveway from Laurendy for the Fauna Elephant Mini Pillow from Allmodern.com. I've wanted one of the Fauna animal pillows for ages, so I was super psyched to have it show up on my door step.

What would you be psyched to have show up at your door? And don't say Publishers Clearing House!!

Lonny Magazine: Laura Day

Lonny Magazine Issue 4

Easter Bread

Okay, confession: I'm not a good cook or baker. I'd rather eat chicken nuggets and work on a project around the house. On the other hand, I like the idea of being able to bake and cook. And I like the accessories.


Last Sunday (Easter), I broke out my Kitchen Aid mixer for the first time and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't screw up the recipe that my mom used each year for making an Easter sweet bread.

(hello, mixer. ignore ugly kitchen)

I started to worry a bit when the recipe starts out saying, "About 5 hours before serving or very early in the day...". I continued on and did not cheat like some other people and try to pass off a crumb cake purchased at a store as her own.

Success! The bread tasted yummy and no one died from eating it. My favorite part of the recipe is that you insert the eggs raw into the bread and they become hard-boiled when you bake it.