Obsession of the Day: Bringing Grass Into the Home

My iPhone came in.   Gone are the days of the cell phone guy transferring your contact list for ya.  I'll deal with that later.  And the iCloud?  Are ya kidding me?  That ate about 2 hours of my day up.  I'm sure it will be worth it in the end, though.  My husband got an iPad for his birthday in July and I don't think we've plugged it into a computer since - the software upgrade took 35 minutes!  I need to stay more abreast of technology apparently.  All I knew was my Joann app and Words with Friends was still working okay. 

Today's topic:  I love the use of grass in design elements.  It brings a little bit of outside in and I LOVE the color green.  When I see something grasslike in a house I think "fun" and "clean" for some reason.  We recently acquired this as part of Evelyn's birthday party decorations - courtesy of Signed, Sealed, Delivered in Rogers.

I keep finding myself staring at it and thinking of all sorts of ideas to use the grass for.  It'll be perfect for an Easter centerpiece! 

It also made me think....which is dangerous.....and I remembered I have some pics from the 3.14 Hotel I stayed at in Cannes that had grass covered furniture (not real grass).  Granted, it was outside, but still fun. 

The website it worth a look - this hotel was CRAZY!  Joe and I stayed in a Moulin Rouge themed room and his mom and sister were in a Balinese type room~it came complete with our own "love making kit" which we still have, untouched. 

I'm going to start out with some useful items!  We have two of these drying racks on our countertop and I adore them.  I don't just use them for E's stuff.  They are great to dry wine glasses and all kinds of stuff (ex: paint brushes, plastic storage containers and lids), and are more interesting to the eye than the two-story white spinning bottle rack which I had before I purchased these. 

 


Photo courtesy of boon.com

This next one should probably be on my Dude's gift list as well.  It's just fun. 

Photo courtesy of Kikkerland Designs

Here are some great pillows from Inhabit Living that start at $45 - they have them in many sizes.

Courtesy of inhabitliving.com

Courtesy of homedesignstoday.blogspot.com


I'm really loving this one. 

Courtesy of Chair Couture

Courtesy of Waterware, Inc.



I ran a quick search in Google for "grass fabric" and had tons of hits.  If you are interested in purchasing some fabric for use in your own home, try out quiltknit.com.  They had a few different choices. 

Come back tomorrow for some talk about babies!

More Gift Ideas for Non-Dudes like Ladies and Babies

I'm keeping it short and sweet since the length of this entry is LLLooooonngggg because of all the pics.  Please comment with your great gift ideas!  Everybody needs help thinking up stuff to give.

Adults:
The ultimate wine bottle opener that makes you feel like a bad ass when you use it:  The Cork Pops Legacy.  In short, you stab the needle through the cork and press the button.  It then sends a shot of carbon dioxide into the bottle and the pressure makes the cork pop right out!  It's so easy, it's stupid.  You can buy replacement needles and cartridges.  I've had mine for I think 3 years and only replaced the cartridge twice so far.  I do run into the occasional cork that is too porous for this to work, so keep your other opener just in case. 

Pic is courtesy of corkpops.com

Babies/Kids:
These are some of my favorite go to gifts for kids.  DixieBelle Gifts screen prints these amazingly soft shirts that are personalized!  I can speak from experience that these shirts don't shrink; the quality is top notch.  The 0-6 month sizes are onesies and then they have t-shirts all the way up to 6 years.  Every year I get Evelyn two long sleeved shirts and they last until she grows out of them.  I buy them big and she wears them tunic style and then grows into them through the winter.  They also have bags and blankies as well as onesies specific for little babies with designs on the rear.  Here are some of my fav designs this season.

All shirt pics are courtesy of DixieBelle Gifts

For the Family:
I have one of these myself and adore it and get compliments all the time.  Again, from DixieBelle Gifts are House Number Pots. I have a red one that has our last name on it and I adore it.  I'm about to plant some pansies in it and put it out front on our stoop.  You can get your house number, your last name, just an initial, your last name and the year your family was established.  Very cute.  Each one is hand painted by Jenny herself (Jenny is the owner of DixieBelle Gifts).  She started out by making one of these for her Grandmother and they became quite a hit!  The pots are 12 inch terra cotta.  Check them out.

Pics are courtesy of dixiebellegifts.com

 For the Ladies:

Graphic Image is my new favorite gift website.  Most of the items come in multiple colors and you can have them personalized.  They have many different items for each kind of technology like phones, eReaders, and eTablets.  I'm dying to get this iPad cover....

.....and this iPhone cover.......

And check out these luggage tags - only $25 with the option of getting your initial gold stamped too!

The crocodile ones below are $29

Pics are courtesy of graphicimage.com

 People Magazine Subscription

Pic is courtesy of people.com

What lady doesn't love celebrity gossip?  Joe got my subscription for me three Christmases ago and I love it.  He always jokes he got his money's worth because I literally read them every Friday night cover to cover and even do the crossword.  You can give the gift of People here.