The Dark Side of Salt N Peppa

I love these vintage salt and pepper shakers from Loved To Death!!! I'm so used to seeing cutesy vintage salt and pepper shakers; they really are a dime a dozen, so it's kind of neat to find a pair with a bit of an edge! They totally seem like something my Grandpa, eternally the cheeseball jokester, would have had in his home.


xoxo
-Desiree

Get My Goat.

First of all, how amazing is this knit goat's head sweater by Sibling??? I have just one wish today and that is that I could sink my fingers deep within the crevices of the thick braided horns on this sweater as I am sure this yarn is suuuuuper posh. I doubt this photo (or the bitchy looking model) do this sweater justice. (Thanks to one of my favorite blogs for finding this).

Around the time I turned 11 I was plucked from my rather ordinary, run-of-the-mill suburban cul-de-sac and plopped down smack in the middle of a small rural community of farmers, gardeners, hermits, and weirdos. Everyone on our heavily forested backroad had a smallish plot of land to tend to themselves, and my family was no exception with our newly purchased 2 acres. I'll spare you the details of the amount of work that my parents put into transforming that land into a livable habitat for farm animals; it was a lot of work. Eventually, though, the barns were built, the fences were set, the grass was green, and my younger brother and I were begging for pets. I wanted a horse. My brother wanted a dog. My mom got us a goat.

That goat, her name was Honey, turned out to be pregnant and soon gave birth to twins which we named Biscuit and Butter, respectively. I don't know if my mom ever intended for our goats to have a purpose other than to be pets, and if she did....well, it never panned out. Biscuit and Butter became such inseparable companion pets to my brother and I, it was almost like they were puppies. If you would have told my 12 year old self then that one day I would be slathering my body with goat's milk soap, bathing in goat's milk baths, or groaning with delight with every bite of goat's milk cheese....well!... I would have thought you were a nut job! Goats were pets, nothing more! I think I had somewhat of a notion that some people drank goat's milk, but they were obviously very strange people, indeed.

Here is my brother (the toehead on the right!) holding Biscuit while his friend holds Butter. This would have been 1991 or 1992. Below is my dad with baby Biscuit and one of our many, many farm kittens.

Fast forward 16 years and you will now find me perusing the shelves of my local New Seasons Market in Portland for goat's milk products. I have yet to be brave enough to try straight up goat's milk, but chevré makes it into my cart when I'm feeling rich and extravagant (which ain't often, let me tell ya), and I have totally fallen in love with goat's milk beauty products from Canus, a small, French-Canadian run goat farm in Vermont that originated in Montreal. I've been using their bar soap for about a year now. My favorite is the one infused with orchid oil. It's the sudsiest, most luxurious soap I think I've ever used and leaves my skin so, so soft. And at $2.99 it's a total steal. Then, a few days ago, while daydreaming of a hot bath in the middle of a very snowy day, I discovered they also make a foaming milk bath. It was a milky dream come true and the fragrance left on my skin afterward was perfectly subtle and fresh.

I'd love to go back to living in the country someday many years from now and you can bet I will have lots of little goat buddies running around making their milk into lavish soaps and cheeses for me. For now, though, I'll stick to the products by Canus!

I think my childhood experience with my pet goats really makes me appreciate my $2.99 city slicker soap a whole lot more. If you get a chance, try it and tell me what you think!


xoxo
-Desiree

P.S. What do you call an unemployed goat?

Billy Idle.

Ba-dum-CHING!

Lighten Up

Building a blog is kind of like interior decorating.... Feng Shui is key. Given that Feng Shui is based on the Taoist vision and understanding of nature, particularly on the idea that the land is alive and filled with energy, I realized that having black walls, or in the case of a blog: a black background, did not make my blog feel alive. In fact, it felt quite dead (plus my Mommy told me it was hard for her to read). Today I discovered that I could interior decorate my blog by choosing different colors for my background, text, and links. Whew! Thank goodness! I thought I was going to be stuck with my split second decision of black a few days ago when creating my blog. So I opened up the windows and let the light and energy of Portland winter in. Grey foggy skies, cold dark blue water, and a little bit of frozen soil. Ahhhhhh, yes, bask in my Feng Shui now, bitches! And while I'm tossing paint around, I may as well throw in a chair, a rug, and a wall hanging.

Ok, this freakin' deer head is too cute and pink is sooo not normally my style, but I've fallen head over hoof for this, and in the spirit of "lightening up," it's nice to have a splash of bright color. I love this Ghost Chair by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn of Design Drift. I crave it. I dream about it. It looks like Old Man Winter blew some of his frosty breath into the mold. Lastly is the Woody Wood Rug by Yvette Laduk. I've been coveting this rug for a long time now and I'm pretty sure that if I am a good girl it will one day be mine.

Now let's cozy up by the fire.

xoxo
-Desiree

'Tis the Season: Profondo Rosso

Last night I made Borscht courtesy of a recipe provided by my best gal, Genevieve. It looked so pretty going into my vintage enamel Dansk pot that I had to take a picture before it turned into a deep red slop!

Now, I have never been the color red's biggest fan, especially when used in interior decorating (too dark!!)... but the color of chopped beets has always made me swoon a bit. I think the Holidays tend to assault me with the color red so much that I feel I'm okay without it for the rest of the year. Cooking borscht got me wondering... do I like the color red? I decided to challenge myself to find 10 red things I liked. After scouring the internet with searches like "red hair," "red modern," "red food," and just plain "red," I decided on "Yes, I do like red. In moderation. And you know what? Maybe I just don't like the Holidays." Here are eleven more reds I do like:

1. 70's Bill Blass Dress @ Maiden Rapture Vintage.... 2. Ruby Crystals.... 3. Bar sign in San Francisco, my own photo.... 4. Vivienne Westwood.... 5. 80's Boots @ Maiden Rapture Vintage.... 6. Golden Gate Bridge.... 7. Wool Hooded Coat with Rabbit Trim @ Lion's Den Vintage.... 8. Joanne's Red Tights, my own photo.... 9. Conan!!!.... 10. A glass of Malbec.... 11. Modern Classic Chanel Bag

What do YOU like that's red?

xoxo

-Desiree