cool stuff i like

Happy friday, friends! Look at this lovely cake - I was two bites in before I realized I had to be one of 'those people' who need to photograph their food all the time. Got it at lunch with a darling friend who took me to a place that had amazing chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Just incredible. We cut one slice in half, and each ate half of our half, that's how big it was! So that's today's Happy Thing. A less happy thing is that I've been dealing with a really painful bladder condition, (awesome and bizarre thing to read about on a book blog, right?) and the kiddo has developed some kinda big food intolerances of which we were totally unaware, and a beloved extended family member is battling incurable cancer. It's been hard to deal with all of these things as once, which is why my presence here has been so few and far between. Soooooooo......I'm trying to stay as up as I can when I can, and be grateful for things like cake, and watching 'The Muppets' and 'The Voice' with my daughter (our new favorite show), and ordering treats like this for our Christmas tree.


Online goodies this week:

I'm going to make this for holiday presents! (and hopefully leave the staples out. I made granola as a gift for Andrew a couple of yrs ago and he found a staple in his bag of granola and thought maybe I was trying to kill him. I was not.)

I mention them every year, but have you ever seen Mariebelle hot chocolates and teas? Gorgeous, if you're looking for a lovely gift for someone this holiday season.

Check out this VERY COOL Kickstarter Math Kit for kids!

Fabulous home tour, and scroll down to the end - THAT SOFA. I really think I would live on that sofa if it were mine. My sofas are so blah. I'd love to throw all caution to the wind and go wild with a print like this!

A whole lot of Star Wars games and toys from my pal Erica.

Candles, candles, candles for the darker days.

I'd love a copy of this book!

5 food lessons learned from children's literature.

This post was a lovely read, looks like a great recipe, and I loved the photos.


Cool Book of the Week: 'A Tower of Giraffes' by Anna Wright just looks stunning. A gorgeous collection of animal collage art, along with the interesting words by which certain groups of animals are identified, like 'a romp of otters' or 'a drove of pigs'. The animal sketches and the fabrics used to color them are totally unique and so beautiful! One of those 'gift-worthy' books.

Have a lovely weekend! As always, if there's something cool that you're reading, eating or watching, I'd love to know about it!! Julia wants to start decorating for Christmas, but I think we need to at least wait for Thanksgiving weekend. xo

~Melissa