Cooking with color:

Coconut yumminess granola bars.



A few months back, Mattio tired of eating artificial flavor (a real ingredient) in his granola bars, and found a recipe so he could make his own. It called for things like dried fruit, and peanuts--both of which I like in a granola bar... but do you know what I like better? Coconut! It also happens that if there is one fruit (nut?) on the planet Mattio doesn't like... you guessed it. It's my coconut against his bacon (although, to be fair, he is not putting bacon in his granola bars. I know, shocker, right?).

So a few weeks ago, I hijacked the recipe and made my own coconut yumminess granola bars. And they were indeed, YUM.

You'll need:
2 cups of oats
1/4 cup ground flax (I use this in place of wheat germ--you can get it at Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup almonds (sliced or crushed. If you crush them, crush them good--those whole almonds are a bitch to cut through)
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used 2 tablespoons in my last batch, and it needed a little more sweetness, so I would say somewhere in between 1/4 and an 1/8 cup)
1/2 cup of honey
4 tablespoons of butter (again, I modified in my last batch--I think you'll need at least 2 tablespoons... and if you go light on the butter, go more on the honey)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 oz. coconut (BEWARE! A lot of coconut comes with added sugar. I get mine from either Whole Foods, or Mrs. Green's market--it's just coconut with no added sugar)
A few handfuls of dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spread crushed almonds, oats, ground flax, sunflower seeds on a baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few.

Line a glass baking dish (we use Pyrex) with wax paper, and spray with non-stick oil (lightly).

Put brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla in saucepan and simmer, stirring constantly.

Mix liquid and nut/oat mixture in a bowl extremely well.

Sprinkle half of the dark chocolate chips on the bottom of the baking dish.

Put mix into lined baking dish and spread. Add the remaining chocolate chips. (Don't mix the chocolate chips into the mixture--it's hot and they'll melt)

Put another piece of wax paper over the mixture and press hard. Wait 2-3 hours to cool, then cut into bars and enjoy!

Beautiful:

Retired subway cars being thrown into the ocean.

This has made it's way through my twitter feed all week, but the images--and the concept--are so striking, I couldn't resist sharing.

For more than a decade, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has treated the Atlantic as its very own graveyard, tossing thousands of old subway cars off a barge to rust away on the ocean floor. An environmental crime? Hardly. The program creates habitats for marine life from Georgia to Jersey and gives New York’s aging subway cars a vibrant (and free!) retirement home.

Now I want to see photos of the marine life making use of all these old cars.

New obsession:

Pinterest.

Holy cow, you guys, this site is awesome. Seriously: new. Favoritest. Site. Ever.

What is it? Take a design/inspiration board, and introduce it to tumblr, and throw in a little Twitter while you're at it.

Basically, you see a photo you like on the interwebs (just one more reason to hate on the Flash sites, though--you can't use it with a flash-based site), and "pin" it to a board. Your boards are categorized; and you can follow other users and re-pin what they've already pinned.

In other words: awesome.

As my neighbor--who introduced me to it--predicted, I can't get enough of it. I want to scour the internet for pretty things, just to pin them and categorize them all in one place.

Just when you thought the internet was awesome as it is, something like this comes along.

Want:

This Scrabble set (that's been making it's way through my twitter feed the past week):



It's actually not available for purchase--but if you sign up on Andrew Capener's (the master behind this piece) website, the reality of fancy font Scrabble (Oh, how I would LOVE it if they called it that!) being put into production gets closer and closer.

I mean, really. Look at these tiles, and tell me this isn't automatically more fun than regular scrabble!

New work:

Peggy Garbus.

Peggy is a Wilton-based portrait photographer--her work is gorgeous. Sit with her for a few minutes, and you will be completely at ease--it's easy to see her subjects feeling the same way.

Anywho, Peggy had an identity already, and was originally looking to update it. After a round or two of updates, we decided to just start over (which was way more fun! :)

After I designed this version, it occurred to me that it looked like an eye. I totally mean that I had that in mind when I designed this version, not after! (nervous laughter).




One of the things that struck me on Peggy's old logo, was the descenders for the Gs and Y in Peggy. They were all very similar, and as a designer, I wanted to fix that. I had a lot of fun coming up with this font, and the swirlies. Oh, how I love the swirlies!




We had also talked about maybe incorporating an icon or something--something that could be used in maybe a pattern?




More fun shapes and swirlies. Actually, these swirlies began in a font called Brownstone (YUM)




Taking Peggy's initials, and making them into a bottle cap-like stamp:




And finally, playing with the P and the G:




Ultimately, Peggy chose version 5--but we went through a lot of different fonts before coming up with this, the final logo:



I love the thought of Peggy using the PG bottle cap icon as a watermark on her photos--I think this logo is so versatile, and so very HER. I can't wait to see it in action!

Sweet sixteen

My baby turned 16 today:



This photo was taken when she was mere days old. I don't even think we were out of the hospital yet. Sixteen seemed so far away then--the next week seemed so far away then! And yet here we are; embracing legal driving age (well, some of us are. Some of us parents, ahem, wouldn't exactly use the word "embracing").

Happy birthday to my super-awesome teenager.

Friday LOLs: They're so ca-yoote edition

I find myself in a funny position for this one: When parents text.

I am, after all, a parent to 3 girls; the oldest--the teenager--has a cell phone that acts as her third arm--she's never without it. Since she's had one (for about 4 or 5 years now), we've become increasingly proficient in texting--it was a necessity if we were to continue to communicate with her.

On the other hand, I have parents. Parents who know better than to text--umm... because they don't know how to (either that, or they can't see the buttons on their phones. Probably a healthy mix of both).

Anywho. When parents text; sometimes funny, sometimes adorable. Just ask my teenager.

Want:

Whoa.

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a blog called Chair Whore, which A) I love, and B) describes me rather well--if only because when I see a chair I love (which happens often), I HAVE SUCH A REACTION. It's almost like shoes--except I have a closet for shoes. If I started buying chairs the way I buy shoes... well, let's just say that it would put a strain on my marriage.

But a girl can drool; and drool I did when I found this gorgeousness over on design*sponge yesterday:



The Farmhouse chair, from Bend is beautiful. First of all, it comes in orange (everything should come in orange). If an item is available in orange, I immediately stop and look anyway. But holy cow. WANT.



The Lucy and Ethel chairs are lovely, as well--but the other chair on the Bend site that made me stop in my tracks is the Bunny.

The great thing about these chairs is that they're versatile, and can be used indoors and out. Well, and they come in orange.

Sing:

How awesome is Adele?

Adele |Adele Lyrics |Adele Unplugged |Unplugged

Seriously, her voice is incredible. Rolling in the Deep has been on heavy rotation for me the past few weeks, and I'm happily listening to the entire album--released stateside today--over on npr now. I think Adele is the perfect way to ease back into the work week.

New work!

What happens when your phone rings, and the potential client on the other end tells you that they need a logo and website for a super delish sandwich shop they're opening up?

Well, if you're me, you squeal with excitement.

What happens then, when they tell you that the name of said sandwich shop is Melt?

If you're me, you're already squealing, so maybe some excited dancing is in order.

Seriously, Kristin and Bill, the geniuses behind Melt, couldn't make a better sandwich. I'm going to let you go to their just-launched website--meltsandwich.com--to see how it all works (look at that menu and tell me you're not drooling).



Oh yeah, that's right... I said just-launched website. Brand spankin' new. Fresh, just like their food (OK, OK, I'll stop now).

I'm telling you guys, if you are remotely close to the White Plains area, you best be stopping at Melt for some serious deliciousness (it's like, 40 minutes from me, and I have been known to stop there for lunch. It's worth it. Trust me). And if you can't make it, you better hope somebody comes up with some edible internet soon.

To have and to HLD

Yummers.

Last week, twitter was all abuzz with anthropologie's new bridal shop: BHLDN, whose website was unveiled today. Did I mention yummers?

First of all, the shoes. MY GOD, the shoes:



I am aching for these yellow ones. My brother in law is getting married this fall, and I think I have found the perfect shoe for the wedding:



Then there's the dresses:



Gorgeous.

There's pretty hair accessories, to die for jewelry, belts, gloves, handbags... it's all stunning. Totally makes a girl want to get married all over again (to the same guy, of course!).

Happy Valentine's Day

From everybody's favorite 3 year old intern:




And her 7 year old sister:

Want:

These adorable neon-toed flats, from--where else?--the always awesome Kate Spade.



It's not quite Friday, it's still a little snowy, and it's fa-reezing out. I think a little neon-toed yumminess is needed to get through the day.

New work (sort of)

Sometimes, jobs just don't work out. It could be any number of reasons; and really, 9 times out of 10, it's nobody's fault. Design is a finicky business--everyone has different tastes, and what I like may be vastly different than what you like.

Harvest Home was one of those projects. I completely and totally believe in what they're doing: bringing farmer's markets to low-income areas in the 5 boroughs of NYC. Harvest Home gives people who might not have easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables, well, easier access to fresh fruits and vegetables. They accept food stamps, and really give people another option besides the corner bodega.

Round one, I tried merging a city with a field:



and in later rounds, tried giving it less city, more farm:



I had so much fun playing with different fonts and shapes for this round 1 version:



I also really liked the double H pitchfork, seen here in a round 2 idea:



IN round 3, I played with different "home" shapes--I definitely prefer the above version over this one:



Finally, I'm a sucker for type that looks stamped. Can't you see this stenciled on the side of a crate of vegetables?



Unfortunately, the city has it's share of farmer's markets with an apple incorporated into it. Let's try a rooster, instead:



Unfortunately, the project never panned out. But I'll keep these in my back pocket, along with tons of other rejected logos--maybe one day I'll get some inspiration from them.

Films en langue adorable

How completely adorable are these short films made for EF Language Schools?

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

While they all feature the same soundtrack (and roughly the same storyline), the films--tied together with some gorgeous typography--are great fun. I think Paris is my favorite, but you can see them all here.

Monday morning quarterbacking

So, as we all know, there was that big dumb football game yesterday, in which 2 teams in yellow pants played to see who was the best yellow pants team ever. But in between all the football, and yellow pants, was the most important part of the Super Bowl: no, not the Black Eyed Peas--although, huge props to them for A) actually singing; and B) being younger than a million years old. No, the best part of the Super Bowl is the ads!

OK, but not really this year.

Seriously, what up, ad agencies? This is it; your time to shine--these ads cost a bazillion dollars to air, and the best you can come up with is a kitchen remodel featuring Bud Light? Adrien Brody (Sidebar: yum) crooning for Stella Artois? People throwing Pepsi cans at each other? A guy sending flowers to his girlfriend, telling her in the card that he loves her enormous rack (but to be fair, it DID come from his heart)? A FACEBOOK-equipped car??? Disappointment, after disappointment, after disappointment.

The lone standout, in my opinion, was the VW commercial I posted on Friday. There were others that were clever: Audi's rich people in jail, Chevy's old folks home, Coke's border guards, and CarMax's flashback to the 50's, to name a few. But I was unimpressed with Eminem--both commercials--Diddy, Ozzy, Roseanne Barr... YAWN.

Did the yellow pants put you to sleep, like me? You can check out all you missed here at Brand Bowl 2011. Maybe next year, we'll have pants--and ads--with a little more variety.

Friday LOLs: Awwwwww, edition

I have such a soft spot in my heart for VW. The first non-used, brand new, "grown up" car I bought was a Jetta (man, that car was fun to drive)--actually, my first 2 grown up cars were Jettas, before I graduated to the super-grown up Passat Wagon (still fun to drive, but not nearly as fun as the Jetta). Nowadays I'm just another soccer mom in an SUV, but man, I fantasize about the day when we don't need that third row, and I can downsize back to a Jetta.

But I digress. VW has always had great advertisements (Fahrvergnügen, anyone?) and this one is no exception:



May the force be with you, VW.

The charmed life

I discovered the impossibly adorable Matchbook Magazine last week:



An e-zine that has branded itself as a "field guide to a charmed life," this look book is the brainchild of Katie Armour and Jane Lilly Warren. Adorable illustrations and fantastic photography are just part of the magazine's charm; inside you'll find everything from editors' wish lists, to Warby Parker (a fantastic online optical shop that not only sells glasses for $95, but also donates a pair of glasses when one is purchased. Words cannot express my disappointment in the fact that they do not sell bifocals. Sigh), to letterpress (YUM), to cover girl Lela Rose.

I feel like Matchbook is the type of magazine poised to take that spot in my magazine archives that Blueprint left behind. I am completely smitten.

Want:

This alphabet from Nathalie Nahas:



Yum, yummer, yummiest.

(originally seen on Bloesem)

Night & day

Last week I came across this pretty awesome photography challenge from Gizmodo: Using long exposures, users were asked to submit photos taken at night, that look like they were taken during the day.









In some of these shots, you can see the rotation of the earth in the stars... which I think adds to the cool factor. Sometimes, things aren't always what they seem.