7by7: April 16th 2010

TGIF? or maybe its just TGIThursday where you are. either way kick back and take a peek at my week. it was a week spent moving piles of stuff from one room to another. you know when you decided to shift a few things around and then all of a sudden every surface in the house is covered in stuff? thats what my week has been like. and to be honest, its still not all put back. its like a big game of chess, with three rooms getting reorganized at once. i've enjoyed unearthing a few forgotten treasures, and in breaks from shifting and sifting i've done some baking, and some hardcore 'sitting down' too.

i'm really enjoying this month's page of my charley harper calendar. the colors are so crisp and mid-century! that turquoise and olive green might just be my new favorite color combination and i'll be sad to turn the page in a couple of weeks. maybe it can go in a frame on may 1st.

speaking of good design, my current read, 'design as art' by bruno munari is really interesting and i highly recommend any designers reading pick up a copy. its thought provoking and inspiring without being overly dry and academic.

in amongst the tidying i found these scented pens. i bought them from the sanrio store in melbourne mainly for their packaging, but as soon as i sniffed them i remembered being so excited about 'smelly pens" in grade 1. smelly pens and stickers were like the currency of the classroom back then! oh and little bitty bins... anyone else remember the small plastic trash-bin-shaped containers? i remember being crushed with disappointment when my dad picked me up from school and told me he had a surprise for me. i was convinced i was getting a bitty bin and immediately worked myself into a frenzy of excitement, but it turned out he'd bought a new car. i was unimpressed! sure it was a surprise, but it was the bad kind (the kind thats not a bitty bin!) man, was i ever a spoiled brat!

another bit of cute i found were these hysterical meat-cut stickers. they're by 'mindwave' a japanese kawaii brand. i don't know if its a cultural thing, but are kids into meat cuts?! i must be getting old. anyway i thought they were so fabulously bizarre i had to have them, hidden away in a drawer, only to be discovered and amuse me aaaaall over again!

so as i mentioned the cleaning frenzy has been interspersed with some domestic activities such as baking. saturday was just me and the kid home so i thought we'd kill time and some over ripe bananas. this cake turned out sooo good. sometimes banana cake is heavy and stodgy but this one turned out really fluffy. i credit any success to the kitchenaid mixer!!

and while the oven was going we got to work preparing some roasted tomato soup. these babies got quartered, then bathed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and studded with garlic cloves and left to slow roast. mmm! they made the house smell so good. i pureed them and mixed in some fried onion, herbs, bacon and stock and have enjoyed soup all week. i forget how rewarding a little bit of effort can be. remind me of that next time i'm skipping proper lunch in favor of a creme egg...

finally, check out this awesome cubist dog picture by my son. i love a dog with angles! its definitely a dog though i'm not sure what breed, i was informed by the artist himself (he's 3 and a half) that it has an ear, an eye and a nose, so bidding starts at $500. can someone get me the phone number for MOMA?

i hope you have a great weekend wherever you are! anyone got any grand adventures planned? take care and i hope you'll swing by on monday to check out next week's vintage etsy finds!