Glasses, glasses everywhere

I'm generally not a person who gets all that worked up about kitchen stores. Cooking is fun (though not as much fun as eating), but it's not like I'm gonna get high on a really nice set of pots.

There is an exception. As my mother pointed out after we made a pilgrimage to Ikea, I really like glasses (she must have noticed that I picked up all 2,019 of them in the store). Napa Style has some really nice stemless champagne flutes etched with botanical designs (tumblers, too!). They'd probably look just as nice filled with grape juice, or a low-priced wine equivalent.


Aforementioned Ikea has lots of lovelies, too, from blue cocktail glasses to the super groovy Komedi model, right.

Nearly every glass offered at MoMA is miles above your average clear cylinder, from the inside-out champagne glasses to these bright, swooping, almost-but-not-quite juvenile curved glasses (below).


But the prize for Best Glasses Ever goes to the wares from WarauKoppu (top). If those smiling carafes don't make getting your daily dosage of H2O a little better, well, you don't deserve them.

Post-holiday happy-drums (you know, the opposite of doldrums)

Happy New Year!
Did I say the blog would be back in January? Whoops, I meant February. Fortunately, I'm making myself practically perfect in every way thanks to One Year to an Organized Life. I'm sure that once I get the hang of Zen organizing, this blog will be updated with regular precision. And I will never again lose my keys or have a hamper full of dirty clothes.

In the meantime, here's what everyone got for Christmas. I couldn't put it up earlier because that would have ruined the surprises. But now, the bearer of Santa's sack would like to brag. Just a little.

Several people got soap or soapy stuff from Fridays at the Farm, a wonderful little Oregon operation. The soaps smell awesome (I particularly like Goat's Milk Goodnight) and the packaging, featuring vintage photos from the makers' families, can't be beat. You can even give them your own photo for a custom label!

The "big gift" of the season was a stovetop smoker. we've already gotten some pretty dang good smoked chicken out of it; I'm really looking forward to attempting salmon.

For wine-loving recipients, I couldn't resist a wine bottle cozy from Napa Style. How great is a drunken reindeer on your bottle of cabernet?


Etsy was not ignored, of course. I found a tie that actually inspired desire at the shop of toybreaker. Admittedly, some of their creations are a little daring for my taste (so I'm a prude, but how would you react to someone in a meat grinder tie?), but the silk ties with flowers are nothing but gorgeous. Subsequent wearings have proved such ties draw unprovoked compliments.