Well, you don't know what we can find. Why don't you come with me little girl on a magic carpet ride.

Mad Mats are amazing indoor/outdoor rugs made from 98% recycled plastic. They come in amazing colors and designs. They're perfect for outdoor patios, the beach, picnics, hallway runners and my favorite, in the kitchen. The turkish design comes in some amazing colorways and looks really cool over black and white floor tile. Mad Mats come in a variety of sizes including 4'x6', 5'x8' and 2.5'x8'. Awesome colors and designs. They are very eco, really cool looking, super easy to clean and unbelievable inexpensive. They range from $45.00 to $75.00 depending on the size and style.

I bought mine at:

MAISON MIDI

160 S. LA BREA AVENUE
LOS ANGELES, CA. 90036 US
Telephone: (323) 932-5686

You can also buy direct from their website at http://www.sweepdreams.com/

Let them eat cake! King cake.

Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow is Lent...

King Cake is traditionally served to celebrate Fat Tuesday. It is made with a rich bread dough that is filled with a cinnamon mixture and braided into a ring. It is typically frosted, and adorned with purple, yellow and green (purple to represent justice, green to represent faith, and gold to represent power). That's waaay too much work for us. Here's a super easy King Cake recipe that nobody will know didn't take you all day in the kitchen to prepare. If you’ve never had or baked a King Cake before, there is no time like the present to start.

Mardi Gras King Cake

Ingredients:

1 (13.9-ounce) can bread sticks
1 (1-inch) heat proof plastic baby (optional)
1 (12-ounce) can whipped cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup heavy cream
Green sanding sugar
Purple sanding sugar
Yellow sanding sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Open bread sticks. Press together the ends of 2 of the sticks to make 1 long stick. Repeat with the remaining bread sticks giving you 6 long sticks. Taking 3 at a time, loosely braid together. Repeat with remaining dough. Pinch the braids together end to end. Leaving a 3-inch hole in the middle, loosely coil braids around one another on prepared baking sheet. Press ends together.

Bake in preheated oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until completely golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely. Carefully insert the baby into the cake in between the seams of the braid. In a medium pot combine the cream cheese frosting and heavy cream. Heat over low heat until warm and smooth, stirring constantly. Pour glaze over cake and sprinkle with sanding sugars.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

The very fact that the panther can become extinct while the Pekingese survives indicates to me that someone hasn’t thought this thing through

The four magic words that power every fashionista fantasy... PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER RING!!!!

Louis Cartier's creative partner Jean Toussaint was nicknamed the Panther. The feline motif is a tribute to devastating seduction, mysterious beauty and untamed character.

I love, love the deco aesthetic of this ring. I can hear the mermaids singing. Sadly with it's $14,000 price tag I do not think that they will sing to me....

And if god gave you way too much money...

Double, double toil and trouble... A Valentine's Day spell!

To Encourage a Lover’s Return


To bring a lover back you need a box of new pins, an onion, and the desire for your partner’s love. As always, if your thoughts are not purely of love, you will suffer.

Begin on a Friday night by pressing one pin into the onion. Imagine you are putting a thought into your lover’s mind. As you pierce the onion with the pin recite the following:
It is not this onion I wish to stick,
But your mind and heart I wish to prick.
You’ll think of me night and day,
Until with words you arrive and say,
“I Love You.”

Leave the onion in sunlight, to invoke enlightenment. This spell must be repeated for seven consecutive nights, preferably at the same time each evening. When the onion has seven pins in it your spell is complete. Plant the onion in the ground with love’s blessing.

Ikat: "ee-kot"

The technique of Ikat weaving is centuries old. Ikat is a style of weaving that using a tie die process on the warp of the fabric before the threads are woven creating an intricate pattern or design. This varies from the primitive to the sublime. Through common usage the word has come to describe both the process and the cloth itself. Ikats are perfect for throw pillows and a creative way of bringing together a color palate and adding a touch of whimsy or elegance to a room depending on the ikat you choose. Or you could upholster a chair for a bit more impact.

Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!

Auntie Mame is the colorful, flamboyant, madcap aunt of a young boy, Patrick, who is orphaned when his father dies. In Auntie Mame's care, Patrick is quickly introduced to his aunt's free-spirited and eccentric lifestyle. As Mame watches her young nephew grow into a man she attempts to rescue him from the conventional lifestyle toward which he is heading. We could all use an Auntie Mame in our life!  Better yet, we should all strive to be the Auntie Mame in someone else's.

Julio Romero de Torres

Julio Romero de Torres (1874-1930)  was a Spanish artist known for his sensual portraits of women. He painted prostitutes, gitanas, actresses and  demimondes all gracing his canvases with dignity and pride in spite of their position on the periphery of society. Torres considered himself as a frustrated flamenco singer – if he had had to choose between being the flamenco singer Juan Breva or the artist Leonardo da Vinci, he would have chosen Breva.

When he died, every shop, theatre, and bar in Cordoba closed its doors and the whole city poured onto the streets for his funeral. His was the funeral of a man who had immortalised the Cordoba woman and the Andalusian copla with inimitable style. http://www.museojulioromero.com/