Pin Jang, Take 2

*Disclaimer : the pictures in this post aren't beautiful. they were taken with a cell camera at night...don't judge*


Do you all remember this post about Pin Jang?

If you weren't following back then, take a moment to read it- or let me sum it up for you:

1. I love Target

2. Pin Jang (Taiwan based company) did a line of AWESOME kitchenware for Target.

3. Said collection includes bold white, black, red, and turquoise canisters, fruitbowls, bread boxes, wine racks, and a ton more things to make your kitchen/dining area more fun and funky.

4. I fell madly in love with a set of white canisters that came in 3 sizes...and couldn't find the smallest size in any store in Richmond, or online. I ended up getting a kick butt fruit bowl instead. (yes, fruit bowls can kick butt).

Okay, now that we're up to speed, fast forward a few weeks: I check my blog email account and find an email from a lovely person working in the Pin Jang U.S. Office. They said they had stumbled across my blog and were wondering if I had found the small canister yet (which I hadn't). 

Long story short- they sent the small canister to me!!! AH!! How these amazing people found my blog- I don't know, but a few days later this magical box came to my doorstep:

(Yes, I did white out my address. I mean, if y'all wanna start sending me presents too, let me know)

Upon opening it, there was the small canister- like a shining beacon of hope. Yeah, okay, I'm being a little dramatic- but MAN it was exciting. It's the little things in life, right?

(uh huh, you're seeing it right- SNL Best of Adam Sandler on the table too. google "Opera Man", it's hilarious!)

 Then the next day Michael's lovely parents sent me an early birthday gift- the WHOLE canister set. Needless to say, I'm up to my ears in canisters and I couldn't be happier.

So people at Pin Jang, if you're reading this right now, thank you, thank you, THANK you for creating amazing products and sending me the one I needed to complete the set. You all rock.

Are you all sold on Pin Jang yet?
If you are, you can buy it HERE.
If you're not, go HERE and maybe you'll change your mind.

Or go to your local Target- they have more items than online!

What do you think? Am I crazy to be this excited about something that holds coffee beans?

Oh, Tradition

As promised, I'm here today to share the little story behind our first Valentine's day.

WAIT! KEEP READING! I promise, this isn't a gooey gross story. It's a little funny actually!

     So, as you all know, I have the pleasure of living with and dating this stud:

Very manly and Minnesotan, right? Right.

    So Valentine's Day came only a month or two after we started dating- which is always a little awkward in a new relationship. Do you get a gift? A card? Nothing? Too soon? Luckily neither of us really care too much about presents and such so we got over that quickly. Now, both of our birthdays are a few days after V-Day (his is 1 day after mine, to be exact. it's how we met- but that's a story for another day), and Michael's parents happened to be coming to town to visit him and take him out for birthday dinner with his aunt & uncle who live right outside the city.
   Now, at this point I hadn't met his parents or any family for that matter...and the next thing I knew he was informing me that I'd be meeting them...at dinner...on Valentine's Day. Nothing like taking a romantic holiday and throwing a mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and cousin into the mix, right? I was actually thrilled and relieved because:
  a.) I was dying to meet the family he always talked about
 and
 b.) it took away any remaining pressure of worrying about what to do/plan for that night.

    I have to say- for those of you reading this: on paper- meeting someone's parents for the first time on Valentine's Day sounds awkward and weird, I know. I mean you don't even know these people and you're sitting at a restaurant surrounded by people making out! It either is a good idea or I was just lucky- but it was actually COMPLETELY perfect. Maybe it's just because Michael's family are some of the sweetest, most welcoming people I know- but there was not a second of tension or awkwardness. Seriously. If anything, all the smoochy couples around gave us something to laugh and talk about. At one point in the evening someone asked Michael if he got me some flowers, which he hadn't. A short while later when the checks were being brought around, the waiter gave each of us ladies a white rose. Now, of course this was something the restaurant did for every guest- but my dearest Michael, smooth as can be quickly said:


  "Um, that's actually from me! See! I got you flowers! And...got one for everyone else in the restaurant so they wouldn't feel left out!"

We all had a good laugh about it - and now each year he gets me a single white rose in honor of that awesome first Valentine's together. The perfect tradition, if you ask me! This year we both work and I volunteer- so it'll be a low key evening for us. Maybe I'll get motivated and make the raspberry blueberry fizz cocktail I talked about last week :)

****Oh, and I forgot to ever make a post about it...but I made V-Day hanging hearts to decorate the windows in the apartment (out of paint chips, of course):

What's your little Valentine's tradition with your love/friends/self? Any good stories to share?

Pin Jang.

   *Warning: This post is unnecessarily dramatic and contains fruit bowls.*

      You remember that whole Missoni craze that happened a few months ago at Target? Everyone went bonkers trying to grab the last chevron headband like it was the last drop of water on earth. I was one of the people who didn't get what the big dang deal was- and sat back while the women of the world swarmed the floors of Target. 

     

     I just didn't get why one product could be great enough to make or break the feng shui of your living/dining/bedroom. Well, karma has come back to haunt me in the form of Pin Jang. Target has a new  line of kitchenware- from Pin Jang in Taiwan. To be honest I have no idea whether Pin Jang is the name of the person or the company- but frankly I don't care. I love it all, and I want it all. Yup, I've be come a crazy Missoni-like obsessed person. The line includes canisters, fruit bowls, bread boxes & bowls in white, black, red and turquoise.

A few Pin Jang items

     The first time I saw the collection Michael and I were out shopping with some gift cards we had received from his family for Christmas. I literally ran (galloped?) over to the shelf and whipped out my phone to take a picture to send to Michael's sister, knowing she'd love it all too. 

   SIDENOTE: Do y'all know the look you get when you are excitedly taking pictures of canisters and fruit bowls? It's the: "grab your children and walk away quickly because that lady is off her rocker" look. Yup. I'm completely fine with it. 

     Where were we?

           Oh, right, taking pictures.

       So I snapped the picture and sent it to her- getting the excited response I had hoped for a few minutes later. I hemmed and hawed about whether to get them- Michael even told me that canisters had been on my (superlame) Christmas list, and I should get them. I decided they weren't a necessity and walked out the store without the bowl and 3 different sized white canisters I'd been eyeing.

     Of course, in true Laura fashion I changed my mind and went back to Target a few days later to purchase them- only to find the smallest size canister in the set was sold out. Damn. I went online to find it: sold out. Double Damn. We stopped at another Target later in the week to get them: sold out. #$%!@. Sigh. I guess this means I actually need to listen to the boy when he tells me to buy things. I hung my head and decided that I at least couldn't leave the store without the hexagonal metal fruit bowl.  Here she is:

Lovely, no?

So what do you think? Am I officially crazy for being sad about missing out on a $10 canister? Mom, I know you're saying "yes" right now...

If you find the small white canister in your area, send it on over to VA, we're all out here.

Charlottesville

We did a lot for our day in Charlottesville, and we'll definitely be going back to visit again. Just an hour drive from our apartment, the downtown is incredibly charming with a brick all pedestrian walkway lined with shops, restaurants, and cafes:

There's A HUGE chalkboard wall at one end with tons of chalk to write on (what a cool idea!):

 Of course, I'm a huge nerd and added this:

 Everything downtown was super trendy or super artsy, like this amazing mosaic couch:

 Per Kelly's request, we stopped at Miller's- the bar where Dave Matthews used to bartend before he was all famous and such:

After we finished our beers and our lunches we headed out to an apple orchard nearby. The drive was straight up the side of a mountain (or a foothill, technically I suppose)- and was completely gorgeous. When we got to the top we found it was a vineyard AND an apple orchard. Of course the grapes were all gone- but there were still apples to buy.

Next we headed over to Jefferson Vineyards.

We tasted 10 wines (and bought a bottle of a ridiculously good Petit Verdot)- all of which were really lovely. One of the guys working there overhead we went to Wisconsin for college and told us his roommate was from Ripon, WI. Small world, I tell ya.

After taking a few more pictures of the gorgeous land and stopping for a quick push-pop, we headed home..

In case you need something to do when visiting VA- there are almost 200 vineyards here. I think we'll try and visit them all...

Soup-er

I promise that's the last time I'll use that pun. Really. Well, maybe.

When I Googled "places to eat-Charlottesville, VA" - the number one place that kept popping up was Revolutionary Soup. Even people on Yelp loved it, and we all know that most of the reviews on yelp are written by cynical, bored people who have nothing better to do than complain about the fact that their filet mignon was 1 degree too cold and thus the restaurant they ate at should burn to the ground for such sacrilege.
Whew. Okay, I'll calm down.

So we went. And we ate. A lot.
We tried the:
-Creamy Rosemary Potato soup
-Spicy Sengalese Peanut Tofu soup
-Turkey and Barley soup
-Mozarella/Pesto/Red pepper sandwich
-Fair Trade Rootbeer from Portland, Maine

Holy full and overindulgence. It was all delicious- although the Spicy soup was really pretty spicy and thick and curry-ful- thus I couldn't get even close to finishing it. I guess I'm used to the Midwest's version of "spicy" which usually just means using a hint of pepper or something. This was actually spicy.

Aaaaaaaand finished.

This place was totally tiny but had a ton of menu items that were Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free or Dairy free. No wonder everyone loves it so much! Come visit us and we'll take you all for some soup!

You've got mail.

Michael and I are super lucky because we have amazing friends and family that understand our love for REAL mail, and since the move we've gotten lots of love in the form of cards and packages. We've been returning the favor by sending postcards when we go to new places around the South. After sending out a recent batch I remembered some vintage postcards I had purchased in MN and WI before we left:

 As you can see, we have the capitol buildings in Madison and Saint Paul, as well as a fun "Greetings from St.Paul" postcard in the middle. The absolute best part about buying postcards from antique shops is that if you're lucky, you find a used one that was actually sent- and you can capture a minute in time for the life of someone out there.

       This first card sent from Merrill, Wisconsin in 1915. YUP. 1915.  I didn't realize it when I first purchased it- I thought it was old because it was sent when the new capitol building was built (first showing to the public in 1915). The date in the lower left corner says 11/15- but  I was confused that the cost was 2 cents, since I thought postage only increased in price- and the other one I have was from 1949 and cost 1 cent. I did some research and it turns out that ~1915-1917 the cost of postage went up to 2 cents, and then a few years later went back down to 1 cent! I know, exciting, right? The other giveaway was the white border- which was used from 1915-1930- starting during WWI to save money on ink! (See y'all, it's not just Michael that gives History lessons out left and right!)

- sent from WI to MA " Dear Grandpa, Have been up in Wisc about a week. Will pro[b]ably be up here until after Thanksgiving. Hope you are well, Kenneth"

 This one was clearly sent in 1949 from St. Paul, and the writing on it is so great!

"Hi Don!! Plenty cold here but on the move so it isn't so bad. Attending Winter Carnival here and it is beautiful. Everyone is in a gala mood- a regular Mardi Gras. - Elenor"

 My plan is to frame them, but I love both sides of them so much I can't decide which to frame! We'll definitely be going to antique shops out here and hopefully I'll be able to find some old Virginia ones too.

All this being said, don't hold yourself back in sending us some more mail folks :) !

Thanks Jar

It's PIN-A-WEEK time dear friends. This week's pin came from some of my favorite bloggers (fellow Richmonders), Sherry and John @Young House Love. I call it the Thanks Jar - every day (or every time) you feel like it, you write down something you're thankful for on a slip of paper and keep them all in the jar until Thanksgiving. Since Michael and I won't be home for Thanksgiving this year, we figured it would be a good tradition to start for the two of us!

 The full link for their jar is here. They finished theirs with an etching cream- which gives the glass a more subtle "thanks" instead of the bold one I did.

First things first, I grabbed a big mason jar from Michael's and taped my printed out "thanks" to it.

 This next step I did differently from YHL (honestly, theirs is WAY better. oops.). I covered the "thanks" in painters tape so I could still see the lettering through the tape.

 Using an X-acto knife i started cutting out the letters from the tape.

 Since I wasn't worried about using the jar for food, and since it wouldn't be handled a lot I just used basic acrylic paint for the lettering.

 I used a sponge brush to give it a little texture instead of just a basic smooth finish.

 I yanked off the tape while the paint was still a little wet to make sure I had gotten every nook and cranny.

 I added a little ribbon so it wouldn't be too simple...

So there you have it! Our first ever Thanks Jar!

Oh, and yes, I am fully aware the letters aren't perfect...in fact, it kiiiiind of looks like a child's handwriting. I like it that way though- it gives it a sweet, fully homemade look. (And at a homemade price - about $1.00!)

I'll let you know after Thanksgiving if there were any good "thankful for" slips...