Bright WeSC earbuds!

I am fanatic about my iPod, I rarely leave home without it. I'm not such a fan of my plain white earbuds though... they're just so boring. My cute green iPod needs a friend and I have found the perfect match.

Theeeese!

-sigh- Aren't these earbuds from WeSC magnificent? The colors are so lovely and they're small so you don't have this giant thing hanging out of your ear and falling out. Best of all they're on sale for $26 each at Karmaloop right now.

Some extra info for those of you who understand what this means:

unisex in-ear headphones

• type: 10mm power drivers

• 1kHz sensitivity: 102 dB

• impedance: 32 Ohms

• frequence range: 20-20 001 Hz

• plug: gold-plated 3,5mm stereo

• cord: 1,25m + 1,0m extension, PVC cord

• weight: 20g

Just one problem. What color?!?

Image credits: Karmaloop

Vegetarian Chili

I have the most amazing vegetarian chili recipe. It is so delicious that you will not miss the meat at all, trust me.

I love love love chili, but when I stopped eating meat for almost a year, I also stopped eating chili, for a while. Then I discovered this incredible recipe from Williams-Sonoma (love them too) and not only did I enjoy chili again, I made it myself :D

This is MY chili recipe though, and it'll go into my "family recipes" book when I become old and young'uns start asking me how to cook things.

Here it is. Enjoy it. I'm not posting any pictures because pictures of my food always make it look really unappetizing.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups dried red kidney beans
1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
6 tbsp (1 oz./ 30 g.) chili powder
2 1/2 tbsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 cans (28 oz./875 g) crushed plum tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
fresh cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)


PREP
Pick over the beans and discard any damaged beans and stones. Rinse the beans. Place in a bowl and add water to cover generously. Let stand for about 3 hours. Drain the beans and set aside.

In a large, heavy saucepan over low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and chili peppers and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, cayenne and oregano and sauté, stirring, for 2 minutes more. Add the beans, tomatoes and water to cover by 3 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are very tender and have begun to fall apart, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Add water if the beans begin to dry out but are not yet cooked.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into warmed bowls, sprinkle with the cheese and cilantro and serve immediately.

Serves 6

Note: If you don't want to spend 3 hours cooking beans, 2 cans of kidney beans also works, you just have to cook them for a few minutes until they are hot.

Adapted from: Williams-Sonoma The Best of the Kitchen Library: Vegetarian
   

Magpie's Cakes

I have found who is going to make my wedding cake someday. Magpie's. Seriously. Look at these. I don't know if I have the courage to cut into one of her cakes. Good thing I don't really like cake, so I can let everyone else feel guilty about eating it.

Photo credits: Magpie's Cake

Micro Cars

One day, when I am rich, I will own a collection of micro cars. Every rich person has some wacky expensive hobby, and this will be mine. I love them. I love their cute bubble shapes and the crazy colors you can paint them and how extremely cool you look driving them. Like this dude:

It all started with my dream to own a Fiat 500, then my dear boyfriend then introduced me to the OLD Fiat 500 (which is about 100000 times cuter). There's just something about a tiny car shaped like an egg with big windows that makes me squeal like the little girl I am. With that, I started looking at other small cars that were made in the 50's, and there are so many I never imagined they used to be so popular. It makes me sad you see hardly any these days, though I would be kind of scared to drive around with all those full-sized SUV out on the road.

I picked through an extensive collection and these few are my favorites.

Enjoy my future collection of micro cars ;)

 Clockwise from top left: 1960 Messerschmitt KR-200 | 1960 Goggomobil T-300 | 1962 Fiat 500 Jolly | BMW Isetta (many) |  1966 Peel Trident | 1958 Brütsch Mopetta

I just have to share just one more.

A mini police car!! Can you imagine a big angry German police officer trying to pull you over in one of these? I think I would die from laughing.

Oh yeah. Top gear has a feature on the smallest micro car in the world, the Peel P50. It's hilarious.

Photo credits: Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum
Video credit: Top Gear

Little Cottage Gets A Makeover

The folks at Country Home took an old cottage in Des Moines and gave it a much needed transformation using re-purposed items and eco-friendly materials. It came out super duper cute. The cottage is only 975 sq. ft. so smaller furniture was used to fit the space better. The plain white walls let the playful colors stand out without being overpowering.

Love the mismatching patterns and fresh colors in the living room, which along with the natural fabrics give the place a cozy, relaxed look.

The dining room and living room are combined so the round table allows traffic to flow in the small space. Vintage runners are used in place of a tablecloth and match the color scheme in the living area.

The small kitchen looks bright and open without overhead cabinets and the turquoise color, which is used throughout the home makes a lovely contrast with the white cabinets and wood floors.

The corkboard with the shutters framing it looks so interesting and adds a ton of personality to an otherwise boring workspace.

This is my absolute favorite, the colors are just perfect. A cute yellow dotted shower curtain tones down the classic look of the bathroom, and the sliding doors look really romantic but don't take up a lot of space.







It's rooms like this that make me wish I had an attic. The mix of patterns is crazy but still works in this small space.

Original article: Country Home

Moss Terrariums

As someone who loves plants but unfortunately suffers from having a black thumb (I manage to kill even cacti -sob-), I'm always looking out for plants that are hard to kill. I bought at the market the other day a little tray that came with 5 types of succulents. I have managed, to my surprise, to keep 3 out of the 5 still alive! It's been more than 6 months so I think I can bask in my success.
Lately, I've discovered moss. It's super easy to take care of and is green and fluffy, I love it.

Looking on Etsy, there are all sorts of cute terrariums in all shapes and sizes. All you need for these moss terrariums are sunlight and a few drops of water about once a week. How great is that??

These are my favorites:





Steamed Glass Studio makes his terrariums out of light bulbs (hooray for reusing!) and uses copper to make the stands and add lovely accents to the pieces. Prices range from $35 t0 $200.









Moss Terrariums makes terrariums in vases and cute little jars. They also have terrariums with ferns in them that are gorgeous but still easy to care for. Prices from $12 to $73.











If you prefer more whimsical designs, Betty's Fantasy adds all sorts of teeny houses and critters to her terrariums. They even sell just the accessories, if you would prefer to make your own. Only thing I don't like is that the moss isn't really living, it's supposed to be like "taxidermy moss". Prices from $19 to $72.








Well, since we're on the subject of terrariums... I thought I would include these succulent terrariums from Stilllily since they're so pretty. You can hang them or place them on a flat surface. I would love one in my apartment since the ceilings are really high and I don't have to worry about anyone hitting their head D: Prices from $35 to $120.







Lastly, since I'm already on a tangent anyway, there are these amazingly adorable teeny fake terrarium necklaces by Woodland Belle. Behold! Price for the necklaces is $45.

Artist Highlight: Andrea Hübner

In my eye candy posts I will show off pictures of anything that I find beautiful or inspires me. Hope you enjoy these.

While browsing DeviantArt yesterday I found these beautiful photos by user Andrea-h. They take my breath away, I love the colors shes uses in her pictures and the landscapes are gorgeous. Her pictures have such a dreamy quality to them.

Take a look at some of my favorites:

Photo credit: Andrea Hübner