KEA-I-AY (pig latin)

Most of my friends do not enjoy Ikea like I do.  In fact, I brought Table Topics "Not Your Mom's Dinner Party" to dinner a little while ago and the question was "What's your personal hell?"  My friend's answer was hilarious, "Ikea."  He described the maze and feeling trapped and I completely understand and I still love the place and that's why I found it so funny. 

Let's make a deal,  I'll shop Ikea in person so you don't have to.  I had a few minutes to breeze through Ikea on Monday and here's what I found:

Ikea's sand toys are amazing!  I'm surprised they're not $10 each, they're a thicker plastic than the sand toys you might find at target or toys r us.  They hold up, I've had these same toys for 2 years.  And the sets are creative, an Ice Cream set with cones and everything.  They're called SANDIG, they're in the kid's section and they always go fast at $1-$3 each:

I'm going to have to add this new ALMSTA chair to my Bistro Chairs post.  It's so cute and it has arms!  One of my Design instructors once said it's better to have ALL armchairs at a table for a dinner party because your guests will be more comfortable and want to hang out longer.  I think this chair would look great with just about any table in a breakfast area or casual dining room.

Check out this fantastic vintage looking metal and glass cabinet.  It comes in 3 colors.  I would love this in a kitchen or bathroom.  If I had a retail shop, this would make a great display case as well.  It's called FABRIKOR:

Oh how I love this sketchy black and white fabric.  It would be great in a kid's room or playroom as drapes or even a pillow.  There's a whale, ballerina, dog, letter C, bicycle, a light bulb, camera, cake...  what kid wouldn't like fabric with a cake on it?  Even a shower curtain would be cool.  It's called JULITA:

Look at all the colors in this high pile, wool rug.  I want it!  I'd want it for a cozy rug in a modern nursery, or maybe it would be nice on the foot overlapping something in my master?  It's supposed to be "naturally soil repellent and very durable" and it's called ORSTED:

These spice mills are officially on my Grown-Up Wish List pinterest board.  My kitchen wants them as art. :)  They're called KRYDDIG:

Did you know Ikea sells plants?  I didn't really start paying attention until I started stalking the store in anticipation of the topiaries I learned about from Little Green Notebook.  Haven't seen the topiaries but look at these succulents:

Here's a cute vintage looking clock for your kitchen.   It comes in green or cream and it's pretty big @ 2 feet in diameter.  It's called SKOVEL:

I always wanted this play kitchen for my kids.  It's compact, real-looking and it's now at a lower price!  It's called DUKTIG:

I picked up a few of these solar powered lanterns in the color orange for my son's birthday party and they are awesome!  Just take them out of the package, switch them on, hang and they automatically light up when the sun goes down. 

Solvinden

I have no time to write about these last things that caught my eye but I still wanted to include them:

There you have it, a trip to Ikea without going into the store!  I hope you enjoyed it this time!  I did, while I was there I heard a woman ask a sales associate, "Ummmmm... Ma'am, can you just tell me how to get back to the parking lot???"  More hilarity about the maze!

Quick link to a great dinner party game!:

For My Mom

In honor of my Mom this Mother's Day I would like to give her something.  I think she'd love how much fun my sister and I are having with our blogs.  After all, my Mom was excited and using Prodigy before any of us thought about using the internet on a regular basis and I'm pretty sure she beat me to shopping online.  She died (sorry, I have a hard time saying "lost" or "passed away" when it comes to her) in 2003 before our kind of blogging and social media took off and I think it would have been a dream of hers to have her art exhibited online, floating on the information super highway and inspiring others.  So without further ado, I would like to feature an exhibit of my Mom's amazing talent, tell it to your neighbor!

Tracy Kranz Sundstrom: Painting, Drawing and Collage

The Aborigine

Ice in a Glass

Collage, my daughter says this is a map with bridges over water.

Old Man drawing, I'm thinking of doing something cool with this in my Master Plan.

Ladies Fashion by the Pool, she said she painted this from a fashion photo shoot pic she found in a magazine.

Still of the Forest, Gouache

Potter

Jackie O and Her Sister Lee, this painting is older than I am and I cannot believe I just found this!

Wasn't she an amazing artist?!!!  And there's so so so much more to her I hope to tell you about someday.  I love her and I miss her so much.  Below is a picture of me (on the left) from La Jolla, my mouth dropped when I saw it because I knew there was a similar picture of my Mom (on the right).  I went digging and found the picture of my Mom and my mouth dropped again because it was freaky similar, the visor, the swimsuit, the sunglasses... like history repeating itself.  We were around the same age but her pic was from 25 years ago, crazy! 

Me and My Mom around the same age.

I hope you enjoyed the exhibit of my Mom's art, she would have enjoyed getting to show it to you.  Happy Mother's Day to you all.  Celebrate a mom and/or anything else you want this weekend because life on earth is short!

Dining Room Rug

My sister said her dining room was stale and boring and she asked me what she should do to fix the problem.   I had been looking for her a dining room rug for a long time and I had also been trying to get her to add pink as an accent in her home.  In case you don't know us personally, we are each others consultants.  It is a great relationship we have!  Anyway, I had just seen a rug that would be perfect!  We looked at it online, she loved it, we went to take a look at it in person and the rest is history.  Here are before and after pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER

The rug is from west elm.  Isn't it so pretty?!!  I just love it and better yet, she loves it!  It's flat woven so the chairs can slide easily across it.  It's affordable, kiddos dine here all the time so if something spills, no one will cry.  It's graphic and bold, love this quality in a rug to spice up an interior and make it interesting.  It's pink, the color is unexpected and complements her home so well, beautiful!

I'm thinking I should get 2 runners and sew them together for my hallway.  Wouldn't that look lovely?!  It's a masculine pattern in a feminine color, perfect!  Here's west elm's photo of the product:

west elm, phoenix wool dhurrie

I've been collecting rugs on my Flooring board on Pinterest, here are a few I'm loving for the same reasons I love this one from west elm, click on the images and I'll take you there:

Also, I collect things for my sister, Carly, on my board called For CD.

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party, Part 1

I'm going to start backwards for sharing our daughter's 5th birthday party, starting with the cake.  Minnie Mouse was the theme and this was way back in October.

My daughter caught a glimpse again of elaborate cakes on Pinterest while I was planing her party.  She was in awe of the tiered cakes covered in pink and white fondant and topped with Minnie Mouse ears.  I had seen this beautiful cake and I loved the bunting topper.  Also, I'm still Hooked on Bundts.  So I thought I'd try to marry the three and do so very quickly and easily.  Here's how I did it:

I started with a tiered cake ordered from Nothing Bundt Cakes with a hot pink bow and wrapped in cellophane.  I stored it in the fridge until I was ready to add the accessories.

For the Minnie Mouse ears, I wanted to make sure the proportions were right so I traced them from my daughter's costume onto Black Adhesive Foam Sheets and cut them out.  These ears are double sided so I needed 2 of each side.

Then I scored and removed all but a strip of the paper backing so that I could slide these onto a wood skewer.

Then stuck the two sides together, trimmed it a little to tidy it up and slid it onto the skewer.

For the mini bunting, Mama Moonlights rocked the house again and shrank the regular size pennants from her party packs for me.  I printed the mini Minnie pennants (ha!) at home on sticker paper and cut them out.  Then I laid it out for spacing before I peeled the bunting stickers and folded them over pink and white baker's twine.

After I stuck the ears in, I tied the string to the top of the skewers and wrapped it all back up in cellophane and stuck it back in the fridge.

We cannot forget the candles, I found them last minute at Target.  Pink and white polka dot!

After a successful transport to the party place, here is the Minnie Mouse cake on display (couldn't help myself with that link):

And with the candles lit!

And a happy kiddo making a wish:

Oh and I almost forgot, I ordered an extra cake for the adults and I obviously should have ordered a pink bow for this one as well:

Bonus, I kept the ears and get to reuse them for our little boy's "Orange Mickey Mouse" party!

Waiting for Wind

I didn't realize I was waiting for wind.  I ordered these cute kites for my son's birthday coming up later this month, he loves Mickey Mouse and we all love Mary Poppins.  The adorable kites arrived a couple weeks ago and as soon as it was windy I said, "Let's Go Fly a Kite!" 

So we gave our almost 3 year old an early birthday present because I couldn't wait.  :)  And I'm so glad we did because it turned out to be a really fun family date, tell it to your neighbor!  It just so happens I also picked up CRAVE cupcakes earlier that day (I'm still addicted) and we brought them to snack on at the park.

Going to fly a kite is not exactly the first thing families think of when they're looking for something to do on the weekend and if you do think of it, the wind has to be cooperating.  Well, this weekend in Houston, the wind is here!!!  Please let me help you remember this pastime of kite flying because it was so much fun and the memories are already in my brain forever.  

It was a lot less of a hassle than you might think.  All you need is a kite (I saw a new display of them on an end cap at Target today) and a field without power lines.  We went to Colonial Park, there are power lines at one end of the field but luckily the wind was blowing in the opposite direction.  Just hop out of the car and send it soaring!

We would help them get their kites off the ground and then they'd run around like the happiest kiddos on earth.

We took a break and ate our cupcakes.

Then went to fly some more!

I bought the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse SkyPals nylon kites by Wind N Sun on Amazon, they're made of ripstop fabric.  The company has a bunch of cute kites, check out the otter ones. ;)

And check out this cute Nemo and Dory combination I found on Fab.com, they're huge!:

I wonder if Anthony Yanez can tell us how long this kite flying wind will be around and I wonder if the weather people have a log of safe places to fly a kite in H-town.  I'll tweet him to find out and I'll let you know on facebook if he responds!  In the meantime, go out and get a kite and make memories while we have this wind!