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Nope.  I’m not talking about that list of qualities your fairytale in-laws possess in your dreams… You know, the dreams where eating organically isn’t considered “hippie” and you and your mother-in-law share the exact same tastes and shoe-size?  No?  Just me?  Humph.

I’m talking Christmas Wish Lists + The In-Laws… i.e.: Sticky Situation in the Making, right?

Telling Evs’ parental units what I want for Christmas continues to be awkward for me… This is definitely one of those aspects of marriage that I never considered when we got engaged.  Last year, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of his mom and dad.  However, while I do love a pretty package under the tree with my name on it, if it were 100% up to me, I wouldn’t make any specific requests from my new side of the family for the holidays.

However, my Mother-in-Law insists upon the submission of a Christmas Wish List prior to Halloween.  Yep, we have an Early Shopper on our hands.  Which, kudos to her - I always find myself, eight days before Christmas, circling the mall parking garage aimlessly, stalking exiting shoppers for their parking stops and beating my head against the steering wheel in time to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Ahem.

Anyhoo, as instructed, I recently submitted my In-Law Wish List.  As always (”always” being relative since really this is my first year to have technical “in-laws” but whatever), I followed the Three Cardinal Rules of Gift-Requesting-From-Non-Blood-Relations-You-Don’t-Have-Sex-With:

(1) Lots of options
(2) Lots of price-points but nothing over $50
(3) No clothes (don’t ask me why - just feels weird)

Now, without further adieu… The In-Laws Wish List!

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When I packed up for college - headed to North Carolina from Austin, Texas - I was looking forward to lots of things.  One of them (lame enough) was seasons!  Changing leaves and snowfall were foreign concepts to me, and I was thrilled to sport my meager winter wardrobe for months at a time, as opposed to three days out of the year.  Actually, “Boys in Sweaters” ranked pretty high up on the “Pros Column” when selecting Wake Forest University as my undergrad alma matter, if I remember correctly.

But people kept mentioning the rain.  ”Oh its rainy up there - pack your umbrella!”  ”Do you have a good raincoat?  North Carolina sees a lot of wet weather!”  Um, okay silly adults, I’m from Texas, remember?  I’ve been practicing tornado drills since kindergarten and survived some pretty severe thunderstorms… I’m pretty sure I can handle “the wet season.”  Bring it, North Carolina.

Yes, well.  By October, my foot was planted firmly in my mouth as rain - from drizzle to downpour - continued for days on end.  Some days, I felt like Forest Gump and Bubbah… hard rain, soft rain, sideways rain, upside-down rain - on and on and on!  And it was cold!  By Christmas-List-Making-Time, I was coveting the Northfaces that seemed standard fare for my South-Eastern classmates, and something nearly identical to this topped my wish-list.

Ever the practical shopper, my mom found a coat she claimed to be “the Northface’s twin!”  You won’t even know the difference, she promised.  I took the woman at her word… and subsequently walked around campus like this for several months a year for the next four years:

{source}

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As I’ve lamented before on EADL, Evs and I have quite the blank space looming large right above one of our living room sofas. Finding a piece that’s affordable, fills the space, and is aesthetically pleasing to the both of us has been quite the challenge.

Then there’s my love of gallery walls.  However, The Cottage has neither a staircase nor a deep enough hallway to boast the collection of images I’ve dreamed up in my head.

Enter the “Shelf Gallery!”

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Week #3 of my series on Etsy favorites was all about accessorizing your wardrobe… Week #4 is all about accessorizing your home!

Hijirik

I’ve sung the praises of Hirijik before but I’ll say it again: the “Live What You Love” letterpress post series is my favorite non-cheesy, gender-neutral art piece I’ve found!  We have the red in our living room and my computer background boasts the lime green at work!

Geninne

After seeing Geninne’s vibrant watercolor prints, I fell instantly in love.  An artist living in Mexico City, Geninne’s creations have both a vintage vibe with a bit of funk!  I’ve already determined that 4 of these little birdies are coming to roost in Dallas - I think they’ll look lovely framed in a foursome-square somewhere in our little cottage!

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Here we are in Week #3 of my series on Etsy Finds for all of life’s spheres!  Last week we explored Etsy’s options for our fall closets, and this week its time to accessorize!

Galit Barak

While offering all types of jewelry, I pick Galit Barak for her 14k gold crocheted cocktail rings - bold enough to be worn as a statement piece but dainty enough for all occasions!

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Welcome back to Week #2 of my series featuring my favorite Etsy finds!  If you missed last week’s post on ceramics, you can find it here. This week - as kiddos around the country pack their backpacks and brown-bag lunches - its all about the fashion!  Just think of this as a little Adult Back to School Shopping! Now let’s get on with it…

Liza Rietz

Portland-based designer Liza Rietz creates frocks, jackets and hats that are both softly feminine and architecturally modern at the same time.  Plus, can you really ever beat a garment that is custom-tailored to your measurements?   The Ruffle Dress, Kimono Jacket, and Ruffle Bib Dress are my picks for versatile investment pieces combining classic lines with up-to-date details.

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For those of you that read E.A., you know I’m mad for Etsy!  There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t scour its pages, hunting for unique items to feature in our home, my closet, or a gift bag for a friend.  There are so many incredibly talented people out there, and I love knowing that I’m purchasing something made by hand on a small, personal scale.  I like to think of it as shopping “global-locally!”

Anyhoo, in honor of my new favorite online pastime, I thought I’d do an EAD Living series featuring my favorite Etsy sellers in different categories, starting with my latest fixation: pottery and ceramics!

PrinceDesign UK

I just recently discovered PriceDesign UK when searching far and wide for a little bowl to sit sit on our kitchen window ledge to hold my engagement and wedding rings whilst cooking.

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Several inquiring minds have asked about my favorite items received off our registry and, while this may seem like a post more suited for the EAD Weddings, I decided to run with it over here in hopes that ya’ll like sneak-peeks into other folks’ homes just as much as I do!

Warning: I’m skipping over the items that I would guess 95% of American brides register for - we all know we love our colorful Kitchenaid mixers and our china pattern (if we went that route), and I would bet that most couples get great use out of their Calphalon / Le Creuset / All-Clad, etc.  So I’ll be concentrating on items that (a) surprised me with their usefulness and/or quality, or (b) are a bit out of the ordinary.

First up… a Good Quality Wood Cutting Board

We have the Artisan Cutting Board from Williams-Sonoma and I freakin’ love this thing!  Its big enough for a decent work station yet unobtrusive enough to leave out on the counter all the time.  Its light, making transfers to pots on the stove a snap.  And its good looks enable it to work double-duty as a serving platter (great for a cheese display).  Synthetic cutting boards definitely have their place in my kitchen, but I use this one every day and never put it away.

Basic White Dinnerware

If you know me, this one probably comes as a shocker because I love color!  I have candy-apple-red appliances, citrus-colored Le Creuset pieces, and the only thing in the “whites” laundry pile at our house are Evs’ undershirts and my athletic socks.  Even the china on our registry features a bright turquoise pattern.  But for some strange reason, my practical side took over when it came to everyday dinnerware (we chose Pottery Barn’s Great White Coupe collection).  I had half-convinced myself that we would end up taking all of it back in exchange for something more vibrant like Fiestaware (which I still adore), but food just looks so nice and clean and pretty atop the blank canvas of white dishes.  Plus, I love mixing these dishes with my collection of funky table linens and appetizer plates.

California Poppy Collection at World Market

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I don’t own a lot of cookbooks - I’m always tempted to purchase them and have been known to wander the food section of Williams-Sonoma aimlessly, fingering glossy pages of meringue and short ribs and paella until shop clerks start looking at me like I’m a culinary junkie/vagrant.  The deal is, I know myself well, and myself rarely cooks from a book.  I have several standard dishes that I know how to make by heart and can vary at a moment’s notice to mirror the contents of my pantry, and if I’m in the mood for something new, I either make it up as I go or pull a recipe off the interwebs to fit my fancy.

But, whilst exchanging wedding gifts at W-S a couple of weekends ago, I couldn’t resist throwing Great Food Fast - a Martha Stewart “Everyday Food” cookbook into my pile of items to purchase with credit. the recipes looked easy enough and I love how they are broken up into season to best compliment the weather outside your window and the produce inside your local grocery.

Since the tomatoes have been singing to me like sirens every week from the farmer’s market, I decided to give the spaghetti with three-tomato sauce a go last week.  Here’s the original recipe:

Ingredients:

• coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 1/2 c. oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, oil reserved
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 can (28 oz.) whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 lb. cherry tomatoes, halved

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If I had to do it over, there are oodles of reasons why Evs and I would probably move in together for the eight months we both lived in Dallas before getting married (one of them being that looking for a house a month before your wedding does not a happy control-freak bride make!).  On the other hand, being able to decorate our little cottage together as opposed to me moving into his already-lived-in-for-a-year space is one of the reasons why I relish our decision to wait to cohabitate until after saying “I do!”

Our furniture fits nicely into our new home, and we now have many of the areas that began as blank slates boasting displays of photographs, art, books, and trinkets.  However, there are some spaces left that need some filling out and sprucing up, but we’ve had some trouble agreeing on a solution (”too girly” is Evs’ retort to many of my selections).  There are a few great pieces we both like but they always seem to be out of our price range.  So two weekends ago, I took matters into my own hands!

The first series (pictured below) is comprised of three 11×14 photographs taken on our trip to Greece.  I was hoping they would fit the bill over the couch in our living room but they just didn’t fill up the space like i wanted, so it was off to the hallway for them! I kind of prefer it this way because I can see them when I’m piddling around in the kitchen and they make me a happy chickadee!  An 11×14 print from Shutterfly is only $7.99… add some $9 glass and pegboard frames and pre-cut mats and viola: instant travel gallery!

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