2012 January

Oh, how we love coffee table books!

Jan 312012

Coffee tables are sometimes the hardest to make look nice. A quick remedy? Coffee table books! I get excited about finding new ones to seek out, maybe a little bit too much. This year, I’m super-excited about the Pantone book! To cure my own curiosities, I asked some people around the office what are some of their favorites and most desired. See the gallery below to check them out!

: Ryan; Pantone: The 20th Century in Color

: Nikki; Design Sponge at Home

: Brittany; Cabinet of Natural Curiosities

: Jim; Fallingwater: A Frank Lloyd Wright Country House

: Brittany; Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home

: Paige; Nomad: A Global Approach to Interior Style

: Paige; Axel Vervoordt: Wabi Inspirations

: Jim; The Museum of Modern Art New York

Pantone image taken from http://nubbytwiglet.com/2012/01/10/pantone-the-20th-century-in-color/

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What to get your Valentine

Our Community, This Month's Holidays

Jan 302012

Sometimes the people we love the most are the ones hardest to buy for. A few of us put together some of our ideas for making Valentine’s gift giving a success! For more ideas, shop Wisteria’s gifts!

1. For friend: Sprinkles Cupcakes and a bottle of Champagne 2. For man: Watercolor by Scott Lifshutz

3. For daughter: Charm from Helen Ficalora 4. For woman: Tiffany Keys 5. For anyone: Some bacon

6. For friend: Beaujolais Red Wine 7. For friend: Gold Heart Necklace 8. For sweetie: Valentine’s Day M&M’s

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Super Bowl Party

This Month's Holidays

Jan 272012

With the Super Bowl being one of the most anticipated events each year, preparing for its celebrations can be challenging. Here are some games, recipes, and even some ideas for the non-football fans to make sure everyone has a good time at your party (even the fans of the losing team).

Games
Football Trivia – This is an easy game to play before the game starts and during any breaks. Start by coming up with different categories for the questions. I am choosing to use: Past Super Bowls, Giants, Patriots, and Players. Once you have your categories selected, come up with five questions and answers per category. You may want to determine the difficulty of your questions based on the guest you have attending.

Team Match Up – This is a game kids can play. Print out photos of various players and logos of their teams. Have the kids match the players up with their teams.

Recipes
Here are some recipe ideas inspired by the Giants and Patriots. You can have you guests decide who wins the “food bowl”.

For Patriots Fans:
Lobster Nachos

Lobster and Cod Chowder

For Giants Fans:
New York Style Pizza

Bratwurst (or anything grilled really)

Don’t forget about the Puppy Bowl for all your non-football fans!

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Tips to style your bookshelves!

From Our Home to Yours

Jan 262012

Image taken from http://www.mariakillam.com/2009/07/when-should-you-buy-a-book-for-its-cover.html

I recently stumbled into a dilemma in my workspace. I decided to do some much-needed early spring cleaning at home and ended up with some majorly cluttered shelving. I have a lot of books, tchotchkes, and picture frames and I had no idea how to showcase my things in a stylish way. After much searching, here are some great tips I discovered:

Use boxes and baskets to store items you don’t want in plain view.

Paint the back of the shelf to make showcase pieces pop (You should go a few shades darker than your room color).

Image taken from http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/great-bookcase-ideas-00000000013601.html

Break up the vertical lines of book spines with a round vase or fun bookend.

Use varying heights and shapes to draw the eyes across the shelving instead of directing it to the most cluttered, unorganized spot.

Image taken from http://www.countryliving.com/homes/home-storage-ideas-0109

For books and other texts you rarely use, stack horizontally to break up all the vertical lines.

Don’t be afraid to mount things on shelving to create an attractive focal point. You can use 3M hooks instead of nails!

Image taken from http://www.hgtv.com/decorating-basics/decorating-tips-for-shelves-and-bookcases/pictures/index.html

For bookcases with adjustable shelves, vary the heights for asymmetry.

Risers help elevate small pieces, and give you more freedom to adjust heights to an assortment.

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Pinspiration

What Inspires Us

Jan 252012

A few months ago, our office was all abuzz with excitement over the launch of Pinterest. For those who don’t know, Pinterest is an amazing site where you can catalog all your favorite images straight off the web. By “pinning” it, you can organize all your images by theme. For example: home, design, fashion, recipes, DIY. The possibilities are limitless! It is also a great social network, where you can share your images and are able to view others images as well. It is so much fun! And it is a great design tool for logging all your inspiration in one organized space AND it links back to the original site the image came from. Extra cool! It has lots of fun surprises and lots of categories to search. Below are the images I was most inspired by this week. I encourage you all to go visit their site and get busy pinning!

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Warby Parker

What Inspires Us

Jan 242012

I am incredibly dependent on my eyeglasses. So, when I woke up one morning to a broken pair of spectacles (thanks to my 55 lb. heeler-mix, Klaus) I was devastated. Glasses are so expensive, especially when you have to get those special lenses for the nearly-blind, such as myself. Thankfully, I found Warby Parker. They are this fantastic little company that sells really handsome glasses for $95 (yes, $95!). Even better, they have a Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program that provides affordable eyewear in communities where it is needed. I decided to test out their At-Home Try-On, 5 pairs in 5 days. Check out the gallery below to see a sample of what I tried.

To find out more information about Warby Parker and how it works, visit their website here.

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Our Favorite Cities – Houston

Our Travel Adventures

Jan 232012

You might be wondering, “Why Houston?” Well, this is my hometown, where my family and friends live and one of my favorite places to visit. Now, I am not recommending that you EVER visit Houston during the months of May through September, but anytime other than those months, you are sure to have a good time!

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Pogo Stick Champion, Lizzy

Our Community

Jan 202012

We have some really interesting people who work here. A small piece of information someone mentions in passing often turns out to be really interesting or just too funny to not tell. Such was the case with Lizzy, our Product Development and Content Coordinator. Word got out that she’s got a hidden talent we couldn’t resist sharing.

What’s your hidden talent?
Pogo stick!

How did you first discover you had this talent?
In lower school, while on the jump rope “team”.

What if we asked you to perform this for us?
I think I’d politely decline… unless, of course, I was handed a pogo stick right then and there.

Can you give us any tips on being as good as you are at your talent?
Have a lot of free time on your hands!

Have you ever met anyone else who can do this?
Not 1,154 bounces in a row (my 4th grade record)

Would you be willing to take on someone else in a competition?
Actually, yes.

Any pogo champions out there? Anyone willing to take on Lizzy?

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