general / brain dump

(Image source: Rifle Paper Co.)

I. Food

• Dominique Ansel revealed his Cronut recipe in advance of his cookbook launch at the end of the month. Not that I have any desire to attempt it. It’s very labor intensive and I wasn’t enthralled with the Cronut I tried. P.S. His instagram has lots of food porn.

II. Fashion

• Today is the last day to shop Uniqlo‘s big anniversary sale! There are tons of fresh new Heattech, Ultra Light Down, and don’t forget Ines de la Fressange (which isn’t on sale).
• Last fall there was a tan plaid blanket/shawl/scarf spotted on many bloggers including one of my favorites, Atlantic-Pacific. This year, you can find the similar look at Target (but it’s really a scarf and not oversized), Amazon via China (based on reviews, something fell off the truck at the same factory as Zara), and Nastygal. P.S. This polka dot infinity scarf from Target looks very cute online.

general / brain dump

(Image source: The Animal Print Shop)

I. Food

• I’ve been following David Lebovitz‘s pastry blog for ages. His new iPhone app just relaunched and is only 99 cents. I got it even though I don’t have my next trip planned. There is tons of food p0rn!
• This recipe for the famous wings from Portland, Oregon’s Pok Pok look surprisingly easy.
• If you frequent Starbucks, I hope you have a loyalty card (which can be created from any gift card). I don’t go as frequently as I used to, but if you do, I highly recommend buying a discounted gift card. I’ve been a happy customer of Raise.com. They are legit and Starbucks gift cards sell on average for 20% off. Though $80 or even $100 sounds like a lot, Starbucks fans know that that doesn’t last very long. Raise.com has a ton of other retailers as well so it’s a nice, indirect way to get a discount on something that never goes on sale. Why pay full price when you don’t have to? (Note: I’ve never sold any gift cards through them and can’t comment on that.) New customers get $5 off orders over $50.

II. Fashion

• Gilt City has a free 30% coupon for J.Crew Factory through September 14. It works on top of existing promotions but does have some fine print. In general, I’m not a fan of outlet quality but have really liked some of the J.Crew incarnations at Factory. You can find reviews if you Google, but often the Factory version is more wearable (whether it’s longer, in easier to maintain material) and the price isn’t bad. These Baggus (already on sale) are excluded from the promotion but are still a great find! These jewelry trays are cute.
• Love the new Clare Vivier spot design. Especially this Margot tote and this pouch. If she ever did a collab with Baggu…

to decorate / ikea mulig clothing rack

I love the clean, white lines of the IKEA Mulig clothing rack. I bought a few to help with decluttering – hopefully temporary – and they do look rather good in the all white color scheme that I may be going for. The best part is that they are only $9.99 and they are super easy to install! I even caught a boutique in Amsterdam using these as their clothing racks. It’s hard not to go with IKEA when they cost effectively nail it every time.

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to decorate / ikea ps sinka

This is my first “to decorate” post, because I’m super slow with home to-do’s…

The Ikea PS Sinka cabinet has been written up in various interior design magazines and blogs. It debuted in the Spring of 2009. I’d been wanting this PS collection piece after seeing it featured on various design blogs, but it was hard to procure — it wasn’t sold at all Ikeas and stock was limited.

Image source: Ikea

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Image source: Lotta Agaton via style-files

Image source: Elle Interior Sweden via style-files

I had a slight panic attack last week when I clicked on my Ikea PS Sinka bookmark (as I have been doing for an year) and saw that it was no longer found! If you’re in the New York area, this item is only carried at the Long Island and Paramus, NJ locations. I found the article number through Google cache (801.415.91) and was ecstatic when 7 units were reported through Paramus’ phone inventory system. In my experience, “7” means a strong likelihood that you’d find one in stock. In actuality, there were 2 in stock when I stopped by near closing time.

If you’ve had your eye on this piece, don’t wait. There were reports in the European Ikeas that this item was discontinued an year ago. And I think it is getting discontinued here. The product page getting pulled from the Ikea site should be the first sign. And the item getting marked down to $149 from $249 should be the second.

Also to note, this item comes in two boxes of solid birch wood. They total 100 lbs. It took me a while to get them up my sixth floor walkup and thank goodness my roommate was able to help me. It’s been a while since I assembled anything from Ikea. I’m 1/3 way through and am afraid I need to take a break before I haul everything up and continue on the seventh floor!