THE WEDDING FILES: REGISTRY REDUX, MOMA STORE

Today's post is a continuation of my week-long series on wedding registries. See my first post here and the second one here.

If you weren't MoMA Store obsessed like I am, you might not know that they have actually allow you to create registries (wedding, birthday, baby, etc.) on their website. Since MoMA Store has an amazing selection of quality design at all price points and for every part of your life, I think it is the perfect compliment to standard registries as places like Target, Crate & Barrel or Bed, Bath and Beyond. You can register for everything from office supplies to furniture, making for gift options to appeal to everyone's budget, from your college buddy to spoil-you-rotten grandmas.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite picks from the MoMA Store . . . 




Dress up that white-walled rental apartment with this beautiful pendant lamp shade. $100




Durable and timelessly chic, this Eames chair comes in several colors to suit every and any room in the house. $499




Can you sense a theme here? This Eames coatrack has been on my wall for years now and it never fails to be both useful and unique (trust me,  you'll get tons compliments!). $199




A small gift, but a sweet one. After all, you are starting a future together and what better way to represent that than a joint piggy bank? Feeling extra generous? Stuff the bank with some cash! $29.95




Another chair option for the eternally sophisticated and the minimalist minded, the Victoria Side Chair would look perfect in a bedroom or beside a desk. $330




Part functional object, part sculpture, this stool would make a whimsical addition to any home and would fit perfectly into a kid's room in the future (no pressure! says your mom). $225





On the low end in terms of price but on the high end in terms of functionality, this rotating power strip could be a cute gift if paired with some sort of electronic (say a nice lamp, or an Apple product). $30




I am a sucker for wall clocks, particularly those that make a statement (more just telling the time). This one has a magnetically attached ball that rotates with each passing minute. Beautiful, mystifying and sure to be a conversation starter. $60




Everyone can use a beautiful vase and this Alvar Aalto version is absolutely lovely. Cute gift idea: give them the vase before the wedding and then after they return from their honeymoon have a bouquet of flowers delivered—a sort of welcome home gift—to make sure they put it to good use! $95

CHRISTMAS RECAP

I had such a lovely holiday, I thought I would share some of the gift-related highlights with you. Here are three of my favorite presents given and received, just in case you are already planning for the next present-worthy holiday . . .

1. Cuispro Food Mill, $105, Amazon.com (for making my family's patented cranberry applesauce)
2. Martha Stewart's Cooking School, $29.70, Amazon.com (to finally learn what 'stiff egg-white peaks' look like)
3. Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin, $20, MoMA Store (to get the perfect dough thickness every time)
4. Velodrome Print by James Deavin, $20, 20x200 (for my dad, the manic cyclist)
5. Bubble Necklace, $115, MoMA Store (for my mom, a stylish lady with great jewelry)
6. Nesting Kitchen Set, $60, MoMA Store (for a friend to celebrate her first apartment)

Hope you like them as much as I do! Thank you to all my givers and receivers! (Can you tell that I like the MoMA Store, haha?)

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY

It's raining cats and dogs in the city today. We are projected to get 1-2" of rain!

Anywho, I thought I would share some fun umbrellas to brighten up your day. Hope you like them!

top to bottom, left to right:

Child's Sky Umbrella, MoMA Store, $16

Stripe Umbrella, Kate Spade, $75

Color Spectrum Stick Umbrella, MoMA Store, $40

Color Changing Umbrella, MoMA Store, $40*

Samurai Umbrella, Charles and Marie, $36**

*The paint splatters change color when the umbrella gets wet!

**When folded up, this umbrella resembles a samurai sword!

THE MINIMAL TIMEPIECE

I was reading an article in the NYTimes a couple weeks ago about how the cellphone generation (read: me) is rediscovering the wristwatch. Really? Did it ever go out of style? Call me old-fashioned, but I have never stopped wearing my watch and feel kind of naked without it. If you are in the same boat (or are newly returning to the fold) here are some super cool minimal options I have rounded up . . .

(left) Normal Wristwatch, Generate, $259

(right) Nava Watch Ora Lattea Small, fitzsu, $155

Kiri Watch, greener grass design, $130

(left) Wherever Dual Time Watch, spotted on Minimalissimo, unknown price

(right) Braun Analog Watch, Vetted, $150

(left) Gravity, ZIIIRO, 110 Euro

(right) Moonwatch, spotted on Minimalissimo, not yet in production

Tempo Libero Watch, MoMA Store, $140

(left) M&Co Watch 5 O'Clock, MoMA Store, $120

(right) Reveal Watch, MoMA Store, $100

A KID AT HEART

It seems that lately all I can think about is toys, toys, toys. In the last few weeks I have encountered a ton of fun, colorful, and well designed playthings for children (or, if you are like me, people of all ages!) and I thought it would be cool to share them with you. Perhaps you know someone with a birthday or a back-to-school present in their future? These options should have you covered.

1. Constructible Drinking Straw, $14, MoMA Store
2. Two Tiny Geese on a Tiny Car, $25, toysdreams
3. Kids Color Spectrum Umbrella, $16, MoMA Store
4. Classic Baby Beads, $12, Manhattan Toy
5. Food Face Plate, $12, uncommon goods
6. Moby the Bath Spout Cover, $14, MoMA Store
7. Vintage Tin Robot, $22, rurustyle
8. Naef Rainbow Musical Toy and Puzzle, $197.25 (pricey!), nova68
9. Red 10.5" Bruno Roadster, $59.99, moolka.com

HOT OR COLD: TRIVET ROUND UP

This post is about trivets. Kind of random, I know. But recently I have stumbled across a couple of great designs and let's face it: trivets are one of the most practical and multi-functional items you can have in your kitchen. Why not have one that also makes you smile?

top to bottom, left to right:

Chef's Resource, Chef'n The Burner Silicone Trivet, $9.99

Chilewich, Dahlia, $8

MoMA Store, Propellor Trivet, $32

MoMA Store, Colorful Rings Cutting Board, $28*

*I have this and can swear that this does triple duty: cutting board, platter and trivet.

SOMETHING TO WATCH AT MOMA STORE

Before I got married I used to wear a watch everyday. I alternated between a vintage men's Timex (sort of like these) and this M&Co number. I loved the analog nature of checking the time via a watch but now that I wear a sparkly wedding ring everyday the watches somehow look too casual.

But that doesn't mean that I have stopped loving watches! Particularly these new designs by the eminent Milton Glaser for MoMA Store. Pretty cool, right?

Check these and more designs here.

Do you wear a watch? If so, what kind?

SEEING GREEN

In case you didn't know, it's St. Patrick's Day today here in the states. I don't particularly celebrate St. Patrick's Day (being of Swedish, German, and French descent), but I thought it would be appropriate to share some cool green products I have come across recently to mark the occasion.

Without further ado, from left to right, top to bottom:

Prato Umbrella Stand, MoMA Store, $35

Leaf Tray, MoMA Store, $18

Chef n' SleekStor Pinch and Pour Bowls, Amazon, $14.99

Double Dish, Joseph Joseph, $18

Fred Feet First Finish Line Doormat, Amazon, $32

Fred Loose Leaf Doorstop, Amazon, $9.95

FLAG IT

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! The weather was absolutely gorgeous here and I spent the whole weekend hanging out with family and friends. Splendid!

Anyway, I wanted to write a post about my collection of sticky flag notes since, well, I have A LOT. And I seem to find all sorts of uses for them. Perhaps you will too?

1. Panda Page Flags, $7.95, Paper-Source
2. Raval Page Flags, $5.95, Paper-Source
3. Get the Hint Flags Gentle Reminder, $4.99, The Container Store
4. Get the Hint Flags Wish List, $4.99, The Container Store
5. MUJI Sticky Notes, $3.00, MoMA Store

MIX IT UP

How cool is this colorful nesting mixing bowl/strainer/measuring cup set?  I recently saw it at the Greenwich Village store mxyplyzyk, which also has a really cool website here.  Then I saw it again at the MoMA store .  If I didn't already own  four sets of nesting mixing bowls, three strainers and two sets of measuring cups I would say it was fate . . . 

For those of you who are less burdened with kitchen supplies, you can buy this set online through MoMA here.

BRILLIANT GEOMETRY

I recently came across the super cool geometric paintings by Julie Bonifay (of Etsy store magnapaint) on my favorite blog Chroma Lab. These small hand-painted works are highly reasonably priced—$20 to $40!—and would make a fabulous colorful (and economical!) addition to your home.

The paintings remind me of this fabulous mobile (which has made the blog rounds over the last several months) by Themis, now on sale at the MoMA Store for $28. Or the work of the amazing Ronald Davis, as posted about here.

That's all for now folks! Hope you have a great weekend!

BELATED BIRTHDAY

I have had several nudging requests to share photos from my birthday party two weekends ago. Going through the photos I took from the event, however, I was disappointed by how grainy most of the images were given the low lighting. With a little editing I have managed to salvage a couple shots by switching to black and white. Above you can see some of the table set up: an orange and yellow daffodil centerpiece; a multi-tiered display of animal-cracker topped cupcakes; and another tray of cupcakes with flags that spelled out "happy birthday kaj".

At the last minute I also decided to make tiny little favors for two of my friends who were helping me with set up and clean up. Heading to the MUJI section at MoMA Store I picked up these small stackable storage pots for about $1 each (you can't beat a sale and employee discount!). At home I filled them with different candies---jelly beans and reese's pieces---to create a mini color spectrum. Finally, I topped them off with a small blue label and wrote "thank you!" in my patented block capital lettering. My friends were delighted to receive them and it made me realize that it is really fun to show people you care with a small, sweet, and unexpected gesture.

But I still haven't mentioned the star of the party: the cupcakes! I ended up making 60+ cupcakes despite the fact that there were only going to be 15 people at the party . . . oops! This meant that I acted as the 'cupcake fairy' for a week, giving out cupcakes at school and work. I used three recipes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes all of which were absolutely delicious and relatively easy to make. After much deliberation I decided to make Devil's Food Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, and Apple Spice (only in the cookbook). Each was topped with either store bought dark chocolate frosting (a girl can only do so much!) or this amazing cream cheese frosting. If you make the cream cheese frosting I highly suggest halving the amount of confectioner's sugar; I used only 2 cups and they were the perfect level of sweetness. Finally, I topped the Devil's Food cupcakes off with non-pareils or dark chocolate shavings, the Chocolate Chip cupcakes with multi-colored sanding sugar, and the Apple Spice cupcakes with rainbow balls and animal crackers. I was pretty proud of the results!

Check out more shots of the cooking and the party on my Flickr photostream here.