The News-Gazette has confirmed all the rumors concerning the opening of a Banana Republic in the Market Place Mall. Now if we could only get a J. Crew…

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Cookies aren’t the only thing that I make, honest! My sweet tooth has just been acting up lately, which is not easy to ignore. But since I want to be able to fit into all those cute summer dresses hitting the stores, I decided to look around for some “lighter” recipes. I found this one thanks to the wonderful blog Nosh With Me. If you haven’t been there, you should go and take a look. There are some great baking recipes. This recipe was discovered in an issue of Cooking Light, so I’m fairly confident that they are better for you than the average snickerdoodle. As an added bonus, your home will smell so good while these are baking!

Cooking Light’s Cinnamon & Sugar Cookie More »

I’m always looking for new stationary in hopes that it will inspire me to write more letters and actually send out those thank you notes. Well, I think I’ve found some that would do the trick. Simply Serra has a nice selection of stationary, invitations and holiday cards. Like the name suggests, the common theme for all the letterpress is simplicity. My personal favorite is the skull motif, even if it is pink. Does the pink make the skull less edgy or does the skull make the girly pink more edgy? Well either way, it’s the best piece of stationary I’ve found so far.

Simply Serra notecards: $25.00 for 18 cards and 18 envelopes

Easter is coming up for those who celebrate. While I’m no longer the practicing Catholic I was in grade school (read: when I had no choice), I still enjoy the tradition of dying eggs. Every year my mom and I would lay out the newspaper and hard boil a dozen eggs. My brother would always create The Grey Egg by dipping one egg into every color. It was always super hard to find outside in the yard so if you did find it, you were given a special treat (usually a couple of dollars). One year, The Grey Egg was never found until the next Easter!

While looking around the many crafty blogs out there, I found this site which features natural easter egg dyes. Using ingredients you may already have in your kitchen, you can create some really nice organic colors. The deep indigos and rich cinnabars created from ordinary vegetables, spices and teas can’t hold a candle to the Paas pallet. While you need to let the eggs sit in the dye overnight, it’s definitely worth it. I think my brother would even approve of the warm grey made from the Rosehip tea.

ninja edit: These natural dyes can also be used for yarn, paper or fabric!

You can now buy FLOR carpet tiles at the best big box store in town. FLOR tiles come in a variety of colors, textures and patterns. You can lay down a whole wall-to-wall carpet or just create a fun rug or runner. The best thing about FLOR is if something gets spilled on a tile, just rip it up, wash it out and put it back (or if it’s really destroyed just replace with a brand new tile!). Each tile measures 19.7Lx19.7W”. $59.99 for a pack of 6 tiles

I was in Chicago on Saturday and it was really foggy.

On Wednesday April 4th, Chicago’s Newberry Library will be hosting a lecture on the 1949 and 1950 Arctic expeditions of Edmund B. Thornton (a.k.a. my dad!). From the Newberry Library’s website:

“During the summers of 1949 and 1950, Mr. Thornton served as a crew member on the Schooner Bowdoin out of Boothbay Harbor, Maine on two expeditions to the Arctic. He reached a latitude of eleven degrees from the North Pole, and had contacts with the Native Inuit in North Greenland. This visually stunning program will include highlights of Mr. Thornton’s Arctic experience together with comments on the history and exploration of the Arctic Regions.”

If you will be in Chicago, and have any interest in geography, history or anthropology, I recommend that you attend this lecture. Click here to register for this event.

Being a student, I don’t have a whole lot of extra money to spend on beautiful danish modern furniture (when I find it for cheap, it usually costs more to restore it!) or other nice things for my apartment. Therefore, it’s good to know that Target is looking out for all us students out there by offering attractive design at even more attractive prices.

I have this same colander in orange, but it’s showing a little wear and tear. I love my colander because I can leave it out with some fruit and it looks great. It’s always so hard for me to pick out just one color when all of the colors are presented in a spectrum. Aqua? Orange? I can’t decide! On sale for $16.19 at Target. Also available in 5-qt. for $21.99

I just bought this bookcase because I was running into a severe storage issue with my books. I like to hold on to my textbooks as reference, because I don’t always remember everything I learned my freshman year. This bookcase also comes in three different sizes and finishes, so there is something for everyone. You can also buy a couple to create the illusion of a singular wall unit. $59.99-$99.99 in Espresso (shown), Dark Oak and Honey Oak (lightest finish)

I love this bookcase, but I love it even more when it’s stacked with another. At $99.99/case, it’s not exactly student budget
friendly. However, I loved the design so much, I had to put it up here. Also available in a deep brown/black finish.

The Illinois Bureau of Tourism is having a contest on their official site to determine the 7 Wonders of Illinois. No registration is necessary and you can vote once every day. The 7 Wonders nominees are separated into geographic regions where you can vote for one Wonder for each region. The voting will take place everyday until Saturday March 31st, with the field of nominees diminishing each week. Don’t forget to tell all your friends and as they say in Chicago, Vote Early and Vote Often (or just everyday)!

Click Here to Vote for Cozy Dog!

Also if you would like to vote for other regions, I would suggest voting for the I & M Canal in the Chicagoland region, Starved Rock State Park in the Northern region, Cahokia Mounds in the Southwest region and the Dickson Mounds in the Western region.

Update!
Cozy Dog and Allerton Park have advanced to the final round. It’ll be a close race, so keep voting, Cozy Doggers!

At first I thought this was part of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! But no, it’s just that bad. Love his greasy hair and the intro scene where he is using canned air and pushing the printer cart across the room.