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The Link Up: Em’s 2 Favorite New Recipes, Mal’s Ideal Water Glass, And The Tray We All Gasped At
Happy Sunday everyone! We hope everyone had a good week. Did you all catch Arlyn’s post about Latin American designers? If you haven’t it’s a beautiful and vulnerable piece that is really important, especially right now. Ok, links? Let’s go.
This week’s house tour is a modern, textured, bright apartment in Greece. There are so many details we love, the cabinet and door handles being one of them. Oop…did we also peep a vertical statement niche?? Go check it out!
From Emily: Two delicious recipes that Brian has made the family lately (one that our kids actually ate!). This guy loves reading recipe reviews (especially from trusted sources) and we are trying to expand our kid’s repertoire – we have NOT been the best parents in the way of making our kids just eat what we eat. Outside of burger night and roasted chicken, they live on burritos, chicken in many forms, and sandwiches. I still have to douse the broccoli in cheese for them not to complain. So I threw out the idea of Meatloaf last week – something we would want to eat, too – and Brian found THE MOST delicious recipe (which included apples!). The only note we have is it called for too many onions so scale that back or mince them super small, they were too prominent for us. The second is the MOST delicious creamy lentil tomato soup. Now our kids did like this (I think most kids would, again, we’ve just created really bad eating habits where unless it’s carbs and cheese they complain). Brian loaded it up with spinach to add more greens and he says the key is the butter/cream saute at the beginning. It was SO delicious and I think only 4 ingredients (besides butter and salt).
From Gretchen: I bought some reallllly great jeans at Anthropologie a few days ago (you may have read about them yesterday) and while I was there, I couldn’t help but to try on approximately 27 other things. Most of them were no’s or hell no’s on me, but there was one item I simply couldn’t walk away from. This jacket from Pilcro is one of the cutest things I’ve scored in a minute! It’s canvas, it’s cropped, it’s got little hints of brown gingham–if I was a jacket, I’m pretty sure I’d be this one! I love the super relaxed and boxy fit and how cute the sleeves look rolled up with a little plaid peeking out. The only problem is I am a jacket hoarder and will need to make some room in my closet to give this guy a permanent home. Or maybe I’ll just never take it off and it can live permanently on me instead!
From Arlyn: I normally buy my shampoo and conditioner on Amazon, but I’m really trying to limit my consumption on there as of late. During my most recent Costco run (a company I feel perfectly fine supporting based on their strong commitment to DEI practices among other things), I decided to take a chance on the Kirkland Signature Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner. It was $12 for each large bottle of over 33 oz, and I have to say…I love it. My hair feels so well moisturized without feeling heavy or greasy. It’s shiny and easy to manage and has regained some of the light waves I got thanks to pregnancy and post-partum hormones. It might be too heavy if you have thinner or less hair than I do, but if you have middle-of-the-road hair, I bet you’ll like it. I was tempted by some of the bigger, flashier brands I saw on the shelves but glad I stuck to the ol’ KirkSig. 5 Stars from me.
From Jess: I’ve finally found my T-shirt! In my quest for jeans at Everlane, I also happened upon their The Box-Cut Tee. I ended up sizing 2 sizes down for a snug fit so the fit is different than it shows on the website. I just think it’s the perfect classic tee. Now, I’m not sure if this deal is always a thing but you can get 3 tees for $60 which means you get a shirt for free. You bet I’m taking advantage of that!
What an exciting morning when we opened our feeds to discover that there was a Brigette Romanek Collection with Crate and Barrel! We love her work so much and think the pieces are so beautiful. Here are some of our favorites…
The Malibu Sofa | Gains Burlwood Floor Lamp | Ruff Green Suede Decorative Tray
Cubey Linen Floor Lamp | Hermosa Accent Chair | Santa Monica Ottoman
From Mallory: My favorite water glasses are also the most affordable ones I own!! They’re only $22 for a set of 4 and are perfectly thin and so easy to hold. Everyone gravitates toward them when they come over and I have LOTS of glassware so these are truly the best out of the lot!! I love putting sparkling water and iced coffee in them, they’re just so versatile!!
From Caitlin: A few weeks ago, I finished a killer read – How Design Makes Us Think by Sean Adams. I’ve been pleased to find that it’s one of those sticky books – the kind that really alters the way I see and think about the way I interact with products, spaces, and the greater designed world at large. I first checked it out from my local library (long live the Libby app!), but loved it so much that I bought a copy for my bookshelf – it’s really insightful and smart. PS. If that didn’t sell you, you’ve DEFINITELY seen Sean Adams’ design work before. Remember that iconic Nickelodeon branding? That’s him!
From Marlee: Winter… when will you end? We got our little snow moment last weekend up here in Portland and I am ready to move on – I am yearning to sit outside in the sunshine and drink my morning coffee in a tank top. Is that too much to ask for! My dry and itchy scalp is also begging for winter to end – usually it’s unbearable during the winter months but this tea tree cooling scalp mask has been saving my life. It feels sooo amazing and I’ve really noticed an improvement in my dry scalp – I usually shampoo normally first and then put this in for about 10 minutes while I do the rest of my routine, about once a week. It’s amazing. I’m also a big fan of Briogeo’s dry shampoo from the same line – it comes in a little squeeze bottle in powder form and smells so good!
Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow for a farmhouse update!
Opening Image Credits: Photo by Kaitlin Green | From: Introducing The Next Room…Robyn’s Welcoming Patterned Dining Room Reveal
The best t-shirts I have found are old navy boys’ t-shirts (like the “softest short sleeve” shirts). They come in nice solids and cute stripes and are often less than $5.00. I wear a size medium in womens’ sizes and in boys’ I wear an XXL for a looser fit and XL for a more fitted look. They have really cute long sleeved ones too – but the sleeves are a little bit short. Still love them (and they are on sale for $4 now). A lot of the shirts come in “husky” sizes, which have larger/looser fits.
Thank you for this! Going to try this out. Are they super short. I don’t love super short but want a fitted regular tee.
They aren’t super short. I wear them under cropped sweaters to have something that covers the space between that an my hips and they are perfect!
I love Old Navy for basics! Their ribbed tank is a must-have for me, and regularly goes on sale for $6. Also love that most of their tees are available in tall, which gives me an extra couple of inches on the bottom to wear them loose and untucked the way I like.
Marlee, I wonder if the dry shampoo use is contributing to your dry itchy scalp? Dry shampoo can clog pores, cause pimples, and overall cause dry skin and irritation. I was a devoted dry shampoo user, but it caused a lot of irritation to my scalp. Not washing my hair everyday was also causing my face to be oilier and my face was breaking out?! Anyway, I now wash my hair everyday (with a moisturizing non stripping shampoo), it was an annoying little task at first, but my hair, face and scalp are much happier. Plus it feels good to have clean hair everyday, now I look forward to the wash.
I just bought the cutest, comfiest travel outfit from Nordstrom Rack. The D-Ring Pocket Bomber Jacket and matching Drawstring Cargo Pants both in black by Sanctuary (runs maybe a little small/TTS?).
I’m with you on Amazon Arlene.
I almost NEVER buy from Amazon – their reputation for how they treat their workers is so poor that I don’t care how cheap it is, I just won’t support them.
I also don’t think it’s particularly healthy for tech companies to get too big or too powerful. I trust them as much as I trust any potentially malevolent world power.
I’m not one to shop in bulk either (storage!) so it’s small and local for me.
Agree! Now more than ever we need to be aware of where our dollars are going and what we are *supporting* when we give companies our money. Our power as consumers and our vote are our two most powerful tools in a democracy….
Since you mentioned Costco/DEI, have I missed a direct statement or announcement regarding your Target sponsorship/contract (not sure what to call it)?
em stopped working in this capacity a few years ago – we don’t have any active target partnership :)
I love the Uniqlo U Crew Neck T-Shirts—thick, 100% cotton. I buy a size up (medium) because they shrink in length. Unfortunately, the colors are limited at the moment. Sounds like I need to try the Everlane Boxy Tee for something lighter in weight.
Arlyn- Thank you for mentioning Costco and their commitment to DEI. My brother-in-law works for Costco and has nothing but positive things to say about the company. And I’m right there with you in trying to curb the Amazon addiction! How did one stupid company worm its way so fully into our lives?? On the same note, I’m wondering how you’re all (Emily and team) feeling about Target these days, since they seem to have jumped on the non-DEI bandwagon, to put it too generously. Thank you! Really enjoying the blog these days.
YES to your Costco DEI comments, Arlyn, and I, too, love that shampoo and conditioner. I’ve been using it for 7 years now and haven’t missed the fancier brands (or their price tag).
I don’t know how the kids would feel about it, but this Red Lentil Soup (also from NYT Cooking), is one we make all the time and has a healthier mix of ingredients.
Yay to reading reviews and using the NYT recipe app. Although I’d argue most recipes there are at least average.. I love it so much it’s absurd and will have this low cost subscription until I stop eating??
We’ve always had our kids eat what we eat. They are teenagers now who are not a bit picky (which is the result I was hoping for!) However, they did not always like everything I cooked. A couple of things helped: 1) I educated them on the importance of healthy eating. I said that our tongue often likes things that our body doesn’t like and our body often likes things that our tongue doesn’t like, so if you want a healthy, functioning body, you need to listen to your body more often than your tongue. :) 2) I told them the more often you eat healthy food, the more your body/tongue will want healthy food because its full of nutrients and all of the things your body needs to thrive (obviously this ties into #1) 3) I told them that even if you don’t like something you need to take 2 bites of it every single time because your tongue can change its mind and the more often you introduce a food, the more chances you give your tongue to change its mind. I hope these tips help! It’s not a perfect system, and of course, there are foods that… Read more »