We all have that hideous gray box somewhere in our house and although some are lucky and its in a closet or otherwise inconspicuous space, but for many others is just staring you down in a room or hallway. So what do you do? You cant cover it with anything permanent like a bookshelf because you need to be able to access it if it needs resetting. Well, Jason Loper decided on a simple and elegant solution…cover it up with a fabric panel!

Simple and beautiful! Plus because its a fabric painting its super easy to hang and remove when necessary.

Also, you can follow these instructions for making your own fabric panel to match any room in your house!

<3 seanalyn

Stephanie & Chase’s Gamer, Nerdabilly, Geek Chic Wedding

While we’ve all seen geeky themed weddings before, what I like most about this one is that they still managed to make it look chic and classy all on a minimal budget! First of all, note the awesome 8bit ties worn by all the men as well as the obligatory light sabers

Instead of a traditional cake, they used cupcakes to make Zelda, Link and a life heart…8bit style of course!

My favorite part has to be the adorable Super Mario table decorations!

Classy and geeky all at once! Im sure even those unfamiliar with Mario found these table decorations to be adorable.

To read more about this epic wedding including the orchestrated Zelda music for the processional, read the bride’s writeup here!

<3
Seanalyn

ps- thanks to my friend Julie for pointing me in the direction of this awesome wedding!

Mangoes and Smoke: A LOST Series Finale Menu

Oh, LOST! You’ve pulled us along through six seasons of mysterious whispers in the jungle, sudden tropical rain showers followed by startling revelations and…mangoes. It’s a good thing for our intrepid survivors that mangoes are always in season on this magical island. Mangoes will definitely be on the menu at our season finale party!

But there have been more than just mangoes, of course. Jin was able to catch plenty of fish and the occasional haul of oysters. Wild boar was on the menu a few times. Oh, and don’t forget those handy Dharma food drops!

Appetizers

• Cheeseburger Sliders and Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches – In honor of those first meals Juliet brought to a captive Jack.
• Veggies in Ranch Dressing – Really, Hurley? The whole Dharma food closet and you hoard ranch dressing?
• Smoke Monster Popcorn – Of course!

Main Course and Side Dishes

• Fish Steamed in Banana Leaves – Bless Jin and his expert fisherman skillz.
• Braised Summer Pork Shank – Or wild boar if you can get your hands on one.
• Tomatoes Sprinkled with Balsamic – Sun’s one perfect tomato…
• Dinner Rolls – We had to dig deep into LOST lore for some carbs. See: Juliet’s dinner date with Ben.

Dessert

• Halfway Cookies – Half good…half evil.
• Earl Grey Tea Cookies – We’re throwing these in for Charles Widmore and Eloise.
• Killer Blondies – Keep an eye on Claire this Sunday.

Beverages

• Jacob’s Red Wine – Although drinking this might have unintended side-effects.
• Cheap Beer – Dharma Lite brand, preferably.
• Mango Lassi – Mango up!
• Water – Lots of water. In handy plastic Dharma bottles.

What foods will you be serving for the finale?

<3 kt

Guilty Pleasure #1: Breakfast Sandwich

As tasty as these tempting to go meals are, they arent necessarily the best for you. Fried egg, cheese and meat on bread….not exactly the healthiest start to your day is it? My solution, a Poached Egg Breakfast Salad that you can make in under 10 minutes and you dont even have to dirty many dishes!

Poached Egg Breakfast Salad


Ingredients
1 egg
1 cup lettuce (any kind that you prefer is fine)
1-2 cups spinach washed and cleaned
1/4 cup red onion
1/3 cup diced tomato or a few cherry tomatoes
1 slice turkey ham lunch meat
Blanched green beans or broccoli (optional)
water
white vinegar
pepper
white balsamic vinegar

First you need to wash clean and dice up all the veggies. Place them in a bowl and set aside. Take a small bowl (one that can hold about 2 cups of water) and fill 2/3rds full with water then add a dash of white vinegar. Crack an egg into the bowl (do not break yolk) and cover with a plate. Place in your microwave and cook for about 80 seconds or until the white is no longer translucent. I prefer super runny eggs so I usually cook a little under 80 seconds but by all means cook longer if you prefer a firmer yolk. While the egg is cooking take a slice of turkey ham and dice it finely and add it to the salad.

Once the egg is done, spoon it onto the salad. Top with some fresh ground pepper and hit it with a bit of white balsamic (if you dont have white balsamic white wine vinegar or regular balsamic will do). Split the egg and enjoy!

Guilty Pleasure #2: Bagel and Lox

This is probably my all time favorite breakfast guilty pleasure…the rich cream cheese…the smoky rich salmon…the hearty bagel…the tangy onions…it all comes together for flavor euphoria. Unfortunately, bagels and cream cheese arent exactly the healthiest option in the morning. So, I developed a healthy and gluten free way to enjoy my favorite breakfast treat!

Healthy Lox Sandwich

Ingredients
1 rice or corn cake (I prefer the herb flavored ones)
Smoked Salmon aka Lox
Low Fat cottage cheese (my favorite for this recipe is one with dill)
A few tomato slices
A few slices of red onion
Capers (optional)
Lemon
Black pepper

This one honestly couldnt be easier and tastes so indulgent! Take your rice/corn cake and put a hefty spoonful of cottage cheese on it. Place the lox on top of this then top with the tomato and onion. Sprinkle it with capers if you prefer (Im a big capers fan but they may be too salty for some) and crack some fresh black pepper. Hit it with a squirt of lemon and enjoy!

So there you have it, two breakfast guilty pleasures redone to be healthy and quick. I do both of these on a regular basis and neither take more than 5 minutes and can even be made in the office (just bring pre chopped veggies). Enjoy!

<3
seanalyn

i just made this kid-friendly tuna salad brought to you by Whole Foods Market at work today.

i brought the following ingredients:

• 1 can of tuna
• 2 tbsp of sunflower seeds
• a box of raisins
• a grated carrot
• 2 chopped celery stalks
• 8 oz container of low-fat cottage cheese
• 2 tsp of sriracha.

i mixed all of these items in a big Tupperware container.

it is the perfect flavorful tuna salad, full of healthy ingredients. this will certainly last me a couple days too. i love putting the tuna salad on top of a piece of wheat toast!

all together, this lunch costs approximately $4.20 / at least two days worth = $2.10!

<3 kt

check out this great article from www.realsimple.com

<3 kt

<3
seana

Check out Boxlightbox’s Etsy store to see all their fun cartridge lamps and chandeliers ranging from $35 to $100.

<3 seanalyn

Picture Table

Nice normal table which in a very sleek way attaches to the way. Cool huh? Oh it gets better.

Bam! Didnt see that one coming did you? The table/picture frame is designed by IvyDesign and is meant to function as a kitchen table but can easily be folded up to create extra space when needed.

While the concept isnt new, I do applaud the beautiful design of IvyDesign’s Picture Table. If someone wanted they could even make their own by securely hinging a table to the wall and having hinges on the legs.

Craft Pod/Instant Workstation

From the wonderful site, Ikea Hacker comes this great idea for creating a expanding and collapsing craft pod or workstation.

When it comes to living with your partner, you need to make sure both people have a space to call their own. With my friends that are moving in together, he already lives in the apartment and has a desk set up, but his girlfriend will need a space of her own. I love this idea because it can easily fold up and sit against a wall but when she needs to work on her computer or craft, she can pull it out and roll up a chair and shes good to go!

Bookcase Room Divider

Its a common solution but hey, its common for a reason, it works! Studios especially often need to be divided so that if one person is staying up later than the other, they dont have to worry about disturbing them. While you can do some beautiful dividers with curtains, they dont provide much function. When living in a tight space, creating storage is always key, so using a slim bookcase as a room divider is the perfect fix!

Wonder Hangers

Ok I know youve all seen the latenight infomericals for these hangers, but let me tell you these actually work! I use a bunch of these in my closet and its given me twice the space (which I promptly filled up with twice the clothes). Sharing a closet can always be tricky and girls often have a lot of items that need to be hung up, so these can be a real life saver.

My only tip would be to organize your clothes into categories to make it easier to sort. For example, I’ll use one set all for dresses, another for sweaters and another for dress shirts.

You can pick these up online or at Bed Bath and Beyond.

So those are just a few solutions I came up with today. Im going to keep brainstorming ideas for small spaces and posting cool products as I see them. If you have any small space solutions please send them my way!

<3
seanalyn