Kitchen Envy

It's been a while since I HouseLusted (well, on here anyway. I lust after places in my life all the time - see here), but this photo was too gorgeous not to share.  Who wouldn't want a kitchen like that?  My kitchen island is like the little baby cousin of that island, by the way...someday, I will have a kitchen large enough for it to serve its intended purpose, instead of being squashed in the corner of the living room.

Want.

(via Apartment Therapy)

My Mind Has Been Officially Blown

I love Photoshop.  Use it for work.  Use it for fun.  Love it.  I'm no expert user or anything (far from it), but my mind was just blown by this new feature (not yet launched).  Content Aware Fill, you are amazing.

That just about sums it up.

How-To Grocery Bag From Reed

In case you wanted to know how to make that awesome grocery bag that Reed made me, she was kind enough to write out some instructions and share her favorite links for me to share with you.  Right here.  On this blog.  In this post!  It's technically crochet, not knit, but I'm putting it in the category with the knit stuff, cause well, it's all the same type of thing, isn't it?

So here ya go - instructions and tips from Awesome Reed!


First of all, here are nice links to:

• making plastic bag yarn (pictures included) 
• and how to crochet (here, here, here)

I also recommend crochetpatterncentral.com for more info on crochet.

As for the pattern, here are the steps I use to make a bag. There are also patterns available on crochetpatterncentral.com if anyone needs more pictures.

• To start, chain 32 stitches (this forms your foundation row). 
• Double crochet (DC) in 3^rd chain stitch from hook. Continue in DC for entire foundation chain, then turn work & DC down other side of foundation chain (you should have 60 DC) 
• Join round by DC in 1^st DC stitch of first round. Continue working DC around continuously until bag is 1 inch shorter than desired depth. Work 1 row half double crochet (HDC), then 1 round single crochet (SC). 
• Flatten bag & locate side edges of bag. Make sure your SC row ends at the side of the bag. 
• Work 12 SC, chain 50, skip next 16 SC of previous row, SC 24, chain 50, skip next 16 SC of previous row, SC 12. Work SC around top of bag & handles. Bind off (BO) 
• Join yarn in “skip next 16” SC stitches (inside edge of handles). Work SC around once, BO. Repeat on inside edge of other handle. 
• Weave in ends, and you are done!

Seems easy enough if you know how to crochet.  I'm not very good at learning from pictures (I learn by doing, and usually need someone to show me/do it with me to really get a feel for it), and I don't know how to crochet...I think Reed needs to come out for another visit so she can teach me in person :)  The actual making of the "yarn" looks like fun though...tedious, but therapeutic maybe?

Messy Inside

Today was one of those days where the hours rushed by all day at work, slowed to a halt at 5pm, and then sped up all over again at 5:56pm (I am supposed to leave work at 6pm).  If I don't leave work by 6:05pm, I don't usually make it to Curves in time to work out (last workout is at 6:30pm), so I'm usually in a rush to get out of there by 6. 

Anyway, today was one of those days where I knew I had a slim chance at making it out by 6, and realized as I ran to my car at 6:12 (repeating "maybe I'll still make it" to myself as I ran) that I had left my gym bag at home today.  Le sigh.  One of those days.

When things like this happen, when I feel suddenly out of control, plans suddenly all messed up, I get frustrated.  I am a planner.  I like for my plans to happen, well, according to plan.  This is something I am trying to be better at this year, this whole flexibility thing.  Not stressing out because things go awry, being more spontaneous, etc etc etc.  Things I'm not good at. 

When faced with situations wherein I feel all control has been lost, I usually feel the need to complete a task.  Most often, this task is cleaning.  It's like my brain says, "Well, that plan went to hell. You better at least clean up around here."  So, tonight, when I came home, I took the microwave and toaster oven out of the kitchen and scrubbed the counter tops.  Then, I went downstairs and cut some flowers to replace the daffodils that had seen better days.  I also fixed the jiggly toilet seat (don't ask, just one more thing that was broken around here), started a load of laundry, dusted the dining room table and bookshelf, and mopped the kitchen floor.  I only spent about an hour and fifteen minutes doing this stuff, but I feel better.

Crazy Aunt Purl wrote this today: "When my space is messy I feel messy inside."  I know exactly how she feels (seriously, it's like she wrote it from the inside of my brain).  I can tolerate a certain level of clutter, but it's a pretty low level...and it gets lower if my brain is tired or irritated.   A clean apartment lifts my mood; it calms me down just to look at things all neat and tidy, especially if it's because of my elbow grease.  It says, "Hey look! I did some work, and now things look nice!"  Just feels good.


Now I have pretty flowers to look at, and laundry getting done, and a slightly cleaner apartment.  I will probably also file the papers that are sitting on the coffee table, just for kicks.  At least I'm turning my night into something productive - and cleaning burns calories, right?

Spring Cleaning!

Without realizing it, we undertook a bit of spring cleaning today, on this lovely first day of spring.  We spent the morning and early afternoon walking around the neighborhood, looking at some apartments, and having brunch with a friend, then came home to watch our NCAA Brackets die (damn you, Kansas!) and deep clean the bathroom.  There is still much to do (hello, layer of oil on the stove from the fish we fried the other night! Howzitgoin, second load of dishes?), but it feels good.

We scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom (ok, we didn't do the ceiling), everything from the shower grout to the window to the toilet.  Deep cleaning the bathroom is one of my least favorite things to do (second only to cleaning the kitchen floor, I think), but it's much more enjoyable as a team.  Even though the bathroom is teensy tiny, we got cozy and that bathroom is sparkling.  Dudes, we even took apart the shower caddy and cleaned each of the shelves.  Oh yeah, clean bathroom.

Because I was on a roll, I also Kitchen Cured the silverware drawer and found four things to get rid of (and a lot of things to store with camping gear instead of in the drawer).  I even cleaned out the cheese/meat drawer, which had a weird sticky spill in it.  It's all reorganized now, too, which makes me happy. I could barely close the drawer before - somehow, after a little rearranging, everything fits very nicely.

So happy first day of spring, everyone.  I hope your days are lovely (even you Chicagoans who got snow for spring), and your weekends are productive and relaxing.

Kitchen Cure Update

It's already check-in time for Assignment #3, Assignment #4 is coming tomorrow, and I'll be honest...I'm not even done with Assignment #2.  I did do one utensil/tool drawer, but there's still one to go.  There doesn't seem to be an assignment listed that involves cleaning out my tupperware and pots and pans and such, so I'm gonna lump that in with Assignment #2 and say I just haven't gotten that far yet.

I did take pictures of utensil/tool drawer that I cleaned though...does that count for something?  I'll post them eventually, I swear. The kitchen is currently a big ole mess...the stove needs scrubbing, the counters need cleaning, there are cupboards to purge and floors to mop. We have far more than we need in there; we both agree that we should start minimizing and living a little more simply (aka not having three pizza cutters - who needs three pizza cutters?!?).

This Kitchen Cure is certainly going to take more than the allotted 4 weeks, especially since I'm going out of town next weekend for an early Passover.  But I will carry on.  I will!  Maybe. Totally.  Can I take a day off work to clean?  Strike that: there's still loud construction going on by the apartment, and I would have a major headache listening to it all day (hello, 7am jackhammers! Supposedly construction starts at 8, but I swear they were there earlier than that).

With the lighter evenings though, perhaps I can trudge onward towards a cleaner kitchen...and one with less unnecessary stuff in it.  Tonight: he will wash more dishes while I clean the stove and counters.  Probably.

Ha. Nice Try, Scammer.

I saw this too good to be true apartment listed on Craigslist the other day ($750/month for a 1,000 square foot 1b/1b condo, right up the street from where we are now), and emailed the guy to see if there would be any open houses.  Here was his response to my email (address and phone numbers redacted).  I think it speaks for itself, but I've made my favorite phrases bold.

Hi,

I did get your response concerning the AD I posted on craigslist. My name is Edwin Ross. The home is still available but presently I'm not around.. I did bid for a portion of petroleum land sometimes ago in West Africa and fortunately I won the  bidding so I have to move quickly down to Africa to have my company set up because I will still have to rebid for it in the next 10 years. I came over here with my wife, we both bought the home when we got married. As soon as we settle down here I had a thought of selling the home so I have to look for an agent, after getting one, we got a deal but later my wife advised against that. She said we may not be able to win the bidding next  time, in other to keep our head when we return that we have to keep the home. I reasoned with her and accepted her advise. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents. Later we decided to  have the home rent out, we would have give the same agent this job also but the truth of the matter is that the agent would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be able to reason along with him later. If you notice, you will discovered that the price we are offering is far below standard price, this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the  absolute care for the property. I know there is no  way I can be sure that you are the right person to live in the home because we won't be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to occupy the space. But I just had a  feeling that anyone who knows what it takes to put the kind of structure down should know that maintaining a building is mandatory, so if you belief you can take good care of the home and handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the home if you can promise me & my family that you will sure take very good care of the home for us as if it was your own.

Please if you are ready now to occupy the home kindly provide the information below for record purpose 

RENT APPLICATION FORM

Full Name__________________________________________________ Home Phone (        ) ________________________

Date of Birth_________________________________

Other Phone (       ) ___________________

Current Address_______________________________Apt#________ City__________________ State______ Zip________

Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone (       ) ____________________________

Are you married____________________________

How many people will be living in the home____________________________

Do you have a pet____________________________

Do you have a car____________________________

Occupation____________________________

Move In Date____________________________

1 or 2 Month Rent Payment will be Deposit Down Now Before You Move in?____________________________

Reference Details_________________________

Pictures of all the Occupant that will stay in my home.

TAKE NOTE: YOU CAN ONLY DRIVE BY AND SEE MY HOME FROM THE OUTSIDE AND IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN RENTING GET THE APPLICATION FORM FILLED OUT AND SEND IT BACK TO ME SO THAT I CAN  SHIP MY KEYS TO YOU FOR YOU BE ABLE TO GO AND LOOK AT THE INSIDE OR MOVE IN IMMEDIATELY. I WOULD HAVE REALLY LOVE TO SHIP THE KEYS TO SOMEONE IN STATE BUT I DON'T HAVE ANYBODY THERE RIGHT NOW AND I DON'T WANT TO MAKE USE OF ANY THIRD PARTY THAT IS WHY AM HANDLING MY PROPERTY MYSELF..

Monthly Fee: $750

Security Deposit: $500

Pets Allowed:

Available :Available Now for move in.

NB: I will like you to give me a call on this effect to know how serious you are in this rent.

So pls get back to me today.

I await your reply ASAP.

Edwin Ross.

I could not figure out why he wanted photos of his tenants (but not any credit card information), unless it was for some creepy reason...Will thinks he makes fake ID's.  I think he's probably right.  It was flagged for removal on Craigslist pretty much immediately after I received the email, so I'm guessing a ton of other people were almost-scammed as well.  

I never would have thought to take a picture of a random apartment building and post a fake ad about renting it really cheaply, trying to get people's information.  Crazy, eh?

Flaggy Flags

I just saw this SNL Digital Short and thought it was silly and ridiculous and I loved it.

Grocery Lunch

Awesome Reed made me this Awesome bag out of plastic grocery bags.  On my lunch break today, I walked the .5 miles to Berkeley Bowl and did some grocery shopping.  Even though it's small enough to fit in my purse, all of my groceries fit into the bag (she was right; it stretches way more than you think it will, and it's super strong), and I had to take a picture to prove how awesome it was.  Ignore the awkward lighting and awkward picture in general; I had one of our interns take it when I got back from lunch. Yippee.

2010 Bracket Challenge!

You may or may not remember that last year I wrote up a post detailing why and how I made my NCAA Bracket decisions.  In case you don't remember, or weren't reading this blog at the time, here it is.  I'm doing it again this year, and I'm even "running" my own little bracket through Southwest Airlines' Bracket Challenge, with a chance to win prizes and free flights and such. Because this post is going to be long, and because the fancy new Blogger editor lets me insert jump breaks, I've put the details of my picks below the jump.  Enjoy if you want something totally silly to read. :-)  Warning: it's long.  But maybe entertaining.  Perhaps.

My final Four:

Kansas/Syracuse, West Virgina/Duke

Finals:

Kansas/West Virgina

Winner:

Kansas

my bracket - click to enlarge

Rainbow Cake: Trumped?

Dudes, I just saw this and I think it trumps the Rainbow Cakes Sara and I made.

Um, hello?  Miniature cakes?  With perfectly horizontal rainbow layers?  With buttercream in between?  WHO HAS THAT KIND OF PATIENCE???

The full-size version is impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the minis.  Still, more time than I'm willing to put into a cake, I think.  And I kinda liked our crazy swirly madness, to be honest.  

Also, how the heck did they make those tiny layers? 

Rainbow Cake

My friend Sara and I made Omnomicon's Rainbow Cake yesterday, and I thought I'd share some pictures.  It was very fun, and the cake is awesome, if I do say so myself!  Thanks to Sara for taking all these pictures and uploading them to Facebook so I could steal them.  Also for having adorable kids who "helped" with the dye-mixing.  :-)

Mixing the batter - we made a double (which is really a quadruple) batch, since we were making two two-layer cakes.

Batter, pre-dye.

Batter, post-dye (avec Penelope).

Sara pouring the batter...

Four layers of cake, ready for the oven. PS - aren't Sara's countertops awesome?

We made some crazy-color cupcakes with the leftover batter. they were puffy and delicious.  The orange and blue ones reminded me of Mario mushrooms.

 

 Simon agrees: yummy.

 Cake layer #1, ready for frosting...they looked so neat, I almost didn't want to frost them.

I used rainbow chip frosting.  It was a little warm and I barely had enough, but I think it worked nicely.

The inside of the cake.  Glorious.

 

 Cutting a slice.  I wonder if we should have flipped the layers -- this was the way we were supposed to do it, but it might have looked more uniform to have the colors lined up (in theory, the purples meet in the middle, but since it spread out so much on the bottom of the top layer and was in the center of the top of the bottom layer it didn't quite work out).  Oh well, it still looks cool.

A slice for my neighbors (they actually got two slices).

Oh, we also made peanut butter banana chocolate chip bread. Because we are overachievers.

Kitchen Cure: Assignment 1 (part 2)

Tonight, in an effort to rid myself of the negative energy I felt after the Vistaprint debacle, I Kitchen Cured my freezer.  This was part of Assignment 1, technically, so it should have been done last week, but I say that doesn't matter as long as it gets done, right?  Right. 

I got rid of:

• arrow-shapes ice tray (it was empty)
• popcicle maker (was 1/2 empty)
• tuna steak, ginger, asparagus, container of soup (all freezer-burnt)
• a chocolate covered banana that had somehow exploded in its wrapper (that was all alone in a box anyway)

I found 5 frozen bananas (I thought there were like, 2)...so I guess I'm making banana bread this weekend.  I'm glad that I know what's in there now, and that it's all edible!  :-)

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure, since I know that's what y'all want anyway.

 freezer before: things are very disorganized

freezer after (much more organized)

 inside the freezer before: so disorganized. ice cream with jambalaya? what?

freezer after: still a lot of stuff, but much easier to access

So week 1 = done.  Gotta clean out those utensil drawers (assignment 2) next!

A warning against Vistaprint

I spent the last two hours of my workday on the phone with the not-so-lovely folks at Vistaprint.  Because I love to vent about frustrating experiences with large corporations, I thought I'd print the letter that I sent to one of the supervisors I spoke with here.  Because if you can't vent your annoyances on your personal blog, well, then I don't know what to tell you.  I can, because it's my blog.  :-)  Names have been changed to protect the employees mentioned (why, I don't know), and order numbers have been redacted to, um, protect my order numbers.

"Hi John,

Per the suggestion of your representative Pamela, I am emailing you the brief history of our unfortunate experience with Vistaprint.  I have provided this information in a timeline below to best illustrate our problems; please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

·         February 22, 2010 – Order number XYZ placed (total: $128.24)
·         February 23, 2010 – Order number ABC placed (total: $181.45)
·         February 26, 2010 – Both orders arrived; printing was incorrect.  Spoke with customer service representative who assured us a replacement shipment would be sent, free of charge, to correct the error.
·         March 5, 2010 – Both replacement orders arrived; everything looked great.
·         March 6, 2010 – We received an email (signed Betsy Johnson) stating the following:

o    Dear XXX, 

Please accept my personal apology for the error made on your most recent order. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that it caused you.

To make up for it, we have issued a merchandise credit to your account in the amount of $128.24. 

To use the merchandise credit, simply select the "Apply my credit" option during Checkout on your next order. If you would like to go to our site to redeem your credit now, please click here. 

Thank you for being a Vistaprint customer. We know that you have many options when it comes to printing companies, and we appreciate your continued trust in us. 

Sincerely,
Betsy Johnson
Director of Customer Benefits

·         March 11, 2010 – We attempted to place an order, on which we planned to redeem our credit of $128.24.  We were informed that we had no credit available, that it had been used on a previous order placed on February 26.  The representative we spoke to was very unhelpful, and we hung up, confused and very frustrated.

After calling back and speaking with Pamela, it appears there was a glitch in your system which caused us to believe we had a credit we did not in fact have.  She informed us that there should have been two emails, one notifying us of a credit of $128.24 and one notifying us of a credit of $181.45 – but that these emails should have been issued immediately following the order Vistaprint placed on our behalf for the replacement orders on February 26^th , and that the credits were not for future use.

As I stated, we never received a second email; and the email we did receive was incredibly misleading.  Because we received it over a week after our replacement order was placed, and because it clearly states that we can “use the merchandise credit…on [our] next order”, we believed that we could in fact use this credit on a future order.  We then spent three days creating banners for the upcoming SXSW festival in Austin, because we thought we would be using our credit to pay for them.  In my understanding, to reflect the true meaning of the credit, the email should have stated something like “We have issued a credit to your account to cover the cost of reprinting your order”.

Additionally, Pamela informed us that we had a credit of $30.64 due to VistaPrint not needing to upload our images a second time (for the reprint) – we were never notified of this credit or of our ability to use it until speaking with Pamela this evening.  I placed order number LMN with Pamela at 4:47pm Pacific time this evening, and she confirmed several times that we would have 3-day shipping, with guaranteed delivery on or before Tuesday March 16^th.  However, when we received our order confirmation email at 5:21pm, it showed 7-day shipping, which would not arrive on time.

I called back immediately, and (after speaking with a rep who could not help us) spoke with George (cc’d on this email), who informed us that there was nothing he could do to ensure our order arrived by the 16^th as it was now past 8pm Eastern time.  Apparently, after 8pm Eastern time, everything shuts down and nothing about an order can be changed.  He offered us a complimentary replacement order, with guaranteed delivery by the 17^th, as well as a 50% credit ($85) to our VistaPrint account.  He told us that this was absolutely the best that he could do, and that while he was sorry for the trouble, that’s the best he could offer.

Because we need these banners next week, we accepted his offer, and will just hope that they arrive on time.

While we love the variety of options VistaPrint has to offer, we have been very disappointed in your website and service thus far.  We would like to continue using VistaPrint for our printing needs, but the inconveniences we have faced so far are causing us to look elsewhere. 

Please let me know if there is anything you can do, or if there is anyone else I should be speaking with regarding this matter."

Needless to say, it was a very frustrating way to end the workday.  I came home and immediately Kitchen Cured my freezer.  Pictures of that to come later tonight.  It is possible that I will also end up scrubbing the countertops, though I may decide to watch Thursday night comedy instead.  So there.

Little Changes

In the spirit of Spring Cleaning and all, I've decided to give my blog a little update.  I've been considering it for a while, since I've had the same Standard Blogger Template background for about three years now, but I hadn't really done anything about it (other than tell a reader that she was more than welcome to design something for me if she wanted to).  Honestly, I forget about blog design because I read most blogs through Google Reader and thus don't see any of their formatting or fancy page designs anyway (unless I click through to comment or something)...so I tend to not give any thought to my design at all.

However, Blogger unleashed a new beast of blog template design goodness today.  Oh yes, the Blogger Template Designer is a new halfway point between Totally Standard Template and Totally Customized Amazingness.  I played around a little and found a new Pretty Standard But Kind of Customized Template for this here little bloggy thing...I'm at a point where I don't have the know-how to design something from scratch, so it's nice to be able to just choose some options and play around with new designs.  The Designer is pretty intuitive, and there are a bunch of options to choose from, so if you're like me and want a new design with not much skill or work involved, check it out.

Let me know what you think - I'm not totally happy with this (it's a little too dark and busy I think), and I actually have ideas for things I'd like my blog to be (namely cleaner), or how I'd like it to look anyway...but I figured this was a good little change for now.  Expect many redesigns in the upcoming month or so (probably).  And if anybody out there wants to redesign my blog for me (you know, because you have copious free time and web skillz), let me know!  I'll let you know what I'm thinking of, and you can let me know if I'm nuts.  If a few people are seriously interested (ha, I'm doubting this for sure), I'll have a contest or something.  Maybe even with prizes. (parenthesis)

Handsome Men's Club

If you have not watched this yet, watch it now.

Kitchen Cure: Assignment 1

Ok, so you may remember that I am tackling the Apartment Therapy 2010 Spring Kitchen Cure.  Assignments are given on Fridays, so basically, participants have one week to complete each one.  I am thinking I will be more along the lines of the "if you don't finish it one week, just do it at your own pace and keep going" route, as things have just been crazybusy and we'll be out of town for a few days (blah blah excuses excuses), but I will keep track of the assignments.  And I will complete this cure - even if it takes me more than the allotted 4 weeks!

Week 1 Assignments:
1. Take "Before" Photos. - Done.  You can see my photos here.  Messy, disorganized glory.  And some nice things too, but mostly I see a lot that I want to clean up!  Note: I found Flickr (which AT is using to group photos for the Cure) much more difficult to navigate and use than Picasaweb (which I normally use).  Uploading, deleting and grouping photos wasn't really intuitive for me and it took longer than it should have.  Hopefully next time I need to upload pics to the Kitchen Cure group, it won't be such a pain.
2. De-clutter and purge old food.  - I did throw a few things away today, but I have not done all that really needs to be done.  I know there is more in the fridge/freezer that needs to be purged.

3. Wipe down the cupboards, fridge and remaining containers.  - Definitely haven't done this yet.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little updates - and let me know if you are participating in the Cure as well! It's not too late to sign up if you want to :-)   I'm guessing that at the very least, y'all will enjoy seeing other people's kitchens as much as I do!

The Tiny Kitchen Roundup!

Well, folks, here it is.  At long last, the Tiny Kitchen Roundup!  Thank you for sharing your homes with me, inviting me to post them to this little blog of mine, and for being patient over the last few months as I put this little thing together.

I absolutely loved getting to peek into all of your kitchens, and as I made up the little contributors list below, I realized that I am so incredibly fortunate to know all of you.  Thank you for opening your hearts up to this silly little blog, and thank you for welcoming me and my readers into your kitchens.  I was amazed - some of your kitchens are smaller than mine (as I knew they would inevitably be), and guys, if you click through to some of these folks' websites, you'll see that even a tiny kitchen can produce some amazing looking food (ok, that last one was from my blog. but hey, I was proud to have made something pretty in my tiny space...even if I had to roll the dough in the living room. PS - remember this birthday cake? I just found this post and laughed to myself. For those of you new to this blog, enjoy).

Anyway, I hope you have as much watching the slideshow as I did making it.  Feel free to click here to view all the photos in Picasa, all big-like.



The contributors (in alphabetical order, which is also how they appear in the slide show):

Alyssa, who makes and decorates some ridiculously awesome cakes (that she should post on her blog more often)

Bria has a gorgeous, not-so-tiny kitchen, and was generous enough to also share some pretty detail photos (including one of the secret photo station that she uses to take pics for her blogs)

Elissa has one of the tiniest kitchens I've seen in person, but she also makes some of the most gorgeous, creative, tasty-looking food ever.  She blogs about her culinary adventures, and even shares recipes, and the first time I saw her kitchen I was shocked at her ability to make such ridiculously awesome things in such a small space.  She puts me to shame.

Gabe and Kourtney are super eco friendly.  Gabe's blog is all about ways you can (and ways he does) go green, including in the kitchen. 

Jacqui, who takes gorgeous photos and makes food that makes your heart warm.

Josey, a new blog friend I'm happy to know.  I'm so glad you participated!

Julie, who doesn't have a blog/website (I don't think), but whom I've known forever and recently reconnected with in an awesome, internetty, bloggy way.

Junket, also a new blog friend, who is hilarious and just became a West Coast transplant.  Welcome to the Awesome Coast, lady.  Start cooking!

Kate, who doesn't have a blog, but should totally be writing hilariously about her adventures in Los Angeles relocation and dating, because she has some hilarious stories.  Actually, Junket and Kate, you live near each other.  You should meet.

Kristen, my former roommate who now lives fabulously in a big ole house in London.  Technically she and her boy are housesitting, I suppose, but it sounds pretty rad.

Lisa, the snarkiest (in a good way) chick I know, she doesn't know this, but she is pretty much one of my main sources for political news.  So, um, keep sharing stuff in your Reader, Lisa.  Also: kitchen stairs?  Wow.

Penelope is a relatively new blog buddy, and her posts are just lovely.  She is funny and charming and heartwarming and just all around sweet. 

Shanna, who, well, if you've read my blog for more than a second, you've probably heard me rave about her.  We've been blog friends for about three years, and this girl writes the most beautiful, inspirational, thoughtful posts about (delicious, gorgeous) food.  I hope it's ok that I stole these pictures from the post you wrote in response to my original Tiny Kitchens request.  I figured you wouldn't mind.

Suzanne shares some of the most ridiculously adorable Etsy finds ever.  And pics of her Small Fry, who is supercuteness.  And yeah, she's a nice lady and I'm glad we have connected recently via the interwebs.

Finally, major, major props to Tricia, who has cooked in some of the most awful kitchens known to mankind.  Because I couldn't get these into the slideshow, check out the before and after photos of one of her old kitchens on her old Flickr account.  One thing that I admire about Tricia and her husband is their willingness and ability to completely transform the apartments they rent.  I am pretty inclined to say "jeez, I don't own this place, I don't want to put any effort into improving it" (though I did paint my current place); Tricia and Michael have seriously done some awesome things to some not-awesome apartments, and I am in awe of them.

Thank you again, again, and again to all of you for sharing your spaces with me.  Many of you are folks I've never met in person, and I feel truly lucky to have connected with you and just want to give you all hugs.  I think that this roundup, plus the Spring Cure (gotta upload photos! Ack!), will motivate me to make use of my tiny kitchen!  Happy Kitchening, All!