Peppers. Lots of them.

We're growing sungold cherry tomatoes, a bunch of herbs, and three kinds of peppers on our back landing: cayenne, yellow banana, and spicy cherry peppers (shown above). My favorite thing to do with the banana peppers is put them on grilled Hebrew National jumbo hotdogs. But what to do with the billions of cayenne and cherry peppers? I made some chili, but that's it so far. They're definitely hot little buggers. Recipe ideas, anyone?

Baby shower downloads

It seems to be peak season for baby showers around here. I guess everybody had a good time on their Christmas vacations last year! Anyhow, while browsing around Nested, I found some nice-looking free downloads. You can get bookplates, in case you're throwing a children's book shower where every guest brings their favorite childhood book. Or if you need shower game ideas, get some lovely looking printable game cards. Happy shower-throwing!

Okay, who did it?

Someone has sent hubby Alex a mysterious T-shirt package. Someone who must know he loves Macs and iPods. The printed tag inside says it's designed by Graphic Airlines, and it's pretty cool. The title is "Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree." Maybe their next shirt will be called "Keeps the Doctor Away"? Har har. So... anybody want to 'fess up?

[Update: The perpetrator saw this blog post and called to confess!]

Bookcover design gallery

Browse here for bookcover design inspiration, compiled by Fwis.

Trying not to kill this

A few weeks ago I saw this little guy at Home Depot and thought its bumpy leaves were weird and cool. It was in a box of plants marked "Exotic Angel Plants®" that don't seem to require much light, so they're good options for offices, tables, desks, etc. So for a couple dollars, I had to give one a try. This plant is a Pilea originating in Vietnam. And according to its label, "Your home deserves them...™" This plant also promises to "Purify air, enhance décor, and calm senses." Wow. I thought I'd been feeling calmer lately. :)

Make some stuff

Some links to projects out there:

Wipe-clean coasters from Allyson Hill
Wine glass photos, a funny party idea from Photojojo
Paper mice with cheese at 3-Eyed Bear (click the mouse photos until you get to the PDF download)
Baby bib at Nested (cool site for design-minded parents)
Pop-up cards from Robert Sabuda
Strings of lights with paper shades and canvas rugs at Martha Stewart

Work at your computer and listen to music you like

It's certainly possible that everybody already knows about this, and I've had my head under a rock until now. But my good friend Valerie just told me about Pandora.com, a free internet radio site that lets you create your own stations. You just type in some song names or artists you'd like to hear on your station, and then, using magic, Pandora will create a station that plays songs similar to those. If a song you hate sneaks in, you can give it a thumbs down and never hear it again. If a song you love plays, give it a thumbs up, and Pandora will play more songs that sound like that. And if you want to buy the song, just click the iTunes button and it will appear in your iTunes store so you can put it in your cart if you want. So now I will be happily designing brochures and listening to only music I like. Nice.