ginnielizz's Profile

Every Meyer lemon tree I've had has died, despite fairly good conditions and a fairly green thumb. This is a great list to teach college students about disappointment, unrealistic expectations, cause and effect, responsibility, and the inevitability of death, sure.

I too was blown away by fridges that could give you ice and water, RIGHT FROM THE DOOR! I also was easily wowed by TVs that didn't need, like, a coat hanger, and also by anyone who had cable at all.

Something that significantly UN-impressed me was my first boyfriend's all-white, sterile home with white leather sofas and even white cats. That was repulsive rather than impressive in my book.

BOOO! Just kidding. :) I think it looks cool here in a restaurant, but I don't know about an actual home. I think busy ceilings are better for, like, hotel ballrooms and George Washington's living room than actual livable spaces.

Uh, I didn't bother reading this, because I already get this sort of information and discussion from sites and columns I subscribe to about relationships and sexuality and whatnot. Can't you stick with trendy wallpaper and buttloads of mid-century-modern finds, AT? "Write what you know" and all that. :)

Be warned, punkassjim's gorgeous cases can't be folded up like a normal smart cover to make a stand. For that reason only, I'm sad to say I have to pass.

I hate this trend with everything except hexagons. I've always found interlocking hexagons to be a beautiful pattern that feels more modernist than outright geometric -- maybe because I'm in love with the Gaudí sidewalk tiles on Barcelona's Passeig de Gràcia that are interlocking hexagons with a botanical textured pattern. THOSE I love; the rest reminds me of ugly math problems! :)

The big compromise we made was settling for a home with no foyer, mudroom, or porch -- right now, our door opens right into the living room and stuff piles up really easily because we don't have a stellar landing strip solution. There's a small coat closet but it's awkward to get into, and we're a shoes-off household so we also took it over completely with footwear. We know the mess will only get worse once we have kids, so we'll always have to be very particular about choosing furniture that includes storage options.

One great piece of registry advice is to read reviews before you register for stuff. We registered for an entire set of dishes at C&B that turned out to have an incredibly stupid design flaw (the base was really small so when you cut near the edges of the plate, they would tip and cause you to fling food! Seriously not cool). We wound up returning them all and getting a different china set entirely, but not before several close friends and family members had bought us really cool pieces from the original set -- which would have been warm and fuzzy and sentimental, had we actually been able to keep them. It's nice and all that you *can* return stuff, but even better when you don't have to.

Another tip I strongly recommend is getting an Amazon registry -- not only do the not expire after 18 months the way other registries do, but the Universal feature is so fantastic for design-minded folks. Not all of your older or tech-challenged contacts are going to use it, but you'll be thrilled when that one cool friend tracks down, say, a crafted item on Etsy that you linked to. Nice to have options outside of your standard china-and-flatware selection -- we had some cousins band together and coordinate on getting us a cool Restoration Hardware (hush) mirror that no one relative would have shelled out for, and some other sharp friends procured MOMA items (before MOMA had a registry) and other cool individual tricks that stood out from typical setting up house stuff. Amazon's not great for fancy gift wrap, but at least they don't waste nine yards of extra fluffy paper and ribbon, either -- fanfare is cute but not practical if you're getting presents all the time. (I know, what a white wine, right? But seriously, all that cardboard adds up!)

Since we bought our house after getting married, we still use our registry as a portal for all the homey items we aspire to collect. Sometimes our family uses it and sometimes not -- now that Pinterest exists we might roll off of it -- but it's really been a pleasure to use. (Full disclosure; I know work for Amazon, but I didn't when we were engaged!)

Drawers full of sheets, towels and clothes. We went out of our way to purchase a captain's bed for the extra storage and to never have to deal with creepy under-bed dust bunnies, and feng shui be damned, we love it.

The iPhone 4S. The combination of voice recognition, GPS, email and Internet on the go, a phone that works in other countries, productivity/time management apps, note-taking and syncing, apps like Flow or barcode/QR scanners, file storage, all the games (especially the turn-based social stuff like Draw Something), excellent calculation ability, weather, periodicals, ebooks, shopping, and the high-quality camera and video on the go (not to mention the music part)... all of it together in my pocket just blows my mind.