Inspiration

These are style and design posts that include kitchen, cooking, entertaining, and fashion items I’m currently coveting.

Of Emergency Travel Kits and Daydreaming

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Escape with Ghirardelli dark chocolate #escapewithdarkchocolate @ghirardelli

Daydreaming is an art – it truly is a special skill. My high school French teacher would disagree, as he wrote my daydreaming as off as lack of concentration, but I believe it’s the key to creativity. And, let’s be honest, it’s a coping mechanism for escaping from reality. Especially when your reality comes in the form of travel headaches like lost luggage, cancelled flights, and poor customer service.

I’d like to think I have pretty good travel karma, but really just it’s just a matter of time before the bad stuff hits. And, when you travel as much as I do, it hits pretty often. This winter I’ve been caught in a Nor’Easter, had luggage fly east when I was heading west, and clocked in time at airport cafés while coping with grounded flights. And, that, my friends, is when I daydream.
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Top Ten Good Food Gifts

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Top Ten Holiday Gifts

Have you made your list and checked it twice? No, I don’t mean the one for Santa Claus but for your holiday shopping. Yes, the holidays are about giving but, let’s be honest, it all comes down to how awesome a gift you give.

If you ask me, it’s all about who gets the most creativity gifting points, and, of course, if said gift is a good fit for the person lucky enough to receive it. This fall I’ve been circling around a few specific gifts for all the food people in my life and, in the spirit of the Black Friday-induced shopping craze, I thought I’d share a few. So, here they are, my Top Ten Food Gifts that I’d love to gift and get this holiday season.
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Give & Gift Books – Win a Set of 10 Chronicle Books

by Aida Mollenkamp —

give-books

Once in a blue moon it happens: you find the absolute, positively perfect gift.

You’re in the throes of holiday shopping madness when suddenly, it’s there before you like your own treasure trove a la King Tut’s tomb (except you’re likely at the mall and didn’t have to excavate it). I do my best to will those perfect gifts — making mental notes of the giftee’s offhand comment of what they covet. And I am on a constant gift alert because sometimes that random day trip across the border results in some seriously perfect presents (heart-shaped Mexican mosaic paperweight, anyone?).

But, no matter how much I will it, those perfect gifts can’t be forced. This year, those perfect gifts have come to me in the form books and in a set of 10 — enough for (almost) everyone in my huge clan. Books are a very regular gift in our family — some of us dote over the design and craftsmanship, others crave a good read, and the littlest ones are still catching the literary bug. To celebrate the power of a good book and the pursuit of a perfect gift, I’m joining my absolutely fabulous publisher, Chronicle Books, to give the gift of books. It’s a community-driven campaign to support bookstores, literacy, and to Give Books! 
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Inspiration: Palm Springs

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Design-Inspiration-Palm-Springs

Palm Springs. Just saying it brings forth images of old-school Hollywood, modern architecture, and relaxed vacation style. Well, I’m heading that way this weekend to celebrate my birthday with friends and family, so it seemed a fitting theme for the latest Inspiration board. In the spirit of classic Palm Springs,  I’m doing a little design daydreaming — here a few things I’d have in my dream desert house as well as a few items I’d don while relaxing poolside.
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