I loved this TED Talk by Shawn Achor, discovered via Makeunder My Life.

I’m always in awe of fabric designers, especially as I would love to learn how to create patterns myself one day. I read about Holli Zolinger’s stunning fabrics today on Bryn’s blog, and I couldn’t believe how many amazing patterns she has available in her Spoonflower shop. I felt an instant connection to the colorways, and I really love the mix of whimsy and geometric in her designs. I am thinking about ordering a couple yards to make into throw pillows or perhaps even curtains for our dining room. There were so many to choose from, I had a difficult time picking out my favorites. I particularly love all of the animal prints, and I think the bunnies would be adorable for an Alice in Wonderland themed nursery.

I stumbled on these beautiful paper lights from Zipper 8 on Etsy this morning. I particularly love the table lamp version. Click the images to see the product listings.

I thought the most difficult challenge to giving up grain would be missing pasta, and, to some extent, it has. At first, I wondered what on earth I would eat if I couldn’t enjoy varying forms of pasta with red sauce (or fettucini alfredo or penne tossed with roasted vegetables in the Fall or raw tomatoes and basil in the Spring) a couple times per week. For a long time, I avoided pasta substitutes like zucchini ribbons or spaghetti squash so I wouldn’t trigger the urge, but over the last few months, I’ve started to reintroduce the concept of pasta into my way to eating if not the actual food itself.

Spaghetti Carbonara, which is typically made with cream, bacon and peas and tossed with a raw egg at the end to make a creamy sauce, used to be one of my favorite comfort food meals. It’s easy and quick to make and requires mostly pantry ingredients. Usually, it put me into a food coma. Not long ago, I noticed a recipe for Carbonara with spaghetti squash on one of my favorite food blogs Health-Bent and tucked the idea away in the back of my mind. Tonight, when I found myself cooking for one and with most of the ingredients on hand, I decided it was a great opportunity to experiment.

The result was a heaping mound of food, more than enough to serve three people as a main meal or four with a side salad. I just ate a big bowl by itself and was thoroughly satisfied. The faux Carbonara and squash had the right texture, consistency, and flavor. I might have even enjoyed it more than the traditional version, since it packed a load of nutrition at a fraction of the calories. Overall, I think it was an immensely successful substitution for the original.

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara (gluten free)

• 1 medium spaghetti squash
• olive oil
• 5-6 slices of bacon
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium zucchini, small dice
• 1 C frozen peas, thawed
• 1/4 C white wine
• 1/2 C sour cream (or heavy cream, I had sour cream on hand)
• 1/2 C parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Brush the cut sides of the squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut side down onto a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes until you can handle it and shred with a fork.

While the squash is roasting, fry the bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and let drain on a paper towel. Chop with a knife when cooled. Pour off most of the bacon grease, leaving about a tablespoon in the pan. Sauté the onion on medium heat in the bacon grease.

When the onion is soft, add the zucchini and sauté until tender. Stir in the garlic for about 30 seconds to one minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and reduce for five minutes or so. Add the peas to the pan and reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally until the squash is done roasting. It’s really important that the squash is hot when added to the pan so that the egg will cook.

Stir in the cream and parmesan cheese. Add the shredded squash to the pan. Pour the beaten egg into the pan and stir quickly to incorporate. Serve topped with more parmesan and bacon.

PS. I still eat regular pasta but only on special occasions, at a really fabulous restaurant or if made at home from scratch. Now, it seems much more luxurious and special, a real treat, instead of an every day occurrence.

Watercolor Floor Plan

I know I’ve been rather lax about sharing some of my design projects at school and elsewhere. Recently, I update my portfolio because I’m actively looking for a summer internship in the Des Moines area. If you’re interested, you can check it out here or from the Design link in the navigation bar.

In my spare time (which is not really that much right now), I’m working on redesigning this site and updating my personal branding. So, everything will be getting a fresh look some time this Spring.

Last week, I happened to stumble upon Stephen Bloom’s December 9th opinion piece on The Atlantic website about rural Iowa, which has garnered much attention, mostly negative, including from his own colleagues and the University of Iowa President. It was so fantastically stereotypical, out of touch and just plain wrong that I couldn’t resist reading it over again and then out loud to Keegan, marveling over the idea that someone might pull over while I’m walking my lab to ask me if I hunt him. For the record, that’s never happened to me once in three years, and I walk him a lot. (I’ve been to two weddings here, and neither of them involved a jello mold.) I can’t get over how a journalism professor at a major university who has chosen (not been forced) to live here for over twenty years could so irresponsibly misrepresent Iowa and everyone who lives here.

I won’t lie: I moved here with misgivings. I spent the first twenty-eight years of my life on either coast, and over five years of my adult life in major cities (San Francisco, Phoenix, Portland). I love skiing and swimming in the ocean, two activities not to be found here in Iowa. I enjoy visiting New York and Philadelphia and the energy, excitement, culture and diversity that can be found in a big city – not to mention the food or the shopping. But, after living in Iowa for just over three years, I have to say that I really love it here too.  My top reasons Iowa is a great place to live:

Winterset, Iowa

1. It’s beautiful. Prairies and rolling hills are beautiful in a way completely different to the Appalachian mountains, the Oregon coastline, the San Francisco Bay, the deserts of Phoenix or anywhere else I’ve ever lived. The variety of color that can be found in the landscape, especially in Fall, is simply breathtaking.

 Perry, Iowa

2. It’s clean. The city is pristine as any I’ve ever visited, and so is everywhere else for that matter. We live in Windsor Heights, and the pride of ownership is evident in every home. People here care about where they live.

3. It’s fun. Since moving here, I’ve seen many of my favorite bands in concert, including O.A.R., Wilco, Gomez, Guster, Ingrid Michaelson, Sister Hazel, Joe Purdy, and Barenaked Ladies. Des Moines has great restaurants like Django (my personal favorite), Baru 66, Centro, La Mie, Sbrocco, Sakari Sushi and many more. The East Village is filled with unique shops like Domestica, Porch Light Antiques, Found Things, Seed, Eden, Ephemera, Aimee, AllSpice (and more), where I can find unique gifts, home decor, stationary, and clothing without having to brave the mall, though Jordan Creek is just as nice as any big city mall. This summer we attended the International Food Festival where we ate Turkish, Ecuadorian and Ukrainian. On my list of things to do next are the Bacon Festival, the Iowa State Fair, 80-35, Iowa Cubs games, and Bucs hockey games (we can walk to the stadium), and the Des Moines Art Festival.

4. It’s accessible. After living in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix, the traffic here in Des Moines is a walk in the park. I like to laugh at the Sunday morning real estate show when the host describes literally every home as twenty minutes from anywhere you want to go, but it’s really true! And, for us, most destinations are within 10-15 minutes.

5. It’s easy to be healthy. Our house is a quarter mile from the entrance to a system of bike trails that crosses the entire metro area. We also had access to the same trails when we lived twenty miles south in rural Cumming, Iowa. I walk our dogs along this trail almost daily, and it’s always beautiful and clean. We live less than a mile from the YMCA, and there are tons of options for fitness like Cross Fit, Kosama and Farrell’s, plus your typical gyms like Gold’s, Planet Fitness and AnyTime Fitness. You can also participate in a number of events like the Hy-vee Triathlon, the Des Moines Marathon and RAGBRAI, plus numerous smaller races. In November 2010, Trader Joe’s opened in West Des Moines, and a Whole Foods is scheduled to open later this year, not to mention locally owned Campbell’s Nutrition. During the warmer months, locally grown produce and meats are available through a plethora of CSAs and farmers’ markets including the Downtown Farmer’s Market, which is incredible.

Statue of a Girl – Ames, Iowa

6. It’s creative. If you have read this blog for a little while, you know that I make jewelry and participate in Market Day, which is a monthly art + craft show that runs from May to November. In addition to selling at Market Day, I have met amazing artists and crafters and purchased unique, handmade artwork, pillows, baby clothes, stuffed animals, hand dyed yarn, scarves, soaps, and stationary that I’ve given away (reluctantly) and also kept for myself. If you want to learn more about painting, ceramics, jewelry making, photography, knitting or just about any other craft or creative pursuit, there is some place here to do it. Check out Des Moines Community Education and the Des Moines Art Center for a wide variety, class lists as Fishlips and Studio Fuzzishu for jewelry making, Ephemera for knitting, just to name a few of the many options.

7. It’s close to nature. This past October, we drove a quick and easy two hours to Lake Keosauqua, where we rented a small cabin with a view of the water, hiked with our dogs in the state park and visited several of the small Villages of Van Buren (which were neither scuzzy nor infested with meth addicts, Mr. Bloom). There are countless places where you can hike and camp and fish all over the state; so many that we had a difficult time choosing where to vacation.

Orchard at Sunset – Cumming, Iowa

8. It’s nice. Iowa is nice. People here are nice. When I first moved here from Northeastern Pennsylvania, I went grocery shopping at Hy-vee. The checker asked me how my day was, if I had any plans for the week-end, and if I needed help out to my car. I went home in amazement and told Keegan how surprised I was that the checker actually talked to me, pleasantly. He said, “Yeah, people here are nice.” It took me a while to get used to how nice and genuine Iowans really are, but now it’s my favorite part of living here. If you haven’t seen the cheeky (NSFW, use headphones) yet serious video by Scott Siepker and Paul Benedict, it’s the perfect rebuttal to Stephen Bloom and the rest of the media who would stereotype Iowa without taking a moment to step outside of their own haze of condescension and self importance to actually experience what a wonderful place this is.

Wilco Concert

December was a whirlwind month that really couldn’t have been any better, though I had a couple stress induced, freak out moments along the way. We saw Wilco live at the Val-Air Ballroom, and it was possibly the best concert I’ve ever seen. I wrapped up the semester successfully a little later than usual due to a last minute paper. We celebrated four Christmases, and my family drove all the way from Pennsylvania for their very first Iowa Christmas. Last week, my cousin paid us a way-too-quick visit on his drive westward to California, and then we headed out to Chicago the very next day to celebrate the New Year with friends. After a month of frenzy, eating tons of cookies, and drinking way too much wine, I’ve been more than happy to just sit around for the past couple days, catch up on blog reading, think about New Years resolutions and research lots of healthy recipes. After a rough Fall, I am truly excited about a new year and fresh start.

Our First Christmas Tree

Last year, I read The Primal Blueprint over our Christmas vacation and immediately started to eat grain free, whole food at the start of 2011. With the exception of special occasions, my trip to PA in July, and this past month, I ate Primal/Paleo about 75-80% of the time. My non Primal treats included made from scratch, homemade pizza, Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups, and red wine. I am pretty sure I ate pasta less then ten times this whole year, and most of those meals were when I visited PA.

I’m sure some of you are reading this and thinking that sounds just plain awful, but it wasn’t hard for me to do at all. When I cut out grain and sugar and started eating whole food, I felt amazing. I lost a few pounds too, which didn’t hurt, but was never my main goal. I stopped beating myself up for not spending hours per week at the gym or training for a marathon like everyone else I know and started to enjoy walking the dogs around our neighborhood, yoga, and weight lifting again.

But, during the last month, I threw primal eating out the window and ate loads of crackers, cookies, bread. And, I felt absolutely terrible. I got sick right before my family arrived for Christmas…the first time in over a year. I couldn’t sleep, and my stomach hurt all the time. I was exhausted, and I kept getting migraine like headaches, which really sucked when I was trying to wrap up my projects at the end of the semester and couldn’t stand the sight of my computer screen for more than a couple minutes at a time.

Coincidentally, I experienced the same reactions when I ate whatever I wanted during my trip to PA, which leads me to believe that I have some level of gluten intolerance. So, for 2012, I’m recommitting to eating primal/paleo with the knowledge that it’s the best way for me to eat I’ve ever tried – and that includes vegan, South Beach, Weight Watchers, you name it. I found some great inspiration for the new year over on The Clothes Make the Girl, which is a really inspiring Paleo cooking blog by Melissa Joulwan. I also just downloaded her new cookbook Well Fed, which I’m really excited to explore over the next few weeks and add some new recipes to my mix. If you’re looking for a different way to eat that’s based on real food, I would definitely encourage you to look into the Primal/Paleo diets. The success stories on Mark’s Daily Apple are truly inspiring and motivating, and there are so many great blogs out there with tons of recipes and more science and data than I know what to do with. I’ve also started a healthy recipes board on Pinterest that are all Primal or Paleo if you’re interested.

I hope you had a great holiday and happy New Year’s! I’m looking forward to regular blog posting again and shaking things up around here a little.

Finding a new West Elm catalog in my mailbox (like I did yesterday) is quite nearly as good as receiving the latest issue of my favorite design magazines (House Beautiful, Elle Decor), and yesterday’s was no exception. After reading Holly’s list of her 14 favorites over on Decor8, I decided to do a small roundup of the pieces I’m most excited about (there are many more I haven’t pictured).

I’ve been stalking that little red lamp for weeks, and the dresser with the tiled wood front is so understated and pretty. For some reason, it reminds me of the beach. But, the Paul Loebach media credenza is hands down my favorite. I really like the combination of the glossy gray finish with the natural wood, and the slightly nostalgic mid-century lines.

1. Mia Table Lamp 2. Wood Tiled Dresser 3. Distressed Wood Shelving Unit 4. Paul Loebach Media Console 5. Marquis Rug 6. Dipped Side Table 7. Ryder Rocking Chair

Are you a fan of the direction West Elm has taken over the past year? I used to think that many of their designs were too modern and cold for my taste, but lately, I am really drawn to their use of clean lines, interesting textures, and pops of color.

I’m running a little Cyber Monday Sale in my shop through midnight tonight. You can save 10% of your total order with code CYBERMONDAY2011. The sale is good in both my Etsy Shop and on http://shop.jfrancesdesign.com. A few gift suggestions…

The Classic Pearl Necklace – Shop | Etsy

And, the matching earrings – Shop | Etsy

Vintage Glass Daisy Bobby Pin – Shop | Etsy

Citrine and Sterling Y Necklace – Shop | Etsy

And, the matching earrings – Shop | Etsy

Many more pieces are available in both shops. If you live in Central Iowa, I’m also holding a Holiday Open House on December 10th. The details are available on my Facebook page. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week-end and are enjoying the holiday season!

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I really enjoy collecting design coffee table books. I purchased my very first – Tracy Porter’s Home Style – from Powell’s in Portland many years ago, where I would go on rainy winter nights and just sit in the design section absorbing as much as I could from these beautiful books. I’ve added a few to my collection over the years, including, most recently, Decorate by Holly Becker, which is my new favorite. But, I still have many more books on my list because, as much as I love magazines, there is something about holding a big heavy book with it’s lovely thick pages and flipping through it slowly for inspiration and creative energy. These are just a few of the newer books I’m coveting.

Modern Vintage Style by Emily Chalmers

Design*Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney

Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design by Christine Lemieux

Not a decorating book, per se, but I love Tif and her quirky handmade style. I was able to hold this book in my hands at The Creative Connection Event and have been sorry ever since that I didn’t bring it home with me.

dottie angel by Tif Fussell

These last two technically aren’t books. For me, they’re halfway between a book and a magazine – gorgeous, high quality, serial publications that are definitely a total indulgence.

Uppercase Magazine

Anthology Magazine

Do you have any splurge worthy books or magazines on your wish list this year?