Crayola® Color Guide : Royal Purple

This Labor Day weekend I took a trip up to visit my grandparents in Monroe, WI. The weather was amazing...high of 72 degrees, sunny, refreshing. I always mourn the end of summer, but this year I am forcing myself to rejoice in the autumn as well. 

For Keeping It Colorful I was therefore motivated to find a transitional Crayola® color for this summer-autumn change. Here is Royal Purple...a cool purple with touches of gray. Royal Purple is a color that makes you feel important but calm, regal but relaxed. It is the perfect color for pampering products and personal rooms like bedrooms and bathrooms.

1. Purple Rock Candy from LOLCandy
2. Luxourious royal purple bathroom from furnishism.com
3. Purple Ring from my favorite, Dara Ettinger. This ring is no longer for sale where I found it on Etsy, but I know from experience that their customer service is great if you contact them via facebook or email.
4. Purple lisianthus blooms from proflowers.com
5. Purple Door from Marthastewart.com
6. French Lavender hand soap from Method Home.
7. Gradient Rug from RugsDirect.com

Do you think you could ever paint a whole room purple?



.

Wanderlust Wednesday : China

I met a fellow China traveler the other day. We swapped food stories, attempted broken Chinese, and told funny cultural stories. Low and behold, it made me miss China. I've had some good adventures there, and would gladly take more. Maybe in this place :

Ancient Town of Fenghuang, China

Photo from Sunsurfer

Ice Cream Taste Testing Party

Have you ever stood in front of the ice cream isle? Have you ever been paralyzed wondering which of the six brands of cookies n' cream is the tastiest? Is the extra $2 per 1/2 gallon worth spending for the taste you want? Maybe some of you are brand loyal to ice cream, but I am always torn at purchase time.

I prescribe to the theory that, when one splurges (financially or dietarily) on ice cream, it should be good ice cream.

We had our big small group kick off last week, and we decided figure this all out. With three brands each of two flavors, lots of Dixie cups, and some informal market research, we threw an Ice Cream Taste Testing Party! Not only did we get to eat a lot of ice cream, but we got to eat six different kinds of ice cream!

Every brand was assigned a letter. After tasting each, all 16 of us ranked them on these scorecards I threw together.

(I've opened the easy, printable cards for PDF download here.)

Curious about the winners?
In the Mint Chocolate Chip category: Homemade brand won by 7 points.

In the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough category: Guess what! Also Homemade brand. However this time it won by only TWO points. Kroger Private Selection brand was a close second.

Mmmm. Guess who got all the leftovers? It was me. 

Something Uplifting for Friday

Hey everyone! This week has been simply a whirlwind! Business travel, Reds game, Bible study kick-off... it was a doozy. (Haha, doozy). I am greatly looking forward to a long, quite weekend with the grandparents. Maybe I can share some of grandma's traditional recipes when I return eh? No one cooks like grandmas.

Thought provoking question : when our generation of health-conscious, anti-processed, veggie-loving young adults becomes holiday-dinner-cooking grandmas, I wonder what we will serve. Hopefully it will be just as delicious, and exponentially better for family gorging.

ANYWAY. I have something uplifting for Friday.

Do you remember the small business featurette about Amy and her Rainbow Town Project? September is a big month for Rainbow Town. They launched their Art4School Campaign!

Every day in September, a painting made by one of the orphans will be posted on their Facebook page...think of it as a flash sale. Every dollar from the purchase funds the education of the Rainbow Town orphans.

Photos by Amy Elrod

I love that Rainbow Town gives the children the opportunity to create for and participate in funding their education. The bright colors and organic shapes are the perfect conversation piece for my office.
Check them out and see if there's anything you like!

The recap for this week is brief, but here goes :

Wild Strawberry mood board for Keeping It Colorful.

Whimsical lavender fields in France.

Cincinnati Reds baseball game.


Have an uplifting weekend!

An Almost Boys Night

Two of our man-friends, husband, and I hit up a Reds game last night. MY FIRST ONE this summer! Thankfully I no longer feel disloyal to my city and thoroughly unamerican. I do love a good summer baseball game.

Did you know that the Reds are the oldest team?

What is your favorite part of a baseball game? I love all the sounds...

I kept filming in hopes of catching an awesome play by one of the stars...but the Reds had a rough hitting night. Instead, here's Rosie. 



And this one's for you Laura! Smiley Phillips. He's my favorite too.