Purge baby purge
It wasn’t too long ago that I purged my kitchen – once as I packed prior to our move meant to be a “down-sizing” and again as I unpacked and organized my new kitchen. My husband has been preaching his “purge” directive to me ever since. He is so very helpful in that way. In the same spirit (and because she is like her dad), I bought my daughter the “Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. I love the principle of only keeping what “sparks joy”. But—what happens when too many items “spark joy”? At this rate, I need a second kitchen to store and display (wishing for open shelving or glass front cupboards) my kitchenistic finds! It doesn’t help that everywhere you look, celebrities, bloggers, even handbag designers, are launching adorable and irresistible kitchen products that scream “happy, happy, joy, joy!” Sigh.
A couple weeks ago I peeked my head into Macy’s to pick something up and low and behold, I came across the shrine to Kate Spade in the home department.
A new line aptly named “All in Good Taste”. I couldn’t agree more! Kate Spade’s signature green, iconic polka dots mixed with red and … aqua! The icing on the cake: whimsical Kate Spade sayings on many of the items. Really, really hard to resist. I bought one item. Only one —a 6-quart turquoise pot because I truly did need a medium-sized pot to replace an old one with a broken handle.
The item I walked away from that I’m still thinking about is the adorable black and white “whistle while you work” polka dot tea kettle. Love how the “scatter dot” polka dots are random and not symmetrical. Do I drink tea? No. Does that matter? Um, no. The set of serve and store bowls is equally as cute.
And who doesn’t need an aqua cake pan that tells you “It’s Somebody’s Birthday Somewhere” ... or your choice of an acacia cutting board, one with grass-green edges telling you “Don’t Cut Corners” and the round turquoise-rimmed one stating “Almost Always Above Board”. Nice alliteration, ha!
Joy sparking. For sure.
A few days later, after I’d settled down and resisted going online and ordering the teakettle ... wouldn’t you know it, The Pioneer Woman launches her new product line.
Well, holy moly. So cute. Not as sophisticated or designer-y, but more farm chick-y or what Ree calls “ranch chic”. (She’s partnering with Walmart.) I think I need to see it in person. It actually went on sale today in the stores, but I didn’t make it there. Much of it is sold out online so we’ll see if they replenish it. That’s the problem with having 3 trillion, 12 zillion million followers. Maybe I’ll just look through the product catalog a couple dozen more times.
I do love how PW uses color, and how the pieces have a flea-market, Anthropologie-kind of style. Great florals. Speckled cookware? Tempting! Being loyal to aqua, I’m not much into reds and oranges. But I have to say they look great mixed with aqua! The bowls are awesome. A woman can never have enough bowls. Am I right?
After both of these exciting discoveries, I animatedly described many of the products in minute detail to my husband, who, bless his heart, said "I can understand your enthusiasm", and then said, “You’d better start purging.” Purge baby purge.