Let's Get Cozy with a Web Vacation.

We'll return to the Nest --> ecobee saga right after this short break.

A backlog of cool, interesting, and fun links has been bubbling over with abundance, I need to clean out my Pocket.  It's January after all, time to clean up and clean out!  Let's git 'er dun!  No idea why I always use that phrase.

Speaking of cleaning, I signed up for the Apartment Therapy January Cure emails.  Too bad I've been sick with a stupid cold.  Not a single tip has been followed through upon yet over here.  Ahem.  I should probably read them too.  Cough.

So I have sick brain, pardon any lapses in, well, everything.

We've gone on several fun trips around the web together, haven't we?  There's this one, and then there's this one....well here's a link to all of them, if you care to.  There may be a few broken links, my apologies; I'm near done fixing them so if you find one, please let me know.

Anywhooo....a great place to start is The Bake Dept where you can find deeeelicious baked goods, then cuddle up with your favorite blanky, tasty treats, a beverage, an electronic reading device and flip through this mid-winter web vacay!  Wheee!         .......Sick brain.

Jen's Hearty Ancient Grains Bread

Ok,  let's get this party started, shall we?

Ah, ok, this coincides with the January Cure I mentioned above and actually, the Feverish Decluttering mania going around.  Despite this stupid cold, I'm feeling super extra special let's-do-this motivated, more so than a typical January, to clean stuff out, lighten the load.  Get. Stuff. Done.

And this first up coincides with an albeit brief conversation I had with Mike the other night.  Oddly I can't remember how it unfolded but it was essentially two sentences:

Mike, "I like clutter."

me, "I HATE clutter."

And hate is a strong word I avoid.  How we continue to cohabitate is occasionally dumbfounding to me.  Good thing I love the guy madly.

This article from Domino, Strees is One of the Negative Effects of Clutter, pins me, nails it, right the heck on, this this this, me to the core.  Which is funny since my mom kindly reminds me that I was a slob in my wee youth.  I may remember one or two instances of just a path from the bed to the door but nowadays, clutter, mess, it utterly stresses me out.

My Currant Scones.  I Love these, capital L love.

I could go on and on and this topic is obviously splattered all across the news of late, but a mere two more for you:

America's Love-Hate Relationship with Marie Kondo and Our Clutter from the Los Angeles Times.  Interesting but doesn't offer much by way of a solution or direction.

And related to the Domino article but does offer some tips and solutions, Your Cluttered Home is Stressing You Out, According to a New Study from Real Simple.

Hopefully Mike will read one of those, and take heed.  The first one, babe, at least that one.

Righty-o....

I loved this jaunt from Lonny, Why Following Home Trends Isn't Good for Anyone.

As you may recall, I pooh-pooh trends and trend-following.  Granted, if there's something trendy that you've just gotta have, ask yourself if you're still going to love it years from now.  If so, then ok, go ahead but beware, trends, tastes, they come and go rapidly as your affection for them may too.

Now we spin over to yellow and black, the two colors I unrelentingly babble on about most.

From Dwell, A Renovated Apartment in Sweden Boasts Sunny Yellow Storage Walls.  Cheery, right?!  I love it!

From House Beautiful, 10 Stylish Black Bedroom Ideas.  Uh huh, yes, yes, uh huh.  And then from HGTV, 10 Bright Ideas for Decorating with Bold Black.  Some good stuff in there.

I'm tellin' ya, people, add super chic black to your home decor, you will not be sorry!

Mmmk, rolling along....We have from House Beautiful a few great ideas (and a couple yawners) in their 12 Crazy-Fun Ways to Dress Up Your Bedroom Walls.  Or you could just do some cool a** trim, like I did, yeah.  Heh.

Another from HGTV, 18 Reasons Designers are Painting Ceilings.  Hmmm, reminds me of a certain bathroom....Painted ceilings are definitely a room changer, in a good way.

And Elle Decor appears to have Everything You Need to Know About Decorating all wrapped up in a tidy eighty three slide slideshow for you.  Yes, I went through them all.  Yes, some of them were dopey.  Yes, some were surprisingly quite good.  Many in fact.  Enough that I deem it share-worthy.

From the home improvement tips department, we have from House Beautiful sheesh yet again, Doing This to Clean Your Grout is Actually Causing Damage.  Who knew?  Not me but now I do.

Family Handyman delivers two spiffy reads today, 19 Classic Handy Tool Tips and Tricks is pretty darn handy and cool.  And then 13 Old Adages That Still Hold Up for DIYers.  Hahaha, ahhhh, so true, so true.  Especially that number one.

Jen's Chocolate Chip Biscotti, super easy!

From the Out of Left Field Department, Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?, from Outside.  I've always been a sunshine lover, can't get enough, always feel so good after being in the sun.  Like feeling clean, I breathe better, feel happier and better...now I know why.

Ya know, one thing about having a dog that is tough on design lovers is that well, their affordable stuff is ugly.  Like beds and stuff.  Toys, toys are super cute, oh for sure.  But comfy things to lay on?, eyesores.

Enter PupRug.  Not only can your pooch sleep comfortably, but comfortably in style!  hahaha, so darn cute.  And not an eyesore!  Yes, I totally want to replace all of Finn's beds, all five of them, with these.

Speaking of Finn laying around which is usually on our bed (which ugh, yes, we got yet another new one.  Can't find that particular post so here's a related bed story.  Oh wait, here it is.  This had better be the very very last one for a very very very very long time.  We do like this new Casper.  I think Finn is its biggest fan though, especially with a floofy comforter on it.) or on the couch.

Chocolate Sweet Rolls.  If you saw my last minute plea on Instagram about these in a contest, we didn't win.  Boo.

Lucky for him, he's also getting a new couch to sleep on too, it should be here around the Week of Becky, aka my birthday.

We bought from Joybird which is utterly terrifying as uh, you don't test-sit on it first.  Buy, build, ship, then sit.  So we'll see.  Fingers crossed.  It just shipped too.  Mike is now worried, saying he thinks it'll be too nice.  Oy.

We ordered a new rug from them as well which already arrived and is awaiting roll out.

But back to the dogs for a second, here's a nifty crafty thing to make, DIY Snuffle Mats for Canine Enrichment and Sniffing.  Finn is a sniffer.  He is a giant walking nose and he sticks it everywhere.  All the time.  Constantly.  He needs other things to sniff besides my butt every thirty seconds.

All righty!!  TMI?  Ah, whatever.

And yes, all of today's photos are from Flaky Bakers.  Seriously, you gotta get yo'self over there and see what we're baking so you can too!