In my dreams, I have an impressive vinyl collection that I display proudly on the walls of my spacious home. In reality, I have a tiny iPod, which fits comfortably into small spaces, like my real apartment. Despite it, I’m thinking of starting a collection of one with one of these vinyl wall clocks by Estonian designer Pavel Sidorenko. From animals, to cityscapes to weapons and furniture there are enough options to suit even the most specific themed room. – Sarah C.

via Freshome

related: crocheted record pillows

Our neighbor is already overrun with zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes to the point where she can’t eat it all. Lucky us! Although I usually just roast it and serve it plain, I had some goat cheese leftover for making pizza so decided to improvise. The result? Sweet, roasted veggies over a Parmesan couscous mix, topped with a tangy crumble of goat cheese. Yum! Best of all, prep was only ten minutes since the instant couscous are pretty much, well, instant. Also, the veggies are just as good cold the next day. — Sarah L. Click for summer squash salad! (more…)

I’ve been in the market for calling cards for some time now (what can I say? I’m picky about paper products!) and while I’m usually a typography and white space kinda gal, I’m loving these custom illustrated calling cards from Rifle Paper Co. For a fee, illustrator Anna Bond will draw your portrait for your notes or calling cards, and can also hand-letter your text if you so choose, giving you a personalized set of stationery that is truly one-of-a-kind. Simply choose your portrait count (singles are $100), quantity and lettering style and color and in two to three weeks, everyone will be able to put your face to your name. Though pricier than some other options, these might make a fun gift for some of the organized friends in my life. – Sarah C.

I bought the most impossibly beautiful strawberries at the farmers market the other day: bursting with sweetness, tiny and red, so fragrant they made my mouth water. I took them home, planning on serving them with some ice cream for dessert, and promptly forgot I even bought them for about two days. When I remembered and spotted them in the fridge, tied in a bag, waiting, I was crestfallen. They, of course, were past their prime. Overripe. Boo. So I did what I had to do. I couldn’t waste that $2.50 pint completely. Life gives you forgotten berries? Make lemonade! So I picked through the berries, washed ‘em, mashed ‘em up, mixed them with the juice of five lemons and about 1/3 cup agave nectar, and added sparkling water to taste. Insanely good. I would have rather enjoyed the berries at their prime, but it was definitely a delightful summer refresher! — Megan B.

Some recycled decor items just look a little too, well, recycled for my taste. Not so these pillows from Alexandra Ferguson. A friend spotted the “Fox” pillow and I immediately thought of three friends who need one for their couches. (It’s $79, so I hope they understand that it’s not really in my gift-giving budget right now.) A variety of other messages (”Call Your Mother,” “Let’s Make Out”) serve as fun reminders or notes to a loved one, or would just look fun hanging about the house. Ferguson’s pillows are made from 100% recycled materials. She says, “Each pillow is approximately the equivalent of four bottles that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.” And yet, they look very fresh. See all of them here. — Mary T.

I love getting the CB2 catalog — spotting the new stuff, seeing the older stuff staged differently — it’s so exciting to see what their designers do with their products. I just about fell out of my chair with delight when I spied their chain-and-pipe-suspended shower rod, shown with the arbor shower curtain. It’s such a cool, industrial look and I’m guessing it’s pretty easy and inexpensive to do as well. It would be perfect for our bathroom, as we have a window that runs along the wall exactly where the shower curtain rod should lie, and it causes tons of curtain issues. I browsed around the CB2 blog to see if they had a tutorial up (as they often do), but alas, not yet. I’ll be checking back, though, and if we get around to figuring it out before, I’ll post our results! — Megan B.

Related: Extra-long conduit curtain rod

Here are two truths about me and money: One, I never seem to have actual cash on hand (my debit card wears out fast). Two, I would be lost without online banking. Being able to pay bills automatically online is a lifesaver for me (not to mention a late-fee saver). The only thing I don’t like about my bank’s online system is that my husband and I can’t log into our shared account using the same password, and we’re required to each have at least one automatic payment under our own password. So that means I can’t log in and see all of our pending payments at a glance. Well, until now. A friend mentioned that she’d been doing her budgeting using mint.com. I was a little skeptical about the security as mint.com works with your bank account to pull in information, but I’m very intrigued by the reminders, the online budgeting tools, and the fact that I can instantly see where the next payments are coming in and going out and even (gulp) how much debt we have. If you want to read up on the security features and decide for yourself, here are three assessments at Elusive Wealth, Money Ning, and Metafilter. Or check out mint.com now. — Mary T.

The rope knot doorstop from Ballard Designs. A rope napkin ring set I saw at the grocery store. A jute-wrapped chandelier at Jamie Young. All of them were giving me a serious longing for something nautical this summer, so I searched online until I found this knot trivet DIY on Design*Sponge. The 14 feet of quarter-inch sisal rope I picked up at the hardware store was only $3.97, which should make three coasters, but it took me about four tries to get the hang of it. While I love the texture of the sisal, in hindsight, I should have stuck with simple cotton, as shown in the original DIY photo, top. I’ll give that a go on my next try. For now, though, I’m happy with the results. Working on any nautical-inspired projects of your own? — Sarah L.

I dread the fall. Sure the temperature cools off and I get to wear my favorite leather jacket again, but every weekend I become a football widow. Perhaps I’ll get my husband’s attention between quarters if I make him a BLT featuring toast from the ProToast! Made by Pangea, the toasters feature teams from the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB — enough choices to please any fanatic. — Katie D.

1) Starve a cold? Feed a cold? Or maybe hydrate a cold. Kimberj says: “We always drink lots of cups of this homemade tea. 1 mug of boiling water, add 1 Tblspn honey, 1 Tblspn fresh squeezed lemon, and 1 Tblspn vinegar. Breathe in the steam until its cool enough to drink. Won’t cure you but it sure makes you feel better.” What’s your at-home cold cure?

2) You can find replacements for your antique china set online. Brodie says: “You could try http://www.richesantiques.ca/. The site is a little confusing, but I know for a fact that if you send them off an email, they will try to find what you’re looking for at a very reasonable price.” Check out Megan’s Silver Pine porcelain score.

3) The hibiscus slip-on coasters have moved to a new site. Dimmalimm says: “Hi and thanks so much for the feature! We actually had to move these from our Etsy shop to our own website today as we can better handle our orders through there. The coasters can be found here now: http://www.Dimmalimm.us.” Thanks for the update on the slip-on coasters — we love ‘em.

4) Good food is apparently still the way to a man’s heart. T Bone says: “Megan, if you need a husband or just some guy to come over and eat your cooking, please feel free to let me know. I’m quite the looker and a shameless charmer when I’m getting good food, FYI.” What inspired this talk? Asian pork tacos.

5) Cut cupcake calories by subbing soda for oil! Ellobie says: “You can actually leave out the water AND oil entirely and just pour in one can of 0-calorie pop, any flavor. Cuts the ‘points’ significantly.” Awesome tip. See Katie’s insanely easy strawberry cupcakes.

Lamp in photo by Flos