White, Gray, Orange, and Grellow

As I mentioned before, we have been redoing some things around our place. The seven years we have lived here coupled with two kiddos under 4 have done some damage. After drooling over the CB2 catalog for years and visiting the store during travels to lucky cities that have storefronts, I am thrilled to say that we now have a standing store in Atlanta. CB2 is Crate and Barrel's modern cousin.


We ventured there for end tables for our changing living room. The kids had a great time testing each and every bed and chair in the place for comfort. Luckily, Ford wore orange pants and fit right in with every display.


We were also there to purchase a few Flor Tiles. We also have an Interface Flor showroom in Atlanta but they do not stock pieces. It is a mail order only establishment and we were in a big hurry with Christmas parties lurking. Lucky for us CB2 does stock a limited number of options and had just the gray Flor tiles we needed. My son preferred the bold tiles instead and was quite excited with his choice.


The colors of the modern moment according to CB2 are White, Gray, Orange, and Grellow (greenish yellow). We felt a little like we'd walked into the 70's show set but did walk away with 2 Grellow end table on wheels.

Here is our finished room sporting the Grellow tables and Gray Flor Tiles.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your golden hair"

As a kid, my favorite series to watch was Faerie Tale Theater starring Shelley Duvall. Having always had a bit too much disney damage in general, I love a good story of a prince rescuing any fair maiden. But far and away, my very favorite of all the stories was Rapunzel. I attribute my love for radishes to that movie. I have always dreamed of a house with a turret or a round room of any kind. And most of all, I wanted that round bed and still do!

I had an old VHS tape of all the shows that my uncle had painstakingly taped for me that I wore out years ago. I was overjoyed when I found this DVD set of all the movies at Costco last year. There were many more stories than I even knew had been produced.
Thank you to Disney for this year putting Rapunzel back in our minds and the hearts of a whole new generation of turret seekers. I was both full of anticipation and a little reluctant to see the new spin on the classic entitled "Tangled". I knew there would be major liberties taken and the story would not be the one I was so fond of. I still loved it. Disney did not disappoint. I did miss the radishes and the witches garden but not Shelley Duvall's tendrils!


I really enjoyed the movie and so did my kids. My heart truly skipped a beat when I came across the Rapunzel tower. Round and Round and Round and Wonderful. I am most excited to get this for (my daughter) for Christmas this year. I wish they had included a round bed but the rest of it is magical enough. Here's to dreaming of princes tonight!

The Secret is Out

I grew up making gingerbread houses every year out of graham crackers and cans of white icing. My kids are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 and requested making houses this year after watching cartoons of "Max and Ruby" making theirs. I got excited thinking maybe they were old enough to start the tradition with them so I ventured to Target to buy supplies. While on the Christmas aisle, I saw these handy little kits. At $8 a piece, I though that was a bargain considering the house is already made and Christmas candy is expensive and it was included.


So I set out the boxes and prepared myself for the mess I thought would ensue. I set out small bowls and let the kids pour the included candies into them. I added Hershey's Peppermint Kisses and M&Ms since those are my kids favorites.


The houses were adorable, built strong, and etched with lines in all the right places.


I lined the houses with icing and let the kids go to town covering the thing with candy. This kit is worth its weight in gold. The $8 price was worth every penny and more. My kids were entertained quietly working for at least 45 minutes and there was no mess at all.


The finished product was amazing considering the age of my kids. This kit is fool proof and my new tradition is to buy one of these every year. I know it isn't exactly the Martha Stewart way to do things but I live in the real world of little kids and minimized messes!

Date Night

This past weekend the hubs had a swanky work-related Christmas party downtown (Bham that is) that we really enjoyed...I was excited because I got to wear my new H&M brocade dress that I had spied in InStyle months ago and scored during the H&M Lanvin event for a MAJOR deal (and by MAJOR I mean $19.95!!) How do they do that?!?! I wore it with a black fitted blazer from Urban Outfitters (silence + noise label), a gold chain necklace with black stones..love the festivity of the holidays!!

It looks kinda like this on me...or not really at all but a girl can dream!








I also realized as were walking out the door that my nails were not quite party-ready!! Thank goodness I had purchased a Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in gold chrome and remembered that Ansley someone that I know had used this mani-wizard at stop-lights on her way to dinner recently and it dries by the time you arrive at your destination! (Disclaimer: Two cities Two girls does not endorse beautification while operating a vehicle!!) (Disclaimer #2: This is kind of a "Cinderella manicure" - looks great that night but "poof" the next morning it is back to looking a little raggedy!)
That being said, this little pen is a holiday must and would make a great stocking stuffer!











We were too busy yappin' to eat at the party so I was thrilled to figure out that one of my favorite bfast/lunch spots serves dinner on Friday nights and was right around the corner from the party!! Trattoria Centrale - Let me just say that everything I have ever had here is oh sooo delicious..you can really tell these guys know what they are doing and love food!

First...the perfect salad! Crisp Bibb lettuce, goat cheese, baby beets (YAY!) and pistachios (DOUBLE YAY!) topped with the perfect amount of scratch-made citrus vinaigrette...


I almost licked the plate!


Followed by Orecchiette al Ragu -which as a general rule I don't order pasta in restaurants - it is always disappointing to me...this was quite the exception!! Orecchiette, cream, slow-roasted pork, extra yum and sage - expectations greatly exceeded!

Hubs had pizza...but not just any pizza - delicious, authentic, crispy crust, bubbly cheese, inventive ingredient, Rome-memory inducing pizza...this time with sausage and mushroom and some magic ricotta mixture under the toppings..


Great leftover pizza tip from Geoff (one of the owners)for those of us without a pizza stone: when you are reheating - take your pizza out of the fridge about 20 min before you heat it. Then put a cookie sheet in an oven set to 465 and let it get heated up..then put the pizza in and heat for about 1.5 minutes! Again..genius! It makes the toppings perfectly warm and bubbly and the crust crispy and delicious!

All enjoyed with a Pinot Nero (Italy's Pinot Noir) and finished off with homemade gelato - cappuccino and pistachio flavors......perfect!

Everything at Trattoria Centrale is delish..a couple weeks ago I had a pumpkin drop biscuit with maple glaze during brunch that was so good...had it fallen on the ground I would have picked it up and eaten it..no regrets!