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Here on Inhabitat we’ve brought you shipping containers arranged as homes, schools, observatories, and stacks of glory. While you may say you’ve seen every arrangement there is to be had, we say you need to check out this container trifecta by Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects! Besides boasting the usual specs incorporating recycled materials, this award-winning angular building comes complete with a collection of art-homes made just for the local flora and fauna. An incredible forward-thinking exhibition pavillion built for Presidio Habitats in San Francisco, this design has just received a 2010 Design Award from the American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC). Read ahead to learn more about this site-specific project and the local wildlife it supports.

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Photo: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) Stargazing has been popular since that day our ancestors learned to look up at the sky and wonder, "what's out there?" Now, thanks to modern developments like space telescopes, orbiting satellites, high-tech space stations and observatories, we can see the universe (and our earthly home) like never before. These stunning images of far away galaxies and other astronomical beauties -- and the fascinating stories behind them -- are for those wh...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image via Ecorazzi. In upstate New York this weekend, former first child Chelsea Clinton will marry investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, and green blogs are abuzz with leaked details about the vegan menu at the wedding and rehearsal dinner. Read the full story on TreeHugger

Crooked for Photo Friday.

An altruistic leather worker's line of covetable purses, bags and accessories

Portland, OR-based Talitha Leather was founded by Nate Bagley after working as a case manager for a homeless youth organization. Inspired by bible stories, he named the business after a sickly young girl who Jesus saves after her parents leave her for dead.

A friend of Bagley's was working in a shoe store, where he learned leather working techniques. Together they began collecting tools and set up shop in a basement, refining their skills at riveting and sewing. Today, Talitha Leather sells a full line of men's and women's accessories, including bags, purses and leather jewelry made from materials sourced on the West Coast.

A portion of the profits from the sturdy bags goes towards the International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that promotes victim advocacy in the public justice system. The profits from the company also allow Bagley to offer a sliding scale for his services as a private practice mental health counselor to uninsured families and children in Portland.

Prices range from $14 for jewelry to $200-$500 for handmade messenger bags and sell from their online shop or Talitha Leather's Etsy site.

Le travail de Mathilde Corbeil de l'UQAM est publié dans le magazine de design et tendances belge Goedele. Cliquez l'image pour l'agrandir.

The work of Mathilde Corbeil of UQAM is published in the design and trends Belgian magazine Goedele.click image to enlarge

I've taken to writing with some frequency about the mainstream media's failure to cover climate change. Among the many reasons I do so is, well, because of the mainstream media's persistent and rather abhorrent failure to cover climate change. Make sense? Thought so. And while I did dole out some blame to the media for helping to kill the climate bill, I feel that the subject warrants a post of its own. Here's how the media is still failing in its climate coverage, and how that failure helped directly kill our hopes of climate legislation....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Thank you guys so much for playing the game the other day and giving me great suggestions for B's birthday cake. He was a bit shocked I did not have any of my own - the truth is I had too many and after staring at them for a few days, none seemed that fun anymore! And, I really like when we can all share, communicate, participate.

As you can guess, B's cake had plenty of chocolate, eggs, sugar and nuts...Which one did I/we pick? EP's Chocolate and Hazelnut Meringue Cake from Martha Stewart ended up stealing the show. Congratulations on winning the "Artisan Breads At Home". You are going to love this book!

How did I pick? Actually I ended involving B. a little in the process as I noticed after 50 or so comments that I was slightly putting in the "maybe" or "no sure" columns flavors, desserts, ideas that he could picked if given the chance. It was his birthday after all. And I have known in the 13 years we have been together that I should never expect anything if only be surprised.

We sat down and I asked him for key words that would help me narrow down the winning suggestion. Here were his specs: chocolate, nuts, crunchy - creamy, gluten free so I would not have to worry about adapting (go ahead, insert "awwww" right here!). I read everyone of your comments and put a star next to the ones that fit his criteria then I went back and had him look them over, one by one and pick his top three.

You guessed it, I didn't want to spoil the element of surprise completely. Yes. It turned out into a day 100% tuned into him and I am happy for it. This year has been nothing but tranquil for us and he deserves every bit of "you you you you you" that I could give him. And I am glad you indulged me in this rather fun and chocolatey quest.

That cake is sublime! Flourless, creamy, complex and yet not so rich that you have to stop after one bite - more like control yourself not to want it for dessert at every meal! Granted we invited plenty of friends to share with us so the slices were small but I have to say, sneaking in the kitchen passed midnight and sharing a slice with a cold glass of milk after everyone had gone home was pretty much the "ahhhhhh" moment of the day.

The combination of the deep flavors of the cake (I added espresso to the batter instead of vanilla extract) with the meringue was exactly what he asked for. Because we have been heat indexes hovering around the 115F-120F and high humidity, I cooked the meringue topping longer than what the recipe called for to make sure it would not end up in complete puddle of goo when the time to serve it came about. It worked perfectly and yielded the right amount of crunch and softness after standing for a few hours. Like macarons, this cake only tastes better after 24 hours.

Speaking about cake and chocolate, how about doing a little French Word A Week on chocolate cake while we are at it? So, here it is: click on Gateau Au Chocolat to hear its pronunciation.

Thanks everyone for playing along! Have a great weekend everyone!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Meringue Cake, adapted from Martha Stewart.

Makes one 9-inch cake

Notes:
- Now is not the time to use the cheap-o chocolate. Get the best quality bittersweet chocolate you can find as it is the star of the recipe. (Guittard, Callebaut, Valrhona, El Rey, Scharffen Berger, etc...)
- To toast the hazelnuts, preheat oven to 350F and spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
- To skin the nuts without driving yourself crazy, place them in a mesh bag (like a recycled orange or lemon bag) and rub the nuts between your hand over the sink. The skins will fall and only the "naked" nuts will remain in your bag.
- The cake at room temperature is excellent but served really cold, it becomes even fudgier and the meringue gives slightly under your tooth like a soft pavlova. Brilliant!

For the cake:
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
6 large whole eggs, separated
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tablespoons espresso (or vanilla)
1 1/2 tablespoons rum (optional)(not with us!)
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the meringue:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped (1 cup)
1 cup hazelnuts (about 4 ounces), toasted and skinned (see notes)and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar

Prepare the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-3-inch springform pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. Butter parchment and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter and brown sugar until pale and smooth at medium speed, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bottom and sides of your bowl if necessary. Add the melted chocolate, espresso (or vanilla), rum, if using, and salt. Beat until combined. Transfer to a clean bowl and wash your mixing bowl thoroughly.
In a clean mixer bowl fitted the whisk attachment, beat the 6 egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Fold one-third of the egg whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining egg whites and pour batter into prepared pan, and bake 25 minutes.

Prepare the meringue:
Combine the chopped chocolate, nuts and cornstarch in a small bowl, and set aside. Place remaining 4 egg whites in a clean mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until frothy. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Fold in hazelnut mixture.

Assemble and Finish:
Remove cake from oven. Using a large offset spatula, spread meringue mixture on top of cake using as little strokes as possible not to deflate the meringue, and return to oven. Bake until meringue is lightly browned and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let stand 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen, and release sides of pan. Let cool, about 30 minutes, before slicing and serving.

Designed by Ned Wright | Country: United States

“Introducing a new grape and region to an overcrowded marketplace requires a different approach to bottle design. Small and simple design decisions created something that was unexpected, playful and light-hearted. This approach establishes an instant dialogue with the viewer, makes it stand apart on the shelf, and accurately describes the taste and lightness of the wine itself.”

This weekend I'm plunging headfirst into apartment hunting as well as a few big projects... a few of which I actually hope to complete!

While I'm doing that, I hope you'll plunge into my July sponsors websites. If you haven't visited them, now is a good time because we'll be saying goodbye to them in August! Speaking of which - there are a few sponsor spots left for grabs so spread the word. We love adding new partners to coco+kelley!

A big thanks to the lovely shops at The New Traditionalists and Saffron Marigold, beautiful bloggers Sage & Style and Ada & Darcy, my friend and lifestyle expert Kelley Moore, and wedding resource extraordinaire, and Project Wedding for being Premiere Sponsors this month! We were also happy to welcome A Fashionable Life (who is offering readers 20% off with code: cocok), Blue Hour Designs, Clayton Gray Home, Ruby Plaza and Max & Chloe as supporting sponsors as well.

And thank you readers for supporting us this month as we launched our first contributor posts! We can't wait to add more to the mix in August. Have a fabulous weekend all!

xo,cassandra

Earlier this year we told you all about the Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid concept car and now we get to tell you — as we so rarely get to do — that this concept car is about to become a reality! The Spyder which is surely to become the sexiest green car ever (sorry Tesla!) just got the green light to make this dream a real road eating machine. Porsche’s first ever plug-in hybrid goes from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, gets 94 miles per gallon, and undoubtedly will have most of us drooling as it zips past us on our daily commutes. Why will we be drooling instead of riding inside, you ask? The price tag for the 918 Spyder is set at a whopping US $630,000!

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Treehotel i Harads

Högt på min önskelista står en tripp till Harads och en övernattning på Treehotel. Hotellet består av sex rum, alla situerade uppe i träden. Inspirationen till Treehotel är hämtad från filmen "Trädälskaren" av Jonas Selberg Augustsens. Filmen handlar om tre män som åker till Harads för att bygga en träkoja där de ska filosofera över livets frågor. Ingen koja är den andra lik på Treehotel och de sex olika "rummen" heter The Mirrorcube, The Bird's Nest, The Blue Cone, The Cabin, A Room with a View och The UFO. Dock blir de två sista klara i oktober. Vad jag förstår så har de en hel del bokningar, men det är inte omöjligt att få sig en övernattning, bara man planerar lite. Vill man inte bara hänga på rummet så finns det en mängd aktiviteter såsom ridning, trekking, fisketurer, cykelturer på mountainbikes och den nyfikne kan gå en guidad tur på Treehotel.
Har du varit där så skriv gärna en rad om upplevelsen. www.treehotel.se
Läs vidare och kommentera: hem.feber.se/art/184438/bo-uppe-i-traden/
----- Detta är en artikel från Bo uppe i träden

After nearly a year of writing We Like it Wild, we kind of can’t believe we haven’t done a post on lavender yet. Apparently, we just hadn’t met the right bush. This week we had a serious date with lavender and now we’re totally smitten. With the lovely Annabelle of Magpie & Rye as our guide (and her rottweiler sidekick, Sophie), we got up close and personal with Lavandula.

Lavender is part of that fabulously fragrant mint family, Lamiaceae, and cousins with basil, rosemary, sage, and just about every other strong smelling herb. The two most common types of lavender are English lavender and French lavender. We had access to an untouched field of English lavender, the more fragrant of the two types and the one more commonly used in perfumes, soaps, and cooking. The slightly arid hills of Napa are the perfect condition for this drought-tolerant plant, but lavender will grow well in pots, too, as long as they get full sun, good drainage, and don’t get over-watered.

Our harvesting field trip yielded armloads of lavender. If you’re cutting lavender yourself it’s best to cut when the little flowers are at the height of their blooming cycle, before they start to lose their petals. But a fully blooming field of lavender is bound to attract more than just a few girls with clippers; an adjacent beehive (and a bottle of rosé) meant our cutting party had to maneuver a little more deftly through the field. The smell in the field as we brushed by the plants was incredible, but we were also amazed by how noisy it was! The bees really created quite a loud hum while they were working.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the most and more beautiful lavender photos after the jump!

(more…)

LSS Latten Shelving System by Max and Hannes Gumpp

ABR is a company that helps designers bridge the gap between idea and a tangible product. They don’t want to be considered a manufacturer, but more of a furniture publisher. I like that term.

Latten Chair by Max and Hannes Gumpp

Liam by Toni Palleja and Porcuatro

Dayboard by StokkeAustad

Bell Table by Sebastian Herkner

During The London Design Festival 2010, they will be showing their collection at the Places and Spaces curated exhibit The Workshop at Studio Egret West September 21-26, 2010.

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© 2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook

Trust Your Instincts by Ashley G.

Hello lovelies!  Something really scary happened to me yesterday and I just wanted take a quick moment to share my experience with you in the hopes that it just might make a difference in one of your lives or in the life of someone you care about.

Here's what happened:  Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in my office working at the computer when I saw a red car pull up to the curb down the street a bit.  Nothing should have been odd about that, but I instantly had a really strong feeling of dread come over me.  I then watched as a middle-aged man who I'd never seen before exited the car and walked towards my house and up to my front door.  Then came a knock.  I grabbed my phone sensing that something was not right, and went to the door.  A very clear voice in my head said, "Do NOT open the door!" so I didn't.  My heart was racing and I called out loudly, asking who was there.  No answer.  About 15 seconds of silence passed and I called out even louder, "Who's there?!!"  Again, complete silence.  I stood quietly feeling the weight of his presence on the other side of the door for another 30 seconds and then there came another knock.  I yelled out, "Who is there?!!!"  And was met with more silence.  I can't even begin to describe the horrifying feeling of having an unidentified man standing on just the other side of a 2" thick door, having no idea what his intentions were or if he was armed.  I tried to peek out the side window through the curtains but he was pressed so closely to my door that I couldn't see him.  Moments later I watched as he turned away, walked back to his car, and drove off.

I reported the incident to the police, and through conversations with my friends on Twitter (I love you guys) discovered that this exact scenario has happened to several of you guys!  So terrifying!  So I wanted to share my story with you all today, because if you ever find yourself in a situation like I did today, or like many of my twitter friends have...then please, please, please trust your intincts.  I think so often we women (and guys too I'm sure) don't want to be seen as mean or rude, so we do things like open doors to strangers, and probably put ourselves in situations that could be unsafe.  I'm here to tell you that it's okay to be "mean" in situations like this...because doing so just might be the very thing that keeps you safe!

Thanks so much for reading all the way through.  Please feel free to share this story with the people you love.  Be safe everyone!  xox Ez

The two-mile stretch of Warren Street, in Hudson, New York, is one of the best design and antiques shopping streets anywhere. It's especially worth a detour now that Chris Lehrecke has quietly opened a shop offering his own handhewn furniture and lighting as well as jewelry by Gabrielle Kiss (his wife) and tabletop objects by Ted Muehling. Lehrecke's work reflects African, Japanese, and Shaker influences; his modern yet primitive pedestal stools function as both furniture and sculpture. Lehrecke, who lives nearby in the Dutchess County town of Bangall, says, "All the woods I use are collected from within a 50-mile radius of here. I'd like the store to turn into a lab where I can try new things. " Via Rural Intelligence; photos courtesy of Chris Lehrecke.

Another item off the 30 Before Thirty list: 25. Grow tomatoes. Done!

And they are delicious.

I’d better get moving on the rest of my list though. I have less than two months to go and still 19 items to complete. Yikes. And here I thought I was making good progress…

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You may also like these related posts from Making it Lovely:

1. Landscape the Front of the House
2. 30 Before Thirty
3. Wists Wish List

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© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Homegrown Tomatoes | No comments

Voici en exclusivité le nouveau clip de l’artiste Patrice sur le single et titre Ain’t Got No. Des artworks réalisés par l’artiste JR (Women Are Heroes), pour cette vidéo dirigée par Guillaume Cagniard et produite par Cosa. A découvrir dans la suite de l’article.

Previously on Fubiz

• JR / Social Animals
• JR - Women Are Heroes
• Solidarités International

Opera singer extrordinare, Sissieretta Jones, gained major success and popularity in the late 19th century. With her soprano voice she was often compared to the famous Italian opera singer, Adelina Patti. Shortly after Ms. Jones was referred to as "Black Patti." Although she did not approve of the nickname, she couldn't shake it and the term stuck. Her success opened doors for people of color in the performing arts. Learn more about Sissieretta Jones here.