Yay! Shabby Apple wants to give one of you lucky readers a dress. The giveaway is for one of these lovelies:

• Tuxedo III
• Barefoot in the Park
• Pretty in Pink
• Duck Beach
• Anchors Away
• Nine to Five
• Five to Nine
• Baja
• Circo
• L’Amour
• 24K

To enter go visit the Shabby Apple site, then come back here and leave a comment listing which would be your choice. If you cannot decide (indecisives unite!) you can just leave a note letting me know you’ve take a look at the dresses or at the Shabby Apple blog.

Additionally Shabby Apple is offering Not Martha readers a 10% Off deal when you enter Notmartha10off. This code applies to everything on the site. Little tip: they also have a 20% off code for certain items so double check to see if your choice covered by that instead.

While you look around Shabby Apple please take note of the newly launched swimwear and fitness wear offerings. As somebody who still hasn’t gotten a decent bathing suit for this season I’ve been browsing the swimsuits, and I love the touches of vintage flair. And ruching is certainly something I’m all for. Also don’t miss the accessories they have. I’m a little bit in love with the looking glass pendant.

To recap: to enter the giveaway leave a comment here with a note about which dress listed above would be your choice (or just a note saying that you cannot decide). The Fine Print applies. This giveaway only applies to those living inside the US (sorry non-US peeps!). I’ll be letting the Random Number Generator pick a winner on Wed. Aug. 4th at 4 p.m. PST. Good luck! Winner chosen, thanks so much to everybody who entered!

7 Things to Love About The Stranger: An Illustrated Guide. | Design With Reason. I do love Seattle’s free weekly newspaper.

Baby Seal Pinata. So wrong but so funny.

Origin of phrase “don’t make me cut you”? | Ask MetaFilter.

How does a restaurant kitchen work? | Ask MetaFilter. The detailed responses from people who worked in restaurants are interesting, even after reading Kitchen Confidential and Heat.

We have an empty space in our dining room that we’ve been meaning to fill with two chairs. We see ourselves sitting there in the morning sipping coffee and reading the paper (well, reading the morning news on various mobile devices). But it’s a small space and I cannot find chairs that I like and which would fit. Most chairs I find in the furniture stores I frequent (which is mostly limited to Ikea and Crate and Barrel) have too large a footprint, those that are small enough are like a mini version of an overstuffed chair and just aren’t comfortable. I’d like something bit a little bit of a cushion and with arms (no slipper chairs, unfortunately) but the space we have doesn’t allow for the boxy upholstered chairs I find everywhere.

I keep seeing chairs in lobbies and lounges that I like a lot. Above are some chairs at a bar in the Luxor in Vegas, and below are some spotted on an episode of Bones. (I’m glad nobody was home to see me gasp and rewind Tivo to take photographs of the screen.) But I cannot seem to figure out where one would buy chairs like these. Does anybody know? Or do you know what words I should be using to look for this kind of chair? If so pipe up before I start walking into hotel lobbies and demanding to speak with their decorator.

The GSS Jell-O Mold Competition. The winners, amazing stuff!

make grow gather – Posts – not a mere trifle. Trifle in jars! Yay for jars being great to keep in the cooler.

The Double Rainbow Cocktail – Alcademics.com. Created using colored ice cubes. I love the lemon peel star garnishes.

Coconut Tuiles Recipe | Simply Recipes.

Tea & Cookies: Beat the Heat. Beyond frozen grapes for days like this one (97 degrees!).

Seattle Tall Poppy: Field Trip to Sahale Snacks. I *love* Sahale Snacks and I’m embarrassed to find I didn’t know they were based here in Seattle.

Nonalcoholic Summer Sippers – No Booze Needed – CHOW.

A few questions about an involved Belgian Liège Waffle recipe. | Ask MetaFilter.

Hi there. It’s been a while since I’ve posted much of substance here. Part is summer laziness, part is stuff I’m still working on, but mostly it’s because we finally got ourselves back to making our house a bit prettier. The intersection of houseguests and a plumbing emergency (nothing drastic) kick started us on the projects we’d been contemplating and we’ve been riding the momentum. Like, we bought a couch (Ikea, Karlstad, dark gray, with ottoman!) and we’re arranging the other bits of the living room that can now fall into place. I’m also excavating my sewing room and it’s, well, it’s a process. Not a pretty one. We’re back to the familiar cycle of going back and forth from the hardware store and having various surfaces in our house covered in paint chips and drywall anchors.

But I’m feeling lighter. Getting rid of things I no longer need, hauling things to donate, making room for a bicycle. A delayed spring cleaning, if you will. So that’s what I’m doing right now and I’ll hopefully emerge soon with some good information to share. Like how to not hit a kitchen sink pipe when hanging a curtain rod. For example.

What does it mean to be a “pastor’s wife,” anyway? | Ask MetaFilter. Interesting, I grew up Catholic so the experience of a church with pastors who have families of their own is very different from what I knew.

How can I help an autistic guy navigate “Facebook friends”? | Ask MetaFilter.

Seattle wants urban farms, but roosters need not apply, at the Seattle PI. Oh I do hope they ban roosters. We had two in our tightly packed neighborhood last summer and those, uh, nice birdies crowed all day long. It nearly drove me crazy, and it must have driven the owners crazy because none of the roosters stayed in the neighborhood for too long. The article mentions that some people claim it’s no more obtrusive than a dog barking but I can tell that it really, really is.

Clothes Remake at Design Mom. Asking how to go about having a favorite piece of clothing copied. I also refer you to a similar question over at Ask Metafilter.

Cool Tools: 800 Watt Portable Generator.

shelterrific » kinda genius: reuse your jars with jar tops.

Cool Tools: Pocket Kite.

angry chicken: a gift box. Charming!

I Lock You ~ Bag Lock (NOTCOT). A deterrent from bag snatching from the back of a chair.

Cool Tools: CoverFlex Silicone Lids.

Construction gift for grown-ups? (think lego, mechano, etc.) | Ask MetaFilter.

So You Just Got an iPhone 4 – An App Store Gaming Guide | Touch Arcade. May I also suggest Rolando, Drop 7 and Glyder?

I am looking for a reputable, online, un-pocketbook-bending HTML / CSS course from a real school. | Ask MetaFilter.

Appsaurus for finding great iPhone/iPod Touch apps. Via Waxy.

If Dell has truly gone to Hell, where should one go for a new rig? | Ask MetaFilter.

‘Omino’ Seeks to Bring ‘Super Mario Brothers’ to your iPhone (Review) | Touch Arcade.

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge Review for iPhone | Touch Arcade.

Link to OS project to “tether” iPhone? | Ask MetaFilter.

Victoria and Albert Museum – Patchwork: Pattern Maker. You can upload a picture and it will translate it into a quilt, neat. Thanks to Carrie for pointing me towards this!

Bag making for newbies: part 3 – Machine Needle know-how – U-handblog. Really helpful walk through on how to pick machine needles, via Craftzine.

Paper Gift Topper « The Crafts Dept. I love how joyful this is.

Yes Paste – The Crafts Dept. Something to seek out.

Please help me figure out how to hang these curtains before I lose my mind. | Ask MetaFilter. Some good advice on dealing with the simple act of putting screws in walls. Glad I’m not the only one who finds this completely frustrating.

How To Make a Custom Knife Tray Out of Wood & Glue Reader Tips | The Kitchn.

angry chicken: outdoor art fun. She combined some sheets of plywood and chalkboard paint to make giant outdoor chalkboards, I want one for myself!

Backyard Dinner Parties: Pretty Things to Hang from Trees | The Kitchn. I like the candles in jars hanging from the underside of the porch umbrella.

Technological Green Garden Party Lights | Apartment Therapy Unplggd. Ikea also has a few good solar powered outdoor lights this year.

Will Room and Board’s Jasper slipcovers work on Crate and Barrel’s Petrie couches? | Ask MetaFilter. The answer? Yes!

Going Paper Towel Free : Juniper Moon Farm. This makes me think it might be possible to eliminate paper towels around here too.

I have one of those out of sight, out of mind things happening. I completely failed to mention our photo session with Mastin Studio a few months back. We were met by Kirk Mastin and his wife Robin (who happens to have a great food blog, A Chow Life) to have pictures taken at Volunteer (oops) Discovery Park in Seattle. The day was was rainy and did bad things to my hair, Scott forgot to bring his suit jacket, I struggle to act natural in front of a camera, and despite all that it was a lot of fun. Kirk and Robin are charming and made us feel completely at ease. If you’re looking for a wedding photographer in the Pacific Northwest I can recommend them.

(The heat is hitting us here and we’re having one of those rare 90-degree days so looking at these photos is nearly giving me nostalgia for cooler temperatures. Nearly.)

Sprizee :: A simple girl replete with complications: Fold me up like paper plane.. That’s it. I’m going to Astoria.

The best vacation ever – The Boston Globe. How to optimize the enjoyment of your vacation. Via The Morning News.

Help me have an awesome trip to Ireland | Ask MetaFilter.

Local News | Geocachers to descend on Seattle area this weekend in search of the ‘Triad’ | Seattle Times Newspaper. It’s a geocaching Woodstock, wish I’d known about this in time to go.

Orangette: I’m starting today. Viking Drive-In, somewhere off I-90 between Seattle and Spokane, for the next time we drive out that way.

Zoomdoggle Fun List NYC – 314 Fun & Cheap Things To Do In NYC. At Laughing Squid.

A Chow Life: Coming Home to Breakfast for Dinner. Savory Cornmeal Waffle & White Bean Chicken Chili, yum.

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: how to roast peppers. Reminder to self for reason to have gas stove.

Prudent Baby: DIY Sugar Cookie Cone. Via Edible Crafts.

Designer Neil Caldwell creates red, green, blue, (even purple!) BACON.

ThinkGeek :: Molecular Gastronomy Starter Kit. I want this for my birthday.

Taste Test: The Best Chocolate Chips for Chocolate Chip Cookies | Serious Eats.

Perfect Summer Reds : Not summer whites or summer rosés – CHOW.

The 2010 Jell-O Mold Competition Wobbles To and Fro : Hangover Observations : Eater National. Totally love, via Jordan Ferney.

Duh-Licious: Sugar Work: Caramel Spiral. Via Edible Crafts.

Ice Cream in a Jar Favors · Edible Crafts. Smart. And since canning jars are watertight this would be a great way to bring individual servings of ice cream to a picnic.

Regan’s Tonic: Add Dry Fly Gin For Summer’s Perfect Cocktail – Seattle Restaurants and Dining – Voracious. Palace Kitchen’s recipe for tonic water.

French in a Flash: Sweet Onion and Goat Cheese Tarts with Thyme | Serious Eats.

American Flag Jello · Edible Crafts.

This summer Urban Craft Uprising show here in Seattle is coming up on July 10th and 11th and this year I’m extra excited because on Saturday the 10th Mobile Chowdown will be nearby, also Seattle Center. Shopping from indie businesses and excellent food from trucks, it’s perfection.

Get Sassy Fit: Burn 300 Calories Fast.

Should I keep my feet flat when using the elliptical machine or should I faux-run like the guy using the machine next to me? | Ask MetaFilter.

Here comes the sun (so stock up on sunscreen) | The Working Closet | Work It, Mom!

Are the salon hair care products sold online and at drug and grocery stores the same products that are sold in salons? | Ask MetaFilter. The thread points us towards Are salon products in regular stores the same as those in salons? at The Beauty Brains.

pamie.com: I Saw a Lot of Ladyparts and Now I’m Soft. A story about a visit to a Korean spa that sounds like a nightmare to me. I have been informed.