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Kicking 2012 off with Tequila, Tears, and a CakeWreck

January 9, 2012 By julespieri Leave a Comment
Grommet team party, January 6, 2012

The Boston-based Grommet team happily kicked off the New Year at Joanne’s house.

By the way, this is not the first time the front of this solid brick house has been broadcast online…alas, it was on the cover of a dozen online papers when the freak Halloween snowstorm felled a massive ancient tree in Joanne’s front yard.

AP Photo by Michael Dwyer

The only accident at this party occurred when Joanne’s favorite child (her dog Sydney) helped himself to our cake.  His ghoulish blue mouth clued her in before the team arrived.  (We just ate around the gashes.  Making do–in true startup fashion)

Even at a party, we tend to be testing Grommets.  In this case, we had set up a tequila toast because JULIA GOT ENGAGED the very night before our party, to her sweetheart Damian.  The man has great timing.  Gadzooks….our first Grommet wedding!

Julia and Damian had their celebratory tequila shots in a very cool upcoming Grommet:  Himalayan Salt Cups made by Spice Labs.  You freeze them ahead of time for the best tequila shot ever.

We have a new software engineer who, in his first three days,  has experienced a tearful good bye party for our first employee Jen, a full-team birthday celebration, and a Tequila Shots/CakeWrecks party.  Hmmm, what will we spring on him next week?

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Elves make handy helpers

December 14, 2011 By Tori Leave a Comment

This is Patrick.

Patrick like to hang around during the holidays.

Patrick is an “Elf on the Shelf,” and he belongs to Wendy (from our Discovery Team). Sometimes though, he stows away in her bag as she heads out the door to Daily Grommet HQ (he’s mischievous adventurous like that). And he seems to be popping up all over the place.

Patrick hanging out with Kate and Jen. He's giving them some ideas about new Grommets he'd like to see.

He likes to hang out with the Discovery team and hear about what cool, new Grommets we have coming up.

He also like to try new things, like working the camera (backwards?).

Patrick decides to help out on filming day.

Don’t get me wrong, no one’s complaining. It is holiday season after all — the more elves who want to hang around and help, the better!

Do you have an elf in your family? Where’s the oddest place he’s turned up?

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No power? No problem. Where the Grommet team worked today.

October 31, 2011 By julespieri 1 Comment

Our Boston based team got hit with an early snowstorm.  With the leaves still on the trees the weight of a fast heavy snow caused a lot of damage. The yards and streets look like some kind of Armageddon, with all the downed leaves and branches.  70% of the households and businesses in Lexington, MA have no power.  Schools were closed.  Halloween is postponed.  Our office was in the affected group.  Yet, the Grommets must go on.  Here’s how we coped:

Ray, Justine and Charlotte put on warm clothes and headlamps to “power through” getting the Grommet orders on their way.  Charlotte stayed warm by running up and down the stairs carrying stuff.  A few of us made a run to Panera for hot soup and sandwiches to keep their blood flowing.

Jeanne had heat and electricity at home (after losing it for the weekend) so she cozied up in her office to make the Marketing doughnuts.If you contact Daily Grommet about an order, chances are very good you will talk to Chew-hoong.  However, you would have no idea how she was dressed when she chatted with you!  She says “Halloween is one of my fave American enjoyments. Now I look forward to cranberry sauce, stuffing, pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, cookie swap & Yankee swap.”

Julia and June decamped to the public library to get the Grommets out.  (Wendy too, but we missed her for the photo.)  They report that the library was a popular place to hang out for the many displaced residents, but it was quiet and friendly.

Jesse kept warm at home, editing videos, in his son’s old Halloween headgear.

Joanne sidled up to her kitchen island with coffee brewing and a candle burning.

Adam hopped around.  He started at the local library  installed himself at home to take customer calls.

My house has been without heat for two days, so this is me squatting at a friend’s house.  I’m soaking up the warmth and looking forward to using the oven later to make a hot dinner.

Kate had the coziest setup, under a thick blanket next to the fire.  She is also wearing two sweaters and a jacket vest.  There’s been no heat in her house, since yesterday.

Finally two of our remote team members reported in.  Tori said it is 85 degrees and sunny in Southern California so she did not dare send a photo.  But Katherine, in Minneapolis, has precious few opportunities to make us jealous of her weather so she forwarded this glorious shot, below.  Now that is what Halloween SHOULD look like!

 

 

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Favorite accessories and fall fashion

September 22, 2011 By Tori Leave a Comment

As fall approaches, the temperatures seem to be cooling down and wardrobes are changing. It’s that time of year when we pull out those sweaters and scarves and start noticing what’s new in fall fashion. Here around the office, we might be seeing longer sleeves and boots making their debut, but it’s fun to see which accessories hold steady all year-round. Here’s a few snapshots of the Grommet team wearing their favorite fashion finds.

fall fashion 2011

June and Wendy (above) are both always spotted wearing iheartjenna’s leather wrap bracelets.

scarf - fall fashion 2011

Jeanne with a  Violet Love scarf.

fall fashion

Julia showing off tiny blooms in her Fluerings earings.

 

And here’s Danielle with an Evelyn Claude necklace ( it’s created with an ancient Japanese technique called Kin-maki-e, where gold powder is dusted onto lacquered designs and polished, layer by layer, to create a fine sparkle).

We’d love to know what your go-to fashion accessory is — do you have “that” piece that you always throw on?

Also, what have you seen that’s hot for fall fashion 2011?

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A camping we will go!

September 1, 2011 By Tori Leave a Comment

We all love our outdoor gear here at Daily Grommet. When a potential Grommet comes our way that requires us to get outdoors and test it, almost everyone is up for it. With diverse interests, there’s almost no sport or outdoor activity that we can’t cover. Wendy is a  bicyclist, Jeanne’s family enjoys fishing, and Jules has the  snow ski adventures covered. Many of us (myself included) love to get in touch with the outdoors and go camping.

camping gear list - places

 

It seems many of us went camping this year and came back to the office with smiles, stories and photos of our favorite camping spots to share. Jen’s favorite spot is Yosemite on the top of North Dome looking over at Half Dome (to the right of El Capitan).

 

 

—

camping gear list - Trek Light Gear

Kate shared her trip backpacking on Mt Greylock in the Berkshires (she reported lots of bugs!) and took a tent to Acadia in Maine, too. She always takes along Grommet find Trek Light Portable Hammock (looks comfy to me!).

Do you go camping? What is your favorite spot or thing about camping? The consensus here is 1. Stargazing and 2. S’mores. We’d love to know your vote!

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National Dog Day: doggie love and giveaway

August 26, 2011 By Tori 2 Comments

In honor of National Dog Day, today’s blog post goes out to all the dogs out there. It’s no secret that there is an official ‘Daily Grommet Dog Pack’ around here (okay maybe it’s just an occasional meet-up of our dogs when we bring in them into the office), so we thought why not give them some extra love on this official day?

National Dog Day

Here’s Sydney, Stud and Dodger (3 of our Daily Grommet Dog Pack)

Daily Grommet is definitely a pro-pet workplace. Even when we do not have any four-legged friends in the office, we manage to go out and meet new ones (remember Chico?). Not to mention, a mild fight can break out over deciding who gets to test the newest pet-friendly Grommet finds. We have many unique finds the dogs go wild for. In fact,  I have a good feeling all of our pups are hooked on the Himalayan Dog Chews (I know my Dodger is).

We also take any opportunity to talk about dogs here on the blog. Whether it’s sharing a story of the bond between people and their pets,  spotlighting a very talented artist who paints pet portraits, or interviewing an actual dog blogger and author (we had a translator), we love all things d-o-g.

national dog day

Here is McKinley [left] and Scout [right]. In the middle is a brand new pup (name to be decided).

And even though our dogs can get on our nerves from time to time, it’s that loyal companionship that makes it all worth it. So, if your feeling the puppy love today, leave a comment and give  a shout out to your favorite fur friend.

Also, be sure to stop by our Facebook contest – we are giving away some of our favorite pet finds this weekend! This ones for the dogs!

 

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes at Daily Grommet, Contests & Giveaways

Disorganized drawers be gone

August 24, 2011 By Tori 1 Comment

Anytime we get a phone call, email, or post from a satisfied customer, we do the happy dance here at Daily Grommet. We especially love to hear how our Grommet discoveries make their way into your lives — a gift happily received or a problem solver that makes your day-to-day lives a bit more enjoyable. A couple weeks ago, we got one of those emails from Julia Wright, a professional organizer. She wanted to tell us how she’s been using Drawer Decor to help  clients who want to take back their drawers and clean out the clutter. Not only does Julia reaffirm how useful Drawer Decor is, but we’re thrilled to know she’s passing along this wonderful Grommet story.

Here’s the note Julia sent us:

Hi Daily Grommet:  I’m a Professional Organizer, and when I saw the Drawer Decor on your site, I was blown away. It solves so many organizing problems, and offers such a nice bright pop of color in a drawer that it really makes life better.

I suggested Drawer Decor to a client who purchased the item and I was able to install it with ease. The grid system made it very easy to cut to fit. My client was over the moon about the colors, especially for the bathroom. The fact that they’re silicone is the greatest feature, because it stops things from moving around in the drawer; everything stays in its place. The attachments that come with it are so well thought out, and I particularly liked the triangle shaped ones for holding round cups.

We’ll be purchasing this for our own homes as well as continuing to recommend it to all of our clients. Thanks for introducing it to Genius Organizing.

Here are some before and after pics:

Bathroom drawer [Before]:

how to organize drawersBathroom drawer [After]:

how to organize drawers - BathroomCosmetics drawer  [Before]:

Cosmetics drawer [After]:

Looks great – thanks for sharing your Grommet success pictures with us, Julia.

We love hearing about how our Grommet finds fit into your everyday lives… keep the stories coming!

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes at Daily Grommet, Featured Tagged With: ,

Daily Grommet sandwich throwdown?

August 11, 2011 By Tori 3 Comments

As the Community Manager here at Daily Grommet, I spend a good part of my day on Facebook chatting with our great fans and friends. I’m always delighted to see how eager our Facebook crowd is to jump into the conversation, whether we’re taking a poll, asking for opinions, or just bantering back-and-forth. Because I know our Facebook community especially loves talking about food, I decided to ask everyone to name their favorite sandwich (August is National Sandwich Month after all). In a matter of seconds, the responses were flying in. From traditional favorites to more adventurous recipes, it’s obvious our Facebook crowd is all about their sandwiches.

Take my conversation with one of our members, Al …

It’s not like Al was calling me out for a challenge (no, I’m not competitive at all really), but I just couldn’t let Al down. So, I decided to test this famous recipe out for myself.

peanut butter and bacon sandwich

The ingredients: Bacon, bread (no sourdough on hand, so I went with wheat), and creamy peanut butter — as per Al.

At this point I was a little lot skeptical. I am not a big bacon fan (I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority here) BUT I do love peanut butter, so who knows?

peanut butter and bacon sandwich

After cooking up the bacon, I assembled the sandwich. At this point I was thinking, “am I getting this right?”

peanut butter and bacon sandwich

And there she is. Bread, peanut butter and bacon. Do we call this a PB-B? Okay, and now for the moment of truth…

Not too bad Al, not too bad.

Now, who is up for making some of the other favorites sandwich recipes? Did you see Heather C.’s favorite? Tuna fish and banana — I’ll let you all test that one!

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July 4th Traditions

July 1, 2011 By Tori Leave a Comment

As I sat around daydreaming about the upcoming long weekend, I decided to poll the team here at Daily Grommet to find out about their traditions, favorite 4th of July eats, and memories from past years. Enjoy their replies and feel free to share your own Independence Day traditions in a comment below.

Do you travel? Stay local? Are fireworks a must in your book? It seems that here at Daily Grommet HQ, there are a mix of long standing traditions and new ones being made.

Jules’ family heads to Casco, Maine, on Pleasant Lake. Her favorite spot is sitting on the dock getting destroyed by mosquitoes while watching the local fireworks randomly going off around the lake (thinking someone should remind her to take a ThermaCell!).

You’ll find Julia watching fireworks with family on the beach (which sounds great to me!), while Danielle heads to Swanton, Vermont, with her entire family to their camp on Lake Champlain. All 17 of them make the four-hour haul up  north to stay in a  quaint, three-bedroom lake house with no tv or internet for several days packed with stuff to do and lots of good food.

Ann shares: “Every July 4th, my dad would drag me and my three brothers to the dock or the beach to take a picture. We’d hold up a sign with the year written on it. In a few of those photos I look like a surly teen who’s mortified at having to take such a hokey picture in public. Now I’m putting my own kids through the same ritual — but they’re still too young to be embarrassed by it!”

Joanne’s crew keeps busy by waterskiing (courtesy of Grampy’s 35-year-old vintage orange “Chrysler Funster”) and tournaments of horseshoes, badminton, and whiffle ball.

For others, like Jesse, traditions are just forming. His young family enjoys a combination of activities like a BBQ, bouncy houses, and pony rides.

Do you stick with old favorites or try new regional recipes? Seems the folks here at Daily Grommet are not going to go hungry this weekend:

Hang out with Jen and Katherine for your typical BBQ fare like hot dogs and potato salad — or visit Leonard out in LA while he’s grilling up steaks for the 4th. Sara, serves up salmon and peas with mashed potatoes which sound delish.

Des spends the fourth in his Maine cabin cooking up a storm from his favorite cookbook, Maine Ingredients (Kennebunk Kabobs or Strawberry and Lettuce Salad anyone?).

But if I had to pick someone to eat with on the 4th, it’s a close call between Jeanne (she brings the cupcakes) and Kate (who whips up a festive strawberry and blueberry tart).

Ah the memories: Fireworks, parades, family and friends.

Hearing about everyone’s July 4th memories was perhaps the most fun for me. I love that Donna’s husband won a lawn mower throwing contest two years ago and that Wendy met her husband at a 4th of July parade in Vermont.

I enjoyed hearing June talk about watching fireworks and catching fireflies with her nieces and nephews; and Jamie’s story about how he met his girlfriend four years ago on a 4th of July sail around Boston Harbor. Jamie also told me that his Mother’s birthday is on the 4th — so a big  ”Happy Birthday” to her!

 As for me (Tori), I also  have a young family whose traditions seem to be forming a bit more every year. I am not exactly sure where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing … but  I do know there will be bright fireworks (oh and definitely homemade strawberry ice cream!).

So now that the long weekend is kicking off, we’d love to know … What are YOUR 4th of July traditions, favorite eats and fond memories? Feel free to share them with us!

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Grommets in the Wild – Literally

June 28, 2011 By Jeanne Leave a Comment

Just a few weeks ago, I bumped into John Doherty at a street fair in my hometown  — John’s the artist behind one of my favorite Grommets, Fish Aye Trading, those gorgeous fish rubbing prints and placemats we discovered over a year ago. See, I’m an ocean person — not at all at home on a lake or a river, don’t even care much for pools. Give me a salty ocean, with all the creatures, rocks, sand, seaweed, boats, tides, and unpredictable winds, and I’m happy. Which is why I’m such a fan of John’s work.

 

Last weekend, when my husband and son came back from a fishing trip with a pair of bluefish, I once again thought about John. It was kind of one of those art imitating life moments … or maybe more like deja vu? Either way, it was pretty cool. See, John got his idea for making fish rubbings one day while fishing when he saw an imprint left in the boat from a fish he’d caught. And he grew up fishing with his grandfather just off Cape Cod — so close to where we were.

 

Then I got to thinking about how great it is when we spot Grommets “in the wild” (like Jules did when she was in San Franscico) and how this was kind of an extreme case of just that.

 

Oh, and don’t worry about those bluefish … they weren’t quite ready for the dinner table (never mind a canvas). For now, these guys are safe and happy back in the wild.

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes at Daily Grommet, Featured
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