when laundry doesn't get done.

i admit i have a tendency to let our laundry get out of control, at the present time it's pretty behind. but last night i knew it was really bad when i was in the shower and i heard stu ask me the funniest question. i looked out behind the shower curtain and he is wearing my sweatpants and asks: "do these look like ladies pants?"

i laughed and laughed. they did look like ladies pants but they were clean and warm to sleep in and he wore them. so this weekend LAUNDRY.

p.s. look for our weekly shop update on Monday!

mid-week shop update.

Hello. A few more items have been added to the shop today as part of a mid-week update.

Series of Envelopes.

Envelopes. by Andrew Bush. Produced since the early 1990s, images of all kinds of envelopes; new, old, in all shapes and sizes. Part of Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent collection.

powdery white.

black sesame ice cream + hopia

Happy Chinese New Year!
One of our favorite places to explore and wander around is in Chinatown in New York. Almost every weekend when we lived in the city we often found ourselves there satisfying our cravings of dim sum, fresh baked delights and ice cream in flavors like almond cookie, lychee or black sesame ice cream. I miss Chinatown the most. Here are our favorite two places to visit in Chinatown.

Golden Fung Wong Bakery. A tiny unassuming bakery on Mott Street. There is a filipino treat called Hopia that they make here. It is a delicious bean filled pastry. They come wrapped in wax paper and are filled with either Mung Bean, Black Bean or Lotus Seed. My favorite is filled with black bean.

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Delicious and unusual ice cream flavors like Almond Cookie, Avocado, Lychee, Taro and Black Sesame. Mmmm.


*Shop update today, see what's new.

Sneak-a-Peek Sunday

Just a small sample of items coming to the shop this week at 3P4- via updates on both Monday + Thursday!

Camera Click.

It's a sunny and relatively warm today and a perfect day for us to take photos. We have a lot of really great inventory and are excited about next weeks update. Can't wait to share it. Look for new treasures in the shop on Monday. Happy weekend.

Bath night.

Bath time last night.
Otis in his bear suit. Holly making hot chocolates for everyone complete with marshmallow bubbles.

January 20

January 20th is my birthday and also happens to mark such an important day in history. It's exciting to be here in d.c. and feel the excitement in the air for our next president. What a great birthday to remember.

This photo series is of Obama during his college years, see this great series here.

-janet

Sneak-a-Peek Sunday

A peek at what's to come this week at Three Potato Four...

Bundle up.

It's bitter January cold here in the east. I think this weekend we plan to hibernate inside, hopefully with a warm fire going in our fireplace. And currently dreaming of a vacation somewhere warm where we can collect shells and seaglass all day.

Enjoy your weekend!

life in pictures

Drive- in theaters, science classrooms and ladies of leisure. Some of my favorite photos from LIFE magazine. Find your favorites in this amazing photo archive. -janet

photos via

Sneak-a-Peek Sunday

It's back!
We took a break updating because the holidays were so busy, so get ready for a monster update for tomorrow. Here is a sneak peek of what's in store for Monday's update. We will be updating the shop with more than fifty items so definitely check it out.

Session Acoustique #68

"I Adore You" by Melpo Mene
Listen to this perfect song that I discovered from my friend Andi.

And remember to look out for a Three Potato Four shop update this Monday. Have a great weekend!

via verbose coma

Spunkmeyer, Redding and Elevators

Otis turns six months in a few weeks. He's eating rice cereal, currently has a cold, likes to try to eat blankets - stuffing them in his face and has two bottom teeth now. His face has really changed to me and I think he really has grown into his name. Stu and I kept his name secret from family and friends when I was pregnant with him. We knew we might get opinions on it that we didn't want to hear and in fact when he was born, many people weren't too keen on it. My mom especially with her filipina accent had a hard time pronouncing it - to this day she calls him "Autis". I told her to just call him "Oats".

Stu wanted a name that was as unique as his. I have yet to meet another Stu and the only other Otis' we can think of are:
Otis Spunkmeyer - those cookies are good
the great Otis Redding
and the Otis Elevator company.

And so to celebrate Otis and his elevator company he received this amazing christmas present from our good friends. It's a Otis Elevator medallion from the 1930's - which they mounted and framed for him. I haven't hung it up in his room yet. We think it's really beautiful and unique just like his name.

thanks mike + xtina

I was born a unicorn.

"I Was Born (A Unicorn)" by The Unicorns

A song for you. Paper unicorn costumes and skipping down a hallway, weird/funny and a good song.

Magic Watermelon Boats

So, it's time to get back to reality. We have enjoyed the holidays and are getting back to work. I'm sure you are adjusting to being back as well, hopefully refreshed from the holiday break. Stu and I have a lot of ideas and new products this year for our shop and are looking forward to all that 2009 brings. Thank you to all who have supported our shop and read this blog! We're fortunate that we both love what we do, putting all that we can into running our small business. It's a really good dream to share and work on together.

And, speaking of dreams. I wanted to share our favorite gift that we gave to our daughter this year for christmas. It's a book called The Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton. And it IS an awesome book - about the fantastic imagination and dreams you have as a child....and somehow your dreams become more practical and even forgotten as you get older. It encourages a child or even an adult to dream big - "of magic watermelon boats or musical baboons..." The words and illustrations are really great. Get it here or listen to this funny video of the author talking about it.

Look for our first shop update of '09 on Monday. Happy New Year!