Last week* was my 32nd birthday. I really wanted to do something nice, with decorations and party favors and a theme! Oh boy, did I want a theme. I really wanted something that would mean something to me personally.

I decided to go with a “Girl Power” theme, with some of my favorite strong female figures, like: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Powerpuff Girls, Elle Woods (from Legally Blonde) and also Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and maybe a few others.

Unfortunately, I’ve been having quite a busy month, and didn’t have enough time to get everything ready. So instead, I was left with some very pink and girly decorations and party favors, but I don’t think the guests minded too much.

Menu

• Vegetable sticks with tehina(sesame paste).
• A basic vegetable salad with cucumbers & tomatos with some radish for added interest (and taste) and a lemon-olive oil dressing.
• Tomato & mozzarella salad with a basil-olive oil dressing.
• Grilled peppers (yellow & red).
• “Surprise” salad: green leaves, pairs and sugar coated pecan with a honey-mustard dressing. This salad was an absolute hit – everyone loved it (don’t tell them it’s the easiest salad to make).
• Some (store bought) whole wheat bread and home made garlic bread.
• Vanilla sponge cake with chocolate frosting (yum!)

I was looking for a place to put my iron inside my sewing space, in a convenient way: It shouldn’t take up any room on the desktop, and keep the leg space interruption to a minimum. It would have to have easy access to electricity, but not be plugged in all the time (safety first!). I wanted something cheap, so I wasn’t going to get something custom made, and even though it’s on my long term wish list, I don’t do much any carpentry, so making it myself was not an option.

When in doubt: IKEA.

I looked through all of their office and living room and kids furniture and found nothing which was narrow enough, short enough, tall enough etc. Eventually, I stumbled upon the OLTEDAL nightstand. I looked over the measurements and instructions very carefully, and the very next day stopped by the IKEA near me and bought it.

I assembled it without inserting the back because (1) I wanted easy access to be able to plug in the iron and (2) I wanted to use the back as a pressing board for small items. It obviously won’t be enough for making large items, but for small blocks which need pressing – it would save me a lot of fuss getting the ironing board out.

I got the idea here, and here’s how it’s done (it’s really quite simple):