Diana

Ben got me the most awesome v-day present EVER!! A Diana camera... and just in time for my Japan trip too!

I have been wanting one of these for years and can't wait to take it out and play with it.

Check out its capabilities here.

Thanks b!

Wearstler-ific

I have been to the tiny (and I mean the boutique is the size of my cubicle) Kelly Wearstler shop in Bergdorf's a few times.

In my opinion, and I have gone up there 3-4 times over a span of a year, it has not changed much. The most notable thing I saw this time were the spectacular boxes with the gems and precious rocks on it.

Although I am not impressed with the change of the shop, It still is fantasic, and fun to go in. It just has a groovy vibe about it.

on a happy note:

Check out these gorgeous windows I saw at ABC while in NY last week. They have a very ethereal yet funky chic quality... no?

This is pretty much the only time I got out and saw something cool.

something about these makes me smile

Joslyn posted these mushrooms from Roost on her favorites a couple days ago.
Not only are they soooo beautiful and would look lovely clumped up together, but I have been on a serious mushroom kick... besides the mushroom dabacle of monday night. Wise phrase to live by: do not mix 2 bottles of wine with mushrooms makes a nasty dish.

But in the meantime, check out the roost mushrooms.

DesignForObama

This website, designforobama.org, has hundreds of posters and prints by designers from a pretty big variety of backgrounds, all showing their (nicely creative) support for Obama. I have a few favorites shown above, but this, seriously, isn't even a small fraction of those on the site. Check it out.

ps: "graphic designers for obama > you had me at the logo." -- LOVE.

the treehouse

Is what we have lovingly begun to call the new apt. Here is a picture of my new morning ritual and you will see what I mean. English muffin, OJ and design blogs while watching the squirrels on a crisp morning. Can you ask for anything more?

yipee!

B and I are moving in together this weekend!

the picture isn't us.... but isn't the room cool?!?! via The Selby (cheri messerli and david rager)

barcelona anyone?

I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona on sunday.... besides renewing my want (need) to go to Barcelona it was a truly fascinating, thought-provoking, lovely movie.

The cinematography was incredible, "very golden" as my friend Lindsy described it. The thing is, i could begin to describe the plot of the movie but the truth is it sounds sleazy until you go and see it for yourself. A story of adventure and Love... go see it this weekend, seriously. and Javier Bardem is hot... need I say more (and the actresses too... if you are into that.)

ABC carpet and home

ok, so if you have been to this legandary place you know about the 6++ floors of brilliance in the two buildings. You also know that there is a lovely merchandising scheme that keeps you discovering new things around every corner. You are aware of the groovy merchandise from all over the world. But mostly you are wondering when you finally found this glorious land of things for home.... why you had never been there before?

This was the thought in my head as I went to ABC carpet and home while I was in NY. I felt like I was a kid in a grown up candy shop (substitute candy for lovely home and crafty goods and a few pieces of clothing as well!) And there is a kids section too... I am sure they would be just as delighted.

I floated from floor to floor and if I were rich with a place to put anything at all it all would have come home with me... or better yet I would have just moved in. but alas, I brought home a pretty cool wood-cut stamp to try out some new printing ideas from Lena Corwin's book that Ben picked up. How fab is that gieant bowl I dug through to find the perfect one.

The nest... and happy friday!

image from nbc.com (games start at 7.30-6.30 tonight)

08.08.08.... prosperity as the Chinese say.

I am so psyched about the games tonight. (despite human rights issues I am not so happy about). But you have to admit, although there are farmer's without water so that China can look good.... China looks good. The nest (main stadium) in particular is pretty RAD.

GO TEAM USA!!!

image from nbc.com

cycle obsession

ok, so I am on a bit of a bicycle hunt/obsession (after returning from Denmark), scouring the likes of ebay, craigslist and multiple bike stores to find the perfect (albeit affordable) bicycle. I'll let you know how that turns out.

In the meantime, I have found not only a super Rad website devoted to scandinavian design here in the US, its called Scandinavian Grace, but I also found the most lovely, perfect, awesome bike basket on their site.

Ahhh!

100++ degrees!!

Go for a swim this weekend... it is HOT! or stay inside and check out Brigitte Sire photography portfolio.

sinfully good....

I just arrived back from Las Vegas late last night. I thought I would do a little recap of things we did when we weren't busting it to finish the black, white and yellow bonanza in time for market.

Here you go:

1. Visited the Hoover Dam

2. Had drinks at the new groovy Sushi Samba at the Palazzo

3. Checked out the model condos for the new LEED accredited CityCenter Las Vegas. They had these rad Chihuly glass sculpture reeds in the fountain outside.

Now I could go on and elaborate about these things but I think a little visual candy will do just fine. You can check out more on my Flickr site.

FLW

I just got back from Chicago, hence the no posts. Although alot of these trips are all work, no play... we busted it so we could do at least one fun thing while there.

We did the whirlwind tour of Oak Park. Which for those of you who don't know is the Mecca for Frank Lloyd Wright. We barely had enough time (after getting on the wrong train) to go to the Unity temple and FLW home and studio. On the in between, we saw a few houses by FLW on Forest ave.

We saw pure evidence what detail he shows to every project from exterior to interior with the arcitecture to the furniture. Some call this unified fluidity, I call it control freak.

However, no matter what your stance on FLW is, he is a mastermind that gave alot to modern design and he has some truly inspiring design. I absolutely loved the design concept behind the Unity Temple and the experience you got from traveling from the outside into the sanctuary. GENIUS... if you have never been, you must go!

You can check out the rest of my photos of oak park here.

lovely color palettes

I read Style Me Pretty almost everyday (thanks to Kelley) . And although I am VERY far from getting married myself I love to read it because it is a style blog after all.

One of my favorite features is the inspiration boards/color palettes and Abby happens to have a contest going on right now for reader inspiration boards. The idea is to take a photo and make an inspiration board for your wedding (event) from it. This one is by far my favorite. Inspiration photo above/ style board below. We'll see if it changes as more entries pop up.

Dansk Design Center

One of the things that I insisted on us doing while in Copenhagen was go to the Dansk Design Center. It was a small museum but very cool and informative nonetheless. They had an interactive Living Wood exhibit going on which was really neat because you could go up and examine the way the pieces were made.

I bought one of those little wooden birds by Danish architect Kristian Vedel (although I got it later in Aarhus because I was obsessing over it. I knew I would be sad if one didn't come home with me).

My other favorite thing that I saw at the museum was the Stingray rocking chair by Danish designer Thomas Pedersen. You can read more about it here.

Then there was the Muuto Nordic design group that I learned briefly about... this one is definitely worth some more research.

lovely outdoor living

In the summer I will use any excuse to be outside. I found this image and idea from A Merry Mishap. She threw a party with her sister and recreated an outdoor living room. I think I will need to come up with a party idea to utilize this idea in my rarely used side yard.... or maybe I will just drag my chairs out there for some reading.

othello

Last night Ben and I went to Shakespeare in the park. His friend Jacob did the costume designs, and hung out with us and gave us some little insites (like "that wallet he just threw on the floor, it is an $800 Fendi I got as a gift"). what girl doesn't like tidbits like that?! We took a picnic and a rug (no blankets to be had) and sat out on the lawn for a little cultural enrichment.

I recommend this for anyone in the Dallas area for a couple reasons: 1: even if you arn't a Shakespeare buff or understand it for that matter, it is still fun to go out and have a picnic... and the custumes rock! 2: it takes you out of the city for a moment so you feel like there is nothing else going on (except for the occasional ambulance you hear in the distance).

merchandising-england

In england I saw such the display of visual merchandising. My favorite was the Burberry window with the white balloons (mostly b/c the main color scheme for this season is black and white) our color theme for the season. Then there was Habitat... despite all of its bad ideas not to ship to the US..... it is and has been, since i lived there, my favorite British Home store. I LOVE IT. So the first two pictures are from there. Groovy staircase and ultra cool twiggy chandelier.

back in the USA (denmark-england part 1)

I have returned from my trip and it was a BLAST. i really had fun bouncing around London, Copenhagen and Aarhus with the boys. i took over 560 pictures so you can only imagine, that's what i'll be posting on for a while.

So anyway, I will start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). first was England. one really cool thing we noticed was the art down in the tube (underground) stations. There were some abstract installations, and then some were real ornate tile situations. Here are a few photos of that.