chairs
Rarely do we have guests over but with all the Thanksgiving entertaining posts in full force, a little part of me is dying for a dinner party. (I think I want to design centerpieces more than anything.) Cooking for a group was something I had always fantasized about and thought I would be doing a lot of when I moved but we never even made getting a dining set a priority and we don’t have enough seating in the livingroom. (What do we do with our money?!) I have been collecting chair ideas for some time now. Some for the living room and some that would be suitable around a simple dining table. Let’s not even talk about prices on the high end stuff. I’m just digging the designs. I believe it was design personality Nate Berkus who said on Oprah that he didn’t have a sofa for a year or two until he found the perfect one. Totally feeling him on that – don’t settle for less than the vision you have in your head. A deal will come along eventually. Only problem is, I’m not even looking that hard.
This “Copenhagen” chair designed by Alvaro Uribe is made of fiberglass. I like the splash of color it would bring to our neutral living room. Yes to a red chair!
The classic 1958 design Cherner armchair
I’ve posted these before - Bistro chairs - low seating has always been appealing.
Kenneth Cobonpue’s Noodle chair
Target’s chair selection had a lot of modern pieces like this, a 4 chair set influenced by an Eames wire chair.
Also from Target (and now out of stock online), I saw these in person and wish I had swiped them up. A serious deal, at 2 for about $60, stackable and good to have around in a pinch.
I love acrylic chairs! Of course it would be ideal to have the Philippe Starck Ghost chairs but these from Target and Ikea would do just fine!
Last but not least, this Wishbone rocking chair by Toby Howes takes the frump out!
mousey
I can’t remember where I found this picture but I recall that it was from an old Alice in Wonderland book… and since I’m still excited about my new rats…
who copies who?
Last week, when I was feeling especially masochistic and decided to look at every damn Spring 2010 RTW collection on style.com to make my epic list of favorite things, I came across this outfit by Erin Fetherston. I bought that same sheer top at F21 about 2 years ago. That same top!
The only differences are that the shoulders don’t have the extra ruffles, the sleeves are shorter and the bow is sheer as well.
The collar stands the same, it’s the same length, same sheerness, same wrap style, the bow is also just as wide and super long… everything else is the same. Now, I’m sure someone else did this type of top a loooooong time ago because hardly anything in fashion is every truly new but, seriously?
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- long romantic walks through my neighborhood
- I love this cheap ornament idea. While you could get a whole box of silver balls for what it would take to make a few of these thumbtack ornaments, they ARE homemade and a few in a cute box would make a neat sentimental gift. My mom and I used to sit at the kitchen table and make ornaments in a similar way, using straight pins, sequins and beads. They were a bit more glitsy and you had lots of color and pattern options.
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I want to check out this book – One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects. Things you can make with just one yard of fabric!
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Being on a doctor ordered low fat diet, I was really excited about this huge post on beans. So very helpful!
- hilarious
- rat snuggles
- dropping my phone in the toilet and it still works!
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A lot of things seem to be really popular right now and I am not impressed.
- Tea towels. These are little thin woven cotton towels with decorative motifs. They don’t absorb a thing!
- Giant bulky headphones.
- Expensive jewelry and hair accessories made out of things I could get for $2 at the craft store.
- Teapot cozies. Seriously?
- Twilight. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson creep me the hell out.
- Friends’ parents on Facebook. They have straight ruined it for me. I barely get on there anymore.
- Furniture made from garbage. 1. 2.
- That bedspread made to look like cardboard boxes. Yuck!
- Perpetual calendars are a pain in the ass.
- Why are Legos so expensive!?
- Moleskines… when you could get a small notebook for $1
- Lomo cameras. I’ve had almost all of them and maybe got 2 good pics out of each roll of film. Total crapshoot.
- Pantone.
- Foursquare. I don’t need the world knowing everything I do and aren’t our online identities self indulgent enough?
- Mustache kitsch.
- Ponchos.
- Drop crotch pants.
- Cleaning products that require the endless purchase of refills when the original tool was an inexpensive one-time buy and worked just fine.
- Criticizing Obama feels like a criminal offense these days.
Fall roundup
Here’s a collection of items from previous posts that tickled my fancy for this cold weather season and beyond! I’m chipping away at this list. Almost halfway there!
be nice
The simple concept of being nice has been popping up in my life a lot lately. I think things reveal themselves to you for a reason and I’m taking note of the signs.
Last week I had a very nice day and tweeted this:
The Checkout Girl wrote a lovely post about being nice, and the comments are worth a read as well.
I think public restroom paper towel art would be a fun way to brighten people’s days… only I would leave notes like “you are wonderful!” and “today is your chance to make the world a better place.” Kindness Girl’s acts of Guerrilla Goodness really knocks my socks off!
There was a two-part article in the NY Times called 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do. (Part 1 & Part 2) Whine Me Dine Me also recently did a post on exceptional service. I’m sure most servers don’t look at their job as something they want to do for the rest of their lives, which probably contributes a bit to the bad service we’ve all had from time to time but; I think most waitstaff truly want you to enjoy your dining experience and maybe just don’t know all the little things that would make it that much better, ultimately benefitting them in the end with a bigger tip (hopefully). If people were simply more thoughtful, less hurried, and less selfish, most of these things would come naturally. Same goes for customers.
Making a lunch for yourself or someone you love is nice. Check out these adorable Nutella and banana bunny sandwiches from Bentomom! Inviting someone over for Thanksgiving dinner who doesn’t have anyone to share a meal with is also nice.
Taking note of things people say in passing about what they want or need so that you can try to give it to them for Christmas is nice. Christmas doesn’t have to cost a thing either. Giving of yourself and your time is even nicer. Is your best friend losing her mind in a cluttered home and could use your OCD help? Do you know a couple with kids who could really use a night out? Would your grandma and her friends like a chauffeur for the afternoon?
When was the last time you hand wrote a thank you note? Finding a reason for the most mundane of things would be nice! These cards from Paper Victory would suit any occasion!
winter decorating
I want to decorate our place a tiny bit for Winter. Nothing is going up until after Thanksgiving but I did find these glittery snowflakes at Target today and swiped them up in preparation. All of them for $6! The red ones are sparkly felt and were $1 each and the rest are glittered plastic and came in multi packs for $1. I’m seeing these hanging in a cluster on different lengths of fishing line from the ceiling in a corner of the livingroom.
I don’t particularly like decorating for the Christmas holiday. Wintery things make the whole season more special instead of having one specific day in mind. That way, you can leave things up past Christmas and not have to stare at Santas and candy canes.
I also love how bright blues, lime, pinks and purples have become so accepted. These are available at Target and they’re right up my alley!
There was a great silver glitter deer ornament that stood on its own for $4 and I really wish I had grabbed it as well. He’d be super cute just hanging out among our every day things.
apple pie
Well, I’m doing something I didn’t want to do… a food post! I just can’t help it! It’s so exciting to try something new and apple pie was unchartered territory. I make some killer mini pecan tarts with cream cheese crusts, chewy walnut raisin oatmeal cookies, a 4th generation 6 flavor pound cake, and snackable pecan cheddar cookies that get requested every Christmas. No apple pie… until today.
The bf said he wanted one and who am I to deny giving it a shot? We browsed through my favorite recipe site – Epicurious. (It’s all the recipies from Gourmet and Bon Appétit magazines.) We settled on a good old fashioned apple pie. The recipe we used was for a mix of different types of apples but I like the tartness* of Granny Smiths so, off to the grocery store we went. I didn’t even have a pie pan and I don’t have a food processor so, I bought a pastry blender as well. Oh, and a makeshift rolling pin was fashioned out of a wine bottle.
The changes I made to the recipe: all Granny Smith apples, added a 1/4 teasp. of cinnamon, didn’t use graham cracker crumbs in the bottom, did not glaze with milk or top with raw sugar. There’s enough butter in this pie to kill a horse but hey, it’s the weekend, and I’m allowing myself a small break from my diet.
Just a note - before you roll your dough out, pop it in the freezer for a bit after you’ve blended it and made two separate balls. Also, flour the hell out of your countertop. The butter warms up fast and makes it sticky and brittle so move quickly. I had to learn from my mistake, ball it all up and pop it in the freezer to start over 10 minutes later. Either way, I had to do quite a bit of patch work for the bottom and top crusts.
It was pretty labor intensive but it helped to get an organized strategy down.
Measure out and freeze your Crisco first. Cube your butter and measure out the rest of the crust ingredients and put them in a big bowl and place in the fridge until you’re shortening is frozen. Get your ice water ready.
Blend your crust mixture well until it’s fine and crumbly. Form two equal balls and place in the freezer.
Mix up your filling ingredients in another bowl. Peel and cut your apples and mix with the coating. Preheat your oven and let your apples sit for 15 minutes on your countertop while it’s warming up.
Roll out your first layer of crust (tons of flour on your countertop!) and line your pie pan and pop back in the fridge until that 15 minutes are up.
Dump your filling in the pie pan, dot with that 2T butter.
Roll out your top crust (more flour!), roll it onto your rolling pin and roll out on top of your huge mound of apples. Crimp the edges with a fork, decorate and pop it in the oven, following the rest of the baking instructions.
*If you don’t like a tart pie, either use different apples than Granny Smith like Golden Delicious, or add about a 1/4 cup more sugar. With it being tart, it’s a great pie to serve with vanilla ice cream!
I heart it
Have you gotten on We Heart It yet? I just found out about this site a few days ago (thanks to FerOHHHsh) and I’ve been completely addicted. It’s basically a visual reference of things that are supposed to represent your “heart” but there are infinite uses for it. It could be an easy way to visually bookmark images you see while perusing the interwebs because it links back to the original source. There is a tool that you can add to your bookmark bar to add pics as you browse the web, like Polyvore. (I can’t seem to get mine to work for some reason though.)
The main population on the site seems a bit young and there’s a no nude setting if you want to spare yourself the deluge of T&A all damn day (a lot slips through though… just a warning that it could be nsfw). I found it interesting how my “heart” has turned out. I made a point to stay away from decor and fashion… just to have a little special something for myself outside of this blog. It’s neat to see the things your eyes and mind gravitate towards when you’re just mindlessly clicking on things you like. The inside of my heart is pretty gentle, soft, fixated on the wonders of the natural world… and a little weird. What’s yours looking like? Follow me if you’re on there!
This is also a great way to get exposed to photography and art you may not have had a chance to see otherwise. I am transfixed by these polaroids by Anna Verlet posted on an impeccably curated art blog I had yet to hear about called but does it float. How magical!
Hope you have a beautiful weekend!
a wearable top 30 for 2010
It’s barely Fall and all the Spring 2010 shows were a month ago. The over-saturated coverage has come and gone and now the Christmas advertising has started. I avoided the Spring shows like the plague and made a few short mentions of random things that managed to catch my eye. Now, I have finally looked at it all and I am left with a sense that not much is new.
Here are my top 30 realistic picks for Spring 2010 from the RTW collections. All look completely comfortable and wearable. I will tell you that I looked at every single collection on Style.com and I found that most of the Spring offerings fell into a few categories.
- Short, tiny cocktail dresses. So many little dresses for teeny tiny women!
- Dresses really were the prominent item and the knee length shifts started to get a bit boring.
- Ridiculous brights and outrageous prints all mixed up, that take a special woman to pull off. I’m not one of them. Polka dots, stripes, a bit of plaid, florals of course, and abstract prints also stood out.
- The same minimalist architectural pieces and beautiful draping we’ve been seeing for a while now, which I’m totally fine with. So many designers are going the way of Lanvin these days.
- Boxy looks that made the models look broad and stumpy- cropped jackets with cropped pants and ankle boots? No. Big shapeless dresses sans belts were everywhere as well. Strong shoulders are still in. Wide wide wide.
- The usual classic looks such as ultra ladylike, mild safari, the same punky/goth stuff we’ve been seeing from the usual suspects, and denim but not much. (Ralph Lauren used enough denim for everyone.)
- A whole lot of low cut, a lot of leg, and a TON of sheer and lace. Way more nipple than I needed to see.
- White, black and white and black… a lot of red, blues and orange.
- One shoulder looks, drapey jumpsuits, cropped pants of all widths, shine everywhere, drop crotch pants (no thanks), tailored shorts, leggings (still), flowing pants, and light silky charmeuse layers (loving this).
- Short skirts with long panels were all over the place. Not feeling it.
- Big necklaces, big bags, big purses, big shoes, strappy heels, and damned ugly hats.
Spring is all about freshness and while not much that I saw was really innovative, I’m feeling a slight shift of focus in the trends towards more soft elegant pieces and away from the dark harshness that’s been flooding the fashion blogs lately. I’m thankful. So, even though Spring is so far away, by actually taking the time to look at all the collections quietly and slowly over a few days, it has kind of refreshed my heart. Fashion has grown to be a bit boring for me lately and I know I’m not the only one who’s been crying out for more pretty. I’ll be thinking about these beautiful pieces from now on when putting together outfits and making future purchases. I’m ready to make some subtle changes to my wardrobe and work new things in slowly. So, this is my well-edited list of things I could see myself throwing on and feeling instantly at ease right off the bat. No tugging, no hyper awareness of my body… just good old relaxed style… and I found A LOT of stuff…
all pics via style.com
No doubt, the Ports 1961 collection was lovely and wearable but not much really stood out to me. The fabrics were gorgeous and everything was nice. Yes. Nice. It was all very nice. I really didn’t want to show anything from this collection because it was all so innocuous but it can’t be left out because of the simple elegance and versatility of all the pieces. (I supose Rachel Roy would go into the same category of nice.)
This simple outfit from Celine is so clean and fresh. Loose fitting white top. Short black skirt, leather or not. Easy.
Keeping with the crisp black and white theme is this Derek Lam dress and a Nicole Farhi graphic top and wide pants.
Kenzo makes my signature perfume Amour and I think the line’s genius is highly underrated. I adore this breezy white offering. This is an ensemble. I don’t know if I would always pair the separates together (unless it’s a jumpsuit, which would be rad). Not sure what kind of butt coverage you’re really getting here but some shorts could fix that. I think a lot of us are nervous about wearing something so obvious but really, what’s the big deal? It’s perfectly elegant. Seriously love this and the shoes compliment it perfectly.
Jason Wu has been stealing my heart lately. This could not be better for a date night. I had a difficult time picking just one dress from his collection because they are all so very wearable. Check the rest here.
Plaids aren’t usually my thing but I love the shape of this Pollini dress, the gentle mixing of plaids, asymmetrical hem, and draping give it a modern appeal. Seeing it with those killer shoes has given me a fresh perspective on this pattern.
Can I get an amen for this palest mint Douglas Hannant maxi dress?! I’m so short, every long dress I’ve bought needed to be hemmed, which had begun to deter me from buying them. Then I see one so elegant and it makes me forget about what a pain it is to sew sometimes.
L.A.M.B. was a bit too rocker glam for me this time around but, what do you expect? This outfit though… I could wear this every single day and be outrageously comfortable and confident, after switching out the belt with my own wider studded one.
There were a lot of full hipped pants and unless you’re rail thin, I can’t think of any woman who wants to add width to her hips. What about just one hip so everyone knows what’s really going on? These asymmetric pants by Nicole Miller swayed me. Paired with the corset-esque top keeps it slim. I really want to hunt down these pants and try them on.
This abstract print by Giorgio Armani is right up my alley. Blue and red together usually seems childish to me but not this time. This whole look would be so easy to affordably replicate. Perfect for a hot day, comfortable, effortless, and just the right splash of red.
If I were to pick one wild print from any of the collections, it would be this simple dress from Josh Goot. It is a piece of art. Minimal accessories needed. It would be a blast to wear.
The only super formal dress that knocked my socks off was this ultra flattering Martin Grant evening gown. Showing leg is so much more alluring than blatant cleavage.
This has become my new favorite color. A more muted acid puke green that goes so well with earth tones, white, black and all shades of grey. Love the delicate detailing by J. Mendel.
Like the intricate detailing above, you can’t help but admire the ingenious construction of this Bibhu Mohapatra dress.
I can’t do a post without including my all-time fave Lanvin. Don’t even need to say how difficult it was to pick just one. Good grief it’s lovely!
Fashion Fringe is new to me. I was floored by their dresses and had to include three. Just imagine the feel of that fabric against your skin!
These two dark outfits are more in line with what’s been in style lately. The light bleach wash effect on skinny jeans has been everywhere but Elise Øverland’s take with the delicate top and gold platforms takes it to a new level of feminity. Jeremy Laing’s modern outfit is also a lot less harsh. Love those delicate pieced leggings!
There weren’t many earthtones at the shows. I used to wear a lot of browns and I’m looking forward to revisiting the color soon. The blazer and shorts look is prominent for Spring. Pringle of Scotland put together a lovely outfit. The very ladylike Gary Graham draped skirt ensemble is so office appropriate.
Tibi was really pretty and a lot of fun. The pattern on this dress reminds me of a painting done by the stippling technique at a Richmond restaurant called Avalon.
A lot of designers were sectioning off the body into three distinct regions, something I’ve been a fan of for a long time. When patterns and color blocking were used, the oufits shortened the models. The monotone Issey Miyake is lengthening and slimming and looks really cozy. The Naeem Khan embellished tunic with wider bouclé (or are they beaded?) pants also looks soft and comfortable. I would love to pull off something like these for winter.
More monochromatic offerings in my favorite color! While I wouldn’t wear the bra top, I love the softness and ease of thin layers making up this Akris outfit. The silver Michael Kors skirt is subdued enough for day wear and the extra details on the shoulder turn a basic v-neck into something really special. The Donna Karan day dress could not be more perfect.
Last but not least are the ankle ties and bright blue slim trousers by Prabal Gurung. I think this is adorable but still clean and simple… very very wearable but whimsical. That blue is one of my favorite colors.
I hope this leaves you inspired. Phew! I’m DONE!
Previous Spring 2010 RTW posts - Doo.Ri, Givenchy’s shoes, and Dennis Basso.
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