transfer of power

isn't one of the greatest little pleasures transferring all your stuff into a new wallet or bag, or one you haven't used in a while? its the best feeling - pulling all your things out of the old, which has inevitably become disorganized and overstuffed, and promoting only the chosen items into the new. you know you really love the new when you do the transfer in the car. that's what my friend liza and i always did, and often still do.

it's that before and after feeling, right at your fingertips and instantaneous. and it's the promise of something new and better, and more organized -- something more "you," and more perfectly suited to your needs.

added bonus if you discover that your makeup case looks fab against the new bag, or that your debit cards pop nicely against the inside of the new wallet.

even if you're not in the market for a new bag right about now, it's worth shopping your own collection for the thrill of the transfer.

all in the details

last month, mitchell and i were lucky enough to be treated to a weekend celebrating our second anniversary up at emerson resort, our wedding location, just outside of woodstock. one of the things i love most about our trips up there is that they're the only times i pack light. woodstock is such a casual place, and i generally feel so comfortable there, that i don't feel the same need to be "prepared for anything" (read: overpack) that i often do.

like last year, i was totally smitten with the decor of the inn, the section in which we stayed. what i really took from our trip last year was the confidence with which the design mixed and matched woods, metals and textiles, and it was an awakening for me in terms of my own personal style. this year, i was particularly moved by many of the tiny details that come together to create an extraordinarily comfortable and luxe experience. i really believe in taking notice of these kinds of details and how they make you feel, and when possible, taking inspiration from them to enhance your own home. in this way, our homes can be places which combine not only artifacts and "stuff" from our travels, but also concepts and ideas.

one of the things i loved was their use of rugs, in sometimes unexpected ways. throughout the lobby and in the country store (which is a good enough reason on its own to visit emerson) large oriental rugs are layered over the slate and brick floors.

in the phoenix restaurant, a similar rug is used in a doorway, and is combined with strings of beads, making a very interesting hanging doorway.

but the piece de resistance - the sheepskin pelt next to the bed in our room. oh. my. god. i can't even tell you how amazing it was to step onto it from the bed. mitchell and i were taking turns standing on it and swirling our feet around.

obviously, i had to ask for the details on this piece because we WILL be acquiring one at some point soon. they are from hudson home by way of new zealand and are $109 each. they're washed six times and come in natural (shown), truffle (light cocoa), silver and black.

one of my favorite times of day at the emerson is first thing in the morning. slid under the door is a sheet with the day's weather forecast and a quotation of ralph waldo emerson's. when we were there, the quote was "if i have lost confidence in myself, i have the universe against me."

really good coffee is delivered to your room with a copy of the times or you can take a quick walk into the lobby and get it at a simple coffee bar set up there.

it's not that other hotels don't have coffee in the mornings, i guess it just feels really easy there, and you can enjoy your coffee on your balcony looking at the catskill mountains, or next to your room's gas fireplace.


that's probably my number one favorite moment at the emerson every time. after sitting outside on the balcony reading and sipping coffee, coming inside and warming up next to the fireplace and looking around at all the beautiful textiles and furniture in my room, wishing i would never have to leave.

and speaking of those details, upon asking, i found out that their bedding is custom-made for them by bramson house, and the pillows are custom from american hotel. both the duvet and the mattress are the most comfortable i've ever slept on. the mattress and box spring are sealy posturepedic palatial crest plush euro top (not exactly a catchy name) and are available at a discounted $1404 at adirondack supply. oh mattress, you will be mine one day.

another thing i love is all the carved wood details. used in many different spaces, i find that in each spot, it adds interest and significance to the space. pictured below are the carved wood window covers in each guest room, an embellishment to the bar in the phoenix restaurant and the huge, gorgeous sliding doors to the spa boutique from the main lobby.



it reminds me of the ankara chair i covet from crate and barrel - drool over it in this post. this high-polished, tailored woodwork stands in contrast to the more ancient, gothic looking wood doors, headboards and other features they also use throughout, often in the very same rooms.

this mix is one of those ways that they blissfully blend different looks. the gothic wood features remind me of the incredible corbel pieces from restoration hardware that i'm sort of obsessed with which would be a pretty easy way to use the look in any home.

in addition to all the woods and textiles, they also manage to use many reflective materials which just make the whole space vibrate with a certain swankiness that is unexpected both geographically and because it's a spa resort that has a very zen feeling underlying everything else. here, you can see examples - crackled mirror tiles which line the bar and restaurant walls, irridescent mosaic tile walls found here and there throughout the resort, and a gold lame-esque mesh ceiling hanging in the phoenix restaurant.



in the context of the fabulous mix in each space of the emerson, i even really liked this hammered flatware which i've seen a million times and never found to be anything special. it shows how the context in which things are used makes such a huge difference in how they strike you. i found this similar set at neiman marcus and will definitely consider it as a very versatile and beautiful set next time i'm in the market for flatware.

obviously our dessert was good too.

i have to say, though, one thing that bugged me was the lack of coordination of hardware in the bathroom. although it's a minor detail, it's a detail all the same, and they are so attentive to details that i find it shocking that this didn't bother them. i do applaud and aspire to their bold mixing of metals and materials, but in the case of hardware, i think they should have stuck with all silver, instead of creating a "which of these things is not like the other" situation. they're too close together, and frankly, too easy to match for them not to.

REALLY?

what i do like about the bathrooms, though, is their dreamy wall color, a wonderfully serene blue-gray (benjamin moore wickham gray), and the use of both marble and a river-rock tile. it looks almost as if the pieces naturally came together and very much contributes to the spa-feeling of the bathroom.

and the most unexpected detail of all -- i noticed this basket of woven and botanical balls on the entry table in our room, and am very certain that they are remnants of our own fall wedding there two years ago. purchased for our friday night dinner, we left these and some other decor items behind when we left and they've made their way into the design of the place we love so much. i know how much i have taken from the emerson and incorporated into my own life and taste and memories, and it's a nice little feeling to know that i have left my own little mark there.

crantastic!

well now that we all have thanksgiving on the brain, i thought i'd share a recipe i made last year from food network magazine that i was really happy with, and has been requested again! it's a cranberry pomegranate terrine (click here for recipe on a card), and is a really nice alternative to your average cranberry sauce.

as you can see above, it's very pretty and festive looking, and as you can see below, mine was slightly less than perfect (was my refrigerator slanted??). my goal for making it this year is to look more like above than below.

here is the recipe as written. i added some pomegranate seeds as garnish because i think they're pretty:

ingredients
1 8-ounce bag fresh cranberries
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups pure pomegranate juice
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole black peppercorns
2 large strips orange peel, white pith removed, plus strips of zest for garnish
salt
3 packets (6 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

directions
pulse the cranberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor until chunky and juicy, about 8 times. set aside for 20 minutes to macerate.

meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice, the cinnamon stick, peppercorns, orange peel and a pinch of salt in a saucepan over medium heat; simmer, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

remove from the heat; let steep for 20 minutes. discard the cinnamon, peppercorns and orange peel.

place the remaining 1/2 cup pomegranate juice and 1/4 cup cold water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. set aside without stirring until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes.

add the steeped pomegranate juice to the gelatin mixture and stir until the gelatin dissolves.

spread a thin layer of the cranberry mixture in a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan; pour in enough of the pomegranate-gelatin mixture to cover (about 3/4 cup). refrigerate until just beginning to set, about 30 minutes.

meanwhile, stir the remaining cranberries into the remaining gelatin mixture and set aside, unrefrigerated. once the bottom layer is set, pour in the remaining gelatin mixture and refrigerate until completely set, at least 2 hours or overnight.

to serve, run a knife around the edges of the pan and invert the terrine onto a platter. (set the pan in warm water to soften the gelatin if necessary.) garnish with the orange zest.

this is cranberry sauce you won't forget in the refrigerator.

top photo from www.foodnetwork.com

tiny treasures...froth yourself

one of my favorite parts of my morning routine is the cup of coffee i get across the street from my office at amish market. it's definitely not because of the baristas, because they're less than friendly, to say the least. but they steam the milk, and it makes a huge difference in what would otherwise be a somewhat average cup of coffee. yes, it does make the coffee the temperature of the sun without cold milk's cooling qualities, but it's well worth it for the richer taste and the fact that it's more filling too (bonus!). sometimes when i'm really anxious to choke the caffeine down, i throw in an ice cube to make it drinking temperature quickly.

i had considered buying my own milk frother (slightly different than a steamer, but does the trick for me, and isn't as hot!) which are generally found for about $20 or $25, but hadn't taken the plunge yet. and then ikea changed it all - they have one for $1.99. seriously? $1.99? and it works great! it takes two AA batteries and has transformed my morning cup of coffee (the one before i leave the house) into a tiny treasure all its own.

i think we find the tiny treasures in life when we think about the little things we enjoy observing or experiencing and trying to multiply them where we can, especially in our own homes. in addition to our own morning and evening coffees, teas and hot chocolates, this product makes it easy to serve very special hot drinks to guests, and would make a great component of a coffee-themed gift. in fact, with the "i am not a paper cup" cups from last week's post, these would make a very cute "be your own barista" gift idea.

by the way, in the same trip to ikea, i got a salad spinner (another $25 item i'd not yet purchased) for $3.99. just go there now. goodbye.

milk frother photo from www.ikea.com

a walk in the park

earlier this week, i had a morning meeting in another part of town - columbus circle, which is a vibrant, pretty part of the city primarily due to its proximity to central park. i got there early, as i often do when i'm not sure how long a different commute will take, and i had about 45 minutes to kill. i had a choice - i could sit and drink my coffee and read in a starbucks or in the time warner center mall, or i could walk a few blocks to central park to some benches right on the perimeter.


i debated for a minute, but then decided to make it a bit of an artist's date, and make the extra effort and the extra steps to make the 45 minutes more enjoyable for myself. and it was really, really nice. it served as a nice reminder that your time, no matter where you are and why you're there, is YOUR time, and should be used the best it can be. i think we all think about ways to make our time work for us and be efficient, but the part we sometimes forget to think about is how to use even the time we don't have 100% control over the best we can.

even though i was on the other side of the city for work and not my own choice, i had a really nice experience there and reconnected with a part of the city in which i hadn't spent any time in quite a while. it was nice to see the city through a different lens and enjoy the real mix of urban and nature that is unique to the parts of the city that surround the park. by using the time in the way that i would enjoy it most, i spent 45 minutes enjoying myself rather than just killing 45 minutes of my life. when it was time to go to the meeting, i felt like i'd had some real me time, which was a nice way to start the day. it also highlighted for me how much i've missed my balcony time since our move and the colder weather, so it showed me i need to reinstate some quiet time in the mornings.

and it was so much more pleasant to look at the last of the fall leaves and the dogs and joggers than it would have been to stay a part of the fray - construction, police activity, latte orders being barked constantly. if i had done that, i probably would have had that feeling we all know..."well that was 45 minutes of my life i'll never get back." the truth is, i can't get back the 45 minutes i spent at the park, but i wouldn't want to.

oh nuts

i wanted to share a fantastic resource for gift baskets i was introduced to when our friends kim and mike sent a shiva package from kosher gift box when my grandmother passed away. what's so nice is that they come in a simple wooden crate with each type of fruit, nut and candy bagged separately so you can place them in fresh when you want to put it out.

as many of you know, most of the time at shiva calls, the focus tends to be food, as a distraction and because...well, people like food. well with all the bagels and pastries and cookies, this tray was the one that kept getting ooohs and aaaahs because of how lovely it looked. and when the goodies that came with it ran out, we used the tray for other candy and nuts we had received. totally an example of how sometimes presentation can be everything.

besides, where else can you purchase something called "the babka lovers basket" or the "gluten-free nosh basket"? definitely worth a gander...

did i mention the superjew t-shirt they carry?

all photos from www.koshergiftbox.com

let's dish about this

i sort of love this wall hanging from bed, bath and beyond. it caught my eye in the store a couple months ago and i still find myself remembering it fondly. i like how it's a play on the idea of hanging individual plates on a wall, but is more modern and artful looking in my opinion. i'm thinking perhaps it would be nice hanging in our new dining room. and with the ingenious 20% off coupons, it would be even more of a steal.

photo from bed, bath and beyond

and while we're on the subject...

here are some interesting pieces from around the web on the subject of painting and color selection...i think it's always good to get many perspectives and ideas on projects and things you're considering. this way, you hear more than one voice in your head when you're weighing things and making choices. of course your own voice has to be the loudest since you're the one living inside the walls in question.

from revival home and garden: a look inside a colorful playwright's colorful home.

from stunning blog decor8's holly becker: palettes she's loving and how different colors impact different people differently - very interesting!

from martha: her editors pick some of their favorite color schemes which you can browse by color.

happy color dreaming!

photo from www.marthastewart.com

color your world

i think the colors of the walls around us are so important (as evidenced by the sad, pale pictures of our new apartment, before we moved in). first of all, i think painting at all is a big deal and very important - it means you've taken time to think about your surroundings and what you'd like them to look like. i also think it's about positive self-messaging - you're safe and secure here for a while, and you're worth being surrounded by something pretty and unique. it is your home - your walls, your colors, your choices.

i am so happy we're painting our new place. mitchell was a little less thrilled when we crunched numbers and the resulting sum was mitchell being the painter, but he's happy about it now (right?). it was something we never did in our old house. we thought about it and had paint samples taped to the wall for a little while, but it was eclipsed by other things and never happened. to me, our painting this new space is part of falling in love with a new home and making it our own. my starting point has been the wall-to-wall carpeting i'm so happy to have. it's a medium gray color, and i immediately knew i wanted to work with what was there instead of against it. but when you don't have a jumping-off point, i think a lot of people are lost when it comes to what colors to paint. several readers have written to me about being sick of the idea of neutrals, but don't know what else to do.

of course you can always flip through magazines or think about some of the homes in movies or tv shows you love and work from there - i always think about the fabulous chicago apartment in mind of the married man where each room was painted in a different shade of brown. and you can look at the old paper colordecks and cards, as shown below, but they just don't quite capture what a room in those colors will look like.

well here's another idea - i am loving loving loving the paint color picker tool on the house beautiful website. i remember discovering it several months ago but it was kind of clunky and limited at the time. they've since revamped it, and i am a big fan.

the tool allows you to select one of their 25 "rooms" which feature all kinds of layouts and settings, and then to go through the benjamin moore, valspar and sherwin williams color decks and "paint" the walls, trim, ceiling and accents in whatever colors you want. it would be the most amazing if you could upload a picture of your own room, but maybe that'll be the next generation version. one of the greatest things is how you can get a real gut reaction when you're looking. there were some colors i hated seeing on a wall, and others that i felt buzzy and excited about.

i've found this tool most useful to compare similar colors. for example, i'm deciding on a deep pink/coral for our entryway and kitchen, and this tool helped me narrow it down. i tried out about 25 colors i had scribbled down the names of from shelter mags, recommendations and a quick look through the colordeck at home depot, and the tool allowed me to see that "picante" is too peachy, "mardi gras" is too dusty, and that "fuschine," "poppy," "drop dead gorgeous," and "mediterranean spice," (all from benjamin moore) are the final contenders. now i'll go and get real samples of those and hang them in different spots on the walls in question and eliminate and choose that way.

you have to experiment! click here to get started.

some notes: i recommend making the ceiling and trim white so you can really see the colors you put on the wall (if you use the sliding color chooser at the left of the screen, "anthem white" is the very bottom color). note: remember to select "wall" above the large picture when you're ready to move on.

then play around with different colors. to me, playing with different blacks and almost-blacks is enlightening - you can clearly see how some are more blue, and some are more gray and others are purple. also you can see how some are dead-looking blacks (no offense benji) while others seem to have a depth and richness. it's amazing to see how much more dynamic the colors look in this tool than they do on cards like the ones below.

when i was choosing our living room and bedroom color, (wrought iron, top row, far right above - to see it on a wall, take a peak in the "color preview" deck -- number 2124-10), i wanted the deepest gray possible, but not black - i wanted the darkness but not the deadness of black -- that was my slogan. it's surprising that you can make that distinction from virtually looking at the colors, but somehow it works.

you might find, as i have been finding too, that you get some pretty good color ideas, even if not for now, for later. case in point: i will at some point in my life have a room (even if just a walk-in closet) painted in benjamin moore "magenta" (top row, middle above; to see on a wall, go to color preview colordeck -- number 2077-10).

enjoy!

color sample card from www.materials-world.com