laundry in french is so much better

i so love all these textiles from french laundry home...gorgeously spun linen that sings with that vintage, timeless look. they're made in plain, in pitch-perfect stripes and then also in coordinating prints - i really love the whole grain sack look, and the numbers too. do you not just want to crawl into a bed dressed with these beauties? i think with too much of it, it could easily be overly sweet (like this), but with one or two thrown in unexpectedly to an otherwise eclectic or modern mix, i'm in love.

and how about these chairs? would love one at a mixed-and-matched table of chairs, no two alike. it's this concept, though i've started to like the idea of leaving each chair in its own color too.

essie 's carry-on collection for fall

what are your thoughts? i love that the fall collection is bag themed and i like how this year's fall collection lines up with last year's, seen together below (last year's, then this year's). it looks like neither a copy nor a departure, but an evolution, and don't we all love evolution where we can get it?

i'm interested in each of this year's colors, i suppose, especially very structured, case study and glamour purse. i'm confused by power cluctch which appears greenish above, though gray in a different image i've seen, and is described as a gray-green. i guess i'll HAVE to get a mani to get some clarity.

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sweet and simple

i love things like this...ideas that come together often out of necessity or even laziness, but then they create something so sweet and so simple. some of my favorite little corners of my favorite homes seem to have come together this way. do you have an impromptu tableau that reminds you of this? 

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plain and simple

i think everyone interested in home design knows about the truly amazing selection of drawer pulls and cabinetry hardware available everywhere from anthropologie to urban outfitters to home depot and the myriad ways it can spruce any room. they make such amazing ones that are pieces of art in themselves.

but the dresser above was a pleasant reminder of how lovely it can be to choose a very simple and unfussy option - they don't have to be expensive or complicated or vintage or anything in particular. doesn't this combination look nice?

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a flowery idea

i mean - can you believe the size of this hibiscus flower? my parents have a couple of bushes of them at the foot of their driveway and they are RIDICULOUS. they're HUGE and so perfect and gorgeous!  here is my car key next to it so you can really get a sense of their out of control size.

the sad thing about them, like many amazing and wonderful things, is that they're incredibly short-lived. they seem to wither and crumble up after just a day or so, but the upshot is that there are so many blooms always coming and going that the bushes always look full and healthy - it's just the lifespan of each tissuey, gauzy one that's short.

so my big idea? how beautiful would it be to have each dinner-plate-sized bloom atop a dinner plate at a party? imagine everyone arriving at the table, greeted by their very own hibiscus...and imagine how totally stunning that table would look. you wouldn't even need floral arrangements, and could go just with simple votives, or perhaps interesting little objects like my aunt louisa brilliantly did here. it would be amazing on a table dressed all in white linens, a wood table with no linens at all, or a cacophony of floral, striped and patterned linens. if i were doing this, i'd probably want to ditch the dinner party and just play around with options all night!

in the same way a charger is used under a plate and then removed when it's time to eat, the top plate holding the bloom would be removed, revealing the dinner plate beneath it when it's time to eat. 

goin' to the chapel

do you remember dina manzo from real housewives of new jersey? don't lie. well she has a new show on hgtv called dina's party, and here's a sneak peek. thoughts? feelings? i'm kind of excited - i really liked her. i feel like i want to be a manzo, second only to wanting to be a kardashian. (do i watch too much reality tv?)

okay, so here's a really pink wedding she did...here is the "before" of the living room...

  
and then here's an "after" where it became a chapel!

not what i would have done, per se, but a pretty amazing transformation and it certainly makes you look at your living room differently. here are some other pictures from the same event. i'm a fan of the alternating place settings like these.

again, not really my style, but i think it's clear that dina knows what she's doing and she does it in a big way, so i'm looking forward to it and seeing her on my screen again!

and raise your hand if you're ready for HGTV's forthcoming magazine!

tricks are for kids

okay, watches are for kids in this case. just needed something catchy. look at this fun watch from the gap. who says it's only for kids? not me!

and how about this kit from toy watch? as far as i'm concerned, they should be making this in several different colorways and styles. genius.

wild flowers

it's so gorgeous out today isn't it? yesterday too. i always love it when mother nature gives us something like that after a weekend like we had. it's like a wink from the bright blue sky...what wind? what rain?

of course i wouldn't be feeling so flowery if i didn't have power back yet like my parents and so many other unlucky, unhappy people. i hope you get your power back as soon as humanly possible.

going gaga

every time i think lady gaga has a little too much hype, i'm reminded that the only thing eclipsing her hype is her talent. listen to (or watch) her live performance of howard stern from last month, below. 

i listened to it when it was live, and i've thought about it so many times since then that i just had to share it with you. i'm not normally someone who cares much about live vs. recorded, and i usually prefer the familiar, recorded version of a song to a new, live version...but this changed all that. when i hear the recorded version on the radio, i wish it was this one. and i'm in awe of her voice. at 7 in the morning, no less.

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a ribbon in my hair

i've been daydreaming about braiding a ribbon into my hair recently. you know i've been liking braids, and a ribbon seems like a total elevation of the braid, but in a clever, unexpected way.

i can't decide if i would do it like this tutorial where the ribbon is treated as one strand of hair within one of the three sections, OR if i'd rather treat the ribbon itself as a whole section, which is what the photo above seems to do. 

if i fall in love with it as i think i would, i might even consider trimming down some of the beautiful scarves i love but hardly ever wear to use as ribbons.

to boot

 

what happens if you already have 2 pairs of perfectly fine rainboots but then you see these?

home sweet home

 

wouldn't this tray be the perfect housewarming, wedding or hostess gift? i love its earnestness...it's simple, but not too simple; retro, but but not overly so, and it's something that brings a smile to any surface in any home.

i really love sentiments -  like "home sweet home" -  which are so universally known and so frequently said. what i love most about them is that moment in your own life where you, unknowingly, stumble upon that very feeling...in this case, walking into the comforts of your home at the end of a long day, a trip, a special event, and that feeling, that sigh...home sweet home. and i love in those moments realizing how that universal phrase and sentiment came to be so universal.

do you love glass trays like this? read the high/low here.

farmers market day!

i LOVE farmers market day! yesterday, i went first thing in the morning again(new favorite way to start a day) and what struck me the most was the rainbow of colors in so much of the produce. plums in yellow, peach, red, blue, purple and everything in between.

peppers and tomatoes in every shade from palest yellow all the way up through screaming red, with some purples and greens thrown in for good measure. and the eggplants...stripy and speckled and tie-dyed looking, they look like they're related to the stripy and speckled tomatoes you see above...and it turns out they are!

 

i'm most excited about the very special mirabelle plums i bought...i'm told they're very rare in the united states and the woman i bought them from said they're from a tree on her farm that was smuggled in from france 25 years ago. she's planning on having her father in law graft the tree, which i just learned means that he'll attach a piece of it to rootstock so he can create another plant. (would the fruit that grafted tree bore be considered a GMO? if so, i think i'm okay with this kind).

i also bought one hot cherry pepper and one serrano pepper...WWBFD*?

*what would bobby flay do?

99

yesterday would have my grandfather's 99th birthday and today, i just had to post about it because these brightly colored shirts, stacked all together, are an image that brings him to mind instantly. he was always wearing bold colors and no one rocked pastels better than he. also no one made lists, hummed tunes, delivered punchlines, tallied a check, dispensed advice and showed support better. molly and i discussed that we liked to think of him, on his birthday and every day, in heaven tapping his feet, making lists (never on a napkin!) and chuckling to himself about a joke he heard long ago, in yiddish.

shoe-in

i really haven't been much of a shoe girl in my life, and i think that's largely been because most nice shoes weren't comfortable for me, and often didn't look particularly pretty on me. but now that i've lost so much weight, my shoes have gone down a size or two (yes, that happens!) and they generally look way better in shoes. i've been enjoying all kinds of sandals this summer...t-straps, ankle straps and other very thin, refined looking sandals. it's a revelation! so for fall, i have my eyes on a few pairs that i'm really excited about. none are expensive, because i still don't feel shoes are important enough to me to splurge on...i'd rather save that for bags.

love love love these leopard flats which also come in a wedge if you're more into height. and these gold glitter flats are exactly as glittery and sparkly as you'd want them to be - no more and no less. love the idea of these with jeans or even a buttoned up pair of slacks.

also on the gold front, i'm seriously considering these metallic lame oxfords you see at the top. will i look like the tin man? maybe. will i have the nerve to wear them? not sure. but i do love them. i feel like they're a cool, different take on fall's oxford moment. thoughts?

the other thrilling thing about right now for me is that for the first time in i don't know how long, i'll be able to wear boots because my calves are small enough to zip into them! what will they be? sparkly uggs? flat leather ones? furry ones? or maybe i'd just get these to put over whatever other boots i have...might i get cozy cable knit ones? or fuschia hunter boots with the cozy socks that fit inside? choices....

some thoughts for a monday

 

take me to this bedroom. and if you love mix and match patterns, you might just DIE over the preview of missoni's collection for target. 

I. DIE. and look at this absurdly adorable missoni for baby outfit that i MIGHT have to buy though it will be years before i have someone to put in it.

and i've been meaning to tell you...last saturday, i saw a great play with my mom, my sister and my brother's girlfriend dani ... it was love, loss and what i wore and starred a very pleasant, easy to watch marla maples and a non-dorota dorota. it touched on so many universal female themes in an understated, matter of fact way, and really nicely tied in how outfits and shoes and bras mark the moments of our lives and how we remember them. totally recommend. 

before the play, we had a really lovely brunch at elsewhere...i had delicious eggs with cheese perfectly folded in, and my mom's bloody mary had pickled green beans garnishing it! dani had the best looking blueberry pancakes we had ever seen...my favorite thing about hers was the way they served the butter - a perfect little square of it in a white porcelain spoon atop the stack. i missed the pre-eaten photo op, but you get the idea.

 
the best thing about elsewhere was their attention to coffee refills, and you know me and my coffee. we were all playing around with our cameras and retro camera apps, and i stumbled into this photo which i felt perfectly captured my "oooh it's coffee time" feeling. 

and look at the sweet little herb garden in the covered greenhouse-like room where we were sitting.

after brunch and before the play, we roamed around a flea market in hell's kitchen and i spotted this very cool bar cart. so perfectly un-glam... i think that's what i thought was interesting about it - no shine or sparkle, just a certain midcentury utilitarian style, complete with the zodiac signs on the surface...very age of aquarius. 

i'm all about bags, as you probably know, but this seems like a naked emperor situation to me...these edie parker bags (which remind me far too much of caboodles) are close to $1000.

really?? if i were going to spend a grand on a bag, that's not what it would be.

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