The Fruits of Our Labor

Get Outside Already

Images via IKEA

I think Texas is thumbing its nose at me, as despite all my earlier whining about hating the heat, blah, blah, blah, we've had glorious weather lately -- all sunny and cool and just pretty darn blissful. This pocket of perfect weather (and these dreamy outdoor shots on the IKEA site) inspired us to take it up a notch on the "summarizing" of our back patio, and as such we spent most of last weekend planting and sweeping and basically just prettying-up the place. I also managed to set aside my previously documented issues with IKEA and popped over on my lunch break yesterday to grab a couple of pillows for our patio couch.

I suppose I sometimes just have to eat my words a bit... Sorry Texas. Sorry IKEA.

It's Back...

via remodelista

My "pantry"/kitchen fixation has reared its head again...

Audrey Loves Cake

In fact I don't think it's an exaggeration at all to say, she really, really loves cake...

Speaking of Dream Jobs

My brilliant, lovely, talented friend Amy is having a trunk show this Thursday at LFT (one of my favorite shops in Dallas) to show off her insanely pretty, handcrafted jewelry.

Amy is one of those people that you might be tempted to be jealous of (not only does she have a dream job, but she lives with her awesome hubby and uber cute daughter Ellie in beautiful, beautiful Sausalito...), but you can't because she's so completely down-to-earth and witty and kind and has lived such a purposeful and deliberate life that you aren't surprised at all that she's doing what she's doing today.

Although I am (still) a little jealous of the fact that she consistently creamed me at Super Mario Brothers when we were 13, but that's another story altogether.

If you are in Dallas, please do come meet Amy and see her work. And if you aren't, you can ogle it here and buy it here.

It's Never Too Late -- Part Two

A round-up of rooms I wish I had designed...

Room via Ellen Hanson Designs

Room by Barrie Benson via Domino

Room by Julianne Moore via Domino

via Domino
via Domino

I suppose it wasn't very fair of me to recount my conversation with Audrey and not disclose what I told her I wanted to be when I grow up, was it?

My favorite dinner party pastime is to go around the table and ask everyone what they thought they'd be in college (I majored in English and minored in Art History, so logically I thought I'd either be an English teacher or work in an art gallery or museum, but alas, I didn't end up doing either of those things...) and what they would do if they could do anything they wanted. The fun of the "game" is that the answers don't have to reflect something you're actually good at, just something you'd really like to do but for whatever reason aren't.

As for me, if I could do anything I wanted (besides of course my actual job, which I actually very much enjoy), I would be an interior designer. But I'm not so interested in just decorating a series of blank slates or creating multiple versions of my ideal room for other people...no, what really intrigues me is the process of working hand-in-hand with others as they uncover how they really want to live -- to help them discover what their ideal home would feel like and then working alongside them to create it.

I think most folks have a pretty good idea of how they want their homes to feel, they just don't know how to get there... helping them get there would be a really cool job.

Ok... now you have to play. What would you be if you could do anything?

Monday

Somehow this photo of Audrey and Millie gets me geared up for the week ahead...

Friday Morning Paper

I love Darling Dexter's one of a kind gocco prints, but I especially love how she re-uses old book pages from the 40's...The mix of her design with the original illustration and text results in such cool pieces.

Have an excellent weekend!

I'm Sort of Obsessed

With this top + this bag + this bracelet. So I thought I'd post them in an attempt to get the trio out of my mind...

Diversion

Image via Domino

It's hot in Texas. It really is. Crazy hot in fact. And unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of heat... No, I'm decidedly more of a cool weather girl. Not cold mind you, but mild, sunny, cool. My years growing up in Northern California must have installed in me some sort of temperature "set point" that despite living 15 years of my life (off and on) in hot, hot Texas, I've never been able to shake.

To make things worse, not only is it hot, but it gets hot early -- we've been known to have a few scorchers as soon as May, so on my little mental calendar, the end of our beach vacation each year marks the start of "the hot", and I really, really have to gear up for it.

Usually gearing up involves getting the back yard fully "summarized", as while I really don't like the heat, I like waiting it out all summer long in the air conditioned confines of our house even less. And because I somehow thrive on a full to-do list, "gearing up" also tends to include a slew of indoor projects.

We're embarking on all sorts of boring but productive tasks over the next few weeks (installing a ceiling fan on the patio, cleaning out assorted closets, continuing to "lime" the wood walls in our living room -- which at the rate we're going, should be completed sometime in 2010...), but the project I'm most excited about is painting the wall behind the bed in our guest room this particular shade of green spotted in last month's Domino. It's that sort of nervous excitement that comes from stepping out on the ledge a bit, as those that know me recognize that this green is a smidge outside my comfort zone, and the wall I'm targeting in the guest room happens to be visible from every single living space in the house.

But I'm going there, I'm living on the edge here people...anything to take my mind off that dreaded heat.

It’s Never too Late…Right?

Poster available at Penelope���s via lovely design

This morning as I was packing the girls into the car for school, Audrey looked at me awfully earnestly and inquired, "Mom (long pause), what do you want to be when you grow up? ...an artist?" (She wants to be an artist desperately, so she assumes that everyone else of course would like this very same occupation...)

First, I broke the news that I was already grown up, which seemed to somehow surprise her. Next, I informed her that no, I didn't necessarily want to be an artist, but that I was thrilled with her career choice. Then I told her what I would like to be, and she promptly asked, "Then why aren't you that???"

Good question A...

p.s. This made me feel a tad better.

I Know It’s Frivolous, But I Want Every Single One of These

Seriously, I want them all...via Hable Construction.

Green Day

Yummy rooms from the latest dwr catalog

There's nothing like 10 days away from home to make you realize how much junk mail you actually get... after digging through the sacks of stuff our friends kindly retrieved from our mailbox each day while we were lazily basking in the sun, I ended up with a tiny stack of relevant bills, magazines and decent catalogs and a mountain of needless crap that I swiftly schlepped (in three trips) to the recycle bin. It was insane.

The "keepers" pile included the latest Design Within Reach catalog (which normally would have ended up in the recycle bin with all the rest of the unwanteds, as while I love their stuff and would happily populate my home with egg chairs and nelson lamps all the live long day, I find every single catalog exactly the same and their styling pretty darn dull...) But I was intrigued by their "green" catalog (I'm not totally sick of "green" as a marketing ploy yet) so I gave it gander and loved this line from the intro:

"Whether we're speaking to a chair or a serving utensil, an object that lasts won't have to be replaced, and that, in my opinion, is the best definition of green."

I'm pretty smitten with the idea of buying things you love and keeping them for a looong time as the ultimate green move, and this time I loved the styling and the real rooms and the clutter and the mix of groovy, "have-forever" stuff with newish egg chairs and nelson lamps and whatnot. Pretty...

But despite my DWR bliss, I was still in a tizzy over the whole junk mail avalanche. And today being Earth Day and all, I decided to finally do something about it. I took about 30 minutes while plowing through my third cup of coffee and visited all the opt-out sites to get my name off almost every mailing list out there...there's a good round up of these sites on Ideal Bite.

I was on a roll, caught up in Earth Day fever, so when I was done with my opt-out fest, I decided to finally address that resolution that's been languishing on my list since January and bought four of those Baggu reusable shopping bags in a nice chic (gender neutral) navy blue (I wanted the fuchsia, but was thinking of hubby...he's pretty progressive, but I thought it just cruel to force him to take a slew of hot pink reusable shopping bags to a Texas grocery store.) I'm figuring between those beauties and a couple of canvas numbers I have at home, I'll be able to do a weekly shop and maybe go completely bag free. That's the goal at least...

I'm feeling awfully darn virtuous today.

Re-entry

I think I liked the coastal woods (filled with pine needle strewn paths and lily pad filled ponds) that we rode our bikes around as much as I loved the beach.

I'm stealing my post title from Jane, as she seemed to coin our return to real-life best.

So as of late yesterday afternoon, we're officially "back", and I'm having a hard time balancing the desire to wallow in vacation mode with my impulse to jump right back into daily life. In less than 24 hours, I've completely unpacked, hit the market for staples, sorted through stacks of mail, tackled about a gazillion e-mails and managed to make it into the office early this morning to the firestorm of a project awaiting me. And I'm slogging through it all in the type of fuzzy daze that accompanies stepping into the sunlight after an afternoon matinee...

It's hard to adjust to a giant glaring computer screen and a windowless office after a week and a half of aimless sunny bike rides, ocean gazing while Millie napped peacefully on my chest under a giant beach umbrella and devouring vanilla ice cream every single day -- often for breakfast. (One morning we were jonesing so bad for our scoop, we actually waited outside the ice cream store for it to open.)

It's a bit disconcerting how present and grateful and aware we were on vacation and yet how swiftly we let ourselves dive back into the daily grind. It really was an amazing, lovely, delightful trip -- one of our best ever. I'll get more pictures up soon, just as soon as I defog a bit...

Beach Bound

all images via the completely delightful jorg and olif site... love those bikes���sigh

To mix things up a bit and fully get us in vacation mode, we've been eating dinner on the little table in our backyard (also because the weather has been so insanely pretty, and Audrey can't bear to be out of eyeshot of the new play gym for fear that it will somehow heft its own tonnage over our fence and meander down the street into another kid's yard...)

Another dinner time ritual leading up to vacation has been to go around the table and talk about the things we're most excited about doing upon our arrival in Florida. For Audrey, it's all about the sand -- the sand castles, the digging in the sand, the act of getting buried in the sand...that and the idea that she'll somehow have access to unlimited Shirley Temples. I'm not entirely certain where she got that notion, but I'm rolling with it. (ok maybe I mentioned this in a moment of desperation...)

For Bryan and I, it's all about the bicycles. One of the best aspects of this particular vacation spot is that upon our arrival, we park the car and don't use it again for the entire trip (save a jaunt or two to the neighboring town for dinner.) Instead, we hop on our bikes and pedal to the beach, the market, the bookstore...what have you.

Dallas isn't exactly the most "bike-friendly" town...Texans LOVE their cars, so this snubbing of the auto in favor of cruising around town on two wheels seems to me like the best way to have an experience that is the starkest contrast to our daily lives. That and of course the unplugging, which I will most certainly be doing, despite the fact that several other members of our vacation party (including my own traitorous husband) are hatching a plan to rig the center of our calm -- our vacation rental -- with wifi.

I'll be back to posting in a couple of weeks, eager to share pictures and highlights from our big trip, and I can't wait to see what all of you have been up to!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

My partial Northern California upbringing by a musician father and a pretty darn cool mom had decided laid back/hippie leanings. While there was no commune involved, there were lots of bean sprouts and jazz and groovy clothes -- my parent's best friend almost exclusively wore a pair of tan corduroy OP short shorts with flip flops regardless of the occasion... (Actually I think he still wears this ensemble on a fairly regular basis.)

Not surprisingly, a few of these bohemian leanings have surfaced in my adulthood. One such example is the fact that I literally can't pass a pottery table at an arts festival without buying some mottled, groovy serving bowl or mug -- the uglier, lumpier and more seemingly steeped in patchouli the better. And I swoon over all manner of 70's pottery.

So when I spotted these mugs in the Viva Terra catalog last night I decided I had to of course have them...

Countdown to the Beach -- Part Four

Items that are conjuring thoughts of sand and sea (+ a nod to my obsession with green and gold)... Clockwise from top: flavor paper onda wallpaper, oyster box, jasper morrison's green bottles, big catch necklace

Co-Sleeping

For a variety of obvious reasons, I'm a big advocate of siblings sharing a room at some point in their childhood -- even if space isn't an issue. To that end, Bryan and I have a plan (read: scheme) that involves converting Millie's room into a shared "sleeping space" for the girls in the next year or so and morphing Audrey's into their joint playroom.

I'm already talking up the idea to Audrey to get her sufficiently primed, and so far she's pretty jazzed about the concept. (Although I'm not sure she'll feel the same way a year from now, thus the long prep period.)

But honestly, I think it's the ultimate kid fantasy to have some sort of groovy sleeping space where you can cozy-in together, staying up late telling stories and secrets and, you know, just be sisters...

I have all sorts of ideas swirling around for the room involving stars on the ceiling and cushions and canopies...just a big "woobie" room if you will. But then I see this space over on Design Sponge, and it has me rethinking my strategy a bit. All of the sudden I'm feeling bunk beds, and that bright turquoise and the twinkle lights and fun silver ottoman and the slightly serious oil painting to temper the potential cuteness of it all...good thing I still have some time.

I Think Audrey Must Be Reading My Blog (never mind the fact that she can’t technically read…)

Audrey loves nothing in the world more than procuring a piece of gum from one of those (slightly gross) machines in the front of the grocery store... Somehow this shot by eshu manages to make a gumball machine appear pretty magical.

Despite all my talk about the "terrible fours", Audrey was the picture of absolute and utter loveliness this weekend. All Eddie Haskell-style good manners, she was helpful around the house and almost comically sweet with her sister...We did have a short but annoying scream-fest when I refused to continue getting up from dinner on Saturday with our friends Julie and Tim to push her higher, higher, higher on our new swing set... (Perhaps the best purchase we've ever made, is that sad?) But it was pretty darn close to perfection as far as behavior goes.

Really, it's as if the kid wants to prove me wrong at every turn...she keeps me on my toes that girl.

Countdown to the Beach – Part Three

I also wanted these sandals. Ok, that's all...happy weekend.

If You Happen to Find Yourself in New Orleans for Jazz Fest…

My dad's work is going to be included in a show a Kirsha Kaechele Projects gallery alongside lots of other incredibly talented artists...stop by!

The exhibition illustrates the cohesive movement coming out of Lafayette, Louisiana beginning in the 1950's, and its unlikely but profoundly deep ties to the larger New York and international art scene. The exhibition includes Robert Rauchenburg's four part mirrored panels, Star Quarters, and demonstrates his strong and influencial ties to Lafayette. Also featured are a sound installation and paintings by Dickie Landry and a retrospective of his collaborations with artists including Phillip Glass and Laurie Anderson; paintings and a site specific installation by Frances Pavy; early work by George Rodrigue, and documentation of Gordon Matta-Clark and Tina Girouard's installation/restaurant, Food, in SOHO new york. As an expression of gratitude and in place of the four Rauchenburg panels, four works by New Orleans artists Robert Tannen, James Macdonell, Noel Fisher and Kim + Scott Pterodactyl will hang in collectors Carla and Chuck Rush's Lafayette Home for the duration of the show. Curated by Dickie Landry and Kirsha Kaechele.

Via kkprojects.org

Friday Paper (Sort Of)

So it's not stationary or even remotely stationary related...but it's made of paper, so I'm letting it slide.

I'm rather intrigued (and frankly excited) about this new magazine spotted on Design Mom...Its mission of finding the "poetry in the prosaic" (or focusing on the "in-between" moments that make up our daily lives with kids) is perfectly in step with my resolve to savor Millie and Audrey for fear that their babyhood is slipping through my fingers.

On that note, four has been such an interesting age for us. Another mother and I were discussing how four seems like the tween period for the pre-k set...They're not yet big kids but definitely not babies either. On any given day, Audrey is guaranteed to simultaneously be the most insightful, mature, independent kid around only to later literally become a heap of sobs just because she can't get her socks pulled on just so.

Anyone else having this experience? Maybe this magazine will teach me to cherish and embrace those melt downs...worth a try I suppose.

Countdown to the Beach – Part Two (or the things I didn't buy…)

I want this swimsuit and this scarf ...but am resisting.

On matters of a more material nature, the past few weeks have proven awfully tempting, as I've longed to buy a whole new wardrobe for the beach... But reason prevailed, and I resisted, opting instead to take a stack of existing dresses to the tailor for some "illusion of newness."

I'm happy to report the results were pretty stellar. (With the exception of one dress that the tailor must've worked on after consuming multiple glasses of red wine -- it's now so small I would have to lose half of my body weight to squeeze into it... and that's never a good idea, no matter how cute the dress, but I digress.)

For about the price of one of the frocks above (despite my conflicted relationship with J. Crew, I fell pretty hard for some of their spring stuff), I now have five seemingly new, perfectly cute dresses to wear on vacation. I did splurge a bit on sunscreen, but given my deep fear of skin cancer, this felt like a responsible spend...no?

Beach On My Mind

Awesome image found from an equally awesome blog squishy (discovered via 2 or 3 things i know...)

The Countdown Has Begun

Previous years at the beach...

I've slogged through the packing list, bought new swimsuits and sandals for the girlies and stocked up on sunscreen...Yes; we're officially one week out from our annual beach vacation.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that we've decamped to a small, magical town in Florida with two other families that we adore. In anticipation of the trip, we've been pouring over pictures of previous years, and I was amazed to see Audrey literally grow up from trip-to-trip, which just strengthened my resolve to savor every moment with the girls.

The photo re-cap sessions also officially thrust me into the mindset I'm adopting for this vacation -- one of spontaneity and staying totally laid back (which when traveling with small children is no easy feat to say the least...) Luckily, we're headed to a spot where our biggest decisions for a week and a half will be whether we should we bike to the beach or walk...(Plus, we're planning to adhere to a strict cocktail hour before dinner, which should help with the laid back part.)

I'm also excited about completely unplugging. Between work and blogging and posting over on sk*rt, I spend a lot of time on the Internet, and as much as I'm endlessly inspired by all the creative energy out there, I've noted before that taking it all in on a daily basis sometimes leaves me in a sort of creative coma, in which I'm too overwhelmed to actually make anything of consequence myself. Jordan nailed it when she recently declared that all inspiring stuff she comes across on the internet is giving her sensory overload. Exactly.

A lovely (and convenient) side-effect of days spent in the sun and sand is that the girls tend to fall into bed awfully early, and Millie will likely nap several hours of the afternoon away. Bryan and I plan to alternate taking turns hanging at the house during Millie's snooze and going on mid-day adventures with Audrey. I'm really looking forward to devoting my time during the nap shift to exercising all that aforementioned stored-up inspiration and attempting to make something. To that end, I'm planning on lugging along some art supplies and seeing just what might happen....while staying completely spontaneous about the whole endeavor of course.

And While We’re on the Topic of Pretty Spaces…

I love these shots of Fanja's lovely, bright (and yes, timeless) home...you can really see how her surroundings inform her work

A Visual Argument for Timeless Design

Image via ohdeedoh

I took a double-take when I spotted this 1970's nursery over on ohdeedoh. Granted that super minimal/modern look isn't for everyone, but I'd happily recreate this room in my house and probably wouldn't change much.

Every time I get struck with the desire to cover my entire home with copious amounts of wallpaper or coral or antlers or birds (or any of the other sundry ubiquitous design trends that swirl around me), I need to take a deep breath and look at this room.