Some Awesome (Sartorial) Simplicity

I had a wicked case of insomnia last night, resulting in madly clicking through fashion week street style images at 4:00 am. Suffice to say, it was a bad scene friends.

It could have been my bleary eyed exhaustion, but, after a few minutes, all the outfits started to just sort of blur together in a giant mash-up of cobalt blue and Celine bags and dashes of neon and brightly painted nails and wrists full of bangles...

Don't get me wrong, there was some major sartorial eye candy happening in these formidable ensembles. And certainly I admired the wearers' boldness and fearless embrace of color and pattern and accessories (boldness and fearless embrace in matters of dressing not being my strong suit), but because everyone looked exactly the same, nobody looked fresh.

I was quickly bored with all the excitement.

But then that image above of Vogue editors Meredith Melling Burke and Hanneli Mustaparta popped up, and I was shook out of my visual stupor. They just look so modern and easy and, well...awesomely simple. Not overthought or self conscious or uncomfortable. They look like women there to notice rather than to be noticed. I've been thinking about the image all day, which is not something I can say about any of the other photos (and there were hundreds friends, did I mention it was a bad scene?) I came across during my early morning Internet-fest.

Hmm...

Loving...

Mario Testino's insanely gorgeous art-filled home in the March Vogue. The entire spread is awesome -- the clothing, the styling... but it's his crazy amazing house that haunts me in the best possible way. (Image via Moodboard.)


This wee vintage disco ball, which makes me want to acquire a disco ball (something, frankly, I've never wanted before) stat.


Marfa as seen on the excellent new blog by my friends Sam and Alicia (+ two other incredibly talented ladies), Hello Love.


Lina Rennell's Pom dress, which, if I owned, I would wear non-stop -- on a date night with B, to work with a cardigan, to the museum with the girlies... The possibilities are endless.


This vintage bench all snuggled up under that massive woolly throw. (+ the kitty is sweet too.) Via Metrode.


The immensely lovely Athena over on Tales of Endearment and her equally lovely blog, eye swoon (first spotted via Joanna).


This entire scene as seen through Laure's lens, but especially that gold flatware. Oh gold flatware...sigh.


Jennifer's latest...just total perfection.

Some Scenes From The Weekend

Highlights of the weekend included more balmy (for February) weather and a disco-themed fundraiser for Audrey's school where I donned an obscene amount of teal eyeshadow and the goldest gold dress of all time. (Said dress, pictured above, was also highly flammable. What can I say, I live on the edge friends.)

Sunday was largely spent recovering from Saturday night's high jinx before parking myself on the sofa for four hours to blog about the Oscars with my boss Laura (which you can read about here if you'd like).

Let's just say I ate a lot of Brie. A lot. It was embarrassing.

Hope your weekend was splendid!

Blogger's Favorites -- Katie of Salt and Pine

In keeping with yesterday's topic of "happy makers", Katie's blog is a bit of a happy place for me…

It's peaceful and inspiring and lovely. Even the name, Salt + Pine, immediately conjures a world I want to be a part of . The whole effect is pretty much, well… Katie, but on the Internet.

I've been reading Salt + Pine for a while, so when I finally met Katie in person at Alt, I felt an immediate and strong connection. This merging of online and real-life has really been one of the greatest, most rewarding delights of this whole blogging endeavor. I'm so, so happy to have the lovely Katie here this week sharing some of her favorite things.

Without future ado, herewith Katie's list. Enjoy and have a splendid weekend friends!


My Town -- What can I say about Port Townsend? It is gorgeous. It is laid back. It is creative. It is opinionated. It is relaxing. It takes care of you without you even realizing it. (Photo by Al McCleese.)




Dan Amell's Art and Studio -- Dan Amell is a true artist. To the core. My friend Anna, who owns a fabulous gallery here called Artisans on Taylor, shows his work and introduced me to his art. She and I took a little trip to his amazing studio (a former church) where he lives surrounded by his art and found treasures. Dan can create vignettes like no other. He is a also a kind and funny guy who serves a great cup of tea and can go head to head with the best thrifters. I'm absolutely nuts about his large scale works and loved looking at his smaller illustrations, too. To tell you the truth, I'm totally fascinated with it all. (Images via Artisans on Taylor.)


My Secret Place in the Backyard -- There is a certain secret spot in my backyard that I sneak off to every so often. Life can get pretty loud in my house and in this spot the only thing you can hear is the wind blowing through the immense trees. It's my grounding place.


My Husband's Culinary Talent -- The boy has skills. Lucky for me, I married someone whose stress relief is cooking and baking. Joe can whip up recipes that would take me hours to make. (I'm really quite jealous of the guy.) Last month he attended a pie ninja class at Pantry at Delancey. We ate banana cream and coconut cream pies for weeks. I think I've gained about 10 lbs because of this newfound love for baking cream pies. Ooof. But let me tell you, it's worth every pound gained.


My Kids' Ability to Make Me Laugh -- I have some seriously funny kids. When my son's kindergarten teacher told me that she thought he'd be the next Conan O'Brien, I have to admit that I was proud. (I'm not sure what it meant to her, but in my book being compared to Conan is always a good thing.) I don't know how the kids keep shooting out the one liners, but they keep coming and I keep writing them down. I have a jar full of their quotes that is overflowing and whenever I have a rough mama day, I pull them out and I am in a good mood within minutes.


A Good Notebook -- I will always be someone who will reach to grab paper to hold an idea instead of reaching for my computer. A good notebook is a must. I got this one from Emily at sparrownestscript and I absolutely love it. The cover motivates me to put some good stuff in there...


Rugged Beaches -- Yes, I love the beautifully pristine ones, too. But the ones littered with driftwood, rocks and other remnants from the cold waves will forever have my heart. I can wander the beach for hours scouring the sand for sea glass and wishing rocks.


MCMC Hunter -- This has quickly become my favorite fragrance. It smells like life here, upscaled.


Music -- I always have music playing in the background. I'm not sure what my life would be like without it. (And I don't really want to find out!) Currently I have First Aid Kit's song, To a Poet, on replay. The whole album is wonderful, but this is the song for me.

Happy Makers...

Five things making me (especially) happy today, in no particular order:

1. That action above is across the street from my new office. Across. The. Street. It's blowing my mind friends. I'm not gonna lie.
2. Participating in this little "Design Duel" over on Hello Splendor with my dear friend Sam.
3. Discovering two baby owls tucked into the branches of the tree in our backyard last night with the girlies. (Really just the sweetest thing ever.)
4. The crazy beautiful weather happening today in Dallas...
5. The clear Iittala Vitriini box that I scored for 40% off at the Nasher on my lunch break.

What's making you happy today?

Awesomely Simple

I've read this Charles Mingus quote (spotted via Aubrey Road) no less that ten times in the past week... It's just wise and right on. (Mingus is also a rather kickin' bass player, but that's another post for another day.) In fact, I love it so much that I made my hubby read it too, and he said something equally wise and right on:

"When you make something complex awesomely simple, it's not just creativity, it's elegance."

Good, yes?

I think this idea of elegance, of awesome simplicity is exactly the ingredient that makes a perfectly constructed minimal room feel cozy as opposed to cold. Admittedly, I tend to skew a little minimal in my aesthetic sensibilities, but I think this awesome simplicity (if applied correctly) can also make a wildly layered, maxed-out space read modern and open rather than like a scene from hoarders.

Awesome simplicity -- it's the panacea, the magic bullet, the holy grail. Some proof...


(via remodelista)


(via apartment therapy)


(not sure of source...anyone?)


(via notes on design)


(via frankly esoteric)

Loving...

Ketzali's scarves at Pour Porter... That combo of mustard + dusky purple + the insane coral is just beyond lovely.


Ashley's interview at over at Metrode (and that trifecta of magazine goodness)...


More awesome gold flatware. One day...


Muller Van Severen's perfect approach to simplicity via 2 or 3 Things...

"details have been left out,

everything has been reduced to the

most simple technological solution

and still the result is very rich

in ornamentation"

Sofia at perhaps her loveliest via Quiet is the New Loud...


And "her stuff" in Vanity Fair. (Image via A Lovely Being.)


Mociun's infinitely "stack-worthy" rings via Lena...


Some rather stellar pattern mixing via Bird and Banner... This reminds me of Millie, as she can rock the pattern mix-up like nobody's business. I envy her moxie.

Some Scenes From The Weekend

The weekend was pretty much a blur of food…

Christine and Steven and the girlies came over Friday evening (a big pot of Mexican soup and cornbread and black and white cookies), and then Achlee and Nick and their littles joined us for dinner on Saturday (quiches stuffed with asparagus and caramelized onions and tomato and bacon and sharp, salty seaside cheddar cheese + a big green salad and some Taramisu), and finally there were last night's burgers and sweet potato fries at Goodfriend with lovely cousin Erin and fiancé Ben (for the record, my favorite burger at Goodfriend is the Loretta -- all bacon and onion relish and blue cheese…holy goodness).

Suffice to say, I'm feeling a little less that svelte today.

In between the eating, we took advantage of the (mostly) rainy weekend and packaged up all the necklaces that you guys so kindly purchased. Thank you, thank you, thank you…We sold out! We're planning to do a couple more necklace "flash sales" in the near future with a few new styles that we're dreaming up, so stay tuned.

Hope you guys had a fantastic weekend!