Things Are Breaking Left and Right Around Here, So We're Getting Our Make On

It appears that my weekend of chakra cleansing and hiking and sun salutationing (not a word, I realize) was perfectly timed, as in the week following my big recharge, the (for lack of a more eloquent phrase) shit hit the fan.

Said fan hitting matter included a broken car AC, a broken refrigerator, a broken (giant, in-wall) salt water aquarium, a sick kiddo, two days of work travel for the hubs, and the passing of our beloved 14-year old cat, Django. Oy vey, friends. It was a bad scene.

And, yet, I did not wig out. Not even once. (Well, maybe once, but it was a teeny, tiny wig out, barely noticeable even). Instead, I counted to ten. I took lots of really, really deep breaths, I prayed, I swore (but in a decidedly cheerful manner), and I made stuff with my girlies.

The counting/breathing/praying/swearing action helped a little, but the making stuff was the real game changer. Getting lost in paint and fabric and ribbon and feathers and what have you was just the salve we needed. Meditation through making. Better than drinking.

Almost.

Loving...On A Friday

 All the killer details Erin included in her fantastic office makeover.

Andy Spade's genius Sleep Jones. The branding, the journal, the actual product..all of it. I think it's safe to say that Andy Spade is a branding savant, yes?

And then there's Spade's instagram... Umm, yes please. (Thank you Michelle.)

Pretty Grecian action... "Weekend," photographed by Daniel Riera for The Gentlewoman S/S 2014 via Miss Moss' tumblr.

An altogether awesome surf exhibit poster. Obsessed.

Mama Wisdom From Hannah Henderson

images via The Glow...

Pretty much every thing that Hannah Henderson said in her interview on The Glow was brilliant, but this little nugget of wisdom especially resonated with me:

"I try to pay close attention to the signals in myself and in the kids. If I'm feeling overwhelmed or irritable, it usually means that I need some time for myself. If one of the kids is extra cranky or aloof for no apparent reason, that means they need more mama time. I have to stay tuned in to the cues."

I have been feeling "the overwhelm" of late. And, for that matter, "the irritable" too. The endless guilt that I'm not doing enough with my girlies, the nagging sense that I might be a less than stellar wife (not to mention sister, daughter, and friend), and the just general feeling that I can't seem to stay ahead of the game, has me wanting to curl up in fetal position on a semi-regular basis. But I resist the urge to roll up like a little ball, as I can't help but think that taking a "time out" (even a five minute one) will only exacerbate the aforementioned overwhelm and irritable.

Oy vey.

Turns out a little break -- even, say a two-day one -- actually can help. (All those freakin' self help books/articles/therapists/people way smarter than me were right.) I know this because I took one. This past weekend. To a spa (well actually an "experiential resort") where, along with my equally overwhelmed and irritable mama friend Brandy, I partook in some yoga and hiking and massage/facial action and archery and chakra cleansing (yes, really) and pool lazing and, wait for it, staring out at trees and birds and whatnot and doing nothing.

Damn, it felt good. The time away from the daily routine was exactly what this overwhelmed/irritable lady needed. Never mind that upon returning home Audrey told me I should go away more often so someone wouldn't always be telling her and Millie and Daddy (!!) to clean up all the time. (Oh really??? Based on this text from the hubs, received a mere nine hours after my departure, I'm thinking they'd implode without me around long term.) Never mind that my to do list still contains an obscene amount of items. My chakras are cleansed baby. I'm up for the challenge.  Bring it on.

Touché Summer

Remember when I was griping and moaning and whatnot about summer and all its various hardships? Well, the past few days are proving me wrong, what with dinners by the pool and swimming with our buds and watermelon and popsicles and sundry grilled meats and yummy citrusy adult libations.

Summer, you might be growing on me... Maybe.

Get Thee To The "Eye"

Tony Tasset's Eye

Lindsay Adelman awesomeness in The Joule lobby.

The covetable goods at TENOVERSIX

Serious coffee gear at Weekend...

Ok this one is for my (otherwise lovely and amazing) friends who claim there's nothing fun/interesting/clever to do in our fair city. Ready? In celebration of the New Cities Summit currently going down here in Dallas, The Joule Hotel is hosting several v. cool activities at Tony Tasset's killer 30-foot-tall Eye sculpture.

The normally private event space across the street from the Joule's main entrance that serves at home to sculpture will be open to the public through this Saturday, June 21 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Guests are invited to bring their lunch and hang out in the park-like space while taking in live music, free outdoor yoga, and free gelato samples.  

Tasset's enormous realistic three-dimensional recreation of a human eyeball with a blue iris, based on the artist's own eye (it's a little creepy, but in the best possible way), also makes a killer photo op, so The Joule is also helping visitors give back to the creative community with Selfie for a Cause. For every selfie taken at the Eye using the hashtag #EyeAtTheJoule, the hotel will support summer learning by donating $5 to Big Thought. 

Once you're done taking in the music, noshing gelato and taking selfies, head across the street and doing a little shopping at TENOVERSIX, grab a coffee at Weekend, peruse the books at Taschen, and then let's talk about how awesome Dallas is. Cool?

* Entries accepted via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. One entry per person, maximum donation of $3,500. Free Gelato Samples provided by Cafe Strada June 18 & 20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free Outdoor Yoga hosted by VITAL Fitness Studio June 19 at 5:30 p.m. Big "D" Jazz Band presented by Big Thought June 20 from noon to 1 p.m. 

Some Scenes...From The Week (And The Cobbler's Shoes)

Sams' killer bookshelves part one...

Gorgeous sculpture at Sputnik Modern

Orchid-mania at the casa

And the bookshelf hits just keep coming. (Sam, if I didn't love you I'd hate you...I'm not gonna lie.)

More Sputnik goodness...


Now that I spend my days helping other people beautify their homes, it's not altogether uncommon to, well, ignore my own abode completely. Forget zushing and vignette-arranging and freshening of the cuttings and whatnot, for the past six month or so, I've considered the weekend a grand success if I manage to get through a few loads of laundry, catch up on email, and weed through the girls clothes to suss out the things that still fit (almost nothing).

But over the past few weekends the tide has changed a bit. Sam's new house has inspired a spate of furniture and objet d'art -arranging marathons, and a little photo shoot at my house this week set off a full-blown living room switch up -- I moved nearly every. single. piece. of furniture friends... The jury's still out on the final result. Let's just say I'm marinating.

I have to say it's felt good to lavish a little attention on my own casa and to get my design shark on just for fun at Sam's.... Sometimes you gotta practice what you preach, yes?

Loving...On A Saturday (Hey, Why Not?)

What do you say we shake things up a bit and do a Saturday edition of loving? And how about we kick off said edition with the Rose Marie Auberson's beautiful mixed-media pieces? Lovely, yes?

Then there's the matter of Totokaelo's office tour over on Remodelista. Totokaelo = coolest. retail. situation. ever. Full stop.

And don't even get me started on Celine's brass/leather/knit summer tote goodness. Love.

I've also long loved this photo of Joan Didion by Julian Wasser, but after reading a fascinating article about Wasser in the latest issue of W, I am even more smitten.

And last but not least, can we revel in Nikole Herriott's latest gorgeous offerings... the product, the styling, the photography -- perfection, all of it.

Some Scenes... From The Week

The girlies last day of school was Thursday, and while I wish the start of summer vacation meant lazy book binges, lemonade stands, sleeping in, and sundry shenanigans, such is not the case. No friends, summer is officially, wait for it, my. least. favorite. part. of. the. year. Full stop.

You'd think I would have worked through this summer guilt issue by now, but no such luck. Five days into the whole enterprise, and I'm all up in the guilt. Wallowing in it even. What does that have to do with the weekending, you ask? Well, in between the watching of the dance performance, the partaking in a delicious summer-worthy quinoa with shrimp situation at Janet's, and the collaborative design fun with Sam at her (amazing) new house, Bryan and I worked the summer calendar like Martha Stewart's assistant on speed. We did the who's on first routine for every week of the next three months -- camp schedules, drop offs, hand offs, pick ups. Both in the midst of crazy busy periods at work and faced with the fact that the summer camp juggernaut seems to think that the American work day is 9-4 (umm...summer camp people, it's not), Bryan and I rock/paper/scissored until our hands went numb.

Don't let those joyous photos above fool you friends. While the girlies were frolicking in bubble baths and raiding my closet for dress up frocks, Bryan and I were locked in a heated negotiation. Thankfully we came out relatively unscathed...

Relatively.

Not cool summer. Not cool.

Loving...On A Thursday

Serious bracelet goodness via Maryam... 

Cire Trudon in white out mode... The beyond chic result of a collaboration with the candle maker and designer Giambattista Valli.

Another gorgeous piece from NG Collective. Want.

Beautiful Victoria Morris pottery via Rip + Tan.

Schumacher's gold fabric goodness. There's a bench out there crying to be covered in this, yes?