the witching hours...pre halloween gratitudes

1. finally snapped a photo of my favorite sign in the west village. apparently, so legend goes, there is an artist who lives in this apartment and his home is filled with drawings and fashion plates and paintings galore. and every day he tries to practice one random act of kindness. sounds like what i will be like as an old lady. i hope.

2. went to the chelsea market with kristen and had a lovely lunch. i haven't been in so long and it really is a neat little spot. each vendor peddles such yummy goodies-eleni cookies, fat witch brownies, ronnybrook cremerie...i could go on and on and on.

3. received the most darling package in the mail from my sweet halligan norris, the talented creator of the tiniest treasures you'd ever did see! she sent the most thoughtful care package to pete, chelsea, and i and inside she adorable wrapped a vintage, navy chiffon 1920s dress with tiny, repeat pattern hand embroidery. so precious and perfect.

4. had a hot toddy (my first ever)with keaton. this really is a cold weather treat. we sat at the bar at cafe cluny and had a lovely presentation-the elixir was steeped with whole cinnamon sticks in a french press carafe and garnished with lemon slices. i felt like i should have been curled up on a velvet, tufted chair. in a cabin. surrounded by books.

5. found photos in my inbox of one of my make-shift, last minute halloween party costumes from the coacd party, courtesy of kathy lo. i'm supposed to be lydia deetz from beetlejuice, but i think i just look like some creepy goth vampire. oh well...i just have lots of black clothing...

6. played cards with a stranger. this kind boy who works at the mud coffee bar inside the kiehl's store in the east village asked me if i knew how to play crazy eights. how serendipitous! this is my absolute favorite childhood card game, and quite frankly, the only one i actually can remember the rules. slowly but surely, and with a few memory lapses, i recalled the game and played three rounds with him. i think i want to be a complete old lady and have bridge night with my girlfriends...any takers?

7. cleaned my apartment. an impromptu surprise visit from my coworkers during the wee hours of the night inspired me to reign in the chaos. or at least clean all of the surfaces. keeping a tidy home is no fun when there is no furniture to entertain guests with. come december, however, i will be accompanying my fiancé on a long journey from georgia to new york in a u-haul. i have lots of treasures tucked away, just waiting to come to the big apple. and lord knows how much eddie is looking forward to that drive (thank you thank you my darling man).

8. had a lovely date with peter at inoteca. i love my sweet pete. i don't tell him enough...

farewell...26 october 2008

i'm about to board a plane to d.c. to see my wonderful family. i can't wait. can you guess who we will be having our picture taken with?

daisy chain of kindness... 23 october 2008

my newest heart stop the supermelon...




thank you jenna fain and the supermelon for letting me be a part of this website. it was one of the loveliest interviews i've ever had and jenna was more than a delight to correspond with. i am continually amazed by the sweet girls i connect with through the blogosphere. it really is one big daisy chain of kindness.

please say yes...22 october 2008

this photo was forwarded to me by the lovely dana gluck. here is a quote about the photo. "we are a group of young obama supporters who have produced the attached photograph as part of our effort to encourage youth participation in the upcoming election. the photo, taken by casey brooks, a brooklyn photographer, was inspired by the famous protest poster of joan baez and her sisters from the 1960s taken by larry gates (also attached).





i am proud to have voted for this man. and i am proud of all the young folks who are banding together to make a change. grey skies are going to clear up...

follow the yellow brick road to where the sidewalk begins...17 october 2008

the adventure starts here.

hairbows and hootenanny...15 october 2008 gratitudes

1. the incredibly talented and ever-so darling photographer, anouck bertin, borrowed chelsea, pete, and my bows for a photoshoot. i have never seen our work professionally photographed and it was just kind of exciting. anouck really has such a fantastic, whimsical aesthetic which is right up year and a day's alley.

2. had a very exciting morning that kept me smiling all day...will tell details later.

3. had an impromptu breakfast with grainne belluomo and adrian muniz. i am going to miss grainne so much when she leaves for chicago. she is quite beloved by all who meet her and i can't even imagine what it is going to be like when moves. kindhearted. magnaminous. loyal. side-splittingly hilarious. sincere. i am quite positive i know a certain group of boys who will mourn the loss of their snow white. i will too.

4. new magazine day! i stocked up on french vogue, american vogue, teen vogue, and...country living. i like to throw a curveball every now and then to mix things up.

5. purchased a ticket to see girl talk on tuesday, november 18th. i. am. obsessed. seeing a girl talk show is like going to the best dance party ever. everyone dances their little pants off and it is nothing but a sea of smiling faces. i can't wait!

6. my favorite west village darling, ara lopez learned how to make sound come from the whistles on my necklace. i laughed so hard, which made her giggle in delight, which caused me to fall into a full on fit of laughter! hands down one of the cutest baby tricks i've seen. watching her huff and puff with her little cheeks and then that squeal of self-achievement...priceless.

a woman's work is never done...13 october 2008 gratitudes

1. slept in very, very late after a long weekend of fighting a nagging cold. i love sleeping in and given the opportunity i probably could sleep an entire weekend away.

2. began journaling again. i've been collecting old ledgers since college and i found two delightfully delapidated little numbers at the flea market. three inspiring girls have rekindled my desire to keep an art journal/sketchbook/scrapbook.

...lauren treece
...keri-anne of gingerlillytea
...tiger lily

i have loads of dusty old tomes just waiting to be collaged and scribbled and painted and sewn and glued! its high time these tiny fingers of mine remember why they are here in new york!

3. played around with colors to paint my very white apartment. i need a lovely pale shade of mauve for my bedroom that won't make it look like a nursery and a lovely shade of greige for my living room that won't make it look like an assisted living facility.

4. received a sweet blog award from the enchanting mila of one of my most favorite blogs, loveology. i wish i knew how to re-post the award and continue the daisy-chain of appreciation for others. i really am a dunce when it comes to computers. i didn't grow up in a household with computers, so it's kind of amazing i figured out how to even have a blog.

5. practiced my home-making skills while listening to a collection of 1920s jazz singers. i cleaned the apartment, grocery shopped, and organized my bedroom. i'm trying to find a home for all of my treasures and curiosities and it is certainly a challenge! my home smells like a mix of red currant, french lavender, and pine-sol, depending on where i am in the apartment.

6. lined up my collection of funny shoes. lately i have been drawn to ridiculous numbers that i would have worn in junior high. my friends think i have lost my mind, and my taste level...which is entirely possible. i really do love clothing that has a playful sense of humor to it.

pretty baby...13 october 2008

methinks i might have found my halloween costume. nothing says festive like a turn-of-the-century child prostitute...but honestly, how achingly beautiful is brooke shields in this movie? and i'll leap at any ole excuse to don a pale, lacy frock with black tights topped off with a big, floppy straw hat with flowers. hand me a baby doll, some rouge, and a tube of coral lipstick and i'm set.

sweet marc... 11 october 2008

i love this snippet about marc. he really is a sweetheart. so polite and humble all things considered. i found this story via styleclicker

a story about the guy with the white socks...

On Monday morning, I saw this guy right in the street where I was living. High fashion dress, white socks… interesting. He was busy talking on the phone so I looked for a background first. Then I asked him if I could take a picture for my street style blog and he was very kind and said yes. He was waiting for his taxi to come and seemed to be in quite a hurry, but it was enough time to take some shots.
I wanted to know if he was working at the fashion week. “Kind of”, he replied. After having taken the pictures, I asked him to fill out a form with his name and contact data as I always do. When he signed it I just said: “Oh my god, it´s you” - Marc Jacobs gave me the sheet and got into his taxi. What a nice person. And what a great beginning of my Paris fashion week adventure.

...and that is one of the many reasons i still heart marc.

tea and white rabbits... 10 october 2008 gratitudes

1. saw the new banksy installation at the village pet shop and charcoal grill in the west village with coco. it's his first ever new york based exhibition and it is incredible. he features animatronics to illustrate his intent: "I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing."

the bunny putting on makeup was kind of heartbreaking. incredibly clever and adorable, but nonetheless pretty devastating. same with the sad-eyed tweety bird rocking in his cage encircled by his plucked feathers. tugged on every last heartstring.

2. the kind designer for the clothing brand Sea, Sean Monahan brought me the most adorable pair of slouchy white pants from his line. and they are a one-off sample to boot! it was the nicest surprise to a very slow day in the west village. i really have met some of the most gentle, most sincere, and most generous people here.

3. had the most delicious day of indulgence (which is pretty much everyday for me...) in honor of our stock manager, jaime lewis's last day. the champion sweet treat was by far the delectably gooey doughnuts from doughnut plant, courtesy of my manager chris weir and his girlfriend regina kim. i think i might be in trouble, its just a stones throw from my apartment...oh dear.

4. am currently enjoying a piping hot cup of tea, curled up under a quilt, nursing a fast-approaching cold. i need some preventative medicine asap.

* to all the darlings out there... if any of y'all know of any recipes for pink milk, or what that really is even, please let me know. i've heard mention of it before and it sounds right up my alley. merci.

i do believe...7 october 2008 gratitudes

1. organized and color-coded my books. my absolute favorite way to group collections is to sort by color.

2. washed dishes and attempted to arrange the objects in my oh-so-tiny kitchen. right now the contents in the fridge-coffee, vitamins, milk, and vodka (peter's, not mine). and then i have tins of tea from teany in the cupboard. a pretty bleak excuse for a wife-in-training.

3. received our shipment of the kaws/marc jacobs mouse flats! finally! these little darling flats are a commemorative happy 10 year anniversary for the mouse flats. my very first marc jacobs purchase was a pair of bright yellow mouse flats at the new york mercer store, on sale for $125.00. i remember calling my mother, begging her to justify the sale. thankfully, she conceded and i walked away one happy young girl! as soon as these arrived at my store, i had to snatch a pair. they are even numbered like an artist's print! only 200 pairs were made...

4. had the most delicious sandwich and soup from grounded coffee shop. gorgonzola and fig jam on toasted ciabatta and a cup of butternut squash soup. i love fall food.

5. sported my barack obama pin, handmade by 7 year old grace. she and her mother came into little marc with handfuls of glittery obama pins and handmade posters. we all let out one of those long, collective "awwwwwwwwwwwww's". at 7 years old i was probably eating play dough and coloring in a book. i'm not positive i even knew who our president was when i was her age. new york children amaze me with their level of knowledge and understanding. i love my pin and i plan on wearing it every day as i continue to hope and believe that grey skies are soon going to clear up. i think we can i think we can i think we can.

girl crushes...7 october 2008

although i have much adoration and appreciation for a wide variety of cute girls, i am a serial girl crusher on darlings that look like porcelain dolls. i'm a sucker for fair haired lovelies wih pale skin, rouged cheeks, red lips, and sweet dresses. how cute are these girls? i can't even stand it. see them at...

piksi flickr
underbaraclara flickr
elinkan flickr
the snail and the cyclops

heavy sigh.

tickled pink...5 october 2008 gratitudes

1. had a yummy teanychino and walked to work with pete. i love a grey, fall day.

2. took a detour and went by a mini garage sale in freeman's alley. a collection of old thermoses called out to me so i rescued a rusted one with a deteriorating image of dancing poodles in paris. she was just so sweet i couldn't resist...

3. came to work to find my silver tin, oscar the grouch trashcan-turn-laundry hamper from ikea waiting for me. thank you miss chelsea cook for picking that up for me. now i can actually store my unsightly piles of laundry in a charming fashion. it's all about baby steps...

4. coco brought me a delicious, piping hot cup of black coffee from joe's. such a thoughtful little lady.

5. received an invitation from waylon watts to see hot chip, m.i.a, and n.e.r.d on october 11th. i can't wait, i'm just so flipping excited!!!!

6. wore my knitted cap. i love it so. i look a little deshelved and homeless, but i don't care. maybe it would help if i brushed my hair more and wore slimmer silhouettes.

7. made chocolate tea for me and haynes riley. i'm addicted.

8. the moment when the world is still and the quiet sound of rustling leaves creates a hush over the streets. sigh.

9. am compiling and organizing my photos into categories. i have lots of pink in my life. this is just a smattering of one of my favorite colors...

10. am desperately trying to find edible glitter. i want to dust the tops of all of my desserts with the culinary equivalent of german glass glitter. if anyone can recommend some real good shiny stuff to bedazzle my sweets, please inform me. inquiring minds want to know...

the first bite...5 october 2008

photo edouard plongeon

i wish i was going apple picking today.