where oh where has my little dog gone dog
image via americanduchess.blogspot.com
i love this old fashion plate, she’s the epitome of october. i hope you’re warm and cozy tonight.
achichilife.blogspot.com/2009/10/paris-je-taime.html
as i mentioned the other day, i’m thinking about getting a dog, it’s been a year since i lost daisy at 17 years old! she was a pit bull i fell in love with on my way to get a poodle. i wanted a little somebody to run around with and we sure did that. but she was a bit of a bull in a china shop (or my shop for that matter), and this time i think i’ll go more of the teacup type.
adoptapet.com/pet3052081.html#
meet the candidates! these are a couple cuties i found on local adoption sites.
petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14644717
tomorrow i’m going to visit them but a couple have holds already.
petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14934613
still it was fun to look and fall in love!
petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14815724
who do you like best? how can i choose?! well, i’ll keep you posted, have a fabulous night!
here comes the sun
hey guys, happy sunday~
it’s been a pretty tough week i daresay. i went into a tunnel and am finally coming out today, thank god. there are so many ways to look at the world and we’ve all seen more than enough of the bad. this week was one where i had to decide between darkness and beauty. i’m choosing beauty. with a dash of awareness.
alifemorefabulous.blogspot.com
anyway i learned a lot and am a little changed. but growing up isn’t always bad, the grown ups are the ones who make the decisions. so i’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
i wanted to say thank you to my friends who supported me and championed my light bulb/aha! moment,
and another thank you to all you blog friends (and family) who make the world such a lovely place. so without further ado, i’ve been asked to nominate 7 blogs for an award so please say hello to seven good friends featured here.
we’re also supposed to tell 7 things about ourselves that blog friends don’t know.
thank you, leigh for passing it along.
fanciful-fanciful.blogspot.com (thanks for all the help you’ve been giving me, noel)!
cindyjosoftplacetoland.blogspot.com
good luck on all your projects cindy jo and thank you for promoting other women bloggers!
thank you katy for sharing the instyle scan!
well, about those 7 things we don’t know about me? i guess i’ll just freestyle:
i love hawaiian music
i went through a midlife reflective phase (not quite crisis) but i got the gist
i get really passionate and will live and die for a cause i believe in
i’m thinking of getting a new pup
i want to travel the world for a year
i love to promote bloggers’ blogs and art/work
i’m working on an iphone app
well, that’s about it for tonight, it’s getting late and i’d love to hit the sunrise yoga tomorrow. if i crash now it just might happen for the first time in years. it’s always been one of my favorite things to do here. i’ll bring my camera if i make it :)
sweet dreams and thanks for always being there
my weekend in paris
quel weekend! i hope yours was fabulous and you’re relaxing on this sunday night. i’m about to call it a night myself but wanted to remember a few hours that were so well spent. my other boyfriend here, joseph, is a fashion aficionado as well as a movie lover. he convinced me after some duress to go on friday night to the miami beach cinematheque for the ‘fashion on film festival’ featuring documentaries on some of the french legends. friday it was karl lagerfeld so that combined with dinner afterward at a la folie next door made it too hard to resist.
traileraddict.com/vaslentino-the-last-emperor
so i got it together and rode my bike the few blocks to prove i wasn’t a total flake after i’d promised in the morning to go. the film was absolument magnifique! if you haven’t seen it, ooh la la, do! it’s a look into his world with glimpses into his homes, philosophy, designs style, personal collections…not to mention the clothes.
i know these are out of order but the next night was yves st laurent. i figured it was just an hour or two and a bike ride away so what the heck. the film was (as ysl would say), ‘ravissant‘! a lot less action than karl as this was his last collection and he was very focused but not too animated. seeing the difference in creative styles and watching these brilliant men at work was absolutely enthralling.
youtube.com/watch?v=3-iJnPIAjqQ
as fate would have it, valentino was playing back to back with ysl. joseph had seen it already so he took off but i was hooked and decided to become a member then and there and stay for the double feature. valentino may have been my favorite of the three. what passion! his homes, his partner, his business, his dogs, his world! if you have a fashion lover in the family, any of these films would be an incredible gift. i hate to watch a movie twice but i don’t think these would ever get old.
youtube.com/watch?v=sXgadImjfRQ
as a membership perk, they offered a free screening of coco before chanel today. i almost didn’t go cause, well how many movies can you see in one weekend, and there’s been a lot of this topic covered already but…how could i resist!? so, off i rode and it was so worth it! now i’m about to hit the hay and dream of the worlds that we were invited into for those few magical hours. thanks, joseph for giving me that push. guess that’s what friends are for :) bonne nuit!
it’s a pretty pretty world
hi all~whew, have i been on a mission! don’t know what came over me, but i was in a zone that kept getting deeper and deeper to reveal an unexpected story. you can read about what happened here .
suffice it to say, it started because apparently i love light bulbs. who knew? i’m giving in to the obsession and actually really loving them in these old plans. it was all so simple then.
‘
i love them too cause they’re nice and warm. you can just put one on a dimmer and turn it on low if you have a chill. what an unsung legacy of invention and progress. thank you, thomas edison.
my obsession feels complete and i even have a conclusion to draw that feels really right.
bottom line: regular lightbulbs are good. compact fluorescent light bulbs are very bad. (that’s the condensed version but the most important take away for me).
i’m no scientist, but there are lots of them talking about this. these are my findings Stopping at the Green Light, and i had no opinion one way or the other when this started the other day: if you would come by it would mean the world to me. it’s not pretty or glamorous and i really could use your help spreading the word.
these are the herbs i used to make the light bulb in the last post. if you want to make a light bulb for yourself and post it to your blog, please let me know and i’ll link to you. thank you so much for indulging me on this, i couldn’t keep it to myself and thank god that you’re here!
i have nowhere else to go
isn’t this a fabulous room?
i had to start off tonight with something pretty cause behind the scenes, i’ve been obsessing about something that is not pretty at all! my mom and i were having one of our usual political debates when we stumbled onto a topic we were both passionate about (on the same side, even)! it was the proposed ban on regular light bulbs in favor of the new CFLs or Compact Fluorescent Light models.
(i can’t bear to have an ugly CFL on this site, glad to have found a pretty pic at least)!
i don’t want to overload you as there’s so much information, so i actually started a new blog, Stopping at the Green Light, where i’ve been compiling information about the dangers. briefly, General Electric came up with the idea and has spent millions lobbying world wide to have the new bulbs implemented. before gw bush left office, they convinced him and everyone else that these bulbs are safer and more efficient and made a pact to reinvent the market. as for the efficiency, it turns out the opposite it true. if you haven’t already, please read up on these CFLs, and not on the producer’s websites. they contain mercury and harmful vapors if broken and take a ton more energy to produce than regular bulbs. if that’s not enough, GE has moved it’s factories from the US to china where they’re having some really lethal issues with the mercury already. GE would like us to think they’re enLightening us but they’re really just serving their own agenda. besides the additional energy needed to make these, everything from the disposal to the hazards is just not green at all.
anyway, it’s been plaguing me and this is the only place i felt i could come to get it off my chest and out into the ether. i have a million things i care about but this one is looming in the near future. not to mention that so many believe these lights are soooo green, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. please look into it yourself, the blog has lots of links and research to learn a lot more. please visit and tell me what you think about the debate.
this is from treehugger.com:
Mercury in CFLs are present as elemental (or metallic) mercury. Once spilled, you can be exposed to elemental mercury by touching it, after which it can be eaten and/or absorbed through your skin. More importantly for health, you can also be exposed to mercury through the air, as elemental mercury vaporizes readily (essentially becomes a gas) and can thus be inhaled into your lungs. Breathing elemental mercury into your lungs is generally more dangerous than if you ate the mercury or absorbed it through your skin. Once inhaled, the mercury vapor can damage the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver.
Even though mercury from the broken CFL is not likely to be dangerous, it would be wise to take extra precautions to minimize mercury exposures. The US EPA publishes guidelines about the specific steps that you should take to clean up mercury in the event that a CFL breaks in your home. Briefly, EPA recommends that (1) you immediately open windows to reduce mercury concentrations inside your home; (2) you do not touch the spilled mercury; (3) you clean up the broken CFL glass carefully and immediately (but not with your hands or a vacuum cleaner), and (4) you wipe the affected area with a paper towel to remove all glass fragments and mercury. EPA further recommends that you place the paper towel and glass fragments in a sealed plastic bag and bring the sealed bag to your local Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Site.
is that green to you?
whew, i feel better now, knowing you’re here. i’m about to launch it right now.
back to beauty and joy tomorrow~xoc
the thrill of the hunt
whew! life’s been hectic lately. i guess it’s the combination of the autumn energy and trying to get my guy out of town has knocked me off my mission of full force focus. i don’t know how you ladies who have hubs and kids do it all :p
a wakeup call came in an email yesterday from the publisher who wants to see real results on monday! i guess it’s good to have someone pushing me and now i have no excuses. i thought i’d share a tiny bit of what we’re doing, even if just in pics. i’m not allowed to discuss it in words yet but you know i can’t keep anything from you ;p
yesterday was my last bit of fun out and about in boca before i sequester myself to the sofa. i drove my guy to the dentist and then the airport and got a chance to poke around some favorite haunts. boca’s great cause the ladies there have always fancied themselves, well, fancy, and their decor choices prove it.
i try to hit the consignment, good wills, auctions, habitat re-stores, thrift, antique malls and just about any place that has the potential for finding a treasure. yesterday i cruised along route 1 from ft lauderdale to delray and didn’t see the half of it.
i feel like these may have been there before, or maybe they’re still there from last year. i don’t know, i just love them!
i about died when i saw this 50′s slipper chair. it still had the original blue satin and the tiny gold buttons in the tufts were almost completely worn off. i’d love to know who owned this! super sadly, it was sold.
these white leather chairs would have come home with me if i only had a real home. (still looking for the next nest). something about vintage white leather. what is it about chairs? they drive me wild with their animated personalities.
and this little set was bought by a woman (while i eavesdropped), for her sunroom in a little house she just got in the keys right on the water. she thought her hubs may think it was doll furniture but she went for it anyway. i was so proud of her! the seats were yellow vintage patent leather.
i have to say there were chairs everywhere, sets of them, singles, pairs…
anyway suffice it to say i was satiated. i guess not having a store anymore, i miss the thrill of the hunt. more than any of my other jobs, i love buying the best, but who doesn’t? i think that’s why most of us get into retail in the first place.
speaking of which, i haven’t seen it but am totally inspired by the man shops globe series. have you heard of and seen it?
sundancechannel.com/man-shops-globe
it got me thinking about what a great job that would be (yes i do sometimes dream about having one instead of creating one everyday). what i discovered was that there’s a whole world of opportunity there from buyers to display directors. if you’re an anthroplogie lover, check out their job postings and maybe get something dreamy like this!
if you make something and want to present it to their buyers, you can submit samples, send photos, sketches and/or line sheets to:
Anthropologie Buying
5000 S. Broad St.
Bldg 10
Philadelphia , PA 19112-1402
enjoy your saturday and happy shopping if you’re treasure hunting!
ps just realized this is my 500th post!
decorating in paris: take two
hi guys! hope you’re enjoying a bit o’ RnR and watching your favorite guilty pleasure! you may remember about this time last year when i was asked to spruce up an apartment in paris. of course i was thrilled and when the owner said i should ask the bloggers for their opinions and naturally, i did just that. you also may recall that the owner got really offended by the suggestions. she thought we said she had bad taste and told me to %#@ off!
i was bummed of course for the misunderstanding but also cause it was a dream of a lifetime! well, another chance has come along. this particular client just purchased a two bedroom in the 5eme. we’re going to meet in the spring and decorate floor to ceiling in a week.
and (thank god) this one really does have good taste (these are before pics. i know you know but someone may not)!
she said: I really want to maintain the traditional style of the apartment. I have a good idea of how I’d like to furnish it. I’d like an elegant, cosmopolitan, warm, comfortably romantic Parisian apartment. I like a mix of old and new.
of course we’re shopping for it all at the fleamarket so everything’s right at our fingertips. (it’s almost cheating).
the kitchen and bath will get renovated before i get there.
but the bedrooms, living and dining rooms are ready to go.
ok, with this shot you may have to really use your imagination. oh, who am i kidding? i think we all see the potential here, even with this decor. more soon, bonne nuit!
she didn’t have to do that
hi dear friends! hope you’re winding down a good day and getting ready to watch a sunset or have some other fabulous plans. i’ve been overwhelmed lately by the graciousness and generosity of the women i know.
most are blog writers, but the other day it was a reader who did something amazing. you may know Betty Lou Phillips from her books which are legion and legendary. they’re staples in most design libraries, full of her work and friends in france and italy.
the question has always baffled me: how does she do it? she’s always been an inspiration. for me, having one little book and so many others in the works that i procrastinate for years over, she’s like superwoman. we met over the phone many years ago through a mutual friend (her photographer, danny piassick).
anyway, a couple of days ago i got a call from her publisher who told me that betty lou had seen the t&l article and called to tell them about it! with all she has going on from her design business to books and clients, for her to take the time to think of me and make the call was really remarkable and something for which i’ll be eternally grateful.
her pub set me up on a real plan, time table, and way to organize it all. maybe it took someone grabbing the reigns and steering me in the right direction to make these day dreams into realities. now that i have a focus, i’ve been able to lay out pages (i’m using blurb.com) and am on a roll! this was what was supposed to happen in these 90 days so for it to come true is mind boggling.
i still have to force myself to make the time, but it’s good to have a target date.
so this is a great big thank you to betty lou for being so selfless and thinking of someone else. i want to be just like you
and everyone who helps push each other forward.
one of the best parts of blogging for me has been meeting and promoting other women. i’m on a mission to promote each other even more. getting feedback and energy from you guys as writers and readers has made blogging such a rich part of life. if you’re writing to promote someone, let me know and i’ll link to your post. it’s something i’ve been thinking a lot about lately, we have such a great platform to celebrate each other and it feels so good!
so, betty lou, i’m not trying to put more on your plate but maybe it would be nice to have a blog to share your secrets of success and just how you’ve managed to be such a force of nature?
or maybe just give up some of your resources, say for metallic bath tubs?
oh and if betty lou hasn’t impressed you yet with her superhuman feats of producing beauty and documenting it, she also writes a series of books for kids!
congratulations, vicki!
french essence on amazon
hi guys! it’s been a couple of days since its debut but i really wanted to share a brand new book from our own Vicki Archer, blogger, author, and all around girlfriend we all know and love.
the more i get to know vicki, the more i’m inspired by the life she’s created. she and her family left australia to move to St. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence to restore a 17th century home on an olive farm. talk about living a dream!
even in the winter it looks good…
but really, it’s all about the spring
when she gets to run through the lavender fields!
and cuts these from her garden
i mean, this is her kitchen!
you may remember her vanity. quel belle vie…!
in her first book she takes us to the chanel suite at the ritz. need i say more?
and on her blog we go to the chanel shows
The King of black and white, of ruffles and bows, of tweed and lace…
i was just stopping by and got lost in her deep and inspiring world. she’s giving away a copy of the new book tonight so head over if you get a chance! frenchessence.blogspot.com
after stumbling on this entry in her archives i decided to call it a night. she posted from the book above’s intro:
“I have a passion for houses. I love the people who live in them and who devote themselves to them.I love the fact that all these people in their own ways have created works of art. I love the way they make their dreams come true, however challenging or ambitious they may be, devoting themselves to them with lavish attention, painstaking care and unstinting toil.”
it shows, vicki! can’t wait to get my copy!
for more information on the brilliant photographer
who worked with vicki on both books, visit
carlalovesphotography.blogspot.com
the reality of magic
hi guys, happy saturday! as promised, more pics from the archives of my trip to cali that got shelved due to the poor quality of my 1 megapic camera i had back then. but it’s time to dust them off and share them since you’ll see the beauty through the blurr. this trip was special for so many reasons, not least of which was meeting the queen of all fairy princesses, janet solomon, best friend of lynn, who introduced us.
like lynn, janet opened her home and heart and welcomed me into a world of fantasy and beauty. i was mesmerized by her way of life. she lives by the sea in an open and airy little palace that’s filled with sparkles and surprises round every corner.
i’m told she redecorated since we met and hope she doesn’t mind me posting these without her permission :p but my dad always told me to act first and deal with the consequences later. i don’t think you’ve ever seen these shots, have you janet? i’m sure we’d all love to see what you’ve done with the place…am i right, gang?
janet and lynn are best friends so it makes sense that there’s some crossover, but janet has a style all her own. her collections and art revolve around glamorous beach living and the sophistication of an old hollywood vacation retreat.
needless to say i spent hours there, checking out every nook and cranny!
she’s another one who lives with her collections, uses them, and enjoys them every day.
you can see her magical and playful spirit in all she does. no wonder her daughter noel is so talented with all the inspiration around her growing up!
janet was supposed to be in the book too but these shots were just too crummy to use so stayed tucked away for too many years. guess i should come back to reshoot soon, j?
this old pic just reminds me of her, the casual elegance of a beachy life.
janet, your home reminds me of a dream i remember vividly and never want to wake up from!
