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on September 3rd, 2010
 Anthropologie.com (I want that skirt)
I love you. Once again Anthro, you have made me happy. This time however you have almost over exerted yourself. If I was your boss I would have to buy you a cake or something. When fall comes around I’m always so inspired by fashion, everyone is! The September Vogue arrives, Fashion Week breaths life back into New York City and my favorite style seems new again; this season Equestrian style is especially present, and Anthropologie is not afraid to express that. The September catalog is full of horses and equine accents, there are chic boots, plaids, and leather galore! As Anthropologie’s creative director Trevor Lunn told StyleList, the cover and first story were shot on an Argentinian ranch. Lunn revealed though, that he considered Mongolia as a possible location! With these themes in mind, Lunn says, “We wanted a ruggedly beautiful region that was part of an equestrian history.” Well, I loved it!
 Anthropologie.com  Anthropologie.com  Anthropologie.com How about some beautiful interiors to go along with the next set of lovely looks.
 Anthropologie/ House Beautiful Magazine (I need that sweater)
 Anthropologie/ Living Etc. Magazine  Anthropologie/ collected Pierre Frey Fabrics by Alessandra Branca (Love that dress)
 Anthropologie/ House to Home
on August 31st, 2010
 Booty shot - boyfriend painting The process of my home’s decorating has definitely slowed down since my work-life has sped up. But I can’t complain, because the credit card bill was beginning to grow and grow and grow. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been thinking about what still NEEDS to happen. The most recent obsessions have been about my bedroom. Having bought a bed and painted it, re-painted it, and made plans to paint it once again, I’m a little unsettled about it. I think in the end, the bed will be black and cream.
What has most concerned me lately is adding a light fixture on my side of the bed (the wall side) and building a large hamper that looks like a bench at the end of the bed. I have drawn up the plans for the hamper for my boyfriend to build. He doesn’t seem too excited about it, but he knows our clothing situation is out of control. We’re both sick of looking at our dirty clothes in a basket all the time.
For the light fixture, I want a sconce/reading/wall lamp that is not too traditional and not too typical. As you can see right now I have the matching aqua lamps and the chandelier (which I am thinking about switching out) that all have to coordinate or at least in a sense work with the new fixture. I have a budget of less than $200.00 for the light, hoping to spend around $100.00. Here are the ones that I have found and like that are within my price range.
 Option 1  Option 2 The first two options are from Pottery Barn, the top is Wyatt Sconce and the above is the Stratford Sconce.
 Option 3 This one above it from Restoration Hardware.
 Wildcard - Option 4 This last one is what I’m calling a wild card, could look great or horrible. This is also from Pottery Barn.
If anyone has an suggestions I’d love to hear them, so please express your opinions and ideas.
on August 26th, 2010
The UK House and Garden magazine definitely does a lot of things right. Their section “Copy That” at the end of each issue really makes me happy. Having a section that tells the masses where to buy objects from the articles makes it so much easier. Why doesn’t the US installment do the same?
They can hire me to take on that role, I could even find products at different price points if they’d like. Seriously, hook a girl up.
on August 25th, 2010
 Wesley 
I have to apologize for my absence lately. I’ve had a rough week because we lost our beloved dog, Wesley.
He had been spending the summer in the country enjoying the outdoors and open air. Sadly though, on Thursday evening around 6 pm, in a spontaneous dog-like manner he sprinted through my parents screen door, across the road to visit the neighbor’s dog. On his way back he was struck by a car and instantly passed.
 our last morning together Jack and I are feeling better having to cope with the loss of our ‘child’. He was our first dog together, we rescued him from a kill shelter on our way back from a vacation. We had planned on getting a dog for a while and always wanted to adopt, but we found him on whim at the Providence, RI city shelter. It was hard to knowing nothing about his previous life, three years with someone, who either ditched him or didn’t try hard enough to find him, or who knows what. Wesley came to us with a number of issues, separation anxiety being his worst, but we loved him. The things I’ll most miss about him are his ‘fatty tumors’ that were on his side and his little skin tag on his right elbow that always looked like a tick. He loved Chewy-nolas and hated squeak toys. He moaned whenever it was time to put his leash on and howled along to opera music. We will never forget his floppy ears, his big brown eyes and his sweet kisses. His time with us was short but I really think he appreciated the year that we gave him. From his walks in the big city to his runs in cow fields. I want to quote my mother’s friend Susan Bontecou as she said of him in the country, “He was like a fresh air kid coming to the country for a summer vacation.” But as my mother says, he just decided to stay.
 our last morning together
on August 18th, 2010
First of all I’d like to apologize, these photos are not the best, they were taken during daylight hours with my IPhone, and it’s not an IPhone 4, so the amount of pixels aren’t so grand.
A few weeks ago I spent an afternoon off from work, window shopping. Less shopping more researching, researching the window designs to be more specific. It’s mid to late summer, and window displays are typically sparse. Be it during the peak of sale season, no one wants to feature sale items in the windows, but the full selection of fall isn’t yet out. So that means that window designers have to be even more creative, especially since these are most likely the years lowest budget installations. My first stop was the ol’ favorite, Bergdorf Goodman. Low and behold, their 5th ave windows were “undergoing renovation” (which means they were in the process of being changed.)
 - Working in the 57th street window
On the 57th Street side of the store, the display artists were hard at work. Installing and painting the props. I loved seeing the dressed and styled mannequins all covered in plastic.
 - Working in the 57th street windows
 - David Hoey (in the white shirt) is the Director of Visual Presentation
I caught a glimpse of David Hoey, the Director of Visual Presentation at Bergdorfs. He’s such a genius. Oh to sit in a meeting with he and Linda Fargo, I just can’t imagine their two minds at work. I couldn’t hang out for too long, I’m often the only one on the street standing and staring when they’re installing. Soon enough they’ll start to recognize me and think of clever nicknames. Can’t let that happen.
On the south side of the store, 56th street, or possibly they call it the Plaza side. The last installation was still up, with painted furniture and monkeys. I’ve seen lots of monkeys in BG’s windows over the years, someone must have a love for them.
 Monkey with China 
I want to make note of the paint job on the furniture in the next set of photos. As they’re supposed to evoke a dusty old attic feeling, they’re still beautiful with details accented by the sepia toned paint strokes. I think these could really work in an interior sometime as well.
on August 15th, 2010
I really like the home featured in this issue but because I’m overly observant and pay attention to details. I have to say the sink in this article really bugs me! Not because I don’t like the sink, but because there is an editing or maybe a styilng flaw!
 Photograph by Roger Davies When you look at the cover you see the faucet above, it’s probably made of nickel. Now when you look at the image below, the faucet is BLACK. What’s up with that?
 Photograph by Roger Davies Did anyone else notice?! I honestly saw the difference the moment I opened this magazine. I thought wow, I love this kitchen. I flipped right to the article and viola, I saw the black faucet. I’m not sure of which one I like better though. Does this bug anyone else? Which one do you prefer? On a side note, isn’t the rest of the home beautiful? I love it!
on August 13th, 2010
LOVE THAT STRIPED SWEATER!^
I did some window shopping today during my lunch hour and I’m just so excited for fall! A few days ago I saw the new J. Crew look book and just about died over the styling and then while I was at Zara today I had a mini heart attack! Plaid coats, camel sweaters, high-waist tartan skirts, riding boots and nautical accents all mixed in! Equestrian, Nautical and Parisian influences are just my favorite.
LOVE THE CAPE!^
LOVE THAT SWEATER!^
LOVE THE BAG! ^
NEED THOSE TIGHTS!
Photos from J. Crew’s fall 2010 Look Book.
Looking at these images made me start to think about how I could create these looks, with clothes I may already own. I came up with a sort of formula. First of all, you must layer your pieces, add different fabrics to create different textures, and finally the look is all about your legs. So something above the knee whether it be shorts or a skirt is a must. Lastly, the accessories really make the outfit!
 1., 2., 3., pulled from J.Crew and 4. is from Anthropologie.
on August 12th, 2010
Tomorrow will be the 4 year anniversary (if you want to call it that) of my grandmother’s passing. The last time I visited my mother I stumbled upon a photograph of my grandmother when she was young, Jane Anthony/Richardson/Rogers/Tobey (not all at once) was a creative, smart, independent and beautiful woman whom I wish I could have known better. The photograph now sits on my bedside table. The pearls, hair and the red lipstick are so classic in style. Coincidentally, only two weeks later I found a print out her obituary in my hope chest. In her late years, her hair was styled in the same way and the red lipstick, was still applied. I can only hope that I’ll be so chic in my eighties.
Stepping back and looking at three generations of her, my mother and I, I can really see where our tastes and interests overlap. My grandmother was not only an arm chair traveler who read about many foreign lands but also she travelled extensively in England. Had she lived another life, she may have studied to be an architect as she was avidly interested in buildings, especially churches and in England, cathedrals. Having lived in many houses, restoring, decorating, and forever making detailed plans of imagined and actual “additions” to these homes.
She was also an avid gardener who kept journals of there seasonal changes. She made entries daily in her journals describing the days events, the letters, cards and notes on the lives of her children and grandchildren. She left her children twenty plus years of journals and photo albums. She will be remembered for all of the above as well as passing along much of her interests and personality to her children. She was a frugal woman, a child of the depression era and very practical. It was important to her to leave her children “all her worldly goods” and this she did.
on August 11th, 2010
I want to apologize ahead of time if there are any visual bugs going on, I’m still working out the kinks! But please take a look around tell me what you think!
on August 10th, 2010
 I’ve seen a lot of these lately. We can thank Martha Stewart for one because she did a piece about them in her latest issue of Martha Stewart Living. The article “Collecting Bottles & Jars” was really informative about the different kinds, dates and terms in relation to these beautiful historical objects.
 The photograph above was taken of a windowsill in my mother’s house. She has had these for as long as I can remember and I’ve always loved them. They’re beautiful on their own as well with floral arrangement. A few weeks ago I was at Lee’s Art Store in the city and purchased several little ink jars that ranged in different colors and were on sale for only $1.00 each! I can’t wait to do something with them, like make tiny floral arrangements out of them. These bottles also remind me of the other things that you can do with the glass bottles, such as making terrariums. Terrariums are all the rage now. At the Brooklyn Flea there was a whole booth, Twig that is dedicated to them. This shop creates terrariums with the most interesting types of glass containers, ranging from small bottles to bell jars. I especially love the extra sense of humor they add by putting little figurines inside.
 Photo: Robert Wright
Terrariums also make for a great do-it-yourself project. They’re beautiful, easy to upkeep, imaginative and fun to make yourself.
 photo credits: Thrift Candy
If you would like make one yourself, check out this website that gives you all the steps and how-to’s: How to make a terrarium. I’ve planned to make one for myself for a while. We were given one, but my boyfriend somehow killed it! Oh well, it’s awful I know. I honestly love looking into them imagining that they’re a whole world on a tiny scale. It brings me back to my childhood when I could just think it, and I would be in that world. Wonder what kinds of little worlds I could come up with now. What would you do if you made a terrarium? What kind of container would you use? Would you add a figure?
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