Wednesday, June 27, 2012

air plants


while out on one of our mini adventures i traipsed into a sweet little shop. i spotted a bunch of gorgeous glass containers all scattered along a raw brick wall. in a few lay these little, naked, green plants, just floating in air. the girl behind the counter told me they were air plants; they require no soil, just misting and the occasional dunk in water and happily sit alone or in one of these glass pods. 





how perfect! they sounded so easy which sounds especially great as i am 1) currently trying to dust off my green thumb and 2) are in-between houses. 

i picked a smallish plant, which i was assured would be ready to bloom soon, and a rounded globe. 

the globes really are exceptional pretty as you can tell by the imperfections that they are hand blown and have really fat edges. 


i watered it in the bathroom sink as soon as we got home and it is already brightening up the bedroom. i mean, really, how great are these little guys?!


here's ours 

(other photos from west elm + vivaterra)

Monday, June 25, 2012

chalk board obsession

all my recent house day dreams are just pilling up in my brain. rapidly.



one huge obsession lately is chalkboards. where should we have one in our house, if any? on the back of a door? in nia's room? just a small chalk board in a frame in the kitchen or some cozy corner tucked away?


on a piece of furniture? or an entire wall? 


or do i just stick with the original + classic board easel? 




so much to debate + consider! 




(*photos borrowed from design momtinyk, and (one of my fav's) thebooandtheboy)

Friday, June 22, 2012

LOVE! proposal @ cafe mogador


we were out in manhattan yesterday, wandering about, escaping the heat and meeting up with friends in the afternoon. we went out for a beyond delicious dinner at one of my top 3 favorite places in all of NY, cafe mogador. YUM!

as we're sipping our cucumber martinis (also beyond delicious) and reminiscing over our old 5th floor walk-ups with no A/C, the man of a cute couple a table over from us suddenly got down on one knee, the old fashioned way, and proposed. his declaration of love was very quiet, to keep some sort of intimacy of the crowd-filled moment and within seconds the entire restaurant was cheering + clapping. i had goosebumps! it was just so sweet. the girl (said "yes!") was completely taken by surprise and seemed overjoyed.


the couple stayed a bit longer. when they left the restaurant, the entire place filled up with clapping again. they continued along, moseying across east 8th street both with giant smiles.

i couldn't help thinking about the freshly engaged couple; was he stressed before (stuart definitely was) + felt a little wave of relief that she said yes, who would she call first to share the news, where would they think about get married, would they get a bottle of champagne on their way home or go out somewhere after to celebrate some more?





don't you just love hearing about romantic moments? and witnessing it was really wonderful and felt almost magical.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

white envy



since i'm becoming sliiiightly obsessed with design ideas, furniture hunting, decorating and all house things in general, i've really been focusing on my "inspiration" folder. as i took a closer look at photos i really love, spaces i envy and color schemes i think we could pull off in our soon-to-be-new home, i'm noticing there is a lot of white; walls, floors, furniture, etc. i just love it!


all the whites take on a different shade all their own depending on what white they are up against. and the white walls really make everything hanging on them or furniture along them really pop.




i'm sure i've mentioned we're going for a general house mood of whites, warm woods, fauna greens, and punches of pastels, so the white walls look is definitely going full steam ahead.




and i'm so excited to try it. we have a lot of fun, great + loud pieces that i think will just add more character and warmth to the whole space. 



(*photos from thesweetestdigsdecor pad, and fancy house road)

Monday, June 18, 2012

wales love + welsh things

because stuart is welsh, i'm always trying to find little things for our home that are from, well, his home, so he doesn't feel too homesick. have you even been to wales? it's gorgeously green, quiet, sheep on every corner (and very rainy)

i would obviously love a huge + gorgeous welsh kitchen cupboard, but since that is next-to-impossible, here are some sweet finds that we may try to incorporate...



the welsh alphabet print so nia can learn allllll of her letters


the perfect razor, hand made in wales, for a welsh gentleman


vintage map of the south of wales to put on a nice large frame


the sweetest little hand stamped vintage teaspoon for sugar, tea or ice cream. stuart calls nia 'cariad' all of the time. ("cariad" means love)


a beautiful yet simple painting of the welsh countryside. (yup, this is pretty much what it looks like; hilly and tons of green)





Tuesday, June 12, 2012

native shoes

with summer in full swing and nia busting out of her beloved jellies i thought it was high time we bought her a pair of child essential water proof shoes. how fun are these from native shoes?! and we've been seeing them pop up everywhere lately.


nia in jellies



also really loving the mens verona for stuart. they are like an indestructible version of TOMS. too bad i already picked him up something for father's day. 


Monday, June 11, 2012

favorite commercial for moms

have you caught this commercial yet? so heartwarming.


stuart and i were just talking + day dreaming about nia; what kind of person she will become when she grows up. what will she be interested in, what sports she'll play or if she'll want to be a ballerina or a writer or the president?

dip, dip, dip, beautiful!



totally inspired by all these recent dipping trends i've been on the hunt for the perfect piece to try it out. i scooped up the sweetest little table just this past weekend at a nearby flea market for $10. just $10!








we're thinking our whole home should have a general white + warm woods + greens + grey + splashes of pastel mood. as of now the table would stay natural with dipped pastel legs. maybe the lightest pink? or maybe just stick with the white. 



you'll have to hang tight for "after" photos as i'm saving it for a post-move in project. 

Saturday, June 9, 2012

mad men finale fever


totally obsessed with this season of mad men. i'm currently drinking my second glass of malbec and reading up on genius questions to be answered and this comparison by emily viviani. (reminiscent watching 'wizard of oz' while listening to pink floyd, no?)






and curious to know if we'll ever see peggy again. luckily, i'm feeling rest assured


 and found this hilarious video montage


(*images by amandastarpulseamtvfanpop & wsj)


Thursday, June 7, 2012

suburbia - week zillion


i've almost completely lost track of how many weeks or installments this is but i know it's a lot. A LOT!

things like free laundry and a normal sized triangle designed kitchen are still great and their novelty has not yet worn off. however, the cheese counter at the sweet little market we go to leaves me pining for murray's BAD. i do love me some good cheese.

i am really missing the city summer bustle. the people watching upstate when we're out and about is never as good as it was on the N,Q line. almost everyone looks the same + boring: think mom jeans meets bad streaked hair circa 1994 meets faux louis vuitton bags with the pastel colored flowers. barf! 

although extra hands have been so helpful, we are desperate to get into our own place. we are constantly day dreaming of design + decorating ideas and i barrage stuart daily with craigslist treasures and estate sales that i just need to go to. i create a new budget every week to see what we can possibly buy from my previously mentioned shopping carts full all over the internet. so far, the only thing i have bought is a bathing suit. and i'm pretty sure that will have no bearing on what nightstand or dining table we end up with. 



we did get a good dose of city time the past two weeks. i needed to get to the city for book club last tuesday (we read '50 shades') so nia + stuart decided to trek down with me for the afternoon. we had a nice (yet-not-so-leisurely-because-of-nias-premature-terrible-twos-screeching-episode) lunch of frozen hot chocolate at serendipity, surrounding ourselves with other tourists. are we now tourists? are we ex-ny'ers? out-of-towners? what is our status?

then this past memorial day weekend we stayed with fabulous friends in brooklyn. such a perfect, relaxing time with friends. we trotted around the brooklyn flea (i scored 5 killer dresses for cheap. i mean, cheap!) ate refreshing peoples pops and as if it couldn't get better, a few of us decided to head out and eat a mound of delicious sushi + sip sake. 




and just this past friday we went to the NYC ballet. stuart + nia got me tickets for mothers day this year. what a treat! it was so magical and beautiful. plus, it was fun to actually dress up, go out for a ridiculously overpriced dinner in lincoln center and be out on the town (is it just old people who say "out on the town"?)

in other news, with all the weird heat of last week, we've been spending a lot of time outside...in the kiddie pool. nia is quite the little fish and stays in there splashing about until she's completely wrinkled like a giant prune. as pathetic as it must sound, we were sure when we were "pool" shopping last year to get a kiddie pool big enough to fit at least 1 adult, and it was indeed a genius + refreshing decision.

oooh and remember when i was talking about stuart hanging alllll my belts on one hook? well we ended up buying 4 little hooks. you know, those crappy 3M brand ones, only they were the even crappier cheap-o brand ones, to hang them up instead. well, the last but 1 just fell last night. so all my little scarves and belts are in a heap in the bottom of our well-traveled IKEA armoire. do i even bother hanging them up again? or just repack them? either way, all/any design or decorating ideas that involved hooks have just been eliminated from "ideas" folder and deleted from pinterest. i'm boycotting. 

tonight, in lieu of date night, we are headed to home depot to pick out sinks + ceiling fans. no need to tell me, i can just sense your envy. 

with love + wrinkled scarves + small eggplants,
L

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

NYC ballet

stuart + nia got me tickets to the NYC ballet for mother's day. we have talked about going for years so it was so lovely to finally go. the performance was absolutely amazing. i still have ballet fever + dreaming of swavroski crystal embellished tutus.



this one is a picture of the actual costume from the performance we saw. so beautiful!




(pictures courtesy of favim.com, oberons grove and patrico melo)

and it makes me want to see this documentary 'first position' even more