Friday, January 27, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Kickin it with T2
Monday, January 23, 2012
*Je veux aller à là
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| (via TabletHotels.com) |
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| (via TabletHotels.com) |
Just look at this turquoise room! Just look at it!
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| (via TabletHotels.com) |
Dramatic and also serene at the same time.
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| (via TabletHotels.com) |
When I picture "al fresco dinner party" this is exactly what I see.
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| (via TabletHotels.com) |
Classic and whimsical, rich and modern - I love how this decor doesn't take itself too seriously, like the hallway is daring me to slide in sock feet while not spilling my Baccarat flute of champagne on my Valentino.
*Translation: "I want to go to there." - Liz Lemon
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Art for the Baby
One thing about adopting a baby is that you don't look or feel like you are obviously expecting one. There aren't empathetic stories from anyone who's experienced pregnancy before, questions from strangers or colleagues about how far along, prenatal classes with other expecting parents, an actual due date to circle on the calendar... I'm pondering this quiet, almost invisible, expectation time right now as we wait to bring our baby home - in two months, four months, seven months? How much should I prepare? How high - and at what pace - shall I allow my hopes to climb? We don't know how long we'll wait for that day, but we have a pretty confident feeling that it will be this year.
With this expectation in mind we do what feels right for now - getting finances in order, a living will, organizing the house, getting healthier, taking one last vacation as a childfree couple... There is much activity happening here, yet none of it has been directly baby-specific (even though it's all baby-specific in a way). I think I don't miss it, though, the baby clothes and the baby toys piling up, waiting, still, for a baby to animate them. I like this way of doing it - it seems thoughtful and realistic - more private in a way. And oh yes, I should officially announce that we are indeed planning to adopt our first child from within Alaska and we couldn't be happier about this decision.
There's another reason why we don't amass too much baby stuff in advance - there's this terrible chance that there will be what the agency calls a "change of heart" when the baby who comes home with you goes back to the birth mother who decides to parent after all. Adoptive parents who've experienced this equate it with a death. But, there's always a chance of something, isn't there, whether adding to a family through adoption or biologically. Man, life is tough and beautiful!
That said, I bought something for the nursery. The two above prints from a lovely artist I found while poking around the internet - Kristiana Parn has many more prints and originals at her Etsy store, check them out. I think they're perfect for an Alaskan infant - not kitschy, very sweet art appropriate for a peaceful baby's room - but really they could go anywhere. I'll have them framed and hang them up. I'm making curtains, too, and Jim is building shelves.
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| 'Save the Polar Bear' / Kristiana Parn |
With this expectation in mind we do what feels right for now - getting finances in order, a living will, organizing the house, getting healthier, taking one last vacation as a childfree couple... There is much activity happening here, yet none of it has been directly baby-specific (even though it's all baby-specific in a way). I think I don't miss it, though, the baby clothes and the baby toys piling up, waiting, still, for a baby to animate them. I like this way of doing it - it seems thoughtful and realistic - more private in a way. And oh yes, I should officially announce that we are indeed planning to adopt our first child from within Alaska and we couldn't be happier about this decision.
There's another reason why we don't amass too much baby stuff in advance - there's this terrible chance that there will be what the agency calls a "change of heart" when the baby who comes home with you goes back to the birth mother who decides to parent after all. Adoptive parents who've experienced this equate it with a death. But, there's always a chance of something, isn't there, whether adding to a family through adoption or biologically. Man, life is tough and beautiful!
 |
| 'Bring You the North Star' / Kristiana Parn |
That said, I bought something for the nursery. The two above prints from a lovely artist I found while poking around the internet - Kristiana Parn has many more prints and originals at her Etsy store, check them out. I think they're perfect for an Alaskan infant - not kitschy, very sweet art appropriate for a peaceful baby's room - but really they could go anywhere. I'll have them framed and hang them up. I'm making curtains, too, and Jim is building shelves.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Good Fonting to You
That's PApier Sans up there, created by SMeltery - a French font factory (say that three times whilst gargling champagne). It was free and I love it, as well as its siblings REdevance and GEronto Bis.
Thank you, Jules Vernacular.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Momma's got a brand new...
Chez Coincidence
When something random and interesting catches my eye, I usually pay attention (like when I Googled "New York thin" this week and found garancedore.fr, my new favorite blog and girlfriend-blog to a long-time favorite of mine, thesartorialist.com. I didn't know better.).
Whilst searching for the 2012 Nikki McClure calendar to order, I found the sweetest little web presence for a brick-and-mortar book shop - Wessel and Lieberman Booksellers - a serious bookseller for serious collectors. They carried the calendar (I bought the last one), yes, but featured on their homepage was a book called Menus for Chez Panisse.
The booksellers' blog had pictures of these handmade, letterpressed menus from Berkeley's premier, original-locavore restaurant, each one a work of art. I thought, "My, that's a gorgeous book... What would I do with it?... It's not really a cookbook... No, I don't need it... But it's so lovely..." I didn't end up buying it.
But, when something random and interesting catches my eye A SECOND TIME within a week, well then I think that's a clear signal from the universe - this book is looking for me. Or perhaps I'm meant to eat at Chez Panisse sometime in the very near future? (I went there, by myself, for a birthday lunch in October of 2001; it's just around the corner from campus. I ordered a half-bottle of champagne that I didn't finish and a salad. I didn't know better.)
A recent New Yorker article dissertationally entitled, Sex, Figs, Italics: A Visual History of Menus mentions, again, the menus of Chez Panisse, this time as featured in Taschen's new tome, Menu Design in America: 1850-1985.
From this article: "...an Arts-and-Crafts-inspired menu from Alice Waters’s Chez Panisse,
sensual as anything: a broad green fig leaf with two fat pendant fruits.
Feminism!"
Whilst searching for the 2012 Nikki McClure calendar to order, I found the sweetest little web presence for a brick-and-mortar book shop - Wessel and Lieberman Booksellers - a serious bookseller for serious collectors. They carried the calendar (I bought the last one), yes, but featured on their homepage was a book called Menus for Chez Panisse.
 |
| source: WLBooks.com |
The booksellers' blog had pictures of these handmade, letterpressed menus from Berkeley's premier, original-locavore restaurant, each one a work of art. I thought, "My, that's a gorgeous book... What would I do with it?... It's not really a cookbook... No, I don't need it... But it's so lovely..." I didn't end up buying it.
 |
| source: WLBooks.com |
But, when something random and interesting catches my eye A SECOND TIME within a week, well then I think that's a clear signal from the universe - this book is looking for me. Or perhaps I'm meant to eat at Chez Panisse sometime in the very near future? (I went there, by myself, for a birthday lunch in October of 2001; it's just around the corner from campus. I ordered a half-bottle of champagne that I didn't finish and a salad. I didn't know better.)
A recent New Yorker article dissertationally entitled, Sex, Figs, Italics: A Visual History of Menus mentions, again, the menus of Chez Panisse, this time as featured in Taschen's new tome, Menu Design in America: 1850-1985.
 |
| source: NewYorker.com |
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Monday, January 02, 2012
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