wanting woven

"Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying Planning and dreaming each night of his charms"
in the words of the lovely dionne warwick - this is exactly what ive been doing.

i just looooove these gorgeous woven seating options from Design within Reach. i think they might call security at my local store soon. ive been visiting my loves daily. the stool is fast becoming my favorite i think with its little nod to utilitarian glamour, perfect proportions and delicately tapered legs............

this is what inspired me the other day. i got it for the shop but im really not sure i can part with it at all.

are you wanting woven as much as i am

five fall fashions

five fall fashions that i love!

and the skinny pant with socks and slightly boyish shoes.... i better stock up on my cute sock selection.

all images the sartorialist

picture perfect.

im printing up some business cards (finally) and am trying to decide on a front image for a set of larger cards (4x6) im a bit indecisive in my choice - but have narrowed it down to these. I would love a little help from you all in the final cut. what do you think??

it seem to be coming down to two groups. flowers (above) and farmhouse (below)

thanks for your help

simple sundays

its quiet and rainy here today...its enough to put on in a bit of a funk. but its a good time for reflection and a bit of solitude.

hope you enjoyed your weekends

rustic redefined. mexican pottery

i wanted to do a little post on something i love even though i dont have too many pieces of it in my house. ok truth be told i only have one piece. a big white tea cup painted with luscious deep blue flowers. i like it because it crosses a line for me between the formality of english china with the casual but inspired folk painting of scandinavian and mexican pottery. also it feels amazing in my hand in the morning.

but there are tons of beautiful examples of mexican pottery. If you haven't guessed by now i love folk painting. my grandmother was a tole painter (ill be doing a post around thanksgiving on some of her work) and i think my appreciation of it came at an early age also the colors are typically vibrant and full of life. there is an effortlessness to all folk painting that attracts me but something else attracts me more. it is a style passed down through generation and generations of a culture. it adapts and changes while still adhering to traditional rules or guidelines.

here are some of my favorites from etsy.

the shapes are all irregular and weight and (typically) terra cotta materials give the pieces rustic feel. the brush strokes are honest but confident and there is a flow to the designs that are painted.

casadeoro

madeforfun

destash4u

a wedding in the woods

just a few photos from the wedding this weekend in big sur. it was on a private working ranch so we kept the flowers simple and wanted them to look like they had all come from a big cutting garden. my favorite was the delicate little wildflower headwreath for the flower girl.

the setting for dinner was beautiful. it was on a saddle of land 1000 feet up and overlooking the pacific ocean.

and the cocktail reception and dancing after dinner were held in a little pasture area below grazing horses and rolling mists.

good enough to eat

lately ive been seeing a lot of black pottery and cookware about. from le cruset's new black castiron line to mud australia's (the photo below is from their catalogue) black bowl on the cover of food and wine

this is just a short little muse on how beautiful i think the black pottery and cooking pieces are for fall. Filled with creamy orange butternut squash soup...it would look divine.

what do you think??

All Tumbled Up

So this week i started a tubmlr account. Mainly its because i realized there were 30 photos on my desk top and countless others in various folders here and there. Its a great way to have them all in once place, with link! so i can remember where ive seen things. Im excited to use this new tool and i hope youll stop by often to see what ive been looking at.

Happy Friday!!

Valerie Galloway

quite simply, i find myself very drawn to the work of artist Valerie Galloway. im not sure i can put my finger on exactly why. It love its straight forward nature, and the pallet of course. It contains all of the things I love about folk art, and in a way reminds me of the work of Frida Kohal's.

There is a fragility, heightened by that yellowed parchment colored background so indicative of paper ephemera, that makes me look at it again and again. And the scintillating red lips and cheeks on many of her women hint at something beneath it all.

Valerie write that she is "influenced by cinema and old family photos. I love to take a memory or impression and reshape it into a lovely vision" and lovely visions are just what these are. I think they would be just perfect framed in vintage oval portrait frames. find them in her etsy shop here.

A little cottage in the country

i often feel between two worlds - caught between the buzz and modernity of the city an the calmness of the rural. Always longing for one when im in the other -

i spent a few days at my brother's cottage in yountville ca. its tiny but filled with light. its everything i imagine needing in a country house. a small front porch with an ancient rocking chair. A perfect side yard just big enough for a garden and with a little deck and table for outside meals. Old heavily polished wood floors and a giant claw foot tub in the bathroom to wash away the good country dirt.

its simple here. its about good food and conversation. sunshine makes things grow and they grow rich and full. Bugs and birds and butterflies are everywhere...and so are some of the creepy crawlies that go bump in the night.

its a place where i feel creative, innovative and overwhelmed by the need to create. A mouthfull of wine taste like the work of thousands of honey bees and the fresh figs plucked from the trees are the sweetest things one can ever imagine.

i feel fortunate at the moment to have the possibility to escape from the city and camp out here for a few days...or at least until i miss the hummm of the city.