Louisette Bertholle

Who, you ask….Louisette Bertholle*? She was the third wheel along with

Julia and Simca. Julia and Simca ditched her after the first book. I feel like Louisette right now. My intentions are good, but I am just not cutting the mustard on this here blog.

photo

Just like Louisette, I am basking in the glow that is “Dream within Reach” a blog that is supposed to be pour trois.. and as of lately has been pour deux.

S'il vous plaît mes chers amis, donnez-moi une chance de me racheter

*I would like to give credit to Ann Mack, good friend and blogger over at Floating Home Living for the “Louisette Analogy”…..the other night we went for drinks by the fire here, after an especially frustrating day of work. She asked why I have not been contributing…and then said, you are turning yourself into a Louisette!

Feeling Good

A beautiful video made for a beautiful song that I randomly found on You Tube.  The assignment for the video was to pick a song and create a music video only using type and typographic elements in black and white. 

I am so happy my yoga instructor played this song in class yesterday. This song was also sung when Claire walked down the aisle at this wedding. 
  

Enjoy!   Oh - and make the video full screen when you play - way better.  

[song by Nina Simone. Video by Tamara Connolly]

Travel Purchases

I am really trying my best to stop acquiring "things." We just have waaaay too much stuff! It is so hard to stop though when there are so many fun "things" out there. Anyway, we recently traveled to both Savannah and New York - and, well, I picked up a few things that I just couldn't help myself from buying.

I love this little piece of art by Katie Runnels that I found at shopSCAD.
Already on the wall here in Telluride.

Just had to stop by @Home Vintage General. The shop was closing the weekend we were in town & it was sad to see it so very empty. I picked up a couple of these flashcards only because I had to purchase one. last. thing. before it was gone for good.

Couldn't miss popping into Kate's Paperie while in NYC. I couldn't carry much home (since I wanted to take the entire store with me) so I just picked up a few cards to add to my collection.

We also swung by Fish Eddy's. Got some gifts for friends, but also had to grab a few things for us as well. Justin loved the Shuguh bowl and since he uses sugar in his coffee every morning, I am happy to have this cute number residing on our counter. I love their "Floorplan" series - the architectural historian in me thinks they are great! And, grabbed a few dish towels to boot.

Crafternoon - Projects

Per Sonchia's request, here are a few projects from the weekly Crafternoon in Tucson, AZ.  .

[membership cards - Library notecards that Cathy gave me forever ago!

everybody checks in each week - on 10th crafternoon - prizes will be given out]

1). Erin's amazing owl sweater  2). Michelle's pretty pom pom's 3). Monte's awesome drawing of Crafternoon 4). Mary Lynn's wonderful embroidery western shirt 5). Melinda's beautiful cowl neck scarf

6). My reverse applique onesies (more baby gifts) 

Add to your blog roll

Amy sent me this beautiful blog full of lovely photos found on various sites.

http://thebeanandthebear.tumblr.com/ 

I think you will like it too! 

[original photo found here]

Gulp!

Guess what I am up to this weekend?

[image: mizz maze]

Same as it ever was....

I woke up today stuck on this song.  Love it and will always love this video.  Reminds me of when I actually watched MTV for the videos. 

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime - Watch more Music Videos at Vodpod.

Trader Joe's - how I love thee

Trader Joe's flowers in a Trader Joe's Arrabiata Sauce jar - a lovely combination that brightens up my desk!

Valentine's day round-up

As discussed previously, Valentine's day is not a big event in our house.  I have to say, yesterday was a pretty damn good Valentines.  I wish Scott did not have to work, but we celebrated over breakfast in the morning, I went to Crafternoon with friends, and then Scott came home with 4 Dozen!!! red roses at the end of his day.  Lovely.   I made vanilla cupcakes with fresh fruit pictured above.  Mmm....

Gem Jam

The Tucson Gem and Mineral show wrapped up on Friday - and thank you to my friend Saskia, I got to experience gem show with the coveted vendor pass.  It was overwhelming and wonderful.  Please continue to check Saskia's Esty shop for her latest...I can tell you she got AMAZING beads from the show!  These pictures do not even do it justice.....

Doily Design

Remember this post? Maybe I should try something like this instead for my doilies? Any other ideas out there I should consider? Still on the fence about the "grandam chic" look, but trying to warm up to the idea.

Ditto: Invite Crush

Did you see this? Dying. Like really. Sigh.

Niche Design

Go here & here.

Now.
178 Sq. Ft.
Uh-Mazing.
Not sure about the wellies thing though.

I want....

I am always reorganizing my closet.  I would love this for shoes, belts, hats, whatever.  Love. 

[WIS Design - written about on Design*Sponge]

Home Again...

Sigh. It feels so great to be back in Savannah again. I love the southern charm, the Spanish Moss, the relaxed vibe. We have lots of things planned while we are here & lots of friends to visit with. While here, Justin and I are actually not staying together. Justin is staying with some family friends who spend time both in Savannah and in Telluride. I am staying with my old boss (and friend) next door to our old apartment. The house where we used to live is an historic home built in 1852. We rented the "garden apartment" from two wonderful guys who have since sold the house and now live in a smaller place a few blocks away. We loved our place and now it is being completely gutted by the new owners. Staying next door, I have a bird's eye view of our old courtyard and it brings back a ton of memories. So, thanks for indulging my trip down memory lane here. These photos are from 2004, so please excuse the quality.

124 E. Taylor St. We lived on the ground level.

This is not the best image, but this was our back door in the courtyard. One of the owners was a landscapper and we had the best courtyard with an amazing fish pond & beautiful plants. The courtyard was featured in many books, one being this one.

Our bedroom. We had absolutely no money when we lived here - I was in grad school & Justin was starting up his own web design business. I had a sewing machine at the time & made all of our window treatments & such. The walls were plaster & we had the hardest time hanging anything - and since we were renting, we really didn't have free reign to do much.

We had two fireplaces in our apartment, one in the bedroom & one in the living room. We used both as often as the weather would allow. Now that we live in Telluride, we don't have one single fireplace - when we need it most!

I know this is random & not a spectacularly interesting image, but I loved our little bathroom. It was super simple, but now that we have gross grey/blue bathrooms in Telluride - I wish for our basic little bathroom in Savannah.

Moving Day. I was so sad. This is our bedroom. Empty. Even the dog is sad.

The kitchen - which, yes, I had painted a melon color. It worked, I promise.

Our living room. I cried for a week straight after leaving this apartment. We did have the chance to revisit the apartment shortly after we left. We got to see how the new renters were using the space. I cried after seeing how they lived (it was depressing - I will leave it at that), but it helped me "let go" a bit more.

And we are off...

I promise to be better about blogging this trip.
First up Savannah, GA.

[from: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - a favorite!]

Sweet

I know you probably saw this if you get Etsy emails...but how sweet would it be if your sweetie brought you this cup of coffee on Valentines day?  Feeling sappy today...

[found on coffeestencil Etsy shop]

Are you Happy?

Love the simplicity of this.  

 [found it here]

DIY - great idea to update old jeans/pants

A great DIY to update/alter a pair of pants - I think I could even do this with my basic sewing skills.  I found this on my friend Amber's new blog over at About.com - About Budget Style. Congrats to her on the new job!  Check out her other blog too - Painfullyhip.com  - great ideas and inspiration!

Magnificent Marshes

I am beyond thrilled to be returning to Savannah, GA next week. Not only is it our former home, but it is also one of my most favorite places in the world. I cannot believe that we are returning for a visit again so soon after our big November excursion to the south. Yippee!

So, in honor of our return trip, I thought I would go back through our photo archives and post some of my favorite images from this amazing southern gem. I have a few posts in the works to share with you all as I prepare for our visit.

When most people think of Savannah, they think of the many incredible buildings that make up the downtown historic district. And while that is true (and one of the reasons we moved down there - so I could get my masters in Architectural History from SCAD), Savannah is much more than old buildings. Just a few miles from the historic district are the beautiful beaches of the low country. We spent a lot of our "down time" from work (and school) out at Tybee Beach exploring the magnificent marshes by sea kayak.

Justin had the incredible opportunity to view the marshes from above when his
Dad came out to visit us in his plane. I love how the water carves into the landscape.

I mean, with the sun setting on the horizon? Sigh.

Before we moved, one of my requests was for us to paddle through
the marshes out to Cockspur Island to visit the lighthouse.

So, this is a terrible photo of our dog in her life vest, but this was 2004 & we had a crappy camera. How cute is she for tagging along with us? The lighthouse was totally open and we climbed to the top to get a great view of the shore.

This tiny island is only accessible via kayak and the "ground" consists of oyster shells. Bringing the dog out ended up not being the best idea as her paw pads got completely chewed up & were bleeding everywhere. I love this little lighthouse though - from the Civil War. The forty-six foot tower has a unique feature - it's eastern side is shaped like a prow of a ship to better withstand the force of the high seas. Amazing.

Going Bananas

LOVE.

More here.

I couldn't agree more...

Elements of Style has a great post (with awesome images) on her obsession with skirted tables. I second that emotion! Love them! Our "dining room" table is skirted in burlap (and in need of a steam apparently). I think fabric on tables provides great texture to a room. Thoughts?

Birds, Bees, Bugs, and Trees

Totally digging artwork by Charley Harper today.
How cool are his designs? Biodiversity at its best.