a doggie do

i realize i have been missing in action since my last post announcing that i would be going to paris for work. and as much as i would love to have stayed there, i didn't. i've been back home for a while now and i need to get a paris recap post up but i haven't gotten all of my pictures back yet so i am waiting until then to tell you all about my trip. let me tell you, it was quite the adventure!

but in the meantime, i just had to share this with you because it's just too awesome not to. i have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate my little lu into my brand and a possible product line and i must admit, i was a little jealous when i saw this line of paint over on decor8.


this is a paint line called murobond paints. i know, i know i die for their logo.


look at this handsome man with a bow tie. don't judge me if i sorta steal their logo idea. i've been wanting to do this for so long and this just made me more clear on my idea. and my little lucie is such an inspiration to me on a daily basis. i will do my best to keep it original, though.

i started thinking about my idea over the holidays when i went to a craft bazarre. while it was a great sale, they needed more vendors and i started thinking that i needed to come up with an idea to contribute to the fair next year. so that's what i am going to do, mark my words!


oh yeah, and back to the murobond paints. i am in love with shades of grey lately and plan on incorporating some into my house paint soon. this line appropriately named "gray scale garden" would be perfect, no?

french bow

look at this cute little guy i found over on besotted. almost as cute as my little girl!

plus charlotte

well mes amis, i am off to nyc for the next 10 days. there are so many exciting things going on and i can't wait to get back to share them with you.

in the meantime, i would like to leave you with more of the beautiful charlotte.




images from rdujour

beautiful charlotte

i just can't get enough of the beautiful charlotte with child as seen on the film shot by todd cole.


thank you renee over at montmartre's sketchbook for sharing these beautiful images!

j'adore

oh i am dying over these french sole ballet flats i saw over on rdujour. must get me some sparkly ones!

a little f. scott in paris

have you all gone to see midnight in paris yet? i was finally able to see it over the weekend and i'm pining to go see it again. it so reminded me of my time in paris 5 years ago. there really is something magical about that city, don't you think?

the scene with f. scott fitzgerald and zelda brought back such memories for me. you see, i was traveling through paris alone, on my way to visit a friend in brittany. someone had suggested i stay at the hotel st. andre des artes. so i got a room at this quaint little hotel in st. germain. the hotel is rumored to once have been a stable that the three muscateers had used as a hiding place. i don't know about the whole three muscateers thing but the hotel did resemble a stable, complete with exposed cross-beams in many of the rooms.

my room in the hotel was butter yellow and had two long french windows that opened up and looked out over rue st. andre des artes. across the hotel was a cute little alleyway that had been turned into shops all facing the cobblestone alley that was closed off to vehicles. after a long day of travel, i just wanted to relax in my hotel and get some rest. i headed over to monoprix and picked up some bread, wine and cheese and my favorite shampoo, le petit marsellaise.

when i was passing through nice, i stopped in a bookshop where they sold books in english and picked up a few for the latter part of my trip. one of the books was the great gatsby. believe it or not, i had never read it before!

i returned to my hotel and after dining on my wine and cheese, i opened up my window and sat looking out over st. germain reading the great gatsby. i guess, subconsciously, i was saving such a great book to read in a special setting. i almost read it cover to cover that night before dozing off...only to wake up in paris. no, this was not a dream.

i remember this time like it was yesterday. sometimes i can't believe i really took this trip by myself. and while paris is best to be shared with one you love, i'm happy that i took my first trip there all alone to discover it for myself. now i can go there with the one i love and show him all of the places that i visited and fell in love with. oh to be in paris...

le dream car

yes, i would like one in black please!

iris season

oh iris, where have you been all my life? if i had discovered the likes of you at say 14 or 15, i truly believe things could have been so much different for me!

that's right, i have recently discovered the person that is iris apfel. a 90 something year old former interior designer and business woman from queens, new york.

remember a few weeks ago when i said that i know what i want to dress like when i am older? well this is pretty much it. i just didn't know someone was already doing it. but that's ok, i'm not disappointed, now i just have my own muse.


you know how i have also mentioned my weird frenchie/southwestern design mix? well now i see that i'm not so off the wall after all.


many days when i get dressed for work, i have a really hard time deciding whether i want to channel coco chanel or frida kahlo. usually i pick a safe version of one or the other. but now, i almost feel that i can do both. oh how freeing it is!


here is my outfit today. with my new hair, i feel like a mix of iris and anna wintour. this is my turquoise collection with my favorite tasha polizzi tijuana jacket.




and check out her house. i love it. and while i do like things a little darker and less flowery, i really like a lot of the individual items she has. i would just style them differently.


i even have a similar setee to this one. unfortunately, our big dog ripped the fabric on it and i have been completely undecided about how to recover it. but i'm loving this ikat she has used on her setee. it would work perfect in my house.

photos of iris by the boston phoenix and architectural digest

incroyable!

i'm at a loss...how incredible are these images from laduree?


a few months ago, i came across this poster of macarons from laduree on rdujour.


then last week on besotted, i came across this image of a laduree truffle box with a little frenchie on it.

oh laduree, you are killing me! first the macarons, then the cute dogs. oh what is a francophile girl to do right now when she is nowhere near paris? le sigh!

coco + kate

i have been meaning to post these great vintage posters from the musical coco, starring katherine hepburn. i found them over on rdujour. don't you just love them? i thought they would look fabulous on my blog!


with the resurgence of all of the coco chanel inspired films that have come out recently, it would be great to see a classic like this, originally starring kate for a brief run before she bowed out of the production.

i guess if i won't be able to see the broadway production any time soon, i'll have to read the book by alan jay lerner.

i die!

so i'm working on a set design and i really want to go with the john derian look. i'm googling photos of his designs and lo and behold, what do i see? a john derian and repetto collaboration! how is this the first that i have heard of such a brilliant mix?

being on the shorter side, i never used to favor flats because, well, the last thing i need is to look even shorter. but a few years ago i decided i really didn't care about that any more and i began collecting ballet flats. and i loooove them! they are just so comfortable and really look great with any spring and summer outfit and they are perfect for work, too.

i have been dying for a pair of brigitte bardot's signature ballet flat, by repetto, but the price is a little much for me to handle. but oh man, look at these babies.
oh yes, i die!

available at john derian 212.677.8408 $295.00

new york style

speaking of personal style. have you seen the bill cunningham documentary yet? i haven't seen it come through town yet but i really want to see it.


and believe it or not, yours truly has been featured in his street style article. i will forever be indebted to him because now anytime lorenzo doesn't like what i'm wearing (including the coat i was wearing in the article), i instantly have "street cred". thanks bill!

my personal style file

i'm loving this new book by amanda brooks about developing your own personal style.

as a child of the '80s, i could definitely use some help when it comes to fashion...in fact, this very day i am wearing a long sweater over black leggings, clearly not much has changed since then (my hair is smaller, though). so i'm always looking for any bits of advice i can get from the fashion front, and this one is really good.

i already know how i want to look when i'm older, i have that all planned out, it's the in between years that i'm struggling with!

get your kicks

i just discovered this great band over on gretchen jones' blog. so perfect for today's mood.

nina

oh man, i am just dying to listen to some nina right now. don't you just love her? i really wish i had seen her while she was still alive. definitely one of the people i would have at my dead or living dream dinner!

hurry up 5 o'clock!

old blue hair

i am loving these images of the mary katrantzou spring 2011 lookbook found on rdujour.

while the blue hair is a bit much, these images are visually beautiful and interesting. it would have been a lot of fun styling these shots.






the clothing and the sets are incredible but i actually think that the photos would look better if the model just had black hair. what do you think?

dans la chambre

so i've been on a staycation here the last few days and my goal is to get some work done around the house...googling photos on-line is so much interesting though! i figure if i'm looking for photos that are house related, i'll get some motivation to do something creative.

after moving in with my boyfriend last july, we've been working to integrate all of our stuff together, the problem is, we both have a lot of things and we both like our things. our styles are similar but our collections are challenging to try to work in together. i have this weird frenchie/native american look going (i know, weird) and he tends a little more toward the asian and gothic look. so i'm left trying to put a room together of skulls, thai art, native american textiles and florals. so far i've managed to get the entry way done!

basically, what i am doing is one room at a time, taking everything off of the walls and coming up with a common theme, like in the entry, the theme was black and white stripes. then i went through the house and gathered up anything that had some form of black and white stripes in it. this plan actually worked out ok. i'll post a picture of the entry if the sun ever comes out here and i can take a decent one.

so that is my plan going throughout the house...to try to come up with a theme for each room and then rearranging our belongings together.

the bedroom needs a little work since this is where we hahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifng out the most. we have a pretty big house that is hard to heat so our room has become the place where we all hang out together. we have our bed, bookshelves, tv, stereo and computer in here so i would like to form a few little seating areas around these activities. i also would like to come up with a color scheme to go with my new bedding which is a bit brighter than my normal red, white and black. it has these colors but also with a little splash of fuchsia and bright blue. i love it!

so where i like to go for decorating inspiration is marie claire maison. i love that their rooms are not styled so perfectly but actually look like people live in them and have been collecting the items in the rooms throughout their lives.



in this photo, i really like the grouping of art and collectibles above the bed.


but this room looks more like our style. the colors in the bed and artwork are more similar to what i am working with. i love the collection of retro items, the cowhide on the floor and the funky art.


this one really looks like my style, too, though. i can't tell you how many times i've hung a tapestry above my bed and then hung artwork on it. these colors are so great together, too.


i think that this is my favorite room. i'm loving those hanging light pendants on each side of the bed and this bedding has a lot more pattern in it which is similar to mine.

ok, so i'm off to get some work done. i think i'll start with putting my laundry away!

more bomo...

one of my new readers kirsten m. asked me to feature a few photos from the book bohemian modern that i talked about a few months ago. i absolutely love this book and still can't wait to make a trip down to silver lake. i found this book in a great little, now defunt shop in portland but i'm sure you could find it on amazon or powell's if you are having a hard time finding it.

here are just a few photos that i found on-line and when i get home, i will scan some from the book.

and a big hello to kirsten! thank you so much for stopping by.




wouldn't a back yard like this be amazing? i would love to hang out here on nice evenings.


in the book, this first home was absolutely stripped to the bones and re-built. i really like the creative way of locating the windows. what a nice porch on the second home.


the book features art by the author and it is so cute. this is my favorite type of drawing. it reminds me of the velvet posters we would get as kids that we could color in with magic markers.

i'm on vacation for the next few days so i'll try get get more pics up soon. i'm taking a little staycation and i hope to get some more work done on our house. i have managed to get the entry painted and next are the stairs and bathroom so hopefully i'll get some of that accomplished.

happy spring! i just wish someone would let mother nature know that we are still waiting for it in portland!

images found on sb garden design and captain kk

style file

have you heard that elle magazine has a book out called the ellements of style? i'm dying to get my hands on a copy! i imagine it is going to be a celebrity version of one of my favorite books the selby. we'll get to voyeurize the homes of our favorite fashionable celebs such as my girl charlotte.


here is charlotte's spread from the book that was featured on rdujour a few weeks ago.

i wonder who else's homes we will get to see?

the perfect saturday...

i saw this picture over on rdujour the other day and it reminded me of a perfect saturday afternoon. all you need is a great magazine, some chanel nail polish, a cool skull tee, some leopard ballet flats and great music in the background. i'd probably be listening to charlotte gainsbourg (i know, what a surprise?) or au revoir simone.

and oh yeah, a big pot of french press coffee, mais oui!

what's your idea of a perfect lazy saturday?