oh lou!

how excited was i to see one of our blankets on lou doillon's instagram?

here is the chief joseph blanket in antique rose.  this has long been one of my favorites but sadly, it has been retired.

i just love seeing my two worlds collide--my work life which is all about our beautiful native inspired designs, and my personal which is obsessed with all things french.  i often call my style "southwestern frenchie".

lou has been out on the road with her band and it looks like her blanket went with her.  oh now if she would only come to portland!  if you haven't heard her album yet, check it out!

favorite outfit

favorite outfit by shelly-schramm featuring j brand jeans

3 1 Phillip Lim v neck cardigan
£175 - brownsfashion.com

J brand jeans
$161 - stylebop.com

Swedish Hasbeens wooden clog
$179 - endless.com

NARS matte lipstick
$24 - cusp.com

Petit Bateau Marinière Blanc
€49 - placedestendances.com

Tokyo Milk Crushed Dark Perfume
$40 - edgeofurge.com

maison objet

so i was going through my photos yesterday looking for one in particular when i came across this photo that i had saved at some point a while back. i looked and looked wondering why it looked so familiar to me when it hit me that my coworkers and i dined here my last night in paris. it is just so weird how things like this happen!

i know i haven't posted about my trip yet and there are two reasons for that. one, i am still recovering from the events that took place while i was there and two, my friend that travelled with me has all of the photos and she hasn't given me a disc yet, so all in due time.

oh yeah, back to le procope. so it was the last day of maison objet. the show closes at 6 and then everyone stays and packs up their booths. my wonderful coworkers from sweden and norway and i were there until about 10 packing up and then headed back towards my hotel to get some dinner. it took 45 minutes to get back to the hotel from the show so we were tired and hungry. thank goodness most of the restaurants in paris stay open late. it was dreary and rainy that night and we were wondering down rue st andre des artes when we saw this restaurant and went in. let me tell you, we were not in good shape and drenched on top of it. we walked into the restaurant and immediately realized we may not be welcome there because our attire was seriously disheveled. well that was not the case. the people there were so welcoming and gracious (although they did put us in the back-probably a good idea) and took very good care of us. we started out with a celebratory glass of champagne then i had the foie gras and roast chicken. sofia had fish and gustaf had a delicious pot roast with mounds of pommes frites. dinner was delicious and we stumbled out at midnight drunken with great french food and wine.

so, while the trip was somewhat of a challenge, it was so nice to end our stay here in this wonderful quintessential parisian establishment. if you are ever in paris and cold, tired and hungry, stop in le procope and i promise they will take good care of you. and the restaurant has been there for like a hundred years so i'm sure it will still be there.


and here is just a sneak peek of my photos. this is our booth at maison objet. my job is to install our trade show booths and then i generally stay and work the shows and then make my rounds for buying for the store. i took this photo after we finished setting up but before the show started so everything wasn't quite done yet. what do you think? crazy right!

falling for fashion

hi everyone! how has fall been so far? i really can't believe it's already here. even though it is my favorite fashion time of year, yeah!

so yes, i have been compiling my fall 2011 must haves for the season and this is what i have come up with so far. some of these lovelies have already made it home with me. oh i can't wait to snuggle up in my new fall wardrobe.


so, number one on the agenda is a new haircut. as you all know, after years of longish hair, i cut it off this spring into a cute new bob. i am still loving my short hair but i do miss being able to put it up so i have been growing it out a little. i found this picture of kirsten and i love, love, love this haircut. of course mine will be darker but this is such a classic retro bob. i can't wait to get over to see my girl soon to start working on this cut.


and here is my latest signature lip color, chili by mac. i'm loving it. mac really does the best lipstick, don't they?


and this was the purchase of the season. i always keep a classic camel coat in my closet and when this came through our latest collection, you know i had to have it. this is pendleton's hip/young collection, the portland collection. i absolutely can't wait for it to get cool enough to wear this.


i decided that i really wanted a buffalo check shirt this year but i wanted it to have elbow patches. then i remembered this great junya watanabe shirt from two years ago and i found a pendleton version of it. i'm just going to wear it as a shirt jacket with jeans or leggings this winter.


last week i found the softest leopard print cardigan like this one at h&m. i think it will be the perfect accessory to mix in with my collection. it goes with everything.


i have been looking and looking for a classic french cuff shirt like this one and i am determined to find it this season. it is just such a staple. i must have one!


and i die for these flared camel trousers. must have! where oh where can i find these. i cannot go on without something like this in my fall collection.


my rain boots have worn out and they have been retired to the back door for taking the dogs outside. i literally had a puddle in them last week so i finally broke down and bought these pillar box red hunter wellies. of course now i'm dying to wear them and it's been nothing but sun here!


and i know that ballet flats are not the best fall footwear but i found these gabriella rocha flats on zappos and i had to have them. the bows are just the sweetest. besides, my last pair of black ballet flats wore out in new york so they needed replaced anyway.


black converse are always a staple in my closet. nothing beats these for weekend wear.


and i'm loving my new clear dome umbrella. this is going to be so cute this winter with my new boots.


and of course i can't forget my most prized fashion accessory, my girl lu. nothing goes better with my fall wardrobe better than this little piece of love.

serge

have any of you seen gainsbourg a heroic life yet? it's showing here in portland at the living room theaters and i'm dying to go see it but i just haven't had time yet.

one of the unfair things in life is that i did not know about serge while he was still alive. i'm happy to have discovered him many years ago but oh to have seen him live would have been amazing. i guess that's another guest for my dinner with anyone living or dead!

by the way, i'm so sorry for my lack of posts lately. the month of august swirled by like a whirlwind and i'm still catching up. i had a great time in nyc that i still need to post about so i'll try to get that done soon.

can you believe tomorrow is the first day of fall? while fall is my favorite apparel season, i'm just not quite ready for the rainy weather to come back. it is still very beautiful here right now so i'm trying to get out as much as possible to enjoy it.

well, it's good to be back and i hope to get back to my blogging as much as possible. thanks so much for hanging in there with me and don't forget to check out my other blog for all things portland.

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!

it's all my mother's fault

i blame it all on my mother... that is the fact that i long for exotic places, interesting people and romantic yet creaky old interiors.


it all started the day that she gave me a copy of the secret garden. up to this point, i was still reading winnie the pooh and madeleine. which were very fine books indeed but once my eyes fell on the secret garden, i was ready for more grown up books. books that maybe everything didn't always turn out perfect and that sometimes people died and maybe not all children had a mother and father. those kinds of books.

after the secret garden, i would lock myself in my room reading books from page to page and longing for an attic bedroom and my own secret garden. which was a big dream because i lived in arizona and we didn't have english gardens there. to this day, i still dream of my secret garden and attic room. and i'm getting closer now because i have a yard and a house with more than one story after many, many years of apartment dwelling.


then there was the house in paris. oh what would it have been like travel alone by train to paris to stay with a spinster and her mother? to wonder what secrets they were hiding up those narrow stairs. and to meet a boy who had no mother and to learn at a young age the complicated dynamics of a girl and boy.


last year i read sophie dahl's, playing with the grown ups and it took me back to these stories that i read as a young girl.

oh if only my family had been a little more bohemian like hers and if my grand father had written the greatest children's story of all time. and what if i traveled to london and was discovered by a vogue stylist who loved the fact that i ate what i wanted and wore high heels at too young an age. oh what a life that would have been!


so today i just made my first summer reading purchase of sophie's first book, the man with the dancing eyes. i long for summer days sitting in the grass and reading frivolous things. this one will be perfect with it's naturalized illustrations. i have a feeling it may have it's own secret garden, too.

so yes mom, thank you. thank you for turning me into a hopeless romantic. and for showing me that even if we didn't have an old victorian house with my own attic bedroom i could one day live in a city with beautiful old houses and one day even have one of my own if i wanted.

well, i guess it's not so bad after all.

blanc de blanc

how about a little sofia coppola blanc de blanc?


i love her simple classic style with a masculine touch. she is understated, glowing and beautiful.

courtesy of rdujour

diane's new do

the last time diane birch was in the store, she was sporting a chic new shorter haircut. i thought it looked so cute on her and then a few days later, she changed her facebook pic with her long locks to this one.

i would be lying if i said she wasn't an inspiration to my new haircut!

what do you think of her new shorter cut?

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!

new do

we had a birthday party in the park last weekend and lorenzo finally took a picture of me with my new hair. here i am with my baby girl lucie.

next week i have another hair appointment to cut it even shorter. i feel like it needs a little length off the back to make it less mushroomy and a little more edgy.

anyway, sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted. i don't really like to have my picture taken all that much. i'll try to get one up sooner than later after my next cut.

i hope you all have a great weekend. we are having a catherine deneuve film fest here in town so i hope to get out for some classic frenchie films!

and to all the momma's, have a very happy mother's day!