serge in da house

so yes, i am still sorting through my paris photos from back in january.  i have been waiting for these for quite some time because i texted them to lorenzo just a little before i lost my red purse with my phone in it and it has taken him this long to find them.  i'm so happy to have them saved now.  my pilgrimage to serge's house was number one on my tourist agenda so i would have been soooo bummed if we did not have these.  but alas, here is my visit with the ghost of serge gainsbourg.

serge's house is still pretty much as he left it and is owned by his daughter charlotte.  there have been rumors that she wants to turn it into a museum but my google searches did not find anything as to whether this is true or not.  could you imagine visiting his home?  i would die!  hopefully, in the future, it will be open to the public.  it looks pretty unassuming from the street, but being as though it is a parisian home, i'm sure a lot lies behind the gated entry.  here are a few pics for your pleasure.

i love photos of he and his family together.  what a great kitchen.

bath time with family and puppy.

serge in his library.

i hope to get more posts up soon.  things have calmed down a bit now so stay posted.  and for sure i will get more paris photos up as i can.  merci beaucoup for always remaining patient with my random posts!

sources: artsy time
              she was a bird

kathy and ron's living room

kathy and ron's living room by shelly-schramm on polyvore.com

IKEA Aborg
$40 - ikea.com

Dania
$999 - daniafurniture.com

Trunk HAMPTON
maisonsdumonde.com

Tufted Corduroy Floor Pillow
$39 - urbanoutfitters.com

block print black and white floor pillow
$70 - cb2.com

Hand-Blocked Silk Casablanca Pillow Cover | west elm
$39 - westelm.com

Mosaic Lumbar Toss Pillow
$30 - worldmarket.com

Eileen Table - Gray : Target
$170 - target.com

Small Rectangle Lacquer Trays | west elm
westelm.com

Pure White Ceramic Vase Collection | west elm
$10 - westelm.com

1STDIBS.COM - Culture Object - Joel Philip Myers for the Blenko Glass...
1stdibs.com

Rockett St George Large Hand Blown Glass Pendant Light – Blue & Grey
$783 - coggles.com

kathy and ron's living room

kathy and ron's living room by shelly-schramm on polyvore.com

Jesús Gasca Zero Table - 47 in Glass Top
$1,728 - dwr.com

Dania
$999 - daniafurniture.com

Upholstered Slipper Chair | west elm
$299 - westelm.com

Retro Ikat Pillow Cover | west elm
$34 - westelm.com

Mallard Green Lumbar Pillow
$15 - worldmarket.com

Henry Ottoman | west elm
westelm.com

1STDIBS.COM - Culture Object - Joel Philip Myers for the Blenko Glass...
1stdibs.com

Vintage Kilim Rug
$1,400 - freepeople.com

Rockett St George Large Hand Blown Glass Pendant Light – Blue & Grey
$786 - coggles.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!

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?

mon dieu!

oh my gosh! has it really been over two months since i checked in with you all? i can't believe that the time has flown by so quickly and now we are at the eve of christmas eve! things have been so busy in my life that i just have barely been getting everything done that i need to but it's also been really, really great.

well, i just want to let you know that we are all doing just fine in my household. lorenzo and the girl are fabulous as always and lucie, roy and the kitty cats are all doing great as well. work is going good, just keeping me very busy. in fact i have a little bit of news for you all...in eleven days i will be heading to paris for maison objet! yes, it's true, my work is sending me to paris and i couldn't be happier. however, between now and then, i have a lot of work to do. i will be setting up and working our booth at the show in paris and then fly directly to new york to do the same at the new york gift show. whew, i'm already tired!

so while preparing to go to paris, i was sure to get a hotel in my favorite neighborhood, the latin quarter, to be close to my beloved shakespeare and company. i was so sad to hear last week that george whitman passed away at the ripe old age of 98. i was hoping to see him one last time. perhaps i will light a candle in notre dame for the old codger.


i think the best thing about this whole situation is that he had a daughter he named sylvia beach who has taken over running the store for him so i can rest easy knowing that it is in good hands (and i'm sure he can too).


if you have never been to shakespeare and company in paris, the next time you are there, you must go. it is a magical little world all its own.


and i am so excited to be staying right around the corner from the bookshop at hotel le notre dame.


this cute 26 room hotel was designed by christian lacroix and it is going to be my home away from home for ten days while i'm there. oh my gosh, i DIE!

so i promise, promise, promise that i will be better about checking in with you all-- my wonderful devoted reader friends and i will take lots and lots of pictures for you.

happy christmas to everyone and i can't wait to talk to you again soon.
XO

kitchen love

i love kitchens. i don't necessarily love to cook but i do love kitchens. one of my favorite things is when we are having a dinner party and everyone there is hanging out in the kitchen with each other.

so why don't most homes have better kitchens? it's a room that in most houses seems like an after thought. i mean, don't we generally spend more time in our kitchen than in our living room? i know we do.

and it's sad but true that our kitchen is not very exciting. our whole entire house needs remodeled and the kitchen is not the top priority right now. so instead, i shall spend my time on-line dreaming of a new kitchen.

and that's how i found this one.


this kitchen belongs to a musician in new zealand and was featured on the selby.


i just love everything about it. the layout, the colors, the decor, the red counter top and open shelves. oh please can i have this kitchen?

and what about that tapestry hanging on the ceiling. i have almost that exact fabric hanging in our entry window. red and gold is definitely my favorite color combination at home.

so now i know, i too shall have a kitchen like this someday.

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.

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...

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