jesse brown

i am smitten with the work of seattle artist (woot!), jesse brown, found via lena corwin.

Elvira Style Lesson

Last night I finally saw Scarface. Don't punch me, but I wasn't really into it. I won't go into my reasons because who cares, because what this post is really about is Michelle Pfeiffer's character. More specifically: her sunglasses. Look at those babies, those are fantastic. They're Jackie O meets cat eye. It's not as if its a shape I've never seen in my life, but it's definitely a shape I was never into until seeing her wear them.

So this is what I can find online. these at vintageswank, these at 28crash (awesome vintage site, btw), and if you don't care about being authentic, these at forever 21.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

weekender love

I've been told I deserve an award for my ability to share a suitcase with my boyfriend or fit all of my things in the smallest bag ever when I go on vacation. I just hate dragging luts of luggage around and I've learned my lesson once on bringing too many things with me. Because of this I've grown an obsession with weekender bags despite the fact that I go on vacation only about 2 times a year.

I had to refrain myself from ordering this unbelievably cute and totally affordable ivy league weekender yesterday. I had to remind myself that bags probably fit under my clothes shopping ban..right? eh.

White Space Wednesdays

Alyson of Unruly Things invited me to join the flickr pool White Space Wednesdays, which I think is the coolest idea. I'm excited to contribute next week, despite my very slim amount of white space in my shoebox apartment:)

Etsy Find of the Day: Succulent

I'm constantly amazed by the type of things people sell on Etsy that had never crossed my mind before as a possibility. Started as a store to sell all things handmade, the purpose of the site has changed durings its incredibly fast growth spurt and poses the question of what falls under that purpose. The change and growth is what some could consider great, and some could consider bad. I feel that for the most part it's amazing because the world is introduced to small artists and retailers they never would have found before. I think it's one of the greatest things to happen on the internet in a long time.



Today I found something I'd never seen: plants. More specifically, my all time favorite: succulents. These guys are not only beautiful and unique but ridiculously easy to take care of as long as you give them lots of sunlight. Succulent sells a few different kinds and make the most fantastic gift to send to someone. Screw expensive flowers (RIP Martha Stewart Flowers) that die after a week, send someone a plant! I can usually find succulents for cheaper in Chinatown, but these are way prettier and let's face it, most of us are too lazy to wrap a plant up and ship it to someone. And bonus my friends: "If for any reason your plant perishes in the first year, I ask that you ship the vessel back to me. Upon receipt, I will ship you another succulent for FREE". How awesome is that?



And on that note, I present to you my new burro's tail succulent, Beatrice.

Recent Wardrobe Remix Favorites

(click the images to go to the flickr photo page)

My take on Madewell 1937

I was in Soho on my lunch break today and while I am on a month-long clothes shopping ban I thought I'd check out J. Crew's new venture, Madewell 1937. It's a younger, slightly edgier version of J Crew's women's line and was reportedly cheaper. Um, no. Not cheaper! I love a bit of J Crew in my wardrobe but seldom do I feel like spending that much on clothing, so I thought Madewell might be the ticket, but sadly its just not. $100 for blazers, around $200 for coats, $100 for dresses, $60 for thin sweaters, I just wasn't sold. It seemed like they were all of the same quality as J Crew, but they're younger, funner and more trendy, which is exactly the kind of stuff I like to buy at places like Forever 21 because if it feels too trendy and young I don't feel so bad not wearing something that didn't make a big dent in my wallet.

But don't get me wrong, it's all pretty cute. Plus the store is adorable and pays excellent attention to detail -moleskin notebooks, artsy books, and little trinkets are randomly placed around the store for sale. A vintage bike, plants and rustic wood are a bit reminiscent of Anthropologie. In fact, I'd go as far to say that a lot of the things in the store are a collision of J Crew and Anthropologie, with a bit more preppyness than the usual Anthropologie.

All in all I'm not sold on it and probably won't go back unless I'm in the area and they have exactly what I need, but I'm a cheapskate.

Etsy Find of the Day: Always Amy

Sometimes I like to channel my inner child and wear plastic Goody barrettes and Keds. Maybe that's why all the little stud earrings in Always Amy's etsy shop make me smile. I mean, who doesn't need a pair of little red telephone earrings? Or maybe some little owls? Dinosaurs? I would have died and gone to heaven had these been around when I was a kid. I only had those plastic ones that came in hearts, stars and squares.



etsy finds will be moving to just Tuesdays and Thursdays because I don't want this blog to just become "for me, for you: etsy finds"

Nerd out with your mac out

My tech savvyness is slowly fading since I no longer live with a computer nerd or reside in Seattle and now live with an art nerd who has trouble with Microsoft Word. New Yorkers try really hard to be cool, but never too nerdy. Seattlites invented the tech nerd. But I try my best to keep up on everything Apple because it is, well, amazing. If you're facinated by the company and the man behind it all, this interview with Steve Jobs just might captivate you as much as it did me.
I also love the way they put the interview online, in a slideshow format with photos. Genius.

wiksten made

In case you haven't heard of Jenny Gordy of Wiksten Made, I must tell you: she is amazingly talented and endlessly inspirational. I recently became the owner of one of her Tova shirts and I've decided that if I had to wear a uniform, it would be a Tova shirt with jeans.
Thank you, Jenny, for making quite possibly the most perfect shirt ever. And, Look how cute she is, pictured in the Tova shirt above!

She'll be having a small sale in her etsy shop Thursday, March 27, 7:00 PM CST. Be sure to check out her flickr page too!

essimar

I didn't find this myself so I didn't use it as my etsy find today, but essimar's etsy shop is full of things that make me swoon. I'm literally so in love with everything in this shop it's impossible to decide which piece to buy, and not to mention filling me to the brim with inspiration. She has an equally inspiring blog as well.





via my love for you..

Etsy Find of the Day: deadbirdfinds

In my little daydream perfect world, I'm working from home making books all day, sitting at my desk drinking tea from cute vintage mugs and keeping them warm on an awesomevintage hotplate. (I'm a perfect candidate for a hotplate, it takes me 2 hours to finish my drinks because I get so distracted)



deadbirdfinds: great little vintage home items.

Hello Weekend

I forgot to mention that I had today off, so no postin'. I'll be back Monday with an etsy find, I'm not spending my day off drolling etsy- thats what work is for, duh.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and don't puke from too many Peeps/Cadbury Eggs/Chocolate Bunnys.

photo of my new desk chair..someday I'll take the Christmas lights down

ABC3D

Be amazed.

Thanks, Lauren.

Etsy Find of the Day: good-ness

Something about this etsy shop is very familiar to me so I don't know if someone has already blogged about this, or perhaps I stumbled across it a while ago and was too lazy to post it? (thats quite possible)
Anyway, full of fantastic Japanese fabrics, books and stamps, good-ness is so sweet it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as if I were gazing at a puppy.







I'm going to try to find 1 etsy store a day to share with you guys, schedule permitting, because I'm clearly obsessed.

Interesting

top: photo from Janfamily: Plans for Other Days
bottom: photo from Amelia's Magazine fashion feature "While We Can" by Chiara Romagnoli

recommended: hot chip

I'm actually a pretty busy bee today so I'm going to have to stop my blog trolling, put my headphones on and listen to Hot Chip on repeat while I design a Latino trends presentation and occasionally stop to gaze out the window at the rain.

lauren k roberts

lauren k roberts's lace necklace is completely amazing. Apparently I have a thing for jewelry designers on etsy named Lauren.

Did I mention my Lauren Haupt necklace came? I love it to pieces.

Antropomorfo

GlamplusFratesi's Antropomorfo chairs are based on children's drawings. Brilliant.

Current Obsession: leather jackets

I can't get them out of my mind! Trolling ebay is a nightmare left with hideous biker jackets that remind me of my mom during her Metallica phase, and new jackets cost more than my laptop did, so a new quest has started: the leather jacket. I'm bidding on the jacket in the first picture on ebay (btw, ebay sellers, using mannequins as models is tres tacky) but you know how ebayer are these days: the glory days of deals are practically over.

b+w

I adore this black + white room from Canadian House & Home Magazine.
That rug is my all time favorite.

More on their site, via Desire to Inspire.

street fashion

More fun street fashion at a new-to-me blog, Super Fantastic Picture Time. Beautiful shots which are as good as the Sartorialist. I've been having fun sifting through the archives!

Tom Hemmerick

Have you ever been friends with someone for a while and had no idea they totally talented? I knew that my friend Tom was an artist because he went to art school with Billy, but I'd never seen his work until a month ago or so when he started a flickr account. I'm crazy about his work and I hope he puts more up.

Gap Design Editions: waking me up from my waking nap

I don't have a picture for this post, so here's a happy warm picture to sum up my Sunday half spent in bed.

I had an action-packed weekend full of too many dumplings in Chinatown, just the right amount of tequila, pumpkin pie ice cream, and watching the sun come up from the ER. I am so tired and disoriented that you know if something gets me excited this morning, it must be good:

Next month, Gap will be bringing back its Gap Design Editions limited edition program, having enlisted 3.1 Phillip Lim, Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, Philip Crangi and Threeasfour for the program’s second round.

-WWD (you have to be a subscriber to read the article, so just google that shiz and read all the people buzzing)

Phillip, please don't disappoint me like Marimekko did. I'm much too excited for you to crush my dreams of your designs at an affordable price.

Note: all links of my weekend links are provided as reccomendations, with the exception of the Not Reccomended: climbing fences and not answering your begging neighbors when they buzz you awake in the night. Thanks, jerks.

Brendan Monroe

I went to Printed Matter today and drooled over books and saw handmade books that impressed me 80 times more than all the art at the gazillion galleries went to today. It was hard to not buy everything I loved but I settled for just one little book by artist Brendan Monroe. The book is incredibly clever because it has a poster in the middle that's folded up and tied to the book. I didn't notice it until I took it home and wondered why there was an extra piece of string on the binding. This is such a simple, easy way to make a little book so much more special.

Hey guys, I'm taking a blogging break today because it seems tacky to post about the usual randomness I talk about here right after Andrea's post about her Grandma.
A blogging moment of silence? I guess so.

Have a wonderful weekend!

i sometimes wear my heart on the outside

Yesterday, I received sad news that my grandmother had passed away. She will be terribly missed. I spent so much time with her when I was young and those are my best memories of her. I felt it appropriate that I post about her here because she was one of my greatest inspirations. She was incredibly talented and I owe many of my early creative moments to her.

I couldn't sleep last night as all of my fondest memories with her poured in quite vividly. I had to write them down to see them all in one place:

I remember you calling him Jimmy, like you always must have, but to me he was just Dad.
I remember drinking 7up and eating deli meat which had it's own drawer
I remember being amazed and enchanted by Bob Ross, which I still enjoy watching
I remember birds doing somersaults in your bird bath
I remember us losing track of time crafting and watching jeopardy
I remember sifting through your craft magazines pondering what to make next
I remember wondering if I'd ever be able to quilt or sew as well as you
I remember you trying to convince my dad to vote democratic
I remember your big hugs and even bigger pies
My mom still uses your recipe for pie crust, it's still the best
I remember sitting and chatting on the porch at dusk
I remember discovering nests in your bird houses
I remember the squash you planted in tractor tires
I remember the blackberry bushes with so many more thorns than berries
I remember you teaching me to paint with oils, for the first time ever.
I remember feeling so proud to know you.

Keeping it real (the puns will stop now, I promise)

Eek. I ordered these. Billy says they're way cooler than the striped ones anyway. It was such an impulse buy considering I haven't even tried them on.

Damn you tax return and your random spending encouragement!

First Look at Marimekko for H&M: dissapointing

I was super excited when it was announced that Marimekko would be designing a line for H&M, but the first look NY Mag gave us today has me going...ehhhhhh no. I think the only thing I might wear is the dress on the right. Maybe. It's all so loud and not in a fun way.
But I'm so incredibly boring an subdued when it comes to colors and patterns in my wardrobe, so what do you think?

See the rest here.

neat + tidy

I can be really organized if I put my mind to it, but it just doesn't happen that often. That's why I am a lover of (and limit myself to) closed storage. You know those pretty glass kitchen cabinets or shelves instead of upper cabinets – yeah, never going to happen over here.

So naturally, i'm impressed when others can pull off this in their own home and not just in a magazine. While perusing flickr today I found the most organized home I've seen in ages. Chez Larsson, located in Stockholm, Sweden has the loveliest home filled to the brim with organizational madness. I love her use of gobs of white (the swedes seem to love white interiors, and i love them for it) with pops of bright colors.

Also, I LOVE that her cat's names are Mini and Bonus.

And now, prepare to be amazed:

Keep on searching

I recently started walking to and from work because I hate the subway like the plague. I get intensely clausterphobic, people are always in the worst moods while on the train and throw out all standards of courtesy and kindness, and it's gross. Therefore my 2 mile walk has made my shoe choices slim and I usually walk to work in my asics and change out of them when I get to work. But today I was thinking how nice it would be to have cute comfortable shoes! What a concept. There's no time better for that than spring, when I don't have to worry as much about my feet freezing or snow falling.
This has lead to my obsession with finding a grey pair of Keep shoes. I want the hightop ones, but he low top pair is pretty cute too. They must be in between seasons right now because their website is slim on bigfoot sizes and all the retailers they claim carry them that are in the LES by me do not.

It is a quest. It shall continue.

the leather store

Etsy shop The Leather Store has some seriously cute hand crafted leather bags that are inexpensive. I've been looking for a big old shopper-style leather bag.

p.s.

ps. aren't you just loving the entries on Design*Sponge's DIY contest?! People are friggin amazing I tell you.

new flickr favorite

I love the eerie quietness of yosigo's photos on flickr. Serious fog goodness.

oh, impulse

just when i'm feeling like the good ol' chain shops are becoming more fashion forward and unique, i have to check on impulse boutique in seattle.

i can always count on impulse for their truly distinctive finds. i love the way the photos are styled on their blog and i usually feel like everything is very wearable. too bad the prices don't usually fit into my budget.

here are some of my current favorites:



Junya Watanabe for CdG Wrinkle Navy Blazer



Steven Alan Patched Pocket Tunic in Medium Stripe



A.P.C Top with Buttons in White

One man's trash is Kate Miss's treasure

Last night Billy and I were walking back from the deli during a We Must Have Ben & Jerry's Right Now Attack when we saw someone in my building put this fiberglass chair out by the trash. I stopped and gasped a little, and Billy turned and gave me the nod. We pretended to walk half way up our stairs until we knew the guy was back in his apartment (I didn't want to seem pathetically eager) and then bolted back downstairs to snatch it up. It has a little stain on the front, but besides that its totally great.

I also have the sweetest vintage side table that I found by the trash in my last apartment.

My brain is mush from a rather terrible weekend so I'm being super lazy about posting today. I've seriously saved like 10 photos of things onto my desktop of what I want to post about and then the thought of resizing them and uploading them to flickr, linking them, etc just makes me eyes roll back into my head. Yeah...serious case of the mondays.

SO! Lets pretend I'm crafty today and I'll share with you some things I've made lately. I'm currently really into making little side stitched books and as soon as I get my hands on some wood scraps to make a press with I'm going to finally get back into making hard cover bound books.


A little booklet I made out of a little paper bag, hand drawn cover. I like the little half-circle cut in the corner.



I made this other little booklet and wrote the word "notes" on the front and when Billy looked it he told me he wasn't into it because it was so boring to have a notebook that said notes on it. He said my booklets should have my personality on them and reflect the weird things I put in the sketchbook I keep (its all text based drawings, like a journal but more about the type than what I have to say)
So this little guy came of that.


I experimented with this one on having a tiny gusset-spine (thats probably really bad book making terminology) rather than just being folded over like the interior pages. It works really well and I'll probably make more like this but do something with the cover...printing or hand lettering. The interior pages are random colors.


So thats all for today and I must tell you all how excited I am to walk home today in the LIGHT! Despite daylight saving really screwing with my sleep and making me tired all day (I'm a delicate flower like that) I'm pumped about more daylight.

new toy

Sorry for my absence this week, I've been slightly obsessed with my new-to-me camera and haven't been sitting in front of the computer as much. Tomorrow will be my first time with it in real daylight and I promise a few photos if they're any good. In the mean time, here's our boy, Oscar, shot with our newest baby:

Vintage Found

I love found photography. It's really great for The Most Boring Day Ever. Super awesome flickr account full of it.

I love the fancy dress set

Feminist Art, Shoes, and Seattle

A few random things:

- If you're in the New York area between now and May, I highly highly recommend that you check out PS1's current exhibition: WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution. My friend Elise and I went on Saturday and we were there for 3 hours! PS1 is hands down my favorite place to look at art in New York. Its never crowded, its in an old school building, the art is always fantastic, and its super cheap.

- I went to Old Navy on Monday to buy those shoes and I had totally waited too long because they were all out of size 9 in every color. (yes, I have disproportionately large feet for my barely 5'3" frame) BUT! Today I went back crossing my fingers and not only did they have my size in the exact color I wanted, but they were 10 bucks off. I ended up getting the wedges instead of the sandals because they seemed comfier. Ching!

Then I went to Cosi and got a sandwich and realized I was having a suburban moment. Sometimes you want shitty chain food and shitty chain clothes, ok?

- I'm going to Seattle in April! Andrea and I will be sure to take a fabulous for me, for you portrait. Maybe we'll even be high tech with my flip camera and make a video post.

I leave you with a picture of Roger, who has grown a lot lately and is an example of me saying I'll do things and I never get around to it (um, his shitty plastic container still has not been replaced)

Pink & Blue

The gallery that Billy works at is having an opening this Saturday for a really amazing photographer, Jeongmee Yoon, for her series where she went to kids houses and took pictures of boys with all of their blue things and girls with all of their pink things. Nothing is propped. See all the photos here.

Mean Girls

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the best Go Fug Yourself post EVER, a.k.a. What the Fuck Was Chloe Sevigny Thinking?
I couldn't agree more ladies. I have a special little place in my heart for Chloe, but this collection is just disasterous.

You'd think that I wasn't busy or something today...

Monica Canilao

Monica Canilao's work is absolutely amazing.



I found her through her show she had with Kyle Ranson that Meighan posted about.

Life-long Obsession

It's so gross and gloomy here in the city the last two days. It makes me want to curl up in bed and call in sick! So sorry if I'm feeling uninspired lately.

So, this post is about a little obsession of mine: containers. Growing up my dad collected little boxes. I don't know exactly what his facination with them was but he had a lot, mostly wooden, but he'd also keep little tins like altoid containers and use them for everything. He's a crafty guy that I owe almost every ounce of my creativity to, and I guess his love for those things rubbed off on me. Yesterday I was thinking about how I wanted to share with you all these little holders I made out of an empty walnut can and a tiny paint can that I covered in oragami paper when I realized I have SO many little containers. I'm obsessed.
So here they are, and no, this is not all of them. Just my favorites.


clockwise from top left: the containers I covered in oragami paper. The littler one was an empty can that some walnuts I bought were in, and the little paint can is from the container store. -- clear acrylic container for my book binding supplies -- japanese tray from some little store in Seattle that holds random things like these little oragami squares I use for notes -- the lid to a mailing tube I use for things like glue and notebooks I keep under my desk -- a little container I've had since I was a kid that I keep a shell from the Washington shore in to remind me of home -- sake jars for our toothbrushes and a sake cup for our toothpaste -- sushi plate for my earrings and rings -- little paper dish a coworker got me in Japan that holds my hair stuff in the bathroom -- glass tray for change I got at the Whitney -- Helvetica case that holds my micron pens (xmas present from Billy)

So that my friends is my life long obsession.

moop

Inspired by Kate's finds, I searched around etsy today and found these great modern and sturdy totes by moop.

Isn't it fun to say moop?

Obsolete Skills

My boss just sent around this link to the most addicting to read if you're bored website(or procrastinating work)
Obsolete Skills, an A-Z list of skills that are no longer very useful.

My favorites:

Blowing the dust out of a Nintendo cartridge
Dewey decimal system
Manners
Putting a needle on a vinyl record (when people come to my place and don't know how to do this on my record player I'm appalled)

Super Mario Bros. by Dave.Nandes

local library

I'm really picky about jewelry. I went through a phase for years were I didn't wear any because I hated it all. But lately etsy is changing that with all the amazing small jewelry makers that are so incredible accessible now.
I found local library today and love almost everything.

current obsessions: round up

You guys are awesome, your current obsessions were inspiring. Here they are in no particular order:

Kusmi tea
a Jonathan Alder apple pillow
a trip to Portland
Ray LaMontagne
Madeline Weinrib
an upcoming trip to Mexico (jealous)
your blog (you are so awesome Meighan)
a new perfume i bought
yummy warm coffee or tea in the morning w/just the right amount of milk and brown sugar (ditto)
kettle korn
50's and 60's modernist paintings
Tolomeo lamps
reading the Sunday NYTimes
taking a long hot shower
the brownies in the fridge right now


I have some more after this weekend: sunny sunday walks in the east village (this includes watching the dogs at the Tompkins Square Park dog run for like at least an hour), Durak- a Russian card game I just learned that I kick ass at, and vintage ponchos (I'm on an ebay quest my friends)