sky rockets in flight..

afternoon delights made by me. perfect for a rainy day. not perfect for my muffin top.

alice in wonderland

fall dress

love these dresses from boden. pretty vintage fabric. i would wear that gray floral one with some bright raspberry tights.

this green floral with soft, sweater-y, charcoal gray tights.

this jersey wrap dress is about 395098534hundred dollars LESS that DVF. a great cut for a girl with juggs like mine.

this one comes in a slew of patterns and solids. 118 dollars.

HEEEY!!!! where did YOU come from? do you need to be spanked little fox? because i WILL spank the hell out of you.

all available at boden.

senseless acts of blogging and house buying woes

in case any of you are wondering about el rancho and where we are at in the buying process well, we are nowhere kinda sorta. meaning, we have put in an offer(s), the mortgage broker is helping us move and crunch numbers but the bottom line is our finances aren't in place. if we had about 10 grand+ we could move right in. why in christ's name did i not learn the importance of making and saving money? where was i for that class? i don't think i was ever offered that class, actually. well, i guess the only thing to do now is to start saving.

ok, on to the senseless blogging...

what the???

that's sean connery. but from what movie? anyone? i love the photo. would love it more if it was blown up the size of texas and hanging in my new hous...oh...wait...DAMNIT!!!!

and can anyone tell me why every time my AC comes on it smells like wild onions?

thanks MFAMB lovers.

you're kicking ass, target!

i'd be stupid not to, right?

i mean this COULD look good right? i would be buying for 40 bucks. covering it in glossy white paint. and the hardware. ahhhh the hardware. i am seeing in my head some gold-y shiny belt buckle-y looking thing. i have no idea where to find such hardware. do any of you know where i might acquire such hardware?

what the what?

who knew???

pretty pretty

if i were gonna have a wedding and i needed some invites done up real good this would be it. how super duper is that white calligraphy on those black envelopes??

go HERE!!

monday color combo

i still love it. gray and yellow is one of my favorites. please don't go away gray and yellow. you are the happy and the dismal. the wow and the drab. the drunk and the sober. the fall leaves in the pavement......

images via flickr-thesugarmonster, simplygroveblog,mynottinghillblog, house and home, house beautiful, domino archives, dwell shop, etsy-cookoorokoo, living etc, jonathan adler

higher quality hotness

and for all you jacob fans....

sunday series, what flavor?

part 1. enjoy the stupidity.

wearing

the coolest t-shirt ever.

a ranch on the beach

so, can my el rancho rock a beach vibe like this?

you can't deny the power of an all white backdrop in a small house. the flow and all that. this house is primarily painted sherwin williams extra white. fab kitchen, great inspiration. i want beams!!!!! and ann sacks tiles would be nice too.

how fantastic is that wallpaper!?!?! could my ranch bedroom carry this? or would it look out of place? i would spank the hell out of that little loaf of bread in that chair.

what do you think about decorating outside the style of your house? just so you know when i say 'beach vibe' i am not talking nautical influences or a shitbasket of shells everywhere. i mean MODERN beachiness.

thoughts? opinions?

images via sunset

so you think you're katie holmes

tonight on so you think you can dance ms. kate (as tom like's her to be called) holmes-cruise will dance for us. not sure why...seems kind of random, but whatevs- i'll watch.
btw...do you think this photo was taken after a night of riding in cruise control?
ha haaaaaaa....ha ha haaaa...i STILL kill me!!!!!!!!!

aerie

i know most of you read apartment therapy and you either have already seen this or will at some point but i couldn't help but copy this post here for all the readers out there that will NOT see this on AT. this is a human nest located in big sur, CA. you can stay here for a fee. it's like camping. they have yurts and such or the human nest. before you decide whether or not you think it's too weird for you check out the view it provides...

yeah, right? nice view but i am afraid it is waaaaaaaaaay too high for me. besides, who's to say some eagle doesn't try to mate with you in the middle of the night? mel- i know you are probably close to fainting right now. you and i can stay in the yurt. so MFAMB readers, would you stay here? COULD you stay here?

$#@$$&^&*ffff*##$#@@#^&&&^(^%!!!!!!!!!!!

suffice to say i would eat the HELL out of these right now!!!!!!!! it comes in a bar too!!!!!!!!!! gGRRRRR! look at the oozy love cream! it's like it's protecting that chocolate from the cavernous hole that is my mouth. and could that rosy pink be any more perfect?

while we're on the subject of pink foods i need to throw these in my mouth too. 1-POP! 2-POP! 3-POP! one day i will get to paris and i will eat myself into a diabetic coma. watch out laduree

- you'd better have those pretty lavender ones set out for me too!!

young house love-UH-MAZING renovations...

so a couple of folks turned me on to an awesome couple who turned their el rancho el sucko...
into el rancho el cute-o.. for a ranch buyer like me this is mad inspiration.


here is the porch before: (not bad really)

but after...much better!

the kitchen before...

after: love white kitchens..seriously is there ANYONE out there that thinks that knotty pine casket above is good??!?! and can we do away with all things scalloped forever?

hey wait a minute!!! how did THIS get in here??!!
hims not good, hims bad. nicolas bb, your forces are too strong.

living room angle 1 before:

living room angle 1 after: MFAMB reader kathi are you paying attention?

living room angle 2 before:

living room angle 2 after: LOVE how they took the curtains and blinds all the way up to give the illusion of a larger window.

you simply MUST visit young house love to see all of the renovations..the bathrooms, the bedrooms, a pretty sunroom plus their yard where they were married..they did an amazing job with a pretty tight budget.

HB's kitchen of the year...heeey!!! wait..a..second...

here is the new-much-anticipated-house beautiful-2009-kitchen-of-the-year....behold it in it's beautiful functionality. notice the proximity of everything. notice the long work surface/sink area. notice the open shelving and the beautiful silver behind the stacked white dishes. notice the cool cake stands up top...

wait a minute...what's this? another angle of the same kitchen? why no, it's ina garten's famous barn kitchen from her home in the hizzies.

ok back to HB's kitchen of the year...oooh! look pretty belgian style rustic simplicity.

yes...pretty lavender slipcovers...pretty fireplace with great candl...waaaaiitt a seccc...????

i know i have seen those candlesticks and that fireplace somewhere before...OH YES!!! in INA'S BARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HB's version of a desk in the new kitchen...

ina's desk...remarkably similar...

nice deck with large grill and herb garden..i would take out a few of those flags though..

and maybe move out of 30 rock.
but i guess once a set decorater always a set decorater. no..i kiiiid..i kiiiid!! it's gorgeous. both of them.

a lot on my mind

some of you already know that we are in the process of buying a new house. something we have never done before. always been renters, you see. we spent the entire day driving around with our agent looking at houses. (the reason for no monday color combo, sorry) an exhausting task. we saw 11 homes. most of them sucked. while this one below isn't much to look it in terms of style (not mine AT all) it is our favorite. why? first and foremost it is in one of THE best school districts in the southeast. it is within our budget. it is inside the perimeter (if you live in the A.T.L. you know what that means and how important it is). it has new windows throughout, a new roof and has been very, very well taken care of. OH! and it has a nice deck and a large, private yard. when you live in a big, expensive city like atlanta you don't exactly get much for your money. this one offers much for the money. it is not our dream house but i don't think it is realistic to imagine your first home as your dream home. right? so that said, we are looking at a few more houses this week but this one so far is a strong contender. ok..so on to the critiques and ideas..first of all i am not a fan of brick houses especially on el rancho el sucko's. can you get anymore grandma than iron railings? i am either going to have to replace or grow some serious vines all up and down them. the previous owners have some morning glory growing already, but i am thinking grape or something that grows hardy and fast and aplenty. any ideas??? this is a nice sized family room with great light...

the kitchen is...umm...odd. it is very small but offers good cabinet storage. but i am not at all a fan of how they built up these cabinet "walls" on both sides of this little area when they could have gone farther left (towards you) and made it more galley style.

at least they under mounted the sink! hate the tiles but it is such a small area i think i could get something pretty fancy! and painting the cabinets are a definite.

nice backyard.

nice deck and that is a cute little storage shed/outbuilding. i am envisioning something like this.

not too many pictures of the bathrooms or bedrooms, but the bedrooms (3) are a great size for a house this old and small. the bathrooms on the other hand are terribly small. the master is the size of your average hall bath and the hall bath is your average hall bath. it will be cramped, especially coming from our 2 bathrooms that are huge! so any thoughts? comments? advice? again, this is not our new house, yet...but it might be.

i have loads of ideas and feel stressed about them all, in fact i was up all night thinking about paint colors and how our now furniture will do in there..

but i will say that i pulled off fiona's new bed and wall configuration based on her new zig zag pillow cases from lulu and nat in about 10 minutes (that includes the bedding, the daybed style, hanging the wall art and changing the whole room around).


my skillz know no bounds!

sunday series, what flavor?

this is pretty self explanatory really. it's amazing what stupid things you can achieve with a camera. good times.

honesty is such a lonely word

i have been tagged twice, first by tiina at livia concept and second by the lady at a townhouse lady. this is a 10 truly honest things about myself thing. so here you go.

1. i love to talk about religion, b/c i feel most people are horribly confused by it. i think the bible is a beautiful concept full of tremendous wisdom and insight into how to be a godlike person but the vast majority take it far too literally therefore making them idiots.

i believe in god but probably not in the same way you do. i do NOT believe in the devil. in fact, if you REALLY gave that whole devil concept some thought you would see just how utterly ridiculous it is. this coming from a girl who was raised catholic and harbored a grave sense of doom throughout much of her childhood b/c of The Exorcist. so i guess you could say i have been on both sides of the fence and i feel my side now is much saner.

2. i love to have girlfriends but my dearest are very far and i never see them. this makes me more sad than anything in the whole world. and the REALLY sad part is i KNOW that i miss them far more than they miss me.

3. i was in a lifetime movie of the week back in 2000 called The Price of a Broken Heart with laura innes and park overall. i played a sassy waitress called faye. i was cast with long hair but felt the character needed a perm so i gave myself one and all of my hair fell out so they had to cut it REALLY short. like edie falco nurse jackie short. the director ended up loving it and so it goes. sometimes it still plays on the lifetime movie network and my mom usually calls me to tell me this.

4. i was in the movie Roadtrip. my scenes were with sean william scott, who was really sweet and lovely and very funny. i played a cop that came to the frat house to inquire about all the noise. he and i had a really funny exchange at the door (we got to improvise with each other for hours) he thought i was a stripper/cop but i was a real cop. the part got cut from the film which was a bummer b/c it was a really funny scene. but i got a personal letter from todd philips (who went on to direct my fave movie this year, the hangover) explaining that they had to try and keep the film within a 2 hour time frame and had to cut several scenes from the film. it was a nice touch. i should have framed it.

5. i auditioned for a movie with robert redford, hellen mirren, and willem defoe (i can't remember the name of it) i inevitably did not get cast (i was blond and they needed brunette- stupid no? like i wouldn't dye my hair to play robert redford's daughter in law??) anyway...somehow i was able to score a "job" as willem defoe's line reader. basically he has it in his contract that the studio pays for someone to help him with his lines. i got that job. weird, i know. but cool. so for 3 days i got to saunter up to his suite at the four seasons and hang out with him in his room and read through the script with him. correcting his mistakes etc... it was harder than you might imagine. i mean on the one hand i wanted to embody the other character (which was almost always robert redford's part) so that i could give him some real emotion to work with but on the other hand i didn't want to seem like a tool either. i will say this about him, he is teeny tiny in person. he is very kind and a little odd. and he smelled horrendous. like the worst body odor ever. he was an avid yoga practitioner and as soon as you walked into his room it smelled like a bikram studio. like sweaty ass. cool gig though.

6. i am a type one diabetic and wear a "pod" on my tummy that gives me insulin. i have been diabeautiful for 10 years.

7. i am fiercely protective of my family. i won't hesitate to yank your ass backwards if you speak ill of them or threaten or hurt them in any capacity. i don't care how old you are.

8. i am extremely physically powerful and i am quite certain i could kill someone with my bare hands. (see #7)

9. i work out a lot. (see #8)

10. it doesn't take much for me to cry. this is a bonus as an actress.

ok...so i am tagging these peeps...do it if you want or don't do it.

faryl @ cityladycountrygirl

jamie @ isuwannee

alison @ mylittlehappyplace

mel @ reverie

dinner tonight

spicy chili with cornmeal waffles. that's how we do it down south.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
Spicy chili, recipe follows
Shredded Cheddar, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions
Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add milk, oil, and eggs; stirring until smooth. Pour batter onto hot waffle iron and bake in batches. Set aside and keep warm.
Serve with Spicy Chili. Garnish with shredded Cheddar, sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro.


Spicy Chili:
1 pound lean ground chuck
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans ranch-style beans
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15-ounce) can niblet corn, drained
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles
In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown ground chuck, until beef is crumbly. Stir in onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.
Stir in beans, tomato sauce, corn, diced tomatoes, and green chiles. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings

recipe courtesy paula deen.
* i substituted frozen corn for the canned. and if you want it to taste crazy good make sure you butter and syrup the waffles before topping it with the chili. trust me on this one.
bonus: extra waffles for breakfast tomorrow.

take a wild guess...

at her age...

she's 48. yep. nearly 10 years older than me yet somehow looks about 10 years younger than me. or at the very least the same damn age!! what is her secret? botox? she doesn't seem the type. lot's of money to buy the world's finest creams and potions and spa facials and oxygenation shit and all that stuff? check. all the money in the damn world, eliminating a huge chunk of stress from her life? check. lives in the west end in new york so she can walk everywhere? check. good genes? most likely.

hate.

this is the latest issue of british vogue (july) and i stopped in my tracks when i saw the photo. so gorgeous. i had to have it.

40 acres and a pool

HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHA!!! i kill me.

the big reveal

have you ever seen such a mass of split ends???? and those roots???..aka the holland tunnel.

not anymore...behold...cuteness..

side cuteness....

at home in different light cuteness...

thanks mimi at lux salon in grant park. we will all be eating tuna for a month, but at least i don't look like a sea hag anymore.

what's on your shelf?

flickr has a photo pool called "what's on your shelves?"

porn.

midweek tiny cute

have. you. ever?

it's only hair right?

i shit you not, i have had far too many dreams of late that i walk out of the salon with this godforsaken hairdo(n't)...

tomorrow is the big day!! to refresh your memories i am going for something between this....

and this.....

i am a little scared, i'm not gonna lie. it's like the longer my hair gets the bigger the security blanket it becomes. and i have no idea why. i just keep telling myself that i look cute with shorter hair. and the truth of the matter is my current hair looks terrible. it's processed so it's not in the best shape and could use about 40 inches cut off of it. and most days i can barely get a comb through it so i put it in a sloppy ponytail. plus i think i will look much more french and chic.

wish me luck. i will post before and after pics tomorrow.

happiness is a warm catalog from a hot mailbox

i feel that receiving a catalog that i love in the mail, let alone one i have never heard of is ALMOST like getting the latest domino. just such a thing happened yesterday. at west end arrived. what the?? AT WEST END??!! here are some things that make me want to throw away everything and start over..

59 dollars

39 dollars

45 dollars

49 dollars


49 dollars for the largest

49 dollars

55 dollars


139 dollars

149 dollars


39, 49, 69- 149 dollars

24 dollars



12 dollars

from here

monday color combo

it's orange and gray! orange and grey? whatevs. it's good. a lovely give and take, don't you think?

images via house beautiful, desiretoinspire, apartment therapy, living etc., met home, poppytalk, housetohome, domino, sofie andersson, vonica design via etsy, taistoisoisbeaublog

a new MFAMB series

welcome to the first installment of Sunday Series, What Flavor? this is a departure from my usual home related posts. this series will bring you a quirky (read stupid as hell) video that my husband and i did many years ago. some of you might recognize nicolas the cat in this one and me, rapping. why? b/c everyone needs a bit of silly on a sunday.

your dinner

spaghetti and meat sauce. some might call it the ultimate comfort food. i call it gooder than hades. there are a LOT of versions. all of them different and delicious. here is the one i use most.

are those ears frying in a pan? no but they sure do look like it don't they? it's pancetta aromatizing the olive oil to make the sauce seem like it has cooked for hours. once the pancetta is crispy take it out and drain it on paper towels.

next i take a leek, 2 carrots and 2 stalks of celery (leafy tops included if you got em) and 2 big cloves of garlic or 3 small ones and pulse them in the food processor until it looks like this...

then fry that shit up in the pancetta oil until it starts to caramelize. (btw the pancetta is eaten by me at this point or you can crumble it back into the sauce, but i feel it is WAY better utilized in my mouth this way than in the sauce)

next take 1 lb of organic, grass fed ground chuck and add it to the vegetables. yes you can use any meat or combination of meat, i.e. sirloin, veal, pork whatevs.

once it looks like this...

add these... 1 14 oz. can whole tomatoes crushed by hand, 1 cup of red wine, 1/2 a can or 2 tbsp. of tomato paste.

simmer for about 40 minutes until thickfreakness occurs.

on deck...rosemary sourdough bread smattered in butter, fresh garlic, and parmigiana.

pasta. hmmm...do i go brown rice or white rice pasta? it's the weekend, let's indulge and go WHITE!! btw..i have it on the highest authority from here that tinkyada rice pastas are the best. no gummy, soggy noodles here. just yummy.

plated and ready for consumption. look at that cheesy, toasty bread!

with extra cheese if you please!

and now for something green..

nicolas is doing tricks for some...him's sitting up. him's nice.

done and done.

you like?

i do. sheep chairs. sheep in general. i think they are sweet looking. although you can't have something like this with a 4 year old in your house without them quickly becoming toys. still i wouldn't turn one away.

a "flock" might be a bit weird. i didn't realize they have been around since the late 60's. here is a photo from a time magazine article c. 1967 about the artists behind them, claude and francois-xavier lalanne.

i first took notice of sheep as decor when i saw jenna lyon's son's room in domino. i hunted those little sheeps down only to find they were 3743990000hundred dollars.
marc jacobs has one.

a slight departure. a little more sheep meets seuss.

perhaps too literal? still, it looks hella soft albeit nightmare inducing.

for now i guess i will stick with these.

well played

how good is this?

such great use of space and those windows, good lord. from all the best blog.

painting can turn ugly into pretty so why not paint everything?

well for starters you might get it all wrong and it ends up looking like...

ALL OF YOUR FURNITURE IS PAINTED!!!!!!! unless...you get it right? but how do you do that? in my new house i plan (PLAN being the operative word) to paint my floors glossy white. yep, that's the plaaaaan. but that is a pretty scary thing to me. i mean i have seen it done in the magazines and books and these here blogs a cotillion times, and i love it. so why can't i do it too?

and what then do i do with all of my reddish brown wood furniture that is super ugly? paint it obvi! but what? how? ALL OF IT?? white? a rainbow of my favorite colors? huh!??!? i just don't know how to begin. any tipspointersadvice would help. here are some images of painted done well.
are those cabinets painted the palest whisper pink? if so, what a GREAT color choice for a girly kitchen. and how in the high water of hades did she (assuming) decide on that color. b/c for me it's AAAALL about the decision!

painted stairs like this will be in my future if i get a house with stairs. again though do i risk the whispers of "have you met the new neighbors? everything in thier house is painted..and i DO mean EVERYTHING."

a design sponge before and after. that beast went from faded 70's glory to fucking fabulous and sexy. how did that person decide that black was the best choice? for the piece, for the room ? these may seem like easy questions for YOU to answer but for me i stand completely at odds with my own brain and the killions of pictures i look at.


even this little guy knows how cute a turquoise piece of furniture is. hims having hims birfday cake on it.

anna spiro knows a thing or two about the painted furnitures.

whaaaa?!?! how glorious is that green? would you? how would you know? that's detailed wood work too people..that ain't no wall that you could easily paint over if you hated it.

love the glossy orange in this room. it takes it from boring to.....umm...not boring?

no she di'int! fuck yeah she DID!!!!!!!! ugly shit + hot pink paint = cheapest and chicest makeover on earth. throw in some wallpaper as backsplash and my eyeballs start melting! now this might not be your taste but imagine the possiblities. with paint and paper. paint and paper!!!

ok. so what are you thoughts, comments, ideas? if anyone says "it's just paint, it's easy to paint over". i will cyber karate chop your head off. i'm not talking about a wall or 4. i am talking about furniture. shit you have to sand and prime and apply several coats of paint to. that is not EASY to do or fast.

so..tell me...

images via ABT, designsponge...blah blah you and you and you. i'm to lazy today.

new look

so whad'ya think of my new blog look? i had a custom banner designed by the lovely and talented elisabeth surette, aka anne harwell's (of annechovie) sister aka blogger and designer extraordinaire of salt life designs. she was so lovely to work with. she came up with the original design and we tweaked it together via email. she was the tweaker, i was the annoying client saying things like, can you make the pink brighter? ok, now can you make it lighter? ok, now can you change the pattern and make it a bit more modern and less fussy? blah blah blah. but not once did she make me feel like a douche. i highly recommend her to customize something for you. or she has some really pretty ones already waiting for you to use. visit her blog or her etsy shop.

a great big thank you elisabeth. i love it. i hope you like the changes i made to the blog overall, i feel the changes help the banner pop more.

where have i been?

not here. but i sure do love the look of this place. the white and yellow is so good. but nope, i have been out looking at houses. most of which were abysmal at best. but one, albeit small had the most amazing back yard ever. so big!! i am trying to determine if it's enough reason to buy a house. b/c the house itself is small. possibly smaller than i would think is possible for us. but MAYBE if i knocked down a wall? and it needs updating in a big way and i'm not sure if our budget will allow ANY renovations for a while. but that yard. that yard. that yard. oh, did i mention that it's 2 houses down from the train tracks? but it IS in one of the best school districts in atlanta. gotta think about these things. it's the number one on our priority list. what's number one on yours?

images from the current issue of canadian house and home. scanned. obvi.

me thinks this would do nicely...

from this.... to this....

image via fric and frac

paint everything white and call it a day?

craigslist is a great place to score shit. better than ebay b/c i don't have to pay astronomical shipping prices for similar pieces. which brings me to my problem. are these pieces? as in "pieces of shit"? the point here people is that these items are ridiculously affordable, even for someone like me. well, affordable for furniture. so here's what i am thinking and then i want to hear what you're thinking, okay?

piece #1: antique desk- 75 bucks. painted white, new hardware. daughter's room.

piece #2: antique duncan phyfe couch- 35 bucks! so for all i know the springs are kaput and i would need new everything BUT...what a pretty little couch. paint it white and fabric it all up in some kind of liberty of london goodness and..whammo...kickassedness!

piece #3: a pair of antique chairs- 75 for the pair. not a bad looking shape, although not sure what the legs are like. but those can be replaced. they seem to be in good condition. again with some fun fabric and 2 IS better than one for making a statement.

piece #4: eames era baumritter chair- 55 bucks. again i realize 2 is better than one but this is a pretty cool chair, right?

piece #5: eames ear lounge by plycraft- 100 bucks. can't tell about the color, seems a little too orangey. but if in person it's a more neutral caramely color it might look astonishingly pretty in a white room. or a la jamie meares with a sheepskin draped effortlessly over.

piece #6: antique hat rack-50 bucks. this is the perfect size for a small entry. a little paint and some distressing and yes, i think so.


piece #7: highback cane chair- 50 bucks. me likey this one quite a bit. just wish there were 2.

piece #8: kidney bean coffee table- 185 bucks. kinda steep but it's pretty darn cool. don't need a coffee table really, but if i did...i don't know...maybe..painted white.


piece #9: mid century mccob planner group end tables- 60 for the pair. bedside tables painted white..BAM! BAM! they're tall too!

piece #10: antique gooseneck rocker- 130 bucks. this is so unique and fabulous with those goose arms. if i was pregs and needed a rocker for the nursery i would be all over this.


piece #11: oak dresser- 75 bucks. painted a lacquer-y black with some cool harware and stuck in a kitchen or dining room with some pretty dishes on top, or a wide hallway for towels if you have n'er enough closet space. why yes indeed.

piece #12: antique wicker chair- 10 bucks. come on. paint this bright yellow and stick it in your bathroom. done.

ok MFaMB lovers...tell me what'cha think. the good, bad and the ugly. don't hold back. i need some criticism here. what would you do different?

monday color combo

a while back i did a monday color combo using green and black saying i loved the chicness of it and the fancy pants sexiness of it. this color combo is different for me. opposite really. duh. chic it is, but this combo is more preppy than sexy. but it certainly isn't limited to the preppy vibe. in fact i adore the sage greens and the seafoam greens. i feel the sage greens and white work well in a country interior, like english manor house. while the seafoam and white works best in the beach house...don't you agree? still i think my favorite are the chalky whites with the kelly greens, distressed wood works just as well for me as lacquered and shiny. i want a green door too somewhere. although i am battling it out in my head between a sunny yellow front door and kelly green. so, happy green and white monday.

images via the selby, southern accents, skona hem, remodelista, country home, living etc., flickr, etsy, country living, house beautiful, martha, frank roop via desire to inspire, anthro.

full circle

when i was a kid the 4th was my favorite holiday. i think because we tended to get together with friends more than family so there was less stress than say, christmas, the bestest of all holidays. mom and dad were more chill, due to kids hopped up on gum and tootsie rolls and they on booze. they were amongst their friends and we were amongst ours. plus, we got to stay up late and see fireworks. last night was very reminiscent of that for me only i was on the other side.
that's fiona aged 4 eating a popsicle (the kind i grew up on) and gearing up for her first ever fireworks show.
it was a great evening...we were amongst our dearest friends and the kids were hopped up on gum and tootsie rolls and we on booze.

fiona


annalie



her brother jack (swoon)

charlie





a conversation (charlie and audrey)


the youngest..evan
and his 'big' brother, ajay (pronounced uh-jay please) we call him 'hugs-jay". he looks like a teddy bear, no?


stellaher twin aaron

choosing candy

matthew and hugs

fiona driving for the first time. daddy had to steer and i of course had to supervise. many thanks to tanya and chris (charlie's mom and dad) for opening their lovely home and to seema (hugs's and evan's mom) for taking these gorgeous photos.

ladybug picnic

happy 4th everyone! we are off to a picnic today! will post about it tomorrow of course. be safe everyone.

room of the week

the only place hoarding should be allowed is a child's room. (see last post) and even then after a few years it should be picked over and those items sent to goodwill or friends with babies. this dumplin' is one very lucky little girl. she has drums, poofs, a flat screen (playing the coolest kid's show ever, yo gabba gabba), several gee-tars, a tutu in every color possible, and a kick ass wooden stove.




much more here. you must visit if ONLY for a close up of the pictures.

there's a fine line

between displaying your things and bat-shit crazy hoarding...

if you read this blog you know how much i LOVE to look at photos of "things", but this takes eye candy to a whole new level. i found i just wanted to go in there and clean and organize all of her shit in a way that still played to her kooky sensibility but made me feel like there was some sense of order. although she probably is one of those people who thrives in mess and can tell you exactly where everything is. at least her shoes are in order. but she probably did that for the photo shoot.

how about a closet for starters, or some shelves?? maybe some pretty boxes?? this one is headed down the path to grey gardens.
from the selby

pools

fabulous...

ghetto fabulous...
yes, that is our front porch. we found it to be much nicer without all the leaves, bugs and squirrel turds that our backyard had to offer. this way you can sit on the porch swing and stick your feet in the pool.

loving

flipping thru the july issue of living etc i saw these pretties....in the form of duvets, quilts, pillowcases, throw pillows, wall art, throws and stuff for the crumb crunchers too. they are made in the UK and most likely come with gasket blowing shipping prices. but someone (me) is going to the UK next summer so in YOUR face shipping prices. lulu and nat are the pretty pushers behind this. p.s. i'd stomp on your face for the zig zag pillowcases.

visit lulu and nat here.

what's in YOUR backyard?

ok so this isn't my backyard either but it is my husband's co-worker's.

lovely, no?

in my new house...

i hope i can find a narrow nook with a window to create this...

much blogging would happen here.

image via delikatissen