maxine runs free!

wendy just posted this on her blog, and it's so lovely. i think we've become so distanced from the earth and our "food" (i, personally don't believe animals are food...) that a little wake-up call can be necessary.

yay, maxine!!

sheila bridges

i cannot for the life of me remember where i found these pictures of sheila bridges' home, but i LOVE the writing on the walls. she had someone (??) come in and paint portions of her favorite books on her walls. i may not go for pink and grey, but i'd love to figure out a way to incorporate something like this into my home....just maybe on a smaller scale.

smosch

one of my very favorite blogs is smosch. a swedish blogger, the photos she posts almost daily are so peaceful and lovely. i would LOVE to go to sweden someday...but until then, her blog gives me a beautiful glimpse in. she recently posted a link to her flickr account of her home...and it's LOVELY.
this wallpaper is incredible =)



i also love her cabinets and think i might try to convince the mister to let us paint ours in a sunny yellow (if only we had those gorgeous plank floors).

you got it girl...

this is my new, absolute favorite movie. i'd say more, but i just don't feel that it's necessary.

eagle vs shark

etsy

a lover of etsy...i have an obsession (especially as i get ready to launch my OWN etsy site!!) with how many different handmade categories of hand made things you can find. my newest etsy thrill are all the shops offering custom made clothing. while i've never been very stylish, i've always loved clothes (i always manage to buy the strangest things because i love them. i couldn't be "in style" no matter how hard i tried--of course...why fight it??). for the price of something from anthropologie (which i love, but am often disappointed with their quality considering how much most of their items cost), you can find something equally as cute and far more personal and unique on etsy. aaannndd...custom made to fit your body (what a concept!). aaaannnnddd...made by an individual which benefits them directly--not some giant corporation who exploits their workers in china or some other third world country.


below are some of my favorites, but i've found, once i start looking, i keep finding more and more. i had to draw the line somewhere!

trapperjane offers custom skirts and jeans...i think all of these are really cute:

treehouse28 is a huge etsy phenomenon...and with good reason.

gaiaconceptions offers custom-made clothing out of eco-friendly materials (hemp, organic cotton and wool, raw silk). lovely.

while it doesn't appear that finnbiskit offers custom made pieces (i'm sure you could contact them and find out), i really love their whimsical skirts made from hemp and organic cotton.

janebonbon does offer custom-made pieces and they're not only cute, but refreshingly free of stick-thin models. for a change of pace, she offers up through plus-size dresses made-to-order. very cute and flattering for any figure.

{such a beautiful skirt!}

not that i spend much time looking for swim-wear (ack!!), but i did stumble upon missbrache and her very retro, very cute, very modest, very well-designed bathing suits. if i can muster up my courage, i might have this made (i love the madras/plaid...but not sold on horizontal stripes for my body =)).

now, accessories on etsy would take a lifetime, being that there are so many amazing designers...but a few of my favorites are:

moop...i LOVE this bag and i'm saving my pennies to buy it (we'll see how long i can put this off). not only do i love the color and design of the bag, but i love her approach to design, the envirnment, etc...

i just found this today, and excuse the orange (can't resist orange), but i love this circular shawl from kelgwo (actually, she is out of stock in the orange, but has several colors to choose from, which you can see at the bottom of the photo).

i have so many more stores and items saved, which will just have to wait for another day. and hopefully, a link to my up-and-going etsy shop!

card

one of my first purchases on etsy was from heatherjeany...and she's still one of my favorite etsy sellers. today i couldn't resist her gocco valentine's day card. i may even keep it for myself!

love

a lover of good, dark chocolate, i was thrilled to see the new (to me & my grocery store anyway) Green & Black's Cherry. i was even more excited to taste it! bittersweet dark chocolate with very very tangy cherries.

heaven.

i have long loved large scale, installation art. my first love was ann hamilton...i sat breathlessly combing through a book of her's at the bookstore and a love was born. probably the exhibit i would have most liked to have experienced was privation and excesses (which included a warehouse floor covered with honey and layered with pennies).

thennn...i discovered andy goldsworthy, whom i think i love more than the rest.

i'm also completely intrigued with christo (a subject not discussed in our family--religion, politics and christo!! mostly due to the proximity of my dad to the new christo project, over the river & the heated discussion of whether or not it's "art") .

so i was so excited to discover carol hummel this morning. i get a little thrill whenever i see a light pole or a bike rack with a little crocheted piece decorating it...and ms. hummel's work is the pièce de résistance of this sort of craft mafia. below are a few of my favorite photos...but definitely check out her website to peruse the pictures for yourself...

also, be sure to read her descriptions, as they are as inspiring and as lovely as the pieces themselves. from the "buddha bound" project:

"Tie yourself too tightly into any ideology and it becomes exclusionary. Therefore, all influences must be carefully considered and then accepted or rejected to ensure that the wrappings add to comfort, not confinement. "

{via sfgirlbybay via tas-ka}

i find these pictures intriguing...the buildings and surroundings are definitely european, which i love, and the water feature is so clean and modern. this combination of old-world and modern is one of my favorites.

{by architect phillippe allaeys}

{from hoping for happy accidents}

i'm obsessed with anything french. OBSESSED! and so, upon finding marie claire maison and marie claire idees, i entered a whole new realm of obsession. {hint...unless you speak french, if you google these, it gives you the option to "translate"...the translation certainly isn't perfect, but at least most of it is recognizable.}

these french homes make me hurt with the kind of desire that buddhists urge us to deny...the type of desire that leads to suffering! i can't help it. from the white on white interiors with white washed wood floors to the moroccan influenced beds and colors to the marie antoinette chairs (sometimes all together!!)....it's all just so good.

so...from the marie claire maison website, some of my very favorite photos (it was too hard to choose).

love, love, LOVE the white on white on white...especially the floors.

this flies in the face of all the clean, mid-century modern lines that i'm also enamored with. and yet, i think it could all live in harmony, too. there's such a sense of history and time in these lovely french homes.

i love the dewey-decimal system for the kitchen! {just think of all the lentils and rice i could stash in there.}

i don't think i'd ever leave the tub if it looked like this!

i'm not sure about that shiny floor {hmmm??}, but that tub! my goodness. and i love the cacti...and the color scheme. and...and...and...

color, color, color....this, THIS is why i love this magazine and all the lovely french design. it's french. it's bohemian. it's a little bit of everything.

yes. please!

i think i'm going to have to paint a dresser silver.

it seems that the american design magazines are so calculated. nothing ever looks like a human being lives in them...they're either so lavish that they border on absurd, or they're so modern and clean that they border on, well, absurd...almost prison-like. either way, they lack personality. everything in the marie claire magazines look lived in. and loved. and certainly has personality.

much like my own home {even without a louis XIV chair or saarinen table}.