Wrapping up another week here – I’ve been working on a design for a Hudson River living room and hoping to share some of the details next week. I’ve also been photographing the house to share some of our renovation updates with you (finally). Roxy has been photobombing wherever possible.
LINKS!
Let’s just start with this ad which I just can’t get enough of. I think I’ve watched it 50 times already.
My Grammy lived in Carmel, CA when I was little and we would always visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and buy sweatshirts with otters on them, so these guys are important to me.
Loving this roundup at Remodelista which includes our good friend Georgia Tribuiani’s business And So It Goes – she and her partner have beautifully remixed classic hand-netted bags with bright colors and leather wrapped handles.
Yesterday I saved a life. In a heroic display of chicken-shit bravery, I called James home at lunchtime to help me rescue a baby possum that had fallen down our basement stairwell in the back of our house. It was separated from its mother by an 8 foot drop and was much too tiny to climb out using the stairs. And without going into detail about the way we built our deck – there was pretty much no way for the Mom to rescue the little guy or for him to get back to the den. So my choices were to (a) heartlessly let Mother Nature do her thing and deal with a tiny dead possum and months of bad dreams or (b) figure out how to Ranger Rick that sucker.
I went to the Google machine (after a call to my Mom, who has lots of experience with nature and not being a mamsy-pamsy) and found a site that listed Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilition in my area. To my surprise, there are about 100 folks who are licensed rescuers in our area (with hilarious distinctions like “will take turtles” – are turtles the problem child of backyard wildlife?). I found a nice lady who advised me to scoop the guy up with a shovel and put it in a shoebox with one of the following snacks that possums prefer: applesauce, cottage cheese, bananas or scrambled egg. Scrambled. Egg. Hell no. She assured me that possums don’t carry disease and that neither the baby nor the mommy were going to hurt me. Ok, ok.
It took two adults with college degrees to wrangle the little drunksy into the shovel/shoebox scenario and get it in position for the handoff. In my frenzy to complete the mission, I didn’t take any pics. Blogger fail. Turns out, he was super cute too. Thankfully, lots of other folks agree and have taken pics of baby possums, including blogger Kaylah of the Dainty Squid (her shots below). I propped the box next to the opening under our deck and watched through the boards as he wobbled over to Mama with his scraped nose and the pair were blissfully reunited. So, I’m still up 5 possums in my yard. Is that a victory, or…?
photo by The Dainty Squidphoto by The Dainty Squidphoto by The Dainty Squid
Anyway, without further rambling – here are this week’s links:
The Polar Bears of architecture – with two of my hometowns on the list! Boo to that, and please get your ish together.
On a related note, The Village of Irvington, where I graduated high school, is now on the National Registry of Historic Places, thanks to my dad, Andy Lyons, and many others in the village. Local artist August Wren made this super cute illustrated map of town that’s being sold as posters and tote bags at the Historical Society. I’m proud of my Dad, and The Village, for not ending up like one of the endangered spots mentioned above.
Tomorrow is the first day of summer! I totes thought it already was summer, but I’m up for an excuse to celebrate. So I plan to celebrate by eating tons of hot dogs (Chicago Style, pshaw!) and watching FIFA World Cup soccer. Most likely in our dark, dank neighborhood pub that’s about as summery as a turtleneck but has a great crowd and incredible nachos. Just kidding…no wait, totally serious. I’m also going to be doing some stuff in the yard and crossing my fingers that I don’t bump into our two summer squatters – the ground hog under the shed and the possum under the deck. So nice of them to join us. I’m also going make my own iced coffee and put together some summery snacks to share with you all next week.
I’m getting kind of obsessed with making a trunk + trunk stand work as a solution for that stubborn spot at the end of our bed.
Ummm…my favorite Twitter follow of this week, Migaloo the White Humpback Whale is INCREDIBLE and Herman Melville is jumping up and down peeing his pants in his grave.
I really like this DIY project from Design*Sponge this week – it’s beautiful and practical but also acknowledges that track lighting can exist in good taste. We have track lighting (without pendants) in our kitchen because it’s the best solution for directional light, which is incredibly important in a cook’s kitchen. It’s not high design, but it’s cost effective, unobtrusive and functional and really…designers who ignore function are just douchey.
What are you guys up to this weekend? Obviously, I have some yard work to do. I’m also in a cleaning out mood lately, and when those strike you have to take advantage. So I’m thinking I’ll tackle my closet and maaaaybe the mother-load-of-junk in the basement. Here are some doings from this week:
With her powerhouse swing, powerful self-image attitude and cute victory dance, I’m totes on Team Taylor! (plus, she’s a Chicagoan!)
I’m a big (creepy) fan of Chef Dan Barber. Stone Barns is our neighbor just up the road and his signed menu from my birthday dinner at Blue Hill a few years back (which was tremendous, as promised) is hanging in my teensy kitchen. I will definitely be adding his new book to my summer reading list. Cuz I’m all on his nuts like the rest of the foodie bandwagon.
Did you guys see Google’s message to grads? It made me misty. I’m an easy target, but I miss school days. #earlyonsetmidlifecrisis
This apartment tour in DC reminds me of how badly I want to trade in my (Craigslisted) IKEA Bjursta table for the Eero Saarinen tulip table I’ve been eyeing for years, which would also mean trading in our big holiday dinners for cocktail parties…but is that such a bad trade? I don’t have 2 G’s lying around right now so I can think about it…
I hope everyone does something they love this weekend, while remembering all of the brave men and women who have protected our freedom to do what we love. Not trying to bust out a guilt trip. It just feels good to pause and appreciate. There’s a lot to thank them for. Here are my Memorial Day links:
Did you know that poppies are the flower of remembrance on Memorial Day? It all goes back to this poem from 1915. Poppies!
Poppies have also inspired interiors for decades and were especially popular in the 1970’s when Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s Prime Minister. Poppies were her fav. I put together a Pinterest board to give you some poppy inspiration! To make your poppies really POP (har har), pair them with neutrals or blues.
This week I visited the National Stationery Show where there were some really inspiring things happening. My cousin-in-law Maiko Shimizu’s booth for her stationery line Letter Collective Brooklyn was particularly bad ass. Shop the collection here! I love her chintz animal notecards. Tell all your friends.
I also took a swing through the Kip’s Bay Decorator Show House (going on through the end of May in NYC). Amazing things were happening in there, including black vinyl + chintz fabric walls, metallic accents on concrete range hoods, sparkly ceilings with glass skull objets and console tables based on the Blood of Christ. If you’re around, just GO. They won’t let you take pics so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Oh also, on a totally unrelated note, let’s take a moment to be thankful for the full facial eye roll – one of life’s greatest gifts.
Happy Memorial Day, all. I hope you feel awesome in your bikini this weekend. I know you worked hard all winter drinking whiskey and eating cheese like me, so you’ve earned it. Let ‘er rip!
This week I didn’t get much up on the blog. Sorry, not sorry. I’ve been working on a lot of backend stuff this week, including tweaks to my logo/header/likeness as I get ready to open up my Etsy shop (finally). I also blew off a whole day to stalk POTUS as his 5-chopper entourage landed at the former GM plant in my town. I had helicopter envy.
image credit: my pal Katie who woke up her sleeping baby to walk down to this industrial wasteland like a couple of crazies and witness this with me – I love her.
Anyway, I promise lots of design posts / DIY projects and real blogging next week. In the meantime, here’s where my head has been this week:
Working on a blogpost about having a design anchor. Muy importante stuff. Sometimes you design a room around a rug; sometimes you design around ostriches!
Do you guys think marbling is the next watercolor wash?
It’s ridiculous what our friend Pam Garrison can do with cardboard. Wouldn’t this be awesome in a kids’ room // on your mantle // on the dessert table at a party // dressed up in metallics // decoupaged with chintz papers // basically anywhere?!?
Before I go get to this week’s links, don’t forget to enter the Mother’s Day Giveaway on Instagram! Tag a photo of something that reminds you of MOM #raisedbydesign through Sunday 5/12 @ midnight EST! Random winner gets to pick one of these air plants living in a funky vintage holder. C’mon guys!
conch shell // 1940’s hand painted panda // lusterware elephant
Ok, so. This week had a lot going for it: Cinco de Mayo, our unofficial first-date anniversary {8 years!} and Mother’s Day! Here are some links I’ve been checking out this week:
I really really REALLY wish I had the patience to pull off this DIY cake topper project for Mama this weekend.
Instead I’ll just stick to what I know and make the perfect Margarita – you’ll never go back to that nasty, sticky store-bought sour mix again.
This week we lived off of slow cooker pulled pork with a Cinco de Mayo twist: skip the BBQ sauce and make Pork Tinga Tacos with this {spicy!} chipotle sauce, fresh shredded cabbage and squeezed limes.
Also, speaking up DOES get shit done. This is a pretty powerful example. I was almost going to have to give up the idea of naming my first child Martinique, after the most EPIC banana leaf print ever. I still sweat this green stripe, coral carpeting, Hollywood Regency stuff so hard.
Don’t know why I chose this Lily Pulitzer candy striped motif for the links post this week. But I did. Happy Friday! Here’s what I’ve been peepin’ around the interwebs this week. A lot of girly stuff.
I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Creative Market because I’m still searching for the perfect font – it’s like an Etsy for graphic and web designers. Pretty awesome.
I’ve also been dragging my feet on filling up my Etsy shop with all of my killer vintage wares. Soon. Do you have a shop? This 10 Tips article is a good read then.
It’s FRIDAY again! Sunday is my birthday so I’m looking forward to seeing some friends and eating pizzas made on the grill. I do have some gardening posts to share with you all but it looks like I won’t get them up until Monday. I’m experiencing technical difficulties with my scanner which I will now be looking to replace. Here are this week’s links for ya!
My little sister, Mo, is running her second (!!) half marathon this Sunday in DC! Last time she ran I designed these rally tees printed on American Apparel shirts at CustomInk. This time I designed these Nike sneaks in her honor and downloaded a custom wallpaper to my iPhone. GO! MO! GO!
As part of my garden plan, I’m considering ditching our lawn altogether and planting a lawn alternative instead. I hate our lawnmower because it never works. This is a great list of options for me to look into. Anyone ever had luck with these?
Easter! Easter! Easter! I’m not Catholic nor am I seven years old, but I LOVE Easter. Especially because of crazy vintage boy and girl chicks having a kiss. Happy to ya! Here are this week’s links:
My big time idol since the 5th grade, Dr. Jane Goodall is all over the place lately. First I caught her on The Colbert Report a couple weeks ago being the coolest old babe ever and now this interview with Gawker. Jane Goodall for President. She’s the BEST. I want to be her…and be adopted by her…and have her adopt all of my unborn children too.
Coachella Fashion. I would consider going if more people looked like this Vanilla Ice sexpot or this Bill and Ted’s hotness instead of your average emo Pocahontas poo-pants.
This is egg decorating that’s just my speed…grab a sharpie. done.
You know how I love gold, too. Shoot, these fancy eggs are just my type too.
I think all this Coachella has me pondering whether a 33 year old can rock a CROP TOP this summer, maybe? The last time I felt good in a crop top was after I had my tonsils out (at 21) and hadn’t eaten solid food for 2 weeks. So. Shit.
