The Luxuries of Life

Last night the electricity went out for several, um, seven hours. During this time I learned a few things.

1. The gentle hum of electricity is a comforting thing. Without it the world is too quiet.
2. A good supply of matches and candles are still a necessity, even in 2010. Might I suggest these matches? They're super rad:

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3. The electric company has a really difficult time replacing an underground transformer.
4. No electricity = no fans = sweltering summer night of non-sleep. When that electricity finally kicked back on at 4 a.m., I almost kissed the fans I was so happy to be cooled off. And my fans aren't even as fancy as these Dyson contraptions:

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5. Cellphones make good flashlights.

Design Dialogue: High-end Handbags

I've been scouting out a nice handbag as part of my list of things to do this year. I'm not sure I really knew what I was getting into when I said "INVEST" in a "NICE HANDBAG," especially since the one that has been taunting me is $448 (omfg!). I'm looking at you, Cole Haan Phoebe satchel.

I don't think I've ever spent more than $50 on a bag in my entire life, always being happy to roll with the fads and put the majority of my money inside my bag, not into it.

So I was surprised to see the price tags were much smaller yet the artisanship and quality just as high on Etsy. Who says a "nice handbag" has to bear a famous name? Not I! Now the only difficulty will be narrowing it down because there are so many great options. Here are a few of my favorites:

Vintage Chase

The Leather Store

Art on Crafts

Morelle

Ira Grant

Paulina Carcach

A Rebyc Design

Zhanga

Written Word: Re-Reading Books

I've started re-reading "Eclipse." Not because it is the best book known to man or because I loved it so much the first time that I must return to its pages again. It's simply because I injected the entire "Twilight" series like a heroin addict, so now I can't remember what happens and this vexes me, especially with the movie coming out so soon.

As I was thumbing through the first few chapters, it occurred to me that I very rarely go back and re-read my books.

In fact I can only remember three books I've read more than once. Two of them are Jack Kerouac novels: "Big Sur" and "On the Road." The third one is a 1970s paperback that belonged to my mom called "Confessions of a Hitch-hiker." I think I've read "Confessions" at least five times.

The common thread in these three books is escape via travel, which is why I keep coming back, I think. In a way they are familiar unfamiliar road trips that I can immerse myself in, knowing fully well what happens at the end but knowing that I'll always enjoy the journey along the way.

Other books I hesitate to return to. I worry they will not be as good as I remember. I think some are too much work, too little fun. Whatever the reason, something keeps me from returning to them.

What about you? Do you re-read your favorite books, and if so which ones and why? Do you think there are some books that need more than one read to be fully appreciated? Which ones?

Flickr Fridays #77

1. Denise, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Wonka Exceptionals Fruit Jellies - Red Apple + Grapefruit, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled

Happy Friday, friends! What do you have in store for the weekend? Me, I'm on the hunt for a flattering maxi dress. Then it's "Knight and Day," a rock concert tomorrow night and somewhere along the way I hope to indulge in a Fudgsicle. It's the simple things ...

Design Dialogue: Music Philosophy

As you all know, I have a thing for naming my photography and vintage finds after songs, especially Beatles songs! So it should come as no surprise that the posters by Music Philosophy make me grin like a fool. Nothing would make me happier than to hang all of these Lennon/McCartney lyrics on my wall. Which Beatles song would you like to see on a poster? I'd like to see "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." It's not profound, but c'mon! Tell me this isn't poetry:

Picture yourself on a boat in a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

The It List

Five things I'm lovin' right now ...

Cantaloupe. Bonus points if it's already cut up and ready for me to savor. {via}


These canvas skimmers at Urban Outfitters.


Lying flat on the floor and propping my legs up against the wall. Instant stress relief. Thanks goes to The Strokes for demonstrating.


This branch necklace via Cursive Design.


This retro beach shot full of stripes! Everything seems so perfect. {via}

Happy Father's Day

If I were not a procrastinator, I would've purchased this card from Able and Game and given it to Dad for Father's Day. Thanks, Dad, for introducing me to the best sounds on Earth, including but not limited to the songs on "Revolver" and "Sticky Fingers." I love you!

Friday Night Concert

The Strokes at the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend. Just like old times. *Swoon*

Flickr Fridays #76

1. Les bateaux aux tuileries, 2. little treats, 3. Fine Little Day, 4. chinatown

Happy Friday, friends! We're back from Seattle, salmon-fed and well-rested. The fresh air and green trees were good for our souls, and we managed to avoid rain nearly the entire trip. I knocked two things off my list, too, pics to come. I have more than 1,000 posts to wade through on Google Reader (yikes!) and bills to pay (double yikes!), but I think I'll put off those things for a little while longer to enjoy the last few days of vacation before going back to the office. What about you -- what are you up to this weekend?

Flickr Fridays #75

1. psssssst...., 2. new shop styling:, 3. Untitled, 4. Avocado, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled

... And off we go on vacation! Hope your weekend has lots of fun in store, friends, I know mine does! I plan to paint Seattle red, so please peruse the archives until we return on Wednesday, when normal (hopefully even more inspired) posting will resume.

Fashion Rewind: Mad Love

Our Seattle vacation is rapidly approaching, so naturally "Mad Love" came to mind when looking for fashion inspiration this week. Don't act like you didn't watch this one over and over, back when Chris O'Donnell was so hot right now and Drew Barrymore sported a cute little pixie cut.


You just moved to Seattle from Chicago. You're the eccentric kind, the kind of girl who decorates her room with butterflies and pulls the fire alarm to get her boyfriend out of taking the SATs. You get into big fights with your parents and jump into the lake, meeting your boyfriend (who's watching through his telescope like a creepy stalker) halfway. You're the kind of girl who decides on a coin flip which direction you'll run away. You also play dangerous games with cars and guns and flip out without your medication. Your name is Casey Roberts, and your bipolar style is feminine one minute, grunge the next.


Fred Flare dress - $72
edressme dress - $40
Modcloth belt - $15.99
Anthropologie earrings - $19.95
Anthropologie box - $16


Old Navy camis - $6, $12.50
Old Navy jeans - $10.99
Modcloth tunic - $43.99
Modcloth shoes - $42.99
Dr. Martens boots - $60

Wish List 06.08.10

This isn't the first time Thief and Bandit has made my wish list, and if they keep coming up with great designs it won't be the last. This little love affair is baffling to me because I don't typically enjoy southwestern design, but I love everything in this store!

These earrings are my latest obsession, but if I'm not careful I might add this to my wish list. And this. Oh, and this, too.

Fashion Forward: Butterfly Hair Comb

You know, on my list of things to do I mentioned that I should try a new hairstyle. What this meant was that I was going to brave growing out my beloved 'do. What I didn't know was that when I went into panic mode after two months sans haircut I would be forced to wait it out even longer because my amazing, apparently very popular stylist is booked for what feels like forever in growing-out-hair time. Forever being a month.

Last week I was a raging lunatic, one minute whimpering at myself in the mirror, the next telling anyone who would listen that I was just going to hack at my own bangs with dull scissors, I didn't even care anymore!

Then I discovered the wonder of hair combs. I haven't used them, along with any hair accessory, really, since I had much longer tresses. What I had forgotten is how great they are at making you seem put together, especially when you're, ahem, not (I swear I'm thisclose to cutting my own hair!). The plain Jane hair combs I am wearing have somewhat soothed my hair rage, but I want to take it a step further. I want the hair comb Kate wore in "Titanic." You know the one.



Isn't it gorgeous, albeit a little blurry in this shot? Lucky for me there are some equally gorgeous butterfly hair combs to be found on Etsy. Take a look with me, won't you?

Jill Bailey

Which Goose

Surreptitious Sloth

Emily Lynch

Flickr Fridays #74

1. Untitled, 2. [v.4], 3. Paper Canopy, 4. closing time, 5. lomoccino, 6. day 3

Happy Friday, friends! Today I'm trying to tie up last-minute Seattle details (why are hotels in that city so friggin' expensive, hmm?) for our trip next Friday. I'm also on a hunt for a cute umbrella to take with me. Tomorrow it's beach day! What do you have in store for the weekend?

100 Movies: 68, 69

And the countdown continues in my quest to watch and find something inspiring in every single one of Yahoo's 100 Movies to See Before You Die.

Lee: You have offended my family and you have offended the Shaolin Temple.

H likes to pretend that I haven't seen this movie a million times. What he tends to forget is that when we first moved in together, we had a handful of VHS tapes to watch, and this was one of them. It was also his favorite movie. So when we sit down to watch it for the 100 Movies, he says, "I bet you don't even remember what this movie is about." Well, H, you have offended my memory! The plot: Bruce Lee is a Shaolin monk who infiltrates former student Han's island to take place in a martial arts competition. Of course Han is up to no good on this island. He has many evil plans, including drug trafficking and prostitution. When Bruce Lee discovers Han was to blame for his sister's death years earlier, he works his one-man kung fu magic, freeing Han's prisoners and finally facing Han himself in a room full of mirrors. I love this scene because it is a masterful work of photography and it makes me want to set up my own fabulously overdone photoshoot. Maybe soon ...

Jeff: He killed a dog last night because the dog was scratching around in the garden. You know why? Because he had something buried in that garden that the dog scented.
Lt. Doyle: Like an old hambone?
Jeff: I don't know what pet names Thorwald had for his wife.

OK, this is officially my favorite Jimmy Stewart movie. His sullen, sour demeanor comes to a head when he plays a wheelchair-bound photographer turned neighborhood spy in this amazing one-set film. After sitting by the window day and night with a broken leg, he witnesses suspicious events in the apartment building across the way. Naturally he sets out to prove a murder took place by employing the help of his long-suffering girlfriend, his home nurse and his detective friend. But what happens when the so-called murderer gets wise to Jimmy's game? Well, let's just say it's the first time I've ever seen flashbulbs used as weapons. If this plot sounds familiar that's because there have been numerous homages, including "Disturbia" and a recent episode of "CSI: New York." Homages are inspiring, true, but what's most inspiring to me is what a determined person can accomplish in a confined space, and in the face of naysayers! We would all do well to remember this, whether the confined space be a physical room or a merely a state of mind.

The It List

Five things I'm lovin' right now ...

Decorating with Japanese glass floats.


This rad sailing mug. I was thinking about keeping it for myself, so if you like it buy it before I change my mind.


The Paper Beatles!


The photographic stylings of Elizabeth Weinberg.


Violet May's beautiful collages.