California Safari

If you know me at all you know how much I LOVE birthdays, not just mine, everyone's! That being said, naturally I am already considering what I want to do for mine (which is April 10, FYI) even though its months away. Unfortunately I find myself starting a lot of sentences like this but...if money and time were not an issue (ha!) I'd love to go to Coachella - the music festival in Indio, CA. This year it's April 16th-17th and while I look through their website every year I just discovered the amazing safari tents that they have available to stay in with every amenity and unlimited access to the whole festival for the weekend.

Ok, now I usually would be against staying in such swanky digs while at a music festival (sleeping in the back of my Volvo station when I went to Bonnaroo in college comes to mind) but how could you resist this?? Air conditioned safari tents with air conditioning, bathrooms, showers, breakfast, golf-cart shuttles, and more.

To be honest, I'd stay in one of these beautiful tents where ever it was! But the fact it's 1. in Southern California and 2. at Coachella is almost too much for me to handle!

How relaxing does this look??

Alright, so who wants to fund this trip for me? Just kidding...but a girl can dream!

Olde Dutch Cottage Candy

For any of you who live in or frequent the South End I'm sure you've at least walked past the Olde Dutch Cottage Candy store. It's a little shop across the street form the Atelier building on Tremont Street right before Berkeley, and if you've had a similar experience to mine you've never seen it open. So this past Sunday while I was walking down Tremont and saw a light on I decided I had to go in.

Let me tell you, once I walked through the front door I immediately felt like I might never get out - I have NEVER seen so much stuff in one space! Candy and jewelry hanging from the ceiling, countless porcelain and pewter boxes and vases everywhere, more prints than you could count. I mean, there were corners of the store you couldn't even get to!

Since it probably won't be open again for another year I thought I'd share some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about...

All vintage necklaces hanging over the jewelry case, there was stuff hanging from the ceiling all over the store

You can see they did have some nice blue and white porcelain which I always have a weakness for...

...and also lots of cool antique silver and pewter...


...but usually at places like this I expect to find complete steals, not the case! Obviously I don't know the significance of the above framed certificate but it was $4000!!!


I do love this little silver box on the left though, if I ever see it open again I think I'll go get it

Sick Day

I've been home sick this week and daydreaming in my NyQuil-induced-half-concious state about my ideal bed that I'd love to be curled up in. While I will defend the comfort level of my bed to the death, I will admit this is pretty appealing...

So this is what I came up with....I know, I know the house from The Holiday in LA is BEYOND amazing, but that cottage in England is actually my favorite. It's so cozy, not to mention if I looked half as good as this when I was sick and got to lay in bed with a huge loaf of break and big glas off red wine...well let's just say I'd NEVER be at work. So for now, I'll just close my eyes and pretend I'm Cameron Diaz swaddled in cashmere and quilts!

Bootights!

I got so excited when I saw these in Lucky Magazine last night...usually my daily footwear November-February consists of black opaque tights and American Apparel knee-high gym socks under my boots. This causes 2 problems; 1. sometimes the socks pill onto my tights 2. it prevents me from going to shoe shopping after work (sometimes I do that on purpose though, like my own electrical-fence)
But now there are Bootights! It's one of those 'why didn't I think of that' things but I'm glad someone did.


You can read the story on her website, but founder Shelby Mason came up with the idea after an embarrassing incident taking her boots off in line at the airport...something I've become far too familiar with myself.

They come in different heights for knee-high boots or shorter booties and are available at Dillards.

Louis's New Home

So, I know it's old news that LouisBoston is moving to Fan Pier but I just got re-excited about it when I saw the Globe today. Yes, of course I am sad...I love the Natural Science Museum building and I'm scared what will happen to it because God knows no one can afford to get in there after them, and I'll miss it being close to me but you KNOW it's going to be amazing at in the Seaport. First of all look at the rendering that the Globe published in October...


While we're at it, I thought I'd post some of the old images the Globe used to show when the building was the Natural History Museum because they are so cool.


I'd love to see if the Globe could get reprints of these photos because they would look amazing framed.

Most importantly though is what this move means for us......and that would be 50% off! Sale is Thursday - Saturday, 11a-7p

In Fond Memory

Charles Kleibacker -1965

One of the more interesting people I have been fortunate enough to meet is Charles Kleibacker. My mom sadly informed me yesterday when Charles passed away so I thought I'd put up something in his honor as he was such a wonderful and talented person.

Kleibacker designs - mid 1950's
Images via Threads Magazine

Born in a tiny town in Alabama Charles knew he wanted to be a designer from a very young age and went on to do just that. I'll never forget sitting with him in the atrium of the Columbus Museum of Art and him telling me about sitting in his own boutique within Bergdorf Goodman selling his couture dresses. Can you even imagine??

He was one of the few American designers to find success in doing only couture and no mass produced ready-to-wear lines. When I read articles or biographies about him I actually find them hard to believe because he was truly one of the most down-to-Earth people you could ever meet. He started his fashion career as an assistant designer in the house of Lanvin in Paris and opened his own studio in New York in 1960. He is famous for his bias-cut which requires painstaking attention to detail, high quality fabrics, and extraordinary talent which is why it truly can only work on couture designs.

Image from The Fashion School at Kent University

In 1984 he accepted a position at The Ohio State University and the art world in Columbus would never be the same! He did so much good for OSU, Kent University, The Columbus Museum of Art, and so much more. While is presence will undoubtedly be missed his legacy will absolutely live on.

The images below do not do the dress justice but Charles was kind enough to give this dress to my mom and it is absolutely stunning. What I find most interesting about it is on the inside you can see all the construction and architecture that goes into making a couture gown. I didn't fully understand or appreciate what his famous bias cut did for the shape of a garment and of its wearer until I saw this dress.


*Information from Kent University

Deck the Halls

Remember when you were little and you always got the BEST idea for your Halloween costume on November 1? Then you'd swear that's what you'd be next year but you'd always forget....that's how I felt when I saw the Christmas decorations at our house this year! So I thought I'd put them up not only to share with all of you but also so I can remember where I saved the pictures and then use them next year as inspiration. She worked with Kevin Reiner of Kevin Reiner Design in Columbus who helped her with re-doing the garden before my sister's wedding as well and the house looked so beautiful. Here are a couple pictures of what they did around the house using all plants, flowers, and vintage ornaments.
The pictures above and below use vintage ornaments that are a mixture - some my mom found at a consignment store and others she borrowed from Kevin. You can find very inexpensive ones on eBay or in any antique or consignment store. Then just use regular ornament hooks to make any light fixture look festive or just put them in bowls and vases around your house.


I think this one is my favorite, above they hung really small bud vases with satin ribbon and put red amaryllis in them. Also, once the red flowers had died my mom replaced them with white which was also really pretty and could easily be done any time of year without looking too holiday-ish.
Using matching ribbon to the hanging amaryllis there were small green bunches hanging from the sconces in the dining room too.


One thing this season I really fell in love with was using dried Magnolia leaves, which I also saw at Hudson. They had a whole garland and wreath there which I'm sure was very labor intensive but for an easier and quicker decoration just put them in a vase or bowl like above and they last a really long time too. Also, don't necessarily just have to be for holiday decorations.

Well, I obviously can't take credit for ANY of these ideas or designs but thought I could at least pass it along! Some good ideas to use next year...