Whirlwind Weekend - Part 1

I was home in Columbus over the weekend and am honestly surprised by how much stuff I managed to do in the span of 3 days! The whole trip was really based around Hat Day on Friday which is a fundraiser at the Franklin Park Conservatory to support their community gardening program (more on that in a bit) but the weekend turned into so much more! Starting with the Pearl Jam concert, ending with a Mother's Day brunch and a fashion show thrown in the middle there for good measure - needless to say I'm still tired.

So let's start with Hat Day...this was the 10th Anniversary of the event and it was the 2nd year I had gone, this picture is from the first time I went and is hanging up in my room.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a picture of myself from this year but I do have this great one of my parents!
What's better than an excuse to get dressed up, wear a hat, and help a good cause? Not a lot! There were some really amazing hats and as pictures start to surface I'll continue putting them up...

I Scream, You Scream

I literally did scream when I found this out! Just like me, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams has made its way from Columbus to Boston. I know it was already on DailyCandy this week but I thought I'd give it a few days and then just remind everyone who already saw it or inform anyone who hadn't what AMAZING news this is. My sister has written about it too so if you couldn't' tell my family is very fond of Jeni's. It all started with Salty Caramel at the North Market. Now that's the name of her blog and North Market is just one of 5 locations and a number of retailers (nationally, thank God!)


Opening the email from DailyCandy last Sunday was seriously like Christmas in May. They are now selling Jeni's at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and hopefully soon at the South End Formaggio as well. Both seasonal flavors, like Savannah Buttermilk, and the classics like Salty Caramel will be available.


I very highly suggest you try them, or if you are in Columbus that you visit one of the actual ice cream shops because they are also adorable.

Images from Jeni's website and Real Simple.

Movin' On Up

I must say I laughed out loud when I went to pick up the keys to my new apartment and the key-tag said "Penthouse"...is that what we're calling a 4th floor walk-up these days? I guess so! Well 13 hours, 4 movers, and countless boxes later we're all in. It was seriously like putting a ship in a bottle and letting it expand and now comes the fun part. It's a Boston apartment so it's old, or in real estate terms "has charm" and it definitely needs a little TLC so you're in luck - you just get to read about it while I do the work!

First order of business is painting, here's what my bedroom currently looks like (without furniture) so I'd like some suggestions on paint colors...





Hopefully I'm not crazy and you'll agree with me that you can't tell exactly what color it is. It's like a greyish tannish white? I also am pretty sure the walls are not all the same shade. To give you an idea what it needs to match here's the bedding I currently have.


So what do you think?? My bed is white so I don't want the walls to be too light because then you lose the the bed against them.

Thanks in advance for you help!!

Sneak Peak

After starting to clean my apartment in preparation for my upcoming move (more on that to come!) I spent a good portion of the night laying on my bed on the phone like in the movie Bye Bye Birdie staring out my window, kicking my legs in the air, and watching them set up for Urban Showcase!! (see previous post below for details)

Lucky me can see right into all levels of the house from my bedroom and I tried to creep and get some good pictures but they didn't turn out well except this little guy in the basement window....

...don't you think there should be a little sign hanging that says "Jonathan Adler was here!?"

Urban Showcase

I've seen this house rise from the ground up over the past year and it has honestly been nothing short of amazing. I live just behind it and I've got to say Bradford has become my favorite street in the South End, it's a perfect location without being too busy and I love all the houses on it. 44 Bradford Street is finally complete and now ready to be shown off.


...and not just shown off in an open house. Local Realtor, Ricardo Rodriguez, will be presenting the Urban Showcase - April 29-30, May 1-2, and May 6-9.
Each floor will be done by a different designer and put on show to benefit the Pine Street Inn ($10 Thursday/Friday, $20 Saturday/Sunday). Need even more reason to come? One of the floors will be done by Jonathan Adler! Other designers include Terrat Elms (known for designing The 1850, also in the South End), Dennis Duffy of Duffy Design Group (designed Rocca,) and Lisa Kreiling of LTK Interiors.


Here are a few previews of the designers, Jonathan Adler...a private residence on Shelter Island, via jonathanadler.com

Terrat Elms...a kitchen in the 1850 building, via terratelms.com

Duffy Design...great room in Concord, MA via duffydesigngroup.com.

LTK Interiors...living room in a Boston duplex via ltkinteriors.com.

Karen Walker (not that Karen Walker)

Although I do covet her collection of Hermes and tolerance for Gin I am not currently referring to the Karen Walker of Will & Grace but instead the eye wear designer. Fashion is fun and should be treated as such which is a huge reason I love Barney's and Fred Segal...they don't take themselves too seriously. I've noticed Karen Walker's stuff popping up in magazines and I've seen it on a few blogs but I just finally got around to checking out her website and now I'm totally sold!

I mean, her logo was enough to get me excited...


Then once you actually get into her site this amazing pattern scrolls through different styles of her newest line of sunglasses. This is from her 2010 collection...


She also keeps her past collections up on kind of an archive of sites for each year. Here is 2009...


See what I mean about keeping it fun? I've tried a pair on and they are definitely a good quality so I'm thinking I might have to buy myself a pair. They're all pretty much under $200, not to say that's cheap but all the sunglasses I've wanted recently have been north of $300 which is just getting silly. This rain (in Boston) is supposed to clear out tomorrow so some nice weather this weekend might call for a new pair of sunglasses!

Music for my Walls

Unfortunately I think when you mention concert posters a lot of people picture a velvet black light Pink Floyd poster or something equally offensive but one of my current obsessions is band and/or concert posters either vintage or orginial by some of the great print makers our there right now.

One of the best websites for them is Poster Cabaret where I actually picked up this Band of Horses poster as an engagement present for my sister and her husband because they went to see them for their first date.

It looks so good framed and I think it made a pretty good gift if I do say so myself.

The other one from Poster Cabaret I'm loving both because I love the band Stars and because I love the artwork is this one, which is by the artist The Small Stakes - definitely one of my favorites on the website.

One great find that I cannot take credit for is a Bob Dylan poster that came folded in his 1967 Greatest Hits LP that my sister bought for her husband Peter for Christmas one year. She got in eBay and then had it restored because it was worn from being folded up in a record sleeve for so long but it looks perfect now.

One of the great thing about concert posters is they tend to come in really standard sizes so its easy to find frames at Ikea or other big stores to fit them so you can save some money on custom matting and framing.