Archive for the 'Inspiration' Category

Inspiration

Published on October 28, 2011 in Design and Inspiration. 0 Comments

If you’re like me (or even if you’re not), you probably read a lot of blogs.

[This is a real conversation between my uncomprehending husband and myself.]

Husband: Don’t you get tired of looking at other people’s living rooms?
Me: No. No I don’t.

And…scene.

Some come in and out of favor, but there are a few blogs that are always spot on with what you’re thinking/dreaming/planning. Just really inspirational, you know? That’s what Chez Larsson is. Benita is not only a working mom with a new house, but she is also a blogger. on. FIRE. This woman is so incredibly creative, handy and organized, I don’t know how she does it all. Truth be told, I sometimes read her blog and feel like a complete mess. But most of the time, she makes me want to organize, purge and make everything white! She’s truly amazing. Check out some of these projects (click on images for the link):

It’s all in the details. I hope you’re inspired (and prepared to lose about half of your weekend reading about all of Benita’s projects). I’m off to go buy some white bins and start sorting!

Have a lovely weekend all.

All photos by Chez Larsson

Foraging

Published on October 25, 2011 in Inspiration. 0 Comments Tags: .


Well, to be truthful, I foraged not a jot. It was Dan, he of the foraging fanaticism, who gifted me with this (not so) little beauty. It’s a giant wild hen-of-the-woods mushroom (also known as maitake or ram’s head or sheep’s head), and Dan picked it up — along with another even more giant specimen — on one of his many foraging adventures. The pictures don’t show the scale properly, but I’m thinking it had to be a least a couple pounds. So large we had to cut it in half in order to fit the pieces into gallon Ziploc bags.

And wait til you see what I did with them. It involves butter. Oh yes it does. And there’s still a bit left, which I may just have to sauté up and make a nice omelet. Is it lunchtime yet?

So Cool

Published on October 20, 2011 in Design and Inspiration. 0 Comments

I just saw this video on Anthology magazine’s blog, and it is so inspiring! Makes me want to throw some paint on all these white walls.

Loafing

Published on October 18, 2011 in Breads + Muffins and Inspiration. 0 Comments


Actually, that’s not true. I haven’t been loafing. I’ve actually been very busy and, hence, neglectful of this here blog. Terribly sorry. No excuses. But to make up for my absence, I’m promising some delicious desserts in the next few days…

But in the meantime, I think I may need to make these. *sigh* I get so easily sidetracked, don’t I?

The Great Gatsby & East Egg

Published on August 31, 2011 in Inspiration and Travel. 1 Comment

A quick note to send thanks to friends who checked up on us in the “evacuation zone” last weekend. We escaped unscathed to the hills of Park Slope in Brooklyn (I never actually made the connection between the name and the elevation; see how learning comes out of life’s trials?). And were re-ensconced at home by Sunday (albeit after climbing 28 floors to our apartment as the elevators were still out). Others have not fared so well, and we send best wishes out to everyone who weathered the slow-moving, but sneakily insidious Irene.


As you may have heard, Baz Luhrmann has just started filming an adaptation of one of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby. I have two problems with this:

1. He’s filming it in Australia. That’s just wrong.
2. It’s going to be in 3D. WHY? Do we really need to see the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg in 3D, I ask you? No, we do not.

Photo (c) Jen Ross

I was reading about this on one of my favorite gossip blogs, and they included a link to this amazing photographer’s site. On the site is a portfolio of Land’s End, a dilapidated, but once clearly gorgeous, house in Sands Point, Long Island that was purported* to be the inspiration for Tom and Daisy’s house in East Egg.

From a sales brochure (NOTE: Stanford White was not the architect)

The house was recently demolished because the current owner claims he couldn’t afford to maintain it (but reports suggest he’d planned to demolish and subdivide all along). This site has a ton of info about it with before/during/after photos. Also, check out Jen Ross’s post-demolition images on her blog. And here’s a link to a Today Show piece about the estate. So sad. Hand-painted wallpaper from 100 years ago and pink onyx bath fixtures…all gone (or probably sold).

Photo (c) Jen Ross

It makes me wistful for a time I wasn’t even born in. I guess that’s what good storytelling does to you. Even if it wasn’t Daisy’s house, Lands End still represents a time and place that is long gone. It makes me sad for the future of historic preservation in this country. And not to get all 9th grade English on you, but isn’t the demise of Lands End also a metaphor for Jay and Daisy and their beautiful, doomed lives? Please, Mr. Luhrmann, don’t screw this up.

* But according to this, it isn’t. But you’ve got to love all the drama!