Hello Sunshine!

As I said earlier this week, I've spent the last three weeks in-and-out of town, living out of a suitcase. I had a marvelous time, and I'm finally getting unpacked.

So of course I'm already daydreaming about where to go next! I'm not sure where it should be, but given that the inspiration images below get my heart singing, I think it involves being outdoors, enjoying the sunshine and wearing a caftan.

Fabulous hat from Kate Spade

These outdoor images from House Beautiful have me wanting to jump away from the computer screen. STAT!

Garden design by Lisa Bynon. Those gates are insane.

More House Beautiful beauties.

While sitting in the gardens and sipping Mint Juleps, I'll lounge in these gorgeous caftans...
By Lem Lem

Or from Calm nyc.

I'm ready to get my relax on again!

Inspiration: Nature

While in Palm Springs, we stayed at the Parker. I've been going there for 6 years, and I always feel like the gardens are magical. I wandered around and took some pictures of my favorite goodies.

No idea what this is, but I love it.

Pretty in pink.

Luscious and lovely.

These look like gorgeous feathers.

They always make me happy.

And of course the REAL reason the gardens make me happy - this is the spot in their gardens where my husband proposed 6 years ago!

Happy Can

I can officially state that I suck at gardening. I killed my herb garden. I killed the adorable topiaries that live on my mantle in the living room. I have passed on the responsibility of watering our Meyer Lemon Tree to my husband (which is probably the only reason it has survived.) And yet I'm still tempted by adorable gardening accessories, like this watering can. When will I ever learn?!
From Aug 2010 Better Homes and Gardens - can be bought at nybgshop.org

The Great Outdoors

I love the outdoors. The sun. Blue skies. Though my poor nose is taking quite a beating with my seasonal allergies in full effect. So rather than hiking and camping, I'm more the sit-in-my-backyard-reading-my-Kindle kind of nature girl.

I've been working on my herb garden (aka, slowly killing all the gorgeous herbs we bought at Whole Foods last year.) LOVE this image from Martha Stewart - just a little sharpie on the herb pot helps if go from blah to glam!


This image from Better Homes & Gardens totally brings the outdoors inside -- I am somewhat obsessed with birch logs!
Happy Spring (a-choo!)

Year One! and Adirondacks too

Happy Birthday to me!
Candle pic from Flickr

Yesterday my blog turned one! It has been such a fantastic year - starting a blog, starting my own interior design business... I am so appreciative to everyone who reads this blog and all the fantastic bloggers out there who are constantly offering their support! Thank you to everyone. And special thanks to my husband, who amazes me everyday with his love and support.

So how did I celebrate my blog's birthday? By buying outdoor furniture, of course.

My husband found these FABULOUS adirondack chairs at Target - by Smith and Hawken (RIP!)



We bought two and have them facing each other so we have a place to sit while our dog takes care of business. The green lanterns are from Z Gallerie. I'm planning on having pillows made - I'm thinking navy and white wide stripes... Yum.


And because one set of adirondack chairs wasn't enough, we got a second set, from CVS of all places, in lime green.
They are between the herb garden (which is doing well!) and the bbq. These were also found by my husband. They look quite Philippe Starck/Karim Rashid in person. I have trained my husband well.

And one more thank you before I sign off - thank you to everyone for your wonderful encouragement and kind words about Thursday's post, my first interior design project. All your comments put a huge smile on my face and I was floating on air for the rest of the week! Now, back to Earth!

Take me Out!

With Smith + Hawken going into retail history (so sad!) I've got to start looking for some other purveyors of fancy pots and things...

Elle Decor featured some GORGEOUS ones:

Celerie Kemble (in a cute dress!) with the Leon Brickmaker planter from Mecox Gardens.
Very French chic.

Another French chic look from Elle Decor:
Wood Cross Planter by Accents of France. Just looked at their website and they are here in Southern California! Woo hoo!



I've had a crush on this one from Design Within Reach for a while.
Does it break any California state laws to have a crush on a planter?

RIP Smith and Hawken

Friday afternoon I was out with a client and we were discussing the troubled economy. "Can you believe that even Smith and Hawken is going out of business?" she said. I was a bit bummed - while I had never purchased anything there before, I always liked their fancy gardening goodies... and I realized I had a $150 gift card there as a housewarming gift that had been sitting in my wallet for months, so I skipped my Saturday yoga class and hightailed it over to the Beverly Hills store with my hubby to cash in my gift card before it became obsolete.

Was happy to find some great deals, but sad to see the store closing. The guy who helped us was SO knowledgeable and kind, it's hard to know that these people will soon be out of work.

Wow, what a sad posting. On the brighter side, I found some fantastic finds and only spent $22 above my gift card...

Got this gorgeous planter I had been eyeing on their website for months.

We picked up a dwarf Meyer lemon tree at the nursery -- waiting to see some lemons pop!



Got two of these sweet little topiaries for my mantle (and you know how I love my topiaries!)
Best wishes to all the nice people at Smith and Hawken!

Viva las accessories!

I've waxed poetic about Viva Terra before - their eco-chic-o goods make me want to trade in my gas guzzling station wagon for a Prius!

These accessories are fantastic:

This vase, the Molave Ring Vase, is just gorgeous.
I love the balance/juxtaposition of the raw wood and the sleek glass.


Succulents are all the rage - I think these ones are adorable!



These Stacked Mango Wood Stools would be a very grown up addition to a fab kids room.



And for my next cocktail party - LOVING this agate plate.
Some cheese, some crackers, some agate on your plate? Oh life would be so great! Hee hee.

Dwell on Design - the Rundown

So I hope you read some of my tweets about the Dwell on Design event! It was a good time (anything with my good friend Michelle is a good time!) They had some interesting installations, some great accessories, some fabulous gardening idea, but I was underwhelmed by some of the items displayed. There wasn't a lot in the arena of new home architecture/design ideas, which is probably a sign of the economy more than anything else...

But, here is my rundown of my favorites:

Ligne Roset, a furniture company I have blogged about in the past, had this stunning installation right as you walked in...

It looked like interconnected, folded, felted wool shapes. In person, it was gorgeous, and the deep peacock blue color they used was fabulous. I've got their furniture catalog and I'm looking forward to spending my afternoon perusing it!


I blogged about these Log Bowls back in October - I was happy to see they look even prettier in person! That blue one - center, front - really wanted to come home with me.


And as I twittered earlier - Gardening is definitely the new black. Gardening isn't just for our moms anymore. I think with the economy in the pooper, people are going back to basics, like cooking, gardening... things that are fun, relaxing, and not super expensive... Here were some of my favorite gardening items:

This herb planter/table.

I'm not sure your herbs could be any fresher.



My FAVORITE overall booth was Woolly Pockets - these amazing breathable pots.

An entire woolly planter wall. The iPhone pic does not do it justice.



Another company (didn't see their name) had a wall of herb pots. Cute AND keeps the critters out.


A groovy tall pot.


Vitra also had a great display area, with their Vegetal chair (which was actually quite comfy!)

Their adorable kids chairs...



And elephants!
All in all, a great morning. I have some more product brochures to go through, so there will definitely be a part two on Monday...

I think I'll definitely be having a gardening weekend!

Herb

So I maybe had one of my best weekends of all time. I napped, I relaxed, I went to a FABULOUS wedding... and I gardened. Yes, you heard it right. I spent Sunday gardening and I LOVED it.

It wasn't the most difficult gardening, but it was a good start. No wonder my parents spend hours and hours working on there's - it's super relaxing, you are outside, there is a goal that is usually easily achieved in one afternoon.

So my gardening for beginners was creating an herb garden beneath my kitchen window. So all I had to do was transfer the herbs to larger pots... add soil... water... voila! Herb garden!



All my pretty pots in a row...





Thyme






Mint





The posse (left to right: parsley, fennel, sage, thyme. Top shelf: chives)




African Blue Basil.


So I've gardened, learned to cook, knit, learned how to play mahjong... I think I'm officially turning into an old lady. And it's not so bad!

Any tips on how to keep these herbs alive? I can sure re-pot them, but my track record for keeping plants alive is not so hot.

Spring has sprung!

My gardener has officially called it - spring is in the air in LA!
He says it is time to plant more bougainvillea - my favorite!


image from Flickr


The Design with Reach catalog arrived today - they had some glamour-shots of their outdoor furniture


If my backyard looked like that, I might never run off to Palm Springs for the weekend!

Spring is coming!

While the groundhogs around the country may have been in disagreement as to whether there would be a long winter or soon-to-come spring, my front yard is definitely saying it's spring.

I have always loved cherry blossoms, so when I realized last week that they were blooming on my very own tree, I was elated! Yes, even elated enough to get over my stolen business card debacle.

The pictures below are of the blossoms we have, thus far, on our tree...
Hooray - spring will be here before we know it!