Lovely reminder

Via Mary Ruffle, via Gabrielle Loves

Inspiring

Photo by David La Spina for The New York Times

I ran across this article in The New York Times about Alexandra Reau, a fourteen-year-old who runs her own C.S.A. Amazing.

I am still waiting for my tomatoes to ripen. The Super Sweet 100s are getting close and I think that the Purple Cherokees will be next. I am so ready for a Caprese salad! Now if I could only bring myself to do some weeding.

Maps

O. and I really love maps. I'm not sure what it is about them exactly. They are practical yet can be works of art. Here are a few handmade maps that recently caught my eye.

Karen M. O'Leary hand cuts absolutely stunning maps. They are modern and minimal and incredibly interesting. She also make some really beautiful prints.

Detail of San Francisco hand cut map

Manhattan handcut map

Famille Summerbelle's whimsical world map via Hither and Thither. I think that this would be really fun in a kid's room.

Detail of hand paper cut

World map print

And the perfect daydreaming map courtesy of You and Me, The Royal We. Hand drawn by Oliver Jeffers, the print comes with 202 pins to "chart your path to global domination. 200 of the pins are black, one of them is red and one of them is blue. Red is for headquarters, blue is for next target." How fun is that?

Detail from Places on Earth print

On the list: Tanya Aguiñiga and Crafting Community at the Ace Hotel

I first noticed Tanya Aguiñiga's rope necklaces via a post about the Community Shop on the Heath Ceramics blog. Here's a peek into her studio. She has an interesting story; she was raised in Tijuana and uses her experience of living in two cultures as inspiration for her work. Recently she designed a Toddler Texture Forest for The New Children's Museum in San Diego. It looks like such a whimsical place; I would love to take L. there someday.

Toddler Texture Forest at The New Children's Museum

But what I really love is her jewelry, especially the small cotton rope necklace. The larger necklaces hanging on the wall look fantastic, too.

Community Shop at Ace Hotel Palm Springs

Unraveled small cotton rope necklace

The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs (home of aforementioned Community Shop) also plays host to the Kimmel Kids Crafting Community retreat, a weekend of eating, crafting, and family hang-out time in the desert. Such a cool idea. Sign me up!

Nesting (kind of)

One of the more challenging concepts for me (as a planner) is that we do not know where we will end up living when O. graduates. Unlike other graduate students who typically pick a city or region they would like to live in and then apply for jobs in said city or region, PhD candidates are required to be open to living in a wide variety of places. So we could end up on either coast, in between, or in some other country (though this is less likely). While this is exciting at times, it is sometimes nervewracking.


Nonetheless, I like to daydream about the type of place that we will (eventually) call home. I have always wanted a big farmhouse table (which I fully realize may not be possible in certain cities). I especially love salvaged wood tables. I think that the Whiskey Tank Table made from oak whiskey staves is pretty much perfect. And it is on sale. Sigh.

Whiskey Tank Table at Sundance

I also love this trestle table. Restoration Hardware- who knew?

Trestle Table at Restoration Hardware

And then there are the chairs. I would love to pick out some colorful French bistro chairs or better yet, design my own pattern. How fun would that be?

Maison Gatti

TK Collections

Or keep it classic with a Wegner wishbone chair. Decisions for another time. At least the process is fun (and free), right?

On the list

This salad sounds delicious. Maybe I can find some fresh asparagus at the farmer's market this weekend.

I love these yellow stone earrings from J. Crew. So pretty.

Spotted ages ago on Simple Lovely.

These wedges have been on my list for awhile.

When we were at the Art Institute of Chicago a couple of weeks ago, we made a wrong turn and ended up in a gallery which featured artwork from picture books. This is where we were introduced to the fabulous book, Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty. We definitely need to pick it up for L.

He is starting to find books amusing. The bath and exercise scenes in The Going to Bed Book bring on the giggles. Exercising before bed (and post-bath) is pretty hilarious.

Welcome

Aren't these prints from Eva Juliet fabulous? I think that they sum up the motivation behind this new little blog of mine. Trying to balance work and home life with my PhD candidate husband and 9 month old little guy has been challenging. Especially when you are a planner (or sometimes control freak) like myself. Welcome to my little outlet; I'm glad that you're here.