GORGEOUS.

I have to make a quick note of all the blues in this line as well. How refreshing to see color making a dramatic comeback. Especially classic colors like these.

Fendi pre-fall 2011

It's been a productive day.

This is what I'm wearing to my imaginary NYE party 2011. It's going to be one hell of a time.

(Oscar de la Renta pre-fall 2011)

Anyone want to get this for me for Christmas?

(click the picture for the link, to buy, for me :)

I hate White Elephant Gift exchanges. Dirty Santa. "Gag" gifts. Whatever you want to call them.

Unfortunately for me, my work has one every year, and there's no way to get out of it. What is the point of these gift exchanges? For someone like me, who doesn't keep junk around her house, there's nothing to get rid of. These exchanges usually result in me getting more junk and someone else going home with my Mary Poppins book (I'm still sad that I gave that one away....)

They're awkward too--what do you do when you open up a lovely box and inside is a heated rock for your nonexistent lizard? Laugh? Roll your eyes? Thank the giver? Get competitive and try to pawn it off on the next person?

I wish I could think of a good alternative.

So French women don't get fat, and now Dutch women don't get depressed. What about American women?

"The ideal American woman doesn't just putter around in the kitchen or dabble in knitting. She opens a cake shop and knits scarves for fashion shows. She appears on Oprah. She follows her dreams."

A quick mental run-through brings me to conclude that I have always considered my own hobbies or skills as potential business situations,* even though I've never acted on these thoughts (it's really just a matter of time). Is this a result of my American upbringing? Is the entrepreneurial spirit born into every American?

*upon closer scrutiny, I think most of the entrepreneurial spirit comes from a desire to get out of the rat race, no? That would bring this little conversation full-circle. And now you know how my mind works. Lucky you! It gets pretty convoluted in there sometimes :)

Home libraries, throw pillows, and natural light. Oh and slanted ceilings. What more does a person need? This room is perfect.

photography by morten holtum

Q

This book is just ... well, it's so "kate." Over the years, you've worked with a number of designers. How do you keep the brand voice so clear, consistent, and authentic?

A

This book is a perfect example of how we work - we always go back to the things we love as a foundation and continue to reinterpret and modernize them.

...

banjos and bears.

what a lucky day!

so great.

poster design by aaron gresham.

seen first on ampersand design studio

Any moment now, I might explode.

Today has been an inspiring day.

On the interwebs, at work--yes, at work.

We had a lettering designer from

the parent company come and lecture.

All I know right now is that I love letter forms.

I love how they interact,

how you can link them together or spread them apart

and how they can say things differently--

how the same word can whisper or scream.

I guess I'm in the right industry.

above is one of my workshop results

Pretty, pretty Wiksten socks for sale today. Jenny seems like such a gem and, as always, has made such lovely things (bonus: she's from Kansas!!).

I can't purchase these, but I plan on learning to knit my own this fall and I am SO excited for it! In fact, I'm going to pick up the yarn over lunch today. Handmade things are the best, especially if you make them yourself or receive them from someone you love. I truly believe this.

Today has been a day of meeting deadlines, having a clean desk, and time to blog at work again. Glorious. Also time to catch up on some online reading. Take a look at this article on social media in The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell--he has some good thoughts. Namely that Twitter, Blogger, and Facebook are not going to be revolutionizing anything of real importance, ever. I couldn't agree more.

He begins by telling the story of an inaugural lunch counter "sit-in" during the civil rights movement--and of the courage that such an act involved. It made a huge impact, and we see the effect of it still today. Strong ties motivate action. Weak ties seldom inspire anything beyond awareness and sympathy, and seldom bring about any kind of real change. Is social media capable of building strong ties? I like Gladwell's sensible approach of recognizing the value of social media, used in its proper place:

The instruments of social media are well suited to making the existing social order more efficient. They are not a natural enemy of the status quo. If you are of the opinion that all the world needs is a little buffing around the edges, this should not trouble you. But if you think that there are still lunch counters out there that need integrating it ought to give you pause.

Open shelving right next to the stove. Pretty, organized, convenient!

This is going in my dream kitchen inspiration.

While I'm at it, that gas stove/oven might make the list too.... :)

image from Traditional Home via Simply Luxurious.

Friedman predicts a third party uprising in the NYT today.

“We basically have two bankrupt parties bankrupting the country,” said the Stanford University political scientist Larry Diamond. Indeed, our two-party system is ossified; it lacks integrity and creativity and any sense of courage or high-aspiration in confronting our problems. We simply will not be able to do the things we need to do as a country to move forward “with all the vested interests that have accrued around these two parties,” added Diamond. “They cannot think about the overall public good and the longer term anymore because both parties are trapped in short-term, zero-sum calculations,” where each one’s gains are seen as the other’s losses.

I'm all for a realistic third party candidate in the next election, and by realistic I mean someone other than Ralph Nader.

(full article here)

I'm obsessed.

With Guster's new album, which you can hear in full on the WSJ. So easy, so wonderful.

They're playing in KC in a week and a half. A Wednesday night trip.
Perhaps I will Zimride my way up for it.

What is it about The Strokes that is just exactly fallish?

image from Deanna Staffo's flickr. i love her style--it's unique and the perfect combination of whimsy and realism. makes me realize yet again that i need to practice my art more.

Ha! This would be Steph and I (on the right) seriously contemplating the paintings around the hem of this guy's jacket as he struts along the runway at Couture Fashion Week NY 2010.

Let's be honest. It was kinda ugly.

From Revenge Magazine's flickr stream.

BIG NEWS, GUYS:

Toast has a men's collection.

amateur (noun) a person who practices something for the love of it.

here are some clothes we have made for men.

we've wanted to do this for a long time.

we've been asked to do it very often.

we've taken our time to get them right.

we've used really good fabrics.

we've done things properly.

we've approached it like meticulous amateurs - and have thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

I wonder, if I ask them a often and for a long time,

if they will make it a bit easier for US citizens to purchase....

This is not a food blog, but on Monday I finally had the chance to dine at Balthazar, New York's most beloved bistro and I must tell you about it:

Balthazar was inspirational.

And since you're dying of curiosity, here's what I ordered:

A glass of Sancerre, light and citrusy Sauvignon Blanc to start the evening with a sparkle. One famous Balthazar salad, complete in its truffle-infused glory. A plate of flaky grilled branzini, sitting atop sweet onions and arugula, and a warm apple tarte tatin matched with a shot of espresso.*

Anyway, I felt inspired tonight when I got home from the gym, and whipped up an experimental salad. The results were especially delicious--crunchy, a bit sweet with a bite of spicy mustard, and a nutty follow-through.

Molly's standard vinaigrette.
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 chopped red pear
1/2 chopped avocado
1 T toasted pine nuts
1 T toasted sesame seeds
Parmigiano Reggiano

*That I managed to put away so much food between glances over Steph's shoulder at Brooke Shields and family sitting just behind us is rather admirable, don't you think?

Bikes in the living room.

Kinda looks like my place.

I have been having this reoccurring dream over the past week.

Basically, I'm driving from Newton to Arkansas (and if you do not know that I hate this drive, you do not know me very well). Typically I am being chased by a tornado or two. (Naturally.) And when I get to Tulsa, there is a mandatory stop. I must exit my car (after placing it onto an enormous conveyor belt), check in with the authorities, and complete an obstacle course where I navigate a crowded mall, crawl through a series of tiny corridors, and then leap through a hole in the wall to meet my car at the end of the conveyor.

I think the road construction is getting to me.

It's a rainy fall evening, at long last. Time to cozy up with Cat and a bit of knitting.

photo from an old Vogue, found somewhere in my google reader. love it.

Every great pastry chef has her moment of complete failure, and tonight is mine.

Three perfect pans of Smitten Kitchen's Big Crumb Coffeecake in the oven, filled with plump red cherries which I picked AND pitted myself this summer,
sans baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Ruined.

What to do now? My coworkers must have a deliciously homeade breakfast tomorrow morning and I must do my part!

screw it. i'm taking it anyway.

In two weeks, I will be in here. NYC. For a day's taste of Fashion Week 2010.

A little gift from work.
It might be time that I stop complaining about my job. Sometimes they surprise me with their generosity. And for work that is not only enjoyable but also meaningful, it's really not so bad.

Now the real dilemma: what to wear to a fashion show?!

Cherry Blossom Girl's wedding clutch makes me want to go bird hunting.

edit: not actually CBG's clutch, but rather a wedding guests'. my apologies for the mislabel.

If I could do anything in the world right now, I think it would look something like this:

quit my job for a two and a half month long road trip around the country

and then a year in a foreign country, painting.

And then? Who knows.

The only problems are that it doesn't sound very exciting to do alone, nor do I have a sponsor to send me overseas for a painting holiday.

The travel buddy might be tricky, but the painting thing....
maybe that could happen....

I hate it when people take hold of my fluffy, well-intentioned ideals, turn them upside down, and shake out all the nonsense. Like here.

image

Technology and the Parks (NYT):

Those silly tourists with a lack of respect for God's beautiful creation and an absence of common sense should be banned from the National Parks. Let's use technology for good and not pain-in-the-ass trouble, okay folks?

- your future Nat'l Park Ranger and friend

image

Navy, crimson & cream.

i like these better than red, white and blue don't you?

let's not make this a matter of patriotism though.

rather, just a way to describe what already exists.

a different perspective.

see more photos here.

Um, gonna click OKAY! on this one.

What a great site. I've been floundering a bit on the whole career front, and this settles it. I think I'll begin with Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. Thanks to Ranger Sue, I already know the basics:

1. carry water in your stomach, not on your back.

2. chipmunks have stripes on their faces. golden mantle ground squirrels don't.

3. and NEVER feed the animals. they are not your friends.

Things I have starred this week in the blog Reader:

Herve Pierre's crazy, mishmash home in NY: mainly for the creepy black-gloved hand holding back those amazing pink curtains in his living room.

Kate Spade's wall of coloured envelopes: an idea which we are now using on a new card line coming out next year (thereby justifying my blog-reading as "work," yes)

A recipe for Summer Sangria: YUM. Peaches. White wine! I love summer again.

Anna Bond's cocktail invitations: she is ridiculously talented.

Starry Girl from Creature Comforts: which oddly reminds me of Mary Poppins.

Road Trip Propaganda: I wanna road trip.

And some preppy collegiates for good measure.

image

here.

(Paul's on the left, Joe on the right)

Oh fall, I love you.

Please hurry.

images from the fall/winter collection of jackson, johnston and roe.

via.

more: Chloe from Glamorous

LOVE the shades of greys and greens mixed with camels. So warm--perfect for the cooler temps. Luckily I have the green pumps and can sew myself the little camel pencil skirt. DONE.

Just saw this and got a twinge of excitement for fall!

The season of camel-colored everything and leather and wool and crispy-cool mornings and lattes and leaves!

image: aline webber by greg kadel for harper's bazaar us, august 2010, via TIG

Yeah, he's been on this bandwagon for a while, but I have to give a nod to this editorial from T.Friedman.

“O.K., you Republicans don’t believe in global warming? Fine. Forget about global warming. That’s between you and your beach house. How about this? Do you believe in population growth? Do you believe in the American dream? Because, according to the U.N., the world’s population is going to grow from roughly 6.7 billion people today to about 9.2 billion by 2050. And in today’s integrated world, more and more of those 9.2 billion will aspire to, and be able to, live like Americans — with American-size cars, homes and Big Macs. In that world, demand for fossil fuels is going to go through the roof — and all the bad things that go with it.

“If we take that threat seriously now and pass an energy bill that begins to end our oil addiction, we can shrink the piles of money we send to the worst regimes in the world, strengthen our dollar by keeping more at home, clean up our air, take away money from the people who finance the mosques and madrassas that keep many Muslim youths backward, angry and anti-American and stimulate a whole new industry — one China is already leapfrogging us on — clean-tech. Nothing would improve our economic and national security more, yet Republicans won’t lift one finger to make it happen.

“They would rather we send more Americans to fight terrorism in the Middle East, let petro-states hostile to our interests get richer and let China take the lead in the next great global industry than ask Americans to pay a little more for the gas they use or the carbon pollution they put into the air. If OPEC, China and Russia could vote, they would be 100 percent supportive of the Republicans.

“How about we stop honoring our soldiers and our military families and start helping them? Nope. The Republican view of fighting the war on terrorism is that rather than ask all of us to make a small sacrifice to weaken our foes and buttress our troops, we should ask only a few of us to make the ultimate sacrifice. And that’s called being tough?”

And yes, I do realize that I just copied and pasted roughly the entire article. Oh well. I like what he says, although I'm not sure that I would limit the blame to Republicans--and he's only doing so because he is directing his thoughts toward the Senate and those casting votes per their party. I do like his appeal to logic and to what is best for the country rather than to dumbly sticking with typical party loyalties.

Not that I really know what I'm talking about, and all this might be a bit idealistic--I can see a few problems and possible hang-ups--but it seems like a step in a better direction.

Turns out tie dye isn't so bad.

Here are a few selections from the Christopher Kane Resort collection and the Shabd autumn/winter sneak preview. More tie dye inspiration at Wikstenmade, and a true-to-life tie dye sunset photo right here (which you really must see because it is inspirational).

the sweeterie

I think this counts as a green thumb, no? I raised these little basils from seed. That's right.
well, okay just the short ones. that tall one was a seedling.

I've been driving Greg's truck all week to facilitate some furniture-moving.

People seem to consider all vehicles and machinery to be female by default. I disagree. This truck is a tall lanky boy in dark wash jeans and squeaky-clean white sneakers. Yep.

This Is Summer

LOVE this photo.

drenched with summer sophistication and charm.

shot by The Sartorialist

(i'm on this funny summer kick right now. you're all probably pros at enjoying the hot weather, but it's a relatively new thing for me. my findings? little tolerances matter. embrace your location. creek water isn't so bad. the right bathing suit makes a difference. it's okay to sweat. and always drink plenty of beer--i mean water)

This Is Summer

Roadtrip, anyone?

image from the Tourist ezine

This Is Summer

morning.

noon.

night.

fascinated by lights hitting the water. the essence of summer.

photography by Alicia Bock

"Nothing could be more lonely or more beautiful than the view at nightfall across the prairies to these huge hill masses, when the lengthening shadows have at last merged into one and the faint after-glow of the red sunset has filled the west." -President Theodore Roosevelt

sand art by Jim Denevan

love this

popomomo

for my archives

Nigella's words:

Cooks like ransacking the fridge and enthusiastically tossing random ingredients into a pan or a stockpot to make a meal; bakers come into their own only with dessert.

I considered myself to belong to the former group. This was an accident of birth: neither my mother nor either of my grandmothers was a baker (male ancestors didn't figure into this equation at all), and without a cozy nursery initiation into the rites of baking, it can seem a forbidding, arcane art.

I am here to say the truth is altogether different. Baking is a cinch. More, it is a joy. You need know nothing to be proficient. Proficiency engenders confidence. And confidence breeds an attachment that can become habitual.

reposted from m.dash

Good heavens people. Drop everything and go make this cake. It's apricot season, after all, and the cake is inspired.

I'd post a picture of my finished product--it's a pretty thing too, but you all know the limitations of my crappy camera; apparently, photographing a simple cake is asking too much.

The Inspired Life

Nice product/lifestyle photography by The Selby for Cole Haan's S/S Campaign.

American style at its best.

On My Wishlist

Loeffler Randalls Pre-Fall 2010 Collection

Someone should make a cheaper knock-off version so that I can buy a few pair.