Seasonal Produce Calendars

These produce calendars by Chasing Delicious are, in my book, the perfect kitchen wall art, as they are simultaneously practical and pretty, if you like knowing about produce seasonality, and like looking at diagrams of concentric circles in rainbow colors (which I do). I espeically like that they do one about herbs, since those are the first things I plan to grow in my garden of the future!

secret sand

I know its old so you may have already seen it, but being at the seaside all last week made me remember this article from last summer featuring photographs of sand magnified 250 times. Isnt it amazing to think that what appear just to be little grains are secretly tiny shells, small crystals, and a million other unique shapes? 

It makes you realize how old (not to mention intricate) the ocean is, which is one of my very favorite things about it. Im sure Felix had no idea that this is what he had such a lovely time squishing around in. If it looked just like this to the naked eye he wouldve tried to eat more of it.

homecoming

were back from the Island now, and its back to normal here in Essex, which is fine--but I already miss being on the island, since its one of my favorite places in the whole world. One of the reasons I love it so is that because its such a small island (thirty miles long and only eight miles wide) youre literally, constantly surrounded by the sea; you can stand on the bay in Castletown, for example, look back across the island, and see the shore in Port Erin on the other side. Its amazing! Ive always wanted to live by the sea, because I love being near it--the smell, the sound, not to mention the sailboats, and of course the sea food... its all so thrilling and comforting at the same time. And you cant live by the sea much more than you can on the island. I was happy to find that Felix found the sea equally compelling; I think he loved it as much as I did! I think the boats had something to do with it. 

Ill be sharing more about our trip as the week goes on, if youre interested--including Felixs first encounter with his cousin, sweet baby Lila, which of course, was adorable! Its just that Im still feeling a little wistful about it all this morning...

Manx to the Max

welp we are going to the Isle of Man tomorrow! Do you know it? Have you ever been? I lived there once for half a year, and I loved it so and cant wait to return! But I dont know what the internet will be like for us there because were staying in a holiday cottage, so this might be it for a week, but I hope that it isnt! In either case, I will keep you posted about all our Manx adventures, including Felix meeting his baby cousin Lila for the first time! So sweet it will be!

imlovinit: CURATING THE CURATED

Are you guys on Pinterest yet or what? I am, and on tuesdays and thursdays, Trendland posts a new Curating the Curated collage about one color only, for general mood board/color inspiraish purposes, I suppose. I dont know about you guys but I love looking at collections of things that are just one color. I also wonder if theres a better term for what I just described? Heres what they look like, to give you an idea (these are my favorites so far): 

Only, if general primary/secondary colors like red and blue just get one collage each, at two colors a week, I wonder how long this series can go on? Because I can only think of like, maybe fifteen more colors, including metallics, before theyd have to start getting more specific. 

The Art of Packing

We are headed to the Isle of Man on Saturday, but because Im working on Friday evening, that means packing tonight! I dont know if you know this about me but I love packing! And I ve been told Im pretty good at it, which is probably why my family tends to turn to me for help in the matter. But, since I know plenty of you lack my confidence in the subject (Im looking at you, Bwod), and because Im not there to help you should you be jetting off somewhere fancy for the weekend, it might interest you to know that Louis Vuitton has dedicated a portion of its website to helping people just like you learn to pack their bags properly, in the form of the interactive tutorial, The Art of Packing. 

Its interactive! Its easy! If youre like me (Im sure some of you are), its fun! And luckily, the directions apply even if you dont own a designer wardrobe, or a set of designer luggage in which to pack it. What a relief...

just a little kitchen tip!

I heard this one at work: after chopping onions, or garlic, or anything similarly pungent, use cold water to wash your hands. Warm water opens your pores and lets the smell into your skin, making it last longer; cold water keeps them (sort of) shut, so the smell cant get in. Makes sense!

oil painting by Judith Manderson

Platonic Shopping: an introduction

While Im usually jealous of impressed by girls who have the kind of wardrobes that allow them to sport something new and different virtually every day, I personally tend towards Uniform Dressing--that is, consistently wearing essentially the same (of course, seasonal) outfit, because why bother messing about when you already know exactly what suits you. And of course it does lend itself well to young motherhood, as these days I find I no longer have the time to play dress-up in my own closet, nor periodic access to the substance that used to make my otherwise repetitive dress-up sessions so enjoyable... if you know what I mean. But not only is this method of dressing ideally suited to my current lifestyle, it is also apparently my Sartorial Destiny, for despite attempts to add variety to my wardrobe when shopping, I invariably pick out slightly different but more or less exact copies of the approximately ten articles of clothing already in my possession. Its not that Im trying to repeat myself, its just that Im forever drawn to a few certain pieces. Unfortunately, it isnt Investment Shopping, due to my unwillingness/inability to invest any decent amount of cash in my purchases; instead, I like to call it Platonic Shopping: forever seeking, and failing to find, the ideal anything. Its sad, and its a real problem for me. But knowing that you dont actually have the Perfect Anything makes you relatively detached, which is great if youre Nomadic; when we left for England, I easily shed at least half of my wardrobe. Now Im left with only one of the most elusive items in my wardrobe: the Striped Shirt. People who know me personally mayb be familiar with this obsession of mine--but despite the literally dozens of iterations Ive owned in the past, I have still yet to find the Perfect One. This is the version I have now:

 and its fine, though there are some problems with it, which I wont go into just yet (this is only an introduction, after all). The point is, Im sick of wearing things that are sort of, but not quite, what Id like to be wearing. Maybe it doesnt bother other people so much, but when you have only one of something, you want it to be the right one, no? So, because of everything Ive just said, Ive decided to bite the bullet and start really looking for, and more importantly, paying for, those ten-odd elements of my probably very boring, but undeniably reliable, wardrobe, to which I will introduce you shortly. Stay tuned!  

Baby Food

How adorable are the illustrations of baby animals in this book by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann? My friend Jane recently recommended it to me, since her baby likes it a lot, and we just ordered it for Felix! Seeing as how his two favorite things in the world right now are (1) eating and (2) cute little animals (namely kittens) I have a feeling hes going to like it, maybe even as much as his current favorite, Wheres the Kitten, which I also highly recommend.

My favorite is the kitten made of Garlic. So far, its Felixs favorite, too (we e-window shop together sometimes). 

images via amazon

playful ampersand

Moshik Nadav is an accomplished typographer (typographist?) about whom Ive already blogged, regarding his Paris font (which I quite liked, if youll remember). Another of his projects, Playful Ampersand, is similarly pleasing to my eyeballs, especially because of its subject, the ampersand. What a beautiful symbol logogram, no? Especially these seven new iterations--although, it is a bit misleading for Moshik to say that he redesigned the traditional ampersand, since its seen several variations since its birth in Roman cursive over two thousand years ago. Heres a handy diagram of its progression, if you want to see it:

Pretty cool, right? I love stuff like this... But enough with the nerd-talking; these newest designs are very beautiful to me! I can just see prints of them all, hanging on the wall of my imaginary future study that I will have in the future. Wouldnt that be the perfect thing?

 

They come in all different colors and crazy kaleidoscopic patterns, too... but Im a purist I guess when it comes to the artwork in my imaginary future home. Which one is your favorite? 

diagram via wiki

imlovinit: Hermes2012!

o.m.g. you guys, this is maybe the best winter outfit ever have I ever seen! It has so many of the things I like to wear in the winter time/all the time, i.e.:

-florals

-mixed prints

-v-neck

-tunic

-red&blue

-general slouchiness

maybe you didnt know that I love all those things but now you do and if you want you can buy me this. 

Ok thanks bye!

(ps, actually, this whole collection is pretty cool! I like hermes and I will talk more about that later but right now Im sleepy!)

image via style.com

Felixs First Birthday!

It was Felixs first birthday two weeks ago! Its taken a while for the photos to arrive on the internets because I still use a film camera, and it takes ages to develop here... anyway. We went to the Zoo and Felix loved it! Also I learned a lesson: no matter how cold and wet it is where you live, whenever you go to the Zoo, it will be hot and sticky and horrible. Always. Im never not wearing shorts to the Zoo ever again. But we had a lovely time anyway, of course, and Felix loved seeing so many different animals! And breaking in his new birthday shoes! Wanna see some pixx?

Isnt Felix sweet with his dad?? He enjoyed almost everything, except for the giant horse in the petting zoo that made a loud horsey sort of noise, which frightened him so that he burst into tears. But we walked around some wallabies, and he was alright again. Then it was home, for birthday tea and presents!

He liked his presents ok (we got him a train, some shoes, and several new board books) but, in typical baby fashion, was more interested in the baby cake I made for him! It was such a sweet  time and Im so proud of my little babyboy! I even managed to get through the whole day without shedding a tear, which usually wouldnt be noteworthy but, now, is. 

 We love you, Fi!