.thank you

Thanks for all the suggestions this week. I do declare I have the best readers.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

california or bust

Ok, so I know I have been asking for your help a lot lately...so why stop now.

My husband and the kids(teenage kids) and I are going to Southern California in early June. None of us have ever been and we will be there 8 days. We know we are doing the San Diego Zoo, staying in Laguna Nigel and then going into LA the last three days and doing Universal Studios one of those days. What else.?So much terrain, too little time. What are must sees, must do?

Any great thoughts? I appreciate it!

help, please.

Ok, loving this. Meaning the shiny white console/shelf with, what appears to be, a reclaimed wood piece on top. Want it. Need it for home. So, where do you go? I think I can get something similar to the bottom at IKEA. Should I google reclaimed wood where I live? What kind of wood do you think this is? Do you know of any great resources?

Thoughts, please. Very much obliged. xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

.really?

You have to read his. Am sort of speechless.

http://drollgirl.blogspot.com/2010/05/homeless-in-hawaii.html

.i sort of love this

I really do. Check it and out and tell me what you are reading this weekend. I am reading Amateur Barbarians by Robert Cohen. Really good. And my Elle Decor. Yes, I know those of you that bought it off the news stand have had it for weeks, mine came yesterday. What is up with that? Never used to be that way. Do you think it is the blogging that makes them feel they have to get it out there weeks sooner?

Do tell.

xoxoxoxoxox

http://www.offbeatearth.com/quiet-at-the-library/

.style or vile?

Ok, before anyone wigs out-as this a room by a famous designer- relax. I think it is swank. My question is do you place such a large display/collection on the table that is practically touching the chandelier? I am curious. Does the arrangement dwarf or enhance the fixture? Does it matter? Is the proximity here Style or Vile?

Yap away.

.white glam

Love white and any metal. The contrast makes me happy.

(images via Home, muriel brandolini, saipua)

. corner view-collections

Today's corner view is collections and mine is a doozy. I have a locket obsession/fetish...but let's go with collection, shall we?

One of my favorite things to do is flea, and one of the highlights is a locket. They speak to me(enter Twilight Zone theme song here)-honest they do. I have lockets with people's names that I will never know, who have stories I will never hear, and somehow those lockets, when they are in a box filled with junk, must be mine. Some I clean and update with stones, others I look at and admire, but wonder why they are mine. They have past lives, and something about that touches me and makes me ache. Why are they here and not being loved by someone? Who knows. All I know is I have not been able to part with any. People have literally tried to by certain lockets off of my neck, no joke, and here I am peddling leather.

My favorite locket story is about my heart locket, a locket I wear probably 360 days a year. It must be that to my kids it represents me, a part of who I am, as my only son, soon to turn 16, often says "Momma when you are gone, promise me that will be mine." I have three girls, so knowing my son looks at that necklace and sees a piece of me he can keep forever means one thing.

It's his.

What do you collect?

See other corner views here.

.i am a tv star....well, sort of...

I was in NY last week and was a guest on the Martha Stewart Show. I know, crazy, right? I have been working with the staff for a few months in preparation for this exciting event and I have to tell you, it was really cool. We made a desk blotter as it's a product of mine that she really likes, and she has many of mine for her home. I don't want to bore you with all the nitty gritty details of my week, but thought I would share a few.

1. Martha Stewart is hot. I am not kidding. Standing a foot away from her, you cannot believe how beautiful she is.

2. The craft room at her studio is truly insane. I wanted to roll up and down each aisle. I worked with her staff for hours the day before the show and I felt like I might implode. Every tool, material, color, I cannot even tell you. A DREAM. I wanted to run up and down the aisles while my patient husband(who sat there and watched us for four hours) opened a bag and suggest we just start throwing things in. That, unfortunately, did not happen, but a girl can dream.

3. I had my own private dressing room with Belgian doughnuts. I therefore had to have my makeup re-applied. Twice.

4. Speaking of makeup, I had more makeup on my face than I have ever even seen in my life. I thought about carving a message on my cheek to my kids.

5. The other guest was movie star Amanda Seyfried. At first I was like great, just my luck being on the show with a 20 year old starlet, but then she said the word crap on air and Martha told her not to say that word. I behaved and have been asked back. See(four children read here): a potty mouth is never a good thing...unless you are in Atlanta for the weekend.

6. My sister, also named Amanda, was begging me to figure out a way to get her out of the audience and onto the stage. That did not happen, either.

7. When reading all of the Martha magazines I stole from my dressing room this weekend, it felt surreal to know Martha and I had been chatting just days before about our crafts.

8. Live tv moves really fast. They play funky music during the commercial breaks and people dance. Just when you feel you might dance too, they say in 5-4-3-2....and you nearly faint.

9. It was an amazing experience, and her staff is full of talented, wonderful people that I will enjoy staying in touch with. Even though they did not take me bowling. But that is another story...

More info to come about some other cool things in NY.

xoxoxoxox

g.

.amazing weekend

Had an amazing week in New York. Mixed lots of business with pleasure and saw my much loved family, which I can never get enough of. Will share some fun details next week. Just ready to kick off my shoes and have a great weekend with my babies.

Hope yours is great!

xoxox

g.

.on the brain

I think I have this teal/turquoise/delicious blue color on the brain.....love the mustard as well.

Yum!

(image Abigail Ahern)

.loving these

My favorite flower always seems to land on peony, but this combination makes me swoon. You?

(image via Saipua)

.happy momma's day

to all the wonderful mommies out there. Hope you get breakfast in bed. Or breakfast, at least.

xoxoxoxoxox

.bar none

So I thought I would start this post with a design related image as you may be getting sick of Lovefest 2010(t-shirts being printed as we speak), but one thing that was spawned from this event is a potential new love for liquor. Surprising, maybe not to you, but I am a big beer fan, have been a great member of the beer the month club, and don't really drink much besides a cold brew. This may have changed.

We went to this amazing place for dinner, see here, and the drink menu was extra cool, which I would not have know unless I tasted everyone's different choices at the table. Yay. BFF's. Ok, sorry. Anyway, I ended up copying Jenny and Nelya and ordering a drink called the farmer's daughter. It is outlined in the photo above(sitting Raina, Jenny, Nelya, top Susie and me). It had some ginger, cucumber, vodka, I think, whatever, it was amazing. I am now convinced that the rest of you know of other must try cocktails and I want to drink them. Today.

Do you? Would you like to share your favorite? I would love to hear. The sooner the better.

. i got lucky this weekend...

I did. I can't put it into words. No really, I can't, or all the x-box takeaways for the word shit and the "do you know what a boy thinks when you wear a skirt like that" moments are over for me" FOREVER, should a child I raise read a morsel of the chat between my new friends and I. Especially Susie...

That being said, I can share a few things that will help you get to know each of these delicious bloggers a bit better.

If you ever take two parking spots with your one car, it would be best if Jenny were not a witness. You may receive a note on your windshield. This, too, is something you would rather your kids not see.

Raina has additional talents you may not be able to discern from her blog. Not sure. Look closely.

Ally could fit in my purse. Even with all of the other crap that is in there she would get lost on the bottom.

No need to scan Craig's List for amazing pieces. Susie has them ALL in three rooms. Especially if you need 30 or 40 lamps and can fit through small spaces.

Nelya has been eating Nutella for thirty four years. It may have been her first word. And we may all make a run at her husband, Max. Raina would win.

And I, well, I never thought I would be putting these words on paper either, but I had a farmer's daughter and it was so good.

I did get lucky. I got to hang with a group of girls that surpassed my expectations. You are all now on my free pass five, as Dermott is hanging by a thread.

Thanks, Jen.

xoxoxoxoxoxox