January Reading

As promised here are my two volumes for the month.


You'd probably have to have spent the last couple of months under a rock to not have heard of the one on the left. Greg and I are both Daniel Craig fans and we'd heard nothing but good things about the movie, so we went to see it a couple of weeks ago and loved it. So, as the book was so highly praised as well (coupled with my tendency to jump at any excuse to buy a book) I put it on my reading list, stat. I couldn't find a non-movie cover edition in my local book-selling establishments, and I just can't bring myself to do movie cover editions, so I ordered it online and had to wait for it to come. Add to that delay having to finish up a project related to my day career, and I just managed to read chapter one last night. I already like the late Mr. Larsson's style (via the translator of course). It's going to be a page-turner for me for sure.


Design*Sponge at Home is of course a well-edited, bound version of the blog of the same name that I visit daily. I picked it up at the bookstore before the holidays, and I'm just now treating myself to it. The first part is devoted to "Sneak Peeks" or home tours, the second to diy projects, and the last part to major home makeovers. I've already paged through all the diys and mentally noted which ones I'd like to tackle, and I'm making my way through the tours and makeovers a couple a night.


So there you have it. Long live the printed word!


♡,


Erin 

Martha Stewart Living January '12

Well just before I sat down to do this post, I checked the mail and there was the February MSL. So do quickly run to your newsstand of choice (real or virtual) and try to grab the January issue (we're only one week into the month after all, not too late to enjoy a January mag at all!), because despite it's skinniness, it's chock full of, hehehe, "good things". 

First off, Martha takes us on a tour of her new homekeeping room in a converted outbuilding at her Bedford, NY farm. Lots of great organizing ideas for supplies of all sorts, and I have to admit, her work/storage pieces for Home Decorators Collection are pretty sweet. Running all over the house trying to gather shipping supplies to send off Little Green Vintage orders makes me especially covet this packing station.

A little spread on staying warm stylishly had three ensembles, country rustic, city chic and this middle-of-the-road option that was my fav.

Loved this cheery little workspace.

Easy-peasy diy gilded bookends definitely look like more than the sum of their parts.

Last weekend Greg and I went to Sage American Bistro for the first time and we had a fabulous frisée salad, so it was kind of fun to come across the above left in the Easy Entertaining menu. Sage's version was tossed with white balsamic vinaigrette and included goat cheese, bacon, pickled red onions, and was topped with a poached egg rather than hard-cooked. Yum. And in a story on the combo of lemon, parsley, and parmesan, this bread with prosciutto and egg stood out, kinda reminiscent of Northstar Café's prosciutto and poached eggs, which is out of this world. 

Loved the white and gray palate of this kitchen. Carrera marble counters ♥. 

Need some of this. Not sure for what yet, but if I'm going to get craft-y this year, it sounds like a nice versatile thing to have on hand.

And finally, on the subject of making, a great article chock full of beautiful knitting projects.

Like these gorgeous stool covers...

and this cozy modern blanket. I think getting some supplies and some form of beginner instruction might finally be in order this month. I've been inclined to try knitting for awhile, and this spread is great motivation to get started.  

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

♡,

Erin

Enjoy Co

Greg works in Granville, OH which is about 30 miles east of Columbus. It's a lovely New England-esque town (it was founded in 1804 by a group from Massachusetts and Connecticut)in a beautiful setting on the western edge of Appalachians. Granville is home to Denison University, a small liberal arts college, a picturesque downtown full of shops, restaurants and old churches, and loads and loads of gorgeous historic homes. (I will take you on a tour sometime after warm weather comes back around.) And Enjoy Co., a very nicely curated home and garden shop which I finally visited for the first time last week.    

Lovely leaves at the side of the shop.

Enjoy Co. sums up their aesthetic as "vintage, industrial, natural, and contemporary". The bright space the shop occupies showcases a neutral palate of silver, steel, bronze, wood, glass, jute, wool and leather with green accents in the form of lush potted plants. 

Wish I was a knitter so I could have justified a skein or two of this yarn. Have to try it out sooner than later.

Love, love, love the mini tinsel garland! (Getting closer to having that holiday spirit.)

I wish I had taken more store-wide shots, but I just kept zooming in on all of their great little vignettes. 

Reusable wooden gift boxes. ♥ 

I also wanted to bring home this porcelain votive house...

and this plushy, faux mossy wreath. Perhaps next time.

I did come away with some sparkle-infused bakers' twine for wrapping up holiday things...

and a few paperwhites for forcing. I just got this one nestled in today to my "Best Scholar Freshman Fencing 1934" cup, the lone specimen in my vintage trophy collection, but my peepers are always open. 

I am going to have on offer in Little Green Vintage a few paperwhite forcing gift sets of a similar vintage persuasion in the very new future. I've been wanting to have the "green" in Little Green Vintage refer to growing things for awhile now, and I'm super excited with how they're turning out as I put them together. I hope you'll like them too!

If you ever find yourself in central Ohio, do visit Granville and if you visit Granville, do stop into Enjoy Co, located just east of downtown and open Thur. - Sat. It's a beautiful, inspiring place. In the meantime, check out their website, as it is likewise!

♡,

Erin    

8 Years, 1 Day Ago...

the better half and I were married! 
We started dating in high school. We've become adults together. And to be all corny, like that wine there, it just keeps getting better with age.
Greg, I love you now more than ever. Mwah! 


♡,


Erin

Present

I came across this journal at Anthropologie earlier this year and kinda loved the concept. It occurred to me then and there to get it and save it back to give to myself as a birthday present. I am ALL for self-gifting. I always know just what I want. I didn't get around to properly wrapping it, but I did tie some vintage ribbon around it.  

I've always loved the idea of keeping a diary/journal, ever since I was a little girl, but I've never been very good at it. Every attempt I've tended to go into way too much excruciating detail, so that it takes forever to write an entry, and then I give up because I never feel able to take the time. So hopefully this will allow me to be short and sweet and stick-to-itive (I've thought about this before and I am pretty convinced that there is not a word in the English language that conveys the same nuances of meaning as stick-to-it-iveness. It sounds so much better said aloud, looks horrible written.) in recording myself for posterity.

I ♥ gilt-edged pages.

Liked this number cloud on the inside covers too.

I didn't have the chance to get started on my birthday or for a few days after, but finally yesterday I cracked the spine.

I'm trying not to peek ahead too much, but there's all sorts of questions. When I come to a particularly interesting one in the future, I'll be sure to share here.

I think the most thoughtful present I've every given myself. :)

Gosh, it's Friday again. Already. Happy weekend.

♡,

Erin

PS I just looked and it's available here and other places as well if you just Google the title.

Have you met Mollie?

So I mentioned I am addicted to magazines. Well, I've added another to my must-have-every-issue list. I discovered Mollie Makes at the bookstore a few weeks ago while there picking up my other international must-have-every-issue read (introduce you to it soon). Mollie Makes is published in the UK, so it's a bit pricey here, but if you're into any or all of the below, it's worth every penny. And it seems each issue is to come with a little craft kit. How great is that? 

I managed to come in on the very first issue (which feels really good as I somehow seem to always be late to discover neat things) and then earlier this week I stopped in to check and see if perhaps the next issue of either this or my other bookstore buy was out, and was just in time to snag the last copy of the second issue. And it's as good as the first!

I was delighted to see All the Luck in the World, of which you already know I'm smitten, featured. 

And will you look at that lovely tea towel on the right there! The editors have excellent taste! But seriously, it's great to discover new wonderful things one loves in mags, but it also feels good to see the shops and items one already loves too. Quite validating. 

There are projects galore. I'm in need of a pin cushion as I plan to kick my sewing hobby up a notch (from 0 to at least 1. But I've just done a project! and I'll show you soon).

I hope I get around to learning knitting/crochet before granny squares are granny again. I do like the look quite a lot at the moment. 

And there are inspiring people and interiors too.

Yessiree, that is a full piano cozy. Love the eccentricity of the idea. (And that deer-head light.)

Whatever the topic, pretty well every spread is pure eye candy.

Mollie Makes is available by subscription nearly everywhere. And for us in the US, though it may seem a staggering sum, I did the math, and a subscription is slightly cheaper than the cover price. I am still considering whether or not to bite the bullet. Maybe as a birthday present to myself.

Do try to check it out though, it really captures the Etsy, craft-y, vintage-y, blog-y vibe sweeping around right now. And as someone trying to really embrace that culture and especially work harder on her crafty-ness, I find Mollie quite inspiring.

♡,

Erin  

VOGUE July '11

I have a little problem. I am completely addicted to collecting glossy magazines. Which perhaps in and of itself isn't bad, but the trouble is I often never get around to actually reading them and otherwise absorbing their content. (They wait patiently in neat stacks sitting 'round the house until I give up six months later and deposit them in plastic tubs in the basement (not all, some I recycle dependent on subject). I have a wild fantasy that I will one day make up for my transgressions and not only read the new issues, but also take time to dig out and revisit the previous years' issues I once neglected.) I want to put this wastefulness to an end (the not reading in the first place at least), and I thought it might help if I promised to go through each new issue when it crosses my threshold and share what I loved the most here.

I currently have four subscriptions and another international mag I buy every month at the store (I experienced delivery fail going through a third party subscription service to get it at home). One of those is to Vogue. The July issue arrived yesterday, and though I already knew Emma Watson was going to be on the cover, I was still delighted to see it. (Though I am a little sad to see that "fall" is in the largest font of all accompanied by a palate of burgundy, orange, and brown. Really? Already? I suppose.) Then just a few pages in, there was the amazing Helena Bonham Carter, stealing the show from the star as usual.

But Emma's spread truly is gorgeous. Love this flapper meets fairytale dress (I've just read that the collection actually references the early '60s, but I feel entitled to my own adjectives) by Aquilando.Rimondi, fall '11. 

But moreover love these magical jewel-encrusted boots by Alexander McQueen, spring '04. And the rings too, Solange Azagury-Partridge.

And the interview goes to further prove that she is a smart cookie too, with a good grip on reality, despite growing up in an imaginary world. (Good explanation for the explosion of the Y.A. fiction genre?)

A nod to the fact that it really is just the start of summer (today!), is this piece on the Greek island of Patmos, which sounds like a place chock full of eccentric expats with good taste and bottomless bank accounts. Annoying to the average person, perhaps. But I wouldn't mind having a sit on the beach with this view, 

or a stroll through here in my kaftan on my way to get a nibble, would you? Wish I was brave enough to paint my trim anything besides white. Perhaps when that summer house is forthcoming.

♡,

Erin