Cool Stationary

Once upon a time Halloween was the best holiday ever; second in line was Valentine's Day.  This favoritism was in place back when I was still in grade school however, I still really love Valentine's and this year Conner and I sent out love cards to all our friends-trying to bring back the school yard tradition.  In case one didn't end up in your mailbox, then here's one for you now!  By Crankbunny

In my search for cool stationary, I came across several designers that I really liked.  Be on the lookout for some of these gems to be gracing the inside of your mailbox soon...ps. if you'd like to be added the the annual mail-out list then send me your address.

 Sycamore Street Press

Wit & Whistle

The Hungary Workshop

Acute & Obtuse

O'Death

We ventured to eastern Tennessee last August to attend the rockabilly/roots music festival, Muddy Roots. It was nice to go back to my "neck of the woods" in the Appalachians and I found this fabulous band that I can not seem to get enough of; NYC based, O'Death, are a mixture of Appalachian folk, a little punk, and major bass drums which make me incredibly happy.

The Glow: artsy mom's at home

Maybe it's my age-yep, let's just go ahead and understand that it's my age- but I'm starting to completely reconsider my "no kids" policy.  I always thought I'd be the cool aunt that took friend's kids on fabulous adventures for the summer and then promptly returned then before school started; I would be able to be an integral part in the child's life, give their parents a break, and fulfill any of my own desires to have children.  It seem to be a fact of life, that the absolute best birth control is hanging out with other people's kids; you realize that bag of tricks is way less glamorous than it appears to be on the surface.

But something's changing...

And then I see this blog, The Glow, of totally cool artsy women with fabulous careers who are also totally awesome moms...and it makes me think "maybe, just maybe that bag of tricks is indeed for me."

Lauren Moffatt, designer, with daughter Stella

Happy Valentines Day!

M I N E from Thanasis Tsimpinis on Vimeo.

Watercolor Mirrors by Constance Guisset

Oh how gorgeous are these! Watercolor mirrors by French artist, Constance Guisset.

Via Honey Kennedy

Whitney Houston's Flaming Star

Wow. Whitney Houston passed away this weekend; a rather sad passing to a troubled life.

Sailing Possibilities

Conner and I just met with a lovely gentleman about the possibility of helping him sail his boat back to Texas from Panama, where it is now.  Holy Cow.  We just got back from our very long road trip and have just recently gotten back on our feet, and now we might be taking off for a month to go sailing.

 Bateaux quittant le port du Havre by Gustave Le Gray via The Year in Pictures

Now that I'm almost 30, I entertain the idea of putting down roots, buying a house, and pursuing a proper career; and I try, but then an opportunity will come along and I will immediately drop every root planting effort to travel.  I love to travel.  In fact, if I could get hired on as a travel writer for some publication (and actually be good at the art of travel writing) then I would probably think I'd died and gone to heaven. 

Conner and I are a very balanced couple-at least I think so.  I am willing to take large leaps of faith in the name of adventure and hope that it all works out in the end; a modus operandi that has not done me wrong yet (well, that's more or less true).  Conner is adventurous as well, but he will weigh all the options before taking the plunge.  So now, I'm championing the sailing route and Conner's figuring out where we'll put of belongings while we're gone, if we can afford it, and it's generally a smart thing to go sailing, or to continue on with our Austin, Texas root-building.
~
Some adventurous reading material:

1. The World Tour Stories with Taru & Alex
2. Terra D'Agua
3. Passion For The Sea by Jimmy Cornell

Atelier Katsumi

Beautiful ceramics from Atelier Katsumi.

Dinner Parties

When Conner and I first moved back to Austin last year, we had a back yard where we began throwing dinner parties.  It seems like our friends in town have hunkered down over the last year and don't often go out to some of our old haunts; The Longbranch, SideBar, or Rio Rita.  So dinner parties were the best of both worlds; a way to socialize with friends, save money, and keep it low key.  Unfortunately we moved away from our fabulous backyard and are currently in a cramped apartment however, soon we'll move again and when we do, we'll have to start doing dinner parties once again.  And we'll continue staging photographs to put on our dinner invites.  The photo below is so far, my favorite one we've done.

Heywood Hotel

On Tuesday I went to the opening of the new boutique hotel, Heywood Hotel with my friend, Camille.  Conner did some of his fabulous carpentry work on the hotel, but was busy that night working on another project, so Camille and I went in his place.  It's so pretty!  Rather like a new version of another beautiful Austin crashpad, Hotel San Jose.

 Camille

Cupid's Corner Pop-up Shop

Two talented and lovely ladies, Carissa Leos and Glade Hensel, have organized a Valentine's pop-up shop featuring emerging designers from across the country, called Cupid's Corner.  I feel honored that they've invited me to participate.  Please do come by their shop if your in the Austin area!

A few other designers being featured are jewelry designer Hey Murphy, stationary from Quill & Fox, and scarves from The Spotted Fawn.

Convoy on Tumblr

I've come across a lovely new Man blog that I really love; Convoy. I have no idea who the gentleman behind the Tumblr blog is but I certainly do love his style.

TYIN tegnestue Architects

Like I've mentioned before, Conner and I are thinking about buying a house--well, now I guess we're officially in the process of finding a house to buy. We went driving around Austin yesterday checking places out; appealing neighborhoods to live in, debating whether to buy a crappy house for the land and completely rebuild, and simply wrapping our heads around the idea of actually buying our first house ever. We found one house that might be a possibility and since then I've been scouring the web for house ideas.

I really like Norwegian architect company, TYIN tegnestue Archiects...calm and beautiful.

The Boathouse

The Safe Haven Library

Via Desire To Inspire

New Photos For Golden Arrow

On my day off I took some new photos for Golden Arrow Shop. I've been looking around on Etsy and it seems like having a white/neutral background is super popular--so I gave it a whirl, using my washer and dryer as a suitable white backdrop. I'm working on getting a new banner and business card in the works and am starting to sketch up a couple new ideas for the new spring collection...haha, if I can be so bold and call it that.

Some Cheekiness On A Gray Day

I created a new Treasury List on Etsy called Some Cheekiness On A Gray Day!

International Snow Sculpture Contest

My folks were super, super generous this past Christmas and got me a Kindle which I kinda love...and being the dork that I am, I subscribed to Martha Stewart on it. She's not always known for being in the know on cool cultural events, but she did have me hooked on this one in Colorado. Hosted in Breckenridge, Colorado every January 24-28th, the International Snow Sculpture Championships look awesome. Maybe someday we'll go see it in person!More photos here.

Paper Puppets from Crankbunny on Etsy

Recently I have been completely and utterly sucked into Etsy; people around the world are making beautiful things and it's so easy to wile away the hours on this website. I've been using my Favorites page as an inspiration board for me and Conner's new apartment, although now he's been having dreams of buying a house of our own...maybe one day. Anyhow, I'm totally taken with Etsy seller, Crankbunny's paper puppets, and their pop-up cards, and their total aesthetic. Love!

NYC Tweed Run

NYC's annual Tweed Run: "A bike ride with a bit of style" sponsored by Ralph Lauren. Super, super, super cute!More photos via From Me To You