Just my imagination...

running away again. I know I already wrote about it, but I love this blog for the imagination fodder it provides. Here are few new faves:



We shared a bear suit at an apartment party on Saturday night.
I asked for your number and you gave it to me, but somehow I don't have an area code written down. I had a great time talking with you, and I don't trust Chance enough to wait until I see you in the elevators...

I heart French Bulldogs

Especially this one!!

From this cute blog.

The Original

Original Levis from 1898 found recently in a California goldmine. How cool is that?! Sold on eBay for $36,099.

Found here.

Haute Colonialism

I have a general obsession with campaign-style everything, and my colleague Jill just turned me on to this French company, Starbay, that does awesome campaign-inspired furniture. I think we'll have a few light campaign touches on the Los Olivos project, like a few campy (camp-like, not kitschy) folding campaign chairs with either leather or canvas seats, but the South Africa project is where I'm really hoping we can put some of these pieces center stage.



Of course you can't go over the top since the safari-theme is already WAY overdone there, but a few pieces with historical reference here and there? Come on. This is where safari was born, you can't not.

Who says you need hunting boots? He killed that thing in those white dress shoes. The linen suit, on the other hand, was pure practicality-- it kept him cool!

Click the jump for the rest...

Stylish Transportation Fixation

So this is fun! Urban Outfitters has teamed up with Republic Bike so that you can design your own fixed gear bike on their website... They've definitely caught on to the bike trend, and I'm liking it! I'm not into the fixed gear thing myself, in fact, I'm currently sick of my bike specifically because it is fixed gear, but I still like the design element of their idea, and in general I like the trend of cool looking bikes. Waaaay better than the big SUV trend of a few years back!






And while we're on the subject, I'm dying for one of these for my Mini! Unfortunately, I think it is only compatible with the Mini Clubman... But isn't it awesome? Designed by Fritz Hansen as a collaboration between Airstream and Mini..

Henry Philip Dodd's Grand Tour

While visiting my colleague Jill at her home in Somerset, England, we got to talking about our favorite flea market finds, and she pulled out this old passport she found many years ago. The scans here don't nearly do it justice, as you don't get to experience the smell of the cracking old leather case or the onion-skin texture of the fragile old paper, but I still thought it was worth sharing for the musings it sparks.


Physically, I loved it for the handwriting, embossed stamps, and wax seals [!] that came with every point of entry. Official documents used to receive so much more attention to aesthetic detail. Now passports just get some boring, barely legible stamp. Can you imagine getting a calligraphy-like note from an immigration officer in those miserable customs halls in airports now? Hardly. But, nor would women have traveled in sweatpants and Uggs [pet peave] with a rolly bag. People practically deserved a fancy entry on their passport since they were dressed up so nicely to travel, had beautiful luggage in hand, and had arrived on a stylish steamer. No one would dare put a boring stamp on someone's passport if they'd arrived in such style.

A Goyard steamer trunk. Now that is traveling in style.

Beyond just the aesthetics of it, I got immensely carried away imagining this man using the passport for all the clues I could possibly gather, Sophie Calle-style, and it lead to some sprawling tangents. It's amazing how much information about the man and his time can be gathered from one object. This gets long, so if you get bored, just skip to the end. The end idea is worth reading.



click the jump for the rest...

Maybe not "modern" anymore, but definitely awesome

I can never get enough Ray Charles, and at the moment I'm loving this album, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music," originally recorded in 1962, of his versions of classic country songs. Since I happen to also be a fan of classic country, I love knowing that Charles was a fan too and appreciated Nashville songwriting. It's so cool hearing his vocals and arrangements on these songs!

How Things Work

Remember those children's books? How Things Work? Well on my recent trip to Oaxaca, I got to see how rugs are made, and it was so fascinating!


One of the projects we're working on at the moment is a sixty-room hotel San Miguel, Mexico, and we want to use traditional, regionally-made rugs, so we went to Oaxaca, the textile center of Mexico, to source them.

As you can see in the photos, Oaxaca is beautiful! The photos above are near the town center, where we stayed, and the photo below is out in the country, where we drove to meet the rug producers. I couldn't get over the big, open sky and the mountains in the distance.



These are the actual looms that will be used to weave the rugs for our hotel!

Click the jump for the rest...

Two more...

The Suzanne Kasler book arrived today, and she had two autumnal looking kitchens I couldn't resist adding to the list...

Autumnal Kitchens

Kitchens that suit the current changes in the weather and welcome the new scents and colors of fall seem to either incorporate warm wood tones or a nice big fireplace! Here are a few I wouldn't mind cooking up some banana bread in...

Fall Wishlist

Fall has got me daydreaming about cozy textures, warm neutral colors, and retro styling. Well ok, I always love retro styling, but don't you think fall carries a particular nostalgia? Something about the crisp cool air, back to school clothes, football games, and the promise of apple and pumpkin desserts has a wonderfully nostalgic feel to it. So here are a few things on my wishlist at the moment...



One of these, please. Aren't they just the picture of cozy textures and warm neutrals?

These shoes by Cole, Rood & Haan. A wonderful interpretation of the old preppy classic.




This wool herringbone throw by good old American standby Pendleton. And this buffalo check weekender bag by them as well:




Arte Italica's beautiful, yet sturdy and down-to-earth pewter-rimmed pottery. They have just the right look to dress up the comfort foods of fall.




All of it, shoes to lipstick. Via the Sartorialist. I love the heavy texture of the jacket paired with bare legs.


The fabulously retro looking Olympus Micro Four Thirds or Panasonic DMC-LX3, for snapping all the fabulous fall colors and holiday moments.

With this cute leather carrying case:


And, lastly, a pretty little means of gettin around town. The Betty Foy bike for ladies.