Cheerful Eating Areas

Breakfast area by Massucco Warner Miller.

Dining room by Stacy Smithers.

These two eating areas are so cheerful. The bright colors could lift your mood immediately upon entering the room! The breakfast area in the first picture by designer Massucco Warner Miller combines aqua and coral against a neutral background. And the black Klismos chairs are classic. The purple walls and chartreuse fabric in the second picture are even brighter than the first! I'd have trouble living with a bright purple dining room, but I love the idea of it.  

Books Where?

Design by Barb Purdy and Gordon Runge of House and Home.
I love the idea of housing books in an unused fireplace. I'm always looking for new places to put books. Plus, there's turquoise and a Chinese lantern. Sign me up.

(But, the crooked plant bothers me a little!)

Pfunky Griddle

We had the cutest brunch this morning at the Pfunky Griddle! Each table has their own griddle in the center. They give you pitchers of batter and all kinds of goodies to mix into your pancakes, like chocolate chips, bananas,strawberries and nuts. You can also get eggs, bacon, granola and other great breakfast food!

The whole wheat pancake batter was my fave. I'm going to try to find a recipe for it so that I can make whole wheat pancakes at home from now on.

Logan with her cookbook.

All of us contributed personal recipes and photos that were combined into a great cookbook that we gave to Logan at brunch. She loved it!

Bachelorette Party

The whole gang (minus Nicole who took the picture).

Girl Logan!

I'm back in New York tonight! I had the most amazing weekend with girl Logan! I managed to fit in a Mexican dinner, her bachelorette party, brunch the next morning and time to hang out with boy Logan! Thanks again to Brad and Rhonda for an excellent early birthday present!

I really enjoyed getting to know all of girl Logan's friends from UTK. Now I can finally put faces with names!

Nashville

Image from About.
I don't come to Nashville often enough. I absolutely love it. And it helps that Logan and Logan are here! 

I'm in Tennessee

I was lucky enough to get a flight to Tennessee as a birthday gift! I'm here for girl Logan's bacherlorette party which is going to be absolutely awesome!!

I'll be back posting tomorrow!!

Wow Art

Pablo Picasso, self-portrait, 1907. Image from Art Quotes.
Today I spent the day at a client's home helping to place and oversee the hanging of their extensive art collection. This was the first time ever that I have handled such priceless things. I'm talking about Picasso, Calder, Magritte, Matisse, Basquiat. And not just sketches or etchings - major pieces.

Their home puts some modern art museums to shame! That's quite a way to live, being surrounded by such beautiful things.

Appreciation Today!

Me and Kane, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2007.

Today is a good day for everyone to tell someone that you appreciate them. We don't say things like that often enough. I appreciate all of you! 

Lorin Marsh

The Lorin Marsh showroom at the D&D Building in NYC has such a beautiful, well-edited mix of antiques and made-to-order items.

These are a few of my current favorites.

New Leaf Sconce.

Rosette Mirror with satin steel frame, polished steel straps and wood inserts.

New Dowel Magazine Rack in embossed saddle ostrich.

Lost Graphic Posters

As you know from previous posts (here and here) Kane and I are a bit obsessed with Lost. We are in the midst of the last season, which is so sad!

Ty Mattson of Mattson Creative designed these amazing graphics to grace his Lost season premiere party invitations. What a talent! He really captures the essence of the show in such seemingly simple designs.

Found via Twig & Thistle.

Online Magazines

Image from Nesting Newbies.

Image from Lonny.

A lot of you may already know about Lonny, the online magazine that replaced Domino. (If not, be sure to check it out here.) But today I found out about another new online magazine called Nesting Newbies. Silly name, I know, but the content is really great. They are both relatively new - they've only come out with a couple of issues each.

Be sure to check them out. They feature accessible ideas geared toward the regular consumer. And the best part? They're free!

Found via Pillow-Mint.

Bookstore Cafe Design

I have to say that the design of the McNally Jackson bookstore cafe is one of the most creative aproaches that I've ever seen. I haven't been there yet, but after seeing these photos I can't wait to go check it out! It's designed by architecture firm Front Studio, which is one of the only firms in New York owned by an asian women team.

All photos by Maggie Soladay.

The flip-down school-style "writing desks" on the book-covered wall are my favorite element. Not to repeat myself, but I cannot wait to see this place! 

Found via A Cup of Jo.

Central Park

A new all-time snowfall record was set in Central Park yesterday. 36.9 inches have fallen this month. The previous record for snowfall in Central Park in any single month was 30.5 inches in March 1896. It's beautiful!


We took this picture today at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, which is the northeastern corner of the park.

Cold Weather Lunch

In my opinion, the best possible lunch to eat during a snow storm is a giant bowl of chicken soup. And it doen't hurt if your husband can come and have lunch with you! My soup of choice today was the chicken udon soup from Tataki. It's chicken, vegetables and udon noodles in a spicy broth. Mmmm! Kane ordered the chicken Teryaki bento box which is also really great. You can see the steam from my super-hot soup in the picture below.

Blizzard in Progress

These photos are from my walk to the subway this morning. It's continued to snow all day and it keeps piling up. I can't wait to see Central Park tomorrow!