spotted: peonies

I have posted before about my love of Trader Joe's flower selection. They are always reasonable and beautiful in any season, but these peonies were amazing. Great big bunches that are yours for the taking (um, I guess buying actually :) )! It makes me wish I was throwing a shower or needed a happy housewarming bouquet....

notes for summer

I feel like snail mail is a thing of the past for some, but I still send cards- birthday, congratulations, just feel better in general cards. There are quite a few seasonal designs out there if something inspires you to drop a summer line... or a thank you ....or a get well.....

Images: tinyprints, etsy, etsy, etsy, etsy, felixdoolittle, riflepaperco, tinyprints

watercolorist's dream

I saw this photograph and could not get over the perfect blending of different shades in the petals. This year I have jumped back into my artwork, but I have yet to do much with my old watercolors.... this flower makes me want to dig them out and grab a paintbrush.

Image: snapshotsofwanaka

tres scary

This Spring there was a piece in theguardian called "Terrifying French children's books-in pictures" about blogger Jenny Colgan's take on the books for kids she was seeing in France.
If these book covers make you chuckle and your kids quake, you must see her commentary- so very funny.

All images: theguardian

Rainy day and Monday

In one of my dorm rooms I had a postcard of the painting shown above, Caillebotte's "Paris Street Rainy Day", 1877, stuck to my bulletin board all year. I am sure I tacked it up there because I love a rainy day and because something about it was romantic....
In the years since dorm rooms, I have found rainy cityscapes that I prefer to the Caillebotte painting- maybe one of these would be the postcard on my bulletin board today.....

 

 

Umbrellas

Occidental Park

Rainy Day in the City

Rainy Day, New York City

ladybug party

A ladybug birthday for my two-year-old meant bright reds, polka dots, grass green and most importantly-some tiny ladybugs fashioned from pom-poms (courtesy of Martha Stewart via Michael's). After we added some antennae-d party hats and fresh flowers-it was a party!

 

college

I think it is a fairly common thing to think of your college days and miss them now and again.... that appealing limbo between being a grown up and childhood- so many learning opportunities at your fingertips, meeting people from all over and the first taste of freedom for many.

 I made some of my best, most treasured friends in college. I had the chance to take all sorts of courses and had a quite a few jobs (one of which would wind up being a career path), but when I think back on the experiences I am still grateful for today- I can't help but also miss the place.

I know I am bias, but my campus was/is beautiful. I am a little ashamed to admit it, but it was the viewbook sent to me via snail mail that first sparked my interest. It just looked idyllic. Lucky for me there was/is a fantastic education attached to this place.

Sometimes I wish I lived closer to the campus so that I could see how it has changed and visit it with my kids, but other times I just like to remember it how it was 20 years ago and be happy it was/is a part of me.

Images: businessweek, tumblr , 

tumblr, flickriver architecturerichmond

folding dresses

These dresses created from folded vintage maps at Restoration Hardware Baby & Child are quite something. That something is out of my price range, but it is also a combination of two great design elements in a nursery- vintage clothing + maps.
Looking at the finished product makes me think that if you grabbed some beautifully colored maps and tapped into your own creativity (plus had a glue gun handy for the inevitable cheating that would have to occur)- maybe you could come up with something pretty close....

All images: Restoration Hardware Baby & Child

Julia Child's cat

via Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Cats! Paris! Julia Child! Cutaways! Beautiful illustrations! Why do I not already own this book? Why I have not gifted it to myself? "Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat" by Susanna Reich and illustrated by Amy Bates tells the story of when Julia began her training as a chef at the same time that it's about Minette, the cat, who prefers mouse to anything Ms. Childs' provides it to eat. It looks sweet doesn't it?

via Dish "n" That

via books4yourkids.com

And I would love just a collection of the sketches that went into this book. The blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, was able to post a number of sketches and drafts by illustrator by Amy Bates that are just amazing:

(see more at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast)

Oh, and could this be the real Minette?

 

Picture of Julia's Parisian kitchen, photography Paul Child 

(from ancient industries via the conscious cat)

husband and wife collaborators

Recently I've gotten more intrigued by collaborative projects. Being a teacher can sometimes feel like such soul-crushing, solitary work (the grading, the lesson planning, the writing) that I forget that with just a little bit of effort, some planning, and the right partner - I don't have to do all of it alone. Yes, it is next to impossible for anyone to help me with the grading, but co-teaching? a conference? a co-written paper? Those are all possibilities to lighten the load and make the work of work a bit more fun. Anyway, I don't think my husband is game for this kind of collaboration, but I'm taking some inspiration from some pretty amazing husband and wife teams. I'm in awe of the beauty that a team of two can create.

One of my favorites: The children's book writing and illustrating team of Alice and Martin Provensen:

They made all of this: 

(and Martin was apparently responsible with creating an early version of "Tony the Tiger"!) 

And oh I cannot love the songwriting team of Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan enough:

They made this: 

(one of the greatest albums ever - I fight you to the death on this! And you need to read how he talks about her.)

And, of course, there is Charles and Ray Eames: 

They made everything you want in your house right now (I have these stamps so that's a start...):

And then there are the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude:

They made the world surreal and beautiful as a very large scale experience:

Christo and Jeanne-Claude images via christrojeanneclaude.net