etsy south...

i just found the old red hen shop based in florida and i am lovin' everything that shopowner julie curates.  she has a lovely style, an eye for good vintage finds and she is also a talented photographer.  she is the current etsy featured seller .

vintage opera glasses, $55

both photos courtesy of julie/ the old red hen

large glass cloche, $95 


beautiful montessori baby toys from pinkhouse handworks based in texas.  i am a montessori mama and would have loved to have had these handmade toys for my daughter when she was a baby.

wouldn't this make a wonderful baby gift?  five sweet toys in one bag, simple, cotton, wood, $35

both photos courtesy of pinkhouse handworks

wintery blue soft circular rattle & teething ring, $20


graphicspaceswood based in florida, involves the collaboration of a family working between two states. they make super cute wooden bookends and shelves.

mabel the mushroom bookend, $80

both photos courtesy of graphicspaceswood

bentley the bunny bookend, $80

this is just to say

i picked up these two perfect yellow plums yesterday morning and they made me think of this favorite poem by william carlos williams.

by juli

give me a food zine!

courtesy of the runcible spoon

i am so happy to see a resurgence of zines in the mix of this era of paperless reading.  i have recently been smitten by food zines.  granted, i am biased.  there is a visceral quality to touching the paper, smelling the pages, admiring the font choice.  plus, i love the handmade quality of a zine and how much it reveals about it's creator.

so in honor of food zines, i'd like to share some of my favorites.  please share your favorites!
the runcible spoon

courtesy of the runcible spoon

fire & knives

courtesy of fire & knives

condiment

courtesy of condiment

 remedy quarterly

courtesy of remedy quarterly

put a egg on it

courtesy of put a egg on it

scenes from a life...

my daughter was incredibly done with me working tonight.  therefore, i received an impromptu performance from her one-girl band.  certainly nothing will get my attention like the accordion played alongside sharp jabs from a whistle!  yow.  needless to say, i relented.

photos by juli

p.s. there was also a very involved marching and dance move routine.

anna schuleit

artist anna schuleit painted this incredible 1800 sq ft mural entitled "just a rumor" at UMass amherst's fine arts center.  this was a temporary work that lasted through the fall of 2010.  unbelievable, no?

photo by john solem

photo by francesca g. bewer

photo by steve snell

check out one of schuleit's other works, bloom.  truly amazing.

(photos courtesy of www.1856.org)

southern singer-songwriter tift merritt interviewed anna schuleit for the spark, a program on marfa texas public radio.  look for it to air next week.

sneak peek and speech bubbles

ok, ok.  obsession part two.

six feet above, by juli

sneak peek below of four frames from the stop motion animation i shot today.  the theme is spring fashion which enabled me to build my love of birds into the storyline.  i worked with our talented staff illustrator tim lee, who drew the backdrops by hand, to create the nest and forest scenes.  this project is such a long time in the making with tim and i planning to do this three years back but never finding the time or the right project.  so here we go!

also, have you seen these awesome chalkboard speech bubbles on photojojo?  so fun!  this might be a purchase in my near future.

new scarf from jarvis gift

i guess february is a weird time to buy a new scarf, but i am so excited about this new hand-made scarf i bought from jarvisgift!  i love turquoise, and this scarf allows me to indulge my love of color and maintain a little sensibility with the brown. and the cowl style is perfect because i can never knot a scarf just right.  just pop it over your head and go!

photographed with my android device

a little obsession...

i am up late thinking about the stop motion fashion animation project i am shooting today (once daylight arrives) and i thought i would share some of my finds.  please share any great stop motions you have run across...hope to add my very own to the mix soon, wish me luck.

and one more that i know so well from my pal tim lytvinenko that he shot with local band, megafaun.

engrave your book

while perusing dwell.com, i stumbled across engrave your book, a company in portland that allows you to design your own moleskine notebook cover or purchase one from their artist series collection.  you can even upload a photo to be etched into your leather cover!

check out these cool covers (all $59) from the artist series collection...

sneakers, by andreas samuelsson

branches, by amy ruppel

 helvetica, by cam wilde

billy reid

my brother and i like to talk about fashion designer billy reid.  we both admire how he has created his life in such an authentic way so as to even decorate his stores to create the feeling that you have walked into his home, which by the way, is in florence, alabama.

reid's clothing reaches into a lifestyle that speaks to classic americana and workwear stylings.  check out his spring 2011 collections and see the nytimes slideshow of the fall 2011 collections from last week's ny fashion week.

and don't you love this t-shirt?  oh my, how us southerners love our banana pudding.

all photos courtesy of billyreid.com

watch this great interview by the oxford american of billy reid at home in florence.

in the mood for spring

we've had incredible weather here on the east coast the last few days.  yesterday, juli and i took her daughter to the public library book sale. then we played in the yard and pretended it was spring!  today, i have a brunch and practice with my band.  is anyone else enjoying a nice weekend?

photo by juli

i don't have a bike (tragedy, i know) so maybe i should get a beach cruiser!  i could settle for these cruiser bike glasses from vital!  nothing better than a bike ride followed by a pint of your favorite beverage!

sunday movie

i love a good matinee on the weekend.  we don't go too often but tula mirth and i recently saw the animated film, "the illusionist," which is kid-friendly.  sylvain choment's latest film adapts a script by jacques tati (remember "the triplets of belleville"?!) and the film is lyrical and visually stunning.  a great way to spend an afternoon!  have you seen any great films lately?

p.s. stay after the credits for a bonus scene!

diy wallpaper art

one of my new year's resolutions is to be more artistic.  i do play music, so i guess my goal is to do more visual art.  that can be hard when you have no formal art training or skills!  i found this wallpaper silhouette project over at design sponge and thought it looked simple enough for me!  the tough, or fun, part is finding fun wallpaper samples.  i found some really cool, cheap vintage wallpaper samples on etsy and ebay.  i got to work with my scissors and created this framed wallpaper bird (please forgive my amateur photography)...

these make easy, thoughtful gifts and you can get creative with the silhouettes.

have any diy project ideas to share?

favorite kid links...

first slumber party, by juli

just some of my favorite sites about kids, for kids, to buy kids...

sarah o'leary's sweet book, "when you were small" is an absolute favorite of my daughter's with its gentle drawings and fun little story.  sarah also has a blog about children's books which is certainly worth a visit.

the mini social is a private members only on-line boutique with rotating sales on clothes, shoes, toys, books and art for children.  it costs nothing to join and there are some great finds.

moolka is an online toy store with well-designed and less commercial products for kids.

the happy magazine for kids, anorak.

indie kids music that you also might just like, renee & jeremy, get a free download!

our current favorite toy is the haba rickshaw.

wonderful papercut prints from the talented elsita.  we have little red riding hood.

small is a beautifully created online magazine about kids for parents.  usually some fun DIY projects and there is always a free coloring download.

misha lulu creates whimsical children's clothes.

joslyn of simple lovely also has a kid + food blog, raising foodies, with recipes!

my daughter is a shoe person and some of her quirky favorites are from livie & luca.

and finally, i leave with you with a free download for paper dolls via kiddley which was created by the small object.

happy weekend!  and hello there to new followers!  yay!

green soup with ginger

by juli

so, tracy (fellow slow life blogger) wanted to make dinner last night and i was, admittedly, a bit of a laze and wanted to dine out.  she talked me into it with this delish green soup and ginger recipe from the cookbook, "love soup" by anna thomas, found via 101cooksbooks.  tracy loves to cook and alas, i like to either photograph food or eat it.  i aspire to be a cook sometimes but my kitchen is ill-equipped and i kind of keep it that way by spending all my money dining out.
anyhow, what a great winter stew!  it is all vegan and healthy.  the only adaptation we made was to add soy sausage which added a bit of a kick with some protein.  yum.

book sniffing

my daughter and i share a great love of books.  so much so that we both have stacks all over the house.  new books, old books, books from the library, books from friends...sigh.  so many books to be read!

anyway, i'd like to share a great find, "animals should definitely not wear clothing," from our recent trip to the library.  the book was published in 1970 by author judi barrett and illustrated by ron barrett.  the simple story and ridiculous illustrations make my daughter laugh each time she reads the book. 

felt soaps from soFino

how cute are these handmade felt soaps from soFino?!  i need some of these bright colors in my white tiled shower!

deer felted energy soap, $18

blue heart with a seahorse felted white magnolia soap, $16

set of 18 heart felt soaps, $64

dogs + photography = love

courtesy of martin usborne via ZUMA

the sweet, longing faces of dogs photographed while waiting inside cars for their humans is one of my favorite essays at the moment.  see all of "waiting for godot" by martin usborne on ZUMA's pictures of the day.

merge records

arcade fire photo by anton corbijn

so i guess by now everyone in the world knows about indie rockers arcade fire winning the grammy for best album. this was especially exciting to us because arcade fire is on durham's home-grown merge records. merge is home to so many great artists - spoon, richard buckner, camera obscura, destroyer, the rosebuds, she & him....ok i'll stop now. well, i can't forget superchunk. members laura ballance and mac mccaughan started merge in 1989.

superchunk photo from mergerecords.com

one of my favorite newish merge artists is telekinesis. their new record 12 desperate straight lines was released today! you'll be hooked, i promise! listen at npr.

check out this video for dirty thing, a song that appeared on their 2010 release parallel seismic conspiracies. i am ready to go on the road!

the new warby parker collection...

i am a lover of warby parker frames.  i own a pair and i tell everyone i know about them because they are well-designed, only $95, and they give a pair to a person in need each time a purchase is made! they have rolled out their  2011 collection with 14 new frames.  yay!  i've got my eyes on the monroe style below.  simple goodness.  mmmm.

courtesy of warby parker

the treehouse

in 2009 a little idea started unfurling about what would become my daughter's first bed.  i looked all about and disliked everything i saw until i ran across an awesome post by blogger joanna goddard of a cup of jo about a treehouse built indoors from mathy by bols.  now you see, i have always wanted a treehouse so i thought any child of mine would also want one.  i did drawings inspired by this post and talked a friend of mine, who is good with numbers and owns power tools, to get involved.

tula mirth picked out the paint with her wise two-year-old sensibilities: orange on the outside and eggshell blue on the inside.  she even helped paint it in her little diaper.  i love hearing her tell the story of making her bed. 








and so, tula mirth has a treehouse bed.  we built it in 2009 and it has survived a move and a large birthday party with boys leaping from it's steps.  i look at it and smile.  it is good memories and i enjoy how everyone, no matter how large, wants to climb inside.

 

all photos by juli