mary poppins effect

and just like that, the umbrella loving girl was whisked away to . . . . . the lone star state.

yes, i'll be in houston until monday. hope you all have a spoon-full-of-sugar weekend!

{photos by legally bold}

great ideas & great journeys ~ the penguin art of david pearson

i am a book lover. classics, nonfiction, educational, entertaining, children's, antiques, contemporaries. . . . . i love to be in rooms filled with them all. i like books so much that i'm one of the only people i know who still has & uses public library cards. back in college the favorite place to find me was in our gorgeous campus library, and i still enjoy spending time amongst shelves & piles of tomes. i'm sure i've mentioned this before, but i also harbor a secret desire to someday have a phd in library sciences {ya know, when i'm an old woman & am ready to slow down from the hustle & bustle of the high-end design world but still want a lot of mental stimulation}.

i'm also a confessed book cover judger. only initially of course, because truly it is the content that ultimately matters. but being highly attuned to aesthetics, color, and design i just can't help myself but to pay special attention to book cover art.

there are several exquisite lines of books from the penguin publishing house that are lucky enough to be designed by the graphic art genius daivd pearson. i like them so much i wanted to highlight them here and make sure you got to check them out too.

one of my favorites is the great ideas series ~ classic works for any mind that is hungry for answers. . . . .

and another favorite is the great journeys series ~ tales from all across the ages for anyone yearning for adventures. . . . .

david pearson's creative hand has given all these classics a new view and sparked interest in some forgotten gems. desire to horde collections of books has never looked so good, and judging a book by its cover has never been so appealing!

{thanks for the tip freshly blended!}

living is nice at ... rice

if only this denmark-based shop sold their goodies to the u.s. market.... rice is just the type of shop i'd like to support. not only because they have a plethora of fantastic products but also because their goods are produced with a clear conscience. all rice products are designed and developed in denmark, but are produced in the third world with the highest respect for the people who make them. they do not use child labor, and they ensure the workers employed by them are treated properly, and are not discriminated against, racially or otherwise. they find it extremely important to treat the people that work for them in an honorable way ~ for example their crochet items alone assure the survival of 300 families in madagascar.

and why, you might wonder, did they choose the name "rice"? for the simple reason that rice is a basic survival product for many people in this world, and especially in the third world {where they decided to focus their efforts to benefit people the most}. in fact many people working for them in madagascar receive a bag of rice as part of their salary package. now that is nice!

{first heard about this company on dreamhouse}

magical mind mastery

i'm sure most of you have seen a magic show at some point in your lives. but how many of you have been knocked completely senseless by an expert in mentalism?
{for those who are curious: "mentalism is an ancient performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, use mental acuity, cold reading, warm reading, hot reading, principles of stage magic, hypnosis, psychokineses, extra-sensory perception, precognition, clairvoyance or mind control. from wikipedia}
this past friday night i had a magical experience that i just can't help but share with you all. the ever entertaining & beautiful tangobaby took the brilliantly delightful & gorgeous ms.paris-parfait {& her lovely daughter jordanna} and me to see her friend's show: christian cagigal's pandora experiment.i wasn't quite sure what to expect, but i was excited because tangobaby has excellent taste and anything she raves about is sure to be fantastic. and let me tell you, christian's show was beyond incredible. he created a mood of mystery and old-home comfort in a small black-box style theater in which he proceeded to blow us away with his mental gymnastics.his "tricks" aren't just sleight of hand curiosities ~ they are mental adventures with twists and turns that leave you mystified as to how he did it. i don't want to give away too many details because anyone within reasonable distance of the exit theater needs to go see this show asap, but i'm dying to share with you that i got chosen to be a part of the show. somehow either i was able to read his mind or he was able to read mine, but through a series of interesting guessing-games i was shocked silly by what was uncovered. {literally i giggled in spite of myself several times because i couldn't believe what he was doing nor what i was doing under his direction}.
in one scenario i had to close my eyes & select from a group of people holding keys which one held the only key that would unlock the chain around my wrist hanging from the ceiling {no, it's not that kind of show} ~ with eyes closed, i visualized where my key must be, which hand glowed white & drew me to it the most..... and i blindly selected a pregnant woman. to my amazement. and of course the key she held set me free. then, to everyone's continued surprise we discovered that we both have the same due date. pure fascinating coincidence. now that, i know, wasn't part of the show christian had planned but it certainly added to the overall sense of awe everyone was feeling at his mastery of our minds.please go see his show ~ you will not be disappointed. his blog with more info is here, and a trailer for the show is below




{all photos by femme fotographie and were graciously taken from her flickr album}

voice of color

another grey cold foggy monday in july in san francisco. so this calls for some more color therapy. . . .

the useful website voice of color has a quick little color sense game you can play to find out what color schemes most suit you. mine are:

although in decor i like warmer & more neutral color shemes, i wasn't surprised by these two coming out on top because of my mood and what i predominantly wear. also since i had just made these collages this morning before taking the test, i thought "well isn't that a fun coincidence"!

{top row: briscoe, jessica gonacha; middle row: javame, jennration, koreana, sakura*aya, jim heid; bottom row: asiunka, jessica gonacha, jeff andrews}

10 cent designer is worth her weight in gold

i've been idolizing lori andrews from afar for a while now. so it's high time i came out with it & shared her with you. if you like interior design, photography, humor, aesthetics, and boldness then you're going to enjoy lori's work as much as i do. she is really living the life ~ you know, that dreamy sort of life one can fantasize about having in their head when their own life seems to lack a little lustre? yes, she is living that life for me. but i'm not jealous {not a jealous girl at all actually}, i'm just utterly inspired. studio wellspring is all about collecting inspiration, so the 10 cent designer definitely needs a place here too.

she's a very busy lady with several fun spots to explore on the internet:
the 10 cent designer blog

the lori andrews photography blog

the 10 cent designer website

the lori andrews interios website
and now you can just go ahead and kick back and spend the rest of today culling through her flickr account ~ it's full of so many delights of her work & life you may not be able to stop yourself. ;o)

color therapy ~ orange crush

{polaroid from sean tubridy}

these grey cold days in san francisco have a way of depressing a sunshine girl like myself. being the pro-active type, i thought i'd try to combat the coldness by gathering some cheery orange images and beaming them out to you. i'm all about adding some brightness to an otherwise dull day ~ hope you enjoy these too!

{top row: room service, lara robby, jay jeffers ~ bottom row: weego home, victoria pearson, kenneth wingard }


{top row: jay jeffers, lara robby, west elm ~ bottom row: victoria pearson, west elm, scott sanders}


{top row: lara robby, scott sanders, lara robby ~ bottom row: west elm, jay jeffers}

relax ~ it's friday!

another weekend away for me ~ this time heading up to the oregon coast for a wedding. it'll be so nice to see old friends and spend time with my family. i've been craving down-time outside the city and there's no better place than my parent's home for that. nestled amongst huge trees, no neighbors can be seen, the air is fresh, and time just slows down. counting down the hours til lift-off. . . .

hope your weekend is filled with down-time and deliciousness!

{photo found on dark gardyner's photostream}

chihuly and di sarli at de young

yes, you read that right..... both dale chihuly's glass work and carlos di sarli's tango were found together in one night at the de young museum in san francisco's golden gate park. it was a magical coming together of artistic pleasures. but, before i delve into that evening specifically, this requires some background: i'm sure it's obvious by now that i enjoy tango, but less known is my affection for chihuly & his work. he is from tacoma washington & also attended my alma mater there {univ of puget sound}, so i became well aware of him in those formative college years. his work is on campus and all over town ~ beautiful adornments where ever you find them. and his studios are there too. i find it particularly perfect that so much genius beauty-making comes from a small city placed right on the puget sound.

the puget sound is one of the most naturally beautiful places on earth. not only on land but below the depths of the sound too ~ the largest concentration of cepholopods in the world are found in the waters {that run so deep the deepest point has yet to be measured}, and phosphorescent water creatures are incredibly prolific here too {full moon kayaking here is divine}.

not to mention the snow capped mountains that surround the emerald forests & vast waterways..... the inspiration for everything creative and contemplative is never ending.
and this is where we connect with tango ~ the creative and contemplative. i've been dancing since i was 4 {i still have my first pair of tap shoes} and have tried many forms of dance from west african to bhangra to ballet and none have evoked such depth of connection as tango. for me it's the perfect blend of feminine and masculine, an exchange of creative surrender and inspired decisiveness, a transfer of energies made more beautiful by mutual understanding and trust. all done to the most evocative of music.on the very same evening as the first ever milonga en el museo, you could also go down stairs and see some of the most extraordinary blown glass ever made. being able to take in the sounds of di sarli and the feelings of tango, while also getting completely absorbed into chihuly's mystical glass wonderland was something so fabulous i couldn't help but try to share it with you here. {many more photos here}


this post wouldn't be complete without a soundtrack to get you in the mood:
CARLOS Di SARLi

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{1st photo of puget sound by wild celtic rose. 2nd puget sound photo by canis latrans. all other photos by me}