Inspiration: Pretty as a Picture.

There's just something about a girl with her camera...








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RILLA HAPPY TO MEET YA.

I love the amazing synchronicity of the web. It’s so cool how you can meet the most incredible people—without technically meeting them at all. I’m lucky to have a long list of lovelies I've met online who I consider good pals (meeting online sounds so seedy, eh?). Anyway, all of these friendships have a unique story behind them. One of the most recent is this one!

Through a random occurrence of events I posted this photo:



And a young woman half way around the world in Berlin posted this photo:




What makes this interesting is that on my desk is a letterpress calendar for Studio on Fire, featuring the work of artist Rilla Alexander. The other photo is an image of Rilla’s computer desktop in Germany, featuring a photo of me and my mother from the 70s—found on Flickr. And so began our friendship. It’s a new one, but I’m so thrilled to have met her. Rilla is an insanely talented artist. Her style is so charming and fun (just like Rilla) and she draws a lot of her inspiration from myths and visits to old book stores. Rilla is a member of the well known and respected art and design collective, Rinzen and her work has appeared all over the world.



Look how cute she is....and Mr. Tom, her furry assistant.





Rilla work has appear at places like the Louvre and in Tokyo’s Zero Gate. She recently was asked by the Museo del Prado in Spain to create some illustrations based on characters from Heironymous Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights triptych (read more about it HERE.) If you're not familiar with the painting, it is a surreal trippy piece that has lots of fanciful creatures. Rilla's interpretations are much more playful and sweet—i love the tea cup!




Her other projects are just as unique. Check out this amazing room at the Hotel Fox. Rilla told me that when they complete the room, the hotel initially plunked a big, oversized white bed right in the middle….and it felt so wrong. She said a light bulb went off in her head and she sprinted to the production managers office and asked them to consider replacing this really expensive/fancy bed with a simple cozy tent. AMAZING!




Lovely Miss Rilla, someday I'm coming to Berlin to go on a walk with you and Mr. Tom!

Read an interview with Rilla at GrainEdit.

A Guaranteed Smile.

This is one of my all time favorite Sesame Street videos. Jim Henson was so brilliant....his Kermit was like no other. And Joey, the little girl, is clever cuteness in stripes!! Happy Tuesday...



Here is another cutie from Joey and Kermit. HERE.

Style Files: One Dress, Fancy + Casual

OK, so this is a slightly different take on my usual Style Files post. It's kind of a "One Dress, Four Ways" deal....but I made it super simple. I am literally wearing the same sundress and cardigan, but thought it would be fun to simply tweak the accessories (shoes and bag) to take it from casual to a lil fancier. Here's what I started out with:

+ Vintage Sundress, thrifted (but any sundress will do!)
+ Canary Yellow cardigan, Old Navy

OPTION #1 BRUNCH BABY
Some casual green sandals and this dress is perfect to wear to brunch on a sunny weekend. The bag is the Luella Bartley for Target Apple Tote.


OPTION #2 GIRLIE GIRL
OK, this look is a little more put together—Miu Miu ballet flats and a Kate Spade wicker basket. Similar, but different enough.



OPTION #3 ONE LUMP OR TWO?
With fancy, pastel pink pointy pumps (say that 10x fast!) and a vintage dotty clutch, I'm read for high tea or a garden party. Ladies, care to join me? These shoes are amazing in that they look lethal but actually have a pretty do-able heel (under 3 inches). I loooove them.



OPTION #4 FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE
This is one of my favorites—a great look for a walk in the park or trip to the playground. Who says you can't wear sneaks with a pretty dress? My happy Converse (with pom pom socks) always do the trick and I've got the same Target Apple tote we started the day with.




Mixing it up with shoes and accessories is a great way to get extra mileage out of your wardrobe. I love dressing up but I'm pleased to report I can get dressed in 15 minutes flat. Swapping out shoes or switching handbags is an easy way to avoid changing clothes if you're doing multiple things in one day. And some of these accessories were a lil pricier than others, but lots were also really cheap!

Happy Retro Monday

Happy Monday everyone. Did you have a good weekend? I hope so! We had a bit of a slow one. My little man Wolfie came down with pneumonia—poor little bunny. We spent a lot of quality time on the couch, cuddlin' and taking it easy. Poor Greg didn't have the most action-packed Father's Day so we have promised to give him a raincheck.

To start the week out I thought I'd share with you some amazing vintage print ads I've collected (that's e-collected...i have a bunch of vintage mags, but these aren't from them!). The ladies are always so put together and yet there is always some quirky-weird twist: psychedelic graphics, bold colors, cool fonts, roast turkeys. Oh ho....just you wait!













Hmmm, perhaps I should start a weekly theme called "Hot Strawberry"??

Images: To see an amazing collection of vintage ads, including lots of these, be sure to check out the brilliant Flickr stream from sugarpie honeybunch.

Top of the Pops

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!


I have to say, my dad is a pretty cool guy. He is a professor and a poet. He's an expert on Jorge Luis Borges and Carlos Fuentes. He's got a wicked sense of humor (some times hilarious, some times groan-inducing), loves gadgets (iPhone anyone?), is obsessed with bags (back backs, messenger bags, tote bags, computer bags...you name it, he wants it) and is the ultimate bargain hunter ("Sam's Club" is his middle name!).


Yep, that's my dad on the top right. Didn't know he was a biker, right? Naw, he's not really. This was when my parents celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary. We had a "Murder Mystery" party and everyone dressed up (it was a trashy Vegas theme). My dad's character was a biker...he looked totally authentic. I think we spent most of the entire party cracking up. I wish I could find the better pictures—this was the only one I could find for some reason (oh, that's my Uncle Max as the Elvis Impersonator and my brother Karl as the shady Televangelist). This is what he really looks like (please note the requisite bag over his shoulder):



My dad was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S when he was a teen. If you're a regular reader then you might have picked up on the fact that my dad is from Mexico and my mom from Germany—an unlikely combo, they met in college, which is a whole other story! I'm pretty proud of the fact that he came to the states with not much (he lived in a rather small town in Mexico) and is the ultimate success story. He's well known within his field and has traveled all over the world reading/lecturing at different conferences. He's technically retired now (and a "Professor Emeritus") but of course he is still teaching and recently started a poetry reading night at the local planetarium. He's such a go getter—and he always taught me that you won't achieve unless you try!

One of the best things is seeing him with Wolfie. Wolfie calls him Opi (which is German for grandpa...I know, he's not the German one but we like to confuse people!). They both just light up around each other, it's the best thing ever!



Wolfie loves all his grandparents but he definitely has a special bond with my dad. My dad loves to travel and he has come out to visit us more than another other grandparent...he's the Gold Star Grandpa! They are so, super cute together and Wolfie just makes my dad smile like no one else.





I LOVE YOU DAD! xoxox

It's Friday, Let's Get Random!

Here is a lil mish-mash of 5 things that are making me smile.

1. PASTEL ANIMALS.
It's wrong, I know....but they look like little fanciful puffs of cotton candy. Don't worry, I would never dye my pets.




2. CUTE SOCKS AND SHOES.
I love wearing little socks with shoes. A little girlie. A lotta flirty. And if you're like me and your feet get ripped up whenever you wear shoes with no socks, then it's also a little bit practical!




3. THIS SWEET LITTLE LONER ROSE.
Noooo i'm not talking about me. Hyuck hyuck. OK, so the left side of our house is pretty much a bit of a no-mans land. Not much going on. We store firewood there. It's very narrow...just a rickety old fence. We rarely go over there, and yet somehow despite constant neglect, this rose bush always manages to bloom fabulously. I always forget it's over there, and then it surprises me with a luscious bloom.




I should have been wearing crazy red lipstick to match, no?


4. MY BLYTHE DOLLS.
Some say creepy, I saw faaabulous. With their changable eye color (blue! green! orange! pink!) they always make me smile. I have about 9 of them. Alas, only one Kenner.



5. HUGE CHUNKY RHINESTONE NECKLACES.
Over the top and AWESOME. And yes I wore my crazy vintage stunner with a pair of jeans. Who says a casual gal can't sport some Royal Jewels?? The other necklaces are from the spectacularly over-the-top Tom Binns. Can I just say these photos of me are from last spring and I swear this past year has aged me something fierce! Drat...





HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!