Candles

Our power went out this morning. Brr! It was very dark and we lit a lot of candles. Peanut was weirded out by the medieval atmosphere in the house.

I love this reindeer I found on sfgirlbybay. She can be a little too bohemian for me, but sometimes it just feels so cozy! The antique quality of that image is just incredible. 

Brrrr!!!!

It is snow -snow - snowing here and all I want to do is have a hot cup of tea. I LOVE tea. This cute little cup found on designcrush would be perfect for keeping that pesky little paper tab out of the water!

So I did end up going to the Stella + Dot trunk show, it was fun and beautiful! I had seen stella + Dot stuff all over the southern girls' blogs, and always thought it would be too delicate a look for a western girl like me. HA! Look how beautiful some of these statement pieces are!

 

eenie meenie minie

 

My fabulous sister gave me a gift card for a pair of TOMS for my birthday. Should I go slightly glitterfied or stick with a wear-with-anything neutral? Hmm. The herringbone is calling my name but there is something to be said for classic styles.

I am supposed to go to a stella + dot trunk show tonight, but this kid and I are battling yucky colds. Welcome winter!

Who says?

Who says antler chandeliers are only for rustic ski lodge mansions and cabins? This is so fresh! Love it!

This bear hunter down in Fairfield gave us 3 great antlers, if only I could figure out a way to make them into this....

SHARK!

We took Peanut down to the Halloween Hoopla on Friday. He dressed up as the cutest shark I have ever seen! He didn't mind wearing his costume, but he hasn't quite caught on to the whole Halloween thing yet. I felt guilty getting candy because it was obviously for us! Wyatt hasn't really had sugar yet, and I'm in no hurry to give it to him. We ended up stopping to have a drink after a little while - hey, a 16 month old can only take so much!

That was all of our loot. 6 pieces of candy.

stickwork

Before the weather turned ugly, Wyatt and I went and visited an installation by artist Patrick Dougherty. He does structure-like work using willow branches and local volunteers. He has done amazing work all over the world, and unfortunately I don't think his Sun Valley piece is as stunning as the others. Part of the problem is that it sits on a dusty, vacant lot with a lot of construction equipment. His best work is interwoven among the natural landscape. Anyway, it is neat to have here in town and I get to see it every time I go to the Post Office to get my mail!

More Metallic Goodness

Seriously? Who thought of this?Genius! Beautiful!

via anne sage

It's my birthday today and I love (in addition to my fabulous family + friends) LOVE this:

Are you kidding me? Metallic? I die!

Obsessed but Quick

I am a little behind the curve on this one, but ever since I saw one of the new sculptures (in a mag) in the Presidio in San Francisco, I have been obsessed with the metal wire-filled letters. Alas, it has gone mainstream because you can buy some at urban outfitters, as seen below. I love the G, and they are only $10. Thank goodness they don't have all the letters I need to spell something useful so I will not be buying them, but I think they are great. Just looking at this picture reminds me of the intoxicating smell of eucalpytus in the park. Yum!

 

sculpture by philippe becker design

It started raining last night and hasn't stopped since. After a really warm September I think October is finally ushering Fall in. As Peanut and I are stuck inside today I am reminiscing about some of our end-of-summer activities.

 Wyatt is really getting into patting the poodle. He's coming to visit this weekend so it should be supercute.

 The cousins got a new trampoline! AKA Deathtrap. It takes about 5 people (plus cocktails as shown) to make sure this kid stays on the tramp. 

I

I have finally decided what to do with this huge, blank canvas I bought at the Gold Mine a while ago. For inspiration, I turned to etsy. It's amazing the range of artists on this site. Some were incredible, and others showed how anyone can open a store on etsy. But that is part of the beauty of it, right? 

ps: the design I've chosen for my canvas isn't that similar to what is shown here, now I need to get off the couch and actually paint it!

This is beautiful. A standard, simple and somewhat dated party decoration turned gorgeous decor. And look at the little guy in that couple's arms!

 Love the bow headpiece and the fiery red! Another retro, mad men-ish love.

My favorite love of the day - Wyatt's first drawing! I gave him a blue crayola, which he snatched with his LEFT hand, and he drew this masterpiece. I am so proud!

mad

Gorgeous!

I know I am a little late to the game, but I am newly obsessed with the show Mad Men. I am catching up via DVD, and normally I don't like to start in on something after-the-fact (if I wasn't there at the inception, I'm embarrassed to be left behind! - lame), but the set design and costumes drew me in. Those set designers have my dream job.

Just a little 60's inspiration from an old House Beautiful.

Don Draper's office on Mad Men.

If I could find this book I would be in heaven. "vacation-land homes"? What a term.

Fall is Here!

We hiked to the Roundhouse a while back. I was huffing and puffing too hard to take many pictures, but it was beautiful. Here we are on the deck, check out the paraglider (way) behind us.

Peanut had to wear his Hawaiian shirt as much as possible before Labor Day.

         Here he is our tree in our backyard. Don't worry, Jon is holding on from behind. Wyatt's latest "thing" is that he has learned how to say his favorite food, strawberries, so every time he wants to eat he asks for "sawbeez".

Sleep

We need new sheets. Our fitted sheet ripped in the wash. I can't believe that happened, it must have really been rip-roaring in the machine that day. Anyway, I stumbled upon this amazing bedding from cb2. The best part? They are called the "Theo" bedding. What could be better than pretty bedding named after the family poodle?

love.

Cumin

It all started with cumin. The spice. Peanut has discovered the little cabinet nook where I (used to) keep my spices. As we were getting ready for another blockbuster family camping trip at Redfish, Wyatt appeared in the bathroom doorway where I was getting ready holding the little red plastic top to the large bottle of cumin. First instinct is to find where this extremely smelly spice has been poured all over the floor, assuming it is on the wood floor, which comprises 90% of our house. Of course, the cumin has found its way onto the rug in Peanut's room. Let's just say that stuff burns your nose in large quantities. Luckily we were on our way out of town for the night....

Just when I thought we had encountered the worst of the day. Peanut decided he didn't want to be on the boat, he didn't want to be camping, eating, playing, sitting there, basically doing anything. The poor kid was a wreck. We somehow managed a really fun hour at the Redfish Lake Lodge for some bluegrass music and dinner, but it was quickly followed by a meltdown on the boat that lasted, well until we left the next morning. We were up with him 5 (FIVE) times in one night, and he slept in my armpit. That was the only way he was going to have it. No happy pack-and-play night for him. Of course he is blissfully happy today, but I am ready for bed and not going camping again until next summer. Unless I sleep in my own tent.

Also, Wyatt was baptized last weekend at church. This is one of the few pictures we have and it was taken in the Crying Room. Yes, that was another day of my 1-year-old-is-acting-like-a-two-year-old. He sure can be a little pistol.