Category Archives: Wishing_True

Guest Post: Robin from Around the Island

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I’m on vacation this week and asked a few friends to fill in for me. Today’s guest is Robin from Around the Island Photography. We first met through our personal blogs (she originally started writing at Around the Island), and I’ve so enjoyed watching her photography business take off. I love it when people turn a hobby into a career – so inspiring. And I’m thrilled that she was able to do today’s guest post. She always reminds me to look for beauty in unexpected places.

Welcome (AND Happy Birthday!) Robin!

As a photographer and avid travel nut most of my consumerist fantasies tend to revolve around either travel or camera equipment – or better yet – new equipment to be used in some fabulously exotic location – but when reality sets back in again (no, we won’t be jetting off to Tahiti or Bali this year, or for that matter next year or the year after, unless my very fiscally conservative economist husband is secretly buying masses of lottery tickets without telling me – not very likely) I like to refocus and reframe a bit, reminding myself that to find joy and beauty and wonder, all I need to do is to look around me.

It’s in my child’s smile, or in the perfect petals of a single flower, or in the flight of a parrot as it wings its way by my kitchen window. It’s even better when I have my camera at hand and can quickly capture this fleeting vision to save and savor another day, bringing a smile and a feeling of peace on a day that I need them most.

The ability to share the beauty I see all around me is the driving force behind Around the Island Photography, my online store. Beauty and joy grow best when they are shared, not hidden away. My camera gives me the chance to capture and create this beauty, and then to offer it to you to bring into your own home so that it can bring a smile to your face as well.

It can be simple



It can be dramatic


It can be serene


It can even transport you to faraway lands


So what says beauty to you? How do you bring it into your home and your life?

Guest Post: Kristin from BonBon Rose Girls

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I’m on vacation this week and asked a few friends to fill in for me. Today’s guest is Kristin from BonBon Rose Girls. Kristin and her partner in crime, Megan write daily about their two passions: interior design for Megan and fashion for Kristin. If you’re ever feeling the blahs, drop by their site for a large dose of fun, enthusiasm and eye candy. Never a dull moment with the BonBon Rose Girls…

Welcome Kristin!

Hello lovelies, I’m so excited to be filling in here on Wishing True! What I adore about this blog is that I can always count on finding an abundance of pretty! I can expect the same from Tory Burch. Every so often, I become obsessed with a designer and pretty much want everything that he or she puts out…not that I can actually make that a reality. HA! Right now Tory Burch is speaking to this fashion luvah’s soul! Already a fan favorite with the preppy set, ahem Revas,

Ms. Burch is appealing to the non preppy side of my fashion personality as well. Here are some pieces I’m currently lusting over…

I’m dreaming of pairing this gold embellished tee with a pair of leather skinnies and killer stilettos!

Tie dyed leather? Be still my heart!

Aviator sunnies just got so much cooler!

And the piece de resistance…a gorgeous cocktail frock. Could you just die??? I’m currently trying to resist the urge to purchase it for a wedding I’ll be attending soon. Le sigh.

So tell me lovelies…Is Tory doing for you what she’s doing for me these days?

All images via Bloomingdale’s

Guest Post: Mariska Meijers

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I’m on vacation this week and asked a few friends to fill in for me. Today’s guest is Mariska Meijers, an Amsterdam based artist and designer whom I’ve written about before. She’s living my fantasy life (or at least one of them), painting, designing and even writing in her blog, I Used to be Snow White But I Drifted. So you can just imagine how thrilled I am to have her here as my guest. I truly am.

Welcome Mariska!

I felt honoured when Kate asked me to do a guest post on her blog. It is my first one and therefore quite an adventure not having the comfort of my own stage!

The title Wishing True fits me like a glove as not so long ago this former corporate girl was still wishing to be an artist/designer and today it is true!

But back to Kate. She is a busy girl. I do not know how she juggles all three(!) blogs and her full family & social schedule. So respectfully I say this one is for you Kate, and thank you for asking me!

Describing Wishing True, Kate says it is her “pretty things blog” so I decided to rummage through my paper files and select some images that inspire me. Some are already a few years old so forgive me if I can not always recall its source. For me the connection between the pictures is that they all represent warm eclectic interiors with great use of colours and each having their own personality.



Flamboyant interiors of French stylist, designer and decorator, Philippe Model


Living room of fashion designer, Nanette Lepore


Dutch interior of Arno Verhoeven and Jaap Eckardt


Source unknown

Wishing you all an inspiring day!

A New Favorite, A Short Break and A Promise of Good Things to Come

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I just discovered new resource for interior design eye candy: Kelly Green. This Australian decorator posts the most lovely images…






Kelly Green is now a daily read for me. Maybe I’ll even stop lurking and comment every once in a while.

Also – I will be leaving for a vacation on the West Coast tomorrow. So I won’t be posting anything for a while.

BUT I will have some fabulous guests filling in for me – so be sure to check in.

See you in a week!

Attention All Artists! BlogHer + Kirtsy = Opportunity…

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Actually – the official line was “BlogHer + Kirtsy + You = A Stroke of Genius” – but my subject line was getting a little long.

This year, Kirtsy is teaming up with BlogHer to add art and fund raising to the Voices of the Year Gala at BlogHer 2010 (taking place August 6-7 in NYC). It will now be the Voices of the Year Gala and Art Auction, “curated” by Kirtsy.


Immediately after the community keynote, at a reception and Gala, the Kirtsy team and BlogHer are “working to transform the words and images of the keynoters into healing action for the Gulf Coast, with an auction of inspiring works that will live on after the conference, raising money to help fund the long-term recovery efforts the Gulf will need.”

The Gala space will also be a gallery featuring custom-commissioned art works that evoke the spirit of the Voices of the Year finalists. Then the works will be auctioned off post-conference, with proceeds benefiting the Nature Conservancy, “so that BlogHer ‘10, and everyone there, has the opportunity to contribute in some part to what will be a long recovery process for the Gulf.”

Want to be one of the artist who contribute to this effort? Well of course you do! BlogHer is huge and Kirtsy is becoming quite the online force to be reckoned with…so it’s an opportunity to get some incredible exposure.

Contact the Kirtsy team via e-mail to tell them you’d like to be a participating artist (see link below for a page with full details, including a link to the e-mail address).

And in the meantime, read more about the event on the Kirtsy blog and on BlogHer.

*Images via Kirtsy.

New Favorite: Shann Spishak

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I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it here one or fifty times…but I have a thing for miniatures. A pretty picture makes me happy, but make it a tiny one and I’m in love.

On Ada & Darcy recently, Kellie featured Shann Spishak, an artist who makes miniature reproductions of her oils and I think I may like them even better than the originals. Especially the $15 price tag – perfect for gifts…for me.



And speaking of gifts for me (Chris, do you even read this blog?), here are a few of my favorites:






A series of the chairs with art or the tiny still life images would be perfect for a corner that needs a little something.



I also found some pastel pieces that I really like. Here is one that I would love to put in a sunny breakfast room:


Now – does that one come as a mini too….? Check out the Etsy shop for more.

Austen Inspired

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I bookmarked Portland designer, Elizabeth Dye’s site a while back when I discovered The English Department shop on Etsy. And I recognized her work immediately when Ann from The City Sage posted pictures of her “Pride and Prejudice wedding” photo shoot this week.




By far one of my absolute favorite fashion eras…and those design elements just may be what originally drew me to The English Department bolero jackets and gowns.

How Austen is this?


But it was her take on the bolero that really grabbed me. I’m a sucker for a well pleated ruffle…



It certainly can be a small lovely world here online…