I recently discovered Sarah Dougherty, and I can’t for the life of me remember where…
Click to enlarge on all!
The amount of detail and character in these room “portraits” is extraordinary. And I love the idea of capturing the personality of a room in a portrait. It must be amazing to see them in person.
Her portfolio is vast and full of wonderful pieces like those above and so much more. Spend some time there. It won’t be wasted.
I recently purchased a “real” camera (a good “beginner’s” one – Nikon D5000) for work purposes. And on the first day, without a glance at the owner’s manual, let alone knowledge of how to work the contraption, I snapped a few random photos that looked like this:
Um….right. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?! I have six years of mediocre quality family pictures behind me now – all because I thought real cameras were for real photographers. I thought I’d need a class to learn how to use one. I had no idea that even a novice could capture some pretty great looking images using the automatic settings.
Oh well – bygones I guess. It’s never too late and all that…
So look forward to reading my photography blog in the future. Just kidding of course (sort of).
Here are some great links from the past couple of weeks:
Speaking of “real photographers” – I can never get enough of this woman’s work!
And are you reading this blog yet? Well you really need to. Immediately.
This site makes me yearn for my days of traveling…
Oh – so THAT’S how you make your pictures bigger in Blogger!
A hilarious response to spam e-mail.
Why is it the “children can be so cruel” and what can we do to help? (easy answers? anyone? Bueller?)
Sal give some excellent advice on “when to buy” and “minimizing laundry.”
Every time I find myself obsessing over those two vertical wrinkles next to my left eye, I need to read THIS.
Need a new avatar? Jill’s daughter can make you look 100% sluttier better.
The hard conversations we have with our kids about special needs.
My twins were obsessed with this video for at least a week.
I think the shoes really make the outfit.
And now I will leave you with this:
Yup – I took that. Cropped – but not otherwise enhanced. Did I mention that I got a new camera?!
Happy Monday!
I’ve written about my quirky “middle child” George and his very distinctive turns of phrase. And I know I really should be working on this with him now that he’s approaching age five… But I’m sorry – it’s just so damn cute.
I dread the day when he stops saying “Hey AY-body!” (“Hey everybody!“) I’ve started a list of favorites in my head so I don’t forget them:
elebator and eccalator (elevator and escalator)
Ice wah’er COLD (ice water)
Pinkie bank (piggy bank)
EEEmember? (remember?)
Ah OR did! (I already did!)
Miss Kelfer (Mrs. Kelleher – his teacher)
Slow ho (slow poke – I KNOW!)
Ah don wan be AY-thing. I wan be DUS DORGE! (I don’t want to be anything. I want to be just George! – in response to a suggested game of pretend)
See Mai – you gah do lak dat! (See Mommy – you have to do it like that!)
Ah don know fer eat! (I don’t know what I want to eat.)
Last time ago… (a long time ago…)
Ah lak a zert! (I like dessert!)
Notice the trend of exclamation points? My boy is quite vehement in his self expression. A neighborhood friend with a son the same age calls this patois, George’s “preschool jive.”
Eleanor is endlessly entertained by my imitations of George. As am I (since I find MYSELF endlessly entertaining). So we tend to repeat his little sayings until they become part of our daily lexicon. Not great for teaching him proper English…
But not everything George says could be classified as preschool jive. His speech is sometimes quite clear. But he generally makes up for clarity with hilarity. For example, this exchange that took place as we encountered a miasma of mixed perfume scents in the cosmetics department of Macy’s:
Eleanor: It smells like cooking in here.
Me: Do you think it smells like “cookies” or “cooking?”“
Eleanor: I think it smells like cooking.
Me: I think it smells like incense.
George: I think it smells like fashion.
This just may be my favorite thing that anyone has ever said… So I think I’ll end with that, AND a clip I posted recently of my favorite thing that anyone has ever done:
Oh George…I don’t know anyone like you. You’re a true original.
No need to answer if it’s glittering around your neck.
Cancer
Virgo
I’m a Taurus. You?
See the full collection from EllaPoe on the Clay Pot.
My son, George always calls the projects he brings home from school, “workings.” It’s almost a word of reverence for him – not just a painting or a drawing or a project, but a “working.”
Now firmly embedded in my own lexicon…when I see artwork I love, I always think of it as “workings.”
Here are three pieces from Christina Long (who is now married and signing her work as Christina Baker) that I wish I could see in person:
I was so taken with the first one (which I’m fairly certain is sold), that I immediately bookmarked her website. See more HERE.
Okay – several things…
First? A couple of months ago when I said that my surgery was so easy and no big deal and I would happily do it again for the two days in bed in nothing else? That was the Percoset talking. The healing process sucks.
I still need to hold my incision scar when I cough (high five allergy season! It’s been a blast). And when I sneeze. And when I laugh… It’s annoying. Also? I’m sometimes hobbling by the end of the day because I have the hubris to think I can stand for more than five minutes at a time. I mean – I’m going to be forty next year, not EIGHTY!
Since I am not really into being sick, hurt or injured in any way, I thought I’d better check in with my doctor to make sure I’m not doing anything to prolong recovery time. And the good news is that I’m not. The bad news is that it may take a long time to heal completely and I may always have little aches and twinges (check back often for my imminent weather predictions, “My bum ab is acting up again – looks like a storm’s coming our way…”)
Seriously though. I’m fine and I’m not really all that bothered by any of this – I just wanted to get reassurance that it’s still okay to lift my 60 lb. six year old off his bike and drag him upstairs at bath time. You know – the everyday parenting stuff. And I did. Get reassurance, that is. But she did say something technical about ligaments and anti-inflamatories that resulted in a decision that I should take Motrin for a week.
One would think that in the two times I’ve been out since that appointment I would actually make the effort to buy the Motrin…but I guess I’ve been too preoccupied with more pressing concerns such as whether I was really in the mood for a Starbucks coffee or if I should pick up another case of magic erasers for what has become the great wall cleaning event of 2011.
So with little interest in dragging the twins back out in the rain, I decided to see what was in our medicine cabinets. And I did find Motrin! But it was Motrin PM. I don’t think I can even take that in the evening as it says on the label the you should only use it if you plan to have “a full night’s sleep.” What is that? I stay away from medicine with directions I don’t understand. I’ll have to figure something else out.
In other news – we went to Key West for a week and I wrote a rather negative post about how tired I was. And that was all true – but there was also plenty of fun in there. Like this:
Wait – that wasn’t the fun part… I meant, like this:
And related to Key West – I FINALLY finished all of that data entry for the online shop AND launched the new Style Key West website!
Please add the blog to your reader. I’ll be posting daily – and even if you’re not really into the decor thing, I could use some followers (and don’t forget FaceBook and Twitter)!
Finally (third – or last), I recently confirmed that I will be able to attend BlogHer in August. I’m so excited and currently trying to convince a number of my friends to join me. Will you be there? I’d love to see you.
Now that I’ve got the Style Key West site up and running, I’m going to try to get back to blogging regularly here. Though as evidenced by this snore of a post, I’m already a little rusty after a few weeks. We’ll see…
I have always loved bird motifs. And while most of her work is related to her paintings, I’m just enchanted with Laurie Coyle’s fanciful custom bird sculptures.
At $45, they are about 3.5 inches tall and 4.5 inches long “beak to tail.” The legs and body structure are made with wire, and the body is stuffed with hypo-allergenic fiberfill. Fabrics used are linen and/or cotton fabric (depending on color/patter choice) and “eco-fi fleece” is used for the beak.
And the wait time is approximately 10-13 days! (7-10 for production and 3 for shipping)
Charming.
Check out the Esty shop HERE.
How cute is this little lamp?
What about this tall one?
Or this one?
This would be great for holding keys by the front door (do you think anyone would get the Greek Key thing?)
Probably not. So I’d just tell them.
Also loving…
She also does monogrammed pieces!
And custom work. I could go on – but preschool pick up is in 20 minutes and I STILL need to write something for The Big Piece of Cake. And speaking of having too many blogs – new posts are up at Style Key West!
Check out Jill’s website HERE and her blog HERE. AND of course, the fab interview on Annechovie (where I discovered her work) HERE!
Happy Monday!
5/17/11 UPDATE: My friend just informed me that not only is she familiar with Jill’s work and owns several of her pieces, but that Jill will actually be in my area doing a show this weekend. Obviously – I’m going. I’ll be sure to take some pictures and report back!
A little over a month ago (right before my unplanned blogging hiatus), I found a brand new blog, Jessie Lauren.
Jess is a cute, young Aussie with a background in the fashion industry and fabulous taste. And her posts promised the imminent launch of a new online shop.
Since I was working on something similar, I was doubly intrigued. But falling off the map for a few weeks made me miss the official launch. Oh well – better late than never!
I just perused the boutique and found so many lovely (and surprisingly affordable) items. Here are some of my favorites:
Her lines include home furnishings and accessories as well as fashion and jewelry. And some beautiful art prints! Truly something for everyone. See more HERE.
