eden roc

I spent a lovely week roasting alive in the great, hot city of Miami. It was humid and miserable and I loved it! It's nice to escape the Northern climes, and soak up the sun somewhere so very glamorous and intriguing. The people watching is wonderful (oh, yeah, she wore that) and the beaches are glorious. I even got stung by a jelly fish, which is basically not awesome, but made me feel like I got the whole Miami experience. Luckily, the stings only last up to 30 minutes, so it 'weren't that bad.' As the security guard said when he handed me the special sting ointment: "Stop poking those pretty balloons."

We stayed at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach. This is where the Rat Pack and many famous actors and musicians have spent time dipping in the pools and splashing in the sea. I wandered halls where greats like Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams had gone before.

It was a work trip, and though work demanded much of my time, I managed to slip around corners and onto the sand to take a few photos.

Eden Roc Hotel (pretty fantastic)

i'm in

Love is something you don't always rush into. Sometimes you're in it before you even realize, and sometimes you know it's coming long before it arrives in verbal form.

It's fun because it's something easy to give, and difficult, too. It's hard to say and easy to shout, intricate in design and topographically confusing. I've been in wrong love, and then just when I really wasn't looking, I found the right one.

Today I'm feeling introspective about all of the loves we feel. For the little ones, the big ones, the funny ones, the far away ones. For the sad ones, the very soft ones, the loud ones, and the tricky ones. Some love is so short, so bright, it leaves you like a spark. These are sometimes the hardest, but also the most beautiful. We can't always hold on, and sometimes it's the letting go that takes longest.

All the loving going on around me makes me feel a little more than a lot lucky. I feel swept away and caught up, and it's been almost 5 years. When the swirling mess of life catches us up, and things seem like they couldn't get any more topsy turvy, I get a love note or a kiss.

From this guy.

(photo courtesy of Elese Moran)

underneath

I came across Bri Emery's blog "DesignLoveFest" a few months ago, and I now peek at least once a day.

She's pretty adorable. Her blog is full of fun colors, lots of photos, great artists, fashion, type, and design. She incorporates little personal stories and a lot of exuberance. I like that in a blog. (Come to think of it, I like that in a person.)

Her colors of choice are bright and soft at the same time, and she sports some fabulous hot pink lipstick. I think underneath all the other fun stuff, she hooked me with her green tulle tutu skirt, and the photos of her girls' weekend in Palm Springs. Tulle skirts by the pool? Adorable.

It's a design/style/fashion/happy love fest.

Alice in Waterland found on DESIGNLOVEFEST

Elena Kalis Underwater Photography (who knew!?)

pretty messy

This photo is so lovely!

I like the Bohemian 60's French apartment my mind wanders into, the scent of fresh market flowers and the chime of jars filled with cheap champagne. The garden courtyard rings with laughter and the sound of a bicycle bell as the nerdy teacher in his tweed suit (with elbow patches and one shoe untied...) rolls in from his afternoon classes.

That's about it. I could add in details for the pretty print on the table cloth, and the fresh strawberries from the window box. There are the pretty cloth flats near the front door (with its brass handle and the A-line jacket hanging on its hook), the tea kettle with it's bright blue lacquer and the pretty white dishcloth hanging from the oven.

If I can't live in France and sip wine with my pretty French friend, at least I can twist my hair into this messy Chignon and add a little extra eyeliner. It's almost the same thing.

photo courtesy of This is Glamorous, courtesy of hiphipgingin

Harmonia Axyridis

Lady bugs are pretty little things. They are round and gentle, and it always seems like good luck when they land on someone. I'm pretty sure someone told me it was good luck once, and I believed them. I like lucky things happening to me, and if that means a round little beetle with bright red wings and little black spots is lucky, fine.

As it happens, I came across a website called the Lost Ladybug Project. Apparently ladybugs are disappearing from their native territories, and people are wondering why. They're also encouraging kids and ladybug enthusiasts to take photos and help the Project find out where the ladybugs have gone.

I'm pretty sure they've all moved into our house.

This may sound a little surprising, and you might be thinking to yourself, "Um, I don't think I want to read this anymore, this girl is a little bit nuts."

But I'm a little bit serious, too.

I have come across approximately thirty ladybugs in our house. I think they might be the Harmonia Axyridis, but it's hard to tell (I'm not really a ladybug expert). I have begun to read a little bit about them, because it's almost like I'm too lucky.

Lady bugs keep the plant-eating bug population low. They have even been introduced from Asia into areas where nasty plant-eaters were destroying crops. They are disappearing, some of them so rare that they haven't been spotted more than a couple of times in the last 10 years (in areas where they used to be abundant).

If you're like me, you'll start spotting them everywhere you go (on your curtains, in the bedroom, on the couch, in the window sill...), and also out walking, perhaps on some pretty wheatgrass. And if you want to be part of the Ladybug Project, you'll take a photo or two and send it in so they can start tracking where the ladybugs have gone.

Who knows, you may get lucky.

all that glitters

If I had my own house and it had pretty wooden stairs and I could just go crazy and do something fun, I'd make mirror mosaic risers.

If I had a big loft area or a barn, I would hang multi-size disco balls from the ceiling, all grouped together in their awesomeness like I saw at a club once (Upstairs in Victoria, BC).

If I had a rockstar condo I would make a wildly glittering backsplash.

And finally, if I had anywhere to wear them, I would absolutely bling out some heels and prance happily about.

Oh, the ifs.

If this and that and the other thing, then...

My house would be crazy looking, and I would be that crazy neighbor with the mirrors everywhere. My boyfriend would probably move out after too many nights of stumbling in the dark and being taunted by his reflection.

If.

photos courtesy of "this is glamorous"

peace out

This dining room makes me happy and I feel calm just looking at it. I love the simple soft colors and the white shimmering light. The bright poppies on the table are just the right amount of pop (tee hee, pop-pies). I love the wood accent over the counter, and the simple yet unusual wine rack.

I think I'd add some cushions to the chairs, but they do look cool.

I want to put socks on and wander around with a cup of coffee, peeking into cabinets and touching the edges of things. I'd curl up in a corner somewhere and settle in a pool of light to read a book.

I would probably fall asleep. Which would be weird because it's not my house and Keri Russell might get a little uncomfortable.

Keri Russell's house in Elle Decor (from Black Eiffel)

new and tiny

Lucy Katherine was born on the 26th of May.

She's perfect and tiny, with lots of black hair and copper skin.

Her mother is blonde and has lovely alabaster skin with freckles. She says she couldn't believe it when she saw her daughter for the first time and thought, "That came from me!?"

(The father is from Venezuela, he may have had something to do with that.)

I heard her gurgling and chirping over the phone, her tiny week-old voice hardly a voice at all.

She sounded pretty cute but I'll need photos to confirm it.

Welcome to the world, Lucy.

up it goes

If your house burned down, it'd be sad. Awful, frightening, heartbreaking, and sad.

If you could run in beforehand and pick out a few cherished items, it'd be a little less sad.

If you took a pretty photo of the items, and then had a few other people do the same thing with a few of their cherished items, it'd be art.

My list of things to grab if the house was burning down:

Small wooden box of vintage and silver jewelry.

Birthday boots, brown leather.

Hard drive with photos.

Metal straight pins from Peru.

Two scarves from Thailand.

Camera.

Recipes.

Box of baby clothes and handmade toys.

Small metal 'vase' with dried flowers from when I was a kid.

That one love letter I requested and was actually given.

I'm pretty sure this list would make me cry if my house burned down, and I'd add a few hundred more things (like my silver cutlery, my favorite heels, a few vintage dresses, and all of my art) but it's a pretty good start. I think if I lost everything else (not including people or dogs) I would be pretty okay if I had these things.

I'd like to put it out there that this doesn't mean I have a good plan and I feel like my house might burn down. I'd really rather not ever have to deal with that. But I'm glad I have a list.

photos courtesy of black eiffel

but really courtesy of the burning house

yarrr!

Sometimes focusing on something else is a good idea. Otherwise you might hiss in someone's face and tell them they're ridiculous, controlling, and dumb as a stump.

You could focus on writing a poem, maybe look up angry poetry or quotes. If you were me, you'd do all of them, just to distract yourself in an attempt to calm down.

"When I am angry I stab a newspaper with Mom's ironwork scissors..."

"If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?" -Sydney J. Harris

"Anger is one letter short of Danger." -anonymous

These are all pretty good. I like the one about anger being like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

In other news, Sascha ate nearly a gallon of another dog's kibble. We're waiting for it to come back and visit us, and hopefully not on the carpet.