Leave it to Target.

I bought these sandals online a few weeks ago. I was skeptical because you can never really tell from a picture. I was also skeptical because the cost $15. I'm ashamed for ever doubting Target though. I mean, who else can turn our a sandal that looks like every $200 pair on the market now, for 1/13th of the cost? And for the icing on the cake -- I marched my morning walk to the office with teacake today, a solid two miles, and my feet feel like a million bucks! First wear! Not a rub on them. Can't beat it...

ACK

Sorry for the lack of posts for the last few days. Shannon and I hopped on Jetblue for an overnight in Nantucket (to be honest I have no idea why the abbreviation is ACK, and always mean to wikipedia that). We were there checking out some business ventures, but what is there not to love about that island?? We landed in sideways pelting rain and I still loved everything about it. From a lunch of turkey sandwiches at a drugstore counter with swivel stools, to checking out the original Nantucket Red's at Murray's Toggery. I was super mad at myself for not bringing my camera as there were little aesthetic details to snap for the blog like beautiful golden flowers planted in window boxes against a slate blue house - what a great color combination I would have never dreamed up myself.I think what made our 24 hours there soothing and vacation-like was our Inn. Via internet we happened upon the Union Street Inn on Union Street in town. It was a beautifully weathered shingled house with clean, crisp, and homey interiors. Our room was fresh and white and the living space had checks and toiles everywhere. I loved the little touches like Fresh products in the rooms and bathrooms, restaurant suggestions mailed to us after our reservation, teas left out all day, amazing shower pressure, and all of my favorite most recent mags at our finger tips (I got to catch up on Gourmet!). And what was even better than classic four poster beds, laying in cool open-window New England air this morning while the wind rustled in the sun filled trees? Or smelling the bacon and coming down to stacks of yummy blueberry pancakes? The Inn owners themselves. Shannon and I managed to chat up Ken and Deb for a while and they were sweet as can be and a wealth of information. I was already looking up room availability for later in the summer before we had left.. We're looking into a trunk show labor day weekend at Eye of the Needle, and I have my fingers crossed we can stay there when we come back. Thanks for the hospitality Ken and Deb! It was great meeting you and can't wait to come back.

Black Onyx H-E-double Hockey Sticks.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Shannon and I are looking forward to getting out of here for 3 days - because this is all we've been looking at... Black onyx beads for scarves that ship 6/12. More colors to Intermix including an exclusive!

Enjoy the sunshine!!

What's in a White?

Color theory was hands-down my favorite class at Bates, and likewise picking out paint swatches is a favorite past time of mine. My mother and I sifted through hundreds of whites yesterday for my bedroom. It is sort of unreal when you realize that almost no two things you look at are the same color. And that when you break them down, it is rarely as simple as darkening with black and lightening with white... In fact in color theory you learn it rarely is -- call me a nerd, but exercises where we were not allowed to use white or black and had to plot out degrees of lightness and darkness in a color was fascinating to me. Right now I'm leaning towards Marble White. A celery tinted white, Benjamin Moore, that I found in Domino. I would never guess I would go with a greenish neutral, but it is very refreshing!!

Even Ethan Hawke gets jury duty: Guest Blog by Jenny

So I had my first real adult assignment this week, I got called for Jury Duty. Now jury duty has a bad reputation--for being boring, slow, a waste of time. However, I'm here to report that I found it great. Yesterday when I arrived, the guy running it couldn't have been nicer and more polite. He explained the ins and outs, apologized we were missing work, even gave us a half hour coffee break within the first hour of being there! Already I'm sold, trying to imagine getting half hour coffee breaks while I'm teaching. But the fun doesn't end there.... the girl next to me nudges me about half way through the guy's speech and points across from where we're sitting and says, "Hey, isn't that Ethan Hawke?" She was right. Now where else in America are you going to be sitting in jury duty on a Monday morning with Ethan Hawke but in New York City? This is also great because my all-time favorite movie is Reality Bites (a sad but true trivia fact about me).
All in all, I'm always kind of entertained by scenarios where you're lumped together with a random group of people in a room. The dynamics are just fascinating, watching the nervous New Yorkers scrolling through their Blackberries and flipping through their Posts. Getting to spend two days with the Ethanater was probably my first and only brush with celebrity (they don't frequent Harlem as often as the Village). For a people-watcher like me, it was great--and hey, missing two days of work doesn't hurt either.

I Want You to Want Me.

So New York being New York in the spring means I randomly saw people on the street all weekend long. 2 of which were Vermont friends in for the weekend who appeared at the top of the w4th street station wth rolly suitcases as Teacake and I were hanging out on the street (which we do a lot of). I met Heidi and Ave for a drink later that evening (in that amazing weather) and Heidi brought along her cousin. Her cousin brushed off my questions about how he occupies his time in the city, and said "I guess you could say that" when I said Heidi had told me he worked in the art world. Heidi had to step in and inform me that he was a working artist whose piece had just been featured in a show at the MoMA and that they were considering purchasing it. He butted in only to say that it was only one piece in a show of many artists. No big, right? Anyway - I of course, very curiously, looked it up. Not only do all of Jonathan Harris' projects look incredible (for lack of a better word, which there always seems to be a lack of words when it comes to complimenting art--most feel trite or vague) but the one featured at the MoMA is an outstanding compilation of the crazy cultural developments going on all around us -- and done in such a harmonious manner that just how each element applied comes together is staggering, nevermind how the heck the computer programming (which he did) was done. The piece is called "I Want You to Want Me" and I won't even butcher the concept by explaining it. I will let you check it out for yourself on his website and watch the video about it on youtube. One phrase from the youtube video I really liked was that the personal information people share about themselves on dating websites is "very fertile ground for building a mosaic of humanity." How cool?

End of Fall Sales.

Teacake is guarding our fall line today - saying little prayers for LA Market week - June 6th through the 10th, which marks the end of Fall 08 sales for us!