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RETURN TO REALITY… LIKE A WEEK AGO

So is it less awkward if I just jump right back in and conveniently ignore the fact that I have been remiss in my writing for an abnormal number of weeks? More awkward? Thoughts? Well… here I am. Vacation is over, I have taken some time to swim my way back to the surface of work and am fully entrenched in the wonders of FALL!, ready to go.

I thought I’d ease back into our conversation by sharing a few photographs from our time in Portsmouth and the surrounding area. Keep in mind these are just a few of hundreds that I snap, snap, snapped. It’s compulsive, really. What have you been up to while I’ve been away?

{The ocean is my favorite place to be in the world. Any ocean. Any coastline. Maybe it is the tragic ridges and rocks lining the water along the northeast shore, or maybe it is the aggressively energetic way the waves crash and ebb; but my favorite of favorite ocean to stand and watch for hours is the Atlantic.}

{While meandering through the Chamber of Commerce for the city of Portsmouth – which I shamelessly teased my boy for dragging us to for a visit before eating my words – we learned about Strawberry Banke. The country’s oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood. Now, for my lovely friends from across the pond you might scoff at the juvenile age of this community. A piddly 300-ish years. But trust me when I say it was incredible. Over two dozen homes that have been restored (or are in the process of being restored/excavated) for our viewing pleasure. We had the opportunity to snoop through the lives and artifacts of perfect strangers. And it was amazing. Even when I was continually tricked into believing the tour guides who played their in-character time-period parts a little too well. But I would always catch on by the end and realize that the kindly elderly lady really wasn’t best friends with George Washington.}

Well, this was the first portion of our trip… but so as not to entirely overwhelm you I thought I’d break it up into a few posts. So if you are already bored and wondering when I will stop blathering on… give it a few days and I’ll be on to a new topic. Promise.

But if you are ready for more, stay tuned. Because everyone needs to visit Portsmouth. Everyone.

 

Posted in Happy, Life, Uncategorized.

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By annie – November 7, 2011

JUST A QUICK STOP

This evening we landed at home for just about 12 hours – which leaves us barely enough time to repack, give Miss B some love and grab a cab to the airport for the 2nd portion of our busy travel week. And all I can say is that if the next leg of our trip is even half as incredible as the first, we are in for a nice couple of days.

My new opinion is that everyone should visit Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Everyone. Besides the fact that there is a neighborhood museum called Strawberry Banke that is made up of over TWO DOZEN PERIOD COLONIAL HOMES YOU CAN TOUR (yes, my head about exploded with excitement) but the entire town is bordered by the sea…


[Image courtesy of Annie]

And have no fear, there is plenty more to share once I fully return next week. I merely wanted to give you a taste so that you can start planning your own trip. Have a wonderful week, lovelies!

Posted in Happy, Life.

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By annie – October 17, 2011

FAVORITE FRIDAYS

[Portsmouth, NH, our weekend destination as of tomorrow morning! Image courtesy of Destination 360]

This week I felt as though I was barreling through my days at a rate of speed that only means one thing… I was gearing up for VACATION. So here I am after many days in a row of hustling and emailing and meeting and scrambling and organizing and generally getting ready to shut down my professional life for nearly ten days. Count them – one, two, three, four… TEN. DAYS. And I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the best part of the experience, these precious first moments of putting my feet up with a sigh and looking ahead at an entire expanse of openness.

[Tulle and spice and everything nice is surely speaking to me lately as I browse Jenny Packham's luxury fashion. It might make little sense considering we are in the midst of the season of sweaters and scarves, but I've felt girly this week. And these gowns are divine. There is a strong chance I would do my best to tone one down enough to wear to work. What? This old thing?...]

[And speaking of getting dressed up... I recently attended Glory Chen's Fall 2011 & Spring 2012 RTW Preview event hosted by Vogue with a good friend. Sometimes it is the best feeling to get all dolled up with the girls and step out for a few hours of glitz. No boys allowed. But then again, sometimes the best part of the night is going home and telling the tale of it to my boy.]

[I have been inhaling books lately - more so than usual - and one of my favorite habits is to jot down incredible phrases, word plays or turns of dialogue to read over later and remember how lovely they make me feel. This is one of them:

"Do you think I'm wonderful? she asked him one day as they leaned against the trunk of a petrified maple. No, he said. Why? Because so many girls are wonderful. I imagine hundreds of men have called their loves wonderful today, and it's only noon. You couldn't be something that hundreds of others are."

-- Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated]

 

Well, lovelies, those are my favorites this week. It has been a full and fulfilling week – an important combination. And now I bid you adieu for a couple of days as I skip off into the sunset to frolic with my love and my family. If I am a bit quiet for a few days, I hope you will forgive me. But I promise to come back full to bursting with stories about people like this who just make me smile:

[Image courtesy of Abbey]

I am so blessed by my family and lucky to be an aunt to these two best friend cousins. Don’t you just want to squeeze them? I dare you not to try. Xoxo

 

 

Posted in Happy, Life, Uncategorized.

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By annie – October 14, 2011

STYLE: A LITTLE BIT OF FAUX

The idea of creative gold leaf faux jewelry is not mine, but I absolutely love it anyway! I cam across it over at Honestly WTF as inspired by Oracle Fox. I re-posted the DIY demonstration just for you:

You’ll need:

Start by cutting the sheet of gold leaf into half inch strips. Use scotch tape to tape off an area of the skin.

The gold leaf will not adhere to anything without an adhesive agent so an application of spirit gum is necessary. Apply a coat of spirit gum. With a foam brush, dap the spirit gum until it becomes tacky.

Pick up a strip of gold leaf and press the gold side onto the tacky area with pressure. Remove the strip and repeat the steps until the whole area is covered.

Remove the tape and use your fingers to smooth out any loose flakes. The gold leaf should stay on for at least 8-10 hours. Spirit gum remover or rubbing alcohol can be used to remove it if necessary.

Voila! You’re rocking gold leaf!!

I think this calls for an early Halloween costume… or maybe just a fun night out with the girls!

Posted in Style.

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By annie – October 13, 2011

UNSHARPENED, SHARPENED

Writer’s Workshop: Write about your collections, real or imagined.

There was a time in my life when my collections bordered on the obsessive compulsive. You might recall The Corner that teetered in the far reaches of my childhood bedroom which was really just a vortex of crap that would come tumbling down with the slightest disturbance. There was truly a scary amount of plastic hotel shower caps living there at the time.

But as it happens, somewhere along the line of my life I grew out of such hoarding. [Yes, hoarding. Because really, what well-balanced adult needs 67 unsharpened sharpened Lisa Frank pencils? Oh wait - YOU SHARPENED THEM, ABBEY. REMEMBER?] Picking up the original thread… As years rolled around themselves, I slowly gave away my stamps and my rocks. My coins and my Highlights magazines from 1984, their hidden image puzzles completed. And I moved on with things.

However, I never really stopped collecting. Now, it seems, I collect stories and circumstances from the people around me instead of inanimate objects added one by one to a hidden cache. I hungrily absorb them as one feasts after a lifetime of dieting, greedily storing them away to think on later or write down for closer inspection.

I wonder why the two women on the street this evening spend their time collecting aluminum cans from the recycling bins of our building. Gloved and masked, they trudge up and down our street pulling comically enormous carts piled high with plastic bags of discarded soda cans. The bulging burdens swaying dangerously side to side as they make their way through the garbage. No judgment, just curious.

Or take the family of singers – Von Trapp style – who serenade Central Park every Saturday morning. They sing in perfect harmony as their voice climb high and low in echos around the Bethesda Fountain. They stand in a row from oldest to youngest, sometimes there are only five of them and other times closer to twelve. But they are always there, singing their hearts out and selling their homemade CDs.

Every day I meet people, watch people, hear people and their stories. Sometimes I collect an entire chapter of their lives through conversation, and other times I can only guess what kind of happiness or anguish or challenge the stranger on the train is facing. Maybe the wobbly old man with a cane grasped in his liver spotted hand and slightly rumpled bodega flowers is heading to visit his sick wife in the hospital at Lenox Hill. Then again, maybe he is celebrating the birth of his twentieth grandchild. Or maybe he just enjoys the bright pop of color to cheer up his living room.

But of all the collections I have brought home over the years, the stories are my most precious. And while the happy ones are my favorites, it is the ones filled with sorrow that remind me to be thankful. Because how can we see life’s hills without the valleys?

And what is life without stories.

 

Posted in Life, Uncategorized.

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By annie – October 11, 2011

IT MIGHT BE TOO LONG ALREADY…

This week as I found myself standing on my bed with a hammer in hand, nails in my mouth and determination for a project on the horizon written across my furrowed brow… I couldn’t help but wonder if I have worked at a creative company for too long when I start making myself a headboard out of yarn.

Then I thought about it. Nope. Never too long.

And yes, that is a guitar hanging on our bedroom wall that also serves as a baseboard. I told you our place was petite.

But it’s home. Finished project to follow…

Posted in Happy, Life.

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By annie – October 6, 2011

GOING UP?

On most occasions, I side-step the Macy’s at Herald’s Square at all cost. The crowds are hectic, the tourists pushy and the enormous red shopping bag nailed to the facade of such a classically beautiful building is an architectural crime. But there are those random times, like last Monday night, when no amount of avoidance can save me a trip. So there I was with my boy, and as we rounded a corner on our dash to the third floor men’s department before closing time we came upon the vintage escalators that I always forget are there.

And they just made my day. Wooden escalators. Doesn’t that just make you smile?

Posted in Happy.

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By annie – October 6, 2011

STYLE: WREN

Started in 2007, Wren is one of my favorite LA-based collections. Maybe it is because the designer, Melissa Coker, is from Illinois (my home state!) or because her initial inspiration seems to focus on classic American-chic… but her Fall 2011 collection fills me with desire. Stripes on patterns over opaque tights and flirty shoes? Done.

And the home inspirations are just for fun. Enjoy!

{Image courtesy of Wren and The City Sage}

Posted in Style.

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By annie – October 6, 2011

STYLE: BARE LEGS, FALL STYLE

So here is a fashion conundrum… What do you wear on those almost crisp fall days that require more than a sundress but not quite a coat? Lately I have come across ladies who go big up top and light on the bottom. In other words, while donning a delicious wool jacket or cape, their legs are open to the elements. And I’m not entirely certain how I feel about this sartorial statement. While these French women pull it off beautifully, I saw some New Yorkers looking not as graceful this afternoon… And don’t think I didn’t try to snap a discreet picture as proof. Thoughts?

(Image courtesy of The Sartorialist)

Or I suppose you could be like me and throw together a summer frock with black leggings and call if fashion. But really, these ladies have it right – even if the American evidence today was lacking.

Oh, and can we talk about the cobalt blue velvet peep-toed heels? Sigh.

Posted in Style.

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By annie – October 5, 2011

FAVORITE FRIDAYS

With the winds of fall slowly starting to blow through the streets of the city, cooling us down and slowing our stroll to finally take in the days, I think it is time for a refresh at home as we begin a new season. Maybe it is the fact that school starts in the fall… or that The National Holiday is just around the corner… but I always feel as though fall is a beginning of something magical instead of the closing of another year. This week was a flurry with some incredibly sad lows but also refreshing fits of laughter that left me breathless. The overall theme of today is that it is Friday and I am looking forward to a couple of days at home where I might add some new throw pillows to the couch, light a pumpkin spice candle and spend time with friends at a leisurely brunch.

{This Ruth Portrait Pillow by Leslie Oschmann for Swam at Anthropologie might be just the added panache my living room needs. Screenprinted by hand on a canvas cushion, the image is sourced from a vintage painting complete with the character’s back story detailed on the back. Of course I am going to love it considering it combines interior design, eccentricity and writing. Love.}

{Now if I could only tile my walls and ceiling… it would be a conversation piece, to be sure. But then there is the issue with my super… I have a feeling he would not be impressed with my passion for design once we relinquish the keys to our apartment down the road. But still, a girl can dream. Image courtesy of Annie}

{These beautiful new designs by the Scarfshop are stunning. The COLORBLOCKS collection are inspired by modernist color blocked paintings from the 50s and 60s and made of silk/cotton. Fashion is all about proper accessories, and I believe one of these original pieces of art would be the perfect addition to a fall wardrobe.}

{And then there is my annual Welcoming of Fall tradition of eating an entire bag of candy corn. Then I find myself feeling terribly ill, and I don’t need any more until the next year. This year was a little different though. I must have paced myself too well, because I already purchased my second bag… a first for me! These poor guys didn’t stand a chance.}

Happy Friday and Happy Fall, my lovelies! I hope you have fabulous plans set out for this weekend! xo

 

 

Posted in Happy, Life.

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By annie – September 30, 2011