I just got back from a fantastic long weekend in Tucson with Mike and his parents. Every time I go to Tucson, I get so excited about visiting my favorite shop, Bon.

Bon is a lovely boutique filled with clothing, cards, fanciful chandeliers, Don Carney ink drawings, John Derian poufs and furniture, Matteo bedding, stuff for the kiddies, Barbara Wiggins clutches, crocheted pillows, cool shoes, unique jewelry—pretty much everything unique and wonderful you’d ever want from a boutique.

Bon has two locations, and of course, I visited both. I only got pictures of the smaller shop (damn it) but you’ll get the idea. The larger shop, on Broadway, is even more fantastic with more space and more goodies. The shops are owned by Bonnie and Crystal Flynt—a mother/daughter team. I was so glad I got a chance to chat with Bonnie while perusing the Broadway store. She is one of the most inspirational women I have met in a while. She’s super stylish, natural, down to earth and cool as can be. I can’t imagine a more ideal existence—owning a fabulous store and traveling to fun cities on buying trips with her daughter—talk about a dream job. I still have yet to meet her daughter, Crystal but I’m sure she’s just as fabulous as her mom. I did find out she used to work for Anthropologie Corporate—no wonder she has such a good eye for style.

If you ever get down to Tucson, give this shop a visit. You’re sure to walk out with something one-of-a-kind. This time, I left with a cute brass horse head hook for our guest bathroom, a Patch NYC crocheted pillow (pics to come), a sweet little tshirt and a Barbara Wiggins black clutch. I did some damage, and Mike’s mom was nice enough to treat me to a few items. I’m sure I’ll be calling the shop soon for some bedding or maybe a Don Carney ink drawing if I’m lucky.

Enjoy the pictures. xo

I’m so excited to be posting this! I’ve been waiting for what feels like forever to own some Carter Kustera silhouettes and now they’re on our wall. Thanks to an LA Groupon I was able to afford these babies. Carter did a fabulous job depicting us, and now that empty little corner space in the living room feels alive and spunky.

Order some cute portraits for yourself!

The Captions

Mike
loves him some pizza

Quinn
the bubbles go straight to her head

(If you can’t tell from the captions, Mike loves pizza and I love champagne)

It was a looong night at work last night. It’s been so crazy busy lately that blogging has been on the back burner and it’s not making me very happy. So rather than being a crab ass, I’m gonna work hard and be nice to people just like this sweet little print says. I’m hoping to add this to a cluster of prints on the wall in our home office for inspiration. I love the simplicity of it. Thanks to the latest issue of Matchbook Mag for introducing me to Sugar Paper—the cool letterpress shop out of LA that created this beauty.

Have a Happy Friday and a happy day at work.

Some amazingly neat-o illustrations from Georgina Luck via The Dieline. I was so happy she drew the Colman’s mustard! Mike and I just bought a wee jar and have been using it on our daily sammies. Warning: SPREAD LIGHTLY! mouth may burn and eyes may water from mustard consumption. There’s a reason the jar’s so damn small!

I wanted to share this photo of the Valentine’s treat I got for Mike. I still have yet to hang it on the wall in our office but for now, it’ll look all cute sitting on our wooden desk until we get a few more framed friends for the wall.

This photo is from the Flickr account of the talented Jessica of Miniature Rhino. She makes these adorable stitched custom heart samplers that are great gifts for friends, family or loves. I’m glad I came across her picture of ours since I haven’t taken one yet. Check out her shop on Etsy. Her work is great!

I’m finally blogging again! After 17 days off from work and time spent with family, I’m back, rested and ready to write.

One of my new years resolutions is to spend less money on crap and start saving and spending more on stuff for our home. Our “master” bathroom needs some major love. Right now there’s a pretty white rug and a so-so shower curtain and that’s about it. I don’t wanna just fill it up quickly for the sake of having stuff on the walls and counter. I wanna love every single thing I put in there. The place where we do our biz-nass can in fact be beautiful.

So, here are the current things on my want list. I wanna rip out our mirror, add some cute polka dot hand towels, hang up some spiffy art, get a cooler light and bam—a new bathroom is born. I like that the mirror is the wow piece and the rest is simple, quiet and pretty. Showers would be so much more exciting don’t you think?

The pretty stuff: ONE: Match Vanity Mirror, TWO: Polka Dot Hand Towel, THREE: Bucket Pendant Lamp, FOUR: Natasha Mirror, FIVE: White Glass Succulent Planter, SIX: Holly Farrell Acrylic + Oil Soap Painting, SEVEN: Hugo Guinness Urinal Print)

We desperately need a great painting for a wall in our condo and one of these would be perfect. I love Rosetta Santucci’s work. Each piece gives off a unique sense of texture and tells a beautiful, soft story. The paintings feel colorful and cheery without being overwhelming, like they’re screaming at you from the wall. The rich, textile-like style of her work blends so nicely with any home decor, whether your place is modern or an eclectic mixture of styles.

The last two photos are of Rosetta’s beautiful home. You can see how perfectly her paintings work in a room. I need one. Too bad most of the ones online are already sold out.

font: Welna / Emily Darnell

Colony / Emily Darnell

designer + illustrator: Benet Ferrer

Anja Goth

Alter Ego / Emma Trithart

Earl Gray / Emma Trithart

Dodoots / Emma Trithart

Heat Wave / Emma Trithart

You Work For Them is one of my favorite sites. It features designers and illustrators from around the world selling their work at an affordable price. It’s great if you need something fast for a project and don’t have the time/skillz to do it yourself. Or maybe you just need some inspiration! There are so many talented type designers and illustrators, the possibilities are endless I tell you!

These are some of my favorite artists on the site. If you have some time, take a looksie. If you have some monies, buy their stuff and type + design away!

direct links to their work:

Emily Darnell
Benet Ferrer
Anja Goth
Emma Trithart

About a year ago, I was shopping happily in the Dallas North Park Barneys when I almost lost my breath (in a good way). I was being escorted back to the fitting room of the COOP section when suddenly I turned the corner to the most wonderful walls I had ever seen. They were covered in mini portraits—boys, girls, dogs, purple, pink, lime green, black, yellow and under each portrait was a playful saying/characteristic of the cutie written in pencil. I quickly tried on my goods and threw open the fitting room door to take a closer look. They appeared to be done by hand and they had an imperfect way about them that I adored. I about died. I had to know who did these. I asked the sales person who had no idea. I feel like I should be spanking them now. I mean, you work at Barneys and you must escort at least 30-50 people back there per day how could you NOT have inquired about these! (spank! bad barneys employee! Simon Doonan would be beside himself) I left with a cute cardigan but no info on my new artistic crush. Who could this BE!? Continue reading »

I finally found the first piece of art that I want to blow some major cash on. The exhibit is called “Apartment for Rent” by local photographer/artist Anthony Marchetti.

I love the simplicity of these. And of course, they’re neutral so it would work well in our home. There’s a certain creepy stillness to them that draws me in. I think the concept of capturing an empty, abandoned apartment is so cool. The recliner is the piece I love the most. The tacky little blue chair is turned away at just the perfect angle as if it’s shy or ashamed and the bright light coming in from the window gives warmth to an otherwise cold space. I have the perfect wall for it in our condo’s kitchen. I want a 40×50 print with glass and the simple white frame Anthony used that gives it just the right touch without distracting from the work. I need to start saving my pennies for this one! I encourage you to check out his website and other pieces from this exhibit here. Then buy one of them and invite me over.