wiksten summer

(photos by Lena Corwin for Wiksten)

The preview of Jenny Gordy's new line for Wiksten is beautiful. I love those saffron and blue + white ikat dresses! You can tell it must have been a labor of love designing all these pieces, hand-dyeing the fabrics, and sewing everything. The photos are so beautiful too.

pinterest & weekend

I love using tumblr for "bookmarking" things online, but it seems like there is a great community-feel to Pinterest, so I've finally joined. Do you use it? Thanks so much, Heather for passing me along an invite... if you have been waiting for an invite to the site, feel free to contact me. And yay, weekend - have a good one!

(image: my pinterest boards)

greenfield village inspiration

More photos from Greenfield Village! (in case you're wondering, it's a huge park here dedicated to American history). It's definitely a lot more interesting in person than in these photos, but I thought I'd share them anyway because I left feeling super inspired by all of the design and creativity there.

We were both fascinated by Thomas Edison's research laboratory where he tirelessly worked to create new things - his goal was to make one major invention every 6 months, and a small one every 10 days! Go Edison. Above are shelves full of bottles spanning the entire length of the lab (I loved this...).


Adorable tiny brass candlesticks that you could make in one of the machine shops. I'm obsessed with how cute they are... wonder where else you can find them?


Snapshots from some of the "shops"...the pottery shop where they were turning clay, a loom in the weaver's shop, and cute notions + paper bags from the General Store.


Utilitarian lights in Edison's house vs. romantic fixtures in the women's hat shop : )


And finally, my dream turquoise shutters on the Wright Brother's house...so lovely.

pretty pairs

(halter dress, teardrop earrings, topaz glass earrings, polka dot dress)

New arrivals from two shops to adore: pretty summertime dresses from Poketo and beautiful earrings from Emma Stine.

inspired by: noah webster house

Q and I visited Henry Ford's Greenfield Village yesterday and I found myself hugely inspired by the home of Noah Webster (you know, that guy who wrote the dictionary!). Neither of us have been to the Village since our field trip days in elementary school, so it was fun to explore the whole place again and step inside American history for an afternoon.

This is the house Noah Webster retired in with his family back in the 1820s, and although I'm not sure which furnishings are original to the home, it was still interesting to see all of the different patterns and colors on the walls, floors, and furniture.


The mint green room above was one of the main living areas, and the yellow "brick" wallpaper lined the hallway leading upstairs. A guy next to me kept saying how awful it looked but I kind of liked it. This blue room was at the top of the stairs and I loved that wallpaper pattern.


This geometric rug may have been my favorite thing...


Another bedroom had this pretty green wallpaper and lots of bird + botanical prints, along with a gorgeous canopy bed (is it weird that I thought this looked like something out of Domino?). Also, I loved this huge colorful rug, and a bedroom with gingham curtains.


This last shot is actually from Edison's house but I loved the wallpaper patterns in there too! I have a ridiculous amount of photos, so I'll be sharing another post soon with design inspiration from other parts of the Village.

cake stands + calligraphy

Lauren's latest collection for A Fabulous Fete is absolutely adorable. Can't help but envision those colorful cake stands and favor bags all lined up for a big dessert table...

great lakes state

Hello, cute Michigan-y paper goods. I love these Great Lakes themed papers + postcards shared by Jaime on Send More Mail (we live just below the 'E' on GREAT). So much more pretty paper to see over on her blog.

(photos by Jaime; site originally found via seesaw)

birthday water bash

(photos by jennifer little)

Jen from Little Household & Sugar recently threw this sweet water bash for her son Luke's third birthday. I had so much fun designing invites and paper goods for the party's colorful Yo Gabba Gabba inspired theme (Luke's request!), including a giant pin the eye on Muno. I loved Jen's idea to tape it on a wall with blown up photos of the kids - so cute! See more party details here.

his+hers: movie night

Ever since our very first date (to see Hitch!), Q and I have loved watching movies together and will go on a date night at the theater or rent at home whenever we can. We stayed in Friday night after Q got home from Pittsburgh and decided to rent one of each of our picks.

He definitely picked better than I did! Love & Other Drugs had a compelling story but apparently they forgot to work in a clothing budget for the movie. The Next Three Days, though, was way better than we expected and was a great mystery/action/suspense film. Those always seem to be a hit for both of us - enough action for him, and enough mystery/emotion to keep me interested.

We also enjoyed some of this awesome chocolate caramel popcorn that Q brought home from his trip - SO good and of course I loved the packaging:


(His + Hers is a weekly series that Brooke (from Pure & Noble) and I started as a way of sharing random peeks into our daily lives. Feel free to join in on your own blog if you'd like!)

frozen treats + weekend

Summer weather has fully arrived here (80s), it's the weekend, and Q comes home from a conference tonight! Oh, and these strawberry + cream ice cream bars from the new Everyday Food look like the best things ever so I just had to share this excited phone pic I took : ) Hope your weekend is fantastic.

(phone taken of Everyday Food mag)

clothing: iou project

Did you see the launch of the IOU Project? I was moved by their video, a movement to promote unique clothing from artists around the world, and now the full collection is available online. No two pieces are exactly alike or made in all sizes, and here are just a few favorites so far...

1. madras scarves, 2. shortall, 3. retro work dress.

*Update: Due to the Blogger service issues, comments were lost on this post - sorry if yours was one of them!

downtown plymouth: mother's day

For mother's day we spent the whole afternoon at the Green Street Fair in downtown Plymouth. The fair surrounds the main park and has all kinds of vendors that offer eco-friendly & organic goods. I didn't bring my camera but here are some shots snapped with my phone...


A few of the vendor booths...Ellembee hand printed clothes (I want that mini camper onesie for future kids!), recycled burlap bags from Burlap Boutique, and red tulips in front of a building.


The prettiest little kids clothing from Story (I loved her clothes and booth).


The local Ikea took over the entire pavilion (where Saturday farmer's market is held) for their booth, which included a full size kitchen, living room, and these comfy beds.


And, an abundance of pretty tulips along with a cool, thrifty Green Street Fair sign.

weekend flowers

I picked up these flowers to use for Mother's day brunch on Sunday, I'm hoping they will bloom a little more! Unless I make the trip all the way to Trader Joe's, the selection at our grocery store here is so sparse - it was either these or just a few carnations. For now they're hanging out in this funny pig pitcher from our wedding, but maybe I'll trim them up to use as place settings. Hope you have a great weekend!

for mom.

This year I'm excited to host a little Mother's day get-together for my parents, my best friend, and her parents. What do you usually do for the occasion? I love finding or making a small indulgent gift to give my mom and Q's - in the past we've done roses for their gardens or pretty jewelry. Here are a few other ideas I like...

1. pretty scarves. above: drakes london scarf from jcrew.
2. good soap. above: milk & honey soap from humunuku.
3. fancy notebooks. above: panama diary by smythson.
4. something unique. above: reclaimed china butterfly by lightly (via little white whale).

jess lc bags

(photos: kelly stonelake for jess lc)

Wow, I love the styling and simplicity of the new Jess LC handbag lookbook. Jess has done a great job branching out from jewelry to bags (the bags look pretty and functional), and more than anything it's been fun to follow along on her blog as she has made her dream into a reality.