Instant Access - 9/12 - 9/25

These past few weeks have been challenging.  But we are all together.  We drove to Illinois again, this time for the memorial for my Father-in-Law.  It was a beautiful event.  Hudreds of people attended and it took almost 3 hours for everyone to come through.  It was a great testimony to how beloved he was. These flowesrs were the centerpiece of the event and were so joyful and stunning and perfect.

We went through woods, over rivers and under mountains....

The dogs are great car companions...

What are you reading now???

My nails have been trashed lately, but I'm keeping them somewhat polished.  This is Deborah Lippmann's Naked with Essie's Midnight Cami and China Glaze's Midnight Kiss dots using my new dotting tool (which I LOVE).

I have a problem.  More new polish...

And my new bracelet from Rahya Designs via Miss Malprop was a sunny spot to my day.

I hope you had a good week!

Curl up with a good Book

I know it's been a while since I showed more of the home tour. You already got an advance peek into our medicine cabinets and bathroom cupboards. Then you got the whole closet tour. All riveting stuff, I know!

But this is my favorite room in the house. One that I need to spend far more time in. The Library.

Yep, we had an extra room and we made it into the Library. I think I've mentioned before that our house is 110+ years old so we don't have the whole modern "great room" concept at all. We do have 3 bedrooms upstairs and then downstairs we have the living room, dining room, kitchen, sun room and the library.

This room, like the dining room and stairway, still has the original milled paneling unpainted. So you get a lot of rich wood tones. We wanted sort of the eclectic British library feel going on, but we do have a ways to go in getting all of the layering of accessories.

The door to the room opens in on a corner (bottom left if you think of the room as a perfect square) so you get a full view of the room when you walk in. Right in front of you along the wall looking out of the front of the house are our two salon chairs and game table. We got these made through Ballard Designs by shipping them fabric, then they custom upholster them and ship them back. The game table was a post-Furniture Market bargain for only $20! Now we need to find a really good set of chess pieces to go with it. And yeah, this is one room we still need to get blinds for.



If you step into the room and close the door (see it there on the left?), there are these built in shelves which are just perfect for DVDs and books. We have quite a collection which has grown since we started doing backyard movies.



Going around the room counter clockwise, there is a set of bookshelves on the other side of the table and chairs along the same wall. On the wall opposite the door are two windows flanking the fireplace. To the left of the fireplace we have these three huge waist-high glass vases filled with peacock feathers, wicker balls and curling reeds.

On the fireplace mantle are vintage bottles and glass apothecary jars filled with more wicker balls and vintage zoological illustrations. The bowl is by this local artisan who makes amazing pieces. He is in his 70's and he comes to the farmer's market once a year with amazing pieces. We have three of his bowls and buy them for gifts too. Maybe I'll do a post just about his work, because it is so good.



Over the fireplace are vintage botanical illustrations of ferns. I got a bargain on the prints and then blew it all on the framing. I take my framing seriously!



Moving along to the right is the big cushy reading chair. I just love this fabric! What is cool is that I had the chair made locally and the storage ottoman made by Ballard yet the fabric aligned perfectly when they both came in! The floor lamp matches the chandelier in the room and also came from Ballard.



Did you notice this? It's a pretty interesting piece. It looks like a real Luna moth pinned to the board but actually it's a digital image of the moth recreated 3-dimensionally out of paper and feathers. We got this at an art show right before we moved. The artist has a website, Insectworks, and does amazing stuff. I am seriously considering getting more pieces from her because I love them so much.



Next to the chair is lovely little antique oystered table. It's not perfect but I love it. On top I have a collection of Chinese cricket cages. I'm not sure if they are vintage or not but I just love how delicate they are. If you click on the image you can see them a bit better. The one on top right has little fishies carved on the top. The center one is in the shape of an owl while the two in the font are carved with rabbits and birds intertwined.



On the wall opposite the fireplace and two the left of the door are two of our 4 bookcases. They're all glassed in so the books don't get all dusty and are organized somewhat by topic/genre. On top of these I have a bee skep, a little wood piece, vintage bottles, more glass apothecary jars, a piece from the Times Square Waterford New Year's Eve ball from the 2000 NYE and a globe.



The door to the bathroom and the other bookshelf.



The chandelier and our lovely beams.



What's behind this door?????



We call this The Speakeasy. We repurposed the closet to hold a wine cabinet and all of our liquor and party glasses. This room is the coldest room in the house so it's perfect for storing wine. I have a few pictures up in there but it's hard to see the ones on the side walls. This is a close to a secret passage as the hubby has been able to get, although he longs to put a bookshelf in front of the door so it is even more hidden.



The bookshelf between the Speakeasy and the bathroom door. This one is filled with classics, fantasy, medieval and history books.



Back to the main wall you can see lots of cookbooks and my collection of children's books (a lot from my own childhood) and pop-up books. Robert Sabuda's books are pure art and, I don't think, for kids.



I love this little wood and ivory box.



We do a mix of books and pieces so it breaks up the monotony. I really need to add a rug in there and get the shades done.

Then chess pieces and let the games begin!

The Christmas Recap

As everyone knows, the days after the holidays are all about doing the "Present Recap" (also known as the "Present Scorecard" in some circles).

We have tons of lovely friends who gave us delicious treats and sent some beautiful cards. Our gifts out were one of our favorite cookies - Lavender Sables - which are kind of a French shortbread and so so yummy. If you want the recipe, just drop me a line.

We have out gifts to other co-workers and family members, most of which we had to ship because they all live far away. As for the husband and I, we don't do a huge bunch of gifts for each other usually because we get stuff all year long. Plus we just had our amazing trip to the Grove Park Inn, so it was pretty sparse beneath the tree this year.

We also don't like to buy a lot of "stuff", so we try to get consumable or services. In his stocking this year he got a grapefruit knife,



and spoons (four of them).



He also got 2lbs of thick cut peppered gourmet bacon from Nueskes. (Who the heck gives someone bacon for Christmas??? I mean, seriously? Yeah, we do. We're weird like that)





He also got these amazing organic really sweet grapefruits from South Tex Organics. Now the knife and spoons make sense, right?

We had some delicious bruleed grapefruits when we stayed at our friends' bed & breakfast (the Adora Inn) in Mount Dora for the wedding we were both in. They were so delicious, I wanted to recreate the meal. And they are really good. And I don't even typically like grapefruit.

I also bought some Meyer's lemons, which I'm going to make into delicious lemon gelato and lemon curd.



The hubby also wears a lot of t-shirts since he works from home and he also loves funky fun shirts. Threadless is a wonderful resource for unique shirts, and they aren't that much either.

I got him this shirt which is per-fect for him. He kind of likes the creepy stuff. This one is called "Ad Noctum" You can click on the images to see them bigger.



He also got this shirt which I think is weird yet adorable. It's called "Star Men in Moon's Milk". How cute is that????



His "big" gift was this book. It's the iconic Albertus Seba "Cabinet of Natural Curiosities".



This is, yes, a reproduction but it's still amazing and filled with the best illustrations. We have some actual vintage illustrations like these throughout our house, so this is perfect. It's also a book you will see in many professionally decorated homes because the colors are just so great. It's a perfect book for us and our house.

Here's a little bit about the book:
Albertus Seba's "Cabinet of Curiosities" is one of the 18th century's greatest natural history achievements and remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time.

Though it was common for men of his profession to collect natural specimens for research purposes, Amsterdam-based pharmacist Albertus Seba (1665-1736) had a passion that led him far beyond the call of duty. His amazing, unprecedented collection of animals, plants and insects from all around the world gained international fame during his lifetime. In 1731, after decades of collecting, Seba commissioned illustrations of each and every specimen and arranged the publication of a four-volume catalog detailing his entire collection - from strange and exotic plants to snakes, frogs, crocodiles, shellfish, corals, insects, butterflies and more, as well as fantastic beasts, such as a hydra and a dragon.



So that was kind of it. I got lovely and fun things as well. My parents gave some $$$, which I've totally spent already, and a new picture of them which I need for my office. One of my co-workers gave me this adorable mushroom timer from FredFlare (you have to see my office to know why this fits in - I have a ton of pink in there to liven up the boring grey cube).



hello!

My in-laws gave me a big 'ol Target gift card, because, ya know I love the Tar-get!



In my stocking from the hubby I got some treats - single serve Nutellas!


Yummy!

I also got an iTunes gift card - furthering my iPod library investment.



My "big" gift was a necklace from Ananda Khalsa necklace. When we were at Grove Park Inn, they have a store featuring all kinds of goods from local artists. Ananda does these amazing jewelry pieces which are made from little paintings that are then set in silver or 22kt gold with hand-ground glass. My three-strand necklace is in the "Bluebirds with Plum Blossoms" series and has aquamarine briolettes under the pendant and at the clasp.



It's so lovely and perfect because I love unique jewelry, as well as supporting local artists. It will be perfect to wear in the Spring.

As you can see, we all do a lot of shopping online but we also supported a lot of artists and artesianal companies. Not only do we get unique gifts but we support the hand-made, small scale movement.

I can't wait to see what gifts other folks got and what they gave.