this is beautiful

snails directed & filmed by willow o'feral  music by trentemøller, the one am radio

via Vimeo

happy weekend

Here's to seeing the world through a sparkly lens... happy weekend!

spring plumage

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It certainly feels as though spring has arrived early in the Northeastern part of the U.S. We have had no snow to speak of since October; robins & red-winged blackbirds are making appearances, & cardinals have been calling out their territories throughout the neighborhood. The ground feels warm & muddy & smells like things are preparing to sprout & grow.

Following on the wings of spring birds are fresh spring combinations that span the shorter nights & longer days: upswept hair topping light & breezy fabrics paired with boots & woolens, classic menswear paired with feminine silhouettes, classy neutrals paired with mouthwatering hues; practical layering hinting at the riot of color as things start to grow, & bared legs & shoulders to show...

1. betina lou dress / 2. destroyer boot / 3. perfect shirt in charcoal / 4. eva shoe / 5. photo shoot for toast / 6. from here / 7. tucker by gaby basora / 8. from here  / 9. palisades / 10. from here / 11. the sartorialist / 12. marc jacobs ballerines

oh la la

Perhaps it's my French heritage, but I love lovely underthings, even though no one else besides my man (or especially because!) is any the wiser to it. I pieced this little number together from some silk bits I had been hoarding for some time - quite sweet, don't you think? Methinks it would be a cute design for a bikini bathing top, as well...

happy weekend

This week certainly flew by for me. May the weekend feel longer... have a swell one!

chocolates & cheer

This past weekend I spent some time in my kitchen, making festive bittersweet chocolates with champagne, topped off with fancy little marbled chocolate tiles; & milk chocolate porter filled chocolates with a dusting of French cocoa powder.

Happy Valentines Day!

more here

homely comforts

A weekend of simple & hearty food, & the simple pleasure that comes from caring for people, the objects you live with, & enjoying your immediate surroundings is a satisfying weekend indeed.

happy weekend

This weekend I hope to stay close to the nest, & get some projects done... how about you? Whatever the weekend may hold, may it be satisfying – cheers!

daydream getaway

Villa Santo-Sospir

Cocteau's home in Milly-la-Fôret

February has me pining for travel, especially travel that involves the sea & sunshine. When my husband & I make travel plans nowadays, we often find ourselves reserving a room in a city or bound for the ocean, since we live in a small land-locked town in some of the most beautiful mountainous countryside to be found. Verily, I have found our bucolic life to be the perfect refuge, one that has created the framework to be a creative person & to feel closer to the natural world; but oh, to live the glamorous life & have homes in the city & by the seaside, as well as in the countryside!

With brisk winter weather I find the rarefied quality of the air & sunlight on the Côtes d'Azur, á la Jean Cocteau's La Villa Santo-Sospir, flickering in my mind. Cocteau apparently found the region to be an inspiring refuge, with its combination of luxury & ruggedness, & its singular beauty. He created an abundance of murals & drawings for his friend Francine Weisweiller's villa in St. Jean Cap Ferrat, the setting for his 1952 avant-garde film la Villa Santo Sospir.

Cocteau's country home in Milly-la-Forêt, about an hour from Paris, bespeaks the eye of a poet, artist & filmmaker with lush colors & patterns, sculptural furniture, abundant art & cinematic table-top vignettes. Cocteau further illustrated his love for the region with chalk frescos swathing the walls of Chapelle Saint Blaise des Simples, where he was interred after his death. Both sites are open to the public for tours.

It's the house which was waiting for me. I am living in this retreat, far from the bells of Palais-Royal. It gives me an example of the absurd magnificent stubbornness of the vegetable kingdom. I rearrange the memories of former countrysides where I used to dream of Paris, as later I used to dream in Paris of taking flight. The waters of the moat & the sunshine reflect on the walls of my room their false shimmering marbles. Everywhere spring is jubilant.
–Jean Cocteau

Add on a jaunt to Paris, & you've covered all grounds...

Bon voyage!

more photos of his home in Milly-la-Fôret here
an interesting site for someone's art history thesis that has more photos & info on Villa Santo Sospir here

cabinet of curiosities

My traveling scrimshaw show, cobbled together from found, collected & created bits & baubles.

happy weekend

Got some good & relieving news about a dear friend today. Wishing you a weekend of good news & times!

urban nature

Naoko Ito's meticulously staged Urban Nature project addresses how the naturally occurring world & industrial worlds we create intersect. Preserved like specimens in glass jars, yet arranged in natural & graceful constructions, the branches feel somehow caught off-guard: wind-swept or striving toward light, suspended as though in a glistening man-made block of ice.

In Ito's words:
I feel like two dimensions is not enough for me to explain about myself or what I’m talking about, what I’m thinking about.

from here & here