a vintage girl living a modern life

this Orla Kiely wallet!  i’ve been completely obsessed with Orla Kiely and her bags, wallets, dresses, etc.  for the past 2 years since i was introduced to her designs.  but $180 for the bags and a little over $90 for wallets - i was priced out.   Until the wonderful blog decor8 offered a 20% of Twig.   What a great place! Twig is owned by Elizabeth Burbage in St. Petersburg, FL - she has Orla Kiely and a number wonderful bags, outfits and accessories from other designers.   the order process was easy, and i’m super excited.  i’ve been living with a wallet that doesn’t close & the zipper is broken. And Twig has the wallet on sale! it doesn’t get any better than this!  Check her store out!

i’m back and posting! the raffman and i are moving to some new digs (temporary) till we find a place to buy, so i’ve been packing and purging. a perfect time of year for it. because the place we are moving into is getting a little renovation of the kitchen (taking out the old porcelain sink), i get to pick the paint color. at first, i was super excited. after all my rentals, never once did i paint a wall. ever. as soon as i headed into the local citypaint, i started to get the sweats. i was thinking of a nice calming blue-grey, but how was i supposed to know that there are 27 different shades of blue-grey? its crazy! now i see why so much blood, sweat and tears go into choosing the “perfect” shade. so i left the store with 700 paint chips in hand and headed to my blogs.

i found a gorgeous color = benjamin moore’s pale stone. i decided to google the color to see if anyone had any pictures out there of the shade and low and behold, i came across the great blog of four beds two baths. she has great taste and a beautiful eye. i get so jazzed when i discover new blogs and look forward to hers.

as far as the paint chips go, its currently between

pale stone

and

Arctic Gray

i know, i know…. there is not a huge difference, but god, it took me 3 days to narrow it down to 2! i’ll let you know how it works out and stay-tuned for shots of the new digs.

there is always an anxious cabin fever in the air at the beginning of March up in these parts. we’ve just endured 4 months of cold, wet weather with no sunlight insight and we are so close to the first buds on the trees that we can taste it. its also that time of year where we are quietly anticipating open day at Fenway (Go Sox!) (although i must say those Celtics are kickin’ but). in need of a little green, i headed over to the 137th annual New England Spring Flower show over at the Bay Side Expo Center.

i knew that this is exactly what the doctor order. there was flora as far as the eye can see and where o’ where to begin? throughout the floor were a number of installations, fantasy displays and award winning plants. one of our favorite installations was a display by the landscape architect Peter R. Sadeck. We could see it from across the room. Surrounded by bamboo sat a peaceful, stylish and serene sitting area amongst the moss, , and xxx. I had the pleasure of meating Peter as I sat in awe and asked if I could just spend the day there. Peter is a landscape architect with over 30 years of experience with landscape design and installation, complete garden restoration and installation of natural ponds and waterfalls.

between the outdoor urban terrace and lavish flower dresses, i are REALLY ready to get our hands dirty this spring. happy spring!

i’m tired, i’m wet from the rain, i’m cranky, i’m sun-deprived and this picture is where i want to be at this exact moment. i wish i was lying in this hammock, reading a good book with my raff-man getting us some coronas. the next best thing for this new england winter girl is a little hot yoga. 7:30 class will be good to help my cold bones. now where is the sun?

i need a new name, I know. but i’d like to introduce my real estate blog mydwelling. I sleep, breath and eat real estate. i love my job - (although secretly i want to be an interior designer, but that is for another day). i come across so many cool places everyday and so many stories. i’ve found that working with first time buyers is really my niche. the whole entire process is so complicated and demanding that somehow i make it calm, clean and organized for them. anyways, head on over and let me know what you think.

the beau and i were reminiscing about how when we were little we both had silhouettes of ourselves up on the walls of our house. i thought it was just what parents did to “capture” there kids profile so young. i remember sitting in front of the projector being shined on my face as this person traced it on black paper and then cut it out and wham. me on the wall. well, come to find out it was always done throughout time. i’ve been seeing so much about silhouettes in the decor magazines and on the blogs.

beachbungalow8 mentions the decor fad here and has some beautiful examples. she even mentions karl johnson who is a master at cutting and takes custom orders on his website. i love beachbungalow8!

absolutely beautiful things has confirmed my feeling that silhouettes are going crazy through the blogsphere. anna spiro is an interior designer from brisbane, australia who has some of the most unbelieveable taste i have every seen. i was drawn to her blog almost a year ago by the wonderful photos and inspirations she shares with us all. she makes me want to buy a ticket around the world just to visit her shop. had I known about her back in 2004 when i went “down under”, i would have asked her if i could work there for the rest of my life. its beautiful!

here are a few on ebay i have my eye on….

we are working on getting our profiles from our mothers at the moment, so when we do i’ll post them up here.  can’t wait to see the one of the beau and his ‘fro.

I usually go to ikea once a year. its all my wallet can handle. plus, i make sure i really really need the items because we all know that going there can easily cost you $100. Its fine if you spend that much, but make sure it doesn’t sit there like the 3 ikea frames I just put on ebay because I don’t use them and never will.

what i’m liking right now:

lack table in white

Strind table

LUNS writing/magnetic board

KNIPSA basket

KASSETT magazine box

FORMAT work lamp

IKEA STOCKHOLM easy chair

gotta love ikea…….

here are a few of the great items i’m loving over at pearlriver in addition to some nice home accessories, you can also pick up cutting boards, dishes, and an occasional Chinese lantern.

foo dogs from $39-$97

mini round vases $14

placemats $6.95

bamboo placemats $4.50

lacquer serving tray $14.95

two-toned lacquer serving tray $44.50

the man and i are moving. so moving means cleaning and purging. i am doing a quite large decluttering project. i always thought i was the type of person that only kept what i needed. no junk for me. until the day my boyfriend went down to our storage unit in the basement (we live in a large building) for the first time since we moved there and he came back saying “i think you are a closet pack-rat”. uuughhh. the words i dread.

anyhow, a friend of mine turned me on to Table to Teapots in Acton, Mass. its a great place to consign some of your nicer things that you just grew out of or changed your style a bit. i worked on cleaning out the storage bin and realized that i hadn’t given up my “crunchie-tapestry-moroccan-lantern days” as a college girl. after making an appointment 2 weeks out, we drove up saturday and dropped some boxes off and 2 lamps that just didn’t work for us. very easy - you get 50% of the selling price. they consign anything of value over $10. anything under they send to good will for you.

consign away…..

what fun can girls have when we put together clothes, shoes and sangria! my good friend maureen and i had our annual fashion swap last night at gargoyles. with three racks of clothes and so much fashion - they say someones junk is another treasure. what i loved is that all we did was laugh and try on each other’s clothes.

the Somerville Journal was there too and they wrote an article on us which you can see here. i picked up some awesome pieces. a super cool black flowing dress w/sparkles (who doesn’t love sparkles), a “hot” pair of boots that are 4 inches tall only to be worn to the restaurant and back. and also, a pair of black linen pants - to worn in the summer. i would say the best item was a black rabbit hair jacket that Megan brought - which was instantly grabbed up on the first go around.

it was so successful, everyone had fun and walked away with some great items. i love to see someone else be so happy about the items i brought. can’t wait till next year!

picture courtesy of Somerville Journal