Packing up

This is my last post until probably next Wednesday or Thursday. The place is almost completely packed up, and it finally hit me last night that wow, we really are moving! Holly crap. There are new tenants set to move in and everything, there is no turning back now. To make myself feel better I started looking around the web for some cute ceramics, cuz now I have a place to store them...so I got these adorable sugar and creamer from deadbirdfinds.
Wish me luck!

Hasta Luego

Fall

Perfect winter coat....and I think I like this couch. It looked just like fall from my window today, the way the light was, and the breeze, it just felt like fall. That means coats and couches. Do you like this color, I thought it was a little different, I would put Lena's red pillow on it...

Third Drawer Down

Stuff like this inspires me so much! If you don't already know about Third Drawer Down, you must go look. I am going to stock up on some of the tea towels and frame them, I think they are beautiful! I have so many pieces of interesting printed textiles, from scarves to napkins to table clothes...I actually had to buy a piece of furniture for them b/c I couldn't keep them all within reach. I get it from my mom, my whole family is serious textile and china junkies.

Victory

Well, after a disappointing shopping day I decided to hit my favorite Park Slope spots because I know I always find wonderful things at Nest and Bird and my fave, Rare Device. Now called Rare Device Sodafine, I was psyched to check it out and it looks great! I took some pictures, thanks Laura for letting me intrude.


I love the jewelry they have, so unique and boy am I going to miss that place. I learned that Laura Su has her own line called Prismera, and I love it. These pieces are from the lace collection, and they are made by allowing the metal to make it's own unique shape, I love the random, organic look, so unique. So the day wasn't a total wash. Plus I got the asteroid vase.

Shopping

Going shopping today, I know it sounds like such a luxury, but I really dislike shopping, but there are so many stores here that I will never have access to in Atlanta...so off I go. Have you been to Uniqlo yet? what do you think?

Virginia Johnson

I have been so inspired by the fluid quality of water colors and gouaches lately. I know you have probably already seen Virginia Johnson's beautiful illustrations, but I think they are so graceful and really capture the essence of the scene. It may also be that I am working on some illustrations that look similar. Side note, she is also very gracious, I sent her an email about a year ago, with some questions about how she started her amazing business and she took the time to write me back with really helpful advice!

Wanna go shopping?

Looking around for some good bargains in this time of sales on every corner and I though I would share what I found.


Napkins from Dwell via Bluefly
Shoulder bag from LunaBoston
Slouch bag from UrbanKitty
Can you tell I am in the market for a bag, my current shoulder bag is so embarrassing, can I just tell you it looks like a 5 year old made it for his mom...I got it at a sample sale, I had Sample-Sale-Blindness, a pretty bad case from the looks of this bag.
Kenneth Lane necklace via Bluefly
Bluefly is having a killer sale by the way.
Tonk Jacket by FCUK
Boots: SOOOO out of my price range, not even going to tell you how much they are...sigh.

New work

UPDATE: So I have finally set up my Etsy shop: Michi. I guess you already saw my little link on the right over there, I figured it out! (Ok, O figured it out, thank you O :) There are three original and different pieces up there, priced at $25 each.


My niece is turning 3 so my gift to her are some little paintings of her with her imaginary friends. She always has Rabbit and Bear and Mr Monkey (that one is coming.) Plus I totally have a thing for little bunnies. I included a great bed from Anthro in her hide and seek because isn't it just the cutest little girlie bed?


These original gouache and pencil paintings on 11 x 17 cream colored paper will also be available on my Etsy site next week. I make the drawings then scan and print them then paint each one separately so that each one is original and unique.

Ideas for the next phase

Its a busy time around here, what with packing the house up and trying not to slide across the floor right down the stairs. But I keep dreaming about our new place, and I know that we want a clean, sophisticated look with original details thrown in. We have never owned a real piece of furniture (except for my desk!) so we get to start living like grown-ups. Here are some ideas from my mood board for the new place, if you know of any online galleries that would also have some inspiring images, please share!

Living room: We want a comfy (him) but structured (me) couch in grey or navy probably. I want some great lamps for versatile lighting and enough seating for my whole family to come and sit down. PLUS, a place to deposit stuff when I come home, very important cuz we take our shoes off asap and I don't put things that have been on the ground on top of any upholstered furniture. So maybe a console?


Bedroom: We need a platform or no spring bed cuz O moves around so much that he wakes me up 10 times in one night, we have been sleeping on our futon for weeks just because it doesn't bounce. So...Malm in oak veneer or the four poster Hemnes (another idea that O has nixed) bed from Ikea, or the wood frame bed from West Elm.

The Dining Room: will have to be kinda simple, I have a great solid oak table that I built from a kit when I was younger, and the table top is great extra counter space, (perfect for making pies and pastas) but I love this idea from Living etc... to paint the legs, and these Eames chairs are the exact ones I want...so feast your eyes on my dream dining room.

As far as my office goes, it is free for me to decide. I think I will paint it bright white and have my desk in the middle of the room. I want lots of storage that I can move to the three different work areas (drawing, painting and computer). So three hopen storage units lined up together on one wall, my dad's drafting table (the first thing he bought when he came to the US, and it is beautiful) and some office chairs I can live with...

Wanna see some very hastily taken shots of the new place?

Flowers from O

O had some flowers for me on my desk when I got back from Atlanta. He also cleaned the house all nice and fresh, he tried to polish our wood floors, but he ran out of our usual stuff, so he decided to try some pledge. It worked great! We have brilliant, shinny, clean floors, unfortunately it is very slippery. Kinda like living on a giant air hockey game. So learn from this and don't ever clean your floors with pledge. Really I am just procrastinating, and I should go and do some packing.

Book Swap

I am back, and I had lots of beautiful packages waiting for me. I got my books from my book swap partner, and they are really great. She sent me the By Hand book, and lots of very interesting little books mostly from Little Otsu, plus a very cute t-shirt that she illustrated herself. I think my favorite book is one that opens up like a fan and has really cute illustrations, like a little girl with a sword. I know that the books I sent were not really small, but they just ended up being the ones I really wanted to send, so thanks Kelly for your packages, I really enjoyed them.

Still in Atlanta

But I really wanted to share this, I learned about Caroline Gaedechens via Browner Brown, always great! Anyway, how amazing are her drawings, and I love her etsy site where you can get glow in the dark monsters, I want to line them up on my desk!

By the way, we found an apartment in the Virginia Highlands of Atlanta, a really cute area that is a lot like Park Slope. Whew! So glad that is over, it isn't a loft, it is a roomy duplex, I am going to have so much fun decorating, and I will need lots of advice.