personal projects: a house in dallas.

sometimes i forget that i have a cache of like twelve projects i haven't posted yet, which is pretty lame mysterious of me. however, i have remembered for now, so you can feast your eyeballz on this lovely project for a client in highland park. those asymmetrical chairs kind of melt my face.

the day after cyber monday.

it's internet hangover tuesday, y'all! or at least that's what i'm calling it. in an effort to get on board with cyber monday, i pretty much live-tweeted the second half of sister act 2: back in the habit... and aaaaaaaaalllll i got was internet crickets. this has prompted me to wonder what is wrong with all of you? where is your holiday cheer? they were singing songs about JESUS, people, so don't act like you didn't see and love that movie, okay? i also want to point out that if you are one of those people who doesn't "do twitter," you are missing out on a real tweeting goldmine, such as this (and you have to go to the bottom and read up, that's how twitter works):

PS-it's totally not too late to get on board and follow me on twitter, just like BabySignLanguage, who started following me last night circa that tweet about lauryn hill and sign language, so they OBVIOUSLY understand that my tweets are not only super awesome, but integral to the education of your baby or small child. le duh. (BabySignLanguage, if you followed me in a hurry like wes anderson did, and then rapidly unfollow me, also just like wes anderson did, i am going to be super disappointed. as for you, wes anderson, you are still not forgiven.)

and just in case you took too much nyquil or had a broken tv set or something last night and missed this cinematic masterpiece ON ACCIDENT, i'll cut to the big climax scene:

that time lykke li played at restoration hardware.

totally the set list.

so i mentioned yesterday that i'd gone to the opening night party at the spankin' new highland village restoration hardware flagship. i did not, however, mention that LYKKE LI WAS THERE, because i wanted to save that nugget for today. lykke effing li, via sweden, via my ears, and i couldn't believe it. you know, because when you think of quality belgian linens and suede pillows, you think of edgy, swedish music. also not believable was that lykke li had no business in houston (or texas) whatsoever, so those restoration hardware codgers imported LL and company from oakland, california, and then had them play just SIX SONGS and then they left immediately for a  show in denver the next night. which explains why RH sofas go for six zillion dollars... because they are flying cutting-edge it-bands around the globe. but on the upside, i got to go to a lykke li concert, in houston, fo' free y'all, and i will estimate that i was one of about 30 people who knew what was going on. thankfully this guy was there shooting video the whole time. i like how you can see the large topiary ball in the first video.



OH, AND THE NEW RESTORATION HARDWARE STORE OPENED. i totally forgot about that. it is cool, and it is huge. there was a birdcage on the third floor with actual birds in it, and then there are also huge birdcages with chandeliers inside, so they are prepared to address several of your birdcage needs. the outdoor area was lovely and had great views, but honestly, that place is just huge. i haven't been back since the party, but i suspect they brought more merchandise out post-party as there were not that many things actually for sale there, but here are some images.

i was waiting for monica pope to hop in the tub, but no dice.

birdcage chandies.

i really like the weird birdcage shadows.

suede macramé pillow, $700. just kidding. $129.

those ropes are like 3" in diameter, for scale.

arty.

blurry.

rubbing elbows: celerie, newell, charlotte, suzanne.

so i still don't exactly know why or how, but houston had a pretty flossome november, design-wise. first of all, celerie kemble was in town on her book tour, signing autographs and just generally being adorable, so robyn and i went to that and got to meet her. sadly, i am unable to locate the photo of celerie + kdubs, but trust when i say that i looked super fierce. JUST KIDDING. but one of her handlers DID tell me that i had 'killer platinum' and i only had to ask him twice what he meant, and he was talking about my hair. celerie's adorable dress is by dallas native lela rose, if you need one, btw. it bears mentioning that robyn and i (plus everyone at my office, at my INSISTENCE) want very much to be as like cel-K as possible, so we have all taken vegatable names. i'm leeks luebe and robyn is cabbage patterson. do you have a vegetable name? you can't use aubergine, because that's obviously the prettiest-sounding vegetable that ever was.

by the way, celerie kemble thinks architectural digest is for assholes. just kidding! she totally took it back.

then the very next day, the decorative center houston hosted house beautiful's design institute, and i got to meet NEWELL TURNER, editor of house beautiful. the discussion also featured suzanne kasler and charlotte moss, and i thought it was pretty special. charlotte moss is a starchy gal and said that she not only loves chintz (so does newelly), she comes from the school of more is more, which made me want to stand up and do the arsenio because I TOTALLY GET IT, CHARLOTTE, i do. i love shit everywhere also, girl! clutter my liiiiiiiife.

we got to the lee jofa/suzanne kasler book signing early, but planned to hang out there because IT'S LEE JOFA and what's not to love, but in walks suzyK, and the next thing i know, she's giving robyn, jennifer and moi a tour of her new fabric collection for lee jofa, which had just been released. SPOILER ALERT: it is awesome.

FOR YOUR PLEASURE ALONE, i am posting all of these photos, even though in some of them i look normal and then in others i look like i may or may not have slept in my car. PS, thanks for the giant triple EFF ma-maw boobs to both of my grandmothers. i may as well just start buying all of my clothes at effing chico's, and from now on, if anyone asks what my personal style is, it's MATRON CHIC.

i was totally resisting the urge to hug him THE ENTIRE TIME.

charchar.

suzeballs

oh, did you think that was it? IT IS NOT, because the week of awesome continued on the very next evening when i managed to invite myself along get invited to the grand opening of restoration hardware's new monster flagship store in highland village. but i am kinda blogged out so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

arubacation-slash-the big read.

hey bitches! happy sunday to all. we are back from a great week in aruba, where i wrote what could have been the best blog post ever (it wasn't), which promptly was lost into the depths of my iphone blogger app. to give you the highlights of that blog post that never was, aruba was lovely and i learned one arubian word, which is truly the only word you need to know in aruba... DUSHI. papiamento is the 'official' tongue of aruba (but they all speak-a the englay) and dushi is a generic term of endearment toward females and items in general, meaning nice, sweet, good... for instance:

Mi dushi: My sweetheart 

dushi 'om: Delicious or great 

hole dushi: Smells good 

so you are welcome. aruba was lovely, but i will warn you that travel time is about 12 hours from space city and the island is largely inhabited by new yawkas on holiday. if you want to hear murray, nicollette, vinnie and barbara argue about the whether or not you should be making your sauces with oregano, or the best way to cook any meats (in a shallow aluminum pan, with a little bitta waaaaatttaaa), GET THEE TO ARUBA.

also in aruba, i read about twelve books, which was fantastic. OKAY NOT TWELVE, but i did read mindy kaling's book (is everyone hanging out without me), all three of steig larsson's dragon tattoo books (which were great but caused me to stay up until the wee hours during the first few days, as i could not put them down), tina fey's bossypants, emma (a re-read, and frankly kind of a snooze after all that swedish rape), and then i re-read all three of the hunger games books (because i am real excited about those movies and obvs really love a book series) and last was farm city (another re-read, but it is really, really terrific). so that is ten books, which is not twelve but is still a lot. i made this collage of images thinking i could link it somehow to each book, but then i remembered how i dropped out of whatever class could have taught me how to do that. HUGE NERDS 101, i think it was called?

this is really the perfect time to link back to one of my 2K11 goals, which was to read a whole lot more. i will say that i have read none of the books on my list, HOWEVER, if someone hasn't recommended the dragon tattoo trilogy or hunger games trilogy to you by now, you live in a van down by the river. other books i've read this year include (and keep in mind, i'm basically reading at a 16-year old girl level):

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me - Mindy Kaling
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
Bossypants - Tina Fey
Emma - Jane Austen
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
Farm City - Novella Carpenter
Room - Emma Donoghue
The Birth Order Book - Kevin Leman (possibly the best book ever, if you are into this sort of thing)
The Blessing- Nancy Mitford
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford (how i never heard of these prior to april 2011 is a shock, because nance-balls is amazing)
The Paris Wife - Paula McLain (ernest hemingway's wife! oh, it's fiction? lame.)
Bergdorf Blondes - Plum Sykes (and this totally derailed me to a massive google and wiki stalking of the entire sykes family)
The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore - Benjamin Hale (ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ)
Night Road - Kristin Hannah (suuuuuuuper bad. like bad bad, but i accidentally downloaded and paid for it so i was like OH WHAT THE HECK.)
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell
Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen
The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen (these are three super terrible books, but i could. not. stop. myself. )

so here are some before-the-end-of-the-year goals:
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

and here is the list (and the rules) for the big read:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or for whatever reason loathe.
5) Reprint this list (preferrably in your own blog) so we can have a collective gasp about whether or not you've ever been caught up the romatic escapades of Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery BEST. BOOK. EVER.
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

all your gold pig banks are belong to us.

sugarbear and i went to the rice design alliance's annual gala this year, which was lovely. a massive crowd was in black tie attendance and general decor was impressive. there was a silent auction AND an open bar (aka RECIPE FOR DISASTER), so naturally, we came home with this guy. i've long been a fan of harry allen's line for areaware, which is kooky and cool, but generally more than my sober self is allowed to spend on things like ANIMAL BANK. i would like to mention that lonny just featured his turquoise brother, which we didn't even know about when we entered into a bidding war, which i offer up as further evidence that we are both edgy and trendsetting, as well as benevolent. so here he is, in all his fine, swine-y glory.... some terrific, radiant, humble thig-a-majig of a pig. while wilbur is the traditional choice for names, i have tentatively named him frankly.

you know, as in, frankly we might be idiots. frankly, we may have been overserved and frankly there are no dollars OR coins left in the coffers to feed this pig in his hungry coin-hole. frankly we wish we had a gold metallic time machine where we could go back and humbly yield to the next bidder. instead, we have a 10"x18" (which is enormous, people) pig bank on our shelf. so oink oink beyotches.

blogiversary, dollhouse, downton, gosling.

oh snap. i totally missed this blog's second birthday. more importantly, can you believe it's november already? like, almost mid-november? sorry blog. sorry also to anyone who is a blog reader, especially one particular gentleman who politely mentioned YOUR BLOG SUCKS LATELY (michael, i can always count on you to keep it real). but time is a-flying over here and i'm struggling to keep up.

for starters, the weather has been lovely, so there has been some motivation not to sit in front of this wretched machine. two, we had an anniversary to celebrate and then there was halloween, so i lost several days. three, i'm devoting practically all of my free time to building and furnishing a damn dollhouse. i think i speak for everyone participating in the i'm a giant challenge when i say that it's a ton of fun, but what a time suck. another giant portion of time has been poured into "borrowing" from the internet the entire second season of DOWNTON ABBEY. which is the best television program in the world, but it is british and doesn't air in stateside until january, on pbs masterpiece. so certain measures must be taken if you are a true fan, is all i am saying. if you hustle, or if you play outside the rules and live dangerously on the interwebs like i do, you can catch up on season one and watch all of season two, the finale of which i'll be watching tonight. there is also a christmas special. ALSO (and this is kind of a recent development), do y'all even know how many ryan gosling movies are out right now? do you even know? blue valentine. crazy stupid love. drive. the ides of march. and lars and the real girl is pretty much running on a loop if you have the premium movie channels, plus ryan gosling is IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN right now, per a special report from WWNC austin correspondent jill, so i can hardly concentrate. should i go to work today, or should i drive to austin instead? btw, i'm really sorry sugarbear. you know i don't even LIKE blonde dudes, so this comes as a surprise to both of us.

so i will post some images later, hopefully of the dollhouse but probably of ryan gosling. until then, i leave you with possibly the best tumblr of all time, ryan gosling vs. puppy.