Hidden In France

Mobil Home by Anne Millet

 I still get blown away by blogs.  Not often. I've become jaded.  This is the blog of a French Stylist named Anne Millet.  Oh my! I have fallen hard for her universe.  I looked at every single page of the blog and now i want her to adopt me. She is going to be HUGE. This is my prediction. 

 

Being a sylist is seeing.  I don't know how she does it. How does she know to assemble thigs in just the right way?  I know what i like but I don't always know how to get there.

Voila les enfants.  

On another note. Who would be interested in hosting a giveaway of my novel Hidden in Paris on their blogs? (The real thing my friends, not the e-version. Paperback like in the good old days:)   Send me an email at hiddeninfrance(at)gmail(dot)come.  Bisous!!!

Everything FREEE!!!!

This must be Christmas in September.  Yesterday I was telling you about the Paris trip giveaway (it's not too late).  And today come two new wonderful giveaways.  

These days it's a miracle if we get to pay for anything at all.

Drumroll number one: Kit Colson, the interior designer who blogs at Chic Provence had all kinds of lovely things to say about my novel Hidden in Paris and is hosting a giveaway of authographed copies of the book.  So run there to enter, for yourself or for your grouchy boss or mother in law in the hope that a fun novel set in Paris might bring a smile to their disapproving faces. 

Since I won't enter that giveaway myself, which would be really pathetic and would make no sense considering my walls are lined with copies of Hidden in Paris. Drum roll number two:

DRESSES!!!!

I rarely, ever get excited about clothes. My husband says it's because I look all wrong in them and that I should take it all off at all time. But these dresses I LOVE.  Sabrina over at Barefoot in the Orchard  is hosting a giveaway for a smoking hot red dress by Shabby Apple.  I did not know this designer but one after the other, each dress is absolutely perfect in its own way. And reasonable too, most of them in the $50 to $80 range.  And I love that they're arranged by themes.  

My favorite Shabby Apple dresses are the ones with a french flair of course. In the oh la la collection I present you:

L'Artiste :

 

 

and la tour Eiffel:

Aren't those French dresses arorable? The model looks so thrilled something is even squirting out of her you know what. I wonder if that dress would have the same effect on me?

Okay ladies, get busy and enter those giveaways. 

 

What me crazy? ...well yes.

This might be one of those long rambling posts so I'll decorate it with pretty images that are entirely unrelated but SO inspiring. These are pictures borrowed from the incredible blog BabyRamen and are, I believe, pictures at the blogger's home. Her decor style weaves japanese and norwegian influence with a touch of retro/kitch and I love her style. She also has an online store full of goodies here.

Those of you who are patient readers of my whining, please proceed to read. All others can just look at the pretty pictures.

The last two weeks have been trying.  So trying that there will be no period in the sentence that follows just to give you a small taste of my breathlessness and high anxiety.

It started with my son going off to college, which should have been enough emotionally, (if you can't stand the lack of periods and you're Jewish you can punctuate what follows with loud DAYENUS!) and went south from there with a broken toe (from stepping on a lizard and freaking out and jamming my foot into a door as hard as humanely possible), to getting a nasty urinary track infection, to going to the doctor only to be told that I had neither, to spending the week-end in agony without medication, to finding out on Monday that I, in fact did have a UTI ! (next time I'll trust my flaming/raging bladder, not the lab results), to taking an antibiotic that turned me into a bitchy, loony and super emotional version of myself who could not sleep at night AT ALL but compensated during the day by getting SO much done, including but not limited to: teaching myself how to use Adobe Illustrator, being on Facebook 12 hours straight, purging my closet of clothes I hated but many more that I cherished and that are now gone, avoidable fights with friends and loved ones, losing the sense of taste which resulted in a loss of 4 lbs in 5 days. 

that was it ...in a nutshell.

Other things were good, great even, but also contributed to a sense of looming change and inability to cope. For example my son is thriving without me. Shit, that wasn't part of the plan.  I wanted this of course, but now he might never come back.  I'm exaggerating of course... but really, I'm not :(

Also and mostly my novel Hidden in Paris (oh, yes, link, link! ) is doing well. Really well. Better than I thought it would after just four months.  (And remember, no agent, no publisher and not a cent in advertising were wasted in the publication of this baby :)  But now I have began counting on it, worrying that I have a good thing going and not wanting it to be taken away. Never happy you say?  I just say Xanax you and I should meet soon.

And it's also good that all my small miseries of the last two weeks made it possible for me not to think of my son being away at college for nearly ten minutes at a time (and only bringing him up in every other sentences.)

Always looking for the silver lining.

Now the drugs and ailments are out of my system and I'm bracing myself for more changes.  My little guy is starting school (at long last Halleluya!) and I will start exercising every day (starting real slow with yoga and walking.) I have set up a computer without access to the internet in an empty room (my son's...sigh) and hope to increase my writing by physically moving away from distractions. I also plan to limit my checking of emails to twice a day because those yank me out of concentration.

I would love to hear how you personally improved productivity/focus/concentration or ability to resist distraction. Any trick will help because I am shooting for a deadline of October 1st (that's right, one month!) to finish my Hidden in Paris cookbook (a cookbook with all the recipes in the novel, with accompanying photos.) which I plan to sell very cheaply on Amazon, mostly as a way to help promote the novel. 

Voila my friends, I hope you enjoyed the pictures, if not the blabla.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! (sorry... trace residues of the medication in my system) 

 

Feng Shui versus French Way

I'm working on BIG changes, inside and out, starting next week.  You know the expression "insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Well I want different results and I will do things differently.  

Change is scary and bad habits have the strong appeal of familiarity.  These last few months I had time to think and make plans so I'm excited to implement them. But then I wondered about blockages in my environment and asked a few question to my friend Katy Allgeyer who is a Feng Shui expert and she was kind enough to respond:

Me: Sometimes I have the strong urge to move large objects around the house.Do you think we know instinctively how to organize our space according to some kind of energy pull, or do you believe pushing furniture around is likely to do more harm than good not only to my back, but energetically speaking. In other words, should we stick to feng shui rules and not listen to the voice that says ‘*move the baby grand piano to the hallway now."

Katy: I believe strongly in listening to one's inner voice. The BHS Tibetan School of feng shui that I practice teaches us to be sensitive to energy and that means paying attention to how you feel in your environment. The more in tune you are to that, the better your feng shui will be.

Me: Recently my kid tried the tuba at a music teacher’s home. As I sat on the edge of a filthy couch I counted no less than seven extra-large empty juice bottles scattered around the place, which was an utter mess. The teacher was nice enough and my kid liked the lesson. Me, I can’t help but see that kind of chaos as a sign of imminent mental breakdown. Is one person’s filth another one’s creative mess? Are the rules of feng shui the same for everyone?

Katy: A lot of feng shui "rules" are really based on practical common sense. Having a clean and clear space is much more conducive to creativity (and health). Of course, as one gets deeper into the creative process a little mess is sure to build up in the studio. But if you feel blocked creatively, cleaning it up and organizing can make you feel a whole lot saner and more open to receive the muse.

Me: What kind of mistakes do self-taught individuals make when it comes to fengshui. I heard a headboard should never share the same wall as a toilet, but for all I know maybe it’s the other way around it should *always* share the wall with a toilet. I was told my Buddah should be perched high up to bring wealth, but maybe all I’m attracting that way is poverty. I try to add crystals and candles into my world but I do this without rhyme or reason. Am I committing Feng-Shui seppuku?

Katy: The most common mistake feng shui newbies make is overusing Chinese talisman cures so their space ends up looking like a Chinese restaurant instead of a cozy home. There are always several feng shui cures for any problem (including inauspicious placements of toilets) so there is no need to despair, and one can always find a cure that works with your decor. Another mistake people make is thinking feng shui is voodoo. Feng shui is not magic, nor is it a religion or superstition. It is a system of order that deals with energy flow. When you're in the flow, opportunities of all kinds come freely to you. Some people call that being in the zone. When your feng shui is balanced, you're in the zone. BTW, it's a feng shui no-no to keep your swords under your bed. So store them in a closet far from your Love & Relationship feng shui sector. That way you won't be tempted to commit seppuku.

Me: Please tell me that there such thing as refrigerator Feng Shui. I want to eat healthier but every part of my kitchen begs me to cook and eat carbs. In other word, how can I attract ‘thin energies’ into my refrigerator? 

Katy: Setting intentions is a big part of BHS Tibetan Feng Shui practice. So if you want to get thin you would set your intentions towards that goal. And then follow up with action to support that goal (ie: keep only healthful foods in your fridge and pantry, limit your intake, exercise to burn off calories). There is no magic feng shui diet--if there were I would be a millionaire by writing a feng shui cookbook with you. 

 Me: And what about love? Short of placing Brad Pitt on the bed, (I tried but he won’t stay) what are the top five adjustments that could improve a bedroom's Feng Shui?

Katy: Feng Shui By Fishgirl's Top 5 Feng Shui Enhancements for Your Bedroom

 (1) Place your bed in the Command Position. This means it should not be on the same wall as the entry door. You want your bed to be placed so that it has a clear view of the entry.

(2) Matching nightstands and side lamps for balance and equality in your relationship. Symbolism is key to feng shui--if side tables are lopsided, it subliminally sends the message that one spouse is dominating the other.**

(3) Remove as many electrical appliances as possible for a peaceful atmosphere. TV's, DVR's, stereos, computers, alarm clocks, cell phones, iPads, treadmills, electric blankets, sex toys....think about all the many electronics in your bedroom creating a buzz of energy. This may be why so many people have sleeping disorders. Make your bedroom your sanctuary and not a gym or home office.

(4) Treat yourself to quality bedding/linens. Visually and physically your bed should please you. 

 (5) Ask Johnny Depp over since Brad is busy.

Merci Katy, I will listen. 

**And just to illustrate my idea of feng shui seppuku, here is a picture of my bedroom.  Notice the infernal unbalance of powers, yikes!  Time to move some furniture:

 

 

One giveaway ends and another one begins

Chez Loulou announced the winners of the Hidden in Paris giveaways on her blog. Congratulations to Ashley of Summer in the Garden, Guilia of Bricolage and Aiden of Conjugating Irregular Verbs.  

I think it's kinda surreal that the winners of my novel could all be a characters in the novel: Like my main character, Ashley is devoted to food and gardening , like my main character, Aiden is an American mom bravely making a life in France, and like my main character, Giulia is a passionate, smart woman with a wry sense of humor. 

Okay, so they won and others didn't but no matter because another giveaway has just started this morning (I was waiting for the polls to close over at Chez Loulou to announce it)

The giveaway is taking place at My Love Affair with Books. and is going on until June 17th.  But you have to be in the U.S. or Canada.  Just leave your email address.  You don't have to be a member. Okay, go win this!  

Talking of romance outside Valentines Day

It doesn't matter if you're 7 or 77, it doesn't matter if you're in love or not, in a relationship or not, you root for romance, don't you? And it doesn't even matter if it is your own love story.

I'm curious to know if this happens to any of you, but to read about romance, listen to love songs, watch movies about love actually does something to my physical heart. I can personally feel a flutter in my chest.  I think it releases some kind of good-feeling hormone (note the highly scientific explanation.)  

It was when I was writing Hidden in Paris that I began to pay attention to this physical phenomenon.  I cried when I wrote something sad, and laughed when( I thought) it was funny (seriously you'd be glad not to be in that room as I type, I'm a one woman show, I even talk to myself and call myself names) and when love came on, there it was, that tightening of the chest. Is it weird?  Is it unique of me?

It's interesting how the puzzle of life is constructed and how wonderful it is when two pieces of that puzzle land in your hand and you're able to recognize that they belong together.  Which is exactly what happened when I played matchmaker between a friend of my husband and Katy Allgeyer, who was a friend of a friend at time.  I'm proud to say I saw love there before either of them even knew the other one existed.  Love in fiction is good but love in real life is even better.

Katy has a really fun interview (--of me AGAIN?! :(( --No, but really read it it's great...) posted on her blog today, and some links to her 'matchmade' love story. Check it out. In the next few days I will write a new post about that Kathy does in life, which is very inspiring, you'll see.

Quick, quick, a giveaway.

You can run over to Angie Muresan's wonderful, thoughtful blog for another chance to win a copy of Hidden in Paris.  Going on today until midnight only!

Another giveaway for Hidden in Paris

It's a bit of a whirlwind around here as i'm only one girl, two hands and ten fingers (or more like 8 fingers in my case because my pinkies and ring fingers are typing impaired somehow, and basically useless to my writing carreer) to respond to all my emails, write interviews and articles, mail books, and keep up with all the amazing, generous, overwhelming love I'm getting around the blogosphere for my novel.  

To think that Hidden in Paris came out less than two weeks ago!  It seems like a lifetime ago, really. I remember the old days (two weeks ago) when I was terrified that people might actually read my book. What if they didn't like it?  What if I sucked?  What if I was the worst author in the universe? (oh great, this is going to look very good on google searches.)  

Now my self esteem has reached unprecedented heights and I think I only suck a little, and that I was mostly the most insecure writer in the Universe. Although I hear i'm in good company.  

The reviews have been wonderful and people are buying my book.  No, really.  They are spending money.  Actual, hard-earned moulah to buy my book.  I still cannot believe it. 

Right now I want to take a break and be thankful and bellow my undying appreciation to the following bloggers:

Robin Pickens my book designer extraordinaire.

Colorful Senses, where you can discover how to crochet a chair among other rare feats.

The Displaced Nation, who help people become whole wide world citizens.

Happy Simple who helps people heal and do Amazing Things.

Passages Paradis, who loves France, L.A., travel and food so much she might as well be my twin.

Designers Block, for wildly creative  and stylish ways to rethink furniture.

LoveDreamLive for a sustainable way to imagine life.

Chick Lit Club, where chick lit lovers Unite.

Une Petite Folie for lovers of miniature houses and real size travel.

And today, Chez Loulou France, where there a giveaway of Hidden in Paris going on as we speak.

Thank you all!.  I'm really happy right now!!!!

(this too shall pass...)  do you have any idea how long it took to color that thingy above.  Never doing that again.

 

 

I'm in Paradis!

Because of an  interview on Passage Paradis  where I get to talk about myself a lot. I also talk about a hypothetical unlimited decorating budget, and what I'd do with it.  Fun, fun , fun!

If you're not familiar with Passage Paradis you might want to read this post.  It's the website of a woman I'm secretely jealous of (okay, now it's out) because she travels everywhere in the world.  And she comes back with the most jaw dropping images. Soon she will sell her original prints in a shop and lately she has been doing gorgeous print giveaways such as this one:

I want this print.  And I want it BAD.

Hidden in Paris is a a novel set in Paris but filled with American characters. I'm often asked why I write in English instead of French, and if living in the U.S. made a difference in my choices.  Here is a bit of our discussion:

 

Do you think you would have been a writer if you'd stayed in France?

Okay, I think I will have to be harsh on my compatriots here. The answer is "No Way Jose", and for several reasons:

One - I would have felt societal pressure to have a career and would not have taken the time to stay at home to raise my kids. French women do not feel complete if they stay at home, as if this would prove that society can go on without them, or that they are not worthwhile women. Being French I struggled to put my career in Advertising and Marketing on hold to raise my kids. But something great came out of it: It turns out motherhood is as lovely as it can be thankless. I started writing fiction out of absolute housewife boredom. I’m almost not kidding. My second son took 2-hour naps during which I felt trapped and house bound, so I wrote during his naps. One nap at a time and in ten months I had a first draft.

Two - The French language is intimidating and extremely complex. I found freedom in writing in a language that wasn’t mine and through the use of which there was no pretending to be literary, I just told stories in simple ways and focused on the characters. Had I tried to write in French I would have censored myself every step of the way and compared myself to Proust and Flaubert. Writing in English is a challenge in the sense that I can’t trust it to be 100 % grammatically correct (I aim for 92%.)

Three - Americans definitely have a ‘you can do anything you set your mind to’ mindset whereas I find the French much more circumspect. I’m convinced I would have been surrounded with people ready to knock some sense into me, remind me of the realities of a writer’s life and given me a 1000 reasons why I should not even try to write.

Please click here to read the whole interview.

 

You can do this!

I'm starting to like this thing of talking about myself! Tomorrow I will be speaking about Hidden in Paris 'live' on Displaced Nation, a website that focuses on issues of expatriates in a global world.  

But today, please hop on over to  Happy Simple for an interview about my novel and the writing process. Barb is passionate about solutions to braving fears.  She's also a Reiki practicionner with a long history of helping people heal.  In the interview I speak about not paying attention to roadblocks as you go on your creative journey.  Everything will conspire to make you stop and doubt yourself. Barb and I try hard not to pay attention.  And by the way, I am a huge believer in those written reminders not to get discouraged. You need a lot of those to balance out the negativity and self negativity of every day life, and here is a fabulous one you can post near your creative space, working space or on your refrigerator door. You can get it here.

The interview is here

High on Paris

I am spinning and loving it. Of course I do not mean spinning on those torture devices called stationary bikes.  In fact the only exercise I'm getting lately is to my fingers as I type and to my jaw as I munch on snacks. I mean my mind is spinning, I'm fully engaged intellectually and emotionally promoting my novel Hidden in Paris (in case you were hiding under a rock, on planet Mars.) I've received tons of emails and comments of encouragement, and I'm starting to get reviews and they are all GOOD! (thank you mom). Many bloggers have accepted to trade advertisement buttons with me, which is also GOOD and you'll start seeing them in the margin.  

I was particularly touched by a certain blogger, who who went out of her way for me, so let me tell you what she does.  The blog is called Une Petite Folie and the author of the blog, Linda Carswell lives in Tasmania but travels A LOT and I'm astounded at the beauty of her photography. But forget telling you. Let me show you.

There other thing that she is passionate about are miniatures, so if you're into the mini lifestyle you really should bookmark her site because it's shock full of the most delicate miniature house she is creating, as well as  mini rooms, mini furnitures, mini objects and even mini food.

On an embarrassing note:  The first edition of the novel has typos in it.  I knew it but I did not know where to find them.  Now I do... ahem.  Sorry guys, I'm fixing this.  If you get a copy of Hidden in Paris riddled with as many as twenty typos you can feel special because you know you are in possession of a first edition, (in case i become famous or something--doubtful, but hey, looking for a silver lining to this.) I know some will crucify me for this but what can they do to my sense of shame that I haven't done to myself already :(

How to what? How to crochet a... chair?

You know me by now.  You know that for me to post the following images have nothing to do with the fact that Ljiljana of Colorful Senses promoted my new novel Hidden in Paris on her blog. (note the repeating of the title just in case the googlebots are watching) No, it has everything to do with this CHAIR.  When I saw it I just about fell off mine. When others would have simply used paint, Ljiljana (how to pronounce please?) crochet every inch of her chair.

Her crochet pillows and other goodies are available on Big Cartel, and if the day is grey where you live just hop on over to her Flikr and of course on her blog where you can hear all about this amazing crochet chair.

I found my mascot!

Her name is Evangeline and her expression reflects exactly my outlook on life at the moment, minus the  man cold affecting me.  Look she's even holding a kleenex, a cup of tea and a cookie, just like I am.

She was created by Vanessa of do you mind if I knit.  I think she rocks! Here is Vanessa's etsy shop for more goodies. 

 

 

Winter color

Snow everywhere in the United States, to the exception of where I live of course.  I'm jealous.  It's been a rare weather in my life but each time I experienced it it felt utterly magical. Yeah, tell that to all the good people stranded in a blizzard at the moment. 

Pfff.. just to think of all this snow is about all I can take of white. Look at the colors I found on Inthing's flikr page. What a thril! You can find more color and vintage treasures on her blog.

Gratitude

I'd like today to be a great big day of thank you to my blogger friends.  First to Best of the Web for mentioning my blog, and to all of you whose blogs and blog names I discover daily as they sprout on my stats pages.  You guys are sending me an ever increasing number of readers and you do this gratuitously and just because.

You have to spread the love that you receive, so this morning I went back into today's stats and added all I could find to my blog roll so that my readers can find you.  

But my starts go only as far as yesterday and there are so many of you.  If you read me and link to me and you're not on my blogroll, please go to your website and click on the link of my blog (if it's there) that way I will find you and add you.  Am i making any sense? 

I felt bad not to spend as much time commenting on blogs but the whole readership has taken a life of its own.  I'm excited and humbled.  A great big sloppy kiss to all of you!

The hearts I found on this page.

Saying without saying, you know what i'm saying.

Oh yeah blogging for me is technically about lack of censorship.  But why is it then that my blog is so remote from my real life?  For example for reason of privacy I made the decision early on not to write about my family in any meaningful way, whereas in real life that's pretty much all i'm concerned with, and all i want to talk about.  

And why is it that when there either really good news, really bad news, really important news in my life I am not able to share it here? Today would be an example of that which cannot be told. Schucks.

It's saying stuff without really saying it, this blogging thing.  It's smoke and mirrors.  Multiple personality meets graphomania.

But you and I, we'll always have pictures.  Nadia of La Porte Rouge (who knows my addiction to hot pink and doesn't mind indulging it) sent me a link to Design Sponge today featuring this WowSome house:

 
 

 

 

Yum.  This was sweet and refreshing like a raspberry sorbet! 

Many more pictures of the house of Kirsten Voortman and her cute doggy on Design Sponge.

Drool!

Did you see the pictures of the house and studio of blogger A Fanciful Twist?  What thrill!  I'm showing here some of my favorites, but if you want to see them all and read about them you must go here.  To buy Vanessa Valencia's work you must go here.  

  

 

 

 
 

 

 

Okay, now I will roll my tongue back into my mouth and try to get some work done.

Papier Mâché

Or what you Américans call paper mache.  I love paper mache so much, everything about it.  It's wonderful to make something hard out of something soft, something beautiful out of trash.  Something three dimentional out of a thought. In my next life time, the one where I actually make things instead of dream about them, I'll definitely make things out of paper mache.

Those were created by Pam Garrison.  So simple and adorable.  I want to get together with my girlfriends and plan summer days around making unpretentious beauties like this.  

Pam Garrison's etsy shop is here.

her little happy place

Here is someone who caught my attention, when she did this:

to this:

Yowzer girlfriend!  This is what i call cahones!  Because you see, I happen to own the same (or almost the same piece of furniture) but i was too CHICKEN.  All I could muster was a measly coffee table painted blue, and I thought I was brave.  See: 

Alison, of My Little Happy Place seems to me like a fearless woman.  She's from texas but is creating a new life for herself in a  BRAZIL.  She's a law graduate who is following her passion for design.  Her blog is full of the kind of stuff that makes me look:  great images, a sense of humour, a passion for life and real life adventures and challenges.

Also, she's a Hidden in France sponsor as of last week.

Check her out. I asked her 'what do you sell?'  'Nothing,' she said.  I say nothing yet, but something tells me she has big plans.  People who paint their antiques a glossy shade of turquoise usually don't mess around.

Oh, and she is redoing her house one room at a time, and you can see for yourself in these before and after pictures.

bravo girls!

Just a wink, a shout out and BOTH HANDS CLAPPING FURIOUSLY for two talented women:

Patti of Liberty Post has open an etsy shop where she sells her photography as well as those cool banners that are so uniquely hers.  I'm a huge fan of her blog which tells it like it is, fearlessly, and always blows with me away with its finds.  When I need inspiration for a post, I often read Liberty Post and find myself with a reaction, then an opinion of my own I never knew I had, which I then develop as a post. 

And Pia Jane Bijkerk , you know, that girl of my heat wanders who had us seeing heart everywhere we looked?  She has published a book of her very own, Paris: Made by Hand, which tells us about secret Parisian addresses using her gorgeous photography.  You can purchase the book here here on The Little Bookroom, a website that gathers, and I guess publishes, all kinds of exciting books on France, one more drool-inducing than the next.

I'm so buying it.

in love with a blog

After my mean (but funny?) post of yesterday, I thought I should balance with blog love and beauty today, non?

I have  a new mondo-crush on a blog I discovered through Nadia of la porte rouge.  Nadia actually sent me a link to Mandarine d'Italie because she was sure it would be for me.  She knows me!

Mandarine D'italie is a pretty new lifestyle blog with a very distinct eye.  The blogger lives in London but owns a family home in the Veneto region of Italy, poor soul.  I happen to be smitten by all things italian, and reading her blog I practically fill my shoes with drool.  Here are just a few pictures.

For image credit, you will have to go through every page of Mandarine d'Italie.

Un Coeur tres nature

Virtually or not, here i come!  This is a 'maison d'hôtes'  in the region of the Guard (never visited, but MUST) called Un Coeur très Nature.  the last image being super familiar I think it's been all over the web for years.  But how dreamy is this?  You can spend a week end for two there for 150 Euros.  A week for 500.  

What am I waiting for?  Honestly I'm wondering. The first image is being pinned to my inspiration board as we speak.  What you don't have an inspiration board?  I'm working on mine.  I've been reading a LOT of self help books and they all say the same thing: surround yourself with images of what you want to have manifested in your life and your unconscious/subconscious/conscious will all work in synergy to make it become a reality.  Okay, no harm in trying. I'll keep you posted.

I found the link via a blog called my favorite and best (via Isabelle, thanks isa.) the blogger made me laugh, she is constantly threatening to slap, punch, lift and toss around celebrities whose style she disapprove of.  You go girl!

A wonderful Copenhagen flat

I knew her before she was famous!  The French Blog Youpi Touch was elected blog of the Month by the French Marie Claire Maison.  Yeahhh Youpi!!

Here is one of the reasons I love her blog:  She was first to find pictures of Lea's beautiful Copenhagen apartment here.  My understanding is that it was photographed by Lars Ranek and styled by Indenfor& Undenford (it means interior and exterior) which also sells international antiques.  Cool stuff galore.

As far as I'm concerned, this is absolute perfection.  I will look at this apartment again and again and it is guaranteed to make me happy.

This Angel is Off the Wall

I love it when bloggers write posts for me so I don't have to.  That's what Melissa of Off the Wall did.  Maybe not for me exactly, but pretty close, and just when i was feeling uninspired.  

I love each and every image she posted of An Angel at my Table.  Here is my selection.  I want EVERYTHING.

Fake blossom in fake water is MINE!!!  No house is complete without a touch of faux nature.

And a bit of kitsch.  A lot of kitsch in my case.

Faux flower + light bulb = salt of the earth

And now a hint of the divine:

Maybe that's too over the top even for me.

The grass is greeze I know where the birdies is.

I am a fan for life of Alicia Paulson of Posie gets cozy. She makes everything seem delicious and wonderful and fun. Hers is one of the first blogs I ever read and I blame her for me catching the blog bug. 

She created and is selling a birdie kit (enough to make four paper maché birdies) They are so adorable I would not know wether to eat them, wear them on my head or around my neck like a necklace.  

I'm so excited I'm sounding like an informercial. 

But the point is Spring is in the air and this is the first sign of it.  Are you feeling spring yet? 

Cute attack!

Crochet lampshades

Waiting for my sister to come over for dinner with her family.  I'm making lemon infused roasted chicken, (basically roasted chiken and squeezed lemon juice, but it is the word infused--which must be used casually in the conversation-- that makes it sound like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen.) Also tomato and zucchini tian and a berry cobbler. I don't feel berry good today by the way. Sore muscles, PMS and either a broken finger or arteritis. Nothing loads of food and a visit from my brand new nephew won't cure.

 I might just have time to posts about two loves:

1- the daily visual treat Daisy Pink Cupcake.  

2- the crochet lampshades she featured here. from Etsy seller Nice.

Aren't those dainty?

wabi-sabi wannabe

What is wabi-sabi?  I've been hearing these words here and there. I am curious.  I read here that it means: " Pared down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. It's simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres authenticity above all."

What? No more shocking pink plastic?  No more lips dipped in sprinkles?

So, trying to understand wabi sabi, here is what I found.

I think this is wabi-sabi (found via Notcot). It's actally Yalos, the turkish-or is it greek? word for driftwood.

Also this is wabi-sabi,  according to Sköna Hem

The most wabi sabi blog I know is the blog of wooowyk.celine

where i found this:  

I don't know what it is but I'll call it wabi sabi.

If you don't now her work, here is  celine's own art work, totally wabi and sabi:

She does web better than spiders, and dew better than... dew.

Celine's  ceramic work is so graceful, look:

Apartment Therapy knows me?

I'm all over the place today again. At the moment, the insanity versus enjoyment of life quotient is high. Maybe when school ends, so will insanity.  (Though it could get worse.  What do you do with your children for two long months? Us: we argue. It's quite stimulating, really.)  

But blogging is still fun.  For one Apartment Therapy L.A.  talked about my blog today.  The sudden influx of traffic is baffling.  But even more puzzling to me is that they know my blog exists at all.

But back to design,and art.

The doshi levien sofas i just discovered in decocentric got me quite excited.  

Comfortable?  Not sure.  Awesome?  YES! The inspiration too is wonderful:

This site was a mine of wonders and excitement.  Through doshi levien (the name of the two designers,Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien) I discovered the following artists:

The Iranian photographer Shadi Ghadirian. 

And the Los Angeles painter Kehinde Wiley: 

As you might see I'm still struggling with Typepad.  Nothing looks as I need it to look, but every time I try to fix a problem, I create five more, so F@# it.

I don't want no diamonds. Just give me cupcakes and a baby blue Smeg.

Here are the latest delights from Le Cupcake and Kylie Lambert, the Australian cupcake queen. All her latest creations and the stories behind them can be found on Le Cupcake flickr page.

Eat right away, because I can't put them in the refrigerator. (More on that below)

Packaging heaven.

Cows for a Christening.

The cake she threw together for her daughter's birthday.. no biggie.

Butterflies made out of sugar paste.

Kylie made one hundred of those for a charity bake-off.

So cute for Halloween

And if I had to get married all over again:

So, my refrigerator/freezer is playing a sick joke on me. It's not cooling and it is FULL to the brim. The repair shop is generously offering to come NEXT THURSDAY. What to do! What to DO!

Well, this could be the gods of refrigeration telling me it is silver lining time?

$1999? That would be morally reprehensible.

...Oh but baby blue Smeg, how do I want thou!

One more blog to read

Since I've never met a controversy I didn't like, I've been following the responses to this post with great interest. You can read more about it here and here.

Limiting myself to to ten blogs would be like limiting myself to ten countries to visit, ten pastries to eat, ten roses to plant, ten ice cream flavors, ten artists to be inspired by, ten books to read, ten beaches to walk on, ten positions of the kamasutra, ten colors to play with, ten people to love. I don't think simplification is in my genetic makeup.

And now I'm hooked to yet another blog:
Images borrowed from Paul Pincus's blog.

Takashi Murakami

Kathy Osborn

Kent Rogowski

Vanessa Beecroft

Will Cotton

Mr.

Also, than you Ariane for pointing out that my links don't open in new windows. DuH! Working on fixing this.