Posts from travel (39)

So, I'm sufficiently relaxed. A week away (with NO distractions) was just what the doctor ordered (literally ;) - Jw and I took an 18-hour train ride to and from Denver, CO, and quite honestly, I feel like Amtrak is the only way to travel. We really hate the hustle and bustle of airports and flying, and the train fare was actually super-cheap in comparison. The best part was that it was just a fun experience to ride cross-country, see the sights, sleep on fold-out seats, have dinner & conversation with other passengers in the dining car... and the coffee they served was delicious! - What could be better?

We spent our days laying around the cabin (which you can see on the left of the pic above), taking photos of wildlife (my new favorite animal, elk, are shown above & below), and really just enjoying some serious rest and relaxation...

I'll have many more Denver-related posts to come this week, so stay tuned!

top image & pinecone pic by Jw; the rest are by me

When I visited my sister in Atlanta recently, I was able to check out some of her favorite home decor spots and Armour & Co was at the top of both our lists.

Located in the adorable Virginia Highland district, the shop has abundant light and is tastefully filled with beautiful furnishings, decorative items, books and objects. Topping my wishlist were the blue vases and artichoke lamps (above) and the ceramic elephant side table (below).

I had the pleasure of meeting owner Jayme Leffler, who opened up the shop about two years ago. Armour & Co immediately scored points for me by carrying those gorgeous lacquer boxes (below) that I've blogged several times before. Usually I don't love "sets" of things but in this case I covet each size box in every colorway.

With such inspiring inventory, I can only imagine how fun it would be to arrange (and re-arrange) the shop's vignettes on a regular basis. This is the kind of place that makes me want to have a shop of my own...someday...

Top image from Armour & Co; the rest were taken by me.

This little guy kinda makes me all giddy inside... I mean, the $129,000 price tag turns me off (quite a bit) +plus the fact that, despite it's alarming resemblance to a VW Microbus, this vehicle is not manufactured by Volkswagen.

I'll try my best to look past the fact that logo of the company who created this cuteness (Verdier Van & Camper Inc.) is nearly identical to the VW logo - and whether it be "homage" or "rip-off," it does bother me a little.

What doesn't bother me, at all, is how adorable this little car is... it's very well-designed, comes suped-up with all sorts of camping gear (collapsable beds, a grill, folding chairs, a home theater system, and a 2nd floor!) and is available in an awesome bright blue (called Blueberry - see first image above)...

If I had 129 Gs burning a hole in my pocket, I wouldn't be completely opposed to thinking about maybe spending it on one of these ;)

Oh, and if you're a bit of a car geek (like I am) and want some more info on the Verdier Camper, check out this article on WIRED.

via PEACE LOVELY blog.

images (except for the last one) via Verdier

Maybe you've been wondering where I've been for the last two days, or maybe you didn't even notice that I was gone... either way, Jw and I returned to Chicago yesterday after a 4-day trip to Cincinnati, OH & Covington, KY to visit friends and family, and for a little "work" (more on that in a second)...

As soon as we arrived in Covington, we took a walk to meet up with my dad - who happens to live right by this place: The Ascent - a pretty intense residential building on the Ohio River that has one of the craziest silhouettes I've ever seen on a building. More on the building and its architect (Daniel Libeskind), right here.

On Sunday afternoon, we got to see a live performance from our friend (and artist on Jw's label, Sidedown Audio), Jeremy Simmons... if you haven't heard (or bought a copy of) his album CASTROVALVA, you really should check it out - right here.

Besides getting a little much-needed R&R, our trip also had a "work" purpose, which was to attempt to go through some of the storage locker that my dad has in KY - the locker is filled with family mementos, things from our old house, and quite a lot of "paraphernalia" from my childhood (& my brother's)... the pic above is of me, wearing the Princess Leia yarn wig that my grandmother made for one of my many homemade Halloween costumes. I guess my head is a bit bigger now than when I was 6.

Well, I guess it's back to work now... Cincy & Covington were quite good to us. There were people all over the place dressed in orange (for the Bengals!), our Waffle House breakfast was greasy (and delicious), and the weather was beautiful, - not a bad weekend away!

images c/o Jw.

For those of you who also live in big cities, you can probably relate to the strange sensation of visiting somewhere "quiet"... I put that in quotes, because there are still noises - but it's the chirping of birds (instead of police sirens) and the humming of cicadas (instead of car alarms going off).

I'm definitely a "city girl" (whatever that means), but I certainly do appreciate the calm of being outside of the city.

So, needless to say, our trip to Ohio was good & restful, and not long enough... We were fed lots of delicious food (thanks to Jw's parents!), and we spent a good amount of time going through a lot of Jw's stuff (Boy Scout paraphernalia, old school projects, tons of photographs & boxes of toys - Matchbox cars, included!)

Our trip (in the Mini, shown above) was only about 6 hours, so I'm thinking that we should be making this trip more often!

images c/o me & Jw's really nice camera... for more images of Jw's found toys, go here!

Jw and I will be in Ohio for a long weekend visiting his parents. Among other things, I've been promised some waffles (which may or may not have strawberries, bananas & whipped cream, like the one shown above) - either way, I'm looking forward to a great, relaxing weekend away from the city.

Have a great weekend, everyone - and I'll see you on Monday!

(p.s. I'm on the hunt for Neisha Crosland goods for you, L!)

image from nibblekibble's Flickr photostream.

This past weekend, Jw and I were walking around on Armitage in Lincoln Park (where our favorite bagel shop, Chicago Bagel Authority is located) and we, of course, stopped in at Art Effect...

I was immediately drawn to these Puddle Jumper bags by Lug, available in several sizes & a variety of beautiful, saturated colors.

Surprise, surprise, I would actually pick the teal (top pic) over the orange...

images c/o Lug Travel.

My Friday-after-Thanksgiving was, thankfully, not spent in too much of a 'turkey coma' (however, several naps were had)... we all actually got up fairly early and headed to Boston's South End to check out a few reader recommendations:

1st stop: South End Buttery (314 Shawmut Avenue), for coffee and a quick breakfast. The dark roast was knock-your-socks-off strong - exactly the way I like it - and my chocolate croissant was delicious! (Jw's chocolate chip scone is pictured above.) It was pretty crowded, but we easily found some stools to sit on by the window, giving us a lovely view of Shawmut Street. Thanks to Amy in Somerville, Mara & Jane for the recommendation.

2nd stop: We headed right next door to Hudson (312 Shawmut Avenue), a fine home furniture & accessories shop that I'm pretty sure would make Laura cry with joy... I had checked out Hudson's site beforehand, after Jane suggested it to me, and I was already excited by what I saw. Needless to say, the shop, in person, did not disappoint.

No worries, I'll be posting a much more thorough write-up on Hudson later.

3rd stop: After looping back around the way we came, we stopped in to Motley Home (652 Tremont Street), a pretty undefineable store as far as theme goes... definitely don't read the reviews on the above linked Yelp.com for a better idea, because they're all over the place.

This shop has everything from lovely high-end Jonathan Adler menagerie pottery pieces to kitschy holiday ornaments, laquer boxes, crazy drinkware... and everything in between.

4th stop: We made sure to drop by Vellum (55 Dartmouth Street), but were sad to find that the owner, Radhika Mathews, is actually closing up shop after 4 years to focus on custom design work... So, lucky Bostonians can currently get 50% off everything in the entire store, as they prep up for shutting the doors forever. (Trust me, I walked out with quite a large bag full of goods myself!)... Thanks to Narmis for the recommendation!

last stop: The last shop we hit was the oh-so-lovely Black Ink in Beacon Hill... I love this store! Not only did they have goods from some of my favorites (Bob's Your Uncle, Parkhaus and Jane Jenni, etc.), they also had several awesome Totoro items, ribbon-by-the-yard & lots of products that I'd never seen before! Thanks to Kelli B. from Tangled & True for this suggestion!

Once I get back in the studio (Tuesday), I plan on posting more on our shopping excursions in Boston (and the things I bought!) - Thanks so much to everyone who submitted their recommendations... I really appreciate it!!!

images c/o Jw.

This Thanksgiving, I'll be in Boston visiting my brother, sister-in-law and nephew (!)... I've been there several times, but I figured I'd see if anyone out there has a great must-see shop (or must-eat-at restaurant, etc.) I'll be doing a few posts about some of the places we visit... maybe your suggestion will be included!

Everyone have a great holiday... and keep an eye out for some gift-y, holiday posts from both Laura and myself after the long weekend!

Jennifer over at JHillDesign has posted a series of posts about Chicago on her blog... 1) because she's smart & knows Chicago would be a great place to visit (for multiple reasons)... and 2) to promote her new Chicago print (shown above).

There's some great mentions, including serious favorites of mine & Laura's: screen-printers & card-makers-extraordinaire, Binth; the fabulous GREER Chicago and Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Click here, here & here for some recent posts on these great Chicago-based companies.

(If you read closely, you'll even find a little shout-out to OrangeBeautiful in there, too!)

Love the posts, Jennifer!...

images c/o JHill Design and Binth, GREER & Vosges.