Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Preppy Girl in Basil Green by Poetic License

Originally found these on Modcloth with the given name, Save the Grass Dance Heel. The shoe is actually from the London brand, Poetic License and named Preppy Girl in Basil Green. I don't like either name, and this shoe certainly isn't preppy.

I've purchased several shoes from Poetic License. My choices are pretty tame compared to the majority of their shoes. Their designs are pretty wild in a very entertaining way.






















The shoe features green leather, scalloped peach piping detail, a vibrant green bow and a shimmery gold base.










































Lemon Sundrop Cupcakes

















Lemon Sundrop Cupcakes from the great Amanda Cupcake!

Monday, May 28, 2012

as purposeful as they can be

I don't want a dream catcher, cuz I would rather grow..



















(perpetumobile on etsy)

Lavender Cupcake from Hummingbird Bakery




















This is a lavender cupcake from Hummingbird Bakery. Truth be told I'm not a fan of lavender flavors but the aesthetic of this, is amazing.

Fiesta Mini Dress

Fiesta Mini Dress in Taupe, from Free People Clothing Boutique.


Description from the website:

Floral printed mini dress with crochet upper chest and back. Pleating in fabric below bust for a full, baby doll shape.

Fiesta Mini Dress

it's that simple. isn't it?

The world just needs to calm down..

IIII

Casablanca Hanging Lamp

Every time I make a trip to my favorite restaurant, The Green Temple, I envy the Moroccan iron hanging lamps, that dangle in front of the outdoor portion of the eatery. The Green Temple is a vegetarian restaurant with a zen like aesthetic. I finally decided to search for replicas of the lamps I've been falling in love with. The lamps come in variety of sizes and thus far I've found only one. But am SO grateful to have found it. This "Casablanca Lamp" is from Moroccan Design.

Charcuterie Plate

From Anthropologie.

Description from the website:

This painting of classic French meats and eggs from Nathalie Lete makes dinnertime that much more appetizing.

Parvati Maxi Dress by Hemant & Nandita

An extremely bold and airy piece by designers Hemant & Nandita. Sold at Anthropologie

Description from the website:
 

Embroidered at the shoulders and pintucked and printed with scrollwork from neckline to toe-skimming hem, Hemant & Nandita's gauzy, silk chiffon dress steals the show with its tart-citrus hue.

































Heart Attack Ring from 6% Doki Doki

The below rings are quirky fun jewelry pieces from 6% Doki Doki found at Electric Alice.

Description from the website:
 

Join the Kawaii Anarchy gang with this seriously badass Heartbeat knuckleduster! It says doki doki in Katakana, which is Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a heart beat -- because that's the only sound you're going to hear when people stop to admire your cute, clenched fists! Made from sturdy pink perspex with two adjustable silver rings, and covered with sugary blue and pink glitter!

What I love about this is that as fun, tacky, and silly as these pieces are; they are also symbolic of something sacred and humble. The sound of a heartbeat. What could be better than that?

















In dark pink against light pink and light pink against turquoise. Both decked in glitter and sparkle. That makes me smile.






















Candy Tights

Good news first or bad news first? Okay, bad news first. I bought the last pair. But don't fret. Contact Electric Alice and ask them when they will restock.

These are crazy fun tights by Celeste Stein Designs.






















These are a nice addition to the moments when I am in the mood for what I call "quirky girlie".

on the ward

She tattooed "5150" on her forehead..

Haute Hippie Strapless Ruffle Dress

A dress purchased years ago on sale at Sax Fifth Avenue online. Dress is no longer available at the site but perhaps you can find it even cheaper if you hunt at other sites.

Halston Heritage Pleated Cocktail Dress

A dress I purchased years ago. Found it on sale at Sax Fifth Avenue. Sorry, item is no longer available. I have been able to find various dresses for lower prices on other sites. If you hunt, perhaps you'll find.























If you think this dress looks familiar you just might be right. I admit I saw the Sex and the City movies. A guilty pleasure.

"Carrie Bradshaw" wears this dress in alternate colors in Sex and the City 2.






















Pink Tartan Vogue Double-Knit Pleated Dress

A dress purchased years ago. I've seen it sold for less on various sites in the recent past; so get to searchin'!

Originally purchased on sale at Sax Fifth Avenue.

I sought this one out when I skipped past my usual repulsion of royal blue and some how found it alluring. A good solid color and dress.

Description from the website:

Luxe double-knit jersey is fitted through the bodice and finished with a chic pleated A-line skirt.
  • Scoopneck
  • Sleeveless
  • Set-in waist
  • Grosgrain ribbon trim
  • Exposed back zipper
  • 57% viscose/39% polyester/4% spandex
  • Dry clean
  • Imported

Chloe Floral Twisted Open Back Dress

A purchase bought years ago. Even so, I recently found these photos in my archives and thought I'd post them for viewing.

Originally purchased on sale at Sax Fifth Avenue online.

Description from the website:

A vibrant exotic print of soft cotton.
  • Pleated puff sleeves
  • Open twisted back
  • About 20" from natural waist
  • Cotton; dry clean
  • Imported


































Sunday, May 27, 2012

Thinking of Inking?


Copyright All rights reserved by petrus01


































THINKING OF INKING?

Anyone who watches sports, music videos, or even A&E knows that tattoos have gone mainstream; studies have found that as many of two out of five adults, younger than 40 have one. Health experts agree that getting one is less risky than ever, and tattooists trained in fine arts offer more options. But before you rush to go under the needle, avoid regret (and possibly a pricey removal) by considering these questions:

What will it look like?

Photorealist
Thanks to modern inks and techniques, portraits and images get far closer to the ideal of "realism" than one from decades past.

Biomechanical
Credit the "Allen" movies with inspiring this branch of surrealism, which depicts a combination of human and robot-like parts.

Surrealist
Just like the 20th centuray arts movement, this style covers everything from Salvador Dali to fantasy monsters and incoherent nightmares.



Fine line black and gray
This technique, pioneered in the mid-1979s in Los Angeles, involves subtly shaded, intricate designs and portraits rendered without color.


Tribal
A modern U.S. trend sprang up in the mid-1980s, imitating the bold geometric tattoos common in many ancient tribal cultures.

Asian
Large symbolic designs, particularly Japanese koi morphing into dragons are popular theme for arm "sleeves."


Traditional American
Think Betty Boop, an anchor, or "mom" in a heart. Before the 1970s, this was the only true style in the United States, when people collected tattoos like stamps. Designs were usually small with crisp lines, few colors and little subtlety.


Flash
Not a style, but a name given to the printed designs on the walls of a tattoo shop. Beware as flash designs are often trendy, then outdated. Remember Tasmanian Devils in the 1980s?


How will it get there?

Epidermis, the skin's outer layer acts like a tinted window over the tattoo.

Each needle injects ink a drop at a time, 1-2 millimeters below the skin's surface.

Dermis is the target area. Here antibodies surround the ink and trap it in place.

If the needle reaches the subcutaneous fat, the ink will immediately spread and blur.

Machine
Using the basic technology of a doorbell, the gizmo was first patented in 1891 and has changed little since 1929.

Needle
A needle can puncture the skin up to 3,000 times per minute.

Lines
Small groupings needles (often three but  sometimes just one) draw the sharp,distinct outlines.


Shading, Coloring
Large groups up to 32 needles are splayed out in rows like the bristles of a paint brush.


How Will it Feel?

Pain tolerance varies by person, but in general:
-The fewer the needles, the more it hurts.
-Bondy areas don't necessarily hurt more. A better indicator is ski softness; Inner thights, inner arms, and torso are often extremely tender.
-Artists say women tend to handle the pain better than men.

Tattoos in areas with soft skin tend to be more painful.

Reputable artists use sterile needles, disposable gloves and antiseptic creams.


Where should it go?

Sun exposure
Sun fades tattoos. Plan to use strong sunblock all the time or get the tattoo in a well covered place.

Aging
Tattoos in squishier areas such as the midsection will lose their shape much more quickly than those in bonier areas.


Trendiness
Ar bands and lower back "tramp stamps" are no longer popular in many areas.


Durability
Tattoos on feet and hands tend to fade or become uneven quickly because those parts get so much use.

Sally Quinn on Life in Grey Gardens

Like so many, I have a fascination with Grey Gardens. The house still exists and is inhabited by a married couple.

A 2009 article from W Magazine.

Sally Quinn on life in Grey Gardens

blog_quinn_bradlee.jpgEver since the release of the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, the ramshackle East Hampton estate and its reclusive inhabitants have exerted a mysterious pull. What many don't know, however, is that the grey-shingled house is still standing and owned by Ben Bradlee, former Washington Post executive editor, and his wife, Sally Quinn, an author and journalist (above). The pair bought the 14-room manse in 1979 directly from Little Edie, who answered the door herself the day Quinn came to take a look. When Quinn vowed not to tear it down, Little Edie, then 61, agreed to sell it to her. We talked to Quinn about the afternoon she first stepped inside the house—and what led her to stay.

How did the house first come to your attention?
We had a little tiny house in Amagansett that we weren't in love with, so we decided one summer to try to find something a little bigger. I had this killer real-estate agent and she took me everywhere from Bellport to Montauk but there was nothing that was right. Finally, I said, "There's just got to be something else!" And she said, "Well, there's always Grey Gardens!" [Quinn had read about the Beales in a 1972 New York magazine piece by Gail Sheehy.] And I said, "You're kidding? It's for sale? Well, I'd love to go see it." I thought, just for curiosity. And of course the place was completely falling down. I mean everything.

Can you paint a picture of your first experience of the house?
We got to the house and my real-estate agent said, "I will do anything to sell the house, but I will not go inside." So she waited outside. Well, you had to have flea collars on for one thing. There were 30 cats in there and the stench was beyond belief. And Little Edie opened the door—her mother had died two years earlier—and apparently everyone had made offers because she was asking $220,000 for the house.

blog_greygardens.jpgAt that time, 1979, was that considered a good price?
That was considered nothing, even then! I mean $220,00 on Lily Pond Lane? But everybody else wanted to tear the house down, which was the obvious thing to do.  So I walked in and I said, "This is the most beautiful house I've ever seen." You can't believe what shambles it was in. And she said, "It's yours." Up to then, she'd refused to sell it to anybody else. But she said, "I know that this house belongs to you. You're the person who should have this house." And then she did this little pirouette in the hall and said, "You see? All it needs is a coat of paint!" So I bought it on the spot. It was one of these magical experiences where everything went right. We had a great contractor, a great architect, and we moved in the following summer.

In the documentary and HBO film, Little Edie and Big Edie spent most of their time in a shared bedroom. What has become of that room?
That's now the main guest room. The biggest guest room. There was also a smaller room that Edie lived in toward the end, when she was by herself and you can't believe it: there was one mattress pad on the floor and a birdcage hanging over the bed with a naked lightbulb.

A lightbulb in the birdcage?
Yes, in the birdcage.

That's pretty great.
Oh, you should have seen it. And there was a little rickety table with a hot plate and that was it. There were cats everywhere and raccoons wandering around. And raccoon skulls. Filthy beyond belief.

blog_sallyquinn_archive.jpgSally Quinn in 1979.

What was the stench like?
You can imagine. 20-30 years of cats. There was no kitty litter in that house.

What do you recall of Little Edie that day?
Well, I thought she was nuts. I thought she had serious psychological and emotional problems. There was no question about it. She had just escaped into her own fantasy world. I didn't know the story that much and so honestly, I feel bad about Edie. Your reaction was just to laugh at her because she was such a character and so crazy, dancing in the hall, saying isn't it beautiful and this incredible outfit she had with safety pins and a turban and all that—and later when I saw the Maysles documentary and then the Broadway play and now the HBO movie, it's so heartbreaking. I wanted to rewind and go back to that moment and just put my arms around her. I wanted to help her, do something for her.

Did you have a sense that she was reluctant or sad about leaving?
My sense was that she was happy to sell the house. That she was locked in that place as long as her mother lived and it was her liberation. The problem was, it was too late. She had no place to go.

Did she talk about where she was going?
No, she didn't. I said to her, you have a choice. You can leave the house broom clean, which was laughable, that means you take everything out of the house, everything, everything, everything and leave it broom clean OR you leave it exactly the way it is and you leave everything in the house. And she said "I'm just walking out the door." And she walked out the door. And when we closed on the house in November I went upstairs to the attic and it was a treasure trove. I was in such a state of ecstasy and exhilaration I was hyperventilating. I started smoking again. I found a trunk of letters which I just recently had an archivist go through and do a lot of the history of the time and get the letters in order.

It's a collection of letters from both of them?
They were written during the 30s when they were living the high life.

blog_greygardens_still.jpgThe Beales in a still from the documentary

What were some of the discoveries you made in the letters?
 Just what their life was like. The country club in the 30s, the white, upper class culture that we don't have in this country anymore. There was no smoking gun or anything. There was a lot of asking for money but nothing extraordinary. At some point I probably will write about it but I'm just not there yet. I don't have time to do it right now.

Did Michael Sucsy [the writer and director of the HBO film] see those letters?
No! Because I couldn't find them and I kept telling him I was going to show them to him and then I kept looking for them. I knew they were in a trunk somewhere and I looked in every closet in the house. And then I realized that about five or six years ago, thinking that they were valuable, I had brought them back to Washington and put them in the basement there—I forgot I brought them back for safekeeping —and then I thought as long I've got them I might as well do something with them in case they get lost. So I only told him recently and he said, 'Oh no. I can't stand it." I felt so bad.

What do you plan to do with the letters?
I don't know. I've got about 4 or 5 large scrapbook type things with all the letters and the archivist's interpretation.

What else was in the attic?
There were little lace baby pillows and incredible books, fabulous old books and chaise longues with wicker furniture and beautiful antique tables and silver. It's all in the house.

How long after Little Edie sold you the house did she leave it?
Fairly soon after. She was not there for the closing. We bought it in August and closed in November and she was not there for the closing. She moved to New York City and then somehow ended up in Florida [Bal Harbour] where she died years later.

Given Grey Gardens' potent history and personality, do you still have a sense of the Beales in the house, even now?
Oh yeah. I feel them there. In the movie, Big Edie says, "I could never leave Grey Gardens. This is a magical place." It *is* a magical place so I don't feel the sadness there. I feel the magic they felt that kept them there. There's something that makes you feel good being in the house.

I've heard that when it rains, you can still smell cat pee.
About ten years ago, we got up there the first of August and it had been raining for 10 days. We walked in the house and Ben, who can't smell anything cause he's got sinus problems, said, "Oh my god." He's allergic to cats and his eyes started to water. He could smell the cat pee.

Quinn and Bradlee in 2007 (Paul Morigi/WireImage); Quinn in 1979: Guy Delrot/WWD Archive; film stills courtesy of the Criterion Collection.

Red, White and Blue and Glitterd Cupcakes by Amanda Cupcake

Truth be told; for me, Memorial Day is a day off and not one for celebration . I honor women and men who have died from war, however, our government is to blame for many who have died. And although Memorial Day is one of remembrance it has become commercialized just as most calendar marked holidays.

Mattress Stores announce big sales, Used Car Lots push promotions, and Restaurants and Eateries hold early morning sales on breakfast and baked goods.

For some Memorial Day has true meaning. This post is about to take an interesting turn. We are not going to talk about ways to truly celebrate, we are going to talk about cupcakes!

Although, I will not be attending any parades or lighting fire works, I am admiring the craft of the talented Amanda Cupcake. One doesn't have to trumpet to the tune of Memorial Day in order to appreciate these gems. And they truly do look like gems.





















A cherry, vanilla, blueberry cupcake
with a blueberry or cherry pie baked inside. Small, glittery, jewel like pies sit on top of the cake.



















RISE by Antony and the Johnsons

Antony from Antony and the Johnsons, has contributed to the the film product Coral Rekindling Venus by Lynette Wallworth. A project which the artist explores the majesty of the coral ecosystem.


Rise by Antony and the Johnsons

For more information visit the official Antony and the Johnsons website, here.
For more information about Lynette Wallworth, click here.

Om Symbol Wall Tapestry from Full Moon Loom

From Full Moon Loom.


Dimensions: 108 x 88
Weight: 1.81























Close this window

Oogavé

Today I came upon Oogavé  Natural Soda. Immediately I knew that "Oogavé " was a take on Agave; as in nectar from the Agave plant. Agave is often used in replacement of a sweetener; and I have used it myself.

Here is what the website has to say about Agave:

The biggest advantage to using agave nectar is how slowly it is processed in the body. Because it is absorbed more slowly than corny syrup or cane sugar, you don’t get the sugar high/crash associated with traditional soft drinks. Agave is also better at triggering insulin response than high fructose corn syrup; this is the biological function that tells your body when you are full. You can’t pound down a quart of oogavé like many people can with mainstream sodas. Additionally, agave nectar contains a healthy mix of trace minerals and even a small amount of inulin fiber. And because agave plants thrive with very little cultivation, it makes them ideal candidates for organic certification. You can rest assured that no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides came in contact with our agave nectar. Because the agave plant has been cherished by Mexicans since antiquity, you know they would find any attempt to genetically modify it abhorrent. Lastly, because agave nectar has such a high level of fructose, it is far sweeter to the taste than cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup. This is why oogavé all natural soda has only two-thirds the sugar of other sodas.

The one I'm sipping on as we speak, is the below flavor.





















Watermelon Cream

Below are the other flavors sold. I have yet to try them for myself.





















Grapefruit























Vanilla Cream





















Strawberry Rhubarb





















Cola






















Mandarin Key-Lime






















Ginger Ale

The website claims to use nothing but pure agave nectar.

Description from the website:

Oogavé only buys agave nectar from reputable importers. The containers are sealed in Mexico and only unsealed at our plant in Denver, CO. Esteban has personally toured our supplier’s production facility in Jalisco, Mexico. For more information, please visit our “Farm to Table” page on our website.

To learn more or to purchase, visit the official website.

Cupcakes with Sprinkles Nails

















From Kelly Maples via Hawaii Kawaii

Vintage Style Peacock Necklace

Peacock necklace from Jane's Gift Store on etsy.