Tavern on the Green closing

I am so terribly saddened by this gorgeous piece of New York closing. On my first visit to the city with my sisters, mom and aunt, we dined here on a clear, starry night. It was full of magic and the way the trees were lit has stayed with me for 15 years now.

12 years later, I was living in New York, and returned to the Tavern for my dearest friend's rehearsal dinner, following her Central Park nuptials. It was still just as spectacular and even more grandiose that I had recalled.

Here are a few pics from that day:

The Wonderful World of Hermes

When in need of inspiration, I travel through designers websites, sometimes ending up at Barneys New York and sometimes ending up at a french website for paper dolls. Today, I ended up at Hermes.

I've always loved that signature orange, and those classic stitches. But their website is actually FUN, and incredibly interesting. If you go to hermes.com , click on United States and go to the "travel the world of Hermes" button, you are off on an adventurous maze. There's games, do-it-yourselfs and intimate stories from customers who have an emotional attachment to their heirloom Hermes items.

Here is a fabulous do-it-yourself bracelet (there are 6 styles and you download the pdf pattern to cut and paste together):

This particular puzzle challenges you to create different shapes and designs:

And there are also touching, beautiful stories from customers:

Here are a few of the random illustrations that really inspired me:

And then, of course, there are the scarves. Here are a few of my favorites, but honestly, it's like trying to pick your favorite pair of diamond earrings from Tiffanys.

Ode to Mr. Buddlesworth

I was sifting through some pictures on iPhoto the other day, and came across this lost collection of my cat, Mr. Bud (short for Mr. Buddlesworth). I just had to share.

By the way, the last picture is honestly the way he sleeps, with his tail between his legs. It looks quite dirty. Especially when he starts moving it around...

Lovely Ladies

I have been a fan of the very talented Sujean Rim for years now, due to her work with Daily Candy and Bonnie Marcus StylePress. Everyone knows her style, because it's so beautifully distinct. There are also a few other illustrator crushes I have, like Hanna Brooks Nation of Gadabout , Chesley McLaren , Amelie Hegardt , David Downton , and tons of others.

I love drawing women, especially for my invitation designs, and my style has evolved a bit since last year. I get so much inspiration from fashion illustrations, book covers, and just about everything that a lady is on that I'm starting to wonder if I need to evolve my lady-drawing style even more!

Hanna Brooks Nation of Gadabout:

Sujean Rim of Daily Candy and Bonnie Marcus StylePress:

Chesley McLaren:

Amelie Hegardt:

Joe Eula:

David Downton (LOVE that center one with the white sparkles!):

I'm not gonna write you a love song...

...cause I don't have any of these fabulous perfect fonts to write it in. If I could drop a hundred on a few of these fine ladies from Veer , I would in a heartbeat.

From top left, Compendium , Kewl Script , Adios Script , Riva , Adage Script

I've also been searching far and wide for this font in blueprint and Martha Stewart mags.

The name of it is "fling" and you can download it for free here , and it works, but I'm beginning to think that I've broken some sort of law!

I'm also looking for this beauty found at lonnymag.com . If you haven't read this online magazine yet, do it! It's beautiful and ...ta da!...FREE.

Iomoi = love

I am officially obsessed with this mecca of beautiful inspirations. Iomoi has design goodies ranging from ice buckets to pillows to coasters to stationery. It has such a fabulously distinct look.

Here are a few of my favorites:

They also have online stationery. You can send a sample note for free to a loved one (they have a large free selection to choose from), but beyond that, you have to pay for a membership. I love the concept! Email is so boring. Here is the one I sent to myself:

And, when you go to the website , got to the sale section. They have some pretty juicy stuff in there.

Vija Celmins

I fell in love with this artist on a trip to MoMA in 2005. They look like beautiful photographs, but actually are intricately shaded pencil drawings.

The difference in each piece is so slight, but each one has a different feeling of warmth or frigidity, that you can almost feel the temperature of the water and see the way the sky looks.

I attempted my own Vija, but it's not even on the same bus. Not even on the same continent!

Bjorn Wiinblad - Modern Danish

LOVE this designer from Denmark. He was a poster designer in Paris in the 40s and then worked until the late 80s. I stumbled across him on the lovely world wide web (upon realizing that I probably have been living in a hole if I've never heard of the guy) and spent way too much time finding as many pieces as I could. Not only did he design some fantastic posters, he also designed dishware, vases, and other household goodies.

The use of color alone fires me up, but the combination of whimsy and sophistication is downright genius. I think I might bid on one of his posters on ebay RIGHT NOW!!!

I think I might be in love. I mean WOWZA! By the way, 3 of these beauties can be found on etsy at gigimari. And there's tons more!