Dress You Up

When I was a little girl, I loved playing with paper dolls. I would get them all dressed up and then...undress them and dress them up again. Much like my Barbies, my paper dolls didn't do very much or go anywhere in particular. It was all about the outfits, which they were perfectly content to just stand around and pose in for hours on end.

My love of paper dolls hasn't really waned in my adult years. I am still delighted by them, and not above buying them if they are particularly fabulous (like the Drag Queen and Martha Stewart sets I've acquired in recent years). I am currently being wooed by these brilliant little numbers from Claudia Varosio:

These are seriously awesome. You've got Margot Tennenbaum with her fur coat and cigarette! David Bowie with his eye patch and platform boots! Squeal! An Edie Beale! And of course, Clint Eastwood makes my day.

Hoping something delightful comes along to make your day, Dear Readers.

xo

{Be sure to check out Claudia's shop. It is just filled with delights!}

Trulli Magical

Monday. Monday, and welcome to it, Dear Readers. I thought it might be nice to ease into a new week with a little trip to Italy.

Now, I have been fortunate to have travelled throughout Italy on a few occasions. And during those travels, I saw homes ranging from modern apartment buildings wedged in between medieval dwellings, to modest farmhouses, to sprawling villas and palazzos. But never ever in any of my travels have I seen anything quite like the magical little round, stone Trulli houses that dot the countryside of Apulia. Did I mention they are round!?

Don't they look like something right out of a fairytale? Living in one must be absolutely magical, with all of those whimsical curves and alcoves.

Have a whimsical, magical week, sweeties!

xo

{images found here, here, here, and here}

Just Breezin' Along With The Breeze

Happy Monday, my Dear Readers! Did you have a marvelous, jelly bean filled weekend?

Today, the chill and rain that has been literally saturating the northeast has (temporarily) cleared out of the Philadelphia area, leaving the outside world looking positively technicolor! The sun is shining in the most brilliantly blue sky, dotted occasionally with a fluffy white cotton cloud. All of the rain has left the grass a gorgeous green, and the blossoming flowers are all so perfectly pink! It's all so fabulously crisp and clear and breezy, it made me think of these amazing  photographs by the uber-talented Jamie Beck.

Don't those images just make you swoon?

Wishing you an easy, breezy week!

xo

Spring, Released

Oh, hey, Spring! How nice of you to show up! I was begining to worry you wouldn't make it. I feared that perhaps I had offended you when I declared my love of Old Man Winter and his Cold and Snowy ways.

I'm glad you're here, Spring. It seems we never really get to spend very much time together. No sooner have you arrived, then you're off again, leaving me to sweat it out with Summer and his Dog Days. But you're here now, and you've brought with you the blossoms and the birds and the warm sunny air.

Ah, Spring, sometimes I wish I could just hold on to you forever.

Hoping your week is off to a warm and sunny start, sweets!

xo

Baby Blue



Baby Boy Blue by Kiki and Polly


In a few short weeks (and the sure money's on it being a few weeks shorter than the doctor's suggesting ;), I will have a brand new, bouncing baby nephew. A tiny baby brother for The Boy. Exciting, no? The Bee family certainly thinks so.

This weekend we will be feting my sister and this little boy to be. And while this little shower is certainly no surprise (very pregnant ladies are apparently not very fond of being surprised), all of the ingredients that are going into making it lovely are. So you'll have to wait until after the weekend for me to share the goods.

But what I can share, between cutting out...something, and baking....something else, are a few of the things the Bee sisters have spotted on Etsy. Sweet things, for sweet boys.

I Love You Teether  by Little Sappling Toys

Handmade Doll  by Timo Handmade



Organic Hemp Shoes  by Bobka Baby



Dinosaur Onesies  by Pawling

Mister Numbers  by Sugar Fresh

Vintage Rocking Horse  by ethanollie

Wishing you a lovely weekend, my dears. And should you encounter any showers, I hope they're happy ones ;)

xo

Wrapped Around Your Finger(nails)

Well played, butter LONDON:

Feeling Stripey

Stripey goodness for your feet! Yippee! Have a well-heeled day, my friends.

xo

(ballet flats from Report. Sneakers from Urban Outfitters.)

Bonus Post! This was my absolute most favorite song of the whole year!!! Be prepared to get your dance on:

A Sock-Rockin Year

The end of a year brings on the making of many a list: lists of things to try in the new year; lists of things to do or not to do, to be or not to be; lists of books from the ending year that you should have read, or movies that you should have seen. But my favorite are the lists of the music that you should have rocked your socks to in the last twelve months.

Now, I am a huge music fan. HUGE. And I'm not immune to putting on an air of music snobbery and becoming enamoured of the best band you've never heard. But, I also love ABBA. So, without further ado, and in a somewhat haphazard order, these are the albums that rocked my socks in 2010:


                                          

I was loving Gorillaz and Spoon. I was all over Ray LaMontagne and Mumford and Sons. I shook my booty

with Vampire Weekend, and I blissed out to Beach House.

And while those listens may have been enjoyed with no particular order, there was a definite and very clear top two, and a most definite number one:

The bulk of the year's listening, from road trips, beach days, city days, and days around the house, were soundtracked by Charlotte Gainsbourg and She & Him. But hands down, my socks were rocked the hardest by Arcade Fire.

Wishing you good songs and happy ears in 2011, dear readers!

xoxo





This Is What Heaven Tastes Like

Not so many moons ago, I found myself in Paris while backpacking across Western Europe. I fell in love with all that it was, old and lovely and oh so Paris. I wandered the streets, climbed the Eiffel Tower, and swooned over the pâtisseries. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a well-appointed baked good. I ate pastries with absolute relish. I fell head over heels for crêpes too hot to bite into. Languored over pain au chocolat and bowls of coffee. And then there were the macarons. Whole towers of them, winking and enticing me from the glistening windows of Ladurée. They were just the most exquisite, perfect little bites of joy that I had ever sank my teeth into. I dream about them to this day.

A couple of moons later, I found myself in Paris again. This time, it was a blink of the eye- a layover on my way to Rome (don't I just sound so glamorously jet setting? ha!). We were held up in customs forever, and I had just enough time to grab a Vogue from the newsstand in my terminal before my flight took off. There would be no macarons this trip. Sorrows over the absentee macarons were swiftly drowned in copious amounts of gelato, and all was well and forgotten. For the moment.

The other day, my delightful aunt returned from Paris with a little gift. I am a happy girl.
xo

Feeling Stripey


I love me a good striped shirt. I really do. I have an entire wardrobe full of them to prove it. Long sleeves, short sleeves, tank tops. Paired with cuffed jeans, cigarette pants, or my beloved old denim mini skirt. Finished with flip flops, boots, or ballet flats. Striped shirts are my perfect everyday go-to.

Anthropologie/Urban Outfitters

 Normally, I like my stripes to have a boatneck and 3/4 sleeves. But sometimes it's fun to switch it up. Any of these would do nicely. Particularly the sequined J.Crew number-I can think of at least a dozen ways to rock that baby!




J. Crew


(from top to bottom: Anthropologie's Topsy Henley, Urban Outfitters' Peter Pan Striped Tunic, and J.Crew's Stripe Sequin Boatneck Tee)