#116 Lavender Summer

Lavender seems to be popping up everywhere. Maybe it's the start of the summer bringing along lovely colors with it. This shade feels modern, but not so in your face like some other colors I have a penchant for (hello, neon yellow!). It's a perfect alternative to brights for your  outfit, nails or wall.  I'm sooo tempted to paint a lavender wall now.  I have a sickness and it revolves around wanting to paint everything, all the time.  


I hope everyone has a sweet summery weekend! 

via stylecaster

 via topshop & essie

via tales of endearment

shades of lavender you can find at Home Depot

lovely streetscape via princess michelle

#109 Girls + Boys

The combination of girls & boys can go awry in a matter of moments.  Just bring up Titanic or The Big Lebowski and you'll see what I mean.  How do we somehow gain so much knowledge in areas they have no idea about whatsoever? Take nail polish.  Try to explain the technique of matte finish nails, or even just a French manicure.  If his eyes haven't glazed over yet, I can see the wheels turning in his brain and just not understanding what the heck I'm talking about.  Well, this is what I'm talking about: 

simple & sassy
via  pinterest

Then go to the opposite spectrum.  Try to do a crossword puzzle without having a general knowledge of athletes that all dudes seem to be born with.

Somehow, we are the same species. Magically, we can bring out the best parts of each other.

lovey dovey butterfly

via wish!

lovey dovey human beings

via pinterest

#95 Winter Blues

Too little sunlight + too much snow + the necessity of slush proof shoes = Blah.  I have to remind myself that spring will eventually be here... and having hot chocolate every evening while snuggling under blankets won't be nearly as satisfying when temps get above freezing.  

On the plus side, winter light makes blues pop against snowy backdrops.  The sky looks pretty magical when the sun comes out after a heavy snow.  And jeans don't seem nearly as dreary when they are a medium blue and high-waisted and flared rather than black and skin tight after an extended holiday with a mother that bakes treats everyday.  And my blue sofa greets me in the evenings with the promise of a relaxing night of awesome old movies.  I can wait for spring a little longer...

via AT

 via anthropologie

 via daily candy

via Shopbop

#77 Summer Sunsets

I'm currently obsessed with sunsets.  Their magic is hard to fully describe with a photograph because the feeling you get of being a minuscule part of the universe when you look into the sky doesn't really come across.  I'm obsessed to a point where I want to try and paint an entire room the colors of the sky at dusk (or maybe start out with one wall).  Sunsets make me happy.  

Happy, happy, happy...

The sky from my new Brooklyn hood...

photos via oh joy! by Johnny Miller

 The sky from my old Manhattan hood...

#70 A Fourth of Fun

The Fourth marked the first unbearable day of summer heat in New York City... and summer fun!  I woke up craving peaches, fireworks, friends, air conditioning and rolling down grassy hills.  At the end of the day, I'd satisfied all my cravings and then some.  Each detail etched into my memory.  The awful slimy feeling of sucking up a weird gummy thing the dude put in my peach smoothie.  Laying in the grass with eyes closed watching the bright spots of sunlight wavering just beyond my lids as it filters through the trees.  Sweating and picking Mexican corn out of my teeth while watching the sunset and relaxing with friends.  The sound of distant fireworks & counting how many seconds they're delayed to calculate the distance (proof I'm a total math nerd).  Last, but not least, riding the G train like a pro and remembering how I thought I would never see the day that the G would somehow enrich my life.   Life is funny like that.

photo via AL.com

Craving the site of the peachy water tower along the drive to Auburn & picking up fresh peaches and home-made butter pecan peach ice cream for a snack...

photo via persimmonandpink

A reminder to myself to stop complaining and find the beauty in each day.

#57 Strangers in the City

There's something wonderful about connecting with strangers.  They are all different & special in their strangeness.  I always feel kind of buoyant after looking into the eyes of stranger in the street or sharing a smile with a woman sitting across from me on the subway when a funny performer is in our car.  It's one of the basic needs of humanity when you boil it all down.  Our web of relationships surprise us often times.  Like when the person you strike up a conversation with in the bathroom line knows your childhood friend.  It makes me wonder if these are coincidences, or if fate puts people in our path allowing us to make reason out of the chaos of everyday life. 

We all connect in different ways--a smile, shared frustration, a helping hand.  Strangers are only strange until you realize they are the same as you.  You just don't know their name...yet.  Some say New York is a city full of strangers, and that's ok with me.  It just means more surprises and adventures await.

via you might find yourself

via flickr

#38 Missing Home

Sometimes I miss the strangest things about home.  Today it's  storms.  Amanda Friedman's photography perfectly represents that eerie feeling of misty nights and half-light days.  The first photo reminds me of exactly what it feels like outside right before a bad storm hits- too still, too green, too light & dark at the same time...

Be sure to check out the rest of her work & her Etsy shop for cool prints.

all photos via Amanda Friedman Photography

#16 Dreaming of Friday on Thursday at Work

photo via ffffound found at this post at style/SWOON

photo via ffffound

#10 Magic - Example 2: MAPS

More magic in the most ordinary of things...

Masterfully simple topographys made of paper:

Want one? Visit Crafterall's etsy shop

Free shipping! Woot woot!

Also, check out these sweet maps of the Mississippi River @ Radical Cartography:

One more magic map from Famille Summerbelle of Manhattan:

#9 Magic - Example 1: Photography

I like magic.  Not the card game or anything to do with creepy witches.   Just ordinary magic that catches you off guard and distracts you for a good half an hour.  

MAGIC- Example #1:

West Nineteenth Street (Yellow Dress)
by Joseph O. Holmes via Print Society