Prep time...

EZ E and I are breaking out the holiday deer collection today and putting up all of the ornaments. Hooray!

*lovely image from unreflected fortunate

Musical...

I have no idea why anyone would need these, but I love them.

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Irina Graewe. She's an interiors editor and stylist (sounds like a dream job, no?) and her work is brilliant. You can see more here. Happy Monday, everyone!

This weekend...

The plan is to change around the living room this weekend. It's still not feeling settled...sorry, PRH. I wouldn't mind having a pile of chairs like the chairs in this photo from maxime clair. Oh, and go ahead and throw in that lamp while you're at it. Awesome. Hope you all enjoy your weekend! Thanks for the book recommendations last week, btw!

One good monkey...

Good stuff over at Monkeys Always Look.

Projects...

Shopping today? Unfortunately...or should I say fortunately...not. Today's project (well, actually the project for the last several days) has been re-painting our bathroom. I'm very indecisive when it comes to paint colors, which is probably why we've always stuck with white. The bathroom was already painted a light green when we moved in, so I went into the store and just chose a green (it's Valspar....jalapeno something). This is a bit darker than I normally would have committed to, but I'm liking it. I'm wondering if I'll like it as much once the tape is off because I'm really liking the oh-so-preppy green, blue, white thing. Oh, and here's a photo of me with my early-morning mom hair ponytail (who am I kidding...it's my all day long mom hair). Poop city.

Holiday feet...

Here are Kicky's holiday feet. Happy Thanksgiving (to those of you in the states). I'll be taking the rest of today off to be with PRH and our babies...and dodge passive aggressive comments. I'll let you know how that works out. :) Enjoy your day!
xo,
Abbey

The guys...

PRH bought EZ E some old school action figures at a recent auction and EZ E is totally obsessed with shoving them in his doorknob mailbox. The doorknob mailbox is one of my favorite thrift scores and I was just waiting for it to meet an untimely demise should EZ E try to squirrel away one more "guy" (he calls them guys...occasionally he says, "let's roll, boys"). Well, it finally happened this afternoon and it was meltdown city. He was screaming, "My guys! My house! Oh no!" and I felt like screaming, "My mailbox! Oh no!" (yes, even though it's supposed to be his mailbox). PRH managed to fix the problem, but now I want to hide the doorknob mailbox from EZ E and "the guys".

Chair love...

I could make room in my scrawny little heart for this Paul McCobb chair. PRH may commit me if I try though.

*found via more ways to waste time

Tattered...

I think we need to hang this painting by Michelle Fleck (that I saw on our friend Rachael's blog, a photo and a link) above our tattered couch.

Perfectly made...

I am in love with everything at emersonmade. Everything.

Jane Austen is my bff...

You all already know that I'm a HUGE dork when it comes to period movies. I love me some Jane Austen. Last night I thought it was due time for the babies and I to watch Pride and Prejudice. EZ E kept asking things like, "What happened to guy?" and "why girl yelling?" and "what happen next, mama?" (I'm not trying to make him sound all cave man...he's two). We didn't make it very far into the movie, but I like to imagine the three of us (PRH will have no part of this) snuggled on the couch under this lovely quilt by daintytime watching period movies. It will happen, PRH. It will happen.

Haven't we met...

There is a ceiling fan in our kitchen that we've taken to calling Kicky's boyfriend (we sometimes call it her girlfriend to keep things fair). She loves to stare and smile at it...and has even started cooing to it. I've decided if we could all have an inanimate boyfriend or girlfriend, mine would be this blue sink with orange handles.

*Photo from moi. (MonikaZ.)

Preparing...

...myself for the holidays. See more here.

Color combo...

Isn't the combination of that blue with that wheat color just fantastic?

*photo from *piou*

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Rebecca Ward. I saw her work on Oh Joy! and fell in love. These are made using tape! That's right, I said tape! Holy crap, right? Who knew tape could be so lovely? See more of her work here.

This weekend...

What do you have lined up for this weekend? We're headed to an auction tonight and are having a big Italian family dinner on Sunday. I'd also like to find something good to read. Has anyone read anything good lately? Have a great weekend!

*photo from design*sponge (perfectbound guest post)

Pillow talk...

So many great pillows from very appropriately named pillowhappy.

Welcome...

Loving the graphic black and white stripes of this wreath from Smile and Wave. We have a wreath on our front door, but it's B-O-R-I-N-G. I'm going to give something else a try this weekend.

Second Storie...

Get ready, my babies! Second Storie Indie Market is happening soon. If you're like me and have been itching to see Faythe Levine's documentary Handmade Nation, now is the time! Get more info about Second Storie here and purchase tickets for Handmade Nation here. I'm trying to convince PRH to make the trip to Rochester. As clearly evidenced by my snarky posts as of late, I'm in much need of some quality time with our crafty Rochester peeps. :)

Public service announcement...

Dear mother-in-laws across the world (because you never know when you may be tempted),
Babies should not wear santa suits...ever. They don't look cute, they look creepy. No amount of white, fluffy trim will make older siblings want to wear them either. Just imagining your grandchildren being forced to wear matching santa suits for even one minute will make your daughter-in-law want to crawl under a rock and die. Sparkly santa suits are no exception to this rule. Remember A Christmas Story?! That's right...matching bunny suits also suck. Let's be good relatives and leave the santa suits at the store this holiday season. Thanks.
XO,
Abbey

* Ralphie Parker ornament made by Batzie09

Collected...

I'm always on the look out for great vintage advertising (you may remember my parents' collection). I originally saw this package on Hero's blog and loved the idea of giving a gift like this to a new neighbor. This is just one piece of a huge collection of vintage advertising that belongs to Roadside Pictures. It's seriously huge! Take a look here to see more.

Getting it...

Someone else who gets it. Hello, yellow buttons. From retrouvius as seen on Remodelista.

Source...

This dresser was wonky, the veneer was peeling, and PRH hated it, so we got rid of it when we moved. I, however, did NOT hate it and have been searching for a cleaner version of the exact same dresser. See the feet on the bottom? Does anyone know a source for feet like this?

Ruffles...

BITCHY ABBEY ALERT: I never gave you the lowdown on the couch re-upholstery. After the guy I initially called didn't know what 'heather grey' was, I called a different company and made an appointment for someone to come to the house. The woman who arrived was wearing this crazy sweater with animals knitted all over it. The animals looked like they could be lemurs...lemurs that had suffered the rampages of either a poor diet or rabies (perhaps both). She brought the world's ugliest fabric swatches and then went to measure the couch while I perused fabrics (and puked a little in my mouth). Here's what I kept thinking...the folks at Sprucehome get it (see images above), so why can't this lady get it? Instead, she straightened her wacky ass sweater, quoted an insane price for upholstery and for a slip cover, and insisted that both would need ruffles on the bottom. Ruffles?! N-O. Needless to say we won't be having our couch reupholstered by anyone in a lemur sweater. A couple of the local colleges offer upholstery courses and I think it may be worth trying it myself. Has anyone given it a go before? How'd it work out?

Just because...

...you haven't seen her hair yet. She has tons!

To dear friends...

This morning while Kicky and I were running errands I ran into a very old friend who I haven't seen in over ten years. He lives on an organic blueberry farm with his girlfriend and their two children. They've been living off the grid for the past seven years and just got electricity (and connected to the internet) last week. We talked for over an hour and I left feeling struck not only by the dramatically different paths two friends had taken, but also about the common threads that run through our lives. Some days being home again is so interesting.

*photo by Zack Kowalczyk

Green with...

I love, love, love abchao's flickstream. It's a source of much inspiration...her house is so damn fabulous! Her bedroom is painted my current favorite color (see the 'before' photos here). Take a look at her photostream here and her blog here. I'll just be sitting here green with envy.

Pillow fight...

A little bedroom inspiration found via A Black Key. The pile of pillows and the curtains...yes! The only thing I wouldn't like is removing all of those pillows every night.

Sunshine...

Loving these stripey yellow rugs in Meg's house (of elsiemarley fame). They're cheap and they're from ikea...perfect!

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Phoebe Washburn. These images are from her installation, called It Has No Secret Surprise, at the Hammer Museum. As the Whitney site says, she recycles discarded industrial materials in large-scale installations. Awesome. I would love to see these in person, wouldn't you? You can read more about her and her work here.

This weekend...

The weather is perfect here, so I'm going to cut out early and get started on some outdoor weekend projects. Hope you all have a great weekend!

*photo from Paddy Hamilton