hanging touch

Mobiles aren’t just for babies…

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ruffled feathers

More giant creature neck flare! Amazing necklace from anthropologie:

nantucket necklace

Perhaps you’re tired of me posting these giant creature necklaces by now but er, I can’t help it. Just look at the shiny mug on “Nantucket”

homey

Some essentials for a relaxing, breezy, summer weekend spent at home…

octopus pillow – anthropologie, hable construction gardening gloves – anthropologie, macrame owl – urban outfitters, deer rug – urban outfitters, whale pillow – anthropologie, tea towel – anthropologie, art bowls – anthropologie, laundry basket – hable construction, bontanicals butterflies and insects – anthropologie

ready to work

Although work attire is simple and relaxed here in the Middle East, I remember back in my NYC days, it was an entirely different story. I at first ran around to job interviews wearing my sister’s black, Jcrew, pant suit. Then later after scoring a job, I had to keep up with my stylish workmates who shopped waaaay more than I did. Of course, work dress code depends a lot on which field you work in and what position you might hold, but overall, New Yorkers are known (amongst a billion other things) for their fabulous work getups.

These days, I not only work in the high tech industry, which is notorious for it’s relaxed work attire, but I work in a country that doesn’t enforce any kind of work dress code. (or any kind of code code period.) It’s such a breeze! You wake up, shower or not shower and throw on a pair of dog haired jeans and a crumpled up top you grabbed from the dirty laundry. Who cares?

Well, sometimes I do. I can miss those L train fashion packed commutes, rallying uptown in the morning then back out to Billyburg in the evening, peering over at a girl’s skirt impatiently swishing around while waiting on the platform, or a boy’s sneakers planted directly below my subway seat gaze. Each day was truly a full day of fashion inspiration.

In my work wear daydream today, I picked out some work pieces that I could wear just about anywhere. Shopping on: opening ceremony, urban, anthropologie and shopbird.

~ ready to work ~

purples, greens, circles and seeds

After tidying the apartment today, I felt unsatisfied still. Our living room lacks serious color as well as pattern and dimension. We’ve adopted these beautiful serene couches, but don’t take real advantage of the space. I roamed around online and found some punches of color and pattern. The one thing I noticed all my choices had in common were purples, greens, circles and seeds. This is a bit strange because I’m usually attracted to blues and greens. Are you drawn to the same sets of colors and patterns each time you decorate a room, or does it change, depending on the room?

hook, curtain, chair and cushion - urban outfitters

rug and hook - urban, chair - anthropologie

the new bohemia

Anthropologie clothes can sometimes be a bit too frilly for me and I usually just stick to their amazing, European inspired housewares department, but I was happily surprised today when I discovered their “New Bohemia” selections. Maybe I’m feeling hippie today, but I really like some of these featured pieces… especially that “nahuatl” tank! Oh and P.S. – this bag is beautiful!

nahuatl tank

ascend dress

mesoamerica blouse

guimard dress

brass ring tank

ballia dress

it’s in the details

Do you ever notice particularly pretty details of a clothing tag, or the intricate etchings of a jean’s button? I do, and I always feel like a piece of clothing becomes so much more special when there’s some secret, beautiful, tag hiding inside. Grayhood, or Dan Gneiding, is an amazing designer who makes these kinds of things happen. Gneiding is the senior graphic designer at Urban Outfitters where he has designed labels for Silence + Noise, BDG and Lark & Wolff by Steven Alan. He has also worked with Anthropologie on labels such as Edme & Esyllte, Knitted & Knotted and Eloise. After peeking at his work, I now have an even bigger appreciation for the smaller details. Check out his designs below as well as his fantastic online sketchbook.

edme & esyllte (butterfly on bicycle)

edme & esyllte (pineapple hot air balloon ride)

mirror/dash tote bag

idra

maeve

maeve ("she who is beautiful" on underside)

silence + noise

good lampage

I’m feeling in the mood for some new bedside table lamps. At the moment we have a couple of standard Ikea paper lanterns on either side of the bed, but they’re starting to look a bit grungy, lopsided and slightly torn, like vagabond shades. I haven’t looked far, so I will continue my search and come back to you with more ideas. Here are a few pretty ones that shined during my online journey…

dream lamp - anthropologie

plumage lamp - anthropologie

sea creatures - pottery barn

woven lamps - pottery barn

snail lamp - anthropologie

I think the woven lamps are my favorite. Shop the lamps at anthropologie and pottery barn.