I need a vacation!

So it is no secret that I need a vacation - but who has time to take time off anymore?  Well, until then, I'll settle for a set of the Striped Flag Bunting by Faith Lex (OrdinaryMommy) which are an Alere Modern exclusive!  A set for me, a set for the baby, hung above our beds, and we'll all dream of being at the seaside in the summer... 

Still Searching

So my dad's birthday is officially in two weeks.  I know, I better get on it.  But I want to get him something handmade.  For Christmas, I got him a lovely cutting board from Delia Sophia (coming soon to Alere, with an exclusive line!!) that he uses every day.  It's going to be hard to top.

Today I got an email from Real Simple about how if you do one thing, you should send an actual, physical, card to someone.   I think it's a great idea.  I have one cousin (out of 30-something) who sends cards all the time.  It is a totally wonderful surprise every time I get one in the mail from her.  I thought the article was especially pogniant, since just the other day we started adding note cards to the site, including these lovely ones from Michel Soares:

Of course, the email also mentioned  "Nine Noteworthy Pens"  -- all were cute, interesting, and "fun" but none really carried the "handmade luxury" feel that we love so much.  That title belongs to this handmade pen by Nayakaya -

I love the simplicity of this pen, and the fact that it is truly, entirely, handmade.  Yes, the $505 price tag may be a little steep, but I suspect that for pen collectors (scratch that, I know that for pen collectors) this isn't really anything to scoff at. 

So while I contemplate the $500 pen, I'll keep looking....

Love it

My dad's birthday is coming up.  My stepmother says get him a cordless drill.   For the last 30 years he's been asking for a book, a journal, or a pen (he's a poet, and reads more books than anyone I know).   A drill would at least be different, but instead of being different I like to give him variations on the same theme.  I looked for handmade pens (and found some crazy ones) but he is so picky and it's hard to tell online.  I did, however, find this on bltd, which I find quite awesome:

The perfect gift for an avid reader, no? Now the only question is whether it would get here in time...

In the Garden

Those of you who know me know that I love being outside, love gardening, and most of all, love garden furniture. I would love, more than anything, to find some awesome garden furniture for the site (so if anyone has any ideas...) but in the meantime, I will lust after these beauties:

 

This Bench Chair by Thomas Schnur is amazing.  I am absolutely in love with the clean lines, and the way it looks like the right side of the chair just got smudged into a bench.  It is fabulous.  I realize that white isn't exactly practical for a garden, but in my perfect world, my garden is clean!  

Then there is the Serpentine Chair:

and to fully appreciate this chair you have to go to the website and watch the photos change.  It's just a metal chair with cushions that weave in and out of the arms.  It makes me want to stalk craigslist and the thrift stores and then get out my sewing machine. I've looked for years for attractive cushions for my patio furniture and never thought that the key was just weaving them in and out of the backs of the chairs.

Amazing. Modern handmade is pretty cool, if you ask me.

Time for a new window display....

Okay, so I'm a bit late on these, but in all fairness, they're still up in my window.  These are the beautiful Doily Ornaments by Katarina Roccella. I got six snowflakes this year for the window, and combined them with some little gold stars I found,  as well as a few other things that were around the house (an old bell, handmade of course, and some metal birds that wanted to join the display).  My previous display (that was up the entire year) was handmade Mexican tin stars, which were not kid friendly.  I realize that now it is March, and the snow has (fingers crossed) stopped falling for the year, but my little daughter loves it so much I can't really bring myself to take it down.  At least until there is something to replace it with.

And rumor has it there are leather ornaments coming soon from Moxie and Oliver and felt ornaments coming soon from Ordinary Mommy.  So I should have some kid-friendly springtime ornaments up soon!