art is life.

 

my wonderful, wonderful parents came to visit us this weekend and brought a BEAUTIFUL book of giorgio morandi's work that a neighbor sent to me.

i can't stop looking at all of his natura morta (still life paintings) the colors are perfect...so clean and simple. so full of light. and i'm as obsessed as he was with this odd shaped vase. isn't the texture perfect?

 if you haven't ever heard of him, look him up! he's often described as italy's greatest still life painter...i can see why! doesn't it remind you a bit of a simpler, softer, neutral cezanne?

 the new book was only a teeeeeny bit of my parents' visit, so stay tuned for a better recap soon!

superhero sweet potatoes!

one of my all-time favorite foods is the sweet potato...when i start talking about all the ways i love to eat them i sound like bubba from forrest gump talking about shrimp. in fact, my first year in graduate school i made a new friend, craig, who had just moved to the south. somehow, somewhere he also discovered the excellence of sweet potatoes and so, for his birthday that year i made a sweet potato feast... sweet potato fries, brazilian stew, casserole with marshmallows, and a sweet potato, spinach and g nut and special sauce dish were all on the menu.

anyway, i was playing around on the interweb today while boone and his folks watched football and found this fantastically exciting article. did you know that my favorite starch is being used to battle malnutrition in mozambique and other african nations. another thing to be thankful for!

there are a few other s-p related articles out there today...want to learn more? click here, or here.

oh...and here's another thing i want to share... an old friend's semi-new investment...a sweet potato butter business. want to try some? read about it here and buy it here.

images here and here.

a little november blue.

i've got a workshop this weekend and have been feeling just awful all week with a cold, but i wish you a perfectly lovely, relaxing autumn weekend. one where you get to wear a wool blazer and a scarf, frolic in the leaves, and feel the breeze blowing in your hair.


don't forget to leave a comment on yesterday's post to win the november mix!

image by corrie bond

the perfect pattern...

i've always loved this japanese-style wave pattern (apparently it has a name, but i can't find it) but i lusted after batik silks painted with this pattern in bali, and while we were in singapore i bought two bowls for rice that look JUST like the one in the top left. i can't get enough of it's simplicity and fluidity. it just seems like the perfect zen pattern, right?

if i could find a duvet just like this one from crate & barrel that was grey and white for our bedroom i would just keel over and die.

images from here, here, here, and here, here.

beaucoups of bottles...

love the beaker!






imgspark, at, sunday suppers, imgspark, & the last five from at

wishing for white...

i'm ready for spring... wish it was warm enough for me to wear this little number around town and i wish that it was after easter so white was acceptable. and MOST OF ALL i wish 13bees hadn't already sold it b/c it's just a dream! wouldn't it be so pretty for a bride to wear at a brunch or something?

simplicity...

corrie bond

imagespark

illseen illsaid

sunday suppers

i thought we could all use a little serenity & natural light today...

wall papers...

a little more inspiration from everyday objects...


it turns out that sandra juto puts fun little things and pretty papers on her walls instead of hiding them away in drawers. love it.

a head of the curve... (or, the weak pun)

i really like bedrooms to have as few distractions as possible... in our white and silver boudoir we've got a bed, a dresser, bedside tables, and my LOVELY, PERFECT mid 20th century vanity. the thing is, we don't have a headboard which makes the room kind of feels naked... (see below for approximation of bedroom)


i've been looking around for some easy ideas so we could have a headboard if we wanted one, and here's what I've come up with so far...



i think the burlap is my fav, but then the middle two classic ones are pretty, too...not sure about the bird, but it's definitely cool. hmpf.

1 from cafecartolina, 2 and 3 from desire to inspire, 4 from gypsypurple

ordinary to extraordinary...

i love every day objects that are made special with extraordinary materials...

when i was wedding planning, my friend mb gave me the most wonderful silver origami peace cranes from 10,000 villiages that we have hanging in our apt.

and today i saw this... and i might just need to find a way to get one of these bone china cranes all the way from austrailia to atlanta to go with mb's cranes.



or maybe just one of haveyoumetmissjones other fab bone china designs....

Feed bags... and bags that feed!

i rspotted these bags in this month's real simple... and since i HATE HATE HATE plastic grocery bags i was pretty excited. Did you know that apparently we use 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags a year worldwide?? And these bags, never, never disintegrate. ever.

now, i really hope this number has gone down a little since 2008 when publix and wholefoods (even kroger) started selling reusable bags in their stores, but with as many folks as i see leaving with seven or eight plastic bags of groceries, i doubt that it's diminished much.

anyway, for those of you who're always on the lookout for something cool looking AND something good for the world i thought i'd share this. now i know you've got tons of reusable shopping bag options out there, but here's a shopping bag that's not only reusable, but also FEEDS 100 children in a developing country. Also, the company has another one that feeds 1 child for an entire year. this is fabulous, and a great gift idea... besides, who doesn't love the rustic feel of a burlap feed sack?

writing simply and with care...

so boone got me a fab calligraphy set for Christmas (actually, he turned me loose in an art supply store and said... "pick out whatever you want") and on top of that, i know for a fact that "being a bride" is synonymous with "writing a zillion thank you notes." anyway, for that reason i REALLY want this book... and bet all you other folks might want it too

caught the fashion bug today...

so today i was feeling kind crummy and decided to go shopping. i usually try to stick to thrift stores but i needed a bra, and well... i just don't feel uncortable buying used undergarments.

anyway, when i contributed to the enormous consumer machine i didn't buy anything major....but when i got home I continued to look around on online and found that Jcrew is having a big sale on REALLY PRETTY things.

navy dress anyone? again, not socially responsible, but very simple.

this one is only $90 and this one is only $50!
and this one's on sale for $100!
i mean, i just think navy is such a classic color...and the best part is that is goes with pretty much any other color! too bad wedding season's over for me for awhile, otherwise i'd snatch one of these pretties right up.

dresses at jcrew.