hats off.

i love these tea accessories from rose and radish.

they look so funny with their hats on!

couch potato.

can you please tell me about couches with this material. is it velvet?

it looks delightful.

does it work? does it get dirty? do i want it? do you have it?

please elaborate and make sure to touch on all topics in question.

valentine

there are sooo many great valentine's day cards on etsy. here are just a few...

two things

1) from jcrew's spring lookbook

2) i think short wedding dresses are neat.

birthday

today my blog is one year old.

i average about 500 readers a day, and i usually post 3 times daily.

i have thoroughly enjoyed blogging, and i hope to keep at it for another year. i'm so glad you guys read it -- blogging is like having a pretty diary that you can share.

i know you guys are out there, not in a stalking way, but in a i see you read it, and i'm glad way. lots of appreciation to anna, jennifer, mom, peggy, sarah and liz, claire, katie p. meghan, lydia, dawn marie, geraline, alex, alexis, val, hartley – I think you’re the only boy, emily, and your sister jean!, rachel, julien, andrea, decorno, SGM, beachbungalow8, Lindsay, AT, desire to inspire, emily, kim, nicole, patricia, laurie, abby, leigh, lauren and so many others i'm not remembering.

you read regularly, and you link to me, and that makes me famous and that's all a girl really wants.

dear alexis,

remember when we went snowshoeing? we looked fierce.

soon we will be on vacay and it will be warm.

this is Alessandra Ambrosio. she's a victoria secret model. this is how she looks on vacay.

i think you know what to do from here.

nest

etsy user paloma's nest has the most wonderful tiny little bowls that she can put a custom message in for you.

i love them all.

found via etsy-love, a great blog that posts daily etsy finds, most of which are right on.

here come the vikings.

i just can't decide how i feel about viking ranges. is it possible to have one without having that stainless steel backsplash thing? have you seen that? can you show me?

i'm telling you, it gets nasty. it takes longer to clean up dinner than to cook AND eat it.

(see illustration for dirty areas)

you have take the grates off, wash the insert things, scrub off the stove top, wipe down the backsplash, wash off the grates, wipe off the oil that has splattered everywhere else, and hope it never happens again this way. but it does.

bookcase of the day

update

i have two left.

who's coming with me!

pre-baby.

us girls got together on saturday for a pre-baby day out. anna's quite pregnant, i'd say.

we decorated cookies and played with anna's cute puppy, finley.

about 1 year ago, we were doing this for lauren!

jennifer's next =)

under my umbrella.

not much rain in the forecast but these umbrellas would be lovely if there was.

nellie mckay

if you can ignore elizabeth hasselback, please enjoy nellie mckay.

this laptop sleeve is lovely.

i still have no holding device for mine. so it doesn't go out much. just hangs around the house.

made to order

one of the great things about brian is that he makes furniture for us.

(during mantel installation)

i wanted a huge table for the kitchen with a bench. he made it!

i needed a coffee table - he made it!

we needed a deck, he's building it. and the mantel.

yay for him.

stuff imitating other stuff

yesterday on AT, there was a house tour of a really cool prefab. when i saw this pic, i thought hmm, that looks like my shower curtain.

i think that's terribly neat, how that works out like that. art imitating nature. success.

ching ching.

good morning young people.

have you heard your omniscient president is going to be sending a checkycheck your way soon?

what do you plan to do with it? spend by all means, b/c that's what he wants (and yes, it makes some sense). but on what!

i planned for a happening such as this. i keep an updated wish list over there on the right, see, scrolling around over there in red?

so, if you've racked your brain and can't come up with anything you need, by no means should you recede further into economic depression. stimulate the U S of A's economy by getting me a small treat.

happy shopping.

xoxo,
jamie.

missing my little corner at the beach

its been months!!

for drinking

this may be a painfully mundane post, but...

brian won this acrylic pitcher at his office christmas party in a game of white elephant --finally, something useful!

he was so proud to show it to me when he got home - he knew i'd love it.

its vacuumed sealed, and is really the best pitcher ever for those lacking a good pitcher for the fridge.

i mix up lots of concoctions for us - we don't drink a lot of soft drinks, and water gets boring.

a favorite is 1 part tropical punch flavored crystal light, and 1 part ginger ale.

its like being served punch at a party!

hello lover

this would be a fabulous valentine's day top, if you're dining somewhere warm. i love the polka dot detail.

from a changing table...

...to a bar cart!

ingenious!

here's how to do it.

gifting

if you're a heavy gifter, and have the wall space, this wall unit would be a pretty cool contraption to have. everything stored in one neat space!

towel

don't you wish it was beach season already?

i would lounge on this towel like it was my J * O * B

i'm loving this clybourn media stand from crate and barrel.

if i were to knock a few walls out of our living room, yes it would perfect.

resolved

one of my new years resolutions was to subscribe to a few of my favorite magazines, and save some money by not buying them in the grocery store for a million dollar more.

i did martha last week, for only $19.00, and that includes 1 year of living, 1 year of the FOOD magazine, and a free gift.

make your own shelf

i've always liked this DIY shelf since i saw it in better homes this past summer.

learn how to make your own here.

bookcase of the day

candidate homes

hilary, mitt romney's vacay house, barack's crib

and of course, the champion of the middle class, your favorite mill worker and mine, j edwards humble abode.

from aol-- "Former Senator and trial lawyer John Edwards has a sprawling estate in North Carolina, including a 10,400-square-foot main house with two garages, a recreation building, and a barn-like building housing a basketball court, squash court, swimming pool and various rooms, including one they call "John's Lounge," according to the Carolina Business Journal. "

tulips

day 3.

see this is working so well b/c our heat is kaput. so its like they are in a cooler at a flower store! (along with us, the cats, some tropical plants that hate it, and the tile floors which are horribly cold)

to recap, here's what we've learned = turn your heat off, have flowers longer.

atonement.

we saw atonement on friday night. very pretty movie, with lots of snazzy outfits. keira knightly says NO a lot in a very sharp british accent. it reminded me of brideshead revisited -- for the 3 of you out there that have read that lovely gem.

our mantel

and the stove has feet now. good thing too - our heat isn't working =)

good for me.

the quilt is working out just fine. brian likes it. i like it. bravo.

on the lookout for snow.

we're trying our best to wait patiently.

close up paw action while we wait.

white.

this weekend we're going to get snow. we MUST get snow. snowsnowsnow.

and i am going to make a point to take pictures of real things and post them next week, b/c i've been slack on that. for example, our new mantle is up and you haven't even seen it yet.

i'll leave you with this white fireplace that does not have a lovely wooden mantle like ours, but is nice to look at nonetheless.

buhbye.

kate spade

kate spade now at bed bath & beyond. and they have our flatware -- our spoons keep disappearing for some reason. so if you'd like to contribute, get me a spoon or two.

loomstate

do you know about loomstate?

it was barney's shot at an in house 'green' brand.

we have a local boutique, uniquities, that has a huge sale every winter, where jeans are like $30 - but you have to just grab at them while fighting 43 other girls, and hope you get something your size that you like.

which i did about 3 years ago, and i ended up with a pair of loomstate jeans. they were way too long, and i've never had them hemmed, but i've practically worn them OUT. i wore them throughout the entire holiday season to parties.

they have really cute details, like custom messages stitched inside the zipper and polka dots on the pockets. and they are made of 98% organic cotton (2% lycra so they'll stretch over my bulbous thighs) in the usa.

anyways, recommend highly.