happy mothers' day - love, lu

my heart is broken in 10 million pieces

this little store has been the heartbeat of barnard long before i started spending summers there with dabney and long before dabney moved there as a kid.

after 180 years, yesterday was the last day of operation for the barnard general store.



i am hoping and praying someone will come along someday and revive it.

the sound of plastic munching

last week, a thunderstorm caused the electricity to go out for an entire evening. my only entertainment was reading my ipad in the dark while listening to this sound for 4 hours.

not a breathe right strip

happy bobby

attempting to say "hi auntie dabney" with the hiccups.

open house? not.

i wish i could say i was touring this place as a buyer.  alas, i was just walking by.



do you recognize it?

not all easter bunnies are created equal

terrarium

our friend and studio neighbor, wonder, recently bestowed upon dabney this lovely terrarium.

it's a perfect symbiotic relationship in fact. dabney, always the picker, provided the vintage container. wonder, blessed with a green thumb, created the tiny and lush vivarium.

it now sits on our dining room table for all to see.

eat it, don't tweet it

i am so guilty of this.

3 lus

street rugby

fanfarlo @ the duck room

these guys were so so good. they reworked all my favorite tunes off of their stellar first album, while introducing everyone to their wonderful new work on "rooms filled with light."

plus, i got another opportunity to practice dancing with a pint in my hands.

chalkboard jfk

ok, i just might have to paint one of those JFKs afterall. this cracks me up.  he kinda reminds me of sean connery.

hound snood

while googling "how often to feed a bloodhound" (another story), i came across this line - "Bloodhounds are messy eaters, so you may want to tuck the ears into a snood before mealtime."

who knew this is a thing?

not sure friday would ever put up with a snood, but i recall feidler did.

more AT posts

part two of the ongoing series "world's ugliest condo" posted recently, as well as a related post.

after three years, i guess we can call it a tradition.

on friday night, kevin, wonder, jeremy, and i attended the annual oyster festival at the schlafly taproom. for you coastal people, eating freshly-shucked oysters may seem like a trivial thing, but here in the middle, we rarely see them this fresh. in fact, southwest airlines (the festival sponsor) flies the bushels in from all over the country along with a team of star shuckers.

this is the third year that kevin and i have attended and now, we have it down to a science. first rule: get there early. second: grab a beer and prepare to stand in line. third: order a lot and have an extra pair of hands to hold your plates (thanks, wonder).

SLURP!

jfk in chalkboard paint

saw this idea on the novagratz' twitter. do i dare touch the collection?

condo reno in AT

i am almost too embarrassed to admit that the picture above is my family's condo. notice i said "almost too embarrassed" - because now the damn place is now forever memorialized for all the world to see on the pages of apartment therapy.

check out the very controversial post here. i just love all the comments.

moves

i can't get enough of this video taken last weekend. i love her little steps.

dr. mom retires

an article about my mom's upcoming retirement appeared in my hometown paper yesterday.

i'm embarrassed to admit that even i learned a thing or two about my mom and her decision to move to kennett. all i can say is that it's good thing, it didn't rain on the day of their first visit.

read the article here.

elmo is love

it wasn't until babysitting my niece one evening that i discovered how much power a little red fur and googly eyes could have on a child. in fact, we were just ending an episode of dora the explorer. lu seemed to be content and engaged - mellow, but good. i even thought for a moment that she might fall asleep. however, the instant the image of elmo came on that screen, she sat up in her seat and started clapping and yelling with joy.  wow.

if any of you out there can relate such scenarios, i must recommend the documentary being elmo: a puppeteer's journey. the film takes you behind the scenes of kevin clash - puppeteer prodigy and creator of elmo himself.

mr. clash's rise in children's television happens to coincide with my own childhood. i was huge fan of captain kangeroo and the great space coaster (get on board!).  little did i know, the voices behind all those creatures came from such a talent.

next, i am determined to introduce lu to the rest of the magic of the late jim henson.  happy to see that his legend and spirit are still alive in folks like kevin clash.

"being elmo: a puppeteer's journey" is currently streaming on netflix.

stuff instagramers say

florida renovation

we're in the midst of another renovation project. this time, it's my parents' condo in st. petersburg, florida.



before, it had this groovy and unmistakable 1981 vibe. those of you out there who have had the privilege of a visit know what i am talking about. it was a beige, tan, and brown nightmare. dabney and i still loved it for what it was: an escape from frigid new england temperatures. plus, you can't beat the view.

as you can see from the pictures above, it's all gone, gone, gone.

exciting changes are in the air. just in time for my parents retirement. more soon...

a florida house tour for a change

we shot this one when we were in florida last month.  these guys were so nice.  their store is amazing, too.  hopefully, we'll be able to feature it in the near future.  tour here.

and i wonder why all our cabinets have noseprints on them

an astronaut, a robot, and a businessman walked into a bar...

cory booker makes perfect sense

this has been my argument for a long time now, and cory booker finally reaffirms it.

best new artist

bon iver singing one of my favorite songs.

40th birthday

last weekend, we were in seattle celebrating our dear friend's birthday. it was a fun, fabulous weekend with too much drinking and laughter - the best kind of weekend really.

our weekend rental had a tremendous view seattle, complete with rooftop hot tub.




we all attended a fabulous birthday fete during which the honoree wore the coolest hat ever.



we took a leisurely relaxing boat ride on lake union.



we had beautiful dinner party.




it was just great hanging out with my peeps who i don't get to see too often these days.

these bastards rock

last night was our third time seeing these guys live and they NEVER disappoint.

sandman, brakeman, and me

it was good to know you for such a short time.

those of you on instagram or twitter may remember a photo of a rather large pile of herman miller chairs headed to our house last week.

i am happy to report that most of that large pile is now SOLD - minus the 8 we are keeping for ourselves.  i love me a quick sale.

dabney says she's going to buy me something pretty.  why do i think this will be in the form of more chairs?