BFF Brad is heading out here to NoHu for a dip and dinner today so we can plan our upcoming trip to Barcelona SP and Arles FR.

We staying at the incomparable Grand Hotel Nord-Pinus in Arles FR but are searching for something equally unique in Barcelona.

Any recommendations Dear Readers?

Photo courtesy of 123RF

I’ve been working on so many things getting this house in NoHu opened up for the summer season.
So far the pool shed looks amazing in its new cedar shake siding. The snow damaged grass and fir trees are greening and growing. Next on my never-ending-list –I’m replacing part of the pared back woods with a bed of luscious proliferating ferns.

The present poolside shrubs are suffering –BFF Brad is going to help me resolve this long overdue mess, but I can focus on the furnishings all on my own. So, I’m shopping. McGuire has lovely lovely furnishings. And there images are top notch and inspirational. Did I mention how much I love my McGuire etagere that I picked up last fall at a NoHu garage sale for $15 dollars. It’s a perfect addition to the poolside sunroom that now houses beach towels, magazines, bird calls and a John Derian Whale platter.

Today calls for potting newly picked up gardenia trees (the aroma is amazing) terra-cotta bowls of succulents and will hopefully find time to fit a bike ride in later today.

And you?

You-in-the-know know how I love my white jeans (I have several pairs) and YES I wear them year round.
So when fellow blogger Heather Clawson of Habitually Chic sent out her recent post I took careful notice.

Please visit her site to see even more carefully curated crisp white jean images.
And shop the Gap for great basic white jeans– available in several different style and cuts…..I do.

Courtesy The Sartorialist

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day here in the States.
Or in my home it’s Mummy’s Day. (Lola has a hard time with “th” in her pronunciation).

Hermes

I’ll spend the day with my sunshine girl on a super long walk and then reading the NY Times.

And you?

I know I constantly bring Heath Ceramics to your attention.
But it is one of my all time favorite places (I love stopping in the Sausalito 1947 provenance when feeling a little cerulean) and I start each and every day here in NoHu with my French Roast in a Heath Coupe mug. I just like sharing the love!
This interesting and informative video just came across my desk and is totally worth taking a look.
I find it fascinating, I hope you enjoy it too!

http://vimeo.com/31697598

It is with a heavy heart I bring you the sad news that Maurice Sendak passed away this AM.

I remember after having his books read to us, I would sit for hours studying the pages –looking for his beloved Jennie intertwined in the elaborate illustrations (his white terrier was hidden on most pages– see more about her below) and analyzing every detail of his beautiful yet strange creatures.

He was “widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche, died on Tuesday in Danbury, Conn. He was 83 and lived in Ridgefield, Conn.

Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children. He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously “Where the Wild Things Are,” which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963.

In book after book, Mr. Sendak upended the staid, centuries-old tradition of American children’s literature, in which young heroes and heroines were typically well scrubbed and even better behaved; nothing really bad ever happened for very long; and everything was tied up at the end in a neat, moralistic bow.

Mr. Sendak’s characters, by contrast, are headstrong, bossy, even obnoxious. (In “Pierre,” “I don’t care!” is the response of the small eponymous hero to absolutely everything.) His pictures are often unsettling.”

Hmmmm….headstrong, bossy, even obnoxious? “I don’t care!” I’ll just pause here for a moment.

While attending art school at MCAD, I head the pleasure to see him speak and he reminded me of a forgotten book that now as an adult has a much deeper meaning to me:
“There Must Be More to Life” published in 1967. It is worth taking another look today.

“There Must Be More to Life” was a valentine to Jennie, his beloved Sealyham terrier, who died shortly before the book was published.
At the start of the story, Jennie, who has everything a dog could want — including “a round pillow upstairs and a square pillow downstairs” — packs her bags and sets off on her own, pining for adventure. She finds it on the stage of the World Mother Goose Theatre, where she becomes a leading lady. Every day, and twice on Saturdays, Jennie, who looks rather like a mop herself, eats a mop made out of salami. This makes her very happy.”

An important excerpt: “Hello,” Jennie writes in a satisfyingly articulate letter to her master. “As you probably noticed, I went away forever. I am very experienced now and very famous. I am even a star. … I get plenty to drink too, so don’t worry.”

I hope to get an equally satisfyingly articulate letter from Miss Lovely Lola some day in the future– in the long, long, long, far off future. That would make me “very happy.”

Read the entire New York Times obituary: Maurice Sendak.

Heath Ceramics is having an Open Studio sale.
Do not miss out on this Season’s limited fresh colors.
Imagine sipping coffee every morning from a pretty California Poppy hue Studio Mug.

“About this Season: Matte orange hues of California Poppy and Grapefruit saturate both classic Heath shapes and new designs. These vibrant glazes pair with our traditional Birch glaze and are also are highlighted in some pieces juxtaposed with our exposed clay body. A range of techniques gives each piece a fresh, new context for summer. This collection is available, in limited quantities, from April 1 – October 1, 2012.”

Seasonal Appetizer Set

Coaster and Glass sets

Bud Vases

I’m happy to report this May Day that Madeline Weinrib has new Ikat patterns available. Many are available as pillows as well as fabric by the yard. (See my past posts on the beyond talented Madeline).

“The mix-and-match permutations of color and pattern that define Madeline Weinrib’s Ikat Pillows become the focal point of any room. Made from Madeline’s Ikat textiles that are woven in Central Asia from hand dyed silk and cotton thread, each pillow has been hand sewn in New York and finished with stitched suede piping, Belgian linen backing, goose down filler and mother-of-pearl buttons.”

All patterns — along with her amazing rugs–may be found at ABC Carpet and Home (her grandfather founded the iconic retail establishment) and at Madeline Weinrib.

(Zigzag Dress)

With the month of May beginning tomorrow, spring dresses are on my mind.
Here are a few from M Missioni this season. I find them fresh and easy –throw them on with some simple accessories (let the Missioni do the talking) and you are out the door!
All can be found at Neiman Marcus or at M Missioni.

(Intarsia Tank Dress)

(Zigzag Sleeveless Dress)

Praise the gawds! There’s finally an app for that.
I’m talking micro climates in the Bay Area!

I can’t tell you how many times while wintering (yes wintering is a verb) in Marin County last year, I would head out to run Miss Lola and wonder what the ever changing weather was like at the Mill Valley dog park or on Ocean Beach or at Fort Funston, the Marin Headlands or Crissy Field…..As 7×7 zine has reported:
“In this city, temperatures can vary as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit from block to block, especially in the summer, and 30 degrees throughout the broader Bay Area.

Thus, the common advice to visitors here has always been to “dress in layers.”

I’m downloading it to my iPhone while I write….. SF Climates designed by Michelle Sintov.

(Lola at Marin Headlands 2011)