simplepretty

Happy Friday! Hope you’ll indulge one last glimpse of Valentine’s Day. Aren’t these beautiful? and they tasted even better ….

On with the Five:

1. acceptance
2. Lighthouse
3. Peer Pressure
4. after
5. i love you much(most beautiful darling)

The last photo leaves me hopeful that spring is still planning to come to Chicago. Some day.

Have a great weekend! I’m taking Monday/President’s Day off, and hope to be back in this space sometime on Tuesday morning. See you then.

Well, you may want to consider Orange Beautiful. They are launching custom screen printed stationery very soon. Above is a “Jane” set just for me! Love the colors, and the ornamentation, Emily! They’re so fun – I’ve been working my way through my stationery supplies (stop laughing, sweet husband of mine) and these will fill in nicely.

And because I cannot use a gift until I’ve written an appropriate thank you, the first note from the set is going to Emily. While you’re waiting for the launch, check out OB’s etsy shop for lots of other cute paper supplies. Trust me, you can never have enough.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

p.s. Since we’re talking about Orange Beautiful today, did you see Emily’s Valentine’s Day Dice craft for Daily Candy Kids? There’s still time to make some …. click over to dailycandy.com for the info.

p.p.s. Did you forget to send a Valentine to someone special? Click on over to Kate Spade’s studio site and send a B Mine ecard. There are so many choices, one is bound to catch your eye!

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After a snow bound weekend where I was desperate to read anything, along came “Magazine Monday” (for some reason, magazines tend to arrive in a big pile on Mondays) and a fresh stack of reading to get through. There’s lots of good stuff to pass along, in case you’re headed to the newsstand and need help deciding what to buy.

• Real Simple’s March issue features the “ABC’s of stationery”. Yeah, I was just a little excited to see that article. Linda & Harriett’s sweet little fish birth announcement is featured (love it!), as well as work from Felix Doolittle, Carrot & Stick, and SuperDeluxe. Among others! Sorry that I am not naming you all! I ripped out the pages to save, of course. The other fun thing from Real Simple was recognizing Palmetto-Bluff as the location for the spring fashion shoot. Gorgeous.
• Food&Wine has a nice long pastry article with recipes from Big Sugar Bakeshop. I am so making their baby button cookies.
• Country Living’s March issue features women entrepreneurs. (Reminded me of Victoria magazine’s August shops issue, which I waited for all year. It was always great.) My favorites from the issue? Chandi design, which offers beautiful lighting choices (we have a Chandi globe light in our butler’s pantry and love it), and McMaster & Storm, which has the cutest business card featured in the article, and some lovely calligraphy at their website. E-commerce coming soon! Can’t wait. Their shop looks like a whole lot of fun.
• Haven’t got to Martha Stewart Living or Charleston yet, except for the initial flip through, and both looked so good that I decided to save them for when I had more time. I did have other things to do :)

If that’s not enough reading recommendations for you, there are two guest bloggers this week that I know you’ll like: Elisabeth is blogging at {frolic!}, and Leah, owner of Tiny McSmall (an ultra-cute website) is “guest momming” at DesignMom. My google reader is bursting at the seams from the stars I’ve been awarding to their posts.

See you tomorrow! But first, congratulations to Laura! You won the Nesting book and card giveaway. Send me an email (visit my profile) with the address I should send it to, and I will get it packed up and on its way.

photo courtesy of Lunalux

When I’m in Minneapolis (not often enough, by the way), one of my must-visit shops is Lunalux. It’s totally charming and chock full of letterpress goodies. So I’m glad that Jenni, Lunalux’s owner, sends me emails from time to time, keeping me up on “what’s new”. Yesterday, I learned that Lunalux was featured on WCCO tv as part of its Finding Minnesota feature. Check out the story and video at wcco.com. You can see Jenni at the letterpress, learn a little about letterpress history, and catch a glimpse of the shop! (I love all of the posters.) Then go check out the Lunalux blog, and read the story behind the bacon card (pictured above). Love it! I definitely have a thing for pigs. Let’s just say Pig Fever: Catch It.

Thanks, Jenni! I look forward to visiting your shop again very soon. And when I say very soon, I mean when it’s warmer …. love that “helpful hints from the hounds” card in the video, by the way. Charming!

… tt, if you’re reading, you should visit Lunalux for me ….

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Another indoor weekend meant I had lots of time to read, and plan my escape from the snow and cold. That’s what Chicagoans do in February, I think: we think about where we’d rather be living. (And watch movies. I watched Two Days in Paris Sunday afternoon and enjoyed it immensely.)

Friday’s New York Times had two great escape ideas: one warm and expensive, and one close by, and cheaper, but cold! The warm article featured people who, instead of having second homes, check into posh hotels instead. Like the Breakers from Thanksgiving until May. Sounds good to me. The cold article is a guide to Wisconsin chocolate makers in the “candy delta”. And since my favorite nonpareil maker, Wilmar’s, (thanks Bari!) was the lead photo, I had to learn more. I’ll save that trip for June, I think. In the mean time, be sure to check out the chocolate slide show. The shops look quaint, and the chocolate looks good.

Sunday’s Travel section featured 36 hours in Napa. Since we’re headed to San Francisco and Napa soon for a (too) quick getaway, I ripped it out to save. Frog’s Leap, here we come! Any recommendations for SF or Napa?

See you tomorrow.

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