I got up quite early this morning (5:30!), which means the task of collecting the newspapers fell on me. I’m grateful, because it was the most beautiful, starry morning. Orion was right there, beckoning to me over my neighbor’s house. (Not that everyone has a favorite constellation, but Orion is mine, and has been since I was a little girl.) I even found the big dipper, and set out trying to locate the little dipper, but got cold and gave up. I may do a little websearch on constellations this morning. Perhaps I saw more that I just didn’t realize :)During another recent websearch, I found two more entries to my personal design annual. Both are bottled waters. Quite different in design. I like them both:
Bot Beverages – looks Japanese to me. I imagine it’s the sort of bottled water that Hello Kitty (or the Twin Stars) would carry around. So far, it’s only available in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast US. photo from Bot Beverages
antipodes – from New Zealand. Beautiful bottle, isn’t it? Love the text. The company is Carbon Neutral in production and export. I’d like one bottle of the still and one of the sparkling for the Speckled Egg archives, I think :) photo from antipodes
I’m off to bus stop duty, a little at-home Pilates, and then a run to JoAnn’s for costume supplies (it’s a secret, and no, it’s not for me) before catching a movie this afternoon. See you tomorrow! And of course, a happy anniversary to my parents!
So, today it’s back in time to Saturday, when it was warm and sunny. Our field trip was to the Discovery Museum, part of the Lake County Forest Preserve District. I was interested in seeing the new exhibit “Pocket Anthropology: A Treasure of Handbags”, and I figured there would be things for the boys to see and do as well. At the very least, they could take a walk outside on a gorgeous day. It was complete good fortune that the first exhibit we entered was all about postcards. Did you know that the Eiffel Tower was a popular post card to send when it first opened? There were many postcards of small towns (very popular in the day), and most interesting, the Curt Teich Company, a postcard company based in Chicago, used to provide invasion maps to the US military during World War II under much secrecy. The company even employed Japanese staff to continue with the postcard side of the business to deflect suspicion. Teich’s complete archives are housed at the museum. The postcard factory is now housing. I believe it’s called “Postcard Place”.
On the amusing side, there was a contest to win a pair of shoes where entrants had to write “H.A.Diehl Shoe Co. sells the best shoes for the least money” as many times as they could on the back of a standard postcard. The winner had more than 1000. Also, postcards used to be addressed: John Doe, City, State. That’s it. Quaint, considering that zip+4 is heavily used today.We finished our tour with the handbag exhibit (just okay, but the postcards more than made up for it) and an exhibit dedicated to the history of Lake County. We made our son watch an 8-minute clip of movies made in Lake County (Blues Brothers, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Risky Business among many others). He was underimpressed. Of course, he’s ten.
Driving away, my husband thought the scene above was gorgeous. It was: in person. By the way, there is a neat handbag event coming up at the museum.
1154 Lill, a Chicago-based custom handbag company will be at the museum November 3 (Saturday) from 11:30 – 2:30 helping you make the perfect bag! Registration is required.
Wow. The weather gods certainly smiled on Chicago this weekend. After a cool and blustery Friday night, perfection was in order for Saturday and Sunday. We tried to do “outside” things as much as possible during the daytime. On Saturday, we made it to the Lake County Forest Preserve museum. More on that tomorrow. (The forest preserve was spectacular!) Yesterday, the doors were open, and it was a day to hang out. Couldn’t drag my family into the car, and traffic, when it was sublime outside. In the morning, my son and I worked on the Puzzability puzzle in the New York Times, and I am quite proud to say that we were victorious! And then, of course, there is the small matter of the Red Sox going to the World Series, which made for exciting Saturday and Sunday nights!Because it is October, there was plenty of non-daylight hours to fill as well. You already know about the baseball, but Flickr also beckoned, because I was taking a lot of pictures over the weekend, and therefore would upload from time to time to see how I was doing. While doing Flickr “research” I found a new blog (and photographer) that I think you all will enjoy, thanks to an interview with one of my favorite photographers, Cindy/*Cinnamon. In the interview, Cindy recommends Sea and Sky, a new photoblog with photos from M in Seattle and Gilly from northern England. Clicking through the blog posts, I came upon this lovely picture of Emma Bridgewater pottery, and so of course, the next step was to go over to Flickr to see more. Love her photos! And so, another Flickr contact was born …. Check out Gilly’s photos here, and see if you don’t agree. I’ve added Sea and Sky to my “you should visit” section. (You really should visit.)This week’s New York magazine is all about design. (it will be very hard to wait for it in the mail this week) One of the designers they’re honoring as a Design Revolutionary is Martha Stewart.
I have to agree. She’s certainly changed the way we think about living. Oh, this issue will be good ……
Happy Friday! Some of you in Red Sox Nation may want to revoke my status as “true fan”, but I was way too nervous to watch them play last night. So relieved that it’s going back to Fenway …. can Josh Beckett pitch every game, please? And what is up with the 1-hour every week Office? Did I miss that memo? Taped Mad Men, so as soon as iTunes releases last week’s episode, I’m good to go. Here are the Five:
- ::
- Morning on the lake
- Doorway to the Orchard
- sour bounty
- Old Barn
Enjoy your weekend! See you Monday!
I forgot to tell you about the orecchiette with sausage and peppers. It was fabulous, tasty and completely easy. Definitely making it again ….. try it!
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It’s raining ….. a spring rain today, all thunderstormy and warm, complete with severe weather watches. So I’m going back in time to Tuesday, when on the way to school it looked like this.Maybe it’s not raining in Minneapolis. Wouldn’t you like to go to Letterbox this Saturday? I’m always up for visiting a fun stationery shop. Letterbox has an impressive list of vendors, plus poetry and small press publications. They even have a charming, romantic backstory of how Letterbox came to be. (And yes, I’m a little envious that Kimberley a. got to live in Brooklyn for a spell and b. worked at Papivore!) Already sounds great, right? Ready to go? Well if you visit Saturday, you’ll be there for their Celebrate the Season open house, and bonus: it’s also Cupcake Saturday, a regular feature! Local baker Sheela Namakkal brings five or so flavors of cupcakes to Letterbox on Saturday for a little frosting and cake to top the card and gift shopping fun. If I lived there, you know I’d be visiting on Saturday, knocking off the Christmas list while having a cupcake (or two). Brilliant!
Not anywhere close to Minneapolis, but Salt Lake City is your stomping ground? Curious Cupcake has some gorgeous cupcakes, too. Love the florals, and the pumpkins, but my favorite are the camping-themed cupcakes (see above). They remind me of scout badges. I’m sure that Curious Cupcakes could point you toward a stationery shop ….cupcake image courtesy of the Curious Cupcake.
Heading the other direction, Boston specifically (c’mon Red Sox!), this weekend is the Fort Point Open Studios. Wow, there is an impressive list of artists, including one of my favs, Laura Davidson. While you’re there, you can check out the ICA (the exhibit Design Life Now sounds good to me), the Boston Children’s Museum, and should you need a cupcake or a sweet or lunch, Flour Bakery is there, too. I recommend their “oreo”.Guess I need to find something equally impressive to do in Chicago this weekend. This list was motivating …..By the way: for cupcakes in Chicago, it’s Southport Grocery’s vanilla version – hands down, and stationery? gotta be Greer or Paper Doll …..
