new-homefurniture: September 2011

You Are...

My husband gave me the sweetest birthday card that I had to share. He spends a lot of time picking out the perfect one - and he always gets it right. It read:

You Are...

my wake-up kiss.

my mid-day chat.

my "Did you hear?"

my "How 'bout that!"

my confidante.

my biggest fan.

my ego check.

my master plan.

my sounding board.

my other view.

my best advice,

my "Good for you!"

my steady date.

my "hurry-up" tug.

my hand-in-hand.

my loving hug.

my better half.

my happy life.

my one true love.

my gorgeous wife!

you are everything to me.

Gingham + Lobster

I love this place setting using lobster claw crackers tied in gingham.

{via}

Stella's bike has been waiting in the garage patiently for her little legs to grow for well over a year and a half now. Finally, her feet can reach the pedals and this weekend was the first to take her pink Schwinn out for a spin. Once she got the hang of it, she loved going fast. She looks like such a big girl to me in these pictures.

First Day Of Fall

Delicious autumn!

My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird

I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
George Eliot

Candy Coated

Is it wrong to bribe your child with candy to get them to wear something you adore? I'm so in love with this coat from Zara but I just know Stella won't wear it. She already has issues with putting a coat on. I mean, it was only 2 nights ago while changing her into her PJs that she started dancing and told me, "When I'm naked, I like to wiggle and shake". She has a big furry pink coat hanging in her closet that she's been waiting to wear for over a year now because if it's pink, she'll wear it...so I know she'll cry to wear it instead if I were to buy this. But seriously...this is candy-bribe-worthy, right?

Oysters + Saltines

Fresh oysters with champagne mignonette? No way. When I was younger, my grandfather and I would sit on his dock in Florida as he'd shuck oysters on the spot. He'd put them on Saltines with a dash of Tabasco and thus started my love for oysters. To this day, that is exactly how I still like them. I have a dream to open the cutest little oyster/lobster roll bar here in Dallas. I absolutely love the likes of Pearl Oyster Bar, Mary's Fish Camp in NYC, and all the lobster roll shacks that you find roadside in Maine, such as Red's. We just don't have anything like that here. Lately, I keep coming across this oyster bar in Seattle, The Walrus and The Carpenter. Then just as I was flipping through the current Bon Appetite, I saw they listed it as one of the Best New Restaurants In America. I love that it's a clever nod to Lewis Carrol and the interior is just the cutest! How quickly can I book my flight?

Random Weekend Thoughts

The summer may be over but we're still breaking all the rules. Stella asked for heart-shaped pancakes for dinner and I said OK. Why not?

I'd love to say that Stella eats what we eat but that is not reality. I have a serious picky eater and I'm happy if she just eats. So while she had pancakes, we made this delicious and easy sweet bison chili in the crockpot. This recipe is a keeper! If you're not so keen on the sweet part, just omit the honey (we added less than what was called for). So happy I forgot Fritos since I'm laying low on carbs right now. I would not have been able to resist them. I highly recommend the guac, though!

After dinner, I lit some candles

(just bought this big hurricane lantern at Pierre Deux's final days sale),

grabbed a magazine that made me giddy for fall,

and watched The Emmy's. Thrilled that Mildred Pierce was nominated so much and that Kate Winslet won for her role - it was such a great movie!

Happiness Is...

The first hint of fall in the air and gathering up pumpkins to place them around the house.

Birthday

Both my mom and my grandmother's birthdays were on September 11. I got them this card marrying the celebration of their happy day and New York City. Seemed fitting.

And Stella painted this picture to place on top of her gift to my mom.

I love children's watercolor paintings.

Mini Interview

I just adore this idea I spotted here via Pinterest (I may need an intervention). It's a mini interview that you conduct with your little one on their birthday. You then save it for them to read later. Personally, I would like to take it one step further and have Jeff and myself fill out a page as well so she can have that bit of information for keepsake, too. Now I'm thinking of the questions I'd like to ask...what would you include?

New York Tribute / Sept 11

"The city streets were, indeed, unnaturally quiet that day, but it was quietness, not extinction. There was grace, an endurance, in the silence of those streets and of the country beyond them." - New York Times Editorial, September 11, 2002.

While I did live in New York during September 11, 2001, I’d rather tell you a story about September 11, 2002.

My friend and co-worker, Anna and I just could not fathom going into work on the one year anniversary. So we headed to Central Park to relax and reflect. It was unusually windy that day, so windy it was knocking out the glass windows on the Time Warner building, which was under construction. Because of this, we heard tons of sirens coming from the west side of the park. Nervous of another attack, we called friends, but then were quickly assured it was only due to the glass windows falling. Then something rather magical happened. In the distance, we could hear Billy Joel’s song, “New York State of Mind” playing. We sat there and listened, looking at each other, wondering where it could be coming from. I turned to Anna with a revelation, “this is not a recording! This is really him singing live!” We shoved our blankets into our bags and ran as fast as we could towards the music…all the way from Sheeps Meadow to the Great Lawn. Mind you, it was a work day and too windy so we were one of few in the park that day. When we entered the empty lawn we saw all the way at the other end a huge stage with none other than Billy Joel at the piano. We ran up there, spread out our blankets and listened in total disbelief. It’s as if we were having our own private concert in the middle of Central Park in the middle of New York City! After Billy rehearsed a few times, then Meryl Streep came out and rehearsed a reading. We found out that it was in preparation of a September 11 Memorial Benefit that would be held later that evening. We were also told we were more than welcome to camp out so we could have front row seats. And that’s exactly what we did. We called a few friends to join us and later listened to the likes of a local boys choir sing and Michael Bloomberg give a speech. It was a beautiful way to spend the anniversary, paying tribute to all. It was truly an “Only in New York, kids, only in New York” moment.

New York Tribute / Sept 10

"I carry the place around the world in my heart but sometimes I try to shake it off in my dreams." - F Scott Fitzgerald

{via}

New York Tribute / Sept 9

Stella helped Jeff put our flag out on September 1. She told him she thought the colors in the flag were pretty and then asked why we were putting it out. Jeff told her, "because we love America". It made my heart smile to see them slowly popping up today in our neighborhood. I make an effort to not talk about the sad events and details surrounding not only that day but the many months that followed. It happens to be the birthday of three of my family members as well, including my mother and grandmother's. So while I allow myself a little bit of time to be sad and cry and remember, I then turn my focus on the celebration of life and our country's patriotism.

{via}

New York Tribute / Sept 8

My friend, Jaine Kershner, took this gorgeous picture tonight of the lights being tested for Sunday's anniversary tribute. She also has a blog documenting her photography, Brklyn View. I'm so proud of your beautiful work, Jaine!

New York Tribute / Sept 7

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

New York Tribute / Sept 6

America's pumpkin loaded and ready to go to New York on October 11, 2001.

{William Garvey via}

First Day Of Fall (Kind Of)

What a wonderful Labor Day weekend we had hanging out with friends and family, swimming, cooking, and finally buying some precious pink Toms for a precious pink princess. Our heatwave broke one day shy of tying the record for hottest summer ever in Dallas. We went from highs of 107 to highs of 87. I could not believe my car read 74 yesterday morning - it feels amazing and it seems like today is the unofficial first day of fall.

The September Vogue issue, pumpkin spiced lattes, cardigans, and gearing up for the holidays...after this summer, I couldn't be more ready!

New York Tribute / Sept 5

Just a handful of some of my favorite movies set in New York City...can you identify each one?

"Well, when I get it {the mean reds} the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that would make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!"

"Go get 'em, Katie."

"See ya, Hubbell."

"There's an old joke. Uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."

"Move your ass, preppy".

"I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

"In New York I learned that I needed to love my mother and father in all their flawed, outrageous humanity, and in families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness. But it is the mystery of life that sustains me now. I look to the north, and I wish again that there were two lives apportioned to every man - and every woman."

"At the end of every day I drive through the city of Charleston and I cross the bridge that will take me home. I feel the words building inside me, I can't stop them, or tell you why I say them, but as I reach the top of the bridge these words come to me in a whisper. I say these words as a prayer, as regret, as praise, I say: Lowenstein, Lowenstein."

"I'm impressed."
"Well, I'm in love."

"Good things come to compulsive-obsessives who fixate."

"I think we're just gonna to have to be secretly in love with

each other and leave it at that, Ritchie."

"I know I'm doing everything wrong, but I promise you that I
will always be here for you."
"Kate? You're not doing *everything* wrong."