S M A L L W O R L D S

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i'm loving the new terrarium trend that seems to be everywhere these days...there's even a store here in Gowanus that specializes in terrariums and supplies (havent been yet). 
this is a particularly perfect project for me: i love gardening, adore 'little worlds' like this (especially my dads amazing train layout), mossy/tiny plants...plus it's winter and gardening is out... for a bit.
last weekend i bought this gorgeous, perfect, fabulous terrarium at Sprout in Williamsburg. i can't stop looking at it...and it just makes me smile. more on this topic to come....

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D C B E A U T I E S

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a few month ago we decided to go to dc for thanksgiving weekend...i hadn't been there since i was a kid and was pleasantly surprised by it's beauty, size, and 'city-ness'...it's more than just monuments and the white house! i guess that's all i saw when i was 8. of course, i took scads of photos of some beautiful townhouses, mostly in georgetown which was really lovely in autumn.

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

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the new toy banana is getting some play...finally

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A R T F O R D U M M I E S

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a while back i wrote this post about how excited i was to order these cool prints from inflateddeflated. it's taken me a while to even follow up because it was such a 'deflating' experience. the concept is such a great idea but dealing with the designers of this has been a freaking nightmare...to the point that i feel like an idiot (or dummy) even putting this art up on the wall. here's to hoping i get over it.
between the crazy long ship dates, printing on crappy paper,  shipping flat art in a soft envelope resulting in wrinkles and damage, and then another set of prints weeks later (that were slightly better prints), only to realize that they're a different size than specified, to which i then had to trim all of these down to fit the frames bought for specified size...ugh. ridiculous! i'll show you where we've put them in the next post (and no, it's not the trash)
i never would have thought professionals would've treated their own art so badly. so here i am venting like a crazy person so i don't give a bad review on etsy...i still have a heart! 

great frames from amazon (about the only positive part of the experience...yay!)

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

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post christmas edition

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H O M E F O R T H E H O L I D A Y S

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lots of family fun was had at christmas time. with family members staying with us from Nevada & Cali we basically ate a lot, saw some shows, walked around nyc in the freezing cold, ate some more, hung out around the tree, exchanged some great gifts, made some snowflake ornaments (with judging), and generally had a great time together (except for the 'sleeping on an air mattress in the kitchen' part)!

note the christmas manicure :-)

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

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L I G H T S U P

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it's so hard to get a good photo of the new lights we got from schoolhouse electric. these are handmade here in the usa from "authentic designs dating from the turn of the century to the late 1940's ...all the shades are hand blown in antique molds using the same methods for 150 years".
here's a shot of the foyer light which is really fabulous...the lights in the 2nd/3rd floor hallways are the same style/shade and are flush to the ceiling without the pendant.

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H A L L W A Y . D O N E .

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our 'little' hallway renovation is complete! what started as a simple coat of paint on the walls turned into:
spackling, sanding and then 2 colors on the walls
painting the entire banister including hundreds of spindles
newell post stripping/sanding/repairing
stripping/painting the iron door grate
repairing the vestibule door
new locks/knob on the vestibule door
new locks/knobs on our apartment's door
4 new light fixtures from schoolhouse electric
new carpeting on the 3rd floor
sanding/cleaning/waxing the antique benchhanging some art that was stored away for 8 years
and a new cabinet to house all the hallway 'stuff
whew! looking good!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

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all kinds of cute happening this time of year!

 

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I T ' S B E G I N N I N G . . .

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to look a lot like...oh you know. with this past weekend being so rainy, it was a good time to get started with the  makings of the christmas wonderland. the family's coming to stay with us for christmas and i've guaranteed all kinds of holiday magic. the first bit of magic comes in the form of an eight and a half foot christmas tree. going big this year!

shopping for a tree in brooklyn is always pretty wacky

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