CHRISTMAS BEDDING

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It causes me pain to think about decorating for the holidays but Christmas bedding sets with all those cute snowmen and snowflakes just makes me smile. Most years, the thought of drifting off to dreamland surrounded by that Jolly Old Elf and his cohorts is enough to get me off my duff and get busy.

But this year...not so much because last Christmas when I was watching movies in bed, I spilt hot chocolate all over my Frosty the Snowman comforter (dang it). Frosty now has a dark tan; at least parts of him do. It's sad, but since there's nothing I can do about it, I'm telling myself that I was kind tired of my old holiday bedding anyway. There's just no sense in crying over a chocolate brown Frosty?

So, now I have to make a decision on which direction I want to take my holiday bedroom decor. Do I buy a poinsettia bedding set and go with a traditional red and green color scheme, another blue and white Christmas bedding set similar to my old one or buy something funky like one of The Nightmare Before Christmas bedding set collections? I decorated one teen girls' bedroom for Christmas a year or so ago with a set of 101 Dalmations bedding. The comforter set wasn't specifically designed for the holidays, but the colors were absolutely perfect! Those of you with black and white bedding sets should take note of that fact and work with what you have!

I'm going to take a look at all of the above and I'll get back to you on what I find but meanwhile feel free to share any suggestions.

Happy Halloween!

POOR CHARLIE BROWN.

Saturdays with Hedy Lamarr #29

Designer to Watch-Erin Martin

We stumbled upon the work of Erin Martin the other day and we think we're in love!

Her work is organic in a very sophisticated way. The words "organic" or "sustainable" get thrown around a lot these days but very people get it right. We love her use of natural materials, muted colors and texture variety.

Her designs seem very original too-as no two houses are alike.

Here is a sample of her work:

To see more of her work, visit Erin Martin Design.

Real Cool Barstool

We totally dig this barstool from Arteriors. It has an unique shape to it, and we love the organic look/feel.

The barstool sells at $450/each with free shipping.

You can find the specifications in our barstool section.

Trashcan Sinatras - Usually (Live)

I'm so very super crazy excited. Tonight I'm seeing Trashcan Sinatras play a private house party in my hometown. There will only be about 50 people at the party and Trashcan Sinatras will play a few acoustic sets and chat and mingle with everyone. It's potluck and BYOB! I have worshipped this little known, Scottish band since I was a freshman in high school and I have never seen them live. Now, 20 years later I'll see them for the first time in this unique setting. My heart might burst.

Honky Tonk Angels is BACK!!!!

Jamie Lyn and company bring HONKY TONK ANGELS back to Hill Country BBQ on Thursday, November 11th with a lineup that features the talents of Brooklyn songstress Kelli Rae Powell, Lindy Loo & the Jake Leg Strutters, and country-rock maven Michaela Anne Band. A night of raucous original music from New York’s finest female alt-country bands, HONKY TONK ANGELS provides a stomping ground for women who write cutting edge music across a variety of sub-genres – classic country, country-rock, alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, western swing, and country-folk. The show curates artists who pay homage to the raw and eclectic soul of American roots music cultivated in the heart of New York City.

This month's lineup:
9:00 pm Kelli Rae Powell
Kelli Rae Powell is the tiny ukulele-wielding, redheaded stepchild of Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash. Whether she's growling out wry ruminations or purring her way through a drinkaby (a lullaby-meets-drinking song of her own device), she delivers the kind of consistently literate lyrics that once prompted Tommy Ramone to call her a poet. The Deli Magazine NYC says, "Kelli is a talented folkstress, a great performer and a wonderful entertainer. Particularly suited for all the ones who have relationship problems."
www.kelliraepowell.com

10:00 pm Lindy Loo & the Jake Leg Strutters
Lindy Loo and the Jake Leg Strutters are a honky tonk bluegrass band. Lindy Loo, who first went to Nashville as Miss Minnie Pearl's protégé, blends music and comedy in that same old school country tradition and her Strutters play right along. With a balance of heartstrings and humor their honky tonk tales illuminate big city country living. Lindy has long been a fixture on the New York Country music scene, and has been called "…One of the funniest gals in this great country of ours…" by Country Weekly. http://www.myspace.com/bigcityhick.


11:00 pm The Michaela Anne Band
Growing up in a military family, Michaela Anne lived as a modern day gypsy - traveling the American terrain as well as abroad. Drawing inspiration from great artists like Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and Hank Williams to name a few, her result is a rich blend of the down home folk and country of her family's Midwestern roots, with the sophisticated worldly sounds of the city. Whether it's a soft intimate moment you're searching for or a boot-stompin hollerin' good time, a show with Michaela Anne is sure to bring it! www.michaelaanne.com

The Beauty of Mad Men #10

Season 2, Episode 13, "Meditations on an Emergency"

Interpol - Live at The Joint - 10/22/2010

Interpol live at The Joint (photo by me)

October 22, 2010

This was my fourth time seeing Interpol live. Two of the three previous shows were absolutely spectacular with fantastic energy, eye popping light sequences, and pure crowd love. One of the previous shows was a short set, two days after they had played Coachella, a quick stopover as they essentially "tried out" some of the tracks for their forthcoming album and it felt exactly like what it was: a practice run. It was a letdown.

I was a little worried going into this show because their new self-titled fourth album is not really doing it for me. But I shouldn't have let my worries get the best of me. This is a tight band that knows how to put on a good show. They are also one of the few bands that seem to truly enjoy playing Vegas and lead singer Paul Banks is vocal in letting us know it. In addition I was a little concerned about Carlos D leaving the band. Would the lack of his prescence be noticeable? He was such a striking figure, a true individual character in a band with plenty of character as a whole, not to mention his throbbing bass lines that provided the crux of so many of their songs. But honestly, his absence did not affect the band's performance. I've always enjoyed watching guitarist Daniel Kessler's manic on stage movement the most anyway. He glides back and forth and side to side on his quick feet until you are suprised that he can move like that and play at the same time!

Overall the setlist consisted of five songs from their first album Turn on the Bright Lights, six from their second breakthrough and most popular album Antics, only one lonely song from their third outing Our Love to Admire, and a full six off their new self titled fourth album. I will first say that the songs off the new album sounded much better live and actually made me want to give the album more of a chance. Secondly, hearing live seven songs from their latter two albums and eleven songs from their earlier two albums ultimately reveals the difference between the two parts of their career so far: their early work contains a palpable energy, propulsion, and ROCK that their latter work is lacking. It's not that there new work is not as good as their older work, but it is decidedly different to my ears and I prefer the raw intensity of their first two albums to the rather lanquid unfolding of their last two.

But Interpol is a very smart band. They obviously know that my opinion is the same opinion as a lot of their fans and they rewarded our loyalty by playing a setlist that consisted of over 60% older songs.

And I thank them for it.

Setlist (for those of you into that kind of thing):
Success (Interpol)
Say Hello to the Angels (Turn on the Bright Lights)
C'mere (Antics)
Memory Services (Interpol)
Rest My Chemistry (Our Love to Admire)
Summer Well (Interpol)
Narc (Antics)
Evil (Antics)
Untitled (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Barricade (Interpol)
Lights (Interpol)
Slow Hands (Antics)
PDA (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Try it On (Interpol)
Not Even Jail (Antics)

Encore:
NYC (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Take You on a Cruise (Antics)
Obstacle I (Turn on the Bright Lights)

Nikon Small World

These are some of the 2010 winners

of the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition 

which according to Nikon aims to

showcase "the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope." 

Incredible aren't they?

5 Day Old Zebrafish Head by Hideo Otsuna

Cancer by Dr. Paul D. Andrews

Mollusc Baby by Dr. Gregory Rouse

Soap Film by Gerd Guenther

Soy Sauce by Yanping Wang

Wasp Eye by Charles Krebs

Mirabilis jalapa (four o’clock flower) Stigma with Pollen by Robert Markus

Inspirational Decorating Photos

We would like to make a little announcement today. A few months back we announced the launch of Digging Decor, which originally was conceived as a design blog.

As the months went by, we decided the better approach was to re-design it as a decorating community site, with the focus on decorating photos.

If you're anything like us, you rather look at the pictures than read the text, right? The goal for the site is to be the largest library of decorating photos, all well-indexed and well-categorized for easy searching with proper credit given to the original source.

We hate to toot our own horn, but the site is quite lovely and quite sleek. In addition to having tons of pictures, you can also join the community to ask fellow members questions like-- how to do this, where to find what etc. You can also post your own blog, upload picture of your favorite room, and get updated on deals and designed-related events.

We would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it if you come visit the site, and better yet, be a part of our community and submit your favorite decorating photos. Thanks in advance!

Interior Design Photos

The Beauty of Mad Men #9

Season 2, Episode 10, "The Inheritance"

Vogue September Issue-A True Economic Indicator

If you watch the news and read the papers, you can get reallly confused. One day the housing index is up, the next day it's down. One day the stock market roars for some weird reason, the next day it tanks for other weirder reasons.

And you know what the best economic indicator there is?

The Vogue September issue.

We just got it today and it's nice and fat again. True, you have to flip through hundred of ads to get to some flimpsy content, but the nice part about that is, advertisers are spending money again! Which can leads to all kind of good things.

And we don't know about you, but we are having this frugality fatigue, big time. Enough already with all this self-deprivation. Sure, the way we spend money is forever changed, but if you really really want those Channel clogs and you don't have to cut into the rent to pay for it, why the heck not...

So here's to Vogue, and to better times ahead!

PS There's a lovely feature on an art-filled apartment. Click here to see the slideshow.

Source: Vogue

Saturdays with Hedy Lamarr #28

Middlesex - Book Review

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I loved Eugenides' first book The Virgin Suicides. It had a dreamy nostalgia to it that appealed to me and I could really FEEL his setting and his characters.

I don't know why it took me so long to pick up his second, Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Middlesex, but now that I've read it I must say I'm quite disappointed. As sprawling family sagas go, it had compelling characters and a very unique story to tell, but for me it meandered too much, got lost on its tangents and continually dropped focus on the most interesting character of all: narrator Cal Stephanides. It frustrated me when Eugenides would give a little snippet of Cal's story that would excite me and then veer off again and tell another involved story about a side character that I never cared for as much as I cared about Cal. If Eugenides had edited about 200 pages out of this story it would have received five stars from me. As is, it was a bit of a chore to read and it didn't compel my full page turning attention until the last 150 pages or so. Once he finally let the family history go and focused directly on Cal's self discovery I loved the book. I'm just sorry I couldn't love the entire book as much as I loved the last part of it.



View all my reviews

Sleek Design from Fu Tung Chen

We stumbled accross Fu Tung Chen's work a few years back and we're still in love. Known for exquisite concrete design, his work has such an elegance and refined quality to it.

Here are some samples of his portfolio...

Photos: Fu Tung Cheng

Ralph Lauren's Decor Style

Did you see the spread in last month Elle Decor on Ralph Lauren?  His place is to die for, seriously.

Ralph Lauren has been around for so long. We remember saving up for a set of his paisley bedsheets in the 80S! His style evolves a bit, but not much. We suppose that's why they call it classic, right?

Here are some pictures from Elle Decor in case you haven't seen them.

All photos from Elle Decor

We've just added Ralph Lauren fabrics and wallpapers to our fabric store.  You can check them out here...

Playing with a torn biceps tendon

If you are a fan of baseball, you know that we are well into the playoffs. My Dad asked me a question the other day that I thought would make a good blog post. His question was how could Edgar Renteria, a shortstop for the San Francisco Giants, continue to play with a torn biceps tendon? This is a good question, and from media reports, it seems Renteria tore the tendon in his left biceps brachii while swinging at a pitch against the Braves last week. The biceps brachii is the large (well, large in some people) muscle located on the anterior (front) part of the upper arm. There are actually two parts to the biceps brachii, as biceps means two heads. In the picture to the left, the number 5 is pointing to the tendon that attaches the long head of the biceps brachii to the upper part of the scapula (shoulder), and the number 9 is pointing to the short head of the biceps brachii, which attaches to the lower part of the scapula. The number 4 points to the common tendon of both heads that attaches to the radius (elbow). The biceps brachii actually has 3 jobs, or functions. 1) It helps with shoulder flexion (raising your arm straight up in front of you), 2) it helps with elbow flexion (bending your elbow), and 3) it helps with supination of the proximal radiounlar joint (holding your palms up). I say it helps with these motions because there are other muscles that cause these motions as well, such as the anterior deltoid for shoulder flexion, the brachialis for elbow flexion, and supinator for supination. It is not clear from the article which biceps brachii tendon that Renteria tore, but since there are other muscles that cause the same motions as the biceps brachii, it is possible to perform without the muscle. Renteria is probably in less pain now that the tendon has completely torn than he was when it was only a partial tear.

Decorating in Neutral Colors

We love, love Reed Krakoff clothes. Have you seen it? He does amazing American sportswear. Classic, comfortable, and sooo classy...

What strikes us most about the below ad is how pretty the neutral room looks though. It's classic, modern and timeless. Like a perfect black dress.

For neutral, classic furniture like this, we like Bolier upholstery. Really pricey, but they are beautiful in person.

Here are some examples:

To see more of the collection, check out Bolier's web site.

The Beauty of Mad Men #8

Season 2, Episode 12, "The Mountain King"

One Very Cool Arm Chair

It's usually a good idea to add a couple of arm chairs to your living room configuration. You can do a really fun fabric to punch in some colors ; add some dimensions of the room by varying the height so it's not so flat, and perhaps most importantly, style it up a bit.

Here's a really cool one that we like:

The chair is made by Jessica Charles, a division of Hancock and Moore. The price depends on the fabric, but it ranges about $1400-1600 or so.