Yup, that's me.

Mushrooms!

Every year my mom makes a christmas log, or Bush de Noel I should say. She spends a majority of her afternoon baking and rolling and frosting the cake but buys the meringue mushrooms and bud mints. Each year I think 'I should try to make those adorable little mushrooms'..and this was the year I finally did. I was a bit nervous, this is a pretty serious family tradition, but my meringue mushroom experiment was a success! Turns out it's actually pretty easy.

You just:

Pipe out the caps and the stems, bake for an hour

Sprinkle with cocoa powder and dip the under side of the

caps in warm nutella (delish)

Stick the stems on and let dry upside down

And stick'em on the log.

Hope everyone had a very happy holiday!!

Pleasure doing business with you Bets!

I Heart I Lego N.Y.

When I was in Manhattan Christoph Niemann's book I Lego N.Y. seemed like it was everywhere. I flipped thru it quickly while my gifts were being rung up at a cute little East Village store, instantly charmed by Niemann's sense of humor I almost added it to the pile..I wish I had. What a clever little book! Here are some of my favorites.

This morning a friend posted his new series on Facebook, equally as clever. Check it out.

Ahh the Holidays.

Confession: sometimes I wonder why I do things anymore..is it for the sheer fun of doing them? Or is it to blog about doing them..for example, this time last year if you told me I baked cookies and wrote all of my dinner party guest's names on them for place cards, I would have laughed and said noo way. But alas, I did and here I am blogging about it..

But seriously, it was a fun and festive night and I'm so grateful I could gather such a great group together!

And while we're on the subject of absurd holiday baking/blogging, this afternoon I'm attempting to make mushroom meringues..pictures will be posted, good or bad :)

High Gloss Paint Colors

I caught the last half hour of the movie Sylvia yesterday afternoon. Not the most uplifting of movies and if I remember correctly it received mild reviews but in my opinion the amazing cloths, hair, lipstick and set design completely make up for this :) What a beautiful movie to watch. I was particularly taken with the rich high-gloss paint colors used in the apartment Sylvia and Ted share in Cambridge.

The way the light shines on their walls during the day and glows at night is truly breathtaking and adds such a dynamic element to the space.

Here's some color suggestions of you're interested:

night train, providence blue, alfresco

rosepine, cambridge green, millstone gray

360 Panorama!

Upon my brother's recommendation I installed a new app on my phone today 360 Panorama. (I'm up to four apps now, slippery slope) But this one is amazing, I spent probably more time then I should have making little panoramas around the house today.

Upcoming project

I'm doing the Decorators Show House this year in Buffalo. Today we had our first official meeting and time alone in our space to take pictures, measure and contemplate design ideas and things. My room is a small bedroom on the second floor, here's some of the pics I took of the space as is. Obviously the wall paper's coming down, although I feel like Anthropologie could probably make it work..

We aren't allowed in the house again for awhile, but I'll be sure to update you all with my progress along the way!

More From John Derian

I was in New York this past week and of course made my routine pilgrimage to Mr. Derian's stores in the East Village. This particular visit I spent most of my time in his dry goods store admiring..

the perfect balance between rustic and chic.

the collection of lovely hemp grain sack pillows.

the cute block printed napkins (a great xmas gift)

and the textile pillows!!

I stayed with my friend Amy while in town and was super excited to see her own pillows! The rich blues and greens added such a vibrant energy to her apartment. All were purchased from the Roberta Roller Rabbit store in Sydney where our friend Meg works. Helllllllllo out there Meg, your store is pretty!

The Calendar

Here's the deal, I have an unhealthy obsession with my giant filofax. I carry the clunky thing with me everywhere, inevitably having to jot something down. One day I was in a checkout lane with my iphone in one hand and my filo in the other, the preteen cashier looked at me with disbelief and said "if you own that (pointing to the iphone) why do you still carry around that (pointing to the filofax)." Wow.

So I guess my liking a pen and paper to plan and organize makes me a little old school. Recently John requested we open a joint Google calendar, but somehow I just don't trust computers with my schedule and seeing as how we already had a large chalkboard from the wedding on our kitchen wall..I couldn't resist, the giant chalk calendar was born! Love the idea but I obviously cannot take credit for it, I'm sure many have done the same in past and let us not for get Joe MacGonaughgill from If Lucy Fell.

My last post commented on the "cool" a bike can bring to an interior, but in small space living it can really get in the way. This bike shelf is a very practical solution to urban bike storage, and I think it's good looking too.

Bedrooms I Love

sconce, desk, paint color, carpet

side table , keep calm print, floor lamp

curtains, comforter

Not sure if it's the lovely simplicity of the room I like, or the

appropriately placed french press and bike..

guess it all just works for me.

mirror, pillow, bed, paint color

rug, wall mount lamp, bolster, comforter

bed, pillows

I have one myself with little woodland creatures on it.