Meredith in Wonderland

Hilarious Embroidery

2009-08-12T21:39:00.001-07:00

I feel like lately embroidery is making a comeback in a real way. Or maybe it never left and I'm just a bit slow catching on.

And honestly, how are funny are these embroidered animals from the Etsy shop WhatParty? I will have one, please. The seller takes requests so you can get your favorite even if it's already sold out. Bonus? They're recession friendly. They absolutely crack me up!

via ThePita

Artriver

2009-08-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to the website Artriver? I love, love, love it! They have modern art for all tastes, and most of it is very affordable. The art consists of limited edition prints, posters, etc. from a few dozen talented and creative minds. Take a look, I promise it's worth it. I have this poster from Vija Celmins on the wall in my bedroom. I've been considering this poster from Ross Bleckner. In addition to Celmins and Bleckner, I am partial to Gerhard Richter, Wes Mills, and Agnes Martin.

What is decorating your walls?

Image from Artriver.com

Endless Summer

2009-08-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

In the August heat, I love wearing this dress from Urban.

Come fall, I'll wear it with this jacket thrown over and these open toe booties. <3

I've also been thinking about this romper from Anthropologie, and now that it's only $30.00, just try and stop me!!

What's your favorite clothing item this season?

Song of Myself

2009-08-11T06:14:00.001-07:00

I've never read the whole poem, but there is a particular passage from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" that makes me smile and tingle and feel peaceful all at once and gives me a sense of excitement for life and for my future:

Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,

Now I wash the gum from your eyes,

You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every

moment of your life.

Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout,
and laughingly dash with your hair.

Ahhh. Any other favorite poems/quotes/passages?

photo by Philippe Henry

Non Required Summer Reading

2009-08-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

All I can hear playing in my head while I write this is the song "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry (in that video -- his hair!!). But good ol' Mungo left out one of the greatest bits of summer...BOOKS, of course! I do love to read a good book in the summertime, sitting on my porch with an ice cold glass of sun tea. Three books currently in the queue:

1. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. Not a new book, but a new to me book! A best seller that won the Pulitzer and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The dedication in this book is so sweet -- "To Steve, as simple as that." Also, I love it when there is a page before the story begins where the author puts a quote from another source: "The body repeats the landscape. They are the source of each other and create each other...." and on it goes, from Meridel Le Sueur, "The Ancient People and the Newly Come."

2. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. My book club almost decided to read this one month, but we chose something else instead. However, I was intrigued, and it popped in my head when I was considering summer reading books. Loving Frank is a fictionalized account of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney's love story, and everyone I know who has read it has had wonderful things to say.

3. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. In which Weisman imagines the world if the human race were suddenly extinct. The New Yorker calls it "a sort of pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted house." It sounds a pinch out-of-the-box for me, which is exciting in a completely dorky but fabulous way.

I have to recommend Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses and Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero if you have not read them. Both will cause you to be transported in that magical literary way. If you're looking for other suggestions, I prescribe the 2009 Summer Books section from NPR.

So please tell me...have you read any good books lately?

Down the Rabbit Hole

2009-08-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

Good morning and welcome to my little slice of blog pie! I can't wait to share all of my favorite things with you and to hear all about yours!

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland, I do love this editorial Annie Leibovitz did for Vogue a few years back.