Maira Kalman, So Moved

I'm not sure I've fully expressed how much I love Maira Kalman's work--her piece in today's NY Times and otherwise. I love her attention to hats, the colors she uses, how she captures a feeling with some drawings and not many words. Genius! Here are links to some of her books:

Swami on Rye: Max in India

The Elements of Style

What Pete Ate

And lot's more...see her web-site here.

Printable Press

Affordable and very cool customized stationary? Yes please. Lily sent me this link to Printable Press where they design great looking invitations and send you the PDF so you can print as many invites as you want (or you can upload to an on-line printing service). I love the designs and also the idea of keeping costs down while not worrying about running out of invites. Isn't this a cute pink mouse? And chipmunk too?

Pigeon Blog

In case you didn't know, I have a pigeon obsession. It's a love hate thing. Anyway, it's a bit off topic but I stumbled across this blog and it's made my day...maybe my week. Hilarious. All pigeons all the time and the commentary couldn't be better.

Chicken Pot Pie to the Rescue

Before I had a baby, when I was Very Pregnant, a few people told me to load my freezer with things like chicken pot pies. Another good piece of advice I didn't take. Then, when Harriet was still tiny, my aunt and cousin drove almost four hours through the rain and sleet to visit us...and they brought the most delicious chicken pot pie I've ever had.

Besides being just about the best comfort food, chicken pot pie freezes well, is delicious and relatively healthy. The CPP my super-star family brought was from Dean and Deluca in NYC. These are available by mail frozen and I think I'm going to send one or two to my next friend having a baby.

UK on the Brain

We've been doing a lot of thinking about the UK recently and so I thought I'd do a round-up of British things previously mentioned here. The pound is relatively cheep now, so maybe it's time for that trip...

There's some pretty English wallpaper.

Notes on a trip to London.

True story about eating squirrel.

A bit about Liberty fabric, which I adore.

Beautiful natural history prints.

These prints are made in the USA, but the Keep Calm and Carry On phrase is originally British. Or, these fun prints from Abbey Goes Design Scouting which riff on the theme...

And, of course, the reason we've had the UK on our Brains.

Okay! Cheerio.

Color!

"Jaisalmer, India: Men smear coloured powder on each other's faces during celebrations for Holi, the Hindu festival of colour Photograph: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP" This from the Guardian today.

I'm totally in love with the colors found in India. In so many ways the country is dirty, dismal, and depressing and then just when it's getting you down you see yellow marigolds, bright blue saris, red tikas and this sort of action pictured above. It's a good reminder what a strong and lively splash of color can do for one's spirits. I want to have a festival of color all the time--around the house, with what I wear, and just about anywhere.

Disappearing Mother Trick

When people say they can't take a shower while also taking care of a baby, I'm afraid I don't get that. I've been putting H. in a bouncy seat in the bathroom with me and things seems to go okay. Until, of course, she becomes upset because I've disappeared behind the shower curtain for long enough that she's sure I'm gone forever. So I'm thinking of getting a clear shower curtain, so she can see that I'm still there. I think just a clear liner would do, or else something a little more interesting like the one above. Has anyone tried this? Do you think it will work?

While we were out...

No more promises, no more lies...the reality is that it's hard to keep a blog up when tending to a very small baby. I'm going to have to go rogue and let life with baby creep into my decorating thoughts and ideas--I was trying to keep it all separate.

Besides the baby, another thing that's been keeping us busy is the book, Britannia in Brief, that W. and I co-authored. More about it here. It comes out in May, will keep you posted...