A Walk on the Beach

I just spent a glorious week visiting my sister in Miami.  She is one of the smartest & hardworking people I know & while I am so proud of her accomplishments I really just feel unbelievably blessed to have her for a sister.  She recently moved into an apartment on the beach & these pictures are pretty much her front & back yard.  When she was making her decision to move she sent me a text that read "A lot of life is not a walk on the beach so I think my home should be."  As her interior designer sister this made me go bonkers.  How true is that?!  As human beings, we are on this earth to grow & evolve & unfortunately it isn't always easy.  I believe that our homes should be our own little escapes from the stresses of the world & in order to live our best possible lives we all need peaceful, beautiful & relaxing environments to come home to.  It truly makes me happy to get out of bed in the morning knowing I am doing my own small & humble part in making the world a better & more beautiful place by creating custom "walks on the beach" for my clients :)

Greatness

"The great arises out of the small things that are honored and cared for.  Everybody's life really consists of small things.  Greatness is a mental abstraction and favorite fantasy of the ego.  The paradox is that the foundation for greatness is honoring the small things of the present moment instead of pursuing the idea of greatness." - Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

My sister went to Duke & is a huge Blue Devils basketball fan.  I didn't understand what all the hoopla (hahaha ;) was about until I went to visit her one weekend & we went to a game at Cameron.  It was like being part of a crazy elitist cult for a few hours, even I was sucked in against my better judgement....when in Rome, right?!  I recently watched a documentary on the Kentucky vs. Duke 1992 NCAA Championship Game, considered by many to be the greatest college basketball game ever played.  What really stuck with me was Christian Laettner's explanation for how he maintained his composure & stayed completely in the moment to make that legendary "Shot Heard Round the World" at the buzzer.  As a child growing up in upstate New York he was obsessed with becoming the best basketball player he could be.  Every night when his mom would call him in for dinner he would pretend he was taking the winning shot at the buzzer...."3..2..1...Score!!"  And sure enough when it came down to that moment for real, it was old hat.  That small moment practiced consistently became a moment of greatness.

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Street Swagger- Amir

Love Amir's whole getup & yes, you better believe those are camo corduroy pants!  When he walked past me I literally chased him down 59th Street to get a closer look & find out where they were from.  I was desperately hoping that Club Monaco had a girls' version but sadly they do not.  In the meantime I'm consoling myself with this vision of loveliness (spotted in the window of Saks)....

This makes me smile *REALLY* big for a variety of reasons: a.) after wearing black wool for what feels like the past six months I have an overwhelming urge to drape myself in hot pink silk b.) I think shoulders are one of the most beautiful features of a woman & this neckline is exquisite c.) the mannequin is gold! d.) It's YSL, need I say more?

Inslee Haynes

I know y'all have just been dying to know where my beautiful Chintz & Swagger header illustration came from, right?!  Well it was a custom collaboration with the gorgeous & incredibly talented NYC fashion illustrator Inslee Haynes & she blogs about our project here.  Her blog, The Sketch Book, is a must read for her whimsical illustrations of the most chic & stylish ladies & her witty commentary always cracks me up.  We worked on a sketch of my most idealized version of being a young NYC interior designer...shopping for clients in the West Village on a beautiful day, cute dog in tow.  Most of the time my job is nowhere near this glamorous (and I don't even own a cute black dog) but when it is I literally pinch myself & think of the days that this was all a dream that I would have given anything to come true.  You really have to cherish those moments to realize that a dream is never given to you without the means to manifest it.  It usually requires a lot of hard work, uncomfortable & scary growth, & doesn't wind up looking exactly the way you had envisioned, but dreams do indeed come true :)