The Road Less Traveled, That has Made all the Difference.

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost, 1920

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Style Guimard, ft. La Nature

" When I build a house, when I design furniture or carve, I think of the splendor offered us by the universe, in which beauty appears in perpetual variety. Neither parallelism, nor symmetry; forms are engendered by ever-differing movements; you have an impression of unity achieved by infinite variety. And what decorative scheme could be finer, more intoxicating?

Then consider just one of these plants which, assembled in masses, make a forest; see how each tree, each bush, differs from its' neighbors: not one branch resembling another; no two flowers alike. And what a lesson for the architect, who knows how to look at this admirable repertory of forms and colors! As for construction, isn't it the branches of trees, and the stalks of plants, now rigid, now sinuous, which furnish us with models?"

-Hector Guimard, Art Nouveau Architect

RED.

Birds.

O.M.G.

Stockholm Library, Stockholm Sweden
Architect: A Damn Genius.

Click to Enlarge Image.

Love Food? Loooove TasteSpotting.

" A highly visual potluck of recipes, references, experiences, stories, articles, products, and anything else that inspires exquisite taste."

- www.tastespotting.com

Above are a few things you'll find...

Cole Rise

" Cole Rise has spent the better half of his life taking pleasure behind the lens; stalking cows and lying in the grass to capture the landscape. His work has been featured in a notable amount of international creative magazines, books, billboards, websites, posters, and even a few CD covers for bands you can find in most music stores. He can't tell you how big the universe is, or why we're really here, but his work sometimes flirts with the idea of knowing. "

- www.colerise.com

A Guide to Herbs and Spices, For Future Reference.

www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/quick-reference-a-guide-to-herbs-and-spices-108770

Just the Cutest Little Thing...

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Notable Quote-able

"Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and stop thinking. Ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to walk about into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?"

- Vassily Kandinsky, 1910

Girls Have Cooties

Our Childhood Idols... Gone Ghetto

Epic

National Geographic
Photograph by John Stanmeyer
"Sacred Waters," April 2010.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

National Geographic, Photo of the Day

Stretching Tiger, India

Future Home

Home Sweet Woodland, Located in Wales.

"The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature." - the crafty owners

www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

...reminds me of Franklin's house :)

Breathing Earth

" http://www.breathingearth.net "

CO2, Birth Rate and Death Rate Simulation. So neat, check it out.

Sidewalk Chalk Guy

Legit, but anonymous. Master of the art of the incognito.

Anthropologie's Fall Beauties.

Anthropologie is a brand that never ceases to dazzle me with its' simple, sophisticated, and artistic pieces. Above is a collection of must-have items for fall; boots, chunky sweaters, and boxy tops. Ah, the beauty of Anthropologie.

Soundtrack Song

Everything Has Changed
William Fitzsimmons

Today i saw my father standing in the graveyard
looking very somber looking for his mom
when he finally found her, he said that it was different
everything is different, nothing's really changed

My brother would remember sitting in the hallway
waiting for my father both of us were scared
when the doorknob turned we took off for the stairway
looking for some cover, trying to get away

A guide dog had to serve the role that you would not let
the mother of your children ever really play
the office was a dungeon where you hid your fears of
what would really happen if no one ever came

I wonder if you blamed yourself for when she left you
by closing up the garage door and turning on the car
your father must have lost it, your sister couldn't help you
but dad, if you were lonely you had no where to turn

Oh father can't you see the pieces that have fallen on the ground
when you and mom decided nothing could be saved inside this house

everything has changed
everything has changed

Last night I had a dream that i was in the graveyard
looking at my father buried in the ground
I'd swear that I could hear him tell me he was sorry
he told me he was sorry, and everything has changed.

Les Nympheas, Water Lilies

Claude Monet

My favorite of the impressionists, my favorite painter of all time.

He was a master of color; an artist with an impeccable ability to conceive new meaning in typically mundane sights and unearth unprecedented beauty in ordinary landscapes.

Where I'm From

Going North
Missy Higgins

I wanna dance, the tango with chance
I wanna ride on the wire
Cause nothing gets done, with dust in your gun
And nobody respects a liar.
So goodbye for a while, I'm off to explore
Every boundary and every door
Yeah I'm going north

I wanna know, where children would go
If they never learned to be cool.
Cos nothing's achieved, when pushed up a sleeve
Till nobody thinks you're a fool
So goodbye for a while, I'm out to learn more
About who I really was before
Yeah I'm going north

Up where the hunted hide with ease
Under the arms of eye-less trees
Up where the answers fall like leaves
Oh and your love, is all I need
Yeah I'm going north

Emilio Pucci, Fall 2010

A little taste of Emilio Pucci's fall collection. Stunning, bold pieces with major wow-factor. The price is also something to "wow" over, at $6,500 for the sequin number. I wish.

J. Crew, Fall 2010

Earth Tones, stockings, sweaters and scarves; sounds like fall to me.
J. Crew's fall collection boasts beautiful burnt reds and mustards. A splash of tomboy, juxtaposed with a little bit of old-fashioned glamour. mm mmm mmm.

Alexander Wang, Resort 2010

It's not necessarily hot-off-the-press anymore, but Alexander Wang's Resort Collection is something that I adore. It consists of subtle neutrals and easy to wear pieces; and they're not suffocatingly tight. Wang is an emerging Canadian designer who has been overcome with success in recent years.

Shelf Obsessed

Oddly enough, my recent obsession is shelving. Organization is rooted in functionality, and motivated by pretty things. Crisp, clean exposed shelving would be a wonderful addition to any bare wall. A combination of books, knick-knacks, and organizational stuff are all things that can be added as unique details, and can easily be switched up every now and then to add a little bit of variety and functionality.

Lost in the Black and White

Here, Elie Tahari's dress has been covered in contrast. What a designer bummer...

Love Letters to Sleep on, from Anthropologie

Anthropologie's collaboration with Ruffian design duo Brian Wolk and Claude Morais speaks (and sleeps) volumes from the heart.
Each set is printed with handwritten affections and remembrances from missives dating back to the early 1900’s.

Want It.

Chanel's It Bag, the 2.55

I'm not typically a big designer bag person; let's be honest, it's obviously partially because I can't afford them, but also because they don't necessarily intrigue me. This is the only bag that I've dreamt of for a long time. Therefore, it gets an honorable mention, and a few interesting facts for your reading pleasure.

Between six and 15 people work on each bag, using only the softest skin from the belly of the lamb

Its name is a reference to February 1955, the date of its first sartorial splash

The seven pockets include an inner one that Chanel intended to be solely for love letters

The gentle curve of the outer back pocket was inspired by the Mona Lisa, Chanel’s favourite painting

The signature Chanel Cs date back to a pattern in a cathedral’s stained-glass windows.

Turtlenecks... slightly embarrassed to say that I've always loved them.

Another Fall 2010 trend that I'm looking forward to:
Above, from left: Temperley London; Preen; Proenza Schouler; Alexander Wang.

Velvet?

Above, from left: Alexander Wang; Ralph Lauren; Karen Walker; Thakoon.

Velvet... yes or no? I'm feelin it, if worn the right way. It's a beautiful, luxurious fabric and I'm hoping we'll see more of it in the coming months.

Pretty much my life, as of now.

Mine- Taylor Swift

You were in college working part time, waiting tables
Left a small town, never looked back
I was at flight risk with the fear of fallin
Wondered why we bothered with love
If it never lasts

I say : "Can you believe it?"
As we're lying on the couch
The moment I can see it
Yes yes,
I can see it now

Do you remember, we were sitting there by the water
You put your arm around me, for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing, that's ever been mine.

Flash forward and we're taking on the world together
And there's a drawer of my things at your place
You learned my secrets, and you figured out why I'm guarded
You said we'd never make my parents' mistakes.

But we've got bills to pay
We've got nothing figured out
When it was hard to take yes yes
This is was I thought about

Do you remember we were sitting there about the water
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been MINE

Do you remember all the city lights on the water
You saw me, started to believe for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing, that's ever been mine.

And I remember that fight til 2:30 am
Cause everything was slipping right out of our hands
And I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street

Brace myself for the goodbye
Cause it's all I've ever known
When you took me by surprise
You said 'I'll never leave you alone

You said :
I remember how we felt sitting by the water
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time
I fell in love with the careless man's careful daughter
She is the best thing that's ever been mine

Hold on make it last
Hold on never turn back

You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
Do you believe it ?
We're gonna make it now.
And I can see it

And I can see it now.

On my Mind.

Photograph- Diane Birch

I put a photograph inside the frame of my heart
Forever you'll be the better half watching the rest fall apart
Nothing's goin' change the look on my face
You'll see me spending the rest of my days

Free People, Fall 2010

Vintage Loves Collection, Free People
Fall 2010.
Easy, breezy, beautiful for fall. Effortless style is what I like, and FreePeople have definitely mastered the look.