Stationery Love

All from Sally Shim at this Etsy shop. She has the most lovely sense of aesthetics. Her blog also showcases her amazing home, boys and photography. AND I bet you she hates marigolds!

For your consideration

I seem to only be able to read things that are shorter than 10 pages... here's what's been keeping me 'intellectual' for the past couple of weeks...
This article from Harper's about the raw milk debate.
This article from Vanity Fair about the mega demon Monsanto. (this one came highly recommended by my oldest friend Jessie- the one most likely to change the world.)

And since it seems like Cochonet Rouge is turning into a flower blog....The house up the street just planted a bed of annuals and- of course- the star player is the marigold. Nothing disgusts me more than these ugly smelly welfare flowers. Harsh?Maybe. True? Absolutely. It's like the potato of flowers. They're inexpensive but they get the job done. Same thing goes for honeydew and cantelope, but I'll save that rant for another post titled:

"To all you breakfast places... why can't any of you get it right? How hard is it to cook breakfast?"

Marigolds are dead to me. Anyone who plants them is considered 'on notice'. You have been warned.

Monday... no recap

Walking through the back alleys of NDG, I spotted the season's first irises...

Osborne and Little wallpaper

Some weekend recap...

McManis Viognier
Cousins making each other laugh
Prosciutto sandwiches made with homebaked bread!
New propane BBQ
Lime corn chips, salsa and beer
Seeing my SIL
More sleepless nights
Tender morning moments...
Knowing (or not knowing) when to think of the big picture.

To all the ladies in the house....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .. a youth she's content to leave behind....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..... a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .. a feeling of control over her destiny...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to fall in love without losing herself..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without; ruining the friendship...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that her childhood may not have been perfect...but it's over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she would and wouldn't do for love or more... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. . whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... where to go... be it to her best friend's kitchen table. or a charming Inn in the woods... when her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... What she can and can't accomplish in a day... a month...and a year...
Maya Angelou

Moving Time

Well the dreaded July 1st date is looming and quite a few of you will be changing your homes up for new ones! So here are some snippets of boldly colored rooms! Who knows, you might dare to do something totally wild in your new digs.

Accessories...

I caught some of the Oprah/Sex and the City episode and was amazed when they went behind the scenes to the wardrobe lady.... does she not have the coolest job? Anyways, it got me thinking about accessories and how I have none. So here is my imaginary shopping spree for summer accessories.

Hat, necklace bag and shoes from none other than Anthropologie!

This red, blue and gold business is making me swoon...


Earrings and necklace from Cursive Design via Oh Joy!

Book Wish List

Here are a few books that I'm dying to read... maybe I should pull out that ol' library card again....

The Creative Family: How to encourage imagination and nurture family connections

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Animal,Vegetable,Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Oh and I'm baking cupcakes for tonight AND doing a load of diapers. MAYBE even trying out my very first loaf of bread... I'll let you know how it all turns out...

Two

Sometimes I close my eyes and try to remember life before you. I wonder if I could go back in time, to a life sans-bebe. But then I look at your funny little face and quickly realize that nothing is worth your hugs, your kisses and your laughter. I could never go back.

You changed everything.
You were my first.
I ate your birthday cupcakes.

Flower Shoppe?

Just daydreaming of opening a flower shop... any name ideas?
Those pictures are from the flower shop I told you about yesterday. It's in San Francisco and it also has a design shop and art gallery in it. AND it has an awesome name Rose and Radish . AND they have this subscription program where you pay exhorbitant amounts of money for bi-weekly or monthly flower deliveries- organized around a theme... COME ON. It's a dream come true. Imagine receiving fresh flowers EVERY MONTH. IMAGINE??!?

Ranunculus from Apartment Therapy

Just think... this all could be MINE. All mine.
So hit me with some fun names for my new imaginary business venture. Does anyone remember Baby Food? Ahem... that hurt.

Featured Artist.... a quickie

Acacia Tree Eaters (Giraffe, Gerenuk, Impala and Kirk's Dik-dik), 2005, Fabric, poly-cotton stuffing and embroidery thread, 27 1/2"T x 18"L x 16"W

Amazing eh? From Boston artist Jennifer Muskopf. This is part of her series of soft sculptures depicting animal interaction scenes. She also sells small softies made from recycled vintage fabrics. She would spit on me if she saw the soft octopus I sewed at Christmas. Disgusting.Her stuff is available at Reform School and other cool stores like Rose+Radish, which I will tell you ALL about later.

Sunglasses

Summer 2008 Cutler & Gross

This isn't breaking news or anything, but I love sunglasses. I've had all kinds of them... from the Dollar Store pair with the flaw in the lens that made me baby puke in my mouth; to the Gucci pair that I subsequently smashed under the influence and claimed to ' not give a shit about $300 glasses'; to the sand scratched Ralph Lauren ones that were abandoned somewhere on a TGV in France; to the neat yellow rimmed aviators from Urban that I LOVED but broke, also under the influence. I am a bit of a sunglass whore.

Mulberry 2008

However, now that I am no longer a scenester and have more in common with Bea Arthur than with St-Laurent, Pistol going, "I'm-in-the-Industry" designers, I truly NEED eye protection. I can spot my crows' feet from across the room: this is indeed a problem. Nay, an emergency.
So my friend Caroline was going to retail heaven (Florida) and promised to find me a pair of aviator sunglasses. And she did. And I brought them home. And a certain 2 year old found them. And you can guess what happened.

Ray Ban Original WayfarerRay Ban Original Aviator

So the hunt continues. There have been some promising ebay spots, alas the evil controlling husband has put a halt on the ebay 'must have' purchases. I'm really debating between the Aviator and the Wayfarer. I love them both for so many different reasons. That's apparently what they say about children, so it must be applicable to sunglasses.....no?
Maybe now that I am a mature adult mother who doesn't get black out drunk 3x/week... maybe now I can responsibly own and care for a real pair of glasses?

Farewell, perhaps?

So my brain has been swimming with post ideas. Design posts, hotel posts, sad posts, maybe even some well written posts. Who knows. Problem is that whenever I sit down to actually write anything, it comes out sounding like this:

blah blah blah, I'm so tired, blah blah blah, I don't know what to cook, blah blah blah, why can't I find a pair of stupid sunglasses that don't get eaten by Mateo, blah blah blah, I hate everything, blah blah blah.

No one wants to read that, not even me. And I'm the easiest audience.
The short of it is that I'm tired of listening to myself, and I'm pretty sure you guys are on the same page. I don't really have time to read all my beloved blogs, so therefore am not inspired and ultimately can't give you any real blog substance. If that even exists. Come on people, we blog about lasagna. Not exactly ground breaking here. Barely even interesting.

Speaking of neither interesting nor groundbreaking...
One of my dearest readers has recently made an excellent observation about the most disgusting of all salads, the potato salad. That's right, you heard me. DISGUSTING.

"Who just throws huge quarters of potatoes into the salad. I mean who thinks that's alright?" -about huge chunks of potato in potato salad.
Consequently, she thinks the potatoes should be finely chopped. Personally, I think you should skip the potatoes all together, omit the mayonnaise and eat some lettuce.

BTW- I am totally stealing Annabelle's shtick: the simple, to the point, in fact pointless but hilarious. Problem is that I'm missing a bit of the hilarious and opting out of the simple.

So maybe blogging isn't so hard after all? Maybe I just need to dumb down my expectations a bit. I don't know, the jury's still in that little room bullying the last guy, trying to convince him that blogging is dead. But that last guy is still hanging on, eating that last jelly doughnut, thinking maybe he can give this blogging thing one more shot.

Spring Blooms!

Give me a pile of money and endless opportunities to indulge my every whim, I would jump on a Japan-bound plane to learn Ikebana, the art of flower arrangement.
I've always had a thing for flowers.
When I was a kid, we had a florist on the ground floor of our building. I remember walking down the long hallway of fridges, pressing my nose against the glass, dreaming of big castles filled with tulips, peonies and ranunculus.
This time of year is my favorite time for flowers... nothing amazes me more than spring bulbs popping up in everyone's front yard. I HATE YELLOW TULIPS, they're the worst.
A few years ago, armed with my drunken sensibility, I became the Tulip Burglar. On my way home from the bar, I picked one tulip out of each garden- as to not stir any suspicion. Pretty clever eh?. The next morning, I awoke to a pounding headache and the most beautiful arrangement and variety of tulips I had seen since my early florist drooling days. I was a genius. I continued for a few nights until the guilt ate me up inside and I had no more vases left to fill.

So now you all know my big dirty secret. I am the tulip thief that ruined your garden 6 years ago! i regret nothing.

Back by popular demand

So I've recently gotten a few comments on my non-blogging status... ya , you know who you are!! Honestly... you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Here's an IN & OUT list to keep you "all" up to date with what's been going on:

OUT:
Synchro naps
3 healthy home cooked meals/day... plus packed lunches for the hubby
Weekly organized meal planning
Full time cloth diapering
Wednesday nights gossip-fest
Blow dried hair
Clean clothes
Relaxed evenings spent with crochet, rosé and American Idol
Regular blogging/blog reading/facebooking/communication with outside world
Overall normalcy

IN:
Rat-like up dos and balding patches
AutoCAD
Daydreaming of life without babies
Zucchini muffins
Chewed up cuticles
Return of the finger gangrene
Strict BurritoVille diet
Messy... okay I meant dirty house
Forgetting things like keys, bankcards and wallets in random establishments.
Cheesy rice and broccoli
Stressing out about time and all the birthdays, christenings, mothers' day, fathers' day stuff.

So there you have it.

Ideas flowing

Not in my head, but obviously in Mads Hagstroem's. Those Scandinavians...
FLOWmarket... check it out, it's a place where you can buy tolerance, clear air, 100% non GMO.

Things that don't make me have panic attacks

Sofie Andersson (swede, of course) interior stylist with clients such as Ikea, Elle Decor... pretty much on par with my design career. Ya.
But seriously, how does one even get close to working for a design magazine... ? Sounds so much cooler than plotting away on Autocad and making mistakes that cost thousands of dollars.

Weekend Recap

This film. I'll spare you the pseudo-film student crap, but I will say this: FINALLY, an original and refreshing story. Thought provoking and intelligent, Daniel Day Lewis is a genius.
Prepping for B.'s departure.
Breakfast out, tantrums on the side.Disc Two of the Conchords... LOVING Brett's little spider legs and angry dancing!
Laundry-loads of it
Taxes (woo-hoo!)

Nothing blog-worthy, so I'll stop.
Cut.

To make up for lost time....

My newfound freedom gave me a few minutes to peruse Etsy.. and lookie lookie what I found:





Nostalgic, quirky, delicate and curious collages from Dollface Design : all original Archival prints for under $20... yes please!

And you thought there would be no teapot...

Tempestuous Teapot from Etsy

Ha!

Yellow/Green

Jonathan Adler

Bo Bedre

Graham Brown LLB Mystique Wallpaper

Not much else is going on over on our end... feeling super happy at the sight of the first spring buds... feeling not so happy at the prospect of running after a traffic-dodging toddler for the next 6 months....
Oh and for those of you looking for great kids' gifts check out the Melissa & Doug puzzles over at the Knowlton Station... they're on sale!!!
Go for the puzzles... stay for great parenting advice and delicious cappuccinos!

For those of you interested in unique web design... check out David Stark's (Event Planner Extraordinaire) website and click on the Draw icon... have I ever disappointed you? Just do it.
Have a great weekend!

Pros and Cons

Waking up at 5am:

PRO: Dinner and Lunch are already made! Thanks to Aimée for her delicious asparagus tart idea!
CON: It's 8am and I've been up for 3 hours

PRO: I can confirm that H&M will be opening up a flagship store on the corner of Peel and Ste-Catherine. Those of you with retail addictions have been warned.
CON: My brain is so broken that I can't even surf the internet efficiently. I think the internet is broken

PRO: ... still thinking of one
CON: Sleeptime tonight does not get pushed forward.

PRO: Extended snuggle times in bed
CON: Sheets are getting dirtier by the minute

Wow- two in a row!

Apparently, Hugo Guinness has already been overexposed. News to me.
A British artist with a contact sheet that includes Kate Spade, Wes Anderson and the New York Elite... his work has that found object preciousness that I love. His work is available at the curio-shoppe John Derian

Hugo Guinness prints @ John Derian. NYC
btw- Guinness is also the auteur of the mad motorcycle paintings in the Royal Tennenbaums

John Derian decoupage

John Derian booth @ the NY Gift Show

You can do more browsing here

Derian plates

All of this courtesy of Habitually Chic, of course!

Springtime and the recovery song

Well we are back. Suffering from a bit of writers' block, but back nonetheless.
Let me see, I've missed a few weekend recaps, loads of teapots and a heap of artists. I'm sure you have already forgiven me.

First things first:
I don't usually watch romantic comedies... they're just not my thing. Alas, when you're head is in the toilet and it's B's turn to take the kids out for a walk, you end up with this film. It's no English Patient or anything; but it has a really fantastic house, some great songs and a truly charming main character.
So don't run to the video store, but if you feel like going brain dead for about 96 minutes, you should give it a shot.

Featured Artist:
Mateo Ilasco. A jackeline of all trades really. She also heads a design sale called Modern Economy... only wish it would stop off here... sniff. Check out her blog... it's a nice mix of design, fashion, papergoods and stuff I like.
I'm quite sure this one came via someone else... not too sure who though. Rest assured that I wasn't clever enough to deniche her all by my lonesome. And yes, I know 'deniche' is not a real word. But it's French and it sounds good, so there.

And PoppyTalk? Again, I just got the blog-memo. Man these people are awesome... and they sure know their Etsy shops... damn.

Oh and just so you all know:
My name is Emeline and I watch American Idol.

There, I don't have to feel guilty anymore. I'm very excited for tomorrow night.

Cochonet: 0 Stomach Flu: 3

So we've been a bit busy with our heads in the toilet. And just as we thought we were on the mend, we've just been informed that two more of our members have fallen victim to this digustingly cruel virus.
I will be back when things are little less sickly around here!
In the meantime... go check out this visual bookmarking site... And yes, this is another addiction.