pin me

I'll be honest with you. I first jumped on the Pinterest train when it was a brand new and very unheard of thing, but I thought it wouldn't get off the ground. And now it's practically become the ground that the Interweb stands on. At least the parts with good design sense and phenomenal taste. 

I adore Pinterest and the ease of its dainty little "Pin It" button on my browser's Bookmarks Toolbar. It's become like an external segment of my brain, acting as a personal catalog for photography inspiration, recipes, event and styling ideas, crafts, reminders, and all around beautiful things that would normally remain lost forever in my over-clogged Google Reader. 

And it's added new vocabulary to our everyday verbiage, which would otherwise sound fairly stupid. For example, here's a pin from each of my boards:

Food Styling & Photography: 

Max Wanger

Interior Design:

Wisteria Wallpaper by Jocelyn Warner

Escapism:

Nepal

Loooooooook...:

homemade piano

Photography:

Doug Keyes: double exposure (Statue of Liberty, New York

Typography & Print Design:

Helvetica

To Make...:

Crafty craft time

When I Marry Into Money:

crystal bullet necklace: $310

Soviet Kitsch:

Soviet Owl

Sexy:

backless sequined black dress

<3:

lace back wedding gown

No Mom, I'm Not an Alcoholic:

watermelon and strawberry vodka fresh berry mojitos

Most Important Meal of the Day:

whole grain pumpkin pancakes

Savory:

Shawarma lamb w/ couscous salad

Veg:

pearl barley & puy lentil salad w/ roasted heirloom baby tomatoes, green bans & baby radish

Sweet:

ombre pink rainbow layer cake

Everyone Has a Type:

really hope they're besties in real life

Leading Ladies:

Mila

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...:

simple wreath

I have 19 boards and counting right now (too many?). How about you? Let's see 'em!

Christmas anticipation

We are off to get a tree right now! I miss living in Idaho. We'd go out and cut one down ourselves...ahhhh, the farm life. 
We're fairly picky about the type of tree we bring home. And by "we," I mean my mother. We don't ask questions though...because in the end, she's really the one responsible for making her house look like an absolute Christmas wonderland. I wish you could all see it in person. IT IS MY FAVORITE!

Here are some photos from last Christmas season at the Jacks' house...we don't mess around...

how talented is my mother?

Someone hire her as their interior decorator already. 


She completely designed and decorated my grandparents' ranch house. And made the bedside basket stand. And made the sticks and twigs headboard from scratch.


I know. I want one too.

{ the perfect toss pillows }

Sometimes my friends and I refer to Target in the French, pronounced Tar-zjhaaaay. It sounds more expensive and classy that way. I especially love the Target designer Isaac Mizrahi, just because his name sounds pretentious. 

Last week Michelle and I had a Target breakthrough...the kind of breakthrough where you find something for $15 that you could lie about and say was from Anthropologie...and people would totally believe you.

You can't find them online anywhere, so I snapped these pictures at home. Thank you, Target, for pulling through once again.

{ dreamy duvets }

I can't tell you how hard it was to not name this post "bedding porn."

Anyhow.

Lately I've been seeing duvet covers on the backs of my eyelids. I was at a friend's house and upon entering her bedroom, my first thought was, "Oh that's the West Elm Parachute Duvet in Feather Gray!" Kind of creepy? Very much so.
Having just recently moved into a new (to me), lovely apartment, I wanted to update my bedding a bit for a more sophisticated and luxurious dreamland escape. When I began my 'hunt for the perfect duvet cover,' my favorite one of all was, of course, the most expensive...by far. So I did an immense amount of research to find a less pricey alternative...which ended up not existing. Actually, that's an unfair statement—Target put forth a decent attempt, but it was still $80 for a Queen.

I ended up with the Organic Cotton Pin-Tuck Duvet Cover in Light Amethyst from West Elm. And then I somehow won the original one I had been lusting over from Anthropolgie on Ebay. On the same day as my West Elm purchase. I should point out that I never win anything on Ebay usually. So here I now sit/sleep with not only one, but two over-priced duvet covers. I'll be posting the Anthro Cirrus one right back on Ebay soon, so be on the lookout.

Not the most efficient shopping experience ever, but be that as it may, here is a compilation of my findings. I hope someone benefits from my scavenger hunt. Oh to be buried up to my neck in a pile of down comforters right now...

From $$$ to $ in Queen size...

Anthropologie Crowned Crane Duvet ~ $298

Anthropologie Bow-Tied Duvet ~ $248

Pottery Barn Ruched Voile Duvet ~ $199

Anthropologie Cirrus Duvet ~ $198

West Elm Organic Cotton Pin-Tuck Duvet ~ $99

West Elm Parachute Duvet ~ $99

[Target] Simply Shabby Chic Smocked Duvet ~ $80

{ soviet kitsch }

Besides being the album name for one fantastic Moscow-born musical artist, Soviet kitsch is also the name given to the tacky, tasteless and often cheap representations of the communist era (see Milan Kundera's novel).

As a little girl, I grew up practically next door to my maternal grandparents, both of whom immigrated at the end of WWII from the USSR. I was entranced by their home decor, but didn't understand most of it. It wasn't until I spent a semester abroad in Lithuania and Eastern Europe that I began to feel a personal connection to the aesthetics of the Soviet Union lifestyle.

vintage Matyroshka dolls, via thelostandfoundshop's shop

vintage tea glass holder, via spacejam's shop

vintage wooden painted spoon, "Khokhloma" style, via spacejam's shop

vintage Soviet mechanical alarm clock Vitjaz in turquoise, via ClockworkUniverse's shop

vintage lomography camera from Soviet Union FED-2, via spacejam's shop

vintage Soviet May Day pins, via sovietvintage's shop

vintage Pavlov Posad floral Russian shawl, via principessaemicranie's shop