hannukah

Since Hannukah starts on Wednesday I feel I have an excuse to jump straight from Thanksgiving into Hannukah and Christmas mode! Hooray!

I went looking for nicely designed menorahs and found a ton in every different style imagineable and some with shocking price tags. My favorite is this simple branching design from Crate & Barrel. Also, it's affordable.

Rustic Menorah - $26.95 Crate & Barrel

I also ran into this cool DIY dreidel mobile.




Happy Hannukah. Next up, advent calendars!

feeling thankful

Things I am amazingly thankful for:

• My job! People pay me to make things beautiful. Awesomeness.
• My family. I have the best family and we all get along so well - in-laws included! I feel sad that so many people dread holiday family time.
• My pregnancy. Double yay for being pregnant for the holidays. Yum.
• Having a nearly 3-year-old who says things like "I love you a lot Mommy" while we are working on a puzzle.
• Being healthy! Last year I spent Thanksgiving fighting the swine flu. Not fun.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! And if you need an amazing pumpkin pie recipe, let me know. mmmm... pumpkin pie...

thanksgiving

I truly love Thanksgiving. I don't think there's a better holiday. It's not based on any particular religion, it involves fantastic food and lots of family time, and it guarantees a 4-day weekend. From a design perspective I prefer to decorate with fall colors and natural elements, rather than references to turkeys or pilgrims. As always when approaching a holiday, I found a lot of inspiration from Martha Stewart.

typographic maps

Check out this crazy, incredibly detailed, type-only map of Boston from Axis Maps. You can get a print of Boston or Chicago for $30. These maps include everything - streets, parks, tunnels and waterways only using type. I'm super impressed.

calendars again

I keep seeing these beautiful calendars. I can't stop posting about them! Here are two that I saw on Design Sponge recently.






2011 Seasonal Garden Calendar - I love the format of this, that you can untie it and spread them all out. That at the end of the year you can trim off the calendar part and keep the amazing illustrations. Awesome.







2011 Botanical Wall Calendar - I love the simplistic design and illustrations on this one. And the format with the giant clip that holds it together. Simply gorgeous.

I'm still not feeling ready for a new year.

whimsical paintings

During a recent trip to Rockport, MA I ran across some fun and colorful paintings by the talented Lauri Kaihlanen.







I wanted to buy a whole bunch of these small prints and cover my daughter's wall with them. I had my heart set on the lion or the giraffes until I saw the funky penguin and the bicycling turtles. So much fun! In the end I decided to some day bring my daughter to the studio and let her pick out a few of her favorites. Maybe when we have more space and she has her own room!