Laying in the sun

SPRING IS HERE!

... working on my calligraphy skills lately..

Find of the day

Just wanted to show you my find of the day.

Not many people know, but I collect shot glasses.  It all started long, long ago when I was but a little girl.  My dad brought home from Atlanta (during the Olympics in Atlanta... circa 1995?) a "tiny cup."  From that day on, I bought "tiny cups" from wherever I visited and asked my friends going to foreign places to bring me back a cup.  It wasn't until much later did I realize they were shot glasses.  And it wasn't until much, much later that I started collecting "nice" shot glasses.  

I have about 60+ cheesy glasses that say the name of the location and feature a clip art representation of the area.  But then, one day, a friend of mine brought me back a beautiful hand blown glass from Murano, Italy... Before then, I never even thought to buy shot glasses because of shape, color, or design... just whatever I could find at the airport souvenir shop.  

The three specimens above are great.  The tiny shot glasses, probably for vodka? have silver on the edge and are just so cute.  I couldn't resist.  But the real beauty, the No. 5 Whiskey is definitely hand blown and feels great in your hand.  The glass is uniformly thin, even at the base.  That's all I can say about it.  It's my new favorite.  And only two dollars!  

Please stop.

Dear New York,

Why must you be so good to me but so bad for my wallet?  For instance, this prime example below:

photo from Racked (nyc)

Here, I present to you No. 8a.  The third store opened by those who brought you Project No. 8 and Various Projects bring New Yorkers (and non New Yorkers alike) a gift shop filled with things they would actually buy... Move over Chinatown.  Located in the Ace Hotel, No. 8a sells a well curated stock of unusual New York ephemera and designer New York duds.  Perfect for out of town visitors... which I have four of this week!

Sort of reminds me of the always reliable, always interesting, always amazing Kiosk which features and sells an ever changing array knick knacks and common objects found in different countries around the world. 

Oh, I love useless things.  But are they really useless?  They enrich my life.  I think that is enough to ask of for an object.

Good design. Better price.

I don't know how up to date I am with this, but I recently discovered Warby Parker-- a company that designs and manufactures affordable, well designed eyeglasses.  I am a huge fan of eyewear (even though I am a dedicated contact lens wearer- go figure) and was so excited to see the $95 price tag.  And it includes lenses!!  This will make you think twice about buying "regular" priced frames again (not that you didn't think twice already with the usual $300 tag).

They must be making the frames out of really cheap materials and using child labor, right?  Nope!  Apparently eyeglasses are so expensive because the industry is controlled by a few very large industries.  Why does this never surprise me?  Read their story here.  And like Toms Shoes, every pair you buy, they donate one to someone in need.  Too good to be true?  Yes... Why?  Because they are so popular all their "home try-on" frames are exhausted so I can't try any on!!! ugh.

Their "home try-on" option enables you to try on five different frames (free of shipping charges!) at home for seven days.  Maybe if I can get my hands on a pair of these I won't have to wear contacts anymore... Warby Parker, please increase your inventory.  Thanks.

The secret lives behind those glossy pages

My favorite one yet:

"And then-- A wild gust of wind"

Unhappy Hipsters

So far, yet so close...

As most of you know, I'm really a homebody.  But... it's things like this that get me out of the house and thanking my lucky stars I live in New York...

I present to you Erie Basin-- an amazingly curated antiques store located in Red Hook.  Makes me wonder why nobody makes things like they use to...

I found a ring very similar to this at Brimfield a few summers ago.... Why would you want a boring Tiffany solitaire when things like these exist? 

All images from Erie Basin