I Enjoy Being a Girl

 

                                      When my date picks me up......

                                                     at my place.  

                                            I enjoy being a girl. I adore....

              being dressed in something.....

                                            frilly.

                                   I flip when my fella rings me on the phone

                              and sends me flowers. I enjoy being a girl..........

             and I enjoy the color pink. Here is to being a girl.


Have a lovely Pink Saturday. Please stop by How Sweet the Sound for more pink.

Be Still

Do ever feel you need to just be quiet - to listen, learn and observe?   

I found out that there is just so much beauty and inspiration all over the place, you just need to let yourself see it. So without further ado, here is what inspired me...... 


It all started with this painting......

The detail is amazing. The drapes look so real.I am fascinated with it. I found it on the web somewhere without a title or artist. During the research process, I had a renewed interest in art history. I never did find out the title or artist, but after corresponding to some art buffs it is safe to say this was painted in the late 1800s. If anyone knows anything about this painting I would love to hear from you.

                           
Since this painting contains various shades of red, I am going to link this post to Rednesday at It's a Very Cherry World. If you like red this is the place to visit.

                  
Carey
                        

                   

                       

Table for two at Laduree New York

I have always wanted to go to Laduree in Paris the world famous tea salon - part cafe and part patisserie. Since I have three young boys this dream will be put off for awhile. I was delighted to find out that Laduree had opened a shop in NYC yesterday. There was a 45 minute wait to get in, so I will give it a few weeks before visiting. I hope it is as beautiful as the one in Paris.

 I would be happy just to look at the window and the beautiful exterior architecture at the Paris location. 

  The interior looks more like a an expensive boutique rather than a french bakery and tea room.

Laduree is probably most famous for their beautiful, colorful  macaroons. The packaging of these pastel beauties are so elegant.

                               The tea rooms are candy for the eyes as well.




                               

                           
                              Laduree tea rooms look like four star restaurants.

Each room more beautiful than the last.

                              Their table settings are simply elegant.

                         The china has  pastel pink and blue edges and appear to almost match the colors of the macaroons.

Everything tastes better on real china.

                  And I personally feel that tea or coffee always tastes better
              in real china. Wouln't you agree? 

At the Athenaeum Hotel in London, Laduree hosts the 4pm tea.

                          I would definitely sit for tea each afternoon for this. 

Mini me received a package  from Laduree in Paris........

                                                  macaroons of course! I made some tea, won't you join me?

 Peinen, a very talented French miniaturist, made me mini Laduree macaroons and a shopping bag.  Thank you Peinen, I love them. She has an Etsy shop called OiseaudeNim if you would like your own mini version.

I am linking this post to Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.  Stop by and see an amazing assortment of tablescapes.

It's Coming

                  The calm before the storm, in this case Irene,        a beautiful rainbow in a pink sky......

                                      followed by this

Hurricane Irene  looks like it already arrived in Montauk. We were planning to go home tomorrow (Sunday) but the town is shutting down. Montauk is the last town on the end of Long Island, on the south fork, the next town after the Hamptons. It is surrounded by water on all sides. It looks like we left at the right time.

The ocean is already hitting the dunes and the storm has not arrived yet.

I hope there will be no significant damage. Montauk has been home away from home for the past 12 summers. 

Is anyone else being visited by Irene?

I am joining Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound, hosted by Bev.
Stop by for lovely pinks.

The World of Blythe

Happy Pink Saturday! I thought I would share with you some pictures of the popular Blythe doll dressed in pink. I never heard of Blythe until a few years ago. I started seeing them all over blog land. 

I noticed the owners of Blythe dolls were really into them.  There was a subculture here that I was completely unaware of. These dolls were not owned by 10 year olds, but by adult women.They dressed them up in the cutest clothes. There are even Etsy stores devoted to selling hand made Blythe clothes. 

Some even  made  homes for them.

                I  thought this was the cutest thing ever, a doll in curlers.

                   And what about this photo, a surfing doll. There are a couple of Blythe groups on Flickr with thousands of pictures of all the different Blythe dolls. Take a look, it is well worth your time.

I can't wait to receive my new Blythe doll in the mail. They are not easy to get and not cheap.  It will be so much fun to dress her and do her hair. On a Blythe blog site there was a pole  given to find out the average age of a  Blythe fan. The youngest was 20 and the oldest was 60.  I fall right in the middle of that range and fortunately it looks like I will have another 20 years to play with dolls.

Do any of you have a Blythe doll? I would love to hear about it.

Please enjoy more pink by visiting Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Carey

Jeremiah Goodman

Happy Pink Saturday! I have some special watercolor illustrations to show for Pink Saturday. These lively illustrations were painted by Jeremiah Goodman. He has painted his impressions of the residences of the rich and famous for the past 65 years. Jeremiah is 89 years old, lives in NYC and continues to paint everyday. I chose the paintings that had pink for today but you must see his other work to fully appreciate beautiful illustrations

                The above illustration is Diana Vreelands living room.

        Jeremiah Goodman's Easthampton bedroom.(above)

Elsa Schiaparelli's living room in Paris (above)

                                

Although there is no pink, I love this painting of Betsy Bloomingdale's home. (above) 

                 Cecil Beaton's home in England. (above)


                     Tony Duquette's LA living room. (below)

I just purchased Jeremiah A Romantic Vision, which is a gorgeous book with hundreds of his paintings. Great coffee table book or lovely gift. Every page is filled with delicious candy for the eyes.  I highly recommend it.

Have a great weekend and for more pink, visit
How Sweet the Sound.

Carey

Miniature Living Gardens

Hello friends, hope all is well. I apologize for the absence. I have been busy with my hubby's illness, work and my three boys. I am glad to be back here and looking forward to visiting you all again.

I am just starting to get back into my hobbies and have found a new one to add to the list. As my friends know I love anything in miniature. I decided to try miniature living gardening. All the plants are real. Do you like the chandelier?  

In the picture below there is a swan planter with real plants! I took cuttings of small plants and hoped they would take root and to my delight they did. I love the hanging bird feeder and the blue gazing ball. My local gardening center helped in picking out the plants and I used some of my dollhouse things for decoration. The arch and chandelier were found in a gift store in the fairy garden area.  

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and staying cool.

Marghab Embroidery

I love to do embroidery and in reading about the history of it I came accross the magnificent Marghab embroidery. I have begun to collect Marghab emboidery. Here is my first purchase. It is a linen fingertip towel from the 1950s. The picture does not do justice to the perfection and beauty of this work.

Marghab is the "Tiffany" of fine linens, using only the most skilled Madeira embroideresses and the highest quality materials to create the finest hand embroidered linens in the world. Unsurpassed in quality, they were sold exclusively in 54 Marghab salons across the country. In business from 1934-1984, they created 282 exclusive patterns, all of which are magnificent works of art. Here is  examples of the some of the patterns.I choose all the pink patterns since it is pink saturday.

Marghab embroideresses were paid by the stitch! One napkin alone in Marghab's Vineyard pattern took 75,000 stitches and one month to complete! Some patterns, such as Rose Tree, Jacaranda Tree, Plume and Ponto Grega just to name a few, were copied by other Madeira or Chinese firms, some of them quite well. Marghab linens were world-famous and have graced the tables of palaces and embassies all over the world. Several are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Upon her death, Vera Marghab donated her entire collection (1,918 pieces and 282 designs) to the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, S.D.

I am linking this post to  How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Stop by and enjoy all different pinks.

Have a great weekend.