A Dream Come True….Mad Men

Once again, I apologize for my long absence.  We went on a little trip to Door County, Wisconsin & have spent the rest of the time engrossed in our new little entertainment purchase – Mad Men.  We just finished season one last night & I CANNOT WAIT for the season 2 premiere next weekend.  Everything about this show is fabulous; the acting, direction, casting and writing are all superb.  But what has really been blowing me away is the spectacular set design, props & stunning costumes:

I can’t get over this show.  I almost want to start watching it right away again.  Maybe this time I won’t interrupt every two minutes by squealing over lamps, wall hangings, office equipment, phones, dresses, shoes, & headboards.

I LOVE that headboard.  It almost makes me want to be a 1960’s era housewife.  ALMOST.  I think I’d miss the women’s liberation & the Diet Mountain Dew way too much.  Have a great day & go watch Mad Men right now!!!!

My New Love

I hate to veer to far from my normal interior-design themed posts, but I have to share with you my new love:

I have fallen hard for my new pair of spring shoes.  I can’t get over how comfortable they are, as well as how adorable they look on  my feet.  Too frickin’ cute. 

With My Millions….

I would buy this purse I fell head-over-heels in love with this week:

I ADORE this lovely bag from Coach.  I’m so glad that designers are moving away from the Logos and back to more classic forms.   I never liked that trend myself.  I’m more of a solid color purse kind of girl.  I hope you have a great day.

Friends Rule!

I am blessed to have wonderful friends.  They are a constant source of fun, festivity, support & love.  In a word, they rock.  Especially friends that expose me to cool stuff like this gorgeous bag from Tracy Reese.  (Normally I would post a picture, but I couldn’t size it properly so it wasn’t GINORMOUS.  Please follow the linkto see how pretty this purse is!)  Thanks to my gorgeous Brazilian friend Tati for the tip. 

My dear friend Ms. Darby told me about Innocent Girl, who describes herself on her blog as an “illustrator/artist/animator/nipponphile currently living in Melbourne, Australia.” Love that description.  Also loving the illustrations on her site:

   

(Please click on these images to see them in all their strange, beautiful glory.)

Innocent Girl also has an Etsy shop where you can find lovely things like this:

Thanks for introducing me to a new artist Darby.  You are a rock star! 

Finally, I would like to extend a big thanks to Mary Jo Matsumoto for mentioning Big Daddy Seashell on the amazing Trust Your Style blog.  That was as at least as exciting for me as the night I shook hands with Fred Willard.  So Mary Jo, I hope you know that I am doing a Wayne & Garth“we’re not worthy” bow for you here in cold Chicago.  Actually,  I extend the Wayne/Garth bow to Darby, Tati & Innocent Girl as well.  So, if any of you have any tips, links, or other goodies to float my way, feel free to send me an email (gwenpent@[removethis]gmail.com. Share the love already! Have a great day.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For those of you who don’t know, Sunday night was a big night for me.  Usually, if I’m asked what my favorite TV show is, I might try and play it cool and say Six Feet Under, The Wire, The Office, or Arrested Development.  Or, I might even own up to my Buffy the Vampire Slayer, America’s Next Top Model, The Hills or Real World/Road Rules Challenge guilty pleasures.  But in my heart of hearts, my favorite TV show has always been the Academy Awards.  I can remember meticulously writing down the winners ever since my third grade year.  It was always one of the rare school nights we were allowed to stay up late.  I loved the speeches, the funny unexpected moments, the film clips & seeing the glamourous stars in all their glory.  One of my very favorite parts of the show has always been the clothes.  So, I thought I would do a little rundown of my favorite and not-so-favorite fashions from Sunday’s show.  (Please note: I was unable to source these photographs, but most of them are AP photos from the ABC website.  If you are a photographer who sees your photo, please send me an email via the contact page & I will source your photo.  Please don’t hate me!)

All in all, it was a pretty good night.  One dress stood out to me as being very special:

I love Heidi Klum in this dress.  I love the red (obviously a big theme for the night) & I love the drama of the neckline.  If you are a size nothing, and drink obnoxious amounts of Diet Coke, this dress will be the prize in the Diet Coke Women’s Heart Health campaign. 

So pretty.  As for men, one of my favorites was this guy:

First of all, can we just talk again about how excited I was when Javier Bardem one?  I was whoopin’ & hollerin’ up a storm.  And then when the Coen’s won Best Director & No Country For Old Men took the Best Picture, I couldn’t have been happier.  Okay, back to his suit:

I adore the longer jacket with the shorter lapel.  I don’t know what it is, but I love it.  My husband & I both agreed that it was a very masculine look & I thought it was dead sexy. 

(More of my picks after the jump.)

Mary Jo Matsumoto

Yesterday, I was surprised & delighted to receive an email from one of my heroes: designer/blogger extraordinaire, Mary Jo Matsumoto.  I was super excited that she added me to her links!  I’ve been reading her blog, Trust Your Style, for a few years now.  It’s a wonderful resource for fashion, style, & beauty trends.  I like hearing a real designer’s point of view on the industry.  Plus, she designs killer bags:

I cannot get over the awesomeness of these clutches. 

Can we talk for a moment about how much I love the photography & illustrations on her site?  I absolutely ADORE this:

The illustrations on the site are by Samantha Hahn, who also has a delicious design blog, Maquette. 

So, a big thank you to Mary Jo for being so sweet & making my blogging experience that much better.  I know I’ll be posting more about this talented lady in the future.  Have a fantastic weekend everybody!

(P.S.  If Javier Bardem doesn’t win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Sunday night, I will officially BOYCOTT the Oscars for the rest of my life!)

Congratulations To Camilla!

I am so excited about these shoes:

Designed by one of my favorite artists, Camilla Engman, they are being sold by Converse for the (Red) program.

I think these beautiful kicks will sell fast, especially since 10% of the proceeds go to the global fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria within Africa.  I know I NEED to have a pair.  They are my favorite colors & feature one of my favorite Camilla drawings of Little Red Riding Hood.  Too cute.  Have a great weekend everybody!

Favorite Fashion Inspiration

I was so excited today when I read this article in the New York Times.  It appears that big name designers are looking back to one of my favorite fashion eras, the 50s, and to one of my very, very favorite fashion icons, Grace Kelly, for inspiration.  I can see why:

We had a book when I was a kid, Life Goes to The Movies.  It had all the pictures that Life magazine published about movies & movie stars.   I pretty much wore out that book staring at the pictures of the beautiful stars in their gorgeous clothes.  I obsessed over this picture:

I still love this photo.  That color! That draping!  That immaculately styled hair!  Swoon.  This dress would be a star on any red carpet today.  That’s the thing about ladies like Grace Kelly & Audrey Hepburn.  You could plop them onto the red carpet today & they would still stop everyone in their tracks.  Much like they did here backstage at the 1954 Academy Awards:

(My favorite source for Grace inspiration is after the jump!)

More Pare Umbrellas

My very first design post featured a beautiful umbrella from Pare Umbrella in Seattle.  In that post, I mentioned that I was lucky enough to own one.  Unfortunately, I own my pretty umbrella no more.  (Sniff, sniff.)  Somehow, it disappeared.  I am hoping no one stole it from me at work, but I think that’s what happened.  Until I can afford to buy a new one, I will just have to satisfy my Pare yearning with these pictures.  Sigh.

 

This Mod Leaf pattern is my favorite.  (More after the jump!)

Acorn Studios

I love clever ways of reusing objects in new, unique ways.  When I saw Acorn Studios on SwissMiss, I was thrilled.

These circuit board earrings are too cute. 

I’m always on the lookout for a good notepad.  These colorful diskette notepads are awesome.  Does anybody even use disks anymore?  I also like the look of this photo album:

Everyone knows someone who loves keychains.  These would be adorable gifts.  As would these clever ornaments:

I feel a little better about posting Christmas stuff now that it’s November.  I hope you all have a great day!