Charleston Trip...and the Sweetest Lunch Spot!

My sister is getting married near Charleston, South Carolina in September and I just spent the weekend in Charleston with my sister and my Mom finalizing all the details (Fiona stayed at home with her Dad).  Since my sister has already picked all of her vendors we were there to do the fun stuff and make final design and food decisions!   It was a special treat to spend a weekend with just my sister and our Mom.  And I love love love Charleston and all it has to offer.  It is always inspiring to be there - there is so much art and culture, great food (especially fresh seafood- hello blue crab!) and amazing architecture and history.   Not to mention that the beach is never far away.  

I plan on posting some more pictures of our trip once I download them, but in the meantime I wanted to quickly upload some pics from the cutest little eatery called "The Pickled Palate" that my sister and I found on Friday in Mt. Pleasant, SC (just across the bridge from Charleston).  The building and surrounding garden are so enchanting and sweet, I felt like we had stumbled into a storybook.  The lunch menu, which is mostly locally sourced and then made onsite, was sooo tasty.  We had a panini and iced tea, but they also have salads and wine, plus I think they offer more at dinner.  Also, on the same site, is a little store by the same owners called Earthly Artifacts, full of handmade and vintage inspired home and garden decor.  So lovely.  I can't wait to return in September! 

Organic Modernism...

While walking on W. 18th street with Fiona and our good friend, Jess, I ran across the newly opened Chelsea outpost of Organic Modernism.   With a store name like that I think I was pretty much guaranteed to love its furniture and design since I usually describe Patrick's and my combined interior style direction as 'natural materials with modern lines'...  My pictures of the interior of this store turned out pretty awful...so I tried to pick the 'least awful pics' and they don't really do the place justice but I wanted to give an idea of what's 'in store'.  The pieces appear to be quality and the prices are also not astronomical.

The Circus Pendant Light + the Plumen Blub at the Conran Shop

I was recently visiting ABC Carpet & Home in NYC and I ended up at the Conran Shop on the lower level of the store.  I've never made my way down there before.  But their furniture and furnishings are fabulous.  Modern lines with a cozy warm feel.  I really would love to use their Circus Pendant Light somewhere in our home.

The pendant caught my eye first, but then it was also what was inside the pendant that inspired me.  Where
can you get a light bulb like this?? So perfect for a pendant where you will see the light inside on display.

I did a little internet research and it appears to be the Plumen light bulb.  Not only is this bulb's design fabulous, it is also energy efficient!  Win Win!  What a great antidote to the undeniably cool but oh so power hungry vintage filament bulbs that have been in vogue the last few years.

The Antiques Garage

Fiona and I have been busy running around the city the last two days on field trips for the New York City Challenge and have been off to a great (re)start of the mission.  The weather here has been perfect for site-seeing.  Low 70s and Sunny!  Friday, we visited the MoMa and yesterday we went to the Antiques Garage flea market on W. 25th Street with our good friend Jess.  

Wow.  I really wish I had visited this place before yesterday.  As in, when we moved into our apartment three years ago.  I would have used it to decorate and furnish our place.  What a great flea market filled to the brim with everything a good Flea Market should have: clothes, books, furniture, jewelry, art, and various knick-knacks.  I could have gone home with a few things and if we weren't moving in a few months I probably would have!  The Brooklyn Flea seems to get a lot of press, but this flea is bigger, and seems to have a lot more of everything (except that it is all antiques and doesn't have any new artisans or food booths).  Really, I would have been coming here often if I had known how good it was!  Just walking through sparked my creative juices.

An old shoots and ladders type game, Canadian Toboggan style!! 

Isn't this old wall paper fantastic!  I love the colors and the design.  Darn it.  Just realized I should have bought this.

Great 50s light fixture hanging in the middle of this pic.  How cool would that look over a dining table??

A Field trip to the Fabulous Fish's Eddy (plus a New York City Challenge update)

Broadway, facing North from Union Square. 

So, after, say about 2 months or so of failing my New York City Challenge, it is with new vigor and motivation that I am rededicating myself to this challenge.  The last month and a half has been a whirl, packed with a wedding, a trip to Chicago, a bachelorette party in Las Vegas, Fiona's birthday and party, and a visit from Patrick's parents.  I'm cutting myself some slack.  Really, don't you think I should? Or are my excuses starting to ring hollow? I'm really hoping I can keep up with the challenge for the next month, since we don't have any travel plans until July (with the exception of one trip to New Jersey for a wedding), and with the realization that we really will probably be leaving the city in just a few months (gulp!!!).  

Facing North on Broadway from 19th street. 

Ok, enough with the excuses.  Onto meet the challenge!!

Fish's Eddy...a dishware store (and more!) located in this lovely old building located at 889 Broadway at 19th street.  It offers lots of basic utilitarian products with hefty dose of joy!  It's just a super fun store to visit...think major eye candy. 

Wedding dress made out of spoons...!

 Kitchen tools.

Flatware on the cheap.

But what you are really here for are the dishes...

And the fabulous glassware...Party Glasses!

What a great gift idea! 

However, it's their coffee mugs I always leave with.  Their coffee mugs all have major heft, just as I think a good coffee mug should.  They feel solid and sturdy in your hand, which is a reassuring after waking up after too few hours of sleep because of a late night or an early morning baby (ha!).  This coffee mug I truly couldn't resist...

This mug is part of their 'Intervention-ware'.  Borderline mean perhaps?  But hey, mornings are rough sometimes.

Yay for Fish's Eddy!