31.10.08
28.10.08
27.10.08
"...a Stunning Thanksgiving Table"
Kim Boatman, Rick Martin, and I teamed up several times to present holiday tables (and other bits of decoration, for other bits of holidays) for the Mercury News. It was a wonderful undertaking, and involved a bit of hard work and preparation...
All fun, because it was a most excellent team. I believe we enjoyed working together and came up with some pretty good stuff. The Merc liked us. We were asked to cover a number of holidays after another.
I was the designer/stylist/prop master, Rick the photographer, Kim the writer. They are both magnificent. It was a great lark; and, now, when October rolls around, I grow somewhat nostalgic for the tables. As luck would have it, a few still seem to exist on the web.
26.10.08
The Insomniacs Kitchen, a New Delight from Artist Emily Lister
I absolutely love a wonderful new blog called "The Insomniacs Kitchen."
It's charming and spritely and cheerful and it makes me want to learn Yiddish and cook things in my dutch oven (it's about time...that dutch oven was getting lonely in the cupboard) and try to make Raisin Bran Muffin Cake and only eat whole grains. Why? Because Emily says so, and because she makes it all sound so deliciously fun.
Come to find out, Emily doesn't just write wonderful bits about blackstrap molasses gingerbread and Laurie Colwin and the Old Sturbridge Village Cookbook. (I still have a little straw broom from Sturbridge Village, acquired at the ripe old age of seven. It is, for me, a great prize...it brings me a bit of handmade bliss...)
Well, back to wondrous Emily...she is also the incredibly talented illustrator of over a dozen books, and an extraordinarily gifted painter. Please do drop by and visit her new digs!
Above: a snapshot from the
Wouldn't it be fun (and just a little swanky)
to have a bit of tea and gingerbread at this table,
after cooking up yummy goodies from
I think so.
23.10.08
Gifted. It's a Wrap.
Another little bit from our table for
"Holidays on a High Note."
The purple ribbons are tied around a
cheery jangle of bracelets with tiny bells,
sure enough to please any recipient...
wouldn't it be fun if the box
contained a pair of chic vintage gloves?
Happy hands!
22.10.08
Happy Places III
Another quick triparound the heavenly cottage[see happy places one]:these are just snapshots, &taken spur of the moment;simple & by the lake, the cottage is amost wondrous space, the creation ofan exceedingly talented designer. Formore of his magnificent work,go to red|bar.
Happy Places I
I hope that our incredibly talented
man in the hamptons
doesn't mind that I've posted these...
it's just that, as we cruise into fall,
and summer fades to a glimmer on the far horizon...
well, I wanted to take one more look.
You can see why.
This heavenly place: isn't it amazing?
Don't you want one?
If it looks like the cottage of your dreams,
I can verify that it most certainly is...
Cheers to a very gifted KB
(another strange coincidence--see below--all the marvelous KB's in our lives...I'm even married to one. Two of the others are in these photos, as are the birthday girls from St. Barbara's day, and St. Barbara + one).
Next happy place?
Surely, we will visit Hawaii, again, on the blog.
With Mom and Dad.
Magical.
Just like them.
21.10.08
Six Degrees of St. Barbara
Of course, you know that St. Barbara is
the patron saint of the Artillery (go Dad!).
But did you know that her feast day is on
December 4th?
Imagine.
A lovely day it is, as is the day after.
These are the dates, respectively,
of my daughter's and my sister's birthdays.
It often amazes me that St. Barbara
shares her name (and date)
with many of the dearest friends and family in my life.
Happy Birthday, a few days late, to
Barbara Catherine.
This coincidence of Barbaras has often caused me to wonder
if there are, really, any coincidences.
And, I promise, there will be more pictures of flowers soon.
It's just that, tonight, I am floral-ed out,
having been madly arranging for days now.
Exhausting, exhilarating, enlightening--
I adore flowers, working with them, looking at them...and,
golly,
I surely would love to cultivate
a sweet little quarter-acre of some...
the gardener in me,
perhaps she is just
a
late
bloomer?
19.10.08
Dear Eloise! "Oh my Lord I am absolutely so busy I don't know how I can possibly get everything done"
Like Eloise, I am scampering around this weekend preparing a table design for the luscious "Holidays on a High Note" event in Atherton at the venerable Circus Club. So, please be patient and wait for further postings...some of which are sure to include, happily, the finished table: "A Birthday at the Little House."
There will be egg cups.
And, as you know,
Leaving you with
a lovely pic of Clara Bow,
who looks...well,
not that busy.
But awfully stylish.
16.10.08
Tales of the Twentieth Century: Mr. Dole, Mr. Vickers, and Mr. Everen Save the Subways From Gloom
Herbert Dole, Squire Joseph Vickers, and Jay Van Everen,
"all classmates at Cornell University's College of Architecture,
designed most of the plaques and tile work on the N/R line,
and in subway stations above Grand Central Terminal
on the East Side and below
Times Square on the West Side."
From
When I snapped the above photo this summer
(I'd fallen in love
with the mosiacs in the subways, particularly one
that was the most charming little house...we seem to run past it
at the speed of light, surely late to something),
little did I know that
I'd be meeting--a few months later--an
absolutely marvelous woman who knows first-hand of
the magnificent architect behind the art...
life is full of wonderful little miracles, isn't it?
15.10.08
12.10.08
11.10.08
7.10.08
And A Good Time Was Had By All!
Dozens of Red Roses From Jack, Her True Love
The Fountain We Found In Nola
Barb's Day At The Beach
BBC
09.22.08
Happy Birthday, My Dear Friend!
Best Wishes for The Wonderful Year Ahead
6.10.08
Something Different is in the Air
Looking for Something Different?
Got it.
This is a bit of fun, out-takes from a shoot that was actually for a house that was under construction (I selected many of the finishing materials and colors for the interiors and exterior).
Margot, Megan and I took a few moments off to do a riff on "Brooke Astor Meets Eloise by Way of The Little House," or something like that (Brooke Astor had just passed away, and I was reading Patchwork Child, one of her autobiographies, and was enchanted by it).
I'd hoped to create a little advertising campaign for my design business around one the other shots--a close up, with the binoculars.
It was to say:
"Looking for Something Different?
Victoria Thorne Design."
Photo Design|Style: Victoria Thorne
Photographer: Margot Hartford
I Can Fly
mary blair, genius
victoria thorne, staging & design
margot hartford, photographer
megan logsdon, model
house on laurie avenue, pink bath
house on laurie avenue, pink bath
[thumbnail for "my magic mim"]
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