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 

Friedrich Schiller Haus, 

Weimar. 

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 

Emily Lisker's 

glorious new blog? 

I think so. 

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!

Happy Places III

Another quick trip

around the heavenly cottage

[see happy places one]:

these are just snapshots, &

taken spur of the moment;

simple & by the lake, the cottage is a

most wondrous space, the creation of

an exceedingly talented designer. For

more 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.

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? 

Setting Up

tidbits from the table...

more soon

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."

Alert: Eloise fans!

There will be egg cups.

And, as you know,

"An egg cup makes a very good hat."

Toodle-oo for now...

Leaving you with

a lovely pic of Clara Bow,

who looks...well,

not that busy.

But awfully stylish.

sweet

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 

"How Fairy Tale Color

 Saved the Subways from Gloom" 

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?

MoMA 2008

Clara Bow. The eyes have it.

Love the eyes. Love the look. Love the inspiration.

Lazy Saturday: Saints and Sinners

Clara Bow. Quite incomparable.

Love This

St. Therese as a child.

Love This II

Photo by Steichen...gown by Vionnet.

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

One More From the Big House

One of Our Design Projects In Willow Glen

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

read

I Can Fly

mary blair, genius

victoria thorne, staging & design

margot hartford, photographer

megan logsdon, model
house on laurie avenue, pink bath

[thumbnail for "my magic mim"]

New Work From Peter Sis

There's more Opona Goodness on Art.Books.Children.

Audrey Hepburn Redux

The little Audrey Hepburn table has been a big hit...

so I've ordered up one more dish o'raspberries

with a sweet smile on the side. Cheers!

design | style victoria thorne

"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger

Great article on working from home, via Shedworking.

(If I read Shedworking enough,

will a lovely little shed appear in my backyard?

With a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush?

And an old lady--would that be me, now?--whispering hush?

Once upon a time,

I certainly read "Goodnight Moon" enough...

when the T.K. were all so very little.

And it seems it has appeared, somewhat...

now, where is that rocking chair?)

I digress.

Anyhow, lovely quote from the article:

"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger,

interior designer. "The smartest of addresses now all

want a media room and a garden office

as a sanctuary away from distractions."

Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas worked at home;

one would be in good company.

Working at home. The new old frontier?

Now, if my smart garden shed

would manifest in my backyard. Bitte.

(above, a sweet little brickhouse @the Presidio)

more here

design: victoria thorne

photo: nlmphotography

Be Light of Heart

A Summer Rhyme, In Time for Fall

I asked my mother for fifty cents

To see the elephant jump the fence;

He jumped so high he reached the sky

And didn't come back till the Fourth of July.

From I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book

edited by Iona and Peter Opie

illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Your work is to discover your work

 and then, 

with all your heart, give yourself to it.

Why Coworking is Good, or: I never could get through Ulysses.

"Ulysses" (and "Moby Dick," since we are being honest here) was the book I simply couldn't conquer as an English major. Therefore, it was a delight to find this sentence in an article which was noted in Shedworking today:

"Working from home is like living James Joyce’s Ulysses — a tiresome stream of consciousness interrupted only by procrastination."

"5 rules for Working at Home," looks wonderful--like everything else Shedworking recommends. Having worked from home for the last 18 years (well...26, if you count being a mother as working...which I suppose we all need to do), it made me laugh out loud to see the task compared to reading Ulysses. Kay Spicer is brilliant.

It's one of the reasons that I'm really looking forward to the development of the co-working movement, which will be a boon to many, including any parent who must work from home. Brad Neuberg spearheaded this, and he is marvelous; I was fortunate enough to meet him this spring at a co-working seminar at M. F. Chapman's brilliant Cubes and Crayons in Menlo Park

I would've loved co-working 25 years ago, when my husband was driving submarines around arctic waters and I was at home with, in a quick four years, three babies. All good. Now, to get back to Ulysses...

Above, a fairly typical item one might 

find 

in my work area: 

Handwoven Japanese Snow Shoes. 

I am wondering if I should start photographing and cataloging the odd items, thanks to my photo-styling days and quirky antiquephile tendencies, that dot my workspace...and then, perhaps, crate them all up...

Indian Summer.Garden Dream

Summer at the Cloisters

nyc, 07.08

In Search of Chocolate

Six little Bakers

Let's Give a Hand to Hollister Hovey

The truly wonderful Hollister Hovey is in the New York Times Home & Garden section today...a perfectly marvelous treat...her blog is delectable...her taste, impeccable...

 

for a look at her picks, just click here.

Congratulations Hollister!

snapped this just off Broadway, 07.08

In A New York State Of Mind

nyc, 07.08

A New Week. An Old Hope. A View.

Peace

nyc  07.08