required reading: kinfolk

issue one

when i came across kinfolk magazine it took my breath away.  styling itself as a guide for those who love small gatherings, this new publication features amazing photographs of small moments: coffee alone, a folding table set for two, an assortment of cloth napkins drying in the sun.  there are quite a few great online publications out, but kinfolk feels fresh - not too much styling and touched with an easy cool.  divided into sections on gatherings for one, tandem and few, the publication is scheduled to be released twice annually.  i'm already looking forward to issue two.  

i hope you enjoy kinfolk as much as i have! i'm thinking of a going tandem tonight for a candlelit dinner on the back porch with my sweet husband. what will your next gathering be? affectionately, j

a star is born

joel works the room during dinner service

i am so thoroughly proud of joel, aaron and the incredibly hard-working team they've put together at the lovely st. jack.  it's amazing to see our a labor of love find such success so quickly.  check out this pretty neat video (pig's foot anyone?) and the the very neat rising star of the year award that goes with it. merci beaucoup, oregonian! love: j

a little drama goes a long way

aubrey trinnaman via oh happy day!

i'm just totally head over heels in love with this idea.  it is the perfect combination of simple yet stunning,  high-impact on the cheap. find this and more pretty features in the latest (party-themed!) issue of anthology magazine. love: j

A Lofty Affair

Here we have, the design board for our upcoming bridal shoot which will take place in this amazing loft in down town Long Beach. Thanks for your lovely input and words of wisdom, J. I will show you our final product after the shoot next week.

Xo : K

the sea, the sea

constellations of the northern hemisphere

there was a time many years ago when watching the sun set over the sea was a matter of course, when my curls smelled of beach bonfires and salted air.  those days were too brief -- i still dream of the sound of waves meeting sand.  but, oh! we are making a pilgrimage to the pacific this weekend and i really couldn't be more excited.

ships by the society via sfgirlbybay

as our little trip approached i found myself obsessing over all things nautical. and yes, kass, i know i just sent your husband, the incredible mr. t, a fully oceanic birthday box last week. packaging that gift was slightly therapeutic, but i'm pretty sure i won't be free of this siren song until i've actually dipped my toes into oregon's frigid coast. 

whales at home via cup of joe

tonight i am just hours away from sand castles and pelican pints.  my lovely eliot is planning "to dance for the sand and the sea and the sharks and the crabs" on sunday. perhaps i will join her.  love: j.

kitka via sfgirlbybay

of tassels, texture and trees

confetti system's divine tassels

k: i've pulled together a little inspiration for your upcoming shoot, mainly in the form of tassels, trees and texture.  it sounds like you the loft you are working with is the perfect canvas for a modern bridal look book and you just need a few good pieces to set your mood.  as i was looking for inspiration i found myself coming back to what i imagine to be minimalism with a dramatic flair.   i've totally fallen in love with the amazing installations of  confetti system, and i think that the idea behind their glamourous fringes could be re-purposed in creative ways.  add subtle texture with an all white tasseled wall. add a pop of color with one vibrantly fringed window or large branch. go for all out drama with one of their confetti-filled metallic diamond pinata's.  

i love the colors in this loft-wedding look - muted pinks and metallics with a huge white tree. i think it's very chic that they've left the rest of the room bare. follow the link below for the more photos of the inspiring bridal shoot.

pink/gold loft here

more white and branch shots.  i think that the oversized natural wood arrangements are quite dramatic in these sun-drenched rooms.  of course i can see myself happily moving into either of these spaces...

via decor8

found in dwr's recent catologue

this new york city wedding photographed be craig paulson and featured on style me pretty is very rock and roll.  i love this image of the confident bride in front of the huge glass window highlighted by delicate garland curtains.  creating this look would be a doable project for any event.

nyc wedding via style me pretty

that's it for now. i hope your planning is going well - can't wait to see what you put together! love, j.

confetti system

Help!

So... as you know I am styling a bridal shoot for the talented, Aaron Shintaku in just a few short weeks and I am all over the place! First we were going to go whimsical 40s, then it was ultra-modern and now I'm honing in on 60s Mod meets Minimal elegance... The closest image I've found to capturing what I mean by this is the fashion label, Chloe's most recent ad campaign.

When it comes to weddings, I'm a big fan of UN clutter. Trends these days have seemed to overkill with details so much so that often times the elegance of the day can be compromised.

Items from CB2's trend report.

For this shoot, I'd like to use a lot of whites and glass. Our location is this great loft in downtown Long Beach with an amazing rooftop and huge windowed wall in the living room that I'd love to do a great installation in.

I liked this image from April & May, a new Interior Design blog I recently found and love.

All in all, I'm excited about this direction, however I can feel it in my bones that one of the challenges is going to be bringing in beautiful and elegant qualities, making sure it's not too minimal. All that to say, help! Oh how I wish you were here to create mood boards with me!

feeling bookish

one

i have a little secret: bookshelf porn.  i'm blushing slightly as i admit that since i came across the photos of stacks, racks and roomfuls of books i've found myself checking in on an increasingly frequent basis. my pulse quickens at the sight so many yellowing novels just waiting to be read.   if you catch yourself dreaming slightly musty dreams of shafts of dusted light playing across endless aisles of hardbacks don't blame me -- i hear this kind of thing can be addictive.

two 

three 

four 

i'm sure that my next juicy read is waiting at powell's right now, and i'm hoping that your nightstand is topped by a little something that will keep you up late tonight. love, j.

five

Deserted Green Glass

Well, as I believe you know, I have gobs of green glass which I acquired for my wedding. I thought to myself as I collected and collected these lovely trinkets that I wouldn't be one of those wasteful brides that buys all these centerpiece and decor pieces only to be stuffed into boxes after the festivities, never to be seen again. Needless to say, all my green glass is now spewing from my closets and cupboards from the collection. After all that searching and accumulating, I couldn't stand the sight of this mossy trove. However! My eyes have been cleaned by this incredible wedding shot by Feather Love Photography.

This eclectic desert wedding took place at the swanky, Ace Hotel in Palm Desert

Love these brown and blue touches with the green glass!

Well I must say, I have new appreciation for that dusty green glass. I'm off to pull them from their boxes and maybe buy a cactus or two!

Xx,

-Kassi

an etsy lover's easter

vintage french lamb for ezra's basket

if the aisles of grocery stores are any indication, easter is on it's way.  pink plastic baskets, neon green "grass", and sugary yellow peeps have all been placed on eye level -- a gentle reminder to the unsuspecting shopper that the easter bunny's arrival is mere weeks away.  this year i would love to exchange cadbury for crafted, so i've pulled together a little roundup of my (imaginary) etsy-style easter.

soy bunny crayons for eliot's basket

she is only three, but last year's jelly bean fueled easter egg hunt made a big impression on eliot, and she's been informing me that easter=candy ever since.  i'd like to limit the sugar parade, so these soy bunny crayons look perfect.  i think my little mr. ezra (aka snaggletooth) would love to drool all over that rubber lambie.

this bottle opener would be perfect for joel's basket

sweet tea towels for my basket

after spying this gorgeous antique bottle opener, i realized that of course joel and my basket should be brunch themed. the tea towels depict the changing seasons - perfect for spring. add a little dark chocolate and perhaps something to use our bottle opener on and we're set.

here

and here

lastly, i couldn't pass up these awesome painted playing cards.  the bunnies in sailor stripes are just too cute.  hope the easter bunny brings you something fun! love, j

optimism: a cautionary tale

almost lost

our computer crashed a couple of weeks ago.  this may not seem at all momentous, but in the years since our dear (and supremely generous) friends carlee and bryan gave it to us, our little imac has accumulated years of music, joel's poetry, and of course all of eliot and ezra's baby pictures. i heard about a study just last week that seemed to prove that optimistic people tend to have shorter life spans because they live as if nothing will go drastically wrong, and therefore take greater risks.  sky diving? sounds fun! smoking? i probably won't get cancer! back up my computer? why bother? (yes, they used the computer thing as an example). apparently one doesn't need a sunny disposition in order to be an optimist because joel and i have never backed up our computer.  

found

you may have guessed that there is a happy ending to this story.  we took our precious memories -entombed as they were in our stylish though non-functioning mac - down to old town computers and a lovely little hipster-geek performed a miracle on our motherboard.  i suppose the moral of the story is to take special care of that which you hold close to your heart (even if it means backing up your hard drive) and perhaps you'd be better off if that glass in your hand wasn't half-full.  with love and caution: j

sweet stationery for a sick day



download here


how sweet is this stationery?  poor baby ezra has been down with an incredibly nasty little cold for over a week now, which means that i've had a rather snotty, coughing barnacle 24 hours a day.  no surprise that joel and i woke up this morning feeling lousy.  my day was brigtened considerably though, when i discovered this free download by tocotoco mag on creature comforts. i love the woodland creatures in spring colors - it's just perfect for a quite day at home, nursing colds and practicing letters with eliot.
love: j

kiss me, i'm irish

yes, please!

with st. patrick's day right around the corner, i thought i'd share some pics from this gorgeous, modern irish wedding i came across on style me pretty.  it's no a secret that i'm a big fan of st. patrick's day - who doesn't want an excuse to indulge in heaps of shepherd's pie and tall pints of guinness?  it's been a life-long dream of mine to one day visit the emerald isle, land of the ancestors who gave me such a large helping of pale, freckled skin.  i'll get there someday, until then i'll make do with a little mr. heaney in front of the fire. 



the seaside setting really couldn't be prettier. i love the mix of rustic woods, simple greens and small doses of metalic. and the cake is such a cool intrepretaion of the four-leaf clover. click here for more of larissa cleveland's photos of the beautiful handfasting ceremony.

 

  

here's to the beauty of the irish. sláinte! love: j






a studio study

a lovely san francisco studio via apartment therapy

our dear sister crystal is taking a big step this weekend - moving into her very own fantastic studio apartment. i'm so proud of her! she is going to grad school and working hard, so she needs a cozy space to decompress at the end of the day.  of course, it should also be a little funky and fabulous like she is!  for this inspiration post, i'm thinking bohemian chic on a student-friendly budget. the lovely studio pictured above has, i think, all of the right elements. check out the full house tour here.

a cozy bed with a dash of color to anchor the room

she's been living with roommates for years now, so crystal has managed to pare down her possessions to the basics.  now she can begin to build her own space by mixing vintage and new, and incorporating tokens of her affection for music, fashion, books and art.

via sfgirlbybay

i love the idea of using all your available wall space - especially when you have limited room.  the bathroom is a great place to personalize with mementos like postcards and pictures as in the photo below.  displaying collections of jewelry or perfume (crystal has a great collection of both) is a great way to show-off great finds while defeating limited closet space.

cool and personalized bathroom (RIP domino mag)

space saving solutions don't have to be boring - a cool table brightens the kitchen nook, while an eclectic mix of vintage chairs add extra seating for entertaining.  

more small space table solutions here

i can't wait to help my little sis get all set-up in her new space!  love, j