LHEverything.com

my friend lyndsey hamilton of lyndsey hamilton events sent me an email this morning, alerting me to her new blog! this is exciting -- lyndsey is a heavy hitter in the wedding industry, but this is her first foray into blogging.

welcome to our world babe!

keep in touch with her blog for great wedding pics, ideas, vendors, and just general style. =)

image above from an event designed by lyndsey hamilton, photographed by chris humphreys. all rights reserved.

fabulous inspiration...

as i rework my plan for my office space, again, i look for inspiration from other companies and what they do. so, therefore, this ain't no disco is one of my fave blogs to check in with.


my favorite space so far is mccann erickson's studio space in london. the drawings on the walls and writings of inspiration are wonderful -- whimsical, thought-provoking, and just plain fun. i love the idea of it. (the last photo shown here reminds me of a shel silverstein poem!)


this might be an option for my space, since i do have to share it with baby block once he/she comes along. maybe one day baby block can draw on the walls too!

from intern talya -- blue tulip

my fab intern, talya, had told me about blue tulip. this lovely store has a number of gift and stationery options, and has a few different locations on the east coast. i had never been to a blue tulip outlet, but talya raved about them -- especially noting their "invitation dress," which is a dress mostly made up of a selection of their wedding invites. well, when i heard about this dress, i needed to see it! so talya was kind enough to go to their store in canton, connecticut, and take some photos for the nicblog. yay talya!

enjoy the pics, and visit a blue tulip when you get a chance. =)

gutsy parents!

Image © Phil Mansfield for The New York Times.

cross-post with my baby blog... those who read both, you can skip this story on one of the two!

just found this article from the new york times, via apartment therapy's ohdeedoh blog. can you believe this? the mother, pamela bell (a former partner in the Kate Spade brand), let her three children draw and write on their furniture with fabric markers, as well as letting the children do other things such as picking out the paint colors in the home.

i'm impressed, to be honest. that is one gutsy parent. and the results are fabulous! i love how the furniture pieces came out, as well as the other fun details throughout their home. will we let our child do something similar? no, hehehehe... but we have started focusing the house to be comfy, colorful, and child-friendly. it's about as free as i'll get with my decorating! =D

unnatural wonders in nyc

the waterfalls installation opened a couple of weeks ago here in new york city. designed and created by artist Olafur Eliasson, there are 4 installations in total. i was waiting to post about them until i had seen all of them myself. i finally have -- albeit, mostly from our car -- and i have to say i love them!

the one pictured above is the falls from the brooklyn bridge, viewable from the manhattan side of the bridge. it was my favorite one, and looks as though the waterfalls are running directly from underneath the bridge itself. i thought it was effective and simply lovely.

all the others are free-standing metal structures -- not as beautiful, but definitely effective and interesting. i like this public art installation much more than the gates, which i did not really find to be evocative in person, except from an aerial perspective.

there are boat tours running around lower manhattan to see these falls up close and personal. this website will tell you more about the falls, the artist, and the locations where you can see them. in the meantime, enjoy the photos on the site -- especially if you can't see them in person.

beautiful bowls

from one of my most favorite blogs, my marrakesh... how lovely are these images? it's fayoum pottery from cairo. i'm going to ask maryam to get me one next time, methinks...

switching gears -- happy stuff

found on the HOWblog, these recycled letters from urban outfitters are so fabulous. colorful, green, and useful. i'm thinking that the door to the office/nursery could use our new baby's initials. only question is, which will it be? A.B., or G.B.? only time (and the birth) will tell. =)


** to clue everyone in: we're not revealing our name choices for the baby until the baby is born. of course, we're also not finding out the sex, so that leaves it even more of a mystery! we do have names picked out... and the only thing i can tell you is that baby block's name will either start with an A (for my deceased grandfather, albert), or G (for dave's deceased father, gary). **

missing woman in north carolina -- UPDATE

this is a departure from my usual posting. but i feel it's necessary.

nancy cooper is a wife and a mother from cary, north carolina. she left her home at 7a.m. on saturday morning for a jog, and never returned. she did not have a purse, keys, or i.d. on her when she left.

it's not expected that the mother of 2 young girls (4 and 2 years old) would have voluntarily left. so the search has been on since yesterday for nancy. unfortunately, no luck yet.

the poster above is the poster her friends and neighbors have been distributing around the area. a friend of nancy's is a member of the design community and has asked us with blogs to distribute this information. i feel the situation so deeply that i couldn't help but post it.

you can read more about the situation here and here. in the meantime, if you have any information on nancy cooper, please call the cary police department. the information is listed on the poster.

thanks everyone.

in the meantime, please remember to carry i.d. with you whenever you leave the house, including for a run. my husband has an armband that he wears with all his vital info and contact numbers. if carrying your license is too difficult for you, this is a good solution.

UPDATE: sadly, this story does not have a happy ending. i'm very sad as i am writing this to you all.

yesterday evening, a body was found not far from the area that volunteers were searching in. the body was in very bad condition -- all of the information we know -- and they needed an autopsy and medical records for a positive i.d. sadly, not that long ago, the police department in cary did confirm that the body was that of nancy cooper.

the investigation is now a homicide.

i'm so sorry for my friend and fellow designer, mike, who originally informed us of this tragic situation. he and nancy's other friends and family must be completely grief stricken and confused right now. i just want to send my love and prayers to all of them in this time.

i also want to send out my love to the other friends who have revealed similar losses in the discussion of this story. to know so many people that have been this close to a homicide situation... well, there's nothing more i can say but i'm sorry.

go home and hug your spouse and your kids today. be grateful for them every minute of every day.

thank you!!

thanks to everyone for all the wonderful comments and emails on our happy news! i'll keep this blog minimally posted on my progress. **wink**

finished work -- betsy and jeb

i just received the samples of the suite i did for betsy and jeb's august wedding. everyone is happy all the way around -- including myself!

the couple is based in brooklyn, and they wanted to bring the borough into their pieces. but they also wanted to incorporate their love for olives and sports -- notably, with their pre-wedding softball game invitation. the whole suite incorporated hand-drawn elements, and a fun pattern that appeared and reappeared.

so, behold -- the final products!

Invitation.

RSVP cards.

the softball invitation.

the thank you notes -- front

the thank you notes -- back.

a new little designer headed our way

well, i didn't want to post about this until our family and friends were told. but now that they've been informed, i guess it's time to share with my collegues, clients, and readers.

we have a little baby block on the way!

yep, i'm 14 weeks along today -- just starting the 2nd trimester. we waited to tell everyone until we were sure everything was alright, and just started to inform people this week with a fun little announcement we sent around in the mail (cover below). we had never seen this done before, but we wanted to find a way to let friends know (besides a mass email) if we couldn't tell them in person. i'm still sending some out, but most friends have been surprised already by the note. =)

front cover of the pregnancy announcement we sent out. this card will be available in my dearnic etsy store soon. illustration © nicillustration, 2008.

to answer some questions that i know are coming my way:

1. the baby is due on new year's day, 2009. yes, it's an awesome due date. =D but we all know that this actually means that baby block will send me into labor and delivery on my 30th birthday, which is on january 6th. LOL

2. no, we're not finding out the sex. when have you known me to be a pink kinda girl anyway?

3. the office, which we have been working on slowly, now has to be shared with the baby. so we have to do some revamping around here.

4. yes, i will continue working after the baby is born. i'm just taking off the requisite 2-3 months in the beginning, which is fine because it's a slow time of year. current clients who are reading this -- don't worry, there isn't a person on my roster that i won't be able to take care of. all of you are good to go! and i will post my schedule for work on my site and on my blog, so everyone can know when i'll be working until.


it's our first and were both extremely excited. my migraines have been made way worse by the pregnancy, if that was at all possible, so i'm not lying to you guys when i say that i've been sick. but since i'm used to the daily migraines anyway, i'm working through them.

so, just thought i'd share the news with everyone before the holiday weekend. hope you guys are as happy as we are. =)

happy almost 4th!

hi everyone! happy almost 4th of july!! hope you all have wonderful plans for the long weekend.

i've been rather busy and rather sick lately. there's a reason for the sick part... to be announced in a bit.

this young house

we all know what a freak i am about home decor. i love anything having to do with furniture, lighting, fabric, etc. but what i really love to see is how real people decorate, or re-decorate, their real homes.

enter this young house. a friend of mine let me know about this blog this morning, and i'm completely enamored. the best section has to be the gallery, where you can look at a ton of before and after photos of someone's redesigned room. yummy!

hope you enjoy this spot as much as i do. =D

photo from here.