I just got home from a weekend of sultry heat in the midwest, visiting family, getting the little cousin girls together for fragrant, cricket filled, night-rides on scooters, firefly chasing, trips to the ice cream store and all of those 'normal' summer activities that take on a certain storybook enchantment when you grow up in an urban beach environment.

I'm hittin' it running. I've got a fantastic event planned next week in NYC { blog out loud, NYC bay-bee! } So my postings will be light this week as I wrap up the final details on that.

From my virtual cigar box of trinkets and treasures, feathers and seashells, my file of miscellany:

The perfect, New Hampshire, Maine {insert favorite remote, beachy place here} summer house kitchen.

Isn't this about the most charming, summer house beach kitchen. I want to think it sits somewhere remote and those who use it, open it up every summer, removing the drop cloths from the furniture, wiping the salt from panes of glass, opening windows, sweeping the floors and readying it for a long summer of tan bare feet, shell seeking and lobster cookouts.

peace out

photo cred:: jena ardell

Hope you have great things planned for the weekend. Or possibly nothing at all {which are sometimes the best weekends ever} I'm off to the midwest for a little hot and sweaty summer time fun.

Be back on Tuesday and hittin' it into high gear for Blog Out Loud NYC. If you're in town, we hope you'll join us.

white floors

credit:: Jonathan Adler, Living Etc June 2008

rhetorically speaking, what would happen if I painted my floors white.

I've been thinking of doing it ever since, well, ever since I painted them dark brown.

And then I stepped into my friend Karla's shop , Patio Culture and it sealed the notion.

But would it feel too 'cold'. Which is not a bad thing on a hot summer beach day.

credit::Living Etc

But then what's it like during those cool winter months when it's dark at 5? Would it feel too austere? too antiseptic?

show dirt and dog nails like a mother trucker.

photo:: camilla engman

Living Etc

Maybe not white but bright....

This shot from 'Martha' seen round the blog world, for good reason, has always seemed like a good dare.

But then, so does this sensible serene middle ground. It seems safer:

credit::House Beautiful

This one's clearly still in the incubator. In the mean time I'll stand at a good vantage point, chin between my thumb and forefinger, eyes squinted, trying to wrap my head around this 'dilemma'

This Week on the Skirted Round Table:: Noted Author Diane Dorrans Saeks

This week on the Skirted Round Table, we have Diane Dorrans Saeks, one of the most prolific authors in the design world.

just a small collection of her many books to date.

probably one of her most popular books, 'Michael S. Smith Element of Style'

Dorrans Saeks, who was brought up in the bucolic country side of New Zealand has spent a life time traveling and resides in San Francisco. Her blog, The Style Saloniste, has quickly garnished a loyal readership for its well researched posts on travel, stylish people and their environments.

Listen in and tell me you don't want to try and speak with a New Zealand accent for the next week. It's sort of tempting.

more cars

More great vintage car shots. This time with clever copy. From the flickr set, 'cars, trucks and others'
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There was a time, way back when, when I started this blog, that every once in awhile, i just posted photos with little writing. My theory was that, sometimes, great imagery is all one needs for inspiration. Sort of like the glossy coffee table book, that you pick up and flip through every so often just to get ideas.

I kind of liked that. So to my purist, erudite, blogger friends who are far better writers than myself, I apologize, but I'm going back to that format. Just every once in awhile. Not because I have senioritus, but because sometimes a picture is worth a kajillion words. Plus, vintage cars sort of rock .

want to need

around here one often hears the bleating cry,

'but, I need it'

to which I reply, 'need or want?'

who's to say.

I'm not sure I've ever learned the lesson myself because mostly I feel that I 'want for nothing' but I'm pretty sure that I need the following:

the nautical boat bag with antique brass eyelets and a leather base. For carrying stuff.

come on, who doesn't need a vintage, men's rolex. With an orange face no less. Making it always 'Party Time'.

ok, well this,I actually may rully, rully and truly need. My old cruiser has a bent wheel...and it's not that cool looking. Certainly not as cool as this Linus, Dutch bike.

what does this even mean? It just seemed to find it's home in this post. I don't really need it.

this is actually something I think you might need. I already have it and i love it. I feel very fancy riding around town with this holding my beach towel, magazines etc. you can find it at Gumtree.

vintage, surf photos from the 70s. This one by Jeff Divine.

alright. that's enough neediness for one day.

tag sale heaven

I can only imagine that it was hobnail heaven and milk glass mayhem over at Eddie and Jaithan's place this past weekend. If you made it out to their country home, and got in on the goods, I'd love to hear all the great treasures you found. What could be better than a tag sale curated by these two? How much I would have loved to have gone.

Speaking of which, here's another 'tag sale' that sort of slipped by me back in 1995....

The Sothbey's hosted Ralph Lauren sale, auctioning off a lot of 443 American and European Antiques {some just 'vaguely old' } and fine art that was used by Ralph Lauren throughout his stores, showrooms, and advertisements.

All I could think of was my friend Tartanscot and how much he would have loved every bit of this {although I think he was doing the ski bum thing in '95}

"At the morning session, Mariette Himes Gomez, a New York interior designer who later bid $4,500 for an Italian Renaissance mantel, said: "A very small crowd. There are not a lot of people here because this is about style and not serious stuff." Just serious prices."

-nytimes