Easter is nearly here!

Well, what a surprise! Easter is nearly here. It's hard to credit as it is a bit early... very challengingly early for this Mother, as the house is torn up (unseasonable flooding, indoors!) and it's Spring Break which means chaos around here anyway. I don't even have my bunnies out yet!

So, Easter baskets. What fun! I use a pretty white basket that we've used since baby was a baby, I sewed little felt flowers to decorate the basket but they're a bit worn now.  

So, what will be in a basket this year for an almost six-year-old? What is wonderful for him now, wonderful enough for this last year of belief (probably)? I can't think!

Pretty Waste Baskets

Pretty waste baskets are not easy to find in normal ways; hence the Internet. I am very very tired of tossing empty envelopes onto the floor when I do the mail. Then I gather them all up and shove them into the always already full kitchen recycling.

So as I am a fully grown adult I have decided that I am going to get a nice waste paper basket.

Leather or floral? Wild or elegant?
This is found at Marye-Kelley, and I'm very delighted to have found this site. Lovely things abound! Delightfully these are sometimes available with tissue boxes and other nice things, including monograms!

http://www.marye-kelley.com/floral_wastepaper_baskets.aspx?page=3

OR if I end up with a blue and white office, maybe this one?

Scully and Scully also consistenly has wonderful baskets. 

 would be fun to do one of these florals in the bedroom and a more classic office look in the home office thanks to the delightful Scully and Scully. 

Back to Fall means Back to Backpacks

It has been a long time since my large maroon Jansport with the leather trimmings finally died, but it was a long time after I graduated from college so it did its job. Even though I would look ridiculous with a backpack, I can't help checking them out at this time of year! Luckily I have a child who lets me dress him (for now). So, now I get to shop through him.

Of course, his cute little Skip Hop backpack (a zebra) is still in great shape. So this is sort of double-window shopping. On the days he needs to drag more stuff on the bus, we have tons of random backpacks that we have gathered over the years.

That said, I do love window shopping.

How did I miss Hersel? I'm loving it now that I've seen their gorgeous catalog, so sumptuous. They have great backpacks. I noticed a stylish middle-schooler (which in my day was an oxymoron) with a great backpack from Hersel getting on the school bus today.  I think that the products are nice while also being much more reasonable than the unaccountably expensive but glorious Filson.

My favorite elementary student's backpack this year is by FjallRaven, which has been making great backpacks for school children in Sweden since the 1970s. It is cute, light, nicely colored, and simple enough to grow with the kids.

If you really love patterns, Pottery Barn has some fun ones that you can have monogrammed, which is great if all of the kids have the same backpack but otherwise seems a little OCD, of which I obviously totally approve. Bring on the initials! We are a super-hero-free family (for now, by some miracle of luck, not some weird parental ban), but I must admit that the Superman backpack with cape is pretty adorable.

For adult women who can get away with it (not me) or for girls, Vera Bradley has some very nice backpacks, both plain and floral. For a recent trip I was able to score a nice Vera Bradley that had great colors like my travel capsule wardrobe and it weighed about an once--so great not to have a pile of leather depending from my shoulder.

Naturally the best of all is a Randoseru, the lovely leather backpacks that Japanese children carry. I love these things but I am 100 percent sure I would not be able to convince even a well-mannered five year old to carry such an object.

I'm back!

The time between preschool and kindergarten was an amazing whirlwind, but now that my little boy had headed off to kindergarten I find that I have EIGHT HOURS OF TIME I find that I am excited to restart my vicarious shopping life! 

Post idea: William Morris

Strawberry Thief
National Trust houses

Mad for marzipan

I found the most wonderful place for elegant treats. Wendy Cromer sells lovely marzipan fruit, dogwood blossoms, and ferns for cakes. Utterly elegant, hand-painted and hand-shaped.That made me remember the world's most delicious treats, Mozart Kugels (or as most people call them, Mozart balls.) Quite expensive here in the States but everywhere in lovely Austria. I found these online at the Vermont Country Store, one of my favorite websites for odd sundries like Lanz nightgowns and hand-loomed table cloths. Of course the very best marzipan covers the very best cake in the world, the Princess Torte, which is made many places but is best from Woullets, a local bakery in Minneapolis. 

Sweaty Bands... so cute!

Well, Sweaty Bands sound terrible. The name is so... yuck. But I love them. I was trying these on at the Running Store today and thought that their selection was a little weak. Now I am spoiled for choice! These are adorable. So many pretty ribbons. What are these? Pretty ribbon headbands that apparently won't pop off my enormous melon head and also absorb sweat (when the summer weather was here, I literally looked like a raccoon from my mascara getting melted. If I buy a sweaty band...

Cottage by the Sea

Obviously I need to go to Hawaii. At this shop, they sell vintage one-of-a-kind furniture and, so sweet, message jewelry!

Artful life

What a wonderful discovery this webpage is! I found my high-craft dreams online at last. Artist websites tend to be half-hearted efforts at best, but this is a lovely storefront for the kind of elegant woodcraft and gorgeous art glass that I love. I won't post images but please do visit!

Smocking!

I love spring outfits for babies. Now Baby will be two this spring so I need to get him in cute baby clothes while I can! There seems to have been an explosion in cute smocked clothes online since I last looked. Shrimp and Grits is adorable. The Peter Rabbit outfit at left is adorable! And Jolly Rompers is so sweet too. 

I'm going to a Flapper theme party on Saturday night and I'm already feeling jealous of the great costumes other people will, I'm sure, be wearing! But it's fun to browse online to pretend that I'm about to buy vintage costumes.
Or there is the Halloween costume angle! 
But I will wear a lovely dress from my wardrobe, a Banana Republic collection dress in ivory silk that falls in wide pleats to above the knee, and see if I can add a sash of some kind! 

Sailor theme

Baby's room is full of sweet little lambs, but now that he is a busy toddler, I wonder if he wants some more boyish things in his room. Row Your Boat Nursery Bedding at Potter Barn kids is incredibly sweet and adds navy elements to the overall beige theme. Maybe navy curtains? Hmm! 

Organizing

If you could see the sponge that I started with this morning, you wouldn't believe it. It's a rag. The house is so clean that I am in awe!
However it makes me think of organizing systems. I like the Pottery Barn charging station. All these cords all over the place make me annoyed. Everywhere cords! The trouble is that as soon as I buy something like this, there will be a magic upgrade that means cords are obsolete. What to do? 

Christmas shopping

What is more fun that looking for Christmas stockings. Nothing is a better heirloom. I ordered one for each of us from Land's End. (LL Bean was sold out, but they offer great ones, too.) Happily, I got them for $10 each! Great sales. They are now back up to $25 again, but who knows, they might drop again before Christmas. The needlepoint is so classic and the patterns are fun. 

Missing Paris

I'm missing Paris. Thank goodness that Land of Nod is helping me remember it! 

The Wooden Wagon

One of the best toy sites that I've found in a long time is the Wooden Wagon. Gorgeous tops, a splendid Noah's Arc, and gorgeous music boxes. I love the selection of toys--I bought one for baby's Christmas Present, but I don't dare post that item. I will say that it is the best toy on the whole site! 

Garrett Wade: great gifts for boys!

What is more fun than planning for Christmas? I found a wonderful site. They sell terrific old-fashioned board games, including one about navigating a map of Britain. It's called Touring England. There is also a great steam-powered locomotive engine. I also love the Anti-Pirate Potato Cannon Book... like the Dangerous Book for Boys but for "young mariners." I used to wish that I had a girl to shop for, but I am loving finding stuff for Baby. 

Shelf paper

I suppose, after a month in Europe, I should post about that--but I did a "big clean" of my kitchen the other day and I thought I'd order some nice shelf paper along with a few other things from Williams Sonoma. Well it turns out that only the cork kind is left. Ugh. I have plenty of that and I hate it. It's crumbly and annoying. I want the nice plastic kind. But it is tough to find! Who knew.
Chic shelf paper has cute ones, but it is puzzling to figure out how to order it. I want a roll. I don't want to get it cut it to measure. I don't know.
The Container Store has ugly ones. Ugh. 

Neve... marvelous!

I love Neve's gorgeous sweaters. They are of a great, tight knit and expensive, but made to last. The colors are intense, vivid, and fresh. I am so excited to see that they have the ski patterns back this year, but I think that I will need to splurge on a simple black, white, and red pullover for our upcoming European adventures! You can find a painfully small collection at REI (and probably elsewhere, though I don't know where) to try for size, then go to the website to drool over the glory. 

Lovely dresses

I am loving Thurley, an Australian design shop that I just discovered. Fantasias of tulle and silk in champagne and ivory.