lisa rupp

tea towel awesomeness. via oh joy

1957

my dad has been collecting and restoring 1957 buicks for decades. his most recent project was to restore a caballero station wagon with his friend dave, his first street rod. they sold it at an auction in arizona earlier this month and i was lucky enough to see it finished before it shipped.

cinderella

i'm sure this is much more complicated than it looks, but what a cool idea. tutorial here.

cheese

i have a new obsession: cheese trays. while stuffing my face over christmas, i admired a teak cheese tray my mom picked up at an estate sale. while out "junkin" the past week, jamie and i found two - a glass dome wooden base at goodwill ($5!) and a vintage tear drop teak shape with porcelain plate by fred press (on sale for $10!), first photo above. and then it dawned on me...we need to start collecting these. who loves cheese more than us? i can picture it now, a whole wall of trays on display and some domes on the mantle. we're going to own cheese. one tray at a time.

a fantastic time

merry chrismas

eleven was epic. portland started to feel like our second home. we took a beautiful road trip down the coast. i worked at some amazing places with some amazing people. i started working for myself. i made new friends. i missed my MN friends so much and cherished our emails and visits. i got into PRINT. we went to hawaii. we went to seattle, san francisco and sacramento. we drove up mt. st. helens. i went camping. let me repeat, i went camping. we saw the deepest, bluest lake in america. jamie made me a garden. we hosted thanksgiving. we laughed and cooked a lot at home. we came home for christmas. twelve, your work is cut out for you.

scarf magic

this video will solve all your girly problems. via my sister kate.

belluschi house

last weekend a few friends (Mette, Mel and Darin) and i nerded it up and went on an AIA home tour of six portland homes. lots of beauties, but the standout was the Pietro Belluschi house in the NW hills. the kitchen was my favorite part, with a built-in brick wood oven and spice shelves, followed very closely by the library nook, tea house studio/guest house and upstairs attic office. so now, of course, i'm convinced that we need to buy a mid-century modern house. all in good time.

photos via hammer and hand

bill

i often ask myself, who would i most like to have a beer and good conversation with? the answer changes a lot, but one of the regular contenders is bill clinton. (so is hillary, btw). the man is smart. and he talks about issues that normally make my head spin, in a way that i can understand and relate to. his newsweek article on the job crisis is worth a read. via good.

paxton gate

we checked out a cool new store on mississippi yesterday called paxton gate. it reminded me of my friend katherine's amazingly decorated house, so naturally, i loved it.

snake print by jennifer ament

Paxton Gate, once described by Time Out London as resembling Martha Stewart Meets David Lynch—is a store known for its almost magical mix of neo-Victorian delights, eclectic animal and plant ephemera, taxidermy, exotic plants—including the carnivorous variety—framed and mounted insects, jewelry, affordable art, furniture, unique gardening tools and more.

patterned floor

if i ever have a studio with cement floors, i am so doing this to it.

MN visits OR

our first houseguests arrived last week to toast our 1 year anniversary in Portland. Jamie and I had too much fun drawing them a welcome mural. before and after shown.

new eye candy

we've been in our place a year. a year! and so, it's time for some new wall art. one of the best things about being a designer and living with one is that we collect a lot of ephemera, so i'm always on the look-out for interesting ways to display it. i saw an etsy seller (who i'm so sorry but lost the link to) using clip boards to show their prints and thought a whole wall of that would be perfect for our mantel. made of some of our own prints, some fabulous collected prints and zines, eames giant cards from my friend lizama, vintage photos of gram and gramp, earl and stella silhouettes, photos of us from northern MN-to BC-to Hawaii, fabric swatches, ink test prints, dictionary pages defining love birds, a business card from a great little restaurant in NYC and pressed foliage from Maui (shhh, sorry inspections officers). the living room is ready for a fun year.

BTW: REALLY difficult to get blogger to make images the same width. what's up with that? anyone?

mary mae

my grandma was pretty boss, as grandmas go. she taught me my right from left, by holding out your thumb and index finger (something i still use about 3 times a day). she showed me the joy of collection ephemera, like agates and stamps. she and grandpa were fearless travelers, favoring the sunny beaches of hawaii and puerto vallarta. she was more in love with her husband than anyone i've ever met, and he returned the favor. i never saw her wear "slacks," she always dressed like a lady. she loved blackberry brandy, diamonds and fur, a triple threat indeed. her stories were the best. i'll miss her.

spring

lots going on these days. so excited for spring and summer i can hardly stand it. last weekend we repainted our patio chairs (previously white and rusty) and got the backyard ready for some excellent garden parties and grill outs. our garden boxes, my homemade birthday present from mr. paul, are ready to go with the seedlings i've been coddling inside. and our beautiful plum tree is in bloom right outside the kitchen window. perfect.