Michael Kelly and Pushmepullyou Press

I first heard of Michael Kelly from my parents, Michael designed my parent’s business cards and firm branding for them when they first opened their Landscape Architecture firm, Schwartz Landscape Architecture, 26 years ago!

Michael Kelly practiced graphic design for 38 years before focusing completely on printmaking. He has the most beautiful 10×15 Chandler & Price letterpress in his home in SW Portland.

These are a few items of a collection on display and for sale currently at Baker and Spice in Hillsdale! I would love to be able to buy this gorgeous typographic display of a typeface, it’s so elegant.

resolve clothing company

Resolve is a great little Oregon-based clothing company that has the cutest line of long stylish t-shirts! I just ordered this White Burnout tee as part of Christmas present from the Mr. and I’m so excited for it to come in the mail!

Check out all of Monica’s great products here at Resolve Clothing Company!

a recession free Christmas list

I really don’t need anything for Christmas. I have  fabulous, supportive and loving family and friends. We all have our health and homes – I’m grateful, I’m thankful, I’m good.

BUT, Here’s the list if there was no such thing as the recession and we all had a tree that grew $100 bills instead of magnolia leaves in the backyard!

1. A Kiger Mustang! Did you know you can get a Kiger Mustang for your very own? These awesome wild animals need your help and a good home! Out of all the breeds I think I would want one of these native Oregonians!

2. A Charlie Harper print! One with birds please!

3. This beautiful, ornate Anthropologie necklace, pretty!

4. Cozy, knit Uggs! And yes, in WHITE even though they would get dirty instantly! As mentioned, this isn’t a realistic list!

5. A modern bedframe to fit our modern lifestyle!

6. Some beautiful hand warmers from Coal!

dreaming of a white christmas

My favorite Chirstmas movie that I just discovered last winter is White Christmas. I’ve already watched it twice this december! It is so beautiful and old fashioned, I love how they reference Alaska as being “out of the country” and listening to Bing Crosby speak is sublime.I was excited to stumble onto an old movie poster for White Christmas, isn’t it great how they were so excited for Technicolor?

Did you know that Vera-Ellen held the world record for the fastest tap dance for years? She has the best legs on the planet!

I just love the spunky Haynes Sisters’ routine, never having a sister this song enchants me. Plus who wouldn’t want a reason to use those big feather fans!?

husband Christmas wish list

This black bear shirt made the husband’s christmas list - get you’re own here!

world of coca-cola

While in Atlanta last week (please excuse the lack of posting due to this fact) we visited the World of Coca Cola. Coke owns that town. You can’t walk five feet without walking into a Coke vending machine or a Coke sponsored event. Pretty sure the Atlanta Aquarium is filled with Desani water…At the World of Coca-Cola we found ourselves in a bustling room along the tour that lets you sample Coke products from around the world. Africa’s products had a licorice undertone, Asia had more mango and watermelon tastes and Eurpoe hosted the worst drink of all: the Beverly, which is sold in Italy. My husband put it best that it tastes like when your gums are first injected with novicane at the dentist’s office. Seriously people, it was bad stuff.

Besides the fun taste test machines that even a non-soda drinker like myself couldn’t ignore, we loved the artwork on the walls. The fun, happy colorful shapes were very active, and each continent’s soda fountain had a specifically themed illustration. (Like, the South American station had mayan temple illustrations which were very adorable).

These illustrations were the handiwork of the hugely talented designers at Antoine + Manuel.

juicy couture

On a recent trip to Seattle we stopped in at Juicy Couture by the University of Washington. It was such a fun store - all of the decor was way over the top and girly!

Check out the giant running horse (fabulous) and the deer wearing pearls! So fun!

and my, what big eyes you have!

The trend in fabulous cars seems to be all about the eyes lately. Take the new four door Bugatti Galibier for example, the headlights are so reminicent of a human/tiger like that it’s beautifully creepy!

And I have always been a fan of the Audi R8 eyeliner, so sparkly and expressive!The shark gills on the Land Rover are pretty too – another nod to an animal like feature in car design!

I’ll take one of each – to go!

get cozy

With the days getting shorter and the temperature dropping – i.e. our saturday morning run started off with a 33 degree morning – brrrrr! I have been thinking about getting cozy with some new decorative tights, hats and scarves! Coal has a great beanies/hat line called Coal Considered and they’re a local brand. All of the tights (as well as the pillow scarf) shown above are Anthropolgie (of course) – I think it would be fun to get into wearing more patterned tights that are bolder – not just my usual plain black or brown options! Stay warm everyone!

zap!

I picked up these fabulous paper clips from Oblation the other day and just had to share! I think they’re so adorable and the Pearl District Oblation is the most amazing store, they create their own paper in house, have multiple letterpresses that they make custom orders with (can we say DREAM WEDDING INVITATIONS?!) and they even have a pet Cockatoo that chirps away happily in his vintage cage by the front door!