Back to School

It is THAT TIME of year again (my favorite, actually). It's Back to School time! I used to love going to Staples before school started to get all the cool new notebooks, pens, folders and everything for organizing your things. Even if you're not going back to school (I am, actually), you can still get caught up in the fresh new fashions as well as being organized. One of my fave things to do was to make lists and cross off each task when I completed it...in fact, that's one of my fave things now. Below are some fun pads for making lists:  to do lists, organizers, pads, amazingness. Oh, above is a Kate Spade organizer.  Adore.

Kate's Paperie plain pad, $12
(kate's paperie changed my life...just FYI.)

Kate's Paperie, $9

www.knockknock.biz

Container Store, $14.99

www.knockknock.biz has some funny sticky notes. This one, $15.99

Alicia B.

1st day of school

*sniff* *sniff* excuse my while I wipe my eyes.


Today was my daughters first day of Kindergarten. and Yes it is worse on the parent than the child. She was up at 6:30 bright eyed and ready to go.






We walked her to her classroom and she went straight to her teacher and gave her a big hug!



She even told all the cross gaurds and people in the hallway- "today is my first day" Thank you God for such a precious, friendly, strong little girl. My heart aches today knowing this is the first of many steps towards independence, yet I also rejoice at what an amzing strong woman she will one day be. Just keep the boys away God!!

Book Organization

In my recent quest to find painted bookcases, I came across a trend which I've previously tried to ignore: COLOR CODING BOOKS. It seems on the ever-trendy flickr.com, that people LOVE this idea. Personally, I disapprove. I love books--art books, interior design books, silly novels, cook books etc. I love owning books, too. Organizing them in the above fashion, to me, seems like the owner of these books only has them for show, not because they truly value these books. I admit, to have something organized in such a way is fun and somewhat visually pleasing, but at the same time these objects are books, something you take off the shelf and read.  Seems suspect.

This is just my opinion however. It also got me thinking about how I organize my books. By genre? By type? By size? SHOULD I color code them? haha, please.

From Domino Magazine. I really like that painting off to the left, though.

From Domino Magazine

From HGTV.com

For tips on how to organize books, I found a method on wikihow.
http://www.wikihow.com/Organize-Books

Alicia B.

Spotted!

I'm never one to brag (yes I am), but look who was filming for the upcoming season of Gossip Girl! I was busy taking pics of boats in the sail boat pond while Chase Crawford and Penn Badgley were directly behind me.

Can't wait for the new season!

Camera/crew and Chase Crawford.

Chase...contemplative close up.

xoxo
Alicia B.

Bookcase Painting

Amazing Katie Ridder designed this fun living room. 

I have some rather boring dark mahogany finish bookcases and really wanted to do something to punch them up a bit. Painting the back of them makes the objects in front pop more, adds interest to an otherwise boring bookcase, and can be a fun weekend project.

See below for some fun examples, including putting fabric on the back!

Living room by Jason Bell in House Beautiful. I pretty much love this entire living room. Everything.

Some fun fabric options for a blah bookcase! I like the one on the left the best. Pretty fabric.

Sunny Yellow color from Domino Mag

Hopefully this bookcase distracts from that leopard sofa.

http://www.dominomag.com/howtos/diy/2007/04/howto_paint_bookshelves DIY project from Domino Mag.

Alicia B.

Silly Design

A friend forwarded me this image. This Men's Bathroom was designed by Edge Design, a design firm made up of all women.

Tasteless or humorous?

Alicia B.

Will the Gap be back?

New York Times is speculating again if the Gap is going to make ANOTHER come back this fall. Apparently they've gotten a new set of designers who will whip the Gap back into the mainstream. I'm pretty excited as all the new looks are very reminiscent of my youth...the 90's and they look very "back to school."

Here is the article in the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/fashion/21PATRICK.html?ref=style

My Fave quote from it is from the designer Patrick Robinson,

"Speaking honestly, when I was younger, I really wanted the fame thing,” he said. “It was part of the game of being a fashion designer. But that doesn’t turn me on anymore. What turns me on — my soul — is making cool clothes and being part of a company where I can actually see the difference I’m making. I’m not just spinning my wheels and getting the clothes into five stores in America.”

How real/soulful! Anyway take a look below at some of their new looks...

Orange and brown belted cardigan...Orange!

I think I had a dress like this in blue when I was 8. I think I'll get one again...

The article says Khaki is back again and as a boring preppy girl...I'M IN!

Cute gauzy window pane scarf

Alicia B.