life : sunshine days

hi all! i hope you all had a very nice holiday and are enjoying the final days of 2009. my inbox and i have missed you. well, i'd like to wish you all a happy new year and wishes for nothing but blue skies and sunshine days in the next decade. this calendar from 1910 says it so well 100 years later -

'many happy years be thine, full of golden hours, both their shadow and their shine, bringing forth sweet flowers.'

i've included vintage wallpaper and stamps for love, photography and each state in the usa for travel. i really hope we have all those things next year, plus health! have a safe and happy new year!

xo, cindy

ps some things we did this holiday -

1. celebrated with our family on our turf - yay,
2. because scott was home he cooked each night - yum,
   
3. visited the doctor with scott six times, including christmas eve - ugh. his left foot is doing very well and he went back to work this week - yay for a couple of reasons ;),
4. went to see the nutcracker and it was wonderful. i definitely want to go to the ballet, again - yay (couple images here),
5. received some nice gifts, including a handy white balance lens - yay,
6. listened to some new music from au revoir simone - yay,
7. didn't do all the crafty things i wanted to - big nay, but i have time,
8. i visited the eye doctor - mixed feelings: a $500 bill - nay, no reading glasses - yay,
9. started to wear a hat, which i never do. the one i bought from elly makes it easy and no hat hair - yay,
10. hmmm ... did enough things to continue our theme of creating distractions this holiday. one to go!
    

life : happy holidays!

song : the nutcracker suite opus 71A
performed by the boston pops orchestra

our christmas plans reversed themselves this week. we were to be on the road visiting others, but now people will be visiting us! although i don't have many decorations up this year, there are a few and i love the card garland i saw on blue moss. it was so easy and i combined vintage cards with new ones.

we're signing off for this year and wanted to thank you all so much for being a shining light in a year that brought us some sorrow. we hope you have the most wonderful holiday and a very happy new year! we're ready for the next decade!

xo, cindy + scott

ps i chose the song today because we're supposed to go see the nutcracker on 12/26. it was a last minute decision before scott got hurt. hope he can go because i want to see how long it takes before he falls asleep ;).

note 1.2.10: we did get to the nutcracker and this video via pj is perfect.

pics : holiday sights

song : the first noel by david archuleta

thanks for all your well wishes for scott, yesterday. they helped! he received good news and is healing very well. we are relieved. the bad news is he is my prisoner for the entire week. muwhahaha! i think a song dedication is in order and this one is perfect, although i haven't been a bad girl ;). woohoo yeehoo!

now on to business, by this time last year we visited the holiday windows at bloomingdale's, barney's, bergdorf's, anthropologie, saks & rockefeller center all in one day. ahhh, we were so much younger then ;). this year we have just a few photos from rockefeller center and anthropologie, inside and out.

xo, cindy

ps it just amazes me what artists from anthropologie create using ordinary objects, especially the chopsticks in the peacock's plume and twine for the elephant below.

pics : it SNOWED!

song : it snowed by meaghan smith

you might have heard about the big snowstorm on the east coast this weekend. well, it's true and i ventured out to get us some pictures from our neighborhood. i had to go all by myself because scott hurt his foot late last week and can't walk on it. at all. no grocery shopping. no laundry. no friendly snowball fights. we can't believe it! just like that he's out of commission. see, you never know. we're going to the doctor today to see how he's doing, so please cross you fingers for us. should be interesting in the cold snow - yikes! see you tomorrow with some holiday pics. hope you had a nice weekend!

xo, cindy






mixed messages in this one ;).

two views : power

song: last train home by imogen heap

thank you so much for your warm and heartfelt comments in our last post. i will be printing them to show charlie over christmas and maybe we'll do a feature on some of his things, too.

today's diptych is about power. they call new york the city that never sleeps. i don't know how i do. look at all those electronics on my bedside table : lamp, clock radio, ipod, transistor radio, cellphone (scott puts that there when he goes to work). oy! my mom made the afghan, which was stored away for many years. i took it out recently after seeing this one by sandra juto. i'm happy i did. it's nice and cozy. the view of the city is from the subway platform in our neighborhood at around 6 pm. it sure gets dark early these days. enjoy your weekend, everyone! get some sleep ;)!

xo, cindy

ps i made the trees last year for christmas using a pattern from the small object and they've been displayed ever since.

collect : helen gives

helen : modest and reserved, very seldom heard.
not! she was quite the talker and loved to ask questions.

when we were at charlie's this thanksgiving we found helen's high school yearbook. it is so cool and we loved looking through it. there was even her pressed carnation corsage. i wanted to photograph it along with some other special things. now, for the record, scott's parents were married in their 30s and had kids a little bit later than most. in fact, my parents had me when my mom was in her early 40s and my dad in his early 50s!


the french enamel watch was purchased by helen & charlie at brimfield years ago. it was referred to as THE watch and i think it is gorgeous. she didn't have anything else like it, but i collect sterling silver and enamel and really loved this watch. they would literally dangle it in front of me sometimes and it is now one of my most special pieces. i'm grateful to look at it each day.


this was helen's engraved baby bracelet. charlie seemed to be considering selling it because he kind of panicked after she passed away. they have been collectors for many years and he was overwhelmed. but, i insisted i hold on to it for a little while as there are two grand daughters. the ring is garnet, which seems to be the stone of the czech republic and where helen's parents were born.


this is helen's best friend, julie. we adore julie and she lives near us. the two of them would talk on the phone for hours and i think charlie misses hearing that chit chat. although she has had her share of heartache, julie is the sweetest person. the garnet pin is from a trip they took to the 'motherland' (czech republic) when they were in their 70s and so sweet. although they were born and raised in nyc, they were almost mugged during that trip and hid out in a kmart!

when scott's mom passed away one thing his co-workers did was collect money for him. it was a beautiful gesture and we didn't use the money for the funeral, so we are going to donate it in helen's memory to the following charities -

1. juvenle diabetes research foundation
   
2. food bank of new york (deb also has something special)
   
3. kids in need foundation (learned about from yasmine)
   

we think she would have approved and say that's very good.

xo, cindy

ps i wasn't familiar with the band phish until they broke up, but as is customary, they're back together, again. the song joy was playing when i wrote this post. something about it seems fitting.