Abandoned beauty

Haunting images of abandoned sanatoriums and mental hospitals by Motts of Opacity. He writes:

My name is Tom Kirsch, a lasting nickname has been Motts, or Mr. Motts as you may have seen in the comments...
I am a 27 year old graphic designer and programmer... my other passions other than this stuff are rock climbing, drawing, and playing drums in a Brooklyn based industrial / metal band.
I work under my own company building websites and interactive media.

There are over 5000 photos on his site...it's a graveyard of astounding buildings to get lost in.

Happy Halloween!

week in review {10.23.09 edition}

Aahhh....the close of the busy season. It's been so much fun revisiting favorite blogs this week and checking in with all my friends out there that are always full of fantastic ideas and beautiful things. A few of my faves...

Katy Elliot has been noticing a lot of pumpkins above doorways. Check out her cute pictures from her hometown of Marblehead Massachusetts.

Artist Paul Villinski creates these delicate little butterflies from a most unlikely source...beer cans found on the street. My recycling is very dull in comparison! Via automatism. Check out Paul's site for several other pieces all exploring "transformation and recovery through metamorphosis". Simple, stunning, beautiful.

Alexa loves Alex and Alexis's wedding, as seen on The Bride's Cafe this week! Crazy cool venue, bridesmaids rockin' the purple shoes, killer invites...see the rest here!

A blog focusing on the bridal PARTY, not the bride! Great etiquette advice for bridesmaids unsure about their jobs, pretty rehearsal dinner ideas, fashionable bridal party attire (yes! It exists!). Check out Twirl Talk!

And Javi is back at RoomLust. He's lusting after recession proof wallpaper, as I have been for several years after seeing one of my favorite Seattle-area shops do it with botanical prints. Check out all the variations he found!

Enjoy the weekend! I have fun with in and out of town friends planned, and a little shopping at a few of my favorite salvage stores is going to be required. The love/hate relationship with this house continues...working on finding exterior doors that close properly.

A real wedding via Veranda

I saved the pictures from this gorgeous wedding when it was in the May or June issue of Veranda. It's spectacular, to say the least. It took place in the countryside outside of Paris, and was inspired by a curiosity cabinet on the grounds of the estate. Styled by the bride, Kelly d'Halluin.

Real Weddings: Nicole + Dave

Urban Unveiled was a huge success last week (Thanks Travis, Jesse, and Sharlane for planning such a fantastic event!)--full of fashion, sparkly crystals, new friends, great neighbors on both sides, and old friends that stopped by to visit and check out my space. The lovely Kim Bamberg from La Vie Photography took piles of pictures for me, so I'll share once I have them back. It's the end of a busy season though, which means Kim's probably getting even busier, so I thought I'd show this favorite wedding today that she also shot, and inspired what I did at the show.

I loved planning with Nicole--she was full of good ideas, enthusiasm, and anticipation, without a hint of stress (at least none that I ever saw!). She also is one fashionable lady, so I completely trusted her when she handed me a printed paper picnic napkin at our first meeting and said it was the inspiration for the wedding. The deep plum, rich raspberry, bright stem green, smokey pewter, and warm brown palette was so sophisticated and fresh. I loved it so much that I did another version of the palette for Urban Unveiled, and have now convinced my husband that we should paint the dining room deep purple--so it works miracles on top of being gorgeous!

Some of the other really awesome components were embroidered silk linens from Choice Linens, glassybaby votive holders, and beautiful papers from Paper Moxie. Katy Leiser did a stunning job of coordinating the whole thing, and Kim and Adam Bamberg are so rad! (I can't resist using this word since Kim left me a message last week and dropped it about five times. I'm telling you--the girl is one ball of fun!).

Too much chit chat, not enough pics. I'm out!

Numbers

1,600: Roses that arrived today (1,200 for Melissa and Michael's 12 centerpieces alone!)

0: The number of chocolate cymbidiums that arrived today (Note: this is a different number than the number of chocolate cymbidiums that were ordered)

104: Dollars spent on new portfolio

14: Photographers that generously shared photos for new portfolio

17.5: Approximate hours spent on new portfolio

0: Chance that it will arrive for Urban Unveiled

2: Phone calls to my Gayle this afternoon/evening so that she could talk me down off the ledge

5: Cups of coffee that I anticipate drinking tomorrow

3: dresses bought for Urban Unveiled

3: dresses returned for Urban Unveiled (dug out an oldie but a goodie)

1: Husband that assembled furniture tonight, stapled birch bark loops, and listened to insane babbling resulting from UU nerves and insecurity

15.625: Hours until the whole glamourous party begins! Off to bed so that I can enjoy hangin' with the best-of-the-best Seattle vendors, indulging in some really yummy food and sparkly champagne, Luly's couture dress show with stunning fashion, and sharing the result of all that angst in the studio! Seriously. Don't miss it!

Dream job

Despite the fact that I've had discussions lately with my sisters about how we feel we were bamboozled by Anthropologie*, I can not wait for the new Sundance Series featuring Keith Johnson--their globe trotting, style setting, man of great taste, person-who-I'd-like-to-steal-their-life; antiques buyer.

Follow him on his adventures in Tunisia, Holland, India, London, Paris, and South Africa as he sits on chairs, opens drawers, lifts rusty iron gates, and eats local foods in each local. It premiers tonight at 10 in these parts.

*They hooked us with their unique, creative style, then put a store in every city. While I still can't resist chunky earth colored sweaters with ruffles, I fear it's become the Gap of 2009.

Megan + Kevin

I'm madly trying to put together a new portfolio in time for the Urban Unveiled show next week, and I'm starting to freak that I'll get it done but it won't arrive in time even if I pay oodles for extra shipping. Which is why I'm up working on it at 1:30 am. Reminds me of finals and dead week so many years ago...



Cheri Pearl just sent this beautiful shot from Megan and Kevin's May wedding at the Seattle Public Library. More to come since I've received tons of them this week from various picture peeps following a slew of panhandling emails.

Take-out & Story-telling

I've always thought that daylilies (yes, edible) and cymbidium orchids (not so much) look good enough to eat, and I tend to describe most peonies that I come across as luscious. So glad that someone else agrees. By JiSeon Park & Eunho Kim.

Spent the weekend east of the mountains doing a rehearsal dinner and wedding. Suncadia is the bomb. Forgot my camera. Again. It's getting ridiculous. Austin Beaver was rockin' the house. He is an even bigger bomb. And that, my friends, is how you make a long story short.

Chocolate Mint

Snaps from a summer wedding at The Manor...a hidden little gem of a garden north of Seattle.