Lone Star State

Let me just say that I haven't always been a fan of Texas. I've only been there twice: both times to Houston, and both times in the dead of summer. Enough said?

But lately I've had a love affair with Texas. Here are five reasons I'm smitten with the lone star state.

1. Joslyn's blog, Simple Lovely. Joslyn hails from Northern California, but she and her family have made their home in Dallas. I'm not a big blog reader, but I have to admit I read Joslyn's blog religiously. As I told her in an email recently, she manages to be down to earth and glamorous at the same time, which in my book is a winning combination :)

2. Paloma's Nest in Austin. We ordered Leo's first Christmas ornament from their Etsy site, and it's destined to be a family heirloom. It's so perfectly simple. Thank you, Caroline! By the way, if I was planning another wedding, I would be all about Caroline's wedding stuff - check it out.

3. F is for Frank in Dallas. My husband gave me this Stingray Chest Plate for Christmas. It's even more stunning in person. Designed and handmade by Dallas designers Shannah Frank and Casey Melton. I want EVERYTHING.

4. Austin. Broad, I know. But it just seems like there's so much happening in the Texas capital. Art, music, ENERGY. Sam Beam of Iron and Wine lives there. There's SXSW. (And did I mention Sam Beam lives there?)

5. Last, and definitely not least, Leah Duncan. I was introduced to Leah's work by my dear friend, Sarah, who gave me a set of her cards for Christmas. We were looking for some art for our living room at the time, and I immediately knew Leah was my gal :) Her work is beautiful, and whimsical, and I'm a huge fan of her color palette. As it turns out she's also a total sweetheart, and she worked tirelessly getting me just the right set of prints for our house. (The wall looks beautiful, Leah :))


p.s. When I finally make it to Austin, I'm staying here :) PERFECTION.

KL

Paper Bottle

This caught my eye in a recent search for sustainable packaging concepts, and I can't believe how simple and functional it is. It often seems to me that there must be better and simpler ways to package products that we use every day, and yet no one wants to stop to ask why we do things the way we do. Thanks to companies like Brand Image who take the time to do problem solving that has a physical, day-to-day impact.

JB

Sleep

You know sleep is precious when you have half the West Elm bedding catalog up on your inspiration board :) I'm seriously loving all the simple graphics and mix of bold and subtle colors. And is it just me, or did West Elm hire a new, incredibly talented stylist? Because these photos are GORGEOUS.

Especially loving these classic stripe sheets in grey and green.



KL

An Augmented Reality

Not to toot my own horn, but I was looking at one of my first blog posts, titled A Holographic Future, and noticed this picture, which I had included in the post.

A few months later, I came across this video for then called "Project Natal," an interactive gaming system from Microsoft, now known as Xbox Kinect. The video shows people virtually seeing how clothes would look on using Kinect, very similar to what I had posted in the A Holographic Future post.
Part of me is excited I posted this only several days before this video was put on YouTube, but most of me is excited to see this interactive technology come to life. Melissa and I got to play Kinect the other night with the bro-in-law and girlfriend, and although we didn't try on any clothes, I must say it was pretty cool. In case you haven't seen the Kinect promo, check it out here.

JB