i write this with a very HEAVY heart… for the past ten days when we drive to school the shades have been drawn on the yellow house of the grandma we wave to on the “i” street. initially we hoped she might be on a fabulous holiday in sayulita drinking margaritas, nibbling on fresh guacamole and enjoying the seaside view, but as the days passed we grew increasingly concerned. lucy has a classmate who lives two doors up from her and he confirmed that our grandma has moved on. we are just devastated. we never actually properly met her, but sharing a morning wave with her just filled us with delight and joy. sometimes we had a DOUBLE wave day when we’d see her in the window in the afternoon as well. we have been waving with her for a few years now and her sweet smile and pretty iittle acknowledgement has truly lightened the intensity of the pandemic and the loss of our own beloved gg. lucy says, “it’s okay… now we have another grandma watching over us,” but i prefer to have a live grandma and am having a lot trouble processing her departure. i think i need to find a new way to school (which isn’t easy for me as i am so routinized AND i have a terrible sense of direction) because i am overwhelmed with sadness when we pass her yellow house. we are holding her in our hearts and so grateful for the happiness she gave us. rest in loving peace dear grandma. x0x0x
interviewed for "shoutout colorado" about starting my interior design business! x0x
i was so thrilled to be interviewed by shoutout colorado’s kimberly chang about starting my own interior design business and the MANY people who have supported my work. THANK YOU, THANK YOU in particular to amy hubbard, my accountant and dear friend, ashley wick of wick and co. for her incredible guidance, heritage school of interior design for expanding my knowledge, my delightful classmates for inspiring me, my SUPERSTAR clients, heather knierim of HBK photography for her lovely photos, my darling friend, jess braun, for the portrait of me and hank and finally, my BEST cheerleaders - my hilarious children. x0x
here is the full article
my article on outdoor furniture and accessories published in boulder county home + garden's spring 2021 issue
in garden
i had so much fun sourcing these bright, inviting, whimsical selections for your outdoor spaces. MANY THANKS to the folks at denver’s creative living, cane-line, POLarRT, loll designs, kannoa, lloyd flanders, bend goods, eagle nest outfitters, uttermost, pablo designs and woodley’s for participating in the article. wishing you all loads of outdoor enjoyment as soon as our snow melts! x0x
Read Moremy pine street project in 5280 Home!*!*!
the story of my pine street project is now available online (for subscribers!) THANK YOU again to editor michelle johnson and the amazing team she put together: angela ufheil (writer), aaron colossi (photographer) dana smith (art director) and natalie warady (stylist) for the wonderful article and beautifully styled photos. and GIANT thanks to my incredible clients: jess and zach zeldner! x0x0x
easter comfort food
my whole life there have been two essential easter recipes served at our brunch: my mother’s mushroom crust quiche and her easter buns. they are both a little trashy… the quiche has smashed up saltines in the crust and the buns are made with the dough that comes in a can you bang on the counter to pop open. but they are both delicious. the quiche (or KWEE-CHEE as theo used to call it) LOOKS a little more elegant, but the buns are never pretty. the filling always squirts out and the jam slides around so they are just a mess. i have tried and tried to clean them up to no avail. when new people come for easter, they usually bypass them on the buffet and i have to force them to try one… no one has ever been disappointed. AND they are both still yummy, cold, the next morning as leftovers. happy, happy easter all! x0xx
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published on the COVER of 5280 home! x0x0x
i am beyond THRILLED to have my pine street project for the adorable zeldner family featured on the COVER of the april/may 2021 issue of 5280 Home. many thanks to editor michelle johnson and the team she assembled: angela ufheil (writer), aaron colossi (photographer) and natalie warady (stylist) for the wonderful article and beautifully styled photos. i had so much FUN on this project with my SUPERSTAR clients who were such a pleasure. and i am delighted to see local boulder artists shayna larsen (elephant painting in the breakfast nook), laura morningstar (“little mama” ceramic vase in the bedroom), sammy and sawyer (children’s art in the hallway) and william irving singer former artist in residence at the boulder creative collective (portraits in the living room) in print as well. THANK YOU all! x0x
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the seder plate
i feel like we should have invited the flintstones to passover this year (except for the corona) because i am pretty sure the butcher gave me a brontosaurus bone to roast for the seder plate. it’s always a bit of a crap shoot about what they deem a “lamb shank” and honestly, i have never totally figured it out either. i am not at all familiar with the anatomy of a sheep (or the anatomy of a human for that matter… when i used to take my bar class pre pandemic i could only do the exercises if the teacher demonstrated what we should be doing. when they started saying things like, “lift your deltoids” or “squeeze your quadriceps” i would have to look around the room and see what everyone else was doing. that’s what happens when you don’t pay attention in biology and get all of your medical knowledge from gray’s anatomy.) wishing you all a happy, peaceful passover! x0x
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lisa stamm's bespoke animal portraits
(hank by lisa stamm)
i met lisa stamm in my twenties when we were tottering around new york city in impractically high heels, drinking martinis, going to gallery openings and late night parties, brunching on sundays and having pre children adventures. she introduced me to my first husband at a champagne bar, did my make up at my wedding and supported me through all kinds of milestones and changes. she has been an incredible friend and i have known her a long time. but i had no idea that she is an artist. about two years ago i was scrolling through my facebook feed and saw a soulful, impassioned pencil drawing of a beagle that she shared and was completely captivated. i was not alone. lisa received such a big response to the tribute drawing she had done of her beloved dog, scooby that for the first time she considered taking commissions. and so began the pet project shop.
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right now things feel terribly OUT of order...
as i am sitting in my north boulder home this evening there are two horrible incidents being dealt with by the boulder police and additional swat teams: the north boulder high school has been locked up (all students who were at sports practices brought inside) and a shooter in a south boulder king soopers market, who as i write this, is still “active.” i don’t know if these situations are related but i can say that it has been a frightening afternoon and none of us have enough bandwidth for this after the past year of the corona, BLM, fires, electrical outages, floods, me too, the crazy election and all of the isolation. my favorite of the jewish holidays is approaching - passover - the one that puts everything in order and i am hoping that all the madness that seems to exist in our current world will somehow be safely dealt with because this is just TOO MUCH! i am reposting a story about passover and vacuuming because it calms me down…
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included in home refinery's round up of interior design blogs! x0x
i was so delighted to be included in home refinery.com’s story on interior design blogs. they have collected a super fun group of talents so it was especially nice! THANK YOU emma wright of home refinery! x0x
photo: HBK photography
bunky
(hank anxiously contemplating going on a walk)
despite having the absolute best of intentions hank and i have been having a bit of a setback with our walks and exercise routine. after hearing from his doctor that he really needed to lose some weight (i think MY doctor might recommend the same for me given that my candy intake has remained steady - i DID just receive the most gorgeous box of see’s scotchmallows from a dear friend for valentine’s - and my exercise has NOT because my bar studio closed) we intended to make a real effort to take regular, rigorous walks.
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remembering gg
in family
last year i spent valentine’s weekend in west des moines with my brother and mother celebrating and mourning gg, my grandma. we toured around my mother’s hometown driving by her high school (which has been completely rebuilt), her old house and attended gg’s service in her tiny hometown church in Audubon, iowa. it was an intense, emotional weekend where i got to meet many distant family members and friends of gg’s (AND go to the cracker barrel TWICE for chicken n’ dumplins - which are pretty delicious!) and learn even more wonderful stories about a woman who was all goodness (except for the fact that she put raisins in my oatmeal when i was about six, triggering a life long disgust for brown, dried fruit - other than that, she was an AMAZING grandma to me and my children.)
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i think i'm okay! x0x
(it’s a new dawn… hot pink sunrise from a few days ago)
today at the start of my writing group we had a check in. for the first time in about a year i said, “i think i’m okay.” it felt weird to articulate that but i DO actually feel pretty okay. i am still watching the news, but not nearly so much. every time i turn it on biden is doing something helpful and normal. his awesome press secretary is polite and informative (and has the most gorgeous red hair) and of course i am just delighted every time kamala makes a speech… i might have mentioned that she and i attended the same elementary school!
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best of houzz service award 2021!!!*!*!*!
2020 was a bananas year that i think we are all still recovering from… my business came to a standstill last spring and it really made me question whether this was a sustainable line of work for me. thankfully, everything has picked back up again (i think a lot of people began to re-evaluate their homes after being stuck in them for months on end!) and i am finally feeling super optimistic about what’s down the road. so i am especially GRATEFUL for this year’s “best of houzz service" award (considering i wasn’t performing nearly as much service as in a typical year) and all of my wonderful clients and colleagues who make this adventure possible! THANK YOU! x0x0xx
kaleidoscope
in exercise, family, hank, living room, pet
(fireworks over the white house on inauguration night; photo: nbc news)
for the past several months my brain has felt like a kaleidoscope - loads of tiny fragments of intentions and obligations and responsibilities and information that i think i am about to get a handle on and then someone twists the cylinder just a tiny bit or A LOT and i am left scrambling to understand the new design. between the pandemic and homeschooling and the kids going back to school and homeschooling again and BLM and the election and the capital riots and my classes and my work it’s been difficult for me to keep it all straight.
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x0x0x
this has been a DOOZY of a week… heartbreaking, exhausting, terrifying and super hard to process. i am wishing you all peace, safety and health. here is the prettiest rainbow i have ever seen… i was with a girlfriend in steamboat springs and the whole town came to a halt on the streets to admire it. i am hoping we can all unite and heal with love and rainbows in our hearts. x0x0xx
light strike!
(the lights from our old neighborhood)
one of my favorite things about our time living in amsterdam were all the lights decorating the city. strings of lights outlined the bridges arching over the canals and illuminated the water, lampposts that dated back hundreds of years lit the cobblestone streets and all the businesses had decorative lights in the evening… and this was all year round. during the holidays, each neighborhood had a signature lighting motif. when theo started talking he would point to all the pretty brightness and call out, “LIGHT STRIKE!” at christmas he loved an evening bike tour of the city circling through different neighborhoods to see all of the light installations.
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happy new year! x0x
the best way i can describe the last three months is humbling… because i’d had such a slow spring work-wise, due to the pandemic, i decided to enroll in a few classes (three!) to bump up and fill in holes in my design knowledge. two of the courses were technical and between them i learned the adobe suite (illustrator, in design, photoshop), sketch up and autocad. i cannot emphasize enough how far out of my wheelhouse these programs are… i am probably the last person on the planet who still uses a paper agenda to keep track of my schedule and when we have daylight savings my car clock is an hour off for six months because i have no idea how to change it. a few times i have given my first husband a ride when the clock was wrong and he has modified it, which causes me to show up either an hour early or an hour late to places because i have taught myself to adjust for it.
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christmas traditions
corona has completely upended christmas this year. we are not meant to travel or even celebrate locally with others outside of our immediate families. so this will be the first boulder christmas for my family… since we’ve returned to the states we have always gone to california. traditions i have taken for granted will have to wait: my mother’s christmas buns (i CANNOT replicate these - i tried when we were living in amsterdam and they came out like little rocks) or visiting the giant gingerbread house at the fairmont hotel with our dear friends, or going to see the nutcracker (the SF ballet does a terrific one!) or my very favorite - christmas dinner at my sister in law’s house in san francisco (this is a big affair - they also include several other families from various aspects of their lives. i only see these families at this dinner and it is so much fun to note how their children have grown and hear the stories of what has happened to them over the course of the year. plus the food is DELICIOUS - jedo makes a big roast with red pepper sauce, shanon brings a huge, creative, colorful salad, others bring all kinds of interesting side dishes and my mother shares a platter of frosted cookies, homemade caramels and chocolate peanut butter balls. when the kids were smaller, they would eat first while we grown ups hovered over them, cutting their roast beef and encouraging them to try the salad and refilling their milk. we generously let them have first dibs on the desserts and then they would be sequestered away with chocolate smeared faces and a movie. the grown ups would then enjoy a long, relaxing, yummy dinner. last year the kids were deemed competent enough to cut their own meat and we all ate at the same time, which was lovely. the whole evening is chaotic [especially during the opening of presents - one year all of the kids were given red adidas track suits like the royal tenenbaums, which was amazing] festive and exhausting. it is perfect. i can’t wait for next year when i really hope we can resume this special celebration.)
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get your "gezellig" on - boulder county home + garden, winter 2020
here are the proper images of the gezellig article i wrote for the boulder county home + garden winter edition… wishing you all a super cozy holiday season! x0xx
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