Happiness!

Ginger Jar No. 2 Print available here

One of my favorite artists and bloggers Anne Harwell of Annechovie just featured this new painting in her Etsy shop and I'm afraid I have to have it.  She has both originals and prints available.  Her work has been featured all over the blogosphere in Southern Living Magazine, the House Beautiful website, Daily Candy and even in a scene from the movie It's Complicated, which makes her famous and thus somebody you should know.  She also takes commissions, which is great for gifts.  I commissioned a painting of my best friend's puppy from her a few years ago and it turned out wonderfully.  She also happens to be really sweet.  Head over to Etsy and take a look at her shop here (but be forewarned you are going to want everything).

Groggy with Gratitude

There are so many kind, wonderful, things going on over here! I don't know where to begin! Melese is about to wake from his nap, so let me start with this one: We have MATCHED Louise's pledge! We have actually gone over the amount thanks to all of you guys. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I will have Melese pull one of your names from his hat. Hopefully he won't eat it, and we will have our Eeboo game winner.

(Hair night at our house).

Twinkies

Coastal Living 

I used to think I wanted twins.

DecorPad

You know the whole "get them over with in one pregnancy" statement that lots of non-pregnant gals (like my former self) like to throw around.

Coastal Living 

Then I got pregnant.

Marshall Watson via KC Spaces 

I soon realized that when all of the Hollywood celebrities I look up to said, "I love being pregnant, it makes me feel so much like a woman,"

Cathy Kincaid House Beautiful May 2009 

what they really meant was, "I feel like a whale, but I want all of you peasants out there to believe I'm loving it so you won't judge my amazing girth with your beady peasant eyes."

via Apartment Therapy 

And after having ONE beautiful, wonderful, sweet precious baby who sleeps a lot and barely cries,

House Beautiful May 2006

I learned that I was very silly for thinking it might be EASIER to have two.

My Home Ideas 

I still want twins though.

Ashley Putman via DecorPad 

Just not twin babies.

Elle Decor 

What do I love almost as much as babies?

Bunny Williams 

Besides my husband, puppies and coffee ...

Art For Kids 

Beds duh.

via Material Girls Blog 

Sunday Snapshot

Matching Game

Don't forget! If you donate to the school between now and Monday, Louise, will Match it! Leave a comment if you do, and you (and those who already contributed to the matching campaign) will be entered into a drawing to win M&m's favorite matching game:

Don't be afraid of that TESFA site. It looks like you have to buy the whole school when you go in to donate. (Imagine that credit card statement!) Just click in the number field and add your own amount.

We are up to $381 dollars to be matched! Louise will match up to 1k.

Happy Friday!

My kids love this game!

It's a beautiful day today!

A perfect day to end the week.  I saw every hour on the clock last night thanks to a little man who's too cute for his own good, but that's nothing a cup of coffee or five can't fix.  It's sunny and 40s, which means it's basically spring.  I plan on getting out of the house and going somewhere... anywhere... because I can.

Speaking of spring, how wonderful is this kitchen?

Melissa Ervin via shelterpop

I love the green painted floor, the skirted farmhouse sink, and the flood of natural light.  This gorgeous blue bedroom is also from the same South Carolina cottage.

Designer Melissa Ervin transformed the interiors of this seaside home in just 10 weeks.  For more pictures of this adorable home, see here.

Happy Friday!

New RUE

The new issue of RUE Magazine is out today.  It's filled with lots of inspiration and lovely things that I might need to have.  Among them is this adorable nursery.  I love the little ghost chair and the chandelier and the pretty wallpaper.

This bedroom nook also makes me happy.

I love a good nook.  For real.  Is there anything better than having a little cozy space where you can hide? Maybe I'm just antisocial, but sometimes it's nice too hide.  

Anyway, if you have a moment, go hide and check out the new issue of RUE here.

Speaking of nurseries and nooks, check out this clever nursery nook (see what I just did?). 

Cottage Living via Nest Egg 

Sooo cute! It's making me rethink the closet in our playroom.  Like maybe it needs to be a clever hiding space complete with curtains, shelves, a painting, wallpaper and a chandelier.  Of course, it would be for our son Edward, not for me at all, hahahahaha, er.

I would eat breakfast everyday

here. 

DecorPad

So pretty!

Meazi

5:30 am, Meazi rolls over and says, "Mommy, let's get up." I ask her for ten more minutes. We slowly make our way to the living room. I turn on my computer. I ask her if she wants to see the painting Yaddi made for the fundraiser. I click on it and Meazi says,

"Oh mom! It's just what Martin Luther King Jr. wanted. People living in peace, vanilla and chocolate. I guess that is what Yaddi wants too."

Despite the obvious mistake about the middle Ethiopian, I still thought it was pretty profound for five years old and 5:40 in the morning.

A Lovely Small Space

Photo Credit: Angelika Gundler via Matchbook Magazine 

I fell in love with this small space whilst perusing the new online Matchbook Magazine.  It's the Chelsea apartment of New York designer Scott Guthrie.  I love burlap covered walls adorned with antique blue and white china, various prints and a tortoise shell. That rustic wood bed looks oh so cozy, I could just crawl right in (here I go again).  The natural color palette, focus on texture and classic mix of antiques is a refreshing break from all of the modern bold rooms I've been seeing lately.  While I love a burst of color, this is a room I could really see myself sleeping living in.

For more on this home as well as some really great articles check out the premier issue of Matchbook Magazine.  Judging by this first issue, I think it might be a new Belclaire House fave.

I Can Meet the Artist, Get to Know Him Personally- Yadesa Bojia

Remember that Crash Test Dummies Song? I know, I'm really old. That song is so old that I can't even find a link to it.

I thought I'd do some posts about the artists that will be donating their work for our Fundraiser. I thought it might be interesting, whether you can make it in April or not. If there is enough online interest, perhaps we can have some sort of auction pre-bid through the interwebs?

I want to start with Yadesa Bojia. Yaddi commented on this blog years ago. He was (and still is) living in Seattle with his family. He wrote to offer his support and guidance regarding all things Ethiopian. He e-mailed me and told me he was available to help with me with any questions I had. Who does that?

Flash Forward 3 1/2 years, Yaddi is friends with one of my closest friends here in LA. Amy tells Yaddi about the Kambata project, Yaddi becomes my biggest supporter. Yaddi, one of eighteen children in his Ethiopian family (NOT A TYPO!), knows firsthand how important it is to get an education. I am hopeful that he can come to the event in April, and tell everyone his truly remarkable story.

Yaddi has another great story about how he learned that his design was chosen for the Flag of the African Union. He sent in a drawing and then three years later, while watching CNN, saw Kadafi sitting in front of his design.

Yaddi's work was just featured on Marcus Samuelsson's website too.


Yaddi designed our poster.

Yaddi is donating a piece for our auction. I burst into tears when I opened the attachment. It is an incredible painting. Wanna see it?

Ok.

Here it is:

'Nebab'- (means reading)-18x24, Acrylic on Canvas. Starting bid- $1000.**


To say that I am happy about this donation is an huge understatement.

Thank you Yaddi. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is a beautiful, beautiful painting.

**The artist has the only right to reproduce and use for print media or other reproduction rights. According to California Civil Code 982.

Color Inspiration

These baby blues ...

Gratuitous Baby Picture Post 

I can't help it.  I'm so obsessed with him.  It's also nice that my child matches the overall color scheme of my house.  Please, please no comments about how freaking adorable he is.  It would just embarrass me.

Wordless Wednesday

Bedroom Inspiration

Ever since I had a baby four months ago, I've been strangely attracted to images of beds.  I look at them like men probably look at Playboy. It's obvious that this level of sleep deprivation has made me insane.  I can truly envision myself sleeping in every one of them ... for 48 hours straight. This is just a small glimpse at my archive of bedroom inspiration.  

Ashley Goforth Design via DecorPad

Cote de Texas 

DecorPad

House Beautiful May 2009

House Beautiful 

Joni's Bedroom from her blog Cote de Texas 

Massucco Warner Miller via DecorPad

Traditional Home 

via Architect Design 

via Cote de Texas 

Oh to wake up surrounded by pink!
Elle Decor 

Luxuriate

on this blue gray velvet tufted loveliness ...

Mabley Handley Interior Design via DecorPad 

Winter is going to be here for a bajillion more days.  I've accepted it.  I could start with the "dreaming for warmer climates" posts, but it's only January, and I will probably need them in April when we get the random snow storm that pushes me over the edge. I'm going try to be positive and embrace the winter coziness. Go ahead throw on your pajama jeans, grab a good book to read or a small child to snuggle and relax - you're not going anywhere for awhile.

Somebody REALLY loves blue and white

Looks like somebody loves blue and white more than The Suze.

Photo via Habitually Chic 

Check out this tour from Habitually Chic (here and here) of the over-the-top Chateau de Groussay. The photo above is from the garden tent, which is completely covered in blue and white Delft tiles.   Amazing!

State Department Conference on Ethiopian Adoption

I thought folks might want to know about this:

Ethiopia Adoption Notice
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues

The Special Advisor for Children's Issues
Ambassador Susan S. Jacobs
invites you to attend Ethiopia Adoption: Solutions into Action.
January 24, 2011. 9:00a.m. - 3:00p.m.

To participate via teleconference, please dial:
 tel. 888-363-4749
 Access Code: 6276702

"How do we move forward to ethically and transparently protect children, birth families and adoptive parents in Ethiopia? Join us to discuss this important question with other participants, including government agencies, UNICEF, adoption service providers and NGOs."

And, a waaaaaay less important issue...

Is my new Blogger Header blurry or am I just drunk?

The French Blue Bedroom found its way back to me

Remember this gorgeous french blue bedroom I posted last week?

As fate would have it, I stumbled upon this room the very next day in a beautiful book given to me by The Suze for Christmas called Stealing Magnolias: Tales from a New Orleans Courtyard.

I will get to the room in a moment, but I must talk about this book first.  It is beautiful. As author Debra Shriver explains, it is a collection of "musings on the spell that New Orleans has cast upon me." It is as she says,"part-love letter and part-scrapbook."  She captures the magic and intrigue of New Orleans through pictures, quotes, history, traditions, recipes as well as her own impressions.  It is really an all-encompassing guide to the The Crescent City through the eyes of someone who not only loves her city but is in awe of its magic.

In Chapter 3 of Stealing Magnolias, titled The House Finds Us, the bedroom that I left to fate in a previous post found me. I should have known my dream bedroom would be in New Orleans. If you hadn't gathered by the monogrammed valances, the bedroom belongs to the book's author.  I will go ahead and commit to this being my dream bedroom. The blue, the silk, the fact that the windows look out to the streets of New Orleans, yes, I could wake up here every day.

From House Beautiful

A close-up of the beautiful silk embroidered silk fabric that inspired much of  interior's color palette

the author's parlor

custom toile dining chairs illustrating scenes from New Orlean's history 

I can't wait until I can actually sit by the fire in a cozy chair with a cafe au lait and read it from cover to cover.  If you don't have any plans this weekend, I suggest you do the same.