surprise the designer

A little more than a year ago I moved in with myself. After two years of living with outlandish roommates, I'd had enough. When a dear friend extended the opportunity to (temporarily) be the sole occupant of her city home, it was an easy thing to say yes to. This, of course, is not your typical living arrangement. For the past year I have eaten my meals at her dining room table, watched movies on her couch, let my books live on her shelves. The space is very clearly not mine. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I get so much enjoyment out of seeing other people's personalities shine through their living spaces. Providence In the span of time that I've been living alone, three good friends from college have moved within four hours of Boston. And we've spent two out of the last three weekends all together. Like many rentals, their apartments have neutral walls. Instead of being bland, though, they serve as a canvas for bright pops of color that come thr...

photo taken with instagram @toaststudio I've been lucky to do a lot of traveling in my short life. (Destinations over the past few months include Cincinnati, London, Barcelona, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington DC.) I'm that person who keeps reading her book while the flight attendant demonstrates the function of the seatbelt. I don't need to be told how to adjust the air or where the switch for the reading light is. So I was interested to notice that instead of the classic no smoking sign, there was a 'turn off electronic devices' sign on a recent flight. It's a sign of the times. And a sign of a new aircraft.

Exploring East London was one of my favorite things that we did while we were in the UK. After dining at Pieminister, we wound up walking the entire length of Brick Lane , ducking into quirky vintage shops, admiring the Middle Eastern decor, and ogling at the vibrant colors everywhere.  I haven't heard anyone describe London (or England, for that matter) as 'colorful.' But I was blown away by the bright shades of pigment that showed up not only in graffiti but also painted on the sides of shops and even the crossbars of windows. More after the jump... This caught my eye because it was so super timely. Don't know about Pussy Riot? Learn more here .

During my junior year of college I was lucky (and smart) enough to spend three months traveling all around Europe with one of my best friends. For ten weeks we toured churches and museums, stayed in hostels, and ate falafel. Because we were skipping a co-op quarter to travel, and because of our impending graduation, we noted 'alternative life plans' all along the way. Clerk in tiny grocery store on the Italian coast? Alternative life plan #658. Innkeeper in Toulouse? Alternative life plan #392. You get the point. Fast forward to graduation, and another good friend actually chose a sort of alternative life path. While people were planning vacations or packing their bags to head to design studios around the world, Jen Vitello was applying to the Peace Corps. And the January after we graduated she was officially accepted. Fast forward to today, and Jen is just about at the end of her time with the Peace Corps. So when she let me know that she would have a short break...

Have you heard of Brimfield? It's a town in Massachusetts . But, more notably, it's the location of three annual humongous antique fairs . This past (sunny, perfect) Saturday we spent the afternoon winding in and out of just a fraction of the Brimfield tents. It was the perfect opportunity to play with my new-to-me DSLR camera. (The recent purchase of that camera also kept my antique fair spending reigned in... I went home with just three vintage plates.) Do you do that thing where you decide you want to buy something and then spend days/ weeks/months/years mulling over the decision to actually buy it because of the cost? I definitely do. I've been thinking about upgrading my point-and-shoot camera for a couple of years now, but have always balked at the $500+ price tag on entry level DSLR's. A few weeks ago, I spotted a slightly older model (the Canon Rebel Xs)—in nearly mint condition and at a great price—on craigslist. It still wasn't cheap, but I pounced, a...

Do you ever get that itch, that feeling that you just need to get in the car and drive? I do. No matter if you call it the ya-yas, cabin fever, spring fever, hay fever, or Bieber fever, sometimes it just feels so right to put some distance between yourself and the normal day-to-day goings on of your life. So last Saturday I took myself to Plymouth (yup, that Plymouth—the one with the rock and the pilgrims). It's a short hour drive from Boston, and a welcome change of scenery. There's ocean, some historical plaques, lots of tourist shops (quiet still at this time of year), and at least a handful of quaint book shops and bakeries. I walked around for a couple hours, taking in the sights, snapping photos, thinking about everything and absolutely nothing. It was a nearly perfect day trip. And just the sort of reset I was looking for. $1 45's at the Plymouth Candy Store That's Plymouth Rock. It's as small as it looks. The Mayflower II Lots of big bol...