Things Colleen Wants To Do

SANDY

2012-11-03T18:03:00.001-04:00

This has been a tragic week for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, as well as Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and the D.R. In general, the most effective way to help is to donate money to reputable relief organizations with a local presence in the affected area. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross, or directly to one of the areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy:

Red Hook/ South Brooklyn-
Sandy Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Red Hook Recovers
Red Hook Initiative

Breezy Point, Queens-
Donations for Breezy Point and the Rockaways
Friends Devastated by Sandy

Staten Island-
Staten Island Recovers

Long Island-
Sandy Relief Donation Opportunities

New Jersey-
Hurricane Sandy Relief

Such Great Heights

2012-04-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

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Crate storage = great storage!

I'm back

2012-04-21T18:36:00.000-04:00

...and engaged!

The trip to SF and Big Sur was pretty freakin awesome.

Highway 1 Revisited

2012-03-14T22:02:00.007-04:00

On Friday my beau and I are taking off on a long-awaited West Coast vacance. We're spending a week in sweet old San Francisco, sprinkled with a couple nights under the stars in Big Sur. These views make me wish I could blink my eyes and be there already...

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Doug Johnston

2012-03-12T11:30:00.003-04:00

It was love at first sight when I came across Doug Johnston's line of cotton cord accessories. That tote! It would make such a perfect summer carryall for bike rides to the beach. And the trivets and baskets are so clever and naturally beautiful.

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Coconut Ganache Bourbon Balls

2012-02-22T12:45:00.001-05:00

I made Coconut Ganache Bourbon Balls for my valentine last week. These no-bake bon bons are a feast for your taste buds and a tipsy topsy good time.

xo

Audrey's deer

2012-02-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

Just when I thought she couldn't get any more delightful, I discover that Audrey Hepburn owned a pet deer!

Named Pippin!

Geeeez.

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The 1929 Michigan Theater

2012-02-13T16:32:00.000-05:00

...now serves as a parking lot:

I spied this image on Pinterest and was surprised by my own emotional reaction to it...so hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking. At least the structure is still standing?

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San Valentin

2012-02-11T11:15:00.000-05:00

'Tis the season for red roses, chocolate kisses and love notes. If I had my way, I would surprise my boo with a big smooch, a heart-shaped breakfast, and a rocking chair built for two:

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P.S. In the mood for a love contest? Steven Alan is offering up a sweet prize...

Paris vs. New York: The Book

2012-02-09T16:05:00.001-05:00

You've probably glimpsed Vahram Muratyan's beautiful graphic comparisons of Paris and New York during your travels around the interwebs. But have you seen the book?

J'adore. T'would make a great gift. The postcard box is pretty great, too.

Lucas Maassen & Sons

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Um, this project is amazing.

Scale it Back

2012-01-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my awesome Tuesday/Thursday yoga teacher and her scrumptious class playlists, this song has been on repeat all weekend long:

Scale It Back by DJ Shadow featuring Little Dragon on Grooveshark

God it's good. Doesn't the intro sound like T-Boz??

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12 for '12: Purify

2012-01-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Intention #12: purify with plants!
Living practically on top of the BQE gives us a nice, calming lull to fall asleep to at night. It also provides less than optimal air quality and a nasty layer of soot on all the windowsills. But rather than enlist the help of a machine to do some purifying, I'd like to fill our apartment with pots and pots of plants! I want to hang them in the windows, stack them on the 'sills. I want to fill our entire fireplace with all of this redeeming greenery.

If you'd like to do the same, these are just a few of the best air purifying plants...

Weeping Fig

Spider Plant

Snake Plant

Golden Pothos

Bamboo Palm

Areca Palm

Rubber Plant

Here's to a happy, healthy, refreshing new year ahead, friends. XO

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12 for '12: Bizness

2012-01-17T09:00:00.003-05:00

Intention #11: Stay focused on entrepreneurial endeavors; set aggressive but achievable milestones.

It seems soo so easy to be distracted by other ways to spend my free nights and weekends (yoga with amigas, brunching with boo, ebay surfing). But I will make a conscious effort to create, and stick to, a timeline that helps me to push things along (and allows for a little fun).

To my friends who are in the midst of building small businesses (there seem to be so many of you): how do you balance business planning, a full-time job and, uh, life?

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12 for '12: Bettering

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Intention #10: Be a better friend, daughter, sister and boo to all the loves in my life. I think this might mean picking up the phone more often, making impromptu plans (avoiding 'penciling in' 5 weeks in advance), writing love letters, and spending some time on the west coast (happening! see paragraph #2 of intention #7).

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12 for '12: Crafts pt.III

2012-01-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

Intention #9
Lately I've had this huge urge to take a ceramics class. I would love to make my own mugs, bowls, plates and vases. Do you know of any great studios in Brooklyn/ NYC?

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12 for '12: Get outside

2012-01-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

Intention #8: Hike more. Swim more. Ski more. Bike more.

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P.S. follow me on pinterest

12 for '12: Sleep under the stars

2012-01-10T22:30:00.001-05:00

Intention #7
Travel is always near the tippy top of my to do list for each new year, but this year it's looking like most vacation days will be spent stateside, which I am totally cool with. There are approximately 800 places I would die to visit in the U.S., so I plan to cross at least a couple of them off my list. I'd like to try something off the beaten path in 2012 and sleep out under the stars and among the forest canopies in...a treehouse! You may have noticed that I've been daydreaming of treehouse vacations for years. I think this year my little dream will finally be realized.

Thanks to my boo, sometime this Spring we'll be visiting our City by the Bay, after almost two long years away. My mind is already spinning with visions of favorite people to see, places to visit, and foods to eat (and eat and eat and eat). I'm also thinking this might be the perfect opportunity to burrow into a Human Nest in Big Sur, or climb into a sky-high suite at Post Ranch Inn.

In the midst of my obsessive searching, I also discovered these amazing treehouse hotels in my own home state. Yes ma'am!

Have you ever slept in a treehouse hotel? One of my good friends lived in New Zealand for a year and always raved of these stargazer huts she would stay in - they had large windows above the bed where you could peer out into the night sky...dreamy.

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12 for '12: Crafts pt.II

2012-01-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

Intention #6: Learn to sew. I'm sooo serious about this one. I'm actually taking a class next week and cannot wait to conquer my fear of the big, bad sewing machine. By the end of the year I'd like to have a few projects completed...

*a curtain for our bathroom window
*something supercute for my ever-growing baby niece to wear
*something supercute for me to wear
*tea towels!
*hand-stitched stationary
*an oven mit or two

Do you sew? What have you whipped up lately? I'm on the hunt for inspirational (and easy) projects :)

I'll keep you posted on my progress...

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12 for '12: Mostly plants

2012-01-05T11:35:00.002-05:00

Intention #5: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." I recently read Michael Pollan's Food Rules around the same time that I did my very first 3-day juice cleanse. I felt uhhhmazing at the end of the 3 days - lighter, clear-minded and more energetic than usual.

So, in 2012 I plan to maintain a plant-rich diet including stalks and stalks of...kale! I have a slight obsession with this leafy green. I love adding it to quinoa salads, burritos, pastas, etc. But lately I've been eating kale as a salad green topped with mushrooms, radishes, avocado, olive oil and lemon juice. Try it, it's so good. Know what else is good? Sweet potatoes.

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12 for '12: Crafts pt.I

2012-01-04T11:00:00.001-05:00

Intention #4: Brush up on my hand printing skills. Anyone have fun printed fabric projects to share? I'm thinking of making tea towels and maybe an apron to match. A lady can never have too many aprons.

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12 for '12: Wander

2012-01-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

Intention #3: Explore my city.

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12 for '12: Arts

2012-01-02T10:30:00.002-05:00

Intention #2: See more art. Support more art. Make more art.

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12 for '12: Mindfulness

2012-01-01T17:24:00.012-05:00

Happy, healthy new year, you!

2011 was a good one, with a mountain of moments to be grateful for, but I feel excited to reassess my goals and hopes for the year ahead.

Intention #1: Be more mindful of what I buy and consume, and my personal impact on the environment.

P.S. That photo was taken last week at beautiful snow-kissed Snoqualmie Pass. I miss the Pacific NW oh so much.

Happy

2011-12-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Hannukah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Christmas, Happy almost New Year!

Also, so happy to be flying to Seattle today for a week.

See you next year!

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