Want It Wednesdays: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

1stdibs, East Meets West, Trocadero, Auerbach & Maffia, Grasshopper510

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Want It Wednesdays: The Color Purple

Photos courtesy 1stdibs, Tony Duquette, Ruby Lane, Nancy's Niche, Sheehaven Glass & Porcelain

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The Hitchin' Post: Jessica & Lorien

Ever been invited to a "surprise wedding?" Well, if your name had graced the guest list of a celebration for Pingg CEO Lorien Gabel and artist Jessica Licthenstein, you would have recieved not only an invitation via Pingg; but a video, as well. In spite of the couple's aversion to . . . uhmmm . . . well . . . "commitment" in general, they were married recently in quite a unique ceremony. They were perfectly happy to remain a "commitment-phobic" couple . . . completely in love, while simultaneously in denial; that is, until "THE IDEA" hit 'em. Jessica's pat response to friends who asked the “when are you going to get married” question, was, “The only way you could get me to show up at my own wedding is if I didn’t know it was a wedding!” And there it was, the "AH HA! MOMENT." They would elope, throw a party afterward, and send invitations to everyone they knew, but their guests would be kept in the dark about their nuptials. They started from scratch and boiled down the party to its essentials and decided what they really wanted for their wedding. They knew they wanted their friends to see a part of their ceremony, but not necessarily have to sit through it in real-time. They knew they wanted to celebrate with people, but didn’t want the traditional first dances, toasts, and cutting and smearing of cakes to be part of the plan.

The final idea boiled down to this: a ceremony in Vegas in the middle of a desert, surrounded by sand, wind, rusted cans, and just 3 guests, namely some of their best friends, who just happened to be a director, a camera operator, and an editor, known as The Sibs. The couple invited everyone to their combined 30th/40th birthday parties using Pingg, they created what they thought was a unique invitation that symbolized their relationship. At the party they showed their friends the "David-Lynch-meets-Oliver-Stone" type movie of their private wedding ceremony and the place literally erupted. Lorien and Jessica were brought to tears by their friends' reactions while the video looped in the background at the celebration.

The groom, Lorien and his brother started Pingg with the idea that people want to incorporate their own personal style into all aspects of their lives, including their invitations. "Pingg gives people a voice— a canvas to write whatever they want, send it however they’d like, and provides users with a web page to express themselves in words and pictures. It was this idea, taking something so firmly entrenched in tradition—a wedding invitation, or any invitation for that matter—and twisting it a bit, adding a bit of our own flavor and style, that allowed us to have the wedding invitation, wedding video, and ultimately, the wedding party we had always wanted, yet never could imagine." said Lorien.

I remember feeling like a rock star on my own wedding day, but these two are the real deal! And with that, I give you their invitation and their innovative “Surprise we already got married!” video.





If you would like to share your wedding with us, or are an event planner or photographer that was an integral part of a creative wedding celebration, please send lots of great photos, videos and the details to me, The Vintage Laundress, at lstephenson@austin.rr.com.

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Finding My "Happy Place"

The past few weeks I have felt like I was diagonally parked in a parallel universe. I have had a series of weeks in which everything has gone perfectly wrong. For instance, I am apparently incapable of operating the United States Postal Service - i.e. I sent birthday presents to a couple of friends . . . YAY! . . . . Sent both presents to one address . . . BOO! My soccer Mom van's check engine light came on, luckily I was right in front of a service station that could fix it . . . YAY and WHEW! . . . the repair clocked in somewhere around $1200 . . . . BOO! And, to make things completely unbearable, my "happy pill" Rx needed renewing, which meant I had to have an office visit, but didn't have the time or the inclination to show up for that gig. So, I decided to see if I could bypass that with a tragic sounding phone call explaining the lack of time and the broken ride, yada, yada, yada.

When I’m on the phone with my doctor, the pressure’s on to convince her that I’m not really a "happy pill" junky. To accomplish this, I decided to go with my “business-sounding-I'm really-not-a wack-job-voice” which is a cross between an impersonation of my Mom and the queen of England. It sounded a little something like this;

" . . . aaah Doc, here’s the deal . . . I’m not in my "happy place" right now . . . I don’t have any more medication, and I’m due for an office visit and, uhmm . . . I was thinkin' we could just bypass the office visit and maybe you could just call in the refill? . . . . cuz, rubbing my blanky against my cheek and sucking my thumb isn't really working anymore . . . . and my family is getting a bit afraid, they kinda have that 3 little pigs look about them and I'll give you 2 guesses who I'M CAST AS!"

My doctor heard my alarmingly “Joan-Crawford-no-wire-hangers” tone and knew she had to take action, thank goodness . . . . She called my pharmacy and renewed it without an office visit . . . YAY! . . . I pulled up to the pharmacy drive through and wouldn't ya know it . . . they were closed . . . BOO!

Luckily, the November issue of Coastal Living was waiting in the mail yesterday, serving as a delightful distraction. A glass of wine, a good long soak in the bath with my magazine, and I was all inspired and returned to my "just-a-bubble-and-a-half-above-anxiety" level. Coastal Living's 2009 Idea House in Seawatch at Sunset Harbor, a new development near Southport, North Carolina, is simply marvelous and was just the escape I was looking for! The greens and grays chosen by interior designer Phillip Sides for the master suite, are especially enticing, as are the rest of the rest of the design team's contributions including builder Mark Saunders Luxury Homes, and architect Sam Guidry. The Cape Cod-inspired look with its gambrel roofs and cedar-shake shingle siding has a gi-normous 5,800 sq. feet with three levels and 14 beds, a downstairs rec room, a top level sleeping porch, and outdoor kitchen and deck. All of which has views of native loblolly pines, live oaks, and marsh grasses that back up to Mercer Mill Creek and more than 20 miles of nature trails for walking, running, or biking. I think the words I'm looking for are YOOWZA! and SIGN ME UP! You can watch all of the video tours of the house here.

The Idea house is open for tours through November 29th and proceeds from the tour ticket will benefit The Boys and Girls Homes of North-Carolina. Tickets can be purchased for $10 at the door or online here.






Another of the many pieces that transported me to a happier place was the piece on Emmy Award-winning, Sherry Bilsing's California bungalow. The TV writer of Friends and The New Adventures of Old Christine, asked designer Jackie Terrell to stage her real-life family home with vintage finds, and inject a little color, while still maintaining the kid-friendly style. The bungalow that she shares with her husband and son is new, but was built to look decades old. It is sandwiched between L.A. and the ocean in Santa Monica, California, with views of The Santa Monica pier from the master bedroom. Sherry’s penchant for vintage style and her sense of humor were interpreted quite well by Jackie by using schoolhouse-looking things, like the glass-shade pendant lamps, maps, and globes from different eras. More photos and info can be found here.





Aaaah . . . . Now that's better, my universe is making a little more sense . . .

Photos courtesy Coastal Living, photographers Tria Giovan, Dominique Vorillon and stylists Heather Chadduck and Char Hatch Langos

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Want It Wednesdays: Red Rover, Red Rover, Let it All Come Over

Photos courtesy 1stDibs, Etsy, Linda Horn, Calendar Girl Vintage and Period Collection

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Retro Redo: Vintage Octagonal Ottomans

Time for a little show and tell from our make over department. Today's subjects are a couple of vintage octagonal ottomans. I'm sucker for tufting, so I finished with 5 inch tufting and after painting the frames a satin ebony color. I chose a great turquoise linen fabric with a snazzy nail head treatment at the edge.

A staple gun, covered buttons, a yard and half of fabric, some paint and nail head and a couple of hours later, I have a pair of lovely re-worked vintage ottomans! I'll be listing them on the site later today - so, make sure and go check them out!







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Want It Wednesdays: Fearless Feline

Photos courtesy 1stdibs, Linda Horn, Longchamp Paris, Penny Long Antiques, Roger Vivier, Wallflower Vintage


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Shake It Up Baby!

Are you familiar with the John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Well, my son, Noah, is a cross between Matthew Broderick's character, Ferris, in that film and Mother Teresa. To illustrate the Ferris part of that statement I will sight the scene where Ferris has boarded a parade float manned by a lot of Bavarian milk-maid-looking lovelies and grabs the microphone and says to the crowd:

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal favorites and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today - Cameron Frye, this one's for you."

And then he proceeds to rock the crowd with "Shake It Up Baby," Beatles style. Take a look!



The riotous fun that you see and feel from that clip is what I have experienced every day since 6:07 am on November 2, 1995. The Mother Teresa part comes in after the parade is over - that's where Noah stays to help clean up.

You may have outgrown my lap, my darlin' boy, but never my heart. Happy 14th birthday Noah Stephenson!

This ones for you!

Video clip courtesy You Tube

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