The reason I design stationery and invitations

Because I can only hope something I design makes someone feel as good as these cards made me feel when I opened my mail yesterday.

J'aime mes amis

I needed to find some French images for a work project and while doing so I took a quick sentimental time-out to remember my reunion in Paris with my dear friends Jenny and Tom for our 52nd Tuesday shot in 2009. I can't wait for our next reunion come September 24 when Jenny will be photographing my wedding!

Now onto finding a location in Raleigh so that Jenny can recreate this shot for me. Any thoughts?

Why monsieur, did you lose your moustache?

Found on the streets of Raleigh this afternoon and looking strangely familiar to me...

A decade of "maybe"

I just got my anniversary issue of Lucky magazine and boy I feel old. Like, I remember that I was already OUT OF COLLEGE marking interview outfits with those little tabs.

OK who am I kidding, I never did that because (duh) I chose advertising as a career specifically so that I wouldn't HAVE to ever wear an interview outfit. Like my great mentor Angela Bower, who proved that client presentations were just as effective in sequined prom dresses, I was left to putting Lucky's intriguing new sticky tabs on high heels I'd never be able to buy, let alone manage in on the streets of NY, and shopping streets of cities I'd only dream to walk.

But ten years later and living in a car culture that allows me to finally wear heels (occasionally), I'm happy to see that I've achieved something that your editors deem Lucky-worthy.

Drumroll please for #90, #91, #93, & #95. Sigh, macaroons and (literally) stuffed animals, Who's the Boss? For today, I'd like to say that I am.

He knows me, he really knows me!

My fiancé Mike went to Chicago for the weekend and came back with gifts that were SO me, that I can't help but smile.

In case you're ever homeless, just make sure to have your dress shoes on you

Because if so, even the most depressing afternoon can turn into une belle journée.

Click here for the actual video courtesy of wimp.com... I was just tempting everyone with this screengrab.

PS. Thank you to my shoe-loving friend Paola for passing this forward along. As Cabernet is my witness, I will never go thirsty again.

TGIHFW2011

Duh, that's Thank Goodness It's Hoofs For Winter 2011.

Hot off a webinar of 2011 Pantone trends and the emotions that they engender, I spot something that looks vaguely familiar... I know where that trend comes from!

My heart (and my lobster) was left in Paris

So, I'm $75 richer (and per my parents, smarter) for having left Lobster Girl for someone else at the Paris Flea Market, but even now–4 months later–I still get a little sad about not having bought her.

My friend Jenny would have approved of the purchase.

A miniature photo exhibit

This April at the High Point Furniture Market, I showed a small grouping of photos from my recent trip to Paris in the Bernard Christianson showroom, all having the theme of "seating".

And as proud as I was of the photos, and (actually) getting them color-corrected, printed and mounted by my allotted due date, I was just as proud of how the display turned out.

Writing credits and thanks to Anna, as I would have never come up with anything nearly as creative as she did.

Yes, I will Marais you

In Paris this February, I was instructed by one of my best friends that I HAD to check out a new store 'merci' when I was there.

So of course I dragged my mom through the Marais to her absolute limit (hitting 2pm without any lunch or caffeine) until we came to Heaven. How could I not just smile when I walked into the storefront courtyard and was greeted by my very own Cabbage Patch Kids (of sorts?)

Having that pang in my side (exactly where my wallet resided) I knew I had to buy SOMETHING to remember this store... and I went for something that I knew I could pay forward in terms of this wonderful surprise element.

Thank you to one of my muses, Finn, for modeling my wares for the camera.

I think sometimes the shortest statements are the most powerful

Perhaps I could become the very first Bird-Burgler

And steal this wonderful display from the Museum of Decorative Arts.

Holy mother of shoe gods, I've been in style since the 1800s!

Top photo: my most comfortable and favorite pair of shoes ever, and the source of years of ridicule.
Bottom photo: my revenge, aka a shoe display at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris.

Coincidence? I think not.

Marie Antoinette made me do it.

Sofia Coppola has had me obsessed with macaroons since the movie came out, and Laduree ALWAYS delivers on getting me to my happy place while in Paris.