What I Did Last Summer

Many of you have wondered via e-mail where I've been (thanks for your kind notes)... generally, things have been excruciatingly busy and I needed to take a break to focus on work & real life stuff. So I did, recharging in the most wonderful place imaginable...

It was nice to get away, but it's good to be back.

Pink

My country upholsterer just delivered these...

pink linen + ebony wood + nickel nailheads
= a seating confection

Chills

It's about 100 degrees in CLT today, but this crazy beautiful room is making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Love Love Love. Anyone know where it's from?

Where to Stay in the Hamptons?

I'm considering a weekend in the Hamptons. Any recommendations?

Chandeliers of a Different Sort

Love these shoes from Prada, and the tangerine polish too.

More Shingle Love

{via Elle Decor}

Tim Whealon's house in the Hamptons is sweet.

Have You Read It?

Honestly, could you put it down? I don't think I've gone to sleep before 2:00 a.m. all week. This has got to stop.

Christie's Cottage

This is the house Brinkley has lovingly decorated since 1998. The architecture is fabulous as well, originally the home of John Gardiner (of the Island) and restored by her scoundrel of an ex-husband, Peter Cook. Corcoran has the $30M listing -- isn't it fabulous?

Summer Dining

I love to browse cookbooks by Julia, Sheila, & Ina, but my kitchen primer is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I think it's changed how many people think & feel about cooking, and has become to my generation what the red & white checked Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook was to my mother's. A bit of a scatter-brain in the kitchen, I am calmed by its clarity & simplicity.  So I thought I'd share this 2007 New York Times article in which Mark describes 101 meals prepared in under 10 minutes. Read it, and enjoy your kitchen a little less this Summer.

The Oyster Box

If I had sufficient patience (and/or drugs) for the very, very long plane ride required, I think I'd fly directly into Durban, South Africa, drive up the coast, and stay a fortnight or 2 on the edge of the Indian Ocean at the lovely Oyster Box Hotel.

i

Have you ever seen a prettier accommodation?

Bald Head Island

The beach house of Lisa Sherry, a Charlotte designer {and dealer @ Post and Gray,} is featured in the current Charlotte Home & Garden. White, wheat, clean lines, Atlantic ocean. Heaven.