abby try again

Beautiful film photography from Abby Try Again.
~
x Liss

PS. I miss Tina, I hope shes doing ok.

true scandinavian

A sneak peek at soon-to-be published book True Scandinavian by lifestyle and interiors photographer Pia Ulin. I like the mix of quirky and vintage with white light filled spaces, I think this is exactly how Id like to have my home one day.




You can look through more images as well as her other published books - I also like a room of ones own - on her website (discovered via From Scandinavia with love)

I really must get over to that part of the world, I think id love it!!

x Liss

Blogger Meetup

Hello everyone! My name is Micaela and I'll be a sporadic guest blogger, popping in every now and then while Tina is away. I run an inspiration blog, The Drifter and the Gypsy, where I write about photography, art, interior design, and anything else that inspire me.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting Tina in person. It was such fun. Tina really is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. We went to brunch, then hit up these amazing boutiques in South Pasadena that were so visually inspiring.


The first boutique we went to was Marz run by a lovely lady named Marcia. She has such a great eye for pretty stuff! The store was so beautifully decorated with flea market finds.

The boutique next door was Camille. Unfortunately, the owner, Camille was away so I didn't get to meet her. She has this awesome wallpaper of faces in her fitting room. All the clothes there were so pretty and feminine.

Blogging is a funny thing. You don't get it unless you're part of it. Which is why it was such an amazing experience to meet up with a fellow blogger-we pretty much talked about blogging the whole time, blogging nerds we are! There's a certain buzz, a certain excitement that only comes when meeting other creative people. And I felt it that day. Days like these should be cherished.

Forever is Today

Hello all, Liss here.... I've been spending my morning checking emails and looking through the archives on this blog I came across, Forever is Today - written by Hilda Grahnat, a graphic design student from Sweden.

Hilda posts pictures of her flea market finds as well as interior shots from her lovely home.



Plus I really love the name of her blog! I remember having this realisation after turning 25 about how life is now and how I spent to much time thinking about what I want to do "one day". That was a big year of change for me.

Any blogs you've come across lately that you've been really enjoying?

Jane Campion's Scrapbook

I've had this in my bookmarks for a long time and had forgotten all about it. It's the inspiration and scrapbook of film maker Jane Campion whilst she was working on the film Bright Star. There was a website too where she had all the work laid out like a big inspiration wall, but it has since been taken down.

I love seeing stills and the process that goes into creating the final work. I went to a photo shoot last week where I took some Polaroids of behind the scenes. I'm thinking Id like to make them into a scrapbook of some sort.

Hope you all had a great weekend!! x Liss

src: find more images from the scrapbook.....here and here.

Something funny...

Hello dear friends, I wanted to share this picture with you! It made me laugh. Here are our cats looking out the bedroom window, like Laurel and Hardy. I would have loved to have seen them from the other side, with their funny cat faces. Even during adversity, life serves up some serendipitous joy!

I'm off to spend the day with my father. Thank you for your well wishes. If it's ok, I'll stop in here once and again with a post while Liss has the reins over the next few weeks. We're also lining up an amazing array of guest bloggers, including Michael Heilemann, the famed creator of WordPress' legendary Kubrick theme!

I hope you enjoy the posts in the coming weeks! Tina

cosmos✦travel

Hello readers, It's Liss here from Daydream Lily and I'll be posting here every few days while Tina takes a much needed break. I'll be sharing beautiful things and words that inspire me, similar I guess to what I blog about on Daydream Lily.

So first I want to share a pretty little shop Dear Oly - its full of treasures and flea market finds from Oly's travels. I've posted about this shop on my own blog before but Oly has updated it with some more beautiful things!! I also love what she writes about travel....

the point is re-discovering yourself and the world, of all those that are subtle and common,
everyday and not everyday, living and traveling, breathing slowly,
observing and also understanding, cherishing every single second when you wanna take a picture,
a spark of light, and then, go back home safely :)

♥

A request....

It's raining tonight in Los Angeles and I'm trying to keep my spirits up. I snapped a few pictures of my latest decor finds: A 1950s ashtray, a colorful vintage Balinese screen, a black and white poster of a grandfather clock (with an actual clock that runs on a AA battery), more books to stuff into my giant pine armoire.

Decorating our new apartment has become my respite. Maybe it's because it's the one area of my life that I can control. I know this is going to sound very dreary, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by uncertainty and sorrow. Not exactly good fodder for an inspiration blog, that's for sure.

Last summer, my dad was diagnosed as having a serious bone marrow disease. (I took some time off work to take care of him. Even though I now believe it made me an easy layoff target, I would not trade the time I spent with him for the world.)

This week doctors confirmed what we've feared for several weeks: my father now has leukemia and the prognosis is not good. He is skin and bones.

One of my well-meaning blogger friends sent me a long email this week lecturing me about my low morale. Yes, my morale is bad. This is my year of loss, I guess.

So I have a request: Does anyone out there want to guest blog here for a few weeks while I sort things out? Email me if you do :) Posts with photos of funky flea market finds are always welcome here...

UPDATE: My friend Liss at the gorgeous blog Daydream Lily has generously offered to keep things running here at the English Muse. Liss (who has been nominated for a 2010 Cosmo Woman of the Year award!) will be posting, with occasional cameos from other talented bloggers. Thank you so much for helping me out during this very difficult time! I love you. Tina

Volcanic Sunset

Hello everyone! I've been enjoying this evening looking at the flickr photos coming out of Europe on the volcano eruption in Iceland. This one, taken by mark1alpha on Chesil Beach in Portland, UK, is one of my favorites, with the ash turning the sunset red. Flickr has a blog post of other gorgeous volcanic sunset photos here. Lovely how the sun seems especially jumbo sized.

I took my friend Elaine to LAX last night for her flight back to Paris, where she lives half of the year. I was so happy to learn this morning that she safely made it home before they shutdown the airports.

An important PS:
Thank you all for your thoughtful, touching comments on my Isabella post earlier this week! Bella was so heartened to read them. They gave her a boost of confidence like you wouldn't believe. I wish I could reach through the computer and give you all virtual hugs. Thank you, thank you!

Wisteria

I was so happy today to discover this young vine growing next to our new flat!