Black + White

Hi Everyone, this is Crystal over at Plush Palate - where I blog about fashion, interior design, and style. As you know, Tina will be taking a much deserved little hiatus in the upcoming weeks. So, while she's gone I'll be contributing as a guest blogger! I'm super thrilled to be part of English Muse and to meet all of you!!

For the sake of getting acquainted with each other, here's a little bit about me. I'm a girl who grew up in Seattle, then went to college in Boston, who most recently lived in Italy, and now finds herself in Chicago. I work in publishing during the day and devour all things design in the evening :)

So let's get started with a little inspiration! Where do you find yours? For me it's fashion and interior design. But above all, it's the collision of the two as they inspire one another and endlessly intertwine.

The other day I overheard a conversation on how artists always wear black and interior designers always have all-white homes.

Those words stuck with me and inspired my current color obsession, black + white.

A timeless palette, the two together will never go out of style and always make a strong impression in a home or with an outfit.

In a world full of ambiguity and grey, there's something empowering about surrounding yourself with the confident contrast of these two.

How about you? Do you do black + white?

*images via Skona Hem, Corrie Bond, The Sartorialist, Busy Being Fabulous, emmas designblogg, Porch Light Interiors, From the Right Bank, The Kitchen Designer, Lazareva Valeria flickr, Stockholm Street Style

A little break

My dears, I'm taking a little break from the blog for the rest of July and August. I wish I could tell you that I'm going away to somewhere marvelous. But I'm not. Just staying put amid my ongoing family matters. (Nothing terrible has happened. My dad came home from the hospital today.) I'll still be carrying around my Blackberry, so email me! Meanwhile will you promise to meet me back here after Labor Day? Will miss you...

Norma Jeane DiMaggio

Life is on newsstands this week with a new commemorative issue on Marilyn Monroe. The editors of the magazine certainly have a huge archive to draw from. The photos of the star with husband Joe DiMaggio are so charming. But the most exciting bit of ephemera is this:



Monroe's old passport is signed "Norma Jeane DiMaggio." I love it!

Camellia, twice on film

A Polaroid of a camellia, and a Polaroid of the Polaroid...



I love to take pictures of pictures, even though they never come out in focus. I found these the other day when I was looking for material for my new little Polaroid blog, Cloud Society. I have a very big announcement coming soon regarding that blog, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, please visit the beach photos I posted on Cloud Society tonight. My dad was doing better and we were able to make a trip to Newport Beach on Saturday. Our luck ran out on Monday however, with yet another setback and hospitalization. But tomorrow will be better.

That's how it goes, I guess, with a chronic illness. It's up and down. In between are days in the sun with a Polaroid camera packed with rare, expensive and expired but gloriously wonderful film.

Reflection

I love this photo, although at first I thought it was a giant bubble. It's actually a mirror....It's very clever...

Found over {here}

Announcing!!

First I want to say that I realize I'm looking for ways to distract myself from my woes. I can't really afford to shop. So why not blog? And why have just one blog when you can have, say, three or four?

Of course I don't expect you to visit all my blogs (I'm very happy you're on this one)... But in case you want to see more Polaroids and Holga pics,
here's the latest: Cloud Society. There are only two posts on it right now and it has zero followers. And I can't promise I'll update it very often.
But here it is!

A Magazine Favorite: Camping with Style

Normally I would be posting on Domino tonight, but I got distracted by these photos in the newest issue of Country Living. It was the Cath Kidston tent (above) that did it...



Or maybe it's because my secret dream is to live in a little cabin somewhere...



I just flipped over these photos...



I'm really longing to go to our little rental cabin in the High Sierras.



I don't know if I'll make it this year, but I'm so daydreaming...


(Photos by Marcus Nilsson. More details about that Cath Kidston tent and other things on the Country Living website!)

Girls in Flats

Our Facebook group, the International Society of Girls in Flats, has now grown to 680 members! Check it out here! (Don't forget to join!)

Hope you have a lovely Saturday. Depending how my dad is feeling, we might try to make a little trip to the beach for lunch.


(The photo above is from an old Anthropologie catalogue.)

Happy Weekend

These beautiful photos of Huntington Gardens in San Marino were taken by my friend Scott Martelle, journalist, author and blogger.



The Huntington is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It has an extraordinary English rose garden, a Japanese garden, an Australian garden and a Chinese garden...



I want to go (and take my Holga 35 mm camera!)

What are you up to this weekend?

Dazzling Diptychs

I love these diptychs fashioned by the uber-talented Neville Trickett of the Saint Verde blog. Neville is the creative director of a large fashion retailer in South Africa, according to sfgirlbybay (who is also an amazing diptych creator.)



Inspiration, doubled.

Miss Granger

I love these photos of Harry Potter star Emma Watson...



They appeared in this month's Teen Vogue (yes, I bought a copy...)



Have you seen the movie yet?

Taza and the Prince

She: loves homemade chocolate chip cookies. shampoo. maps.
tea parties. birthday candles. holga cameras.
(She's also a recent grad of the juilliard school. the fierce dance class of 2008.)



He: likes strawberry pop tarts. homemade ginger cookies. italy. jpmorgan. crew team. music.
(he's a proud columbia university grad. now works 15 hour days in DC.)
he hates mayonnaise + slim jims.



Me: I'm completely in love with their blog, the Rockstar Diaries.



These very cute newlyweds, Naomi and Josh (aka Taza and the Prince), have one of the best couples blogs on the Internet (I think!) They post
gorgeous pictures -- taken with Polaroid, Holga and Diana cameras -- of their various trips to exotic locales.



It's a Lomographic feast!

It also made for a wonderful visual escape at the hospital today, where I spent six hours with my dad, who underwent a blood transfusion to address his severe anemia. (Thank you Huntington Hospital for having free Internet service!) Throughout the day, I showed him my favorite blogs and read him your amazing, beautiful comments. (He thinks you're all lovely!)

I wish I could adequately tell you how much I appreciate/love/need/cherish your kind words of support.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
so much. so much.

xoxo

My Dad

As many of my dear readers of this blog know, my dad has been very ill over the past few months. Recently he was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome, a lethal bone marrow disease.

I've decided to take a leave of absence from my job at the newspaper to help with my father's care.

I want you to know that I will continue posting on this blog. The English Muse -- which I started in January as a form of creative expression -- has become my respite. Your kind comments have kept me going...
Thank you.

Roses + Diana Camera

Diana photos, as promised!

A Domino Favorite: Buenos Aires

This story about Maria Noel's Buenos Aires apartment ran in the June 2006 issues of Domino Magazine. I remember immediately falling in love with this upholstered bed...



I love how the blue reading lamp is attached to the headboard.
Very undesignerly.
The black and white chairs in this photo below are wonderful....



This little settee with the grouping of old Japanese prints is lovely. (I love settees, maybe because I've spent so many years living in small spaces in expensive Los Angeles.)



And here's Domino's Buenos Aires shopping guide.



The San Telmo neighborhood looks so charming!



I've been enjoying revisiting my old issues of Domino here on Sundays. Today's post was especially a welcome distraction. I'm facing a major decision this week regarding my father, who was recently diagnosed with a terrible bone marrow disease.

I will keep you posted. I promise.

(Just click the photos above if you want to see them large on my Flickr page! All the credits are there as well.)