As rain comes down in NYC, I’ve been thinking about the flooding in Pakistan. Of all those children and mothers who must be terrified, hungry ( thirsty) and displaced. I’ve also been thinking about how the blog world was so generous after the Tsunami and the earthquake in Haiti. I know I’m guilty of not tuning into what is happening in Pakistan. It’s the end of August, I’m distracted, overtired. My guess is that you are too. I know that Pakistan feels farther away to us here in the United States for a variety of reasons; some cultural, some political; some to do with the way Pakistan has been portrayed in the media.
But today, with this post, I’m trying to step away from that uncertainty and think about something that is certain, the people of Pakistan are in need. Hear more from Hillary Clinton here or go to www.state.gov or send $10 through your mobile phone by texting the word FLOOD, F-L-O-O-D, to 27722.
You might notice something’s going on around here. Well, a few things actually. First, I’ve migrated to a new web address – www.designscouting.com. Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, any links to my old address should update automatically. If you came here from a RSS reader (ie Google Reader or the like) you shouldn’t have to update anything. If you came here via bookmark you might want to update your bookmarks. Also, I’ve made some tweaks to my design that I hope will make reading this blog more enjoyable. (So if you are reading this in a reader consider clicking through to see the pretty new design!) Let me know what you think!
Guess who thinks those Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies are pretty great: that’s right, Saveur! Abbey Goes Design Scouting merited a Saveur “Best of the Web” nod. We’re equal parts blushing and hungry around these parts!
This wallpaper caught my eye in the West Elm catalog. I love how the white background matches the white walls, so all you see is the pattern. Of course, I also like the gallery wall. The paper isn’t for sale on the website — I assume it was a stylist prop. Does anyone recognize it? The wallpaper is from Walnut Wallpaper and is called “Elizabeth”.
Did you see this? I’m thrilled, because I have a secret. The Nova-Wright household bought an ipad!!!! We justified it because we need a new computer and it is far cheaper than a laptop… I have to say it is a great device. Those Apple people know what they are doing. Gourmet Magazine Revived for the iPad – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com. Thanks, Stephanie for the update!
My computer is dying. Slowly. OS X keeps quitting. I love this computer. It saw me through close to a hundred thousand (revised) words of my thesis and nearly 1,000 blog posts. And, it held on until I went back to work to finally give up the ghost — I could cry in gratitude.
This pretty tote caught my eye today ($128 Shopbop). Otherwise: I spent the morning feeding Alex new foods (apple, cheese and blueberries), started but didn’t finish a chicken stew for dinner, read some of the internet (but not all of it), started a master to do list for the week, tried to order a new mattress but found the store closes at 3pm (do they want to sell mattresses or what?) and am trying (and failing to catch up on my email inbox). So, off I go, onwards into the breach on this rainy monday and hoping productivity finds you more than it has found me.
If I ever have an office again (along with a nice juicy corporate salary) I will buy myself one of these amazing (and amazingly expensive) Swiss toys as a desk toy.
one ($225), two ($120), three ($150).
Diana emailed to say that there’s a plane leaving NYC for Haiti on Tuesday, 1/19, and the non profit charity: water needs your help filling it with cargo. Literally. Drop off supplies in person at their office in Manhattan TODAY ONLY.
These items are most urgently needed in Haiti this week:
Donate your lightly used:
Blankets
Tents
Sleeping bags
Also needed:
Soap
Feminine hygiene products
Medical gloves
Bandages/gauze
Cases of bottled water
Donation drop-off at 200 Varick Street 2nd Floor, Suite 201 on Monday, 1/18, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Please enter through the front door at 200 Varick St. You will need a photo ID to enter the building.
More information on the on the ground situation in Haiti here.
I don’t usually post about things like this, but, I can’t stop thinking about what it must be like in Haiti right now. Ever since we read Mountains beyond Mountains Tim and I have been fervent supporters of Partners in Health, a non profit whose goals are:“to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair.” They operate an amazing clinic two hours outside of Port-au-Prince and they need our help so they can continue to help those affected by the earthquake. PS I just saw this — bloggers everywhere are contributing to the relief effort in Haiti.
My mom is in town, and we’ve been pounding the pavement doing last minute Christmas shopping in freezing temperatures. My father flies in tomorrow and my sister, who lives in NYC, is planning on sleeping over at our house so we can all wake up together on Christmas, just like when we were kids.
Here’s a peek of our Christmas card this year. Tim designed it and was inspired by this great post.
In any case, to all my readers, no matter what you celebrate, no matter where you are, I wish you love, laughter and good friends.
Congratulations Melisa! Devon is an absolute doll. The blog world is rich in brand new babies this month.
Becoming a mother has touched all parts of my life; for better and for worse. This latter category includes the devastation that is my shoe closet. I love shoes and had the perfect pair for every occasion (business shoes, date shoes, party shoes, pants shoes, weekend shoes, vacation shoes, shopping shoes, brunch shoes, driving shoes, travel shoes, cooking shoes — you begin to get the picture). It’s not that I have so many pairs, because I didn’t — it was that I had the PERFECT pair for whatever the occasion. Quality over quantity. Imagine the heartbreak of realizing that post pregnancy I’m now a solid size 8.5, which makes almost all my shoes too small. Note this doesn’t happen to every woman (so don’t panic if you’re pregnant!).
I nearly passed out the first time I wore my favorite pair of high heels (cocktail shoes!) to a charity cocktail thing, I couldn’t even make conversation they were so tight. I had to sit down with the old ladies and the waitstaff in a corner.
So, I’m resigned to slowly but surely buying an entire new shoe wardrobe. I started out with these two pairs of flats, one classic and one fun. The grey and black cap toe are from Bloch ($145) and the black and neon pink pair is from Matt Bernson ($165) from Moxsie (but they are offering 15% off, so I got them for $140). The Bloch shoes I bought at Bloomindales but they are sold out now.
