Words fail me. This is just...too delicious!

FINALLY...it feels like there will be an end to this Winter after all! I think I'll head to Ocean Grove on Thursday, my next scheduled day off, to shop and stroll. "God's Square Mile" is the most amazingly unchanged town I know of on the Shore. The tent colony is still exactly as it looked 100 years ago. EVERYTHING is pretty much as it looked 100 years ago! It's only a 15 minute drive from my house, but feels like a trip back in time.

It seems I've lost my mojo. I was making these little pouches for a while, selling and gifting them, now it's been months and months and...nothing. I've lost my groove. Hope it comes back soon.

Took a day off work last week to hit Broadway. Went to see the revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" and really, really enjoyed it. Damn, that Angela Lansbury is amazing! Along with the luminous Christine Ebersole and ridiculously, criminally handsome Rupert Everett, the cast was just perfect. The set was fantastic, and the costumes were to die for. I'm going to be on the lookout for MaryJanes like the ones "Ruth" wore during the show... Also couldn't help but notice it was a full house, which Broadway desperately needs as shows were closing left and right recently. Maybe, just maybe, things are starting to look up?

I guess I just don't get enough of books working at the library, I am obsessed with them even during my off hours.
Oh for enough spare time to read everything which has caught my eye lately. The Help, Cutting for Stone, Mississippi Sissy, the new Christopher Buckley, and on and on and...

From the no-longer being published "Domino" magazine...great places to curl up and read. The bottom photo struck me as being kind of spooky/cozy at the same time.

Simple, classic, comfortable. Just perfectly understated. LOVE the blackboard/refrigerator!

Ok, these pictures are really not even close to how great this hat is. One of the little girls who came to my Story Time at the Library was wearing this and I have enough chutzpah to ask her mom if I can take pictures of it! It was really great, knit from various yarns, and there was a bird living atop it in a knit nest! Just a funky, unique bit of children's wear.

Our seashore downstairs bathroom. It used to be the only bathroom in the house till we added two more with our reno/addition. I like all my silly little things. The miniature bicycle takes the cake...I bought it years ago at a toy store which was on its way out. I still marvel at the detailing of it...little kickstand, pedals, rubber tires.

In a blue mood today...these pix are from the undeservedly defunct "Country Home" magazine.

Ok, the deal with the table is: about 4 years ago, a great friend asked me if I was interested in this table, which she had bought at an estate sale. She described it and sight unseen I said yes. We would periodically have "the table" conversation..."are you still interested in that table?" she'd ask. "Oh, definitely" was my constant answer. Well, FINALLY we got it together and her husband delivered the table the day after this past Valentine's Day. It was forest green with oak-y trim. Not what I would have typically chosen. But I KNEW the style was perfect...the display case can be changed on a whim, of which I suffer a great many. With a makeover, this is what it wound up looking like. My husband suggested we get new pulls for the drawers. I love Anthropologie, so we there we went, figuring on a budget of around $80. or so, because, as Mark pointed out, the price of the table was unbeatable. I hit the Anthro lottery and found these pulls on sale, marked down from $10.00 to $2.95. The pulls remind me of something from a botanist's lab. Yes, this is a long, rather pointless story. But it took me 4 long years to get the table! At least it only took you 4 minutes to read about it! Thanks for indulging me...

Seaside city snow...nearly all of it melted yesterday when the temp hit 65.

I love my youngest daughter's "nook". It's so cozy and sweet without being schmaltzy (or so I hope).

Snowy day in Jersey...Ol Man Winter had to go and wait till March to dump it on us??? The kids had a great day so there will be no complaining. I accomplished quite a bit around the house, will post photos at some point, hideous yellow master suite coming along, still not a thrill but I'm determined to make it work.

Lovely to think of being able to go to a theater such as the Mayfair in Asbury. I have seen show and films at Convention Hall in Asbury, I guess we should be grateful there has been any preservation at all maintained...

A Plea For Decorating Help!!!

A call for assistance...of the decorating type. We just finished a pretty big project on our 1925 Craftman Bungalow. I love, love, love it all with the exception of my bedroom. I picked what I thought would be a butter yellow. Long story short: not so buttery, but very, very citrusy. Any suggestions are appreciated. I am utterly at a loss. Typically I don't use a lot of yellow in my decorating, I'm much more at home with soft, kind of "broken in" colors...and of course I could just invest the time/money in repainting, but some masochistic part of me is rising to the challenge of trying to make this color work. The floors are now a very pretty, warm hardwood, if that helps! Thanks for looking.

Long Branch NJ .... We bundled up yesterday and walked about 4 miles, some of it on the sand at the waters edge. Felt great, cold and windy but not brutal. Like I've said before, living at the beach has really ruined treadmills for me. There is no comparison, even on the most freezing of days, to running next to the Atlantic. And enough layers make any extreme of weather bearable. The only caveat to that is when you're excercising it makes it impossible to dawdle and look for sea glass and sand dollars.

For some reason this picture has made me hungry for Spring. Can't wait to start planting and have the option of being outside without freezing. I really love the sea glass colored bottles on the top shelf...

OK, add three more rooms onto my dream house. The simple crispness of these rooms is so appealing, they have a relaxed though refreshing feel to them.

NJ Libraries Need Your Help!!!

Want to support New Jersey Libraries?
New Jersey Libraries are facing many challenges today. Please add your voice in support of strong local libraries which provide essential services to you and your family.

Please call Governor Corzine's office (609-292-6000)
and let him know the following:

You are at the library today and wanted to tell him that libraries are important to you and your family and directly impact your quality of life as a resident of New Jersey.

In these difficult economic times more people than ever are using New Jersey libraries. Library usage is rising. People need free access to the Internet.

· It is important to keep state funding for library programs at current levels in the next state budget. State funding for library programs is only $16 million or less than $2.00 per resident. State funding has not increased in 20 years.

· Please no more cuts. Libraries are filling a vital community role.

Please call (609-292-6000) by March 6.

njla.org 2/19/09