girl crush

How cute is her dress? (image here)

Not only do I like this blog, but it inspired me to write about Connie Britton. I love that she looks her age (which happens to be 44) and is still so girly and cute, with long, non-mom hair. Her wrinkles make her even cuter. She didn't register much early on, in that Edward Burns movie or on "Spin City," which I never really watched. But on "Friday Night Lights" she's perfect: funny and tough, but somehow not a cliche.

Also, she has the cutest TV husband ever. This was the least cheesy shot I could find.

Now that the show is over (though I'm just working my way through season four on Netflix), I hope her career continues. She did a lovely, moving reading for this episode of This American Life, and gave a nice interview to Kurt Andersen on Studio 360. If only NPR shows could pick our pop-culture stars.

dekanimal on etsy

All images here

Bloesem recently featured prints by this Hong Kong-based etsy artist. The bright colors are a bit of a change for this cool-shade-loving person. But the animals and the stylized, crisp but organic shapes are not.

denyse schmidt

Rugby Stripes quilt; all images here

Jersey Stripes quilt

Big Zig quilt

Boott quilt

Denyse Schmidt hand-makes beautiful, simple quilts that manage to be modern and traditional at the same time. You could definitely hang these on the wall—with such popping color combinations and clean compositions—but they'd be cozy on a bed too.

murray fredericks

All images here

This Australian photographer was just featured in National Geographic. These images, almost completely abstracted, show a dry salt pan in the Australian Outback. Fredericks spent solitary weeks at a time there, over the course of several years, chronicled in this documentary. His story looks amazing; the pure bands of cold-and-hot colors look like Rothko canvases on film.

a photographic series

I like to call it "Counting the Days until Tessa's Preschool Starts." Now that Charlie is spoken for (in third grade), Tessa is totally bored with me. She's over the pool, drawing, crafts, animals both plastic and stuffed—and how many playdates can you have in one week?

So this morning we did a little pedicure. For the record, we used a different color on every toe. (Mine are all silver.)

clutch purses

I've been seeing these everywhere. The no-straps design is totally impractical, but the minimalist in me likes the idea of nothing more than a pure rectangle, maybe in a really bright color.

Clare Vivier's flat clutch comes in several colors and pebble or smooth finish; I like the slightly chunky zipper.

Her foldover clutch looks great in navy with red piping:

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Or you could go cheaper at the mall. American Apparel's medium pouch is probably not as nicely made—but it's less than half the price and comes in more than 20 colors:

Zara calls this a wallet. I don't know about you, but I sure don't carry that much cash around. I'm not sure about this mustard color, but you can get in black too:

california green

I'm not much of a gardener, but I do love flowers, and I love all the succulents and different things growing on the west coast. Indulge me:

Purple!

These would survive in my porch planters for about two days.