This past Saturday I hosted local design bloggers for a meet'n greet
High Tea at my apartment. A few of us had met before, but it was so great to be in one room all together. We are trying to keep up our blogging social meeting once a month - power to the DC bloggers!
Here you see Beth of
Style Redux and
Chinoiserie Chic serving champagne to the guests.
Only a blogger can know how fun these online friendships can be. We get to share our design passions and interests online daily with one another and it's fun to bring these into real life conversations!
Michele from
My Notting Hill poses by the drinks station. Champagne, lemonade, sparkling water, tea and coffee were the drinks of the day.
Allie from
Summer is a verb took some artistic shots of the tea table, which she thinks are blurry but I think are more impressionist!
Strawberry shortcake, croissants, tea sandwiches and some other snacks all proved popular!
The spread before.......
And the spread afterwards -chaos and empty plates show that everyone had their fill! I used my
Harebell by Coalport china for most of everything, but couldn't resist using a plate from my
strawberry cream service by Royal Doulton for the tea sandwiches to go along with the strawberry theme!
Whats a sign of a good party? Empty champagne bottles and glasses litter the coffee table!
Also in attendance was Scott from
Domicidal Maniac (who I've known since early college days and motivated me to start blogging),
The peonies even got some showtime in the bathroom - I put one single flower in a bud vase to liven up the sink.
As little 'host' gifts, I gave away my favorite carrotcake cupcakes from
Georgetown cupcake -a nice little treat for the ride home :-) Hopefully this will encourage you to meet some of your local blog buddies!
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This past weekend I saw the new Pixar movie, UP. WOW! You all have to see it; It may be the best Pixar movie yet! I wouldn't take very young children to it though, it has some very sad situations that were hard enough for me to take! The animation is superb and the writing is excellent. Even the small 'short' before the movie was really entertaining!
Without giving too much away, the premise is an elderly widower who attaches 1,000s of helium balloons to his quirky Victorian house to fly to South America! Don't ask, just go; Let me know what you think!
Label:
movies
a blurry picture of my weekend projects. The 3 left are a Greek revival house, Buckingham Palace and Chartres Cathedral.
The memorial was first conceived after WW I. However, a competition for the design of the structure wasn't completed until 1928. Because of the great depression, the monument then wasn't finished till 1941. The style remains Art Deco which was popular at the time. Housed in the building is also an Australian military museum.
interior of the dome above the Hall of Memory. Stained glass depicting the virtues of soldiers surround the space, you can see one of them above. They were completed by Napier Waller, a 1-armed veteran who also did all of the mosiac work here in the hall.
The central courtyard. 
Released in conjuntion with a show at the Guggenheim (of which there is also a model, seen above) called 
Also in the series is a BEAUTIFUL (but expensive at $299) set of the Taj Mahal.
The Empire state building above and the Seattle Space needle below are just as fantastic and a much more reasonable $20. For nieces, nephews, children -anyone? I can't wait to see what comes out next in the series!
Recently while reading the 
The current owners, who wisely are remaining anonymous (trust me, they'd be getting numerous phone calls and emails from me otherwise!) wish to tear down this architectural treasure for something slightly smaller, more modern and 'with air conditioning'. Seriously - tear down a gem so you can get something as basic as air conditioning. With a little ingenuity and a good architect & mechanical engineer you could have AC anyway. NEWS FLASH -that is not an excuse to tear this place down. And I have to ask -why did you buy it in the first place?
The house is filled with beautiful details that are painstaking to reproduce and rarely are. The house was $3,000,000 to build back in the 20s (more than what the current owner paid for it) -imagine what it would cost today? Tear it down? What?! 
This past Thursday I had some friends over for a little supper. Nothing fancy, just a little pasta and salad after work. I set the table the night before.
I know you're not supposed to put flowers with a lot of fragrance on the dinner table, but I couldn't resist these pretty peonies!
Easy as 1, 2,3 -I think it turned out ok. Beats pizza at the coffee table!
A quality made piece like this is worth the investment. If you buy a vintage, dated-looking cabinet like this (the blonde ashen wood isn't very popular now, even if some readers do like it!) it's easy to update-especially if it has great lines like this! 
I would start by lightly sanding it, priming the exterior then spray painting it a glossy black with a few coats. I suppose a more adventurous decorator could go for a bold color, but thats not my style. I would leave the interiors and even the edges of doors and drawers the natural wood to prevent sticking. Next I would update the hardware. 
I love this 
Small loggia over the front entry.
Statues from Bali flank the front entrance which ward off evil spirits and invite good spirits.
You enter into a tiny vestibule with marble walls and an ornate ceiling.
Looking back into the vestibule from the central hall.
The most impressive space in the house is the central hall. You can see why!
The skylight rises up 3 floors, letting in tons of light. Even with all of the dark finishes the room felt very bright.
Detail of a banister.
The skylight.
Sconce in the central hall.
To the right of the stairway was a room with another prominent doorway. I wasn't sure if this was originally the main entrance or if this was a type of reception room.
To the left of the main staircase is the salon. In honor of the day an Indonesian band was playing.
The ceiling in the Louis XIV styled room is incredible. I love the juxtoposition with the Indonesian parasols.
More of the salon. 
The ubiquitous crystal chandelier.
Above a doorway. Doesn't this remind you of a carousel?
This doorway led to the Conservatory.
While it is named the music room for the enormous organ in the corner, I questioned if this was originally a dining room of. It clearly is used as one now.
The room is lined with these (china?) cupboards which now house Indonesian crafts.
The fireplace in the music room.
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