the sheer genius of apple

we tend not to talk tech-related things here (though we'd like to plug the ipad at this time because we love it), and stay more fashion-home-letterpress-lifestyle-cooking-and-all-other-lovely-things-that-make-us-swoon.

but today i read at mashable that gizmodo "happened to find" the prototype for the iphone 4.

now...let's consider this. 

do you actually think that someone at apple - a very hush hush company when it comes to prototypes and new gadgets -  who is important enough to be carrying the prototype would actually forget the phone at a bar?

take it one step further - do you think someone important enough at apple would happen to be at a bar where someone from gizmodo happened to be and happen to forget said prototype?

and even further....would apple really not shut down the prototype for an entire week?

me thinks apple is too smart for that.

all that being said, we're excited for the new phone and will certainly be holding out for iphone 4 to come out before purchasing a new one. the physical design has changed - it's a smaller product and has hard edges instead of the rounded style. the new camera has a larger sensor and a flash, video chat capabilities (genius), and insanely high resolution.

check out gizmodo's article with videos here.

what do you think of the new phone? what do you think about gizmodo happening to be the ones to find the prototype in a bar?

we promise our next post will be something fashion-home-letterpress-lifestyle-cooking-and-all-other-lovely-things-that-make-us-swoon related....though the new phone makes us swoon just a little.

thoughts on branding and really, really great packaging

branding for products is incredibly important. think about it - you don't have to read the labels in the juice aisle, you look for the carton that looks like the one that your mom kept in your fridge as a kid, and you buy that one because it's what you know.

have you ever seen a little kid (who hasn't learned to read yet) get SO excited about a box of animal crackers? they can't read what the box is, but they know what it is, because the box of animal crackers is branded, it always looks the same, so a little kid can reach for it and know exactly what's going to come out of the box.

but what about new products you integrate into your life?

they need really, really fantastically fabulous packaging to catch your eye. they need to stand out and shock your senses and be so downright gorgeous you feel like you can't live one more minute without buying the product.

and that's how we feel about these products....and we wish every product was packaged this beautifully....

food for thought - what if kitty litter had this gorgeous of packaging? what about the packaging for a lightbulb for your car?

these remind us of something straight out of alice and wonderland

this olive oil is from croatia so we wouldn't be able to understand what the label says. but it's the international language of yum - packaging and product together. 

these cereals might just trump animal crackers for kid-love.

these chocolates from fling make us want to drool. between the color choice for the packaging (is that blue seriously not the best shade of blue ever?) and the curly-q's on the front, we have to find some!

now, we admit that we buy wine based on the label - we totally judge the book by the cover - but we've found some really fantastic wines that we buy time and time again (think, fat bastard). if we see these bottles from purple cowboy we'll definitely pick up a few bottles of the night rider merlot and the tenacious red.....if for no other reason than really cool design and perfectly named bottles.

get some perspective

source

life is possibility

fantasy shopping spree - from lonnymag!

so this is really a shopping spree of ideas. every page of the latest lonny mag (the eco-chic edition!) is just dripping with inspiration.

what are your favorites?

(all images from here)

we are just loving every single one of these couches, and would gladly host any of them in our living room:

acquire

acquire

acquire

we also love this chair, which should surprise no one. 

acquire

we'd like to pick up one of these to have in our backyard this summer....just imagining curling up in it with a book and warm sunshine makes us feel all tingly inside.

plus, The Rainforest Site will protect 6,870 square feet of land for every hammock purchased. Now that really makes us feel all tingly inside.

acquire

we really enjoyed the opportunity to get a peek inside lonny's editior michelle adams' home. simply inspiring, as is to be expected, with lots and lots of ideas we'd like to incorporate into our own home.

lonny editor, michelle adams

(page 70)

we are in love with everything about this picture. from the utterly perfect tortoise-esque lamp, to the antique hutch, to the awesome parisienne art, and down to the wallpaper and collection of bottles (oh and the picture of shoes...yes we know we just outlined everything in this picture), it is simply sublime. we'd love to have this look in an entry way, or like ms. adams, and have this look in our dining room.

(page 80)

we love the combination of the modern table with the classic striped chairs (in a most perfect shade of blue), with the great rug that compliments the photographs and really highlights the sepia tones.

also featured in lonny's eco chic edition is graphic artist ashley putnam....seriously lustworthy interior.

miss ashley

(page 120)

ashley's interiors give off an air of well traveled and worldly. with an art collection to die for, a mastered touch for the layered look, and an eclectic furniture collection that some how all comes together (without being a set of matching furniture), we are just falling over ourselves. 

(page 132)

the piece above the mantle is a painting done by lucy kirkman. if it looks familiar, it's a take on christina's world, the painting by andrew wyeth - our favorite artist. we're inspired to figure out a way to turn this into a saturday diy project, since we'd never be able to afford a kirkman original.

(page 122)

loving the quirky-yet-classic look of the gold bamboo coat rack. 

and then there's the dining room. that we need to have. immediately. we think we might just ask ashley if we could move in. we could be cooks or something. dish washers?

(page 124)

we particularly enjoy the contrast of the white upholstered chairs at the ends and white curtains against the chocolate brown table, chairs, hutch, and wicker/bamboo curtains. thinking we need to emulate this in our dining room. thoughts?

what was your favorite in lonny? can you even choose?

fantasy shopping spree!

so at first we didn't feel like fantasy shopping. and then we realized - wait! that's borderline blasphemous! so we shopped a little. and dreamed a lot. and ended up with a set that is so out of reach for us it's kind of funny. 

what did you shop for today?

shop it (if you dare): Jason Wu Twist front dress, 760 GBP || Hamilton-Paris Blouse with beaded neckline, 560 GBP || Designer Tops & Blouses, Matthew Williamson Spring Collection, $695 || Diane von furstenberg trousers, 205 GBP || True Religion Julie skinny jeans, $170

the (very) long way home

so, when we started this blog, we promised ourselves that every friday we would take the long way home from work. enjoy life. take our time. take a back road. stop at a store. grab a bottle of wine. enjoy some music. and try not to not freak out about the traffic.


but this weekend we certainly took the looonng way home.


friday, we took our dear friend alexa to the train station and then went to dinner at flirt. (we suggest the down under roll. mmmmm)


then we drove down to dc, arriving at 2 am. and hailey begged and begged and begged until all parties involved conceeded to drive past the white house. she wanted to take great pictures of the white house lit up in all its peaceful glory while the majority of the city slept.


driving in circles, hailey kept saying, it's right here i know it's right here! (if we were outside, we're sure she would have been stomping her foot). and in fact she was right. except that the white house wasn't lit up. we guess nobody was home? so we didn't get any good pictures for you.


(so we'll share this one:)

so then we decided that it was okay we didn't have pictures to share from 2 am, that we would get fabulous ones for you on saturday.




well.


there was a lot of rain on saturday. and wind. and hailey broke her umbrella (and then thanked the gods she was intelligent enough to bring her rainboots). there was so much rain that we had to leave our cameras behind so we have no pictures of the city to share with you.


but we went to the international spy museum, which was fantastic, and highly recommended you go when you're in dc (there's a great shop and cafe....filled with spies??? perhaps.)

we'd all really like to be spies now.

we enjoyed the beer sampler at gordon biersch's.  and then went to shamrock fest. 

which is really why we brought our cameras, to share with you the s*it show that it was supposed to be. 

but because of the rain....there are no pictures to be had. and no crazy stories to tell (except one crazy girl rolling in a huge puddle of water with a short denim skirt on and a white tanktop...which it was far too cold to be wearing let alone rolling in the water with). 

after the shamrock fest, we got ready at the hotel, and went to capitol city for dinner.

it was a pretty early night because we HAD to come home to go into the city to see lies maculan's installation in chelsea (which we heard about from the ever fabulous refinery 29.

we wish we had great pictures and a review to share with you, but the george washington bridge needed emergency repairs on the lower level. 

so if you don't know anything about the tri-state area or the gwb or people in this area who drive in the rain, let us share a few tips with you.

the first is that we've never once hit traffic so bad we kicked ourselves for not checking the traffic.

today we did.

when you take the gwb, all trucks have to use the upper level (since 9/11). so when the upper is backed up we take the lower (though we prefer the upper for the great views).

and there's always traffic, but mostly it's doable. 

and people in this area don't know how to get their heads out of their asses what to do with themselves when a drop of rain falls, let alone a storm that wipes out power across the state, shuts down highways for tree removal, crushes power lines, and causes a water advisory counties wide. so it was a mess.

so we spent 3 hours trying to get to the gwb, which we when we started getting close to the bridge realized that it would have taken another 2 hours just to get to chelsea. which would have been 5 hours in the car (after driving 4 home from dc earlier). we could have gone to dinner in atlantic city and come back for that time investment. 

so we turned around and ended up at the mason jar, five minutes from where we started our journey.

long way home - success.

emotional result - absolutely miserable.

so that's our weekend story.

what did you do on your long way home???