friday fixations

{tattly} I'll be totally honest. I'm really not into tattoos. It's not that I don't like them. I think they're fine. But I'm just such a terrible flip-flopper that I could never commit to something as permanent as a real tattoo. I'd love it the first year, but by year two, I'd definitely regret my decision and wish I had picked something different. So I really quite like these tattoos from Tattly. They're cute and stylish and different and temporary.

{sleeping beauty's paris apartment} I wish I could find larger, hi-res photos of this amazing treasure chest -- and more of them, actually. The story goes that a woman left her apartment in Paris before WWII, and never returned but dutifully paid the rent over all of these years. She recently died (at 91!) and hence her secret apartment was found. The story mostly revolves around a famous artist's painting BUT I'm more interested in viewing the apartment's decor and her other 'regular' things. Anyone who owns a stuffed ostrich has GOT to have far more amazing things than just one singular painting.

{amy poehleroids} Oh Amy, you're the best.

{vintage jewelry boxes} We stayed at mom's house for a good chunk of our vacation and she had the most amazing jewelry box in the guest room. Some vintage red and gold find she picked up for pennies at a thrift store in town. I remember her getting it and I remember I kinda liked it okay, but I left it with her since I don't have a dresser or anything on which to put a jewelry box. If I'm being totally honest, it was more in my 'meh' feelings category. But once I saw it filled, it totally flipped a switch in my brain and now all I can think about is going to thrift stores and looking for boxes. (I have to vent about this suede travelling jewelry box I found on vacation. It didn't have a price on it and once I got to the counter, I found out that the store's new policy was to send everything back to get repriced and then put on display to be resold another day. I am so mad about that. SO. MAD. It was AMAZING. It had spots for everything from necklaces to rings and it had a little snap clasp so you could just grab it and throw it in a bag for vacationing and all it needed was a little cleaning. That's about THE worst sin a thrift store can commit. Taking a find away from you. I'm also rather mad I didn't demand to speak to the manager.)

{food photography} I guess it's no surprise that I love this subject, but I extra love it when it's done a little differently like these fab photos (the mushroom and radish photos and all of the little food vignettes are my faves). I wish I were more of an artist...

{tulips} Finally the bulbs are out! We got a boat load of frilly pastel peony tulips and some manly black Queen of the Night tulips. As a tip, it's much easier to plant them if you dig a large enough trench for all of them at once. It seems like more work, but it helps a lot in spacing and arranging (also fingers crossed our annoying mystery digging animal doesn't root them up). If bulbs are still available when things go on sale, I might get some alliums and galanthus, too (although I have no idea where I'd put them!).

{plant paintings} Wow. That's so neat! Isn't that neat?