oozing with inspiration

May 14, 2012

terrain’s opening

Since I have been anticipating the opening of Terrain in Connecticut for quite some time, I was thrilled to find out the official opening was scheduled for Mother’s Day weekend. I decided that would be a perfect treat on Mother’s Day morning – to visit the new store. Owned by Urban Outfitters, Terrain is a home and garden store, that up until this weekend, only existed in Glen Mills, PA. The store has that same hip vibe as Anthropologie (also owned by Urban Outfitters), but with a gardening aesthetic. An old car dealership in Westport, CT was transformed into a 16,000 square foot retail space, a restaurant with an outdoor patio, a coffee bar, and an outdoor nursery…Terrain.

Relief prints by Connecticut artist Bryan Nash Gill

It was hard to resist not calling in sick to work on Friday to attend the opening day of the store. I had been driving by occasionally during the construction process and was very excited to finally see the store completed. I could not wait to look around inside. Finally, I was able to check it out and I soon found out that I would not be disappointed.

Free sessions in container planting – this one was with herbs.

The store is oozing with inspiration. I especially love the beautiful hand blown glass terrariums by Vermont artisan Simon Pearce. They can be planted by one of the Terrain staff, tailor-made to the purchasers tastes… when I was there on Sunday, many were being created to bring home to a mom on her special day. I vowed to put a Terrain terrarium on my birthday wish list so I could someday put one on my desk at work. There would be no reason not to smile every morning with a work of art like that in your workspace.

The frame of a 1920’s green house is used in the decor.

The knowledge of the barista at the coffee bar was extremely impressive and I am sure the 7:30 am opening time will make it a popular spot for locals to make a quick stop before heading off to work. I didn’t take the time to sample the menu, but the café boasts a Food & Wine “Best New Chef” of 2011 on staff and provided both a visually interesting indoor seating area as well as seating on an outdoor patio.

Terrain’s website is: www.shopterrain.com

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orange appeal

April 19, 2012

do they still make tang?

When I was out and about last weekend I decided to try and find something to rock the orange. Yes, I decided to give in to the orange invasion. If you have been in the stores at all this season you have witnessed the orange take over. It is everywhere. In Manhattan recently, I saw fashionistas all over the city carrying huge orange bags…a big departure from the usual all-black attire.

What exactly is the appeal of the color orange? What are the things that come to my mind when I think of the color orange? Construction sites… Prison uniforms… Mario Batali (okay, I do like him). Tang. Tang was the ‘space’ drink I enjoyed as a kid …do they still make that stuff? ….and as I got a little older, Tango. Tango was an interesting (albeit disgusting) mix of some kind of artificial orange beverage mixed with vodka. Back in ‘the day’ it was considered a much higher end beverage than my usual sloe gin fizzes.

I do give in to so many of the trends as time goes on….no matter how adamant I am about avoiding them.. I always give in. I figure I will get some token orange item and get it over with…satisfy the orange. I can’t go with too much of it because I know it looks awful against my skin. This was confirmed years ago when color ‘seasons’ were popular. I was told I was a winter. Apparently winters DO NOT look good in orange. Winter or not, I definitely agree that orange is not my color.

I decided to walk up and down the aisles of Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Store to get some inspiration and a light bulb went off as I got near the yarn section. I will make a lightweight scarf!! Granted, I know very little about knitting other than the basic knit. I try to mix things up by using two yarns simultaneously or varying the size of the knitting needles. In this way, I can make a scarf look different without really knowing that much about knitting or learning any other stitches. If you pick interesting colors and yarns and/or mix up the sizes of the knitting needles, you can make people think you are an experienced knitter and they will never know you need to use a reference on the internet to remember how to cast on! Here are the yarns and needles sizes I chose: