The weekend, briefly

Sort of dragging myself into the week here. Busy weekend with tons of driving, laundry, cleaning and weather that was all over the place - rainy, hot, sunny, cloudy, cold. I think we went through every single season in two days.

{breakfast at urth}

{flea marketing with my girls}

{family trip to the velodrome*}

{tons of driving}

*We're lucky enough to have a velodrome close by, so we try to make it out whenever there is a track cycling competition. Also, I think that photo was taken by D - we were trading the camera back and forth, but his pictures came out better than mine.

Guest Blogger : Jane Potrykus from Simple + Pretty

Hello, Black*Eiffel readers! I'm so happy to be guest blogging for Rachel while she spends a bit of time with her new baby girl. My name is Jane, and I write and edit the daily lifestyle blog simple + pretty. My blog covers living, design, fashion, photography and paper, with an emphasis on my obsession with letterpress stationery. I live in suburban Chicago with my husband and 7th grade son, and when I'm not driving to some sort of sports practice, spend my time catching up with the Daily Show, and reading the stacks of magazines I accumulate. (Okay, there might be a bit of internet time, too.)

I'm looking forward to sharing some letterpress finds this week, as well as a few books I have my eye on for fall.

Old West Fest

Howdy partner! Sheila here.

I spent the weekend having gunfights with my son Eric, after my husband Ric and I took him on a trip back in time. We checked out the Old West Festival in Williamsburg, just east of Cincinnati.

I should say it's in Dodge City because that's what it feels like once you step inside. The town comes complete with a saloon, covered wagon, and medicine show. Can Can dancers, a magician, and talented musicians entertain, and the kids can be sworn in as deputies by Bat Masterson.

At high noon, we saw a bank robbery and a shootout on on the main drag (complete with gun safety lesson). The cowboys and pretty ladies stay in character as they wander through town, and Eric introduced himself to almost every one of them.

If you dress up your kids in their cowboy gear, they could win a costume contest.

The food is pretty good too, and you can even get an old fashioned root beer. We had a blast, but you need to make plans now. There's just one weekend left for the Old West Festival, this Saturday and Sunday. Find out everything you need to know by checking out the website, http://www.oldwestfestival.com/

sage's room featured on ohdeedoh!

Adorable Sage's adorable room was featured on Apartment Therapy's Ohdeedoh website! What an honour! Thank you Ohdeedoh!

Have a Happy Weekend!!

Friday flowers

Delphinium are worth buying just for the name.

{delphiniums, sink}

Luckily they are also lovely in their own right.

{delphiniums, light}

Lovely enough to convince me to share a rare vertical picture. (The obsessive side of me hates that vertical photos don't fill the entire width of the column, but I love that you can see the lip of the glass jar here - it's one of my thrifted apothecary jars.)

{delphiniums, glass}

And to keep shooting as the light crept away and dusk settled in. The days are growing shorter.

{delphiniums, dusk}

They smell good too.

Fashion Inspiration to Collection

Susan tipped me off to this great slide show of fashion designer’s inspiration for their spring collections. Since fashion week has come and gone, I thought it would be fun to see how the inspiration was translated. I’m so surprised I loved Christian Siriano’s collection although his inspiration photo didn’t catch my eye. It probably helps that he’s buddies with my bf, Tim Gunn. That’s best friend not boyfriend.


United Bamboo “Modesty”


ADAM “Romance”


Alexander Berardi “Breathless”


Charlotte Ronson “Adorn”


Christian Siriano “INDOCHINA”


Lela Rose “Efflorescent”

Guest Post by Melanie Blodgett from You Are My Fave.

My Daughter The Lawyer

Good Friday Morning! Dan Wells writing. This morning I'm stealing from my wife's blog...because it cracked me up and I'm sure you parents out there can relate. Lawyers, they know what they want. They fight hard to get it. They argue for a living. This is the new stage that my young daughter is currently in. At her annual check-up a few weeks ago, our pediatrician placed this perfect label on her back. He said that is what he calls this age group and I couldn't agree more. I say "I love your dress" she says..."No, you don't." I say "We're going to a friend’s house to play today!" she says..."No we're not."I say "Aren't these cookies delicious?" she says..."No, they're not."

It's pretty annoying after awhile, but also pretty darn funny. I could tell her I'm going to buy her a huge princess castle and she would tell me I'm not. God love her. Happy Parenting!