Things We Love: Charley Harper

As everyone knows, the Hoveys LOVE the little animules. And nothing beats the HUGE book that Todd Oldham helped put together celebrating the wonderful illustrations of Charley Harper. Haper descirbed his style as "minimal realism." Talking about his art and nature he said:

When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.

Things We Love: Classic, White Keds

We had a long standing Hovey ritual every August: an annual excursion to buy new white Keds (which our mom still called U.S. Keds). Like white jeans, white canvas shoes get dirty by just looking at them and it took Hurculean energy and care to avoid any early-on-in-the-school-year Keds destruction. I still remember the heartache I felt after a fateful decision to get involved in a heated game of kickball on the first day of second grade, ruining my new bright treasures for all of '85/'86. Keds the company is unfortunately missing out on the hipster frenzy over copies of the tie up below, whilst they tinker with bad soles, odd shapes and heinous, gaudy patterns. We recommend staying with the original, even if the manufacturer doesn't appreciate its past like it should. The little baby ones go for $22.99, while the girl's and boys sizes run $24.99. Still quite a bargain if your kid promises to go no where near a kickball.

Things We Love: Sailor Chic

This week is Fleet Week. New York welcomes our sailors to dry land and reminds all of us that the sailor look never is old or dated. This idea was reinforced when I stumbled upon these two photos on my new favorite website of old photographs. Time Tales is a collection of found photographs ranging from pre-1930s to the present. Of course Hollister and I aren't strangers to the sailor chic look either. The photo below was taken on Easter around 1985 on the Country Club Plaza.

Ebay Shopping / Things We Love: LEDERHOSEN

This photo is everything we love all rolled up into one thing: 1930s, lederhosen, photography, and Ebay. I don't think my day can get any better! You can buy this now for $3.50.

Things We Love: Kiki and Polly

How amazing are these portraits from Kiki and Polly! They're simple and graceful. You send them a favorite snap shot and they create these beautiful line paintings. The best thing ever is that they also create custom made wall paper. A huge thank you to Bloesem Kids for profiling them.

Things We Love: Fake Handlebar Mustaches

Awww . . . the handlebar mustache! So your baby really can look like they're from the 1890s.

Thing We Love: Overalls

After coming across the great photos from yesterday's post, I've become slightly sentimental about growing up in the Midwest. In my warped mind, instead of thinking about riding my bike through the streets of Mission Hills and playing in the yards of the huge mansions, where all of Kansas City's elite live, I like thinking about class trips to Dustin Dolginow's family farm for hikes down to the stream and playing on huge haystacks. I like daydreaming about a little Hollister perched on a bar stool eating livers and gizzards at Duke's, my Aunt's bar in Benedict, Nebraska, a town with a population of 278 people. I like to think this is how we spent our childhood -- in overalls and playing in the water.

Things We Love: Piggies and Robin Eggs

I couldn't resist sharing these lovely pictures from Tony Cross' wonderful blog Quietlike. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do!

Things We Love: The Wonder Years

Thinge We Love: Straw Hats

It’s never too early to start worrying about wrinkles. If sunscreen isn’t enough, a hat can do double duty – save your skin (and life) and make you look extremely stylish. However, deciding to wear said hat on the back of your head, yarmulke style, will do you little good in the protection department. Both these examples go against our mom’s near obsession with wearing a hat down over the forehead. It’s a miracle that this photo evidence exists today. So, grab your straw hats, and give a downward tug on the brim and you’ll be ready to roll.

Things We Love: The Sound of Music

Things We Love: Two by Two Cookies

Hollister and I came across these charming cookies this weekend when we popped across the street to pick up some goodies at the Bedford Cheese Shop! These little pieces of heaven are handmade in England with fabulous organic ingredients like Madagascar vanilla, Yorkshire toffee and real strawberry juice. Artisan Biscuits have taken ques from some of our favorite children book tales like "Tortise and the Hare" and have made the cookies in the shapes of the animals. This makes story time that much better!

Things We Love: La Lettre by Michel Gondry

Things We Love: Old Class Photos

We found this great class picture that was taken in the 1930s in Blair, Nebraska off of on our favorite blogs of vintage photgraphs -- The Boat Lullabies

Things We Love: Madras

Porter, around age 2, in a boy's jacket and itty bitty pigtails...

Porter, around age 5, in a Ralph Lauren dress and tie with bigger pigtails. Mom can sport this great look too with the spring collection at A.P.C.

Things We Love: Our Gang

Things We Love: Porthault

While pursing some of our favorite blogs today, I came across these amazing swatches of fabric samples from Domino Magazine's "Daily Dose." We just wanted to thank Rita Konig so much for sharing this amazing find from the Porthault stock books in France. But it's not going to be cheap to pick up a set of these pretty sheets -- a king set starts at $1,100.

Things We Love: Old Home Movies!

(Not Hovey videos, just a gem from YouTube set to Simon & Garfunkel's My Little Town)

Things We Love: Kidfresh

Our mom was wild for birthday parties. Some weddings required less planning. Hollister, being the first child, received the most attention on this front. For first grade, mom rented out half of the famous Kansas City diner Winsteads for her '50s party; the next year, we took over the Saddle & Sirloin Club so all eight year olds could play cowboy. Despite all the effort, this one did not go well. One of the girls pulled the chair out from under a boy who'd been in a motorcycle accident (he may have actually come in a partial body cast -- these were good parties, not to be missed, even for medical emergencies), the guests all wrestled, a few girls ran around alledging that the beef jerky was dog food, everyone heckled the singer and one girl slid around on the wooden floor and managed to get a sliver in her gum (the flesh of her mouth, not her chewing gum). It's hard to say if the boys or girls were worse, but my mom decided to blame the boys and banned them from all future birthday celebrations. So, the next year, she kept things prim and proper. We took over Williams Sononma after hours so Hollister and about 10 of her girlfriends could make finger sandwiches and learn how to properly ice a cake. Each guest got a full cake for practice. Quite incredible. Those finger sandwiches were quite delish, too. Quite simple, they just involved fancy French cream cheese (in an amazing chocolate and strawberry) and bread. But cutting any sandwich into a shape makes it magical.

Kidfresh allows the kiddies to eat with similar class and fun every day. Stop into the Upper East Side flagship for a treat or even fun class! Wholefoods also carries various products.

Kidfresh

1628 2nd Avenue (Between 84th and 85th)

New York City, 10028

212.861.1141

Things We Love: A Tea Party

I've always wanted to be a lady who lunches. This feeling was initially reinforced when Hol and I went to Paris and popped into the Plaza Athénée for a spot of tea. Unfortunately, while four impossibly thin, impossibly stylish French women with their adorable babies sat across from us and lived out my dream, Hollister tried to tackle a gigantic meringue (which had unfortunately been served to her on a tiny saucer) in the most polite way possible. She failed. What is proper meringue etiquette? It certainly cannot involve a knife and fork and a small saucer. After about an hour of delicate sawing, she'd eaten nothing and appeared to be sitting atop a little pile of snow. So, the next time you're in Paris for tea, choose a crustless sandwich or a petit four. Regardless, don't take Hollister along or she'll ruin your chances of looking like a lady. If a trip to Paris isn't in your near future, tea at the Plaza Hotel in New York might do the trick, too (but again, Hollister isn't invited)!