For our second anniversary we went skiing at Whistler Mountain in British Columbia. I’ve traveled all over the world, and I have to admit that B.C. is one of the most picturesque places I have ever visited. When I came across Clayoquot Wilderness Resort on my Tumblr the other day – I couldn’t resist dreaming about a luxurious get-away. (I know, I know… over at Tobi’s blog I said I wasn’t a fan of camping!) Obviously, Clayoquot is a whole different level of “roughing it.”

Now, where do I sign up? *winkwink*

6 Comments » Posted by ABCDDesigns / Honeymoon and Travel and Uncategorized

I trekked out to Connecticut yesterday for the home inspection on The Country House. To my pure delight, I arrived to a homemade coffee cake on a glass pedestal, which was covered by a glass dome and lovingly placed on the kitchen countertop. The cake was accompanied by coffee, pretty white china, and the most lovely hand embroidered linen napkins from the 1940′s.
Oh-my-goodness-me! The homeowner is a woman after my own heart ~ s w o o n -!- I seriously wanted to ask her right then and there if she’d be my Connecticut BFF. I love her style! She and her husband clearly have a highly-tuned visual aesthetic and have managed to create a little utopia way out in the woods. I met the lovely lady of the house in the backyard while they were doing the septic pump and inspection. I wanted to tell her that she was passing her home over into good hands – but I chickened out. I felt so emotional (and lucky!) about the whole thing that I thought I might just cry tears of joy if I said a single word. Hopefully she googled me and is reading this post right now? *winkwink*

It was so good to see the house again yesterday. I am even more excited about it than I was before. I kept finding myself wondering if it was too far for Mr. D to commute on a daily basis! This visit -however- was all about investigating the flaws of the house. I learned that it had a nice roof, a rockin’ heating system and beautiful gutters but has a bad case of the carpenter ants. Hence, the glass cake dome? LOL! It’s all about working with what you’ve got, isn’t it?
These photos are from a week or so ago when we first saw the place. (The leaves have since bursted out and the property is lush and quite green.) One good thing I noticed about this guest house is that from the roof-line up is storage = that is BRILLS for a house that has no basement, closets, or attic. You heard me right. I have storage challenges ahead, but I love it.
Clang-clang-clang went the trolley! Ding ding ding went the bell! Now that the house inspection is behind us, we are flying to San Francisco on Friday morning to attend a wedding. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. Sometime in my teen years we took a family trip to Northern California and I left my heart in… well, you know how the song goes!

5 Comments » Posted by ABCDDesigns / Travel and Uncategorized

My darling husband needn’t spend too much time trying to convince ABCD that an Appalachian Log Home is the way to go. Mr. D arrived at our marriage as Mr. DWR. I -on the other hand- have always been more of a Country Living in the City kind of gal. I love the look of these Appalachian Log Homes. I think the mish-mash of home decor items we currently own would look fabulous inside - especially if we choose our hard finishes properly. I am thinking radiant heat polished cement floors, reclaimed barn board, black cabinetry… a mixture between a modern, loft-like feel and a country barn. Get my drift?Land prices have plummeted in our little part of Connecticut and builders are starved for work. The fact is: at this time in the market we could build what we want exactly how we want it for less than buying an existing home. Listen, I am absolutely not counting my chickens before they hatch, but things are looking up on the job front for Mr.D (yay!) and it seems that The Country House plan may be in the works for Summer.This is really great news because it means 1) This is the end of an incredibly challenging era in our lives 2) We’ve committed to living in New York City for the long term 3) We’ll be able to get our things out from storage and I can get my hands on our pretty stuff. I realize it’s just stuff… but it’s our stuff. The stuff that makes our house feel like home. In other news: you remember the sketch book post that I wrote about spooled and spindled furniture from a few months ago, right? Imagine my delight when we stumbled into the Willow Creek Gallery in downtown Knoxville on Monday afternoon and found this curvy French beauty! For less than you’d pay for a DVF wrap dress on sale – me and Mr. D have become the proud new parents. My antique-hunting delight!
So when I came upon a virtual treasure trove of spectacularly priced antique green glass bottles – I couldn’t help but tweet at her while I was still standing in the warehouse. What a find! The prices at Willow Creek are so reasonable compared to what you’d find in New York City… I was tempted to buy a whole armload of these pretties so that I could have a super-immediate, ultra-impressive collection. I mean really, isn’t it crazy to be so inter-connected? The fact that two people (who’ve never met in real life) know what one another are collecting/decorating with and are able to communicate via cell phone tweets to help build a collection. I can’t even begin to explain to you what doors Twitter has opened and the things I have learned through my time as @abcddesigns!  And speaking of collections… I spent time during the car ride to and from Knoxville (740 miles!) hunting ebay for some of my cheap and cheery lady liberty statues. I was able to score three of them – each ranging from $3-$7. They should arrive at my apartment this week – Hoorah!!

9 Comments » Posted by ABCDDesigns / Collections and Good Find and Personal and The Country House and Travel and Uncategorized

Mr. D and I are off to Knoxville for an ultra-long weekend with friends and family. I’m going to take a few days off to relax, renew, and catch up with everyone. Have a wonderful long weekend and I’ll see you upon our return to the City!

7 Comments » Posted by ABCDDesigns / Personal and Travel and Uncategorized

It’s a very exciting travel day for Mr. D and I. After 4 long months we’re headed to our home *sweet* home. Can you believe we’ve put over 12,000 miles on the truck we borrowed from my dad? 12,000 miles since August 1st! Not to mention, just think of all the distance we’ve covered on flights… We’re exhaust-i-cated.
We got word that we’re allowed to move our things into the new place on Thursday – however, we are not allowed to sleep there until the owner of the property (who resides in Italy) signs a power of attorney. Something about them being able to make the lease legal. Gotta love it. We’re staying at a friend’s place until it can be sorted out. The kookie things you have to go through to live in the Wonder City!

6 Comments » Posted by ABCDDesigns / Personal and Travel and Uncategorized