What are your weekend plans? Are you still enjoying the last moments of summer?

My Mom is en route for a visit right now. I am excited. We have lots of fun plans. First wedding dress fitting. The we will swoon our way through ABC Home, Urban Archaeology and a few TriBeCa boutiques. We plan on dinner at Lupa, lunch at SAKS and ABC Kitchen, and perhaps a little jazz at the new Silver Lining in my favorite building in my neighborhood. Take a look at it for yourself right here. I can see it from my apartment, and love the up-lit facade by night. Have a good one!

*tshirt here for $16.99

This is my escape…a way to catch a quick breath of fresh air after the stuffing and sealing of our Save the Dates…this project is ALMOST at a closure, and for that we have yet another thing checked of the never ending wedding planning list. Cheer with me please!!!

And just for a teaser, I leave you with this.

First of all, I got to swoon over all of the fabulous and beautiful, little gourmet treats from the famed caters at Callahan Catering. Talk about creative.

This was just some of the tasty delights that floated around the showroom on lucite trays. There were also pomme frites, fish and chips (frites and cod in newspaper cones), artichoke “lollipops”, nori cigarettes with chicken and wasabi, tuna tartare ice cream cones, mini milkshakes, mini (like really mini) ice cream cookie sandwiches, and the list goes on…I was completely blown away at the presentation of all of these teeny-tiny appetizers and desserts. The presentation was knock your socks off amazing. Props to the people at Callahan.

In addition to the tasty treats and endless scotch and wine, Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams were there to speak in person. They introduced their new Spring 2011 collection. They have a really great custom lamp program they’ve just launched. There are over 270 combinations of lamp design options in a palette of 14 colors. The fabulous editor of Architectural Digest was there as well. She is such a lovely woman, and has lead a really amazing career. The most interesting part of my evening was my hour long conversation with a 70-ish year old man. He is a native New Yorker, Wall Streeter turned designer, and full of fabulous stories. He spend much time in his earlier years in the presence of Philip Johnson and Paul Rudolph (an Auburn Graduate). He had some pretty interesting first-hand stories of both of these men. He is fond of the both the Harvard and Yale School’s of Architecture. He had a lot to say about the New York “way of life”, and definitely voiced his opionin (both good and bad) of how the city has evolved. And the craziest thing he told me, his first apartment was $40 per month, and that was expensive at the time. What? Are you kidding me. What happen to those deals? Now it’s like one-hundred times more. After the event, we hopped on over to one of my favorite, eclectic hotels in the city to grab a bite to eat. Oh, I should mention…though I talked a lot about the food. I only managed to sneak two of the teeny-tiny delights into my mouth. Between the conversations, there wasn’t much time to actually eat anything. So I was starving.  12 o’clock lunch was long gone. We hit up the Crosby Street Hotel for Burrata Mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes and balsamic fig reduction. It hit the spot, and of course I was mesmerized the whole time by all the fabulous little design details. Everything down to the pencils at the front desk are thoughtfully considered! I am seriously considering checking into this hotel for a weekend “stay-cation” someday soon. It’s 12:10am, and the 5am alarm clock is soon to ring. Lights out for me. Night!

images via: callahan catering

I think that their playful ads characterize the fun + whimsical character of their lovely prints in action.

*images via Clarence House

I spend a lot of time in here. Picking out fabric options, matching trims, and that sorta interior glitz and glam. I am right in my element. There is nothing like being surrounded by beautiful textiles all day long. Mohair, woven, linen, toile, gimp, tape, outdoor, indoor, chenille…you name it we got it. It is like a textile lover’s “fun haven”!

Soak up all the beauty bliss. Off to the “blizzardy” chill of a miserable January in New York [NYC weather in January is a whole-nother' story]

*images: Lonny Magazine

{you can test out your skills too right here at the official Polyvore site, more details here}

here with us today is amamda talley.

when did you first pick up a paint brush? and when did you decided you wanted to turn that talent into a career?

i started oil painting from a still life setup in sixth grade with a private instructor once or twice a month. libby crespo was my teacher and she is an amazing artist herself. it was an amazing experience to be in her studio where she and her husband both painted. her husband is also a very important painter, michael crespo. when i got my first glimpse into their world as a student in their studio, i pretty much decided right then and there that was what i wanted to do too.

if you could pinpoint the most important thing you took away from your experience at scad, what would it be?

i think i learned the business side of art. you have to have that with your academic training or you will be lost. i feel like scad really gives you a taste of what it will be like outside of the academia.

how would you best characterize your style?

abstract expressionistic or action painting

what inspires you when you paint?

everything. a beautiful house, a joke, a picture in a magazine, an arguement, falling in love, anything can be the impetus.

who are your favorite artists?

i love egon shiele, lee krasner, milton avery, rose casterline to start

you are given a blank canvas, where do you start?

top left corner-i wish i could change that but it’s just like a magnet. and i grab whatever paints i can get my hands on…fast!

do you have one favorite work of art, from all the beautiful pieces you’ve created?

i do. it’s always changing but i’m attaching the piece that i would have the most trouble selling right now. i do–right now, i’ve created a 4′ h x 3′ w light box and i love seeing it in my studio. here it is…it’s yellow and just glows at night with the lights off

how influential are your clients in commissioned pieces? or do they pretty must step back and let the “master” do her things?

they get pretty specific, or i ask them to, only b/c i want to get it right. i need to know what paintings they are responding to and if it’s the lines or the color or both they are responding to. some people have asked for mid-process photographs and i have to say no to that. it would interrupt my flow too much. i always find a way to make the piece interesting to me so i do not mind commissions as much as i hear that other artists do. mainly, i appreciate that i have a great job, great interested clients, and at the end of the day how terrible is it to have their input on their piece. it becomes a bit of a collaboration. i’m totally ok with it now. i think i have the best of an artist’s temperment. the good part, that is, the interested and inspired part, not the tempermental, sometimes, angry disturbed artist parts.

what’s a typical “day in the life of amanda talley?

” i get up, walk my dogs in the garden district, and around 10 am my studio manager, eileen, comes in to start our day. i try to paint every day and i try to work six days a week, even saturdays. my studio is open 6 days a week. i don’t go out for lunch–i think it eats up too much of my productive day time. i try to stop around 5 and then it’s dog walking again. it’s amazing how fast a week goes by!

if you are not painting, what do you enjoy to do in your free time?

i love to watch movies, cook, and go junk shopping….not necessarily in that order (ha) i have great neighbors so i love to have impromptu visits where i pop over to see them or vise versa.

and for kickers, leave us with a word of inspiration _______!!!

“happiness is a choice!”

amanda, thanks for your time. and readers, if you’d like to see more of amanda’s work click here. if you are considering how happy your walls would be if one of these fabulous paintings adorned your walls, contact amanda here.

Even my new fragrance is included (yes…it is less than 3 fluid ounces-I’m getting pretty saavy with all these traveling rules). Hopefully this will help mask the “airport smell” that sticks on you when you travel. It never fails. I will shower right before I leave for the airport, and when I get to my final destination I feel like I am literally coated in 3 inches of ICK-i-ness!

My birthday rambling goes on here for a minute, please bear with me. Oh I just love birthdays. You know what my favorite part is? The cards. I have a weak spot for creativeness, and when it comes to the birthday card; well, you’ve already won me over. The sweet I work with left this one outside my door last Friday. How adorable is that little birthday hat?

Now for the good stuff. This guy and I have a love-hate relationship. We have a pretty smooth relationship, but when it gets rocky…IT GETS ROCKY. I mean realllll bad! So today for the most part me was on his P’s and Q’s. He did just what I asked when I clicked print, and was rapidly obeying my commands. Praise the LORD. I only have 2 hours, and A LOT to get done.

So I pulled my “craft box” out of the closet. Prior to this picture I was neatly organized. I am things were stacked nicely and had a little order. Well I brought havoc upon that order. You see my cutting board was at the bottom. Neatly tucked beneath all of these other things. So in best attempt to “pull the table cloth off the table without messing up the place settings” move – I grabbed it from beneath, and things went wild. So you see this is what I got. For now it will stay like that because other things have higher priority in my life right now.

So I plopped myself down on the floor. Yes on the floor. That is where I work best. My family laughed at me ALL of my younger years because while working/studying/being crafty/whatever…you could find my indian-style on the floor. Concrete. Wood. Carpet. Pebbles. Tile. Doesn’t really matter.

And I busy. I took over those little crop lines and had at it. 50 invites later…

You got this.

To be sealed with a little, silver round address label. It’s a fun, little project for a Birmingham Entertainment Shower.

Oh no…It is 5:00. I think my cab awaits. Home Sweet Home here I come!

*get your pantone chairs here

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend day #1 of the Fall Market @ the D&D in New York City. I was lucky enough to hear a number of inspiring and creative individuals :: Victoria Hagan, Bunny Williams, Tuner Newell of HB, Dara Caponigro of Verdana, Judi Roaman, Adam Lewis – author of The Great Lady Decorators, Harry Hinson, Olivier Peardon, Mariette Hines Gomez, Meg Touborg and Richard Mishaan. And the list goes on…

I must mention, last but not least, that Bobby McAlpine of McAlpine Tankersley Architecture was there as well. Jerry Pair Showroom hosted a book signing event for his newly published book – The Home Within Us. If you do not know, McAlpine Tankersley Architecture is based in Montgomery, Alabama. Close to home for me! All the principal are natives of Alabama and graduates of Auburn University. Oh, how I love sharing something in common with someone in the BIG APPLE…it’s rare.