london town

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London, the final trip of my travels!  

Landing in England gave me butterflies.  Their land is so lush.  The trees and the gardens were overwhelmingly beautiful.  We stayed at the Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch which definitely has a Brooklyn vibe going on.  I highly recommend staying there.  They did a great job with the overall design of the hotel.  The service was great, their drinks are strong, and the rooms are perfection.  

The highlight of the 3 days in London was hands down Sunday's High Tea at Sketch.  Yes, the place with the egg pod bathroom.  You walk into this place and you feel like you're in a fairy tale.  The first room you pass is the The Glade which looks like an enchanted forest.  It literally made me gasp.  High Tea was served in The Gallery which was the pink room.  The room made you feel like you were in a dream.  It was an Interior Designer's heaven.  An entire room with a theme that was carried out through every little detail.  Everything was rose gold and pink. They had the perfect coupe glasses and rose gold miniature table lamps at the table.  The food was delicious, the cocktails were really tasty, and the tea of course was great.  I loved the dinnerware and tea sets.  At the bottom of your tea cup it said "forget about it." Loved it. There was a little surprise around every corner.  And yes.. the bathrooms were so cool. It felt like you walked into Milk Bar in Clockwork Orange.  I took a video... it's fine.  Each pod/stall had sounds of birds chirping.  I think I was in there for about 15 minutes just taking pictures and videos. 

We of course squeezed in all of the major sites in between my work schedule.  Seeing these structures and the architecture gave me goosebumps.  When I see buildings that I have only seen in photographs it's as if I'm seeing a celebrity.  My stomach drops and I get a little girl on Christmas morning excited.  And the ravens!  The ravens were so huge.  Seeing them in person made me feel confused. Like they were only supposed to exist in Edgar Allan Poe stories. They are gorgeously creepy animals.  I was in awe of them.

The final stop of the trip, which was my favorite site of the entire week, was the Abbey Road crossing.  My parents were SO excited when I shared my photos with them.  The crosswalk is a pretty busy intersection so you had to walk quickly. 

I absolutely loved London.  It also made me realize how much I speak in an awful fake British accent on the regs.  I had to stop myself each time or else I would get horrified looks from people...... something.. to work on.

father, daughter + norman rockwell

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I think today is an appropriate day to share a recent trip I took to Stockbridge with my dad.   My dad had gone up there for his birthday last year and sent me about 50 photos on his phone, pretty much every painting and illustration he came across.  All he has wanted to do for the past year is take me up there to experience it with him.  

When we got up there it was warm and pretty overcast, which of course I love.  We went through the museum and watched a video of Norman Rockwell's life.  Getting to see his pieces like The Gossips and Freedom of Speech in person was really special.  Seeing all of the prints of the Saturday Evening Post lined up was inspiring.  One person did all of that work.  It gave me a little bit of anxiety thinking about all of those hundreds of deadlines, haha.  The amount of detail that you can see in his work is absolutely amazing.  It's inspiring and intimidating all at once. 

We also got to see his actual studio that was picked up and moved from the center of town to a quiet little patch of land behind the museum.  Everything was still intact.  It was beautiful. We learned about his process and how you can spot it in some of his work.  For instance in The Marriage Counselor you can see that he used models in his studio as reference because it is the exact same couch from his studio, just in a different color, and the books in the marriage counselor's office are all art books which actually exist on the bookshelf next to his couch in his studio.  Something I'm sure not a lot of people have noticed while looking at that illustration.  His studio was spotless, which if you're an artist you know that isn't realistic, but in this case that is how he kept his space.  No paint on the floor, everything in it's place at all times. 

After we left the museum we found a cute little restaurant in a neighboring town for dinner.  It was a perfect day with dad. 

Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing, hardworking, caring dads out there! 

xx

3 days in sweden

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We took a train from Copenhagen to Stockholm.  The ride was beautiful and just as I expected.  Rolling hills and farm houses. Horses and cows and lakes.  Fields of flowers.  It was definitely a ride to clear the mind.  

Sweden was more of a work trip for me, but work in Sweden doesn't ever feel like work.  We had a large conference down in a beautiful seaside town where we barbecued and danced on a dock till around midnight. The sun of course barely went down.  We stayed at the Miss Clara Hotel in Stockholm.  It was so beautiful.  The rooms each had tall windows with a comfy little window seat.  

I was also very excited to see my friend Katinka's store for the very first time in person. It is called.... Katinka's Store haha.  There is a mix of second hand and local designer clothing.  Her dog Zoe is the cutest pup.  She just follows you around and when you go to try on shoes she'll hop in your lap.  She is hysterical.  I ended up purchasing these little wooden butterfly coasters that Katinka found at a local flea and these shoes that are made from recycled plastic and hemp.  They are THE most comfortable shoes I have ever worn.  Katinka is the sole distributer in Sweden and Denmark I believe.  She has an online shop which is katinkasstore.com.  

I of course had to visit the GANT Rugger store!  They now have pour overs!!  The coffee was delish but it unfortunately did not cure my hangover from the night before.  The store was beautiful, as they always are.

We definitely partied hard in Stockholm and still managed to get a lot accomplished.  My favorite night was when we got out of this club early early in the morning and saw the most beautiful crescent moon over the water.  It was jaw dropping.  As was the whole trip.

copenhagen day 2

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It is day 2 and I am exhausted! We managed to fit in everything in!  We saw the smallest hotel in the world, The Central Hotel + Cafe.  With only 1 room above an adorable cafe it is definitely the cutest hotel I've ever seen.

We then ate breakfast at Granola (thank you AGAIN Hannah!) and the food was of course... so so good.  YUM!  We then walked over to Nørrebro and found this little cafe owned by the nicest man called Arabica.  He was so friendly and hospitable and the furniture in the space was really cool.   After some lemon ginger tea we went shopping for home decor!  I found some great additions for my studio.

After some light shopping we went over to the Assistens Cemetery where Hans Christian Anderson is buried.  It sounds morbid but the cemetery was jaw-droppingly beautiful and the Danes have picnics and treat it as a park.  It's actually a nice idea to bring life and happiness to a normally sad place.  Sadah and I laid in a patch of daisies for about an hour.  It was lovely.

Next on the list was "Paper Island" or Papirøen.  We took a little ferry over to this spot and it reminded us a lot of Williamsburg.  It was a warehouse on a dock that had food trucks and food stands from all over the world inside.  The food, per usual, was fantastic.  Sadah got this gin drink that was the most beautiful thing we've seen all trip.  And it tasted as good as it looked (that matters to some people I guess).  

After finishing our drinks with our legs hanging over the dock we marched on to Christiania.  Christiania is a magical place filled with graffiti, overgrown plant life, and little stoners and photography is NOT allowed (which was obviously kiiiilling me). The large scale paintings of cameras with lines through them got the point across.  Christiania is a self-governed society that has its own flag and currency!  It was pretty cool to see.  This little fairy park was my favorite.  There was a tree with a red heart painted on it... and I couldn't take a picture.. and it shall live in my dreams forever.  

After Christiania we went over to the Dome of Visions which is by far one of my favorite spaces.. in life.  The dome is in existence to create awareness and more importantly initiate action and solutions when it comes to sustainable design.  The space is basically a lounge within a greenhouse with a bar to top it off!  Right on the water.  In Copenhagen.  So.. heaven.  Loved it!

Now it is time for bed once again, for tomorrow I am off to Stockholm!! 

inspiration trip: copenhagen day 1

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My friend Sadah and I landed in Copenhagen this afternoon and to be honest it felt like a city or town in New England, but as the day went on we definitely discovered some unique little treats.  The food so far has been absolutely something to write home about.  The smørrebrød at The Royal Smushi Cafe (thank you Hannah) was SO good! The setting was perfect in this back, brick lined alleyway and the caffeine was just what I needed.  

We then took a boat tour to get, as Sadah would say, a lay of the land.  It was beautiful.  I found some house boats that I wouldn't mind calling my own one day.  

Finally we went to Tivoli, the 2nd oldest amusement park in the world.  The same park that Walt Disney himself used as his muse for Disney World.   It was very magical.  We ate cotton candy that was double the size of our faces and I road on the carousel.. by myself.  Yes.. I was quite literally the only one on the ride.  I sat on top of an elegant elephant as I pretended I was Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.  

We ended the night with some wienerschnitzel, rhubarb ice cream, amber lager, and a light-show on the pond!  

We are now sitting with face masks on about to pass out.  Weeee look like something out of a horror movie.

Night night everyone!

inspiration trip: brimfield

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The first Brimfield of 2015 was perfect.  The air smelled of lilacs and the sun was shining.  I was there for 3 days and met so many talented vendors and designers.  

For those of you who are not familiar, the Brimfield Antique Show is this massive flea market filled with acres of antique vendors and collectors, as well as furniture designers, from all over. It happens 3 times a year in western Massachusetts and you get a little taste of small town countryside.  It is so nice!

3 days is definitely the way to do it.  Day 1 was about taking it all in and seeing what was out there.  I didn't pressure myself to buy anything.... and so I bought a couch.  Day 2 my dad joined me and it was adorable.  He loved seeing all of the antiques and loved spending time with me and experiencing a little piece of my world.  Day 3 I knew exactly what I wanted, did my final purchasing, and explored the vendors on the other side of the street that I had missed the other 2 days.  3 days and I think I made it through 75% of vendors.  And that guessing on the high side. 

I walked away with some brass ship sconces, a pair of 1930's industrial floor lamps, a stunning royal blue and cream wool rug, hemp pillows, over sized hand-carved wooden kitchen accessories, and a danish modern leather couch.  That was all for a project I'm working on.  For me, I scored a handmade barn wood frame and this really cool vegetable scientific print.   My favorite vendors by far were Nomadic Trading Company and eneby antik. 

I was very selective in my picture taking this time around.  I'm getting better at editing my eye, if that makes any sense.   For more photos check out my Instagram on @thecrabandthemoon!