Just got back from Europe yesterday.  We were in England, Scotland, and The Netherlands, with a little day trip to Belgium.  We had a lot of fun walking around, hiking up millions of stairs, shopping, missing trains, catching trains, catching trains to the wrong places, hanging out with friends, taking photos, eating good food, drinking good cappuccinos, generally trying to avoid as much touristy stuff as possible with the exception of a few museums, and of course walking, walking, walking.  When people ask “how do Europeans stay so thin?” just think of how much thinner you’d be if you didn’t have a car.  I think we both lost about 5 lbs. each while we were there for just two weeks.  Sorry for the lack of posts, but I really hardly had any access to internet while overseas.

Thanks to readers, friends, and friends-of-friends for all of the great suggestions of things to do/see/eat.  They were super helpful.

Well, we’re off to Europe tonight.  I will try to post some photos, but don’t know how much wi-fi access I’ll have, so please check back!  We’ll be back in a few weeks.

This is a little passport case I made yesterday from some leather scraps that my husband had from another project.  He cut them out in a basic pattern, and we both hand-stitched our respective cases.  Today, I did a little pyrography on mine with a soldering iron, since we don’t have any leather-specific tools, and it worked quite well.  We are off to Europe this coming week, and want our passports to look fashionable 🙂

I really like this line.  Below I’ve combined one look from Fall ‘09 (the top one just because I like it so much!) and some looks from the current Spring ‘10 collection.  They not only have beautiful designs, but they make the effort to source sustainable fabrics.

I adore this solid colour porcelain from Alexa Lixfeld.  Lovely.  Who says porcelain has to be prissy?

(via here)

I found not one, but two of these awesome little vintage planters (that can double as vases) at one of my local secondhand shops.  I don’t even want to post them because I’m afraid Urban Outfitters or Jonathan Adler will knock them off… my fellow bloggers, you know what I mean, right?

But enough of my selfishness.  Jonathan Adler, eat your heart out.

According to Racked NY, Rodarte has released some menswear for the first time ever.  Hot on the heels of their Target collection, they are calling the new mini-menswear line ‘Brodarte’ (which is hilarious) and it can only be found at Opening Ceremony.  I love the Mulleavy sisters.  It’s worth noting that these gossamer knits are definitely more unisex than anything.

No matter how you feel about reptiles, you can’t deny the beauty of these photos by Guido Mocafico of our serpentine friends.  The colours and patterns are phenomenal.

(via here)

This was too hilarious not to re-post.  Fake info-graphics are so fun sometimes.  I love Scott Schuman as much as the next jealous hipster, but this is so spot-on.  Kudos to Refinery 29 for this awesomeness.

This is a great little repository of vintage Soviet holiday postcards!  Hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.