Breathlessly Catching Up

When your only daughter decides in May that she is getting married in July, even if the wedding is small and in a friend's backyard, it has a way of taking over your life! We are very lucky that she is an event planner and a brilliant caterer and is marrying her business partner! We are of course thrilled for Lisa and Steven and were ecstatic when he proposed to her in Provence this spring!

Of great importance for us Femmes d'un Certain Age is finding the right dress to wear to. And that, dear readers, is no easy task, requiring shopping, fretting, sleepless nights and searching for perfect combination of fit, flatter, fabulous & feasible while striking just the correct note of not trying too hard and certainly letting the beautiful bride be the star of her day.

So...the wedding, along with a huge new client project, a road trip to Portland, Oregon over the 4th (fun!) and a fatal leak in our swimming pool (we are hosting the backyard rehearsal dinner) have kept me very busy and quite distracted from my beloved blogging. I should have been pruning roses and sighing over bridal gowns and tablescape colors! Instead, there is mud everywhere I look and I am working 12 hours a day:)

I am quite certain I now have your complete sympathy!

So yesterday I found the perfect dress. Exhale! I slept soundly last night, knowing all is well! Here's a little peek at the wonderful shop where we... bride, mother of bride and mother of groom... all had a delightful time shopping on a rare sunny summer day in San Francisco!

And today the amazing guys are replacing all the swimming pool plumbing, while we dither over bluestone, grass or a combination to replace the deck around the pool.

And the huge interior design project is blissfully, beautifully nearly finished.

We just might pull this off! Stay tuned!

the ceiling of the dress shop is decorated

with these beautiful Chinese silk parasols;

I love the way they look like floating

jellyfish over your head!

the gorgeous dress! now all I

need to find are nude colored

patent leather shoes to complete

the look

what do you think?

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we drove 12 hours through 114 degree heat to

arrive at Crater Lake Lodge on July 2 and

found 10' snowdrifts!

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ouch! my pretty backyard looks like

a war zone! we have just over two

weeks to go before we host

the rehearsal dinner here!

of course, Nicky loves all the dirt!

wish me luck

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thank goodness I've been able to immerse myself

in designing this gorgeous radiused summer room for a

ca. 1888 mansion in Marin County!

this lovely rendering is by my assistant on the project,

Yuliya Krupnik, and shows the furnishings

I have designed for this room

stay tuned, more to follow when we are completed with

all five rooms!

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thanks for visiting!... Kit

On the Road Again: Palm Springs, California!

What could be more fun than hopping in the trusty Beemer with your sweetie and driving south from San Francisco down I-5, leaving the fog and drizzle behind, cutting over onto the old Route 66 and ending up a few hours later in Palm Springs? Where the sun shines all the time and the Mexican food simply cannot be beat? We had a wonderful trip.

OK, so the average age of the residents hovers around 85 (hey, I feel really young here!). But there is also a hip, young element encamped here in the desert that helped put the mid-century design vibe back on the map.

my good friend Kathy McGuire captured perfectly the spirit of the

California road trip with her painting...

see more of her California vernacular work at her website

and be sure to check out her new blog!

our destination!

one of the many diner stops we made along the way... gotta refuel!

in the high desert Mesa area above Palm Springs is this

stunning modern home nestled among the palms

bold colors and modern pieces

in this Palm Springs design shop..love

the iconic 50's sunburst mirror, of course!

walking the hills I came across this stunning abstract gate and love

the way the sun backlit the pattern

I just liked the way the blue/white pattern of the pillows

worked with the orangey of the cool chairs... and

the white coffee table is adorable too

love the pattern of the pyracantha bushes espaliered along

the front wall of this hacienda in the hills

perfect example of 50's modern architecture in

southern California, Case Study House No. 22 in

glass and steel was designed by Pierre Koenig

in the late 1950's and is outside LA

simple landscaping so typical for the area just

looks amazing to me

this wonderful mid-century style lamp

is the design shop's best seller!

on my ramble I wandered up the driveway to

the gate of the Sonny Bono estate... the only

reason I knew that was a friendly neighbor

taking a walk nearby told me.. four dwellings

on the property now selling for $4 m

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did we eat a "few" tacos along the way? ummm...yess..but

to make up for it, check out this yummy Mexican

fruit salad...perfect with any grilled anything!

Mexican Fruit Salad with Chili Powder*

Choose 1, 2, 3 or more fruits and/or vegetables—here are some that work well:

mango
pineapple
watermelon
cantaloupe or other melon
cucumber or fresh pickles
jicama
lime juice
chili powder
salt, to taste

Prepare the fruit. Slice up the fruits [and vegetables, if you're using them]. For the salad you see here, I used pineapple, mango, watermelon and cucumber. Slice them into big chunks and spears—this is street food, often eaten with your fingers. You can make the salad ahead, up to this point, and chill the fruit until you’re ready to serve.

Assemble the salad. Place the fruit in a large, shallow bowl. Squeeze lime juice over it [for a generous salad for two, I used the juice of one lime]. Season generously with salt and chili powder. Stir gently with a rubber spatula to avoid damaging fruit and taste. You’ll probably want to add more chili powder; keep adding, stirring and tasting until you pick up the flavor of the chili powder and a little heat. Add as much chili powder as you and your dinner guests can comfortably take—that’s a key part of this salad’s charm. Serve immediately.

recipe from Blue Kitchen

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"hasta luego" from moi & Mr. CP!