beautiful yaz

Congratulations to Vanessa's daughter on her first gymnastic competition! This picture just says it all! LOVE it!

another incredible party

this time for a friend of Jan's who's father is a well known artist and made this incredible house before his son was born.

beautiful paper

Found this lovely site by Mollie Greene via Your Destiny is Stone Golden. I would love to have her do an installation for the store.

"Pain and pleasure, good and bad, right and wrong: these are relative terms and must not be taken absolutely. They are limited and temporary" - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

feeling like a bit of Bon Iver this morning

modern kitchen

this is on my wish list for the new little chef in the house, Jan. Clean, beautiful... just enough for the imagination to take hold. By Hase Weiss, Berlin.

kinky tea

How perfect some of my "better than sex" tay tea at the store would be in this delicious little pot by redstr/collective.

miro and leonni

Äya and I thought there was a striking resemblance between the Moma's new poster for their Miro exhibit and Leo Leonni's book "little blue and little yellow"

I am 6 going on 16!

Ok, I've been to a lot of kid's parties, but this was the best kid/adult party I've been to in a long time. Not only was it at Zebulon in Williamsburg, but my very glamorous friends Sandra and Luc threw the party for their daughter Maxime "Malou" (Äya's best friend). The music was great, the clown so into it, the kids were screaming at the top of their lungs and the parents REALLY enjoying their wine. Enough said, enjoy the photos.

new techies

What will their future be like I wonder? Malou and Jan.

missing the forest

Found these lovely terrariums via design sponge last night. I think I need to have these in the store for spring.

sublime

It is Äya's third year at Alvin Ailey... I weep every time I see Revelations. If anything one learns to be in touch with the sublime. What a gift.

you publish

just discovered this site! I think I found a new source of inspiration!

edward leida

His design is a bit on the cold and techy side for me, but I'm smitten on this logo that he did with Cynthia Rowley... wonderfully named "ass kisser"

still on my mind

Kai and I saw Philippe Claudel's film Il y a longtemps que je t'aime two weeks ago... I'm still thinking about it. Everything about it is tense with the question of love. To fully trust, no matter what and to never judge for we do not know... Not to mention that Kristin Scott Thomas is sublime.

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.
- Agnes Martin

Fear

I've been loving the 5-10 minute gallery pop ins on my way home from the martha studio's on west 26th. Yesterday I feel upon Trenton Doyle Hancock at the Jame Cohan Gallery. The colors, the texture and most importantly the fantasy to explore fear and the chaotic... something to think about in these times for sure.

2009 light as a feather?

Well I'm not so sure about that, but I do love the new calenders by the wild unknown which I would love to add to my collection.

green dress

I found this flickr photostream via vanessa's blog the other day and was struck by this photo in particular.

"In 1966 Canadian Kami Kanetsuka travelled on the AsiaBus from London to India. Here she is sitting in the desert between Iraq and Iran not long after leaving Basra. The bus was in quarantine because of an outbreak of cholera. Kami writes, "the desert is all dry and cracked and shockingly I am wearing a bright green Egyptian cotton mini-dress bought on the Kings Road, Chelsea (there were no local people around.)" After a few days the travellers were given a horrendous test and sent away, as it was too difficult for someone deliver water to keep them alive. "

belleayre

We discovered Belleayre mountain and to our pleasant surprise (being swiss skiers that is) they have a very sweet ski station there. Bought an early bird package for 4 day passes for $90 (usually $56 a day- ouch!). We will be back in January for sure. Unfortunately we didn't get to go skiing which left all itching for some mountain time. I can see that Jan has it in his blood already!
(love the "2" on the lift!)

A day in Andes

It is hard to leave this place, the concret life in the city seems to slip away from one's mind. Finding pleasures in simple things, little adventures and where the imagination wants to roam...

thanksgiving

We escaped this thanksgiving, to our little secret place in Andes, NY... still pinching myself over the reality, that this is our little home, tucked away in the woods. After surviving the first 12 hours without any heat (think woolen hats and socks in the house with pjs and seeing your breath over coffee) I started the feast. I felt like going all out this year, maybe it was my way of relaxing, but it felt good to cook!

ON THE MENU

• my mom's cranberry orange relish (which Äya and Jan helped make) 
• roasted acorn squash with buttered sage
• wild rice 
• buttered brussel sprouts
• cornish hens stuffed with figs, sweet potato and pomegranite 
• Marius' tiramisu to top it off (he had to beat the eggs by hand!)
  

inspired

After an almost year long hiatus, my ever so lovely and talented friend Vanessa has inspired me to restart my blog. As I write this I feel a quiet sense of peace come over me, a place that is of my own, and to share with the ones I love.
It has been a YEAR, and by that I mean, quite a YEAR...
So hear I am... it is the present... another year about to start

a new year

So it has been a few months since my last posting. It is amazing how much can change in a few months! Probably the most exciting, or at least one of them, is the opening of my new store, jan & äya. Yes, with K. loving encouragement and support I will be opening my very own design/home store on March 7th featuring beautiful handmade objects from amazing american and european designers. Over the next few weeks I will post my new discoveries, the progress of the store, events, etc...
To get things started, here is the store, pre-painting, in it's very raw state.