En Peu de Tout

Lots of little bits and pieces to chat about today.
Over the weekend, I was invited to the most amazing Day of the Dead party by some friends, one of whom is a fabulous artist. They are so creative and clever. I knew the stakes would be high, so I invited my most creative and clever friend, Andrea, to come along with me. Good decision! It took more than two hours to get ready, with the layers of make up, the dresses, jewelry, etc.
Kudos to Andrea who made her feathered head-dress and her necklace! She was stunning. I took a vampire bride dress and added sugar skulls and a bunch of skulls I cut out of a Halloween ribbon.
It was such a fun party, and the best part was the look on some kid’s face as he pulled up next to us! Priceless!

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Another party this week was for the launch of Eddie Ross’s new book, Modern Mix, which I wrote about here. It was such fun to see Eddie and Jaithan, as well as a lot of my Washington, DC blogging friends! And, best of all, I finally met Jura Koncius, the Home & Garden editor for the Washington Post, with whom I’ve been communicating since I started the blog! What a huge treat!
The party was held at the beautiful Baker Furniture showroom, right in the heart of Georgetown.
Here I am with fellow bloggers, Michele Ginnerty from My Notting Hill, Michael Hampton from uh, Michael Hampton, Lauren Liess from Pure Style Home, Stefan Hurry from Architect Design and me!

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As you may have gathered, I am very interested in historic architecture, especially here in Baltimore. But there has been a very distressing development recently. One of the most beautiful spaces in Baltimore, the lobby of a bank building built in 1929, is being taken over by a “performance center” funded in part by local heavy-weight, Under Armour.
What you don’t see in this rendering is the beautiful chandeliers that they’ve photoshopped out, but reassured the Historic Preservation Commission will still be hanging. Or the stunningly beautiful marble mosaic floors that they’ve covered up with grey “area rugs”. These historically significant mosaics were created by Hildreth Meière, who also created the mosaics at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, as her first commercial commission.
The main concern is that the people who are using the space, will, like the people in the rendering above, not care for it and destroy irreplaceable stone, murals and mosaics. In the image above, the person is heaving a heavy medicine ball at the wall, which is an ancient limestone with thousands of fossils embedded in it.  Another concern is that the pounding of the machines and dropped weights will crush the mosaics and render them into dust.
Many people are very upset about this, but the building’s interior wasn’t landmarked – who would have every though that a “performance center” would be put into an elegant space like this? It is more suited for a restaurant or a club, not a sweaty gym. There are two great articles in one of the investigative journalism outlets, here and here.

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And now a wee bit of shameless promotion. I am fully stocked with lots of gorgeous mother-of-pearl silverware, just in time for Thanksgiving. It’s all available on my Etsy shop, and if you order now, you’ll have it in time for the big dinner. I have several sets of 12 place settings, including this one in French Ivory, which both Eddie Ross and I collect.
A bit more simple is this set of 24 in a presentation case.
This set features gorgeous engraved fish!
I just listed this fabulous STERLING SILVER Mappin & Webb Art Deco set of 12 knives and forks.
Let me know if there’s anything you’re looking for and I will see what I can do!