Happy Valentines Day to you, and you and you! I’m ashamed to say that our household doesn’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day…we aren’t ‘anti’– we just don’t put a lot of stock in any particular holiday (which is in contrast to my general love of details, decorating and gifts…but does fit nicely in with my too busy to do anything life. sigh). Thankfully, I have a husband and doggie that I love everyday and a stepmum who sends me lovely vintage valentine’s goodies so I can rest easy and just enjoy. Oh I feel loved!

This vintage garland which is now hanging from a very happy Rhino in our house is from RawBoneStudio and sports a lovely assortment of vintage Valentine’s Day cards reproduced on wool felt. My favourite bits of love are of course the owl, who says ‘Owl do anythig for you–why not wise up and say you’ll be my valentine?’ Not too shabby… but if sweets are more your speed you might enjoy the donut and cup of tea who pleads, ‘ Please Do-nut say No, be my valentine!’. Oh too cute! But, whatever you do this Valentine’s Day…follow the word of the little space cadet (top picture, on the left) and think, “Why should I keep this a secret?” Of course she says this while wearing her odd bell-jar-esque space helmet, little red skirt and looking through a ‘secret codes’ book. Be still my heart.

Oh Madewell…we’re going to come to blows soon. I’m batting ‘oh-for-five’ at the moment with you. Despite dedicating a significant portion of my income to you lately I keep guessing wrong as to what I should be paying full amount for (as I love it enough to not want to risk it being sold out) or waiting to pick it up in the sale. I think everything I’ve bought full price has entered into a very well priced sale state…whilst the pieces I loved but thought wouldn’t, have sold out! Number one on this list is the elusive storyteller scarf collection. I work across the street from Madewell…dangerous I know…and have literally been eyeing up the red/teal/green/orange map scarf for months. When I finally thought, ‘sod it…I obviously like it enough to splurge’ it’s gone! As are all the other scarves from the collection that use maps, typography and other fabulous bits and bobs in great colours to add glamour and cheeriness to any outfit. You can read a bit more about how they created the collection here on their blog, which will make you fall in love all the more. They literally cut up maps, and made collages, using real glue…in this day and age? Very impressed!  So please bring back the storyteller scarves Madewell…or be prepared to tell me another story. Perhaps the one about a new scarf, yet to be released, that I’m going to like even more than the previous ones. I like that one…and I promise I’ll buy it full price this time, so stop punishing me.

I’m a giant walking, talking hypocrite. I’m always saying I was born at the wrong time…that I was meant for another decade, preferably one where main streets thrived, were full of cute cars, people lived simpler lives and technology wasn’t so messy. And then I spend most of my life with some form of technology. I know, ick. So in a completely superficial move, I like my technology to be softened a bit, at least visually, so that it doesn’t seem so new-agey (unless it’s new-agey in Jetsons style…that’s okay with me). In the past I’ve had cork and wooden cases for my old iPhones so with the new Iphone 4s, something a bit different was necessary. Still staying with the natural vs. tech vibe, but this time it needed a bit of personalization…enter ‘Hello ‘Ello’! I found a company that would accept custom designs to be laser cut into wood. I messed around in illustrator trying out a few phrases—the one I originally wanted was ” ‘ello sunshine’ a good cheery message I’ve been known to utter…but I just couldn’t get the type to look right, so it morphed into Hello ‘Ello. I hand drew it, then redrew it on the computer, uploaded and within a few days I had an image of my new design and had it in my hands a week later. Mmm watch out iPad and iMac there might be a branch out there with your name on it.

I love a brand with personality (especially if it doesn’t take itself too seriously-hello have you seen the hedgehog wearing a bowler hat and a monocle on this site!?)…It could be in the tone of voice, or illustrations or a whole number of other ways. So when I spotted this Crunchy Grocer concept last year, I thought ‘that’s how it’s done’. It’s professional, but still full of life, whether it’s in the type (which was drawn onto construction paper and cutout…or in the nibbles taken out of edible and non-edible objects…the name or just the whimsy in the typography. I. Love. It.

It’s all been done for a new concept natural food store, which hasn’t appeared to have opened YET, but will hopefully open soon in Colorado in an old school building. It’s a fabulous concept, which you can read more about here and grab yourself a crunchy grocer sticker by signing up for their newsletter here. Good luck to Crunchy Grocer and a big kudos to them and their collaboration with Tenfold Creative on such a well executed brand!

No need to flee to the weather channel to figure out if New York City has been covered in snow…sadly we haven’t. But there is a little winter wonderland present in the flat right now. At first I thought I might be a bit late since Christmas is over and the decorations are all packed away…but on second thought, winter hasn’t even arrived here yet, so why should non-Christmassy winter stuff be shoved away (and because I have no idea how to pack them!). These lovely little ‘snow globes’ for lack of a better term were a real project of many inspirations–one part Anthropologie, one part Martha Stewart, one part family and voilà!

I had saved Martha Stewart’s tutorial for snow globes ages ago…and then when I saw these variations at Anthropologie with my sister-in-law we set about picking up mason jars, salt and pepper shakers and glitter. Then at Thanksgiving I went home and my stepmum had picked up all sorts of lovely bits like bell jars, dishes, moss, deer and even…a pillar box! Crowning touch if I do say so myself. I picked up a few pinecones in Riverside Park and that was it– a little piece of nature (and england) in NYC.

Along the way we learned the following useful facts that might help you if you were to take this on:

1. Using artificial snow  as a base builds up a nice shape. We then used fine white glitter on top for the sheen. I also dripped some glue around on the ridge of the deer and the top of the pillar box so some glue would stick on top…

2.  Don’t shake the salt shaker…unless you’ve made sure the holes are covered. Oops.

3. Schleich animals have a nice ‘vintage’ look about them and can be found MUCH more easily (for instance at Michael’s) than proper vintage characters…trust me we’ve tried!

and last, and certainly most useful…

3. Small town train stores have a lot of small figurines…not ice skaters unfortunately, but they do a cracking business in homeless people and prisoners….so ughm depending on the theme of your winter wonderland that could be ughm…well frankly useless.

photos by pillar box post. lamp & table from West Elm

Uptown girl…we’ve been living in our uptown world! Been so preoccupied with our move that Pillar Box Post…well got lost in the move. Things are starting to settle a bit now, which is very welcome at this point!

So….what has been happening? Well we made the big move in early August, spending the first week and a bit seeing the sights of our new hometown. We made the charming Ace Hotel our first stop…LOVED the typography and all the little details–everything has been tended to with love and care. Shame that the staff haven’t had as much love and care…and the music in the lobby made me feel old. Why is everything in NYC soooooo loud? Has everyone gone deaf from the noise?

We did a handful of tourist things like a harbour cruise in the pouring rain (spending the trip eavesdropping on two american teenagers who couldn’t tell Manhattan from New Jersey …and didn’t seem to have an understanding of the September 11 attacks. However they did have 4 smartphones between the two of them, so at least something next to us could be labelled ‘smart’.

Most of all we did a lot of walking…blocks and blocks and blocks. After the Ace we moved into our first sublet on Bleeker street in the West Village, right off Perry Street –the home of loads of movie ‘homes’ like Carrie from Sex and the City. All in all there were lots of complications with the move, nothing awful just annoying–internet not working, phones not working, bills not going through etc. but they reach breaking point at 4 am less than two weeks after arriving. It was a call from our family in England…Olive, our lovely 2.5 year old french bulldog, was very ill in the hospital and we had to make a decisions immediately whether or not to undergo an expensive surgery or to put her down. She had what they thought was a slipped disc and could be paralysed. We went for the surgery and crossed our fingers…and toes and legs.

The next few weeks were rough…Olive was in hospital and then in recovery at my in-laws…my husband was in a job hunt that didn’t seem very positive and I must admit I was a bit homesick. We didn’t have a place of our own, our goods were stuck in shipping purgatory. On the lovely side, we were getting to see someone from my family more in a few weeks than I probably did in the last two years…and then slowly, gradually things started picking up!

We were able to secure a longer sublet in the upper west side ( by forking over 4 months rent at once, eek!). An empty apartment, but at least it wasn’t full of someone else’s junk! And then the turning point — a job for my husband! It was a super quick turnaround and the pieces started to fall into place. Olive had hydrotherapy in England and was finally able to fly over and join us in October. Our shipment of clothes, books and my home goods arrived shortly after and bit  by bit we are getting things into place.

Thank you all for stopping by after such a long time away and I really appreciate the comments in my absence. I truly never thought anyone would notice and it was very touching to know someone out there did!

Now, onwards and upwards and I promise future posts will be a bit shorter, more colourful and a bit more exciting! The red British post box has been officially  moved to Manhattan…the post is in!

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About the images…I thought it was fitting to ‘restart’ Pillar Box Post in the way that it originally came about, with a shop window photo! I spotted this fabulous window display on west 20th street (and 6th avenue) around the corner from my work. It appears to be for a ‘bag manufacturer’ who create shopping bags and advertisements. Their recreation of New York out of paper bags with adorably detailed paintings is inspired. I don’t have a use for this idea, but I know there is one out there somewhere. Perhaps we DO need a two bedroom apartment after all… for a village of pillar boxes made out of paper bags!?

Photos by Pillar Box Post

]]> http://pillarboxpost.com/2012/01/05/uptown-girl/feed/ 4 http://pillarboxpost.com/2011/07/28/i-c-bikes-2/ http://pillarboxpost.com/2011/07/28/i-c-bikes-2/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:37:05 +0000 Brittany Hurdle http://pillarboxpost.com/?p=4551  

Should you stay or should you go…the story of our lives recently, but not in regards to us. We are definitely in the ‘go’ lane, I’m talking more about our possessions! We live in a studio flat, so you wouldn’t think we had all that much in the first place, but regardless of that, we’ve spent months (at least it seems like it) trying to figure out what is worth the shipping cost. Well the goods have been shipped already, so now I just have to figure out what was left on this side that I already miss (like my ercol chairs that were sold tonight) or my Dutch bicycle Betsy. She’s too big to ship affordably, so she is going to live out the rest of her life with ‘Mumsy’ (mother-in-law). Which conveniently leaves a biycle shaped hole in our new life…enter these quirky bikes from CB2 of all places!

Compared to other bikes in these genre, these are very well priced and have beautiful details and design style. It’s so hard to find a bike that isn’t covered in obnoxious stickers, so to find one in an interesting colour palette with great little details like stitched handlebars, a bell and a string skirt guard, but I think it’s the seat and the yellow tires that really had me. Plus, they have all the lovely things, you know like brakes and gears. That sounds like a silly wishlist, but as I’m sure most of you realize, design sometimes has compromises and that was definitely felt when Fred the bicycle came to our family. Aaaand as one last cherry on top – they come in boys and girls, so David and I can be all matchy-matchy. Now I just have to figure out whether NYC and I are going to get along well enough to trust myself on a projectile. Stay tuned…

You can find the bikes here:

abuela 3-speed women’s bike $499.00

abuela 3-speed men’s bike $399.00

Well, well well..lookie what we have a here. A long overdue post, and a big announcement as well. I’ve been spending the last few months working on a few life changes and finally it’s time to come clean. No, sadly it’s not a lottery win, or a baby (as it seems is quite a common blogger ‘life changer’), but rather a relocation. Pillar Box Post was created as a way to catalog my love of my life…which was a step out of the ordinary as a born-American, that lived in London and my journey of becoming legally and emotionally a citizen of both the US and the UK. But now that things were just finally settling down, why not shake things up a bit? Perhaps accept a job relocation to New York City!? Which is exactly what we are doing. In three. short. weeks!! Eeek!!

I won’t bore you with all the details, but the short version is that the design agency I previously designed for is opening an office on 5th Avenue and I am heading off to see to all things creative! So the past few months have been spent organizing, and then organizing…oh and a bit more organizing so that David and Olive can enter the USA with me. Things are really starting to kick up a notch now and fall into place, so hopefully posts will be happening a bit more frequently. Obviously, I’ll have new things to keep an eye on as I learn New York, but I hope to keep a foot firmly planted in the English side as well. I think I need that to make this transition a little less weepy! This opportunity fell on my lap, when I wasn’t looking for it, and I’m very happy to be doing it. I feel no wrong can come from it, but it is emotional, as I don’t feel like I’m going home…as here is home, but where is here and well I could talk this around in circles. I’m not American, I’m not British…I’m both, and well that’s probably a good place to be! So here’s to Kensington, home of the Pillar Box Post v1…roll on West Village, home to Pillar Box Post, the future!

Well so much for being less weepy, just got a bit emotional reading this post before I published…oops! So let’s concentrate on something a bit cheerier – Olive’s method of transportation– a stripey inner tube! I thought this post needed something a bit fun, so I set to work this weekend to bring our move to life. And what did I come up with? Olive floating across the pond, without parental supervision. Sheesh, well at least she took the luggage with her as well…which is unusual, because from my experience she isn’t the most helpful of puppies!

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Illustrations by Pillar Box Post

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Perhaps this is out of season, but just came across this selection of double sided wrapping papers from Turnstyle Studio and had to bookmark them. I’m such a sucker for clashing/coordinated wrappings like this. Bit of mix and match never hurt anyone…unless of course they were mixing and matching violent weapons. Then not so much. When in doubt stick with illustrated birds, pinecones and a dashing of patterns and textures!

thanks to the dieline

In search of a holiday this spring/summer? Yep, me too and since Mallorca isn’t for us this year please just let me live vicariously through you and book the Cap Rocat in Mallorca. For the uniniatiated to the workings of the Mediterranean, Mallorca is a Spanish island in the Med Sea. And past that sea, housed on a cliff, in a former military fort sits this boutique hotel. This hotel is a little different than most as it can list in its amenities a drawbridge, bunkers and trenches alongside an infinity pool, outdoor lanterns and the best umbrella/tent combo I’ve ever seen. I am absolutely in love with the outside setting, with that fantastic umbrella covering and persimmon red rugs. I wonder if they’ll knock the price down a bit if I just set up camp outside?

You can find out more at Mr. & Mrs. Smith or check out the Cap Rocat website where unbelievably there are more amazing photos of the turquoise sea, the sun loungers you’ll never want to leave and more torches you can shake a stick at…

Looking for more boutique hotel action in Europe, check out this beauty in Mykonos Greece or the spring/summer holiday we took in 2010, also in Mykonos! It seems like these inspirational holidays maybe do come true sometimes!