Balloon Festival (cont'd)

Here are 2 more pictures from the Balloon Festival last weekend. One can never have too many balloons—they're so festive and fun! I've never been up in one, have you?

Balloon Festival

I had never been this close to a hot air balloon before this past weekend. My vantage point here is looking up into one that had just been filled using VERY hot flames. Seeing them all in one field and up close was quite something. I loved all the colors!

The colors of autumn

What a beautiful Saturday in the Adirondacks. The leaves have already started to change, and the sun coming through the clouds intermittently made for some very pretty lighting on our drive.

Little finds

I smile when I find little things here and there that I think someone might like (especially if they're for a writing desk!), like these horn canisters from Ballard Design. Stylish and small, for the person who has everything—I already have someone in mind for Christmas...

Monthly promotion #1

We've decided to start offering monthly promotions! For September, it's 50% off oleander note cards; just enter code "SeptPROMO" at checkout. If you have one of our 2011 YEAR in BLOOM mini desktop calendars, you might notice that oleander is this month's feature—a flowering shrub I first discovered in France. Offer ends 9/30.

From one JAKE to another

While out on the west coast recently, I stopped for dinner in Del Mar, CA. As though the view from the table (sun setting over the Pacific) and the ambiance (the sound of the ocean, which I love) weren't enough, the restaurant's name was Jake's! I knew right away I was in the right spot.

Around town (cont'd)

I used to love to go to the flea markets, especially the Sunday one on Columbus Ave @77th St. This picture was taken at a market in Hell's Kitchen. I bought an old textile mill canister that day that I still use for my recycling.

I signed up for a walking tour of Tribeca one day, from a very knowledgeable guide who advertised in Time Out New York magazine. The decorative facade and contrasting logistically-necessary staircase caught my eye here.

Bustling 42nd Street is never quiet, but the stately Chrysler Building stands still against the darkening blue sky. Grand Central Terminal is the low building all lit up.