I Can't Make Up My Mind

The first Visual Vamp Giveaway is well underway.

The response to winning an Amanda Talley painting has been wonderful. Amanda and I are getting together on Monday to look at all your photos, and to pick a winner.

If you would like a last chance to win, please leave a comment on this post, go to the AmandaTalley web site and choose your favorite fantasy-if-money-were-no-object painting, and e-mail me a photo of the space you'd like to hang an Amanda Talley painting in your home.

The winner will be announced as shortly after our Monday meeting.

In the meantime, Happy Weekend!

And think of Amanda and me as we're trying to choose a winner!

Bench Pressed

The dining room bench.

I'm in the last stages of my dining room revamp, and it has been suggested to me by my imminent peers that I might try a dining room bench in the mix.

My dining room is rather small, a glorified pass through room in a New Orleans shotgun house.

I acquired four grand Parsons chairs that are awaiting some slip covers. The dining room table without the leaves opened, can seat 6 t0 8. It is rectangular. However with the grand Parsons chairs, and the size limits of the room, I can use the four Parsons chairs, two on each long side of the table, without host chairs at the ends in order to be able to walk through the room.

The idea of a bench on one of the long sides of the table is appealing, for obvious space saving reasons - it can be tucked in and under even further than chairs.

Visually it would add interest, it seems a matched set of chairs is just so hum drum, and mixing up styles of seating is all the rage.


I for one, would not like to be the one seated on the bench for dining. Small children seem to like benches, and since we have none, I doubt that our adult friends invited to dine would find the bench commodious.

But the visual possibilities are irresistible.


One of my favorite combinations of seating (pictured in the image below) comes from Gina of Willow Decor. I love the Louis inspired side chairs, the upholstered slip covered Parsons host chairs, and the French style bench sporting a jaunty feedbag sort of dress.


Settees offer a another version of the bench, but it's not much of a space saver in the case of my room.

Rustic or ethnic style benches are terrific for adding texture.


Simple and pared down benches are a bit too spartan for me.

You can bring in a picnic table and a bench and style it up to look very elegant.

Two dramatic upholstered host chairs and dramatic color can elevate the humble bench.

Rustic with modern warms it up.

Well there you have it. The great bench roundup. Dining benches - yes 0r no?

I ordered one. Stay tuned to see how it looks. I can always ditch it for the comfort of chairs for the dinner party.

PS Thank you for all the great comments and photos for the first Visual Vamp Giveaway.

Amanda Talley is thrilled and the two of us are going to look at the photos and choose a winner.

I hope to have the post up next week to show your photos and announce the winner.
You can still enter HERE with a last minute comment and photo.

Last Day To Enter! Readers Projects: Amanda Talley And My First Giveaway

The Skirted Roundtable had a really good broadcast about the pros and cons of contests and giveaways. I have never done one, but after listening to Linda, Joni, and Megan, I thought why not - it sounds like fun! So here's the first Visual Vamp Giveaway featuring artist and fellow blogger, Amanda Talley.

New Orleans supreme chick artist Amanda Talley has moved into some new residential digs!

Every Southern girl loves monogram pillows from Leontine Linens where Amanda Talley got hers

She scored a cute carriage house in The Garden District close to her First Street studio.

Amanda Talley covered the seats of these Chippendale chairs discarded by the previous tenant

Casa Sugar did a great post about it, and you can see more pictures HERE.

Every girl has a bar set up in her New Orleans digs

Amanda's paintings are on everyone's wish list.

So for my first Visual Vamp Giveaway I am choosing a small (approximately 8 x X 10), but perfect gem of an Amanda Talley painting for you!!!!


To win:
1. Go to Amanda Talley and choose a painting you would buy if money were no object

2. Come back to this post and leave a comment and tell us all which (by name of the painting) one you would love to own - Remember this is a fantasy and not the painting you will get!

3. Send me a photo of the room you would like to hang it in - e-mail mizvtheb@yahoo.com

4. Photos will be shared in a future Readers Projects when the winner in announced

The small gem of an Amanda Talley painting in the bedroom of Visual Vamp

It's hung near my nightstand, at eye level
It's the first thing I see when I open my eyes
The winner of The Visual Vamp Giveaway will get a similar Amanda Talley painting

You Can Celebrate Mardi Gras Anywhere

Record low Fat Tuesday temperatures today.
Does it make us want to don our costumes and sit on the couch and watch it all on TV? Not really!!!!
We'll hit the streets in the French Quarter around noon, fortified by an adult beverage or two, and joyfully say goodbye to the pleasures of the flesh.
Happy Mardi Gras!

Do You Have More Than One Blog?

So many things to look at and write about, so little time...
Do you have more than one blog? Is your output so productive that it cannot be contained or defined by just one blog?

Last year I took these photos on the street on Mardi Gras. I was struck by the number of people not in costume, but dressed up in their Sunday best, and hitting the streets in style.


And then I just started seeing people in everyday clothes made festive by a hank of beads.

I like the street fashion blogs NY Run Fashion and The Satorialist.


And I adore the master Bill Cunningham who has been photographing On The Street for The New York Times for over 30 years or so. On The Street is definitely the inspiration for the street fashion blogs.

Every city has unique street fashionistas. New Orelans is no exception. There are alot of stylish individuals on the street everyday.


I would love to roam the streets and snap pictures of them and post them. I wonder how you get photos, without bothering someone or making them uptight, and how they feel getting their pictures posted (if they ever even find out). Do you hang out in the same spot everyday, becoming a part of the scenery? Do you roam the city looking for fashion?

Photos of me on the New York streets or at a New York party or club taken by Bill Cunningham and Allen Tannebaum were done without my being aware that a photo was being taken.
Somebody would call me at tell me, I think I saw you in the paper...

Anyway, with the warm weather coming, I'm thinking about starting another blog.

She Needs Us

I am not a Christian nut job. Nor a Hare Krishna. Or a Voo Doo priestess. I am a mortal human woman who is just like everyone else. I believe in good and hope and something bigger than we are. I believe in good vibes and the power of those vibes manifested as prayers.

Nie needs our prayers everyday, but she needs some really strong mojo right now. I don't know a thing about hokey sounding things like prayer circles or daisy chains, but I do know the power of blogs and bloggers.

There is something new called Blog It Forward. I don't really know what it means, but I like the sound of it: Blog it forward.

So please get it together and take five seconds to blog it forward and kiss up a good vibe and prayer up to Nienie.

Update:
Nienie is pretty famous - she's been on Oprah.
She doesn't have comments on her blog - I think it's just too much for her to handle. She has another new blog called Nie and You HERE where you can leave a comment for her.

Happy Birthday Renee Finberg!

Blogger, Interior Designer, Mother, Daughter, Horsewoman, Friend!

Renee has heart, courage, glam, and talent, and she always shares her struggles and her triumphs and her life lessons with us.

Read more at La Petite Gallery HERE!

Happy Birthday Darling!

How Much?

Abundance.

So much beauty and love to indulge ourselves in.

We all have so much to love and be loved for. You are loved. Truly.

And there is love lost too, love and life as fleeting as butterflies.

Alexander McQueen 1969 - 2010

Embrace someone today and tell them you love them.
Happy Valentines Day.
Celebrate love gained, love lost, enduring love, new love, friend love, love of a place and time, love of work, love of and for your children (and your parents), love of and for your pet, love of and for your family, love of favorite food or drink, love of flowers and fauna, love of nature, love of a hobby, love of art and beauty and books and dance and movies and the theater and television and radio and music, love a deity, love of country, love of travel, love of beautiful things and rooms and houses, blog love...
love, Love, LOVE....

Patti Perrier

A tall striking woman came into the shop I work in today. I wan't even going to come in because the shop is officially closed for Mardi Gras. But I had some paper work to do, and I live within walking distance, so I opened the doors and got to meet the fabulous Patti Perrier a designer from Houston.
It's appears she's an avid blog reader and she loves Joni (but never has met her) from Cote de Texas, and Visual Vamp!
So I did a little research and found these images. She promises to send more photos of her work soon.


It's common: You find a house on the perfect street, and you fall in love with it--the street, not the house. Patti and Claude Perrier gave some TLC to a ranch-style house in their dream neighborhood--and now they have an incredibly stylish space. They prioritized what they could live with and what could be covered up with paint. They had an advantage though. Patti, a designer, knows tricks that don't require a total overhaul.


One great feature of this 1950s Houston home: The large rooms flow from one to another. However, the lack of architectural details is consistent from room to room too. Instead of adding such details, where they'd be a tad out of place, Patti removed dingy carpet and gave everything a coat of creamy white paint, a nice backdrop to her antiques collection. Existing hardwood floors add a rich feel.


from Southern Living

Antonio Henriquez

We go out to dance tango nearly every week, and we know so many people as dancers. As time goes on we all get to know a little more about one another beyond the the dance hall.


Antonio Henriquez and his wife Mirna are lovely peolpe and lovely dancers, and recently I found out that Antonio is a photographer.

Antonio says he is an amateur photographer, though I think his beautiful work is very professional. I love the painterly quality of it.

He is a long-time New Orleans resident whose favorite subject is the city of New Orleans itself, including the architecture and people in the French Quarter.

Antonio has been photographing for the last ten years with an emphasis on digital photography.


His pictures have won several awards and have been chosen for exhibitions in NOPA Currents 2009 and Cemeteryscape.

You can get a little piece of New Orleans for yourself via one of Antonio's fantastic photographs:

Antonio Henriquez: www.nolagallery.com


I hope you've been enjoying my week long posts about New Orleans and Carnival and Mardi Gras and The World Champion New Orleans Saints.
New Orleans always inspires and delights me. This time of year just seems to bring it out even more!