Bario-Neal opens a showroom in NYC!!! (Sponsored by, erm, Bario-Neal)

Hello, internet. Hello, world! Helloooooo, New York City....

We are Bario-Neal Jewelry and we are excited to announce the opening of our New York City showroom in lower manhattan. 

Bario-Neal is committed to environmental responsibility, ethical sourcing, and marriage equality. Our work is handmade in Philly with recycled metals and responsibly-sourced gemstones. We are also happy to work with your heirloom stones or recycle your precious metals in our bands. 

The new location offers our custom design services and showcases Bario-Neal’s collections. It’s important for us to be able to work with our customers on a personal level as they search for the right wedding band, engagement ring, or special pair of earrings. With our new space, we look forward to being able to better serve (& get to know) our New York-based customers.

The showroom is only by appointment, but we are having an opening party! Stop by and check it out November 7th from 5-8pm, at 195 Chrystie St., #900A.

Editor's Note: Anna and Page sent me a whole bunch of images to choose from for this post. Rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets (yes, they make all those things, too!).

But it's the RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS that blow me away every time -- both Bario-Neal's custom work (custom designs begin at $500, see three examples pictured at top) and the engagement rings + bands from their current collection (rings pictured are priced between $255-4400).

the obsession continues.

I still don't have my dream toilet brush. I posted this before I ordered it, they sold out immediately, I am an asshole, I don't want to talk about it.*

Moving on to brooms/dust pans.

Anne Sage did a terrific roundup of stylish/affordable cleaning tools yesterday,** which sparked a terrific discussion about stylish/affordable cleaning tools, which led me to....

1. The Shaker Broom from Justamere Tree Farm ($40 + $10 shipping) (which I just bought)

2. The Cardboard/Bamboo Dustpan from Harimi ($24)

I haven't pulled the trigger on the dustpan because I'm obsessing about whether or not I'm willing to pay $10 shipping for a $24 item. And whether or not I need the little hand broom that goes with it. (And if so: whether or not I care to pay for shipping from Japan.)

Welcome to my brain.
______________________________

*I did finally buy a temp toilet brush at Target after H had a mini-meltdown the other day, so you can lay off the poop talk in the comments. Thx.

**THANK GOD I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES

Inter-continental wedding woes: FOLLOW-UP

Dear ESB,

Just an update... I was this girl, who was asking your advice on how to plan a wedding for two families from opposite sides of the pond who aren't loaded.

In the end, for many many reasons, we decided to have a ceremony in both lands. The first was a civil ceremony in my Grandma's backyard in Michigan. While the location was originally chosen as she was housebound (and I wanted her to attend my wedding more than anyone in the world beside myself and my fiance), she passed away 2 months before the wedding. The ceremony went ahead, the last family event to take place in her home, after nearly 60 years and 5 generations celebrating all major events there. As you can probably guess, it was a very emotional day, but it was everything I've ever wanted in a wedding. We ate BEFORE the ceremony (a barbeque catered by my former boss), I wearing a burgundy dress that my grandmother wore as her "going away dress" the day after her wedding in 1941.

My family did everything for the wedding for us: decorating the backyard, hiring a tent and chairs, and covering everything with flowers, on a budget of literally 600 dollars. Right before the ceremony, I changed into a light blue 1950's dress. My cousin played Beatles songs on his guitar as my hub walked in with his parents and me with mine. We then danced the night away to an iPod in the pouring rain on the back deck.

On the Irish side, we rented out a boutique hotel in the country, a shabby chic Georgian stately home.  We had a small marquee on the front lawn, and my Uncle Mike, a minister, performed the blessing under a giant willow tree on the property. The music was a small bluegrass band, whom I'd found busking on the streets of Dublin. I wore a dress by Maria Lluisa Rabell, this Spanish designer who only uses unbleached natural fabrics (bought it at a trunk sale and had it altered). Our guests danced the night away to an 80's cover band, and then our friend DJ'ed into the wee hours.

This is all to say, thanks to you and those who commented, it was nice to have some moral support.  And while my Irish wedding was more "weddingy" than my Michigan one, I really preferred the civil ceremony, and in my heart it was my "real" wedding.

Love,
Midwestern Girl

p.s. The first set of photos (the backyard bbq) are by a family friend called Hugh Plummer. Second set (the Irish country celebration): my amazing friend and professional photographer Karina Finegan. 

*****

SO. GREAT.

♥

A much-needed rant regarding beer budgets, snooty fiancés and bullshit calligraphy

First, I love your blog, and I love the stories, advice, and oh la la the fashion.

I have to rant.

In an effort to have a champagne wedding on my beer budget, many corners, albeit ones that I was comfortable with cutting, needed to be cut. As a practical bride, I eliminated the need for fancy "Save the Dates" and DIY-ed mine, hello business card magnets, a copy machine, and self stick laminate! Another budget buster, invitations, foregoing the letterpress that I love, I decided to go the minted.com route, and find invitations at a fraction of the price knowing that only a few people would actually give a shit about my invitations outside of myself and hey, for the price, they are pretty cool.

So in another effort to cut cost, and make my life easier, I thought online RSVP on a custom site that would enable guest inventory, food options, table seating, etc. was a no brainer, especially for a techie like me. Insert bomb number 1, the fiance finds online RSVP to be tacky. Yet he is in the software industry... touche. I think it's a great way to organize, keep myself from creating a Xanax habit, and hey, be Green too!

So then, I have pretty cool handwriting, and I planned on addressing each envelope in my handwriting but a little more stylish.. Insert Bomb number 2, the fiance finds it necessary to hire an expensive Calligrapher to write on the fucking envelopes of our minted.com invitations and claims that the "Calligraphy sets the tone of your event." I call bullshit.

If people are so concerned with the fucking scribe on the front of their envelope as opposed to just being thrilled to share in our day with us, then they have major problems, not us for not using an expensive Calligrapher! The way my mind works is that that money could go towards extra food or booze for our guests... or should I pay the Calligrapher to write on the envelope, "because of this fancy writing that you will look at for 5 seconds, throw in the trash and not care, an appetizer has been removed from the party, please eat this envelope in lieu of that appetizer." haha.

What are your thoughts?

*****

Please tell your fiancé to remove the stick from his ass.

You already "set the tone" of the wedding with your DIY Save the Date's. Hiring a calligrapher to address your minted.com invitations sounds like some serious bullshit to me.

Also, if you want people to actually RSVP, you'd better at least offer an online option.

YOU: 2
FIANCÉ: 0

Natalia Zakharova by Michael Donovan via Rowena Murillo + FASHIONOGRAPHY

Blushless 2011

(Click images to enlarge)

How could a girl this cool not make some cool fucking wedding dresses?

tree-free paper plates

These WASARA plates (designed in Japan, obv) are what I was looking for two years ago when we did our rehearsal picnic-on-the-beach.

They're not cheap, but they are made of 100% tree-free renewable materials (sugar cane fiber, bamboo, and reed pulp). Biodegradable and compostable.

Available at Branch, where you can also get these bamboo Bambu utensils in bulk packs of 250.

Via wit + delight via graphic exchange

Mr. Larkin gets me every time.

Organic cotton + hemp blend jersey, secured at the back with recycled ribbon from the early 1900's.

And what is going on with that necklace?? I'm pretty sure it's exactly what Buhdoop has been looking for.

I don't see a link to buy the Leia dress online, but if you visit Mr. Larkin's site you'll find a list of brick and mortar shops in CA, OR, TX and Calgary. Or you could even (gasp) email him.

TOTALLY SHAMELESS

You guys, I'm losing my shit. Who am I to tell you not to borrow dogs for your wedding when I'm running around the internet borrowing photos of hipster puppies and bizarre, beautiful hairless cats?

Actually, I think I'm lonely. After almost a year of working from home, H-town just started a new three-month gig that is taking him away for roughly 12-14 hours a day. The waking hours, basically. When he got the offer, I was all for it. First of all, we can use the money. And secondly, I thought, This is my chance! He'll go do his thing and I'll work all day long! I'll be so creative! The jury is out on whether or not I'm actually more creative when I'm rattling around alone. But come 8 o'clock, all I can think is, Wah. Where is my husband?

The good news is, the dirty dishes are not piling up at all. They feed him while I eat granola and yogurt for lunch and a turkey sandwich for dinner. It's like I'm single again. I am getting a little concerned about my consumption of fruit and vegetables. Must walk to the farmer's market tomorrow. MUST.

The whole car-sharing thing has suddenly kicked into high gear, and H is being a super star. He biked to Beachwood Canyon and back yesterday, in the rain, because I needed the Volvo to get to a meeting that was canceled. All I can say is I better step up my whole exercise regime* before he gets in really good shape and realizes what a blob I am.

(Photos of Hiro, or Hirohito Yoda, by fine little day) 

*What exercise regime?

**Update: I completely forgot to mention that this hairless cat post was sorta inspired by this bald rad post. I gave Peonies shit for reposting it, but I love it. Obv.

the most rad Arizona horse ranch wedding

Our little Brie is all growed up. Seems like only yesterday she was emailing me in a panic because Kiwi wanted to get married in a custom tuxedo with electric blue piping. You see what happens when you stay out of their way? No electric blue in sight.

Anyhoo, here's the wrap-up from Brie:

Why was our wedding the most rad ever? I guess it all started when Kiwi and I got engaged in New Zealand, almost exactly one year ago! We couldn’t wait to get home and get the planning going. Instinctively we knew that a hotel or church venue wasn’t the right fit for us… We were far more drawn to the outdoor setting. My parents have a horse ranch here in Arizona that backs to a mountain preserve and we thought it would be the perfect place to have our wedding. Little did we know, getting the site ready would involve hours of planting trees, renting tractors and general manual labor!


In the end, everything came together perfectly. My girlfriends and I built the backdrop for the ceremony after seeing a feature about wood staining on HGTV. I collected saint candles from a local church to use as décor for the reception and old bottles of patron tequila to serve as vases for the flowers. Really, the only other decorations were luminarias we placed around the property to light the path of the guests. We wanted to focus on the natural beauty of the mountains.



(Editor's note: I had to sneak in a couple of the detail shots Brie's friend Kathryn took with a Fuji Instax.)

Before the ceremony started we passed out champagne cocktails for the guests. Weddings hardly ever start on time and we wanted everyone to enjoy themselves while they waited. Kiwi looked so handsome as I practically sprinted down the aisle to him… He custom ordered his suit through Hillcrest & Hamilton, the menswear company he owns with his brother. Our ceremony was officiated by a very dear family friend that I’ve known since childhood. The crowd burst out laughing when he told the story of how Kiwi and I met when we were both playing rugby. Definitely not your typical courtship story! The ceremony ended just as the sun was starting to set and it couldn’t have been more beautiful.


(p.s. That's her great-grandmother's mantilla.)






We took most of our photos beforehand so we could get right to the party! We made a quick stop by the photo booth (the pictures doubled as guestbook entries) and then it was off to the reception. My friends and I had made a giant batch of sangria the night before and it was gone almost immediately. Luckily, Kiwi had stocked up on Dos Equis, Corona and Sol. I made sure we had Coca Cola in glass bottles for the kiddos, made with real cane sugar, none of this high fructose corn syrup business. Dinner was catered buffet style, by a local restaurant called Blue Adobe. They served chicken empanadas, green chile pork tenderloin and an amazing shrimp and lobster dip. When Kiwi and I were walking around I saw people forgoing the tortilla chips altogether and just eating it with a spoon! We served everything on these awesome compostable dinner plates made from fallen leaves. I actually found them through a wedding featured on ESB, thanks Joy! For dessert we served lemon bars from The Deli, a restaurant in town that specializes in local and organic ingredients. Kiwi and I decided to skip the typical wedding cake and we cut into a sweet little Bundt number we topped with extra flowers from the reception. It was the perfect end to a delicious meal.


The reception was an absolute blast. We had family fly in from Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico. Add our respective rugby teams to the mix, and you’ve got yourself a party. My Puerto Rican grandma taught everyone to Salsa and a few of the rugby girls showed us how to do the worm. It doesn’t get much better than that.


I can’t stress how important it is to just stop and enjoy your own wedding. Kiwi and I had an amazing time eating, drinking and dancing with our family and friends. At the end of the day, you’re married to your best friend… and that is the most wonderful feeling of all.


Yeah, lady.

Photos by Brittany Strebeck (and her husband Jordan, who assisted)

Review(ish): The Paper Bride

When I received my copy of The Paper Bride,* my first reaction was "Great. Another one." The image of the little porcelain cake topper in the upper right hand corner threw me off. I thought to myself, "Why does every wedding planning book have to have a bride and groom on the front? Or a fucking diamond engagement ring? At least it's not an engagement ring." Then I tucked it under a pile of papers and forgot about it.


This weekend, I unearthed the book (I have pledged to read the printed word, after all) and I was pleasantly surprised. When I looked closely, I realized the little porcelain bride on the front was carrying a bouquet of red and orange paper flowers and the groom had a big paper boutonniere pasted on his lapel. Esther K. Smith is making the point that you can personalize your wedding with paper, in both traditional and unexpected ways.

Smith offers several how-tos for making paper flowers (obv), along with many more rather advanced projects. Do I like the idea of a handmade Paper Pocket Planner? Or a Liquor Shower cocktail recipe book? Yes. Would I ever attempt to make these things? No. She lost me at awl. I do not own an awl, nor do I have any desire to go buy an awl.** I am, however, intrigued by the notion of a bone folder, which is recommended for the construction of the Garland Guest Book (pictured below).

The instructions for the garland went over my head the first two times I glanced at them, but when I took a third look something clicked. Now I'm antsy to give the project a try. Why don't I own a BONE FOLDER? (You can visit Smith's site to download pdf instructions for the Garland Guest Book. But do not attempt to crease your paper using a butter knife, a pencil, or a chopstick.)

I'm also intrigued by the templates provided at the back of the book, for, among other things, an art deco envelope, a curvy Parisian coaster, and a v. sweet little box (hello macarons!).

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, Jan 20, at 7:30 pm Esther K. Smith will be at WORD Bookstore in Greenpoint (126 Franklin St. Brooklyn, NY 11222) demonstrating some of the projects from THE PAPER BRIDE. Will someone please attend and report back to us? Maybe awls are more fun than they look.

*Sent to me for free by the lovely people at Random House, I AM REQUIRED TO TELL YOU. I believe I am also required to tell you that I was not paid to write this review.

**Fun fact: When he was three, Louis Braille accidentally gouged himself in the left eye with an awl. Both eyes became infected, and he was blind by the age of four.

So yeah, the gift guides running all over the blogosphere are starting to make me a little nauseous. And now I feel guilty about the materialistic shit I post all the time.

Inspired by Keri Smith, I thought I'd offer an anti-gift guide. Or, TEN THINGS TO DO INSTEAD OF SHOPPING:*

1. Mail a holiday card to one of your blog friends. Maybe the one who sent you a present that you never properly acknowledged? You have her address. Just saying.

2. Learn how to use the juicer. Because you can't let your husband do everything for you. At least not when he's out of town.

3. Watch 4 hours in a row of Tabatha's Salon Takeover. Later, discover an awesome (in the original sense of the word) arrangement of dusty cobwebs under your desk and wonder whether Tabatha would consider taking over your house.

4. Figure out where to donate your old coat.

5. Put on your new coat and go for a walk. Snap photos of weird graffiti with your phone and save them as wallpaper.

6. Apply bioré pore strips to your entire face. Cheaper than a facial, and so much more satisfying!

7. Blast Uhh Yeah Dude while "reorganizing" the kitchen cabinets. (Read: Secretly recycling your husband's massive jar collection. What is he saving those for??)

8. Make a super rad mix CD to give your best girlfriends. Hell, give it to some guys too.** Note: Old New York mags and Urban Outfitters catalogs would make excellent raw material for collaging the cover art.

9. Finish that book you started in August.

10. SLEEP. Sleep sleep sleep.

(You can find Keri's list here.)

*Alternate title: TEN THINGS TO DO WHEN YOUR HUSBAND IS OUT OF TOWN

**I may or may not, in fact, be working on a "celebrity playlist" for The Flashdance. I'm still waiting for MA to figure out he's got me mixed up with someone else. Celebrity. Tee hee.

streamlining

This morning the mechanic told H-town that his 96 Chrysler, affectionately known as The Cruiser, needs $2,000 worth of work. $2,000 we don't have that is frankly not worth pouring into the poor beast.

We've been talking theoretically about sharing a car for more than a year, but now that we're faced with it I have this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. We both work from home (ish). We have a supermarket in walking distance. Not to mention Little Joy, Mohawk General Store, and the Friday night farmer's market. (As if I ever leave the house.)

So what's the big deal?

I thought maybe it would help me to make a list of pros and cons. If you have any suggestions to add, I'd love to hear em.

PROS:
1. We'll save money on car insurance. Obv.

2. We'll only have to worry about ONE CAR getting dinged on our crazy narrow street.

3. We'll only have to guerrilla park ONE CAR when we leave town for christmas.

4. H-town will have the perfect excuse not to keep a schedule.

5. I won't have to feel sheepish about making my friends pick me up on the way to the bar.

CONS:
1. I WON'T HAVE MY OWN CAR.

Meh. When did I turn into such an Angelino?

(King of the road by Jenny Nordberg via woolgathering & miscellany)

indie christmas shopping

I think more than one person on my list will be getting this calendar. Each of Nikki McClure's images "is an original papercut, cut from a single piece of paper."

From buyolympia.com or Greer Chicago.

p.s. Check out the rad interview with McClure on Fecal Face. Sorry Portland, but Olympia invented indie.

the real LA: dire wolf skulls, petrichor antlers and the Kibitz Room

Cevd and I took Monday off to do some touristy/fabulous LA things. We packed an outdated copy of LA Bizarro, but I must say we did pretty well on our own.

After a trip to Pink's for lunch, we spent a good part of the afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum, where they have the most amazing collection of dire wolf skulls. We also quite enjoyed the display of eagle toe bones.

And then purely by accident, we parked in front of Cavern. (Yes, on our way to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, got a problem with that?) We went in, obv, and can attest that these antlery feathery items are even sexier in person. Srsly.

Petrichor antler*/wood/chain necklace handmade in Los Angeles by Molly Steele.

Cavern Collection handmade seed bead & dip-dyed feather necklace.

This piece is gone but I couldn't resist posting it. (Yes, partly because the model is rocking a mustache. We've gone too long without a good mustache.)

I've subscribed to the Cavern blog so I can obsess about new pieces as they come in. And I had a lovely chat with Adam, one of the store's proprietors. I think I freaked him out a little when I referenced Keith Richards and his bone earring circa Gimme Shelter (freaked him out as in, man this "blogger" lady is old). But anyhoo. ADAM WAS WEARING A BONE AROUND HIS NECK. Or an antler, or whatever. It seemed relevant.

There was dinner and blah blah blah. But obviously cevd, H-town and I closed the night at Canter's Kibitz Room. We may not have see Slash, but we did see some true Hollywood rockers. And man did I wish I was wearing an antler.

*I believe this means the antler has been shed. Ie. the beast was not killed to give us this necklace. But I don't have a lot to go on here.

Okay, I'm closing the comments on this one. For some reason the spammers won't leave it alone. (?!)

the f*ck-Tiffany engagement ring

I don't know how I overlooked Bario-Neal* in my round-up. Their lovely Knottedrush Ring, which, for the record, I prefer as a wedding band, has been making the rounds on the blogs for more than a year (and has been much imitated by other designers).

But they've also got some pretty slammin engagement rings. This rough diamond Avens Ring is my favorite. Does it not have a terrific fuck-Tiffany thing going on?**

And I'm referring to the design. It doesn't hurt that the rings are handcrafted with reclaimed precious metals; ethically-sourced stones; and low-impact, environmentally conscious practices. Plus 1% of all Bario-Neal profits is donated to the Association for Responsible Mining.

This concludes ring month (er, two weeks) on ESB. But I did put a little directory of my favorites over on the right for handy reference.

*Have I lost my mind, or was Bario-Neal formerly known as Rust Belt?

**After I just told practical, schmactical I thought this ring was too "indie take on the Tiffany ring." I dunno. I'm fussy.

I kind of love this ruffle dress

And I am not a ruffle person.

But you're joking with the $8,000 on etsy, right crutch? Right??

put the giant flowers on your SHOES

I am so digging these vintage linen shoe clips* by b. poetic.

You can snap em up in red and white from her Etsy store (or put in a custom order).

And be sure to check out her blog.

*A rad alternative to, you know, putting the damn flower on your head.

Do cutoffs count as a DIY project?

H is out of town and I basically binged on tv all weekend, in between hitting the American Apparel rummage sale and a bitch & switch at Christina's (hooray for recycled fashion!).

But I did say we were supposed to make shit this weekend... So after a five-episode marathon of Weeds (seven if you count the two I watched last night) I decided I needed a pair of cutoffs. Don't judge. We can't all be mistresses of the gocco/yudu/letterpress. Or whatever.

How'd you do?

(Photo via Garance Doré)

My next DIY project will be to finally learn how to use our juicer. There's a bag of carrots in the fridge that's not gonna stay fresh until H-town gets home.

If I were getting married again

I'd wear this dress by Mr. Larkin. Obv.

Even if it wasn't made from 100% environmentally friendly "milk fiber" (whatever that is) and hand-beaded with recycled metal paillettes from the 30's. But that does make it extra special.

Via Bliss

thoughts post-earth day

I'm late, obv. Lotta stuff going on and I honestly didn't think much about earth day until I read everyone else's posts. But here's what's going through my head now:

1. Can I give up ziploc bags? Joslyn has inspired me to try. (She gave them up long ago and has moved on to paper towels, a step I'm not ready for.) Anyhoo, I love ziplocs but they do seem like a lot of plastic tossed into the landfill, not to mention a waste of money. And I could get excited about carrying trail mix around in these. I bought a brushed aluminum SIGG water bottle months ago, and may I say it is much more stylish than plastic.

2. Am I an a-hole because I don't have a bike?? No part of living in LA makes me want to ride one. But lately I have been channeling my inner new yorker and walking. To the coffee shop, to the grocery store, to the farmer's market. Can I get some credit for that? (I also enforce carpooling, ie. whine and make my friends pick me up on the way to the bar. So that's green.)

3. And finally, Rachel has given me a new mantra: Don't bring junk into your life. I'm already a freak about getting rid of stuff. I've lived in small spaces for too long. But from now on I will be more vigilant about what I bring through the door. No more shopping at H&M. Even if they do have a sequin dress for $24.90. I want clothes that will last longer than six months.

(Polaroid by Porter Hovey)