Greetings from Longboat Key

Just kidding, I am not in Longboat Key - I wish! My friend Lynley just sent me this photo (the view from her room) in Longboat Key. I am officially jealous and yearning for warmer weather. I can almost taste the salt air...

Mo

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Love: Bayan Hippo Sailor Tote

I know beach season is already half over, but I cannot resist this adorable, sunny little tote bag from Bayan Hippo. You cannot be in a bad mood if you've got that thing hanging on your shoulder. It's just not possible. (Available in blue, too)

Discovered on Oh Joy!

Etsy Fave: Faded Summer Memories from Jena Ardell

In my mind, summer memories look just like these lovely faded, polaroid-style art prints from Jena Ardell -- filled with sun-bleached settings, happy people, and curated collections of seaside ephemera, you can practically smell the Hawaiian Tropic through your computer screen. Purchase here.

Inspiration 6.14

This Nantucket cottage decorated by Gary McBournie seems like the perfect place to spend a Fourth of July celebration. Steeped in history, with nautical touches throughout, an unfinished peaked ceiling, a cozy sleeping loft, and one incredible kitchen floor as blue and as full of depth as the ocean itself.

Inspiration 6.3

Loving flea market paintings against white beadboard, open windows, salty air...

Images from Country Living, Pottery Barn, Marie Claire Maison

Angela Adams Sail Totes for J.Crew

I've actually never been a huge fan of Sea Bags, the iconic New England totes made from recycled sails. While I loved the concept, a lot of the ones I saw were too over the top. Nautical overkill, even for someone like me who loves everything nautical. I still think they work if you're the type of person who summers in Cape Cod, but I couldn't imagine toting it around the rooftop pools I spend my DC summers in.

However, the ones Mainer Angela Adams designed for J.Crew seem like the perfect mix of urban meets preppy seaside. No numbers, anchors or stars, just clean shots of perfect summer colors -- neon orange, lemon yellow and faded blue. Available here.

Update: Just want to make it totally clear that Angela Adams collaborated with Sea Bags to make these!

Inspiration 5.17

Loving oversized maps right now...the older the better.

(Image 1 and 2 discovered on 500 Square Chic, Image 3 from House Beautiful.)

(Inspired by) We Were an Island

This summer, I'm looking for styles that remind me of a crisp and quiet New England summer: rocky shores, empty stretches of coast, oiled leather and sailor's knots. Some of my recent finds (and one item I'm still desperately on the hunt for) above.

Clockwise: 1. Cooperative Linen Sundress 2. Rebecca Minkoff Laptop Case (If you can find this...help!) 3. La Mer Bali Stud Watch 4. Sailor Knot Bracelet 5. Tiny Rose Necklace 6. Deena & Ozzy Canvas Menswear Tote 7. Kimchi Blue Knotted Sandal
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Now if I could pick the perfect place to live out this fantasy summer, it would be Placentia Island in Maine, the setting of one of the sweetest and saddest real love stories I've heard in a long time.

While checking out Bird and Banner earlier in the week, I learned about the book, We Were an Island, about a husband and wife (Arthur and Nan Kellam) who lived on the otherwise uninhabited island for 35 years. From a New York Times article about the Kellams:

One of the great love stories of the last century played itself out, alone, off the coast of Maine, unknown but to a handful of people who included the rich and powerful, like David and Margaret Rockefeller and C. Douglas Dillon, as well as the community of lobstermen and their families in the vicinity of Mount Desert Island.

Arthur and Nan Kellam, an aviation engineer and his wife, moved to Placentia Island from California in 1949 and lived there, without modern convenience of any kind, its only tenants, for 35 years.

The Kellams were 38 when they arrived. They built a house by hand in a clearing, with a porch and a swing, and a ''bandstand'' with a view of the sea, for picnics. They pressed their footprints into wet cement just inside their front door -- his left, her right. When they went separate ways for the day, they wrote each other notes -- one, signed ''B L Bear,'' thumbtacked to a wall. The ''L'' is encircled by a heart.

At the very least, I encourage you to read the full NYT review (of an older book about the pair)-- it's fascinating and beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.

(The Kellam's notes and footprints pictured below)

Finally, as I dug further and further into this post, I remembered a post I wrote last summer that featured "rugged nautical style" in interiors. Some highlights:

I Must Get Back to the Sea Vol. 2

This week I'm thinking of stormy seas. There's nothing I love more than spending a long day at the beach and then packing up to watch a late afternoon storm roll with a comfy sweatshirt and a cup of tea.

Images sourced from Le Princesse Endormie (my favorite), We Heart It, Marine Hugonnier and Perpetually Human

I Must Get Back to the Sea Vol.1

This unexpected heatwave has left me feeling like this -- I must get back to the sea. It's funny because (being 5'2 and just over 100 pounds) I tend to get rocked by the sea -- it does not embrace me back, that's for sure.

A usual day at the beach for me involves spending an hour on shore nearing heatstroke, letting the delirium from the heatstroke coax me into the waves, enjoying myself for five minutes, getting smacked face-first by a wave and, finally, spending the next ten minutes picking sand out of my teeth, trying to avoid a wardrobe malfunction and poorly timing my mad dash to the shore.

But somehow a day at the shore restores me in a way I can't describe. The brown tinge on my skin and salty smell in my hair leave me feeling...whole. So even though DC is a land-locked city, I'm going to try to give us a weekly dose of images that take us back to days spent at the sea -- starting now. Enjoy!