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Lake Front Walk

Free associate, for a moment, on this place: Milwaukee. If you’re anything like me, you might think only of Brewers and beer, of Laverne and Shirley, and of Happy Days gone by. But last week, after a quick trip north from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit family, and a late afternoon walk along the leafy streets on the city’s East…
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It’s All in the Details – A Casual Summer Buffet

After a fantastic day of shopping with readers at Kane County Flea Market in Chicago, followed by cocktails at attendee Debra Phillips' enchanting store Scentimental Gardens, Jaithan and I are back for a quick couple of days before heading down to Atlanta for a spin through Scott's with some of our more southern belles. That gives me just enough time…
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Check Out Style At Home!

There's a great article on us in the July issue of Style At Home, a fun, fresh design magazine out of Canada. Editor in chief Gail Johnston Habs and her talented team, including style sleuth Brett Walther, create consistently beautiful stories with a great mix of styles, budgets, and products. This issue is all about upcycling, and while the term…
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A Spin Through the Market

Jaithan and I are off to Chicago tomorrow, where on Saturday we'll be meeting up with readers and fellow flea market fanatics at Kane County in St. Charles, Illinois. Attendee Debra Phillips is even hosting a cocktail reception for Jaithan and me at her enchanting store Scentimental Gardens in nearby Geneva! How generous is that? Virtual friendships are amazing, but…
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A Light Lunch for Four

Have you ever wondered why the food in magazines like Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Australia's Donna Hay always looks so good? It's not as if we can taste it—or smell it. We can't even hear it, as we do on television, where a carefully mixed medley of dicing, slicing, stirring, and sautéing conjures the illusion of a gourmet meal cooked…
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Shopping Stormville

Here in the Hudson Valley, less than two hours outside New York City, holiday weekends in the summer are a fantastic time to shop tag sales and flea markets. This past Sunday, after a quick stop for coffee and croissants at Irving Farm, Jaithan and I, along with our friend (and fellow blogger) Susan Schneider, headed to sprawling Stormville Flea Market,…
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A House Tour in Rye

As wonderful and rewarding as blogging can be, it's meeting our readers in person we love even more! Forgive us for the time away, but Jaithan and I return invigorated and ready to report on all the traveling, flea marketing, wining, and dining we did with fantastic, new friends, all courtesy of Blogland. Some time ago, we received an email…
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Before & After – Mod Makeover

Early last fall, during a spin through the Salvation Army around the corner from our old city diggs, I picked up four of these 1970s modern chrome chairs. I loved the lines, but the padding was like dry rot and the fabric a filthy microsuede that just screamed Office Park. So to spruce them up, I headed over to Calico…
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