Thierry's in the House!

I have been a big fan of loctician Thierry Baptist for quite some time. He is a very creative stylist, that has a flare for turning loc's into a work of art. Thierry is based out of Indianapolis, and I have always wished that he would come to Northern California. Not only so that I could get a chance to meet him, but to also get my hair done by this loc genius. Well guess what?!?  My wish came true. 

Thierry came to Oakland, California to teach a Color & Cut class at a salon called Bare Canvas Nail Spa  (I will be highlighting this salon in future post). The day after his class, he was able to stay over for an additional day to do some hair.  I did not know what to expect when it came to meeting Thierry. He is famous in the loc world, and could very easily be a diva, if he wanted to be. But it was the complete opposite.  Besides being a very talented hair stylist - Thierry is charming, honest, sincere and very Funny! It was a pleasure meeting Thierry, and I look forward to getting my hair done by him again.

Here are some photo's from my appointment yesterday and from a few of Thierry's other clients (Sylvia & Michele). The salon was full of laughter, dialog, music and food. It was a good day.

Michele & Sylvi had hair color added to their hair by Thierry. The colors were very rich and made me wish I had gotten some color myself.

This young man was styled during Thierry's Cut & Color Class , the day before my appt. 

 

Thierry Baptiste's links:
Facebook
Main Website

Tulip Tub

I can't be credited for finding this fabulous image. Joni posted this over at Cote de Texas the other day and I immediately fell in love with it. It is the work of the famous garden designing couple - Isabel and Julian Bannerman at their own home or should I say estate - Hanham Court. {All of this info was provided by Joni!!}.

I have a few of these old galvanised tubs which would do the trick. Although, tulips won't grow too well here. I'll have to plant them with something like Lavender I suppose. Any other ideas? I also love the wisteria growing so wildly over the house in the background.

Danielle Desiree

I received an email from the beautiful model - Danielle Desiree.  And she had this to say about her natural hair:

"I have been natural for just about 2 years now, and I am loving my journey. It has not been the easiest journey, but I've yet to hear about any easy journey. After years of weave, my decision to go natural was simple...I wanted to wear the hair God gave me. I will never go back to relaxers. Our hair is too beautiful to break down. Thank you for offering a website that celebrates the natural journey. "   

~ Danielle Desiree 

Beautifully said! Thank you for sharing this with us Danielle.

Out & About

A great set of postal scales. I love the colour they are painted.

If only I was decorating a ski lodge as that deer head would be perfect!!

The old pub which is directly across the road from this fabulous little Antique shop.

Today I went to visit one of my clients in Toowoomba {a country town 1 1/2 hours drive from Brisbane}. Toowoomba is such a pretty place. The houses and all the amazing trees are just so beautiful. On my way home I stopped in at Marburg a little town along the highway as there is a fantastic little Antique shop there. I thought I'd show you some pictures of some of the lovely things they had. All there is in Marburg is this Antique shop, a little newsagent and a humongous pub across the road. It was definitely worth the stop!

Gardens & Garden Furniture

I like these gardens pictured above because to me they are informal. I don't want a formal garden. I want one which is filled with lots of different plants just like these are. I also adore the gravel pathways which to me seem less formal than paving. The chairs in the top image remind me of the furniture we are now stocking at Black & Spiro which is all handmade by a lovely man down South using timber from his property.

Here are some of the pieces which we are having made at the moment. We are having them custom painted for us in lots of different bright colours. We currently have some white rectangular side tables and one orange round table at the shop.

Kiki & Coco in Paris

I stumbled across this gorgeous little piece of fun on photographer Stephanie Rausser's website over the weekend. If you haven't already seen it click HERE now to see the most gorgeous slideshow ever!

My Garden Project

To my absolute delight we have a pretty serious garden at our new house which I am hoping to improve, extend and make even more beautiful over time. We also ended up purchasing the block next door which is a big, ugly mound of dirt at the moment - a perfect blank canvas. One thing I definitely want to put in is a Kitchen Garden or a Jardin Potager as the French call them and I also want to add more flowering plants so that I can cut flowers for the house and for Black & Spiro too.

With lots of ideas swirling and no idea where to start, I have decided to create a garden file and if it's okay with you I am going to post a few more garden inspiration bits here on the blog too.

My Uncle Robbie is going to help me put all of this into action as he is a retired Landscape Architect. He actually just did our front garden beds at Black & Spiro and although my instructions were very vague; "I just want them to look like a field of pretty flowers", he nailed it.

So, watch out for lots of pretty garden pictures and maybe I might even pose a few questions to you along the way as gardening is a whole new ball game for me!!

image 1 via nibs blog, image 2 jennifer garner's garden via habitually chic