Insomnia + A Little Shop

I've had raging insomnia for the past few nights.

It inevitably strikes around 2:00 a.m., when suddenly, I'm wide awake and, contrary to the sage advice of sleep specialists, I lie there in vain for hours trying desperately to go back to sleep. On the rare occasion, I actually get out of bed and read a little, answer some e-mail or do some work, but mostly I just stare at the dark ceiling, thinking about any number of things – what I should make for dinner, the fact that we’re out of cream (horrors), a particularly vexing working project, the note Audrey’s teacher sent home because she was trying to kiss her classmates… You get the idea.

Sometimes though, when I’m not stressing about, well…pretty much everything, I lie in bed and construct the dream shop I’d like to own. Now let me pause here to say that I don’t necessarily think the world needs another place to buy things…There are already plenty of lovely (and not so lovely stores) readily available for our purchasing pleasure, no? But I like to think my store would be different… (Doesn’t everything that opens a store think that??)

In my dream shop, people can come to buy something meaningful and lovely and well-made, or they can just hang out and chat and have a cup of Blue Bottle coffee and a homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. There’s Cole and Sons Lily wallpaper on the walls, a grey cowhide rug on the floor, some sort of giant groovy chandelier right in the middle of the space and Carla Bruni’s dreamy French pop is on heavy rotation. I’d stock the place with lovely Tucker dresses and blouses in the prettiest prints (and since I’m dreaming, some Isabel Marant pieces too…), my friend Amy’s gorgeous recycled gold jewelry, sequin trimmed Vanessa Bruno totes (an oldie but goodie), colorful little Marais flats, groovy vintage house wears, found objects, a clutch of great art books, Christine’s perfect little girl’s frocks…

This is clearly a “winning the lottery” level fantasy, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll have my little dream space, but in the meantime I decided to go the reality route and open a little online shop where I can share (and sell) some of the things I love (did you ever think I’d actually get to the part about the real store ;-)

So, without further ado, announcing Simple Lovely Shop.

The idea to open a little online shop first came during the closet purge, when all of the sudden I had unearthed not only a pile of clothes (which I’m still planning to sell on ebay) but a slew of special things I’ve loved (and still love quite frankly) that never seemed to find a permanent spot in our house. Grouped together, they all felt very (for lack of a better adjective) “simple lovely”… They seemed to reflect the aesthetic of the blog and, it felt like a perfect starting point for a new little venture.

Moving forward, I’m planning to update the shop weekly with things that sort of “represent” the blog -- some vintage, some new…The inventory will always be small – about 10-20 things at any given time, and while I’m not sure how the shop will evolve long term, I do know I want to eventually add some homemade items – Audrey and I have big plans to sell our necklaces in the shop for the holidays.

So take a peek and let me know what you think…Maybe you’ll find something you love.