Iron Maiden

I was in New Orleans for the weekend - blistering hot at 101 degrees! Great to see that they have recovered nicely from Katrina - I lived in Louisiana for 5 years and enjoyed that city alot. One of the unique things is that their artistic stamped iron sewage covers and I was suprised to see them leveraging this icon on tshirts, maybe in new respect for the power of water. Oh yeah, also saw lots of tshirt logos with "Brad Pitt for Mayor".

I prowled Magazine Street alot on my frequent trips to New Orleans. One of my favorite collectables is the rod iron they use on the balconies of the homes. I've collected random pieces and have them all around my house and in my garden. Here's a shot of my backyard with an old iron fountain.

More later...Suzie

Comedic Relief

I lived in Brussels for 4 years. The city is famous for bande dessinee (comic strips) - here's one of the city's murals right above one of my old "hang out" spots near the Grande Place where I would spend many a weekend having a drink on the patio.

I discovered Stefano Ricci in a special exhibit at the Comic Museum. In addition to writing comics, he practices an art form with charcoal and pencil and multilayers of paper. I've got lots of his stuff including the picture below in my upstairs den. The frame is actually a shadowbox and the art is mounted with pushpins so you can see all the textures and detail of the layered paper. The teak vases on the mantel are from Bali (more on my travels there later) and the white columns I found in my gardening shed - probably from an old staircase! I've got tons of architectural salvage to show you.

Chandeliers. From Mumbai to My Buy.

One of the most exotic placed I've traveled is the country of India. While the city of Mumbai has now been popularly immortalized in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, I always feel I am discovering unknown treasures when I visit. Here's one of the many temples where the sky lit dome illuminates the pastel ceiling and the ornate chandelier.

I am obsessed with chandeliers. My current home has 7 of them! I can't resist picking up old chandeliers at thrift stores and antique chandelier crystals wherever I can find them and creating my own. Here's my latest project - at only $7, the gold paint will need to be changed but I thought I would go with white in tribute to the Mumbai memory above!

Stay tuned for the after shot.

Suzie

Hello!

After following my sister's popular blog for the last few years, I've decided to start my own. I didn't spend alot of time on the title but it's a combination of my love of travel - I've lived all over the world and traveled to 60+countries (DESTINATION) and my passion for renovating old homes (I'm in my 3rd 100+ year old home), old furniture and things many would consider junk (RENOVATION).

So let's see how it goes! I've got a crazy busy job and I'm a bit worried about keeping up with this but I'm willing to give it a try.

Talk to you soon!
Suzie