Sunday, May 31, 2009

Great Bathroom Idea


OK, so our view will probably never be that good (or that private) but what a great idea to surround your bathtub with floor-to-ceiling windows. Love it!

(image is the bathroom from the Four Seasons Seychelles)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

HORNE Happenings


We just wanted to check in with everyone and let you all know what we have been up to here at HORNE. We are preparing ourselves for a couple of very exciting months. First and foremost is the launch of our extensive online gift registry which is scheduled to be released at the end of September. We will fill you in on more of the details as we get into the summer months but it will be a great place to register for some unique gifts for your wedding, house warming party, birthday, you name it!

In preparation for the launch of the gift registry we have ordered some amazing new products from very talented designers all over the world. New items should start rolling in shortly so make sure to check back with us frequently. And finally, we will be guest blogging on one of our favorite blogs during the first week of July. We have some great posts in the works and it should be very exciting. We will do another post right here when all of the details are finalized.

Thanks for taking the time to see what we have been working on!
Alissa+Ryan


P.S. The house from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off is for sale!!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Clare Goddard and Rapid Prototyping


Alissa and I had lunch today with the amazingly talented Clare Goddard and her wonderful partner, Matt. Clare currently lives in Helsinki where she works creating mixed media collages and Matt is finishing his PhD in England on the subject of Rapid Prototyping. After some seriously great food at Terrain we headed to an exhibit at the Esther M. Klein art Gallery on the subject of Rapid Prototyping. In a nutshell, a rapid prototyping machine is a three dimensional printer that uses uploaded schematics to rapidly create a 3D object. Imagine you were hosting a dinner party but didn't clean enough forks -- no worries, all you need to do is print a few more out. Obviously there are drawbacks to this technique (loosing that hand-made feel being the most obvious) but it has a lot of potentially great applications.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Coffee & Wine


Since about 18 years of age I have loved coffee. It served its purpose in the morning and during late nights but I never really understood the amazing nuances of the different varieties until this great coffee shop opened across the street from us. One winter day, when all I really needed was something to warm me up and keep me going, I was told by our new favorite barista, "try the Idido Misty Valley... it tastes like a strawberry field." "A what? Did you say strawberries in my coffee?...OF COURSE I'll try that." Then WHAM I actually felt like my mouth was swimming through a strawberry field. Alright, honestly, I never would have noticed the strawberry flavors if someone had not just told me to look for them but they were indeed definitely there. Either way, it is an amazing coffee and is available from Counter Culture for $12.35 for a 12oz bag. You all should give it a try!



And one more beverage suggestion... Gruner Veltliner. This white wine is most commonly produced in Austria and typically has a clean, full bodied and crisp flavor. It is a remarkable wine that pairs well with a lot of difficult foods (think asparagus, artichokes, beets, etc.) and is usually affordable. I predict you will be seeing a lot more of this wine at your favorite restaurants and wine stores as the summer months unfold.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Intel "Hero" Commercial

We don't have television so my only exposure to commercials is when they are featured on Hulu. I have to say, I love this one. Everything from the sweet room they are in to the drawing of Ajay with hearts around his head to the Intel music at the end makes me smile.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mother's Day Weekend & Blossoms


Hope all of you mothers out there had a wonderful mother's day! Alissa and I got to visit with our two sisters, our niece, my mother and my father. It was a great weekend. Here are some Polaroids I took.




Thursday, May 7, 2009

Migration!

In a continued effort to ensure stable boutique access, we have been migrated to a new, state-of-the-art server with far better features. We did experience some down-time during migration but it was a necessary step to providing everyone better service. Sorry for any inconveniences.

HORNE team

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Spade & Spade

I have an unhealthy obsession with all things Spade right now.
  • I love that Kate & Andy Spade were able to create a company on a whim (not that it wasn't hard work).
  • I love that they didn't rely on trends to create their products but instead looked to what inspired them.
  • I love that they sold the company to Liz Claiborne Inc. to spend more time with their child and pursue other artistic endeavors.
  • I love that they love the covers of cloth-covered books as art.
  • But I especially love Andy Spade's new project Partners & Spade (part ad agency/creative consultancy, part art gallery boutique). Located at 40 Great Jones St. NYC, open only on weekends and by appointment on weekdays.
It will definitely be on my must see list the next time we are in the city.
A view from inside the gallery, George Glazer's collection of globes.
photo by: Jordan Provost

From the Partners & Spade website: part of a Jason Polan drawing of everything in the store.


-Alissa-

Monday, May 4, 2009

shopHORNE.com offline on May 4th

Due to an error in a component of the file system of Cluster.02 of the server we use (whatever the heck that means), our boutique went offline at 7:15pm EST on May 4th. We apologize for any inconvenience this down time may have caused. Our site is now back and fully functional.

Thank you for your understanding.

HORNE team

Homes

Now that Alissa and I are married, I have 'house' on the mind all the time. I browse endless real-estate websites, I order catalogs from any and every home appliance and home fixture company I can think of and I spend a good chunk of my evenings writing down details about what our dream house needs to include. I am not sure if we will build, buy or renovate but I ran across this barn conversion today and it has me seriously leaning towards renovate. Oh so beautiful.