I can’t believe I’m getting holiday catalogs at home. Well. I can believe it considering I’m wrapping up all the Christmas advertising at work right now but if we’re planning to drop ours after Thanksgiving the lead time for West Elm must’ve been bananas. Anyway.

I spied this desk set and loved it… High gloss black and white? Of course! The set is also available in gold tones and red tones.

Loved the work of Michelle Rago, an event specialist based in New York. Attention to detail and innovative use of materials for various event elements are so interesting. The above is from a wedding held in Manchester Village, Vermont.

Took a stroll through Soho a few weekends ago and wandered into Lafco New York and fell in love with the fragrances from Santa Maria Novella. My favorite was (of course) the pomegranate scent which dried down to a soft powdery finish. (And the packaging was to die for.)

Also notable at Lafco was their line of home fragrance in the form of blown glass encased candles designed to scent a specific part of the home. Gorgeous colors and scents, perfect hostess gifts.

I love these lanterns… so adorable for an outdoor patio, centerpiece, or even lined up along a pathway. There’s something lovely about lanterns made of white porcelain. They’re available at Room Service Home, a great resource for unique décor items.

Okay guys. Seriously I have found my new favorite gift web site. Violet offers gifts for very specific types of people you know. And not just any gifts. Distinctive gifts, people. The website design is so easy to navigate, not to mention designed exquisitely. Gifts are photographed gorgeously and the selection is so amazing. I can’t stop looking through this. I hope you all love it. (Thanks Bonnie, for introducing me to your wonderful business!)

Swooooon. Ted Muehling. Ohhhhh Ted Muehling. I saw his gorgeous tabletop designs in last year’s Feeding Desire exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt (and in the museum’s shop) and then came across these photos for them on E.R. Butler. Everything he does is so graceful and is inspired by the graceful forms of rocks, shells, eggs and insects. Absolutely stunning. For those of you in New York, his store is downtown on Howard Street.

There are some new tabletop items at Williams-Sonoma Home right now including these fabulous bone china seashell votives. So pretty.

Thought these pierced ceramic tealight holders were so pretty… imagine a few scattered on a dark tabletop. (and for that price, it’s a reality!) Or the larger lanterns along a pathway at a garden wedding. Or a lantern as a chic table centerpiece. I love the quality of light that comes through white ceramic. Beautiful things in all at Graham & Green.

This caught my eye from the front page of Style.com… I just thought that it looked so elegant and simple. (Luria, I especially thought of you when I saw it!) Each EcoSphere is a self-regulating ecosystem enclosed in a glass sphere. Technology for these was developed by NASA and the ecosystems require no feeding (or cleaning!) other than exposure to natural sunlight. Each sphere contains seawater, red shrimp, and algae in addition to gravel, shells and gorgonia sprig. Would look especially beautiful in living rooms or offices.

Loved the color of these vases from West Elm… and the variety of shapes. Perfect way to tie a group of glass vessels together in a room is to have them in a similar hue. These are that perfect sort of blue. The vases come in a few more shades of blue as well as some yellows and greens. Gorgeous stuff from West Elm lately.

I loved the gorgeous Blue Mist Bowl created by Nancy Bauch of White Forest Pottery for Domino Magazine. (Great December/January issue, btw.) Nancy has created so many great pieces, much of it taking cues from nature. White Forest Pottery showcases lots of clean, organic forms with great glazes. Beautiful stuff.

I’ve been using these votives, given to me as a gift from one of my best friends, on the dinner table for a quite a few dinner parties lately and totally love them. Just realized I never posted them, thought some of you might like them too. They look amazing on my dark wood furniture, the contrast plus the glow of candle light makes for a stunning effect.