On my coffee cup

Happy Valentine's Day to all my dear readers! xxoo

This cup is part of the Starbucks Love Project. To see more, click here.

Love, love, love

Isn't this the sweetest picture? Andre Benjamin and Liya Kebede via AphroChic.

I dream of riding around Italy on the Vespa! Cute picture from Starbucks pamphlet. I love the Starbucks artist!

Beatnik Dish by Fantoni.

Above images by unknown artists. Please contact me if you know the artists. Thank you!

John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Today I Saw....or Happy Anniversary Mr. President One Day Late

image zazzle.com

today I saw four old white guys. drinking coffee and laughing. they all wore Obama baseball caps.

i like that.

i still believe in the audacity of hope. i still carry love for you in my heart and pray for you each day. i celebrated your auspicious award.

i am still glad - i made the correct decision on 11/4/08. Congratulations, Mr. President!

Starbucks Art

I adore Starbucks. No other coffee will do, but it's more than that. I receive superior customer service there. It's a great way to start the day, with a smile and with the inspirational "How I See It" on your cup.

I am also madly in love with the graphic artists that work for Starbucks. If you like graphic art and logos, Starbucks is a visual cornucopia. The Starbucks mermaid is the cutest logo I've ever seen. I'm also in love with their gum tins, their cards, their pamphlets, their cups (see my favorite Starbucks cup here). I've been very noble in exercising restraint when it came to their thermoses. They are so cute I could have had an entire collection!

Here are some examples of Starbucks' graphic art I've collected.

Gum tins. I want to have these framed.

Detail of gum tins.  Here are a few of the cards I've collected.




My personal favorite:
Isn't it fab? I adore it! You can even design your own card at their website. Wouldn't that make a great gift? (link)

Love this coaster. I've shown this before, but it makes sense show it again. This is one of the finest examples of type I've ever seen. I could see this piece rasterized and hung in a dining room in a loft. The dining room, would of course be all white and have a pale rustic farm table like this one:

I'd love to see a combination the Paton S chair and the ghost chair with this table. This is one of my favorite dining rooms of all time. I keep it my inspiration file and think it would be a perfect counterpart to the industrial kitchen I wrote about below. Image from Dwell, May 2006. Sorry for the tangent, that's how my brain works. One thing influences the other. Creativity influences creativity.

To the guidance counselor who talked me out of becoming a graphic designer: I wish I hadn't listened.

To young people everywhere: trust your heart.

To the graphic artists at Starbucks: thanks for being an inspiration!

That's how I see it.

I want to meet

I love that Starbucks carries books and music. One morning while waiting for my coffee I found myself drawn to Marcus Samuelsson's book. I don't cook, but I enjoy cook books. Sounds crazy, I know. I guess it's the same reason I like decorating books. One can dream, right?

Image from Amazon. The first chance I got, I looked him up on the internet. To say that Samuelsson is a strong-willed person is an understatement. The hardship he has overcome to forge a creative life leaves me humbled. When I travel to New York, Aquavit is on my list of places to visit.

Shortly thereafter, I was thrilled to see Samuelsson featured in Domino magazine. He's got incredible style and a great apartment. And he paints! I adore this shot of him surrounded by his paintings. I have looked at this picture many times, and it makes me happy. I dig his cool confidence. That smile, that body language, he's definitely comfortable with himself. And the blue shoes with no socks - undeniably chic. I've gotta crush.