From the Pillow Archive

When I look back at this post I wrote last year, when all the Liberty of London stuff was in Target, it is obvious to me that I was buying a crapload of it because I'd just been diagnosed with breast cancer and I wanted something pretty.  I think I knew it then, in fact I even remember saying to my sister, around the time of my first chemo treatment, "It's like I just want to shop." I mean, look at this.

Hilarious. And there was more, much more.  People gave it to me as gifts. I wound up with nearly every darn thing in that collection. But I loved every bit of it, and it worked. All those pretty patterns really did cheer me up, and a year later, I'm still enjoying this stuff.  A few days ago I was down in the basement and I paid a visit to my pillow archive.  I'd had some black and white pillows on my sunroom sofa (my winter-into-spring transitional pillows, doncha know) and I felt it was time for a seasonal change. The orange and yellow floral pillows had yet to see the light of day, so I brought them upstairs where they could breath.

I'm liking them a lot, but they are fighting a bit with that dark kilim rug. I'm ignoring that problem for now. Before too long I'll roll that puppy up for the summer. Also--and this will be in my upcoming book about photography styling--a single, mysterious rain boot, on a sunny day, and a banana peel, placed casually on the coffee table, are just the accessories you need for that lived-in look.

And look, weeks before, in an unrelated move, I'd brought this flower pot into this room.

Matchers!  So uncharacteristically coordinated of me.

So that's my jam. Are you Springing up your place?