{wishing you a wildly romantic valentine's day}

. . . and having been forever in love with love, and forever ever in love, it's no wonder that valentine's day is very nearly a national holiday around here, and perhaps the very best thing about it falling on a tuesday, is the chance to celebrate again, for there are dinner reservations also for the weekend, and for tonight, there will be champagne and other perfectly wonderful things, and however you celebrate, or not at all, wishing you so much love—the kind that overflows on everything and fills the air . . .

happy, happy valentine's day! hope it's sweet & sexy and positively filled with beautiful things, —roséline xo

{p.s.} and to p : ♥ & this

[& as always, more lovely things below] x

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{take me away № 16 | valentine's inspiration for a romantic getaway}

Love is in the air, as they say, particularly as we are approaching what is, arguably, the most romantic month of the entire year: February. But romance is certainly not limited to a single day, or month for that matter, as the very words, love and romance inspire hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of sonnets and ballads, songs, paintings, and notes and declarations at any given time.



For love is entirely a matter of the heart, apart from all that is grounded and tangible, and perhaps that is why great minds, for decades, have tried to capture its very essence.



And with the lifting of the winter's cold, afresh with the promise of Spring, we may welcome romance in all its forms, be it a quick expression of appreciation, written by hand, and left on the bedside table, or a dazzling bouquet of fragrant blossoms wrapped in tissue, or the simple joy of spending time walking, in the intimacy of fresh air, talking and dreaming together . . .

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{places : champagne afternoon tea, dorchester hotel}

. . . tasseled drapes and soft lighting, tufted settees and silk cushions, crisp white table cloths and silver-rimmed china, salmon pasta shell roll, served with toast, lox and caviar, freshly backed biscuits with clotted cream, tea and delicate pastries and it's champagne afternoon tea at the dorchester . . .






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{favourite five : owner of ladurée, elisabeth holder}

No winter evening's rendezvous on the Champs-Elysées, with its glittering shoppes and glistening holiday lights is complete without a stop at our most favourite "fabricant de douceurs & gourmandises": Ladurée, in all its gilded grandeur.



In the early 1900s, Pierre Desfontaines, cousin of Ladurée's founder, Louis Ernest Ladurée, took two almond meringue cookies and joinied them with a divine ganache filling, creating the macaron as we know it.



Prior to that, macarons were simply cookies, which were first brought to France by Catherine di Medici and her pastry chefs in 1533.



These little round cakes, which made their onscreen debut in the film, Marie Antoinette, are crisp on the outside, smooth and soft in the middle, and are made every morning by Ladurée’s pastry chefs who measure precisely, the required amounts of almonds, eggs and sugar, and a touch of magic . . .



Ladurée, which began as a tea room near the Place de la Concorde in 1862, has since expanded within Paris, then to other parts of the world, including England, Monaco, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the Arab Emirates, and its most recent location, in New York's Upper East Side, where we met Ladurée's owner, Elisabeth Holder, who is also the sister of the Chairman of the company.



The NYC shop, located just down the street from Dior and Chloé, is a jewel box of pastel green, displaying traditional decorative accents, busts, mirrors and classical paintings, showcasing chocolates, crystallized flower petals and of course macarons, all imported from Paris each day.



Elisabeth, who began her career working in the fashion industry for the likes of Hermès, moved to New York recently to run the affairs of the newest Ladurée boutique.



Elisabeth has said that "The macaron is a grand classique of the pastry arts -- it's not an accessory. It's an experience of pleasure." And so, during our meeting with her, we just had to ask for her:

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{colour inspiration: rose & gold}

. . . warm neutrals, deep blues and pale blues, silver & gold, warm slate & evergreen -- so many beautiful colour combinations for the holiday season, and while this year may be white & gold, perhaps, little bits of rose may find their way into glasses and cushions, cakes and pastries and the edges of teacups . . .











{images: one // two // three // four // five // six}

{table for two: pure vegetarian by laksmi, finland}

. . . helsinki-based photographer & vegetarian, lakshmi wennäkoski-bielicki's, portfolio is so captivating, it is enough to make one regret not being even slightly proficient in the kitchen -- the light and utterly lovely photographs are every bit as stunning as the dishes featured -- delectable things such as pulla, a finnish sweet bread, handmade pasta with sage & pinenuts, and fig tart with frozen pecan pudding . . .





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{take me away № 04 | vintage & antique luggage}

There is something significantly special about vintage and antique luggage pieces. Unlike the compact pieces that are created out of convenience and necessity today: suitable for planes, trains, ships, and automobile travel—the type of luggage needed from years past is quite different.



For instance, baby strollers today are easy to clean and maintain, can carry a number of children at time, and can fold into a fraction of their size, not unlike an origami piece; whereas in the past, more scalable prams were standard, designed with large, more industrial strength metal parts, and were produced with fine materials—some even included beautiful paintings and special storage compartments, and were often decorative and treasured for many, many years.



The same is with luggage; today, we seek quite different conveniences and scales, and yet can appreciate and enjoy the beauty of pieces from a bygone era.



Proficiently and arduously, “constructed by hand from metal, timber, leather and brass, these trunks were highly sought after and favoured by royal families and international high society alike.”



Traveling in style was considered as important as where one would travel. It’s lovely to imagine the sorts of journeys these pieces went on—exotic trips to Africa, trains through Europe, new homes and lands, discovered . . .




[continue reading sarah's tips for purchasing vintage and antique travel cases below . . .] x


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{hope you're having a beautiful october weekend}

. . . and it was a perfectly lazy sunday: a quaint café with p, after an early afternoon of entertaining friends -- strong cups of coffee & good conversation, and there were roses and orchids from a saturday stop at the flower markets, banana bread and butter tarts and a late, late dinner on friday evening, ending with an evening out, red wine and candlelight on sunday night, and there is still so much to look forward to in the new week . . .

hope you've had an astonishingly lovely weekend, and that it was beautiful where you are, roséline xo

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a f e w l o v e l y l i n k s :
* autumn inspiration: turning leaves
* work of art: stunning watercolour scarves
* a collection: lovely lucite
* recipe: elderflower cream tartelettes
* décor: time-worn wood
* pattern inspiration: snake skin
* warm & woodsy: a tiny parisian apartment
* travel: amazing places around the world
* places: bellocq tea atelier, brooklyn
* a collection: iron canopy beds
* at the shops: these sunglasses & this handbag
* colour inspiration: inky blue
* recipe: pumpkin whoopie pies
* architecture: a cave house in mallorca

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{as always, a few things you may have missed}
* storage inspiration: silver trays & julep cups
* décor inspiration: an artful arrangement
* at the shops: always glamorous gold
* at the office: kelly green & leopard print
* wedding wednesday: french dots & chantilly lace
* all in day's work: an ultra-chic laptop case & studded valentino's

* & exciting news: introducing . . .

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{p.s.} more macarons


{images: 1& 3 via twig & thistle; velocifero on flickr; a thought for you, a world for me; bake a cup of cake with me!}