Back To Aspiration

I give great thought and care to the sites I include on my Aspiration Roll. If it's featured, then it's a site I genuinely love and find myself referring back to, or subscribing to in order to receive daily updates. Long before Paloma Contreras joined our team at www.PinkMemo.com - a fun, glossy online magazine founded by Maxine Trowbridge - I was a massive fan of her site, La Dolce Vita. You can imagine my surprised delight when she began contributing - my incredibly accomplished friend Katrina Szish is Editor-in-Chief, and yours truly is the largely delinquent, but well meaning NYC Editor - I am convinced I will arrive late to my funeral and manage to lose my iphone en route - but back to Paloma and La Dolce Vita!

I think Paloma has immaculate taste, and the fact that she gives her dog Tate the same level of attention and importance Harold Moscowitz gets (okay, Paloma, really you could consider giving Tate a title. Harold is a decorator here) wins her even more points. A friend of mine is worried I am going to grow up to be "a creepy old dog lady." I couldn't imagine a better fate - if you've ever wanted to get a puppy, you should. This weekend - why not? Waiting to do stuff you want to do is boring.

Tate is ridiculously good looking, and I appreciate that he sits in chairs. Floors are for cats.

To give you a taste, her Fabulous Room Friday posts are amongst my favorites, and the most recent one is incredible because it explores all the rooms in Carrie and Big's apartment from Sex and The City, Part II and tells you where you can make similar purchases to achieve the same look. I love the quote she includes by Carrie because looks like Carrie and I are on one big infidelity trip:  "I've been cheating on fashion with furniture."-Carrie Bradshaw. What a terrific line.

My other favorite post this week was Paloma's coverage of Hanna Brooks Nation's Gadabout Stationery. I had no idea about this stationery before, and I am so profoundly in love with it I cannot even deal. I want to order every style and write everyone a letter. Immediately. But then, Paloma will always take it one step further and personalize the entry. I think it's incredible that Hanna has an iphone application that even make your TEXTS LOOK LIKE STATIONERY (capitals are necessary there, it's a revolutionary thing for me). Paloma says you can download the iphone ap here but I love how she shows what a "stationery text" looks like:

Seriously, what part of you does not vitally need this application? Scrolling down, I love the quote she has by Henry David Thoreau as her footer (we share the same birthday, Monsieur Walden and I) and I adore that she takes breaks from furniture and will just post a fabulous quote - click here for one of my favorites. I learned about Life In A Venti Cup from her blogroll (kiss your Saturday goodbye if you just clicked on blogroll) and I spend more time than I care to admit coveting her three column site and the amazing (and well-deserved!) press she continues to receive. Yes, Harold and I at Back to A have not figured out how to add columns to blogs.

Take a cyber stroll through La Dolce Vita - whether you're into home decor or not - it inspires me to live the life I imagine.