Cute Alert: The Homes of Copenhagen

Over the last week, I learned that nobody does "cute" better than Copenhagen. Nooooooooobody.

I spent three days in the city on a trip I planned back in February with my friend Lin. (My travel companion to China a few years ago. We pick 'em well, don't we?)

Most of our visit, we just walked around, talked, people-watched, ate too much, and spent money, whether we wanted to or not--because lawd have mercy, Copenhagen is expensive. EXPENSIVE. But we also found that it is these things, too: quaint, clean, very friendly, safe with the hint of an edge, uber bicycle-y, super food-y, and really well font-ed. (As in, holy adorable branding on every store. What graphic designer got her hands on this place, and when can I hire her?)

Unsurprisingly, the homes in the city only add to its charm. Take a look at some of the sweet places we spotted while we were out and about.

Okay, I fudged that last one--it's actually Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, just outside of Copenhagen. Trivia for my fellow literature dorks: it served as inspiration for the castle in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." (I know!)

The Paris Plan - Achieved Today: Rules #4 and 10.

Cheeky chairs

The green aluminum seats that beckon visitors to rest in Paris' public gardens seem to have a personality of their own. A modern reinterpretation of the original chairs created in the 1920s for the Jardin du Luxembourg, the designs are by Frédéric Sofia and are available through Fermob.

(The lazy, low-slung armchair is especially tempting.) (Do you think people ever steal them?) (I mean, I am NOT implying that I would ever do such a thing.) (But I do want to point out that I have a really big suitcase and I am AMAZING when it comes to packing a bag. Like, AMAZING.)

The Paris Plan - Achieved Today: Rules #1, 2, 13.

9 Charming Porches in New Orleans

It feels a bit sacrilegious to admit this, but it's taken me four trips across the span of my lifetime to truly to love (as in L-O-V-E love) New Orleans. My latest visit was just over the past weekend, when I was there for KBIS, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show. I don't know if it was about who I was with, a hankering to be surrounded by Southern folk (my people, you know), or just the need to inject some beignets and cafe au lait into my system, but this go 'round, the Big Easy hooked me big time.

Between visits to the Convention Center, I crammed in some time re-exploring the French Quarter and the Garden District. Some of my favorite sights? The porches. Large, small, up, down. . . they were everywhere--proof of the city's charm and welcoming nature, I think. Not sure why it took me so long to notice.

Loving: Maps, maps, maps

I don't know what it is--their graph-y nature, their visual organization, their simplicity--but I could stare at maps for hours (really--run into me on a subway platform, and you may just find me staring at the MTA map...even though I've been riding the subway for nine years now!). I have two framed in my little home (one of Brooklyn, seen below, and an antique map I found of London at a flea market in London under the Waterloo bridge) and am always looking for more.

Brooklyn poster, $37, orkposters.com

Paris Beach Tote, $35, mapetote.com

The Journey Journal, $12, Cracked Designs

Massimo Vignelli's 1972 NYC subway map, $30, transitmuseumstore.com

Map mail set, $12, lovelydesign.com

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