Welcome! Pineapples are a show of Hospitality!!

pineapples have long been a symbol of hospitality.  the display of pineapples, often seen in architecture and design, is a way to tell your guests "welcome"!
  
I have always loved this symbol and have them throughout our home.  as well, my husband and I decided to use the pineapple motif on our wedding invitations {which we collaborated on and designed ourselves} as a welcoming gesture to our guests, but, also, because we think they are beautiful and regal and represent where we're coming from since we live in a tropical place.  so, we thought a pineapple would be perfect. ☺

back to our home, though...  as I was gathering photos for this post I thought to myself, we actually have a lot more pineapples around than I realized {we even have slightly more than what I have pictured here}.  they must be discreet, though, because no one has ever come to my house and said, "hey, I see that you collect pineapples" as they do with other items we have a lot of... interesting, huh?  anyway, here they are!:

on the tea towel on our bar cart and as part of a flower arrangement {in the 1st photo}:

here they are in the flower arrangement again...

this is actually a candle.  it's on a sconce in our hallway:

...we have 2 of these candles; the other one is on our mantle:

right outside our home!:

this is a finial that I painted and screwed into an old lamp base, I liked both pieces better this way ;)

here it is unpainted:

it's the base of a lovely marble top side table- too bad you can't actually see how beautiful the marble is in these photos:

this is a pineapple lamp that I made, you can see how I did it here

and here's the proof of our invites!

xoxo

congratulations to nate and jeremiah - why this means so much

nate & jeremiah - nate berkus is now engaged to jeremiah brent and their love is really beautiful {see photos below!}.  jeremiah previously worked for rachel zoe finally giving her, her family, and her wardrobe the backdrop they deserved.  so, in a way, this is a merger of my design icon and my fashion icon {in a little roundabout way!}!  
this also means a lot to me because they are both starring in banana republic ads - on billboards and bus stops - all across NYC in which their love is prominently displayed...  that breaks barriers and, as nate said, a little girl saw the ad and said to her daddy "that's just like you and daddy."
hearing that brought tears to my eyes.
would love to hear more of their story...  
i know that nate loves so passionately, as any good designer would, and i love to see them both so happy...  mazal tov, nate ♥