So, How Was Your Day? Breakfast: Vermont Bread Company’s Yoga Bread. Uncle Sam’s cereal with a handful of Frosted Mini Wheats on top. Carrot and orange juice. Lunch: Avocado, turkey, tomato, and mozzarella wrap sandwiches. Pasta salad. Herbed popcorn. Dinner: Fried oysters. Clams. Greek salad. Lemonade. Morning ➛ Stumble from bed while drinking big glass of water that was bedside all night. Water/weed the garden. Suit up for a run/walk along the Neponset. Return home exhausted — yet more awake! Check address and Google maps for today’s shoot. Pack a small cooler with water and snacks for the day. Head south from Boston to my favorite part of Rhode Island — Aquidneck Island. Today we are shooting at a summer home in Middletown. Inside the house I find an energetic reception, as I haven’t seen the photographer or stylist in quite a while. We quickly set up and complete two more shots before lunch arrives and all agree that food is a great motivator. Lunch. Noon ➛ Upstairs we shoot the guest bath, kids’ rooms, and master bedroom over the next 2.5 hours. I admire the stylists’ neverending supply of fresh flowers and various vases. Next, the kitchen. This is always one of the biggest productions because it has the most extra stuff, and we start by clearing everything away and then adding a little bit back at a time. I secretly love the tea kettle because it is sunflower yellow and I have the same one, but the stylist thinks it’s terrible so its replaced by a giant stainless steel lobster pot — which is definitely a standard for coastal New England photoshoots. Kitchen is done! It’s a wrap!! Night ➛ I agree to follow the caravan of cars to Flo’s Clam Shack. I’m dining with the photographer, his daughter, and our founding editor who lives nearby, and the conversation is just as lively as the shoot. Back in the car, headed north. I dream about comfortable clothes and collapsing on my couch to catch up on all the TV missed over the busy week. Home. My husband has grilled a steak and is watching baseball. I recount the day as I arrange leftover flowers the stylist gave me. What I really want is a cold beer, but I will settle for Talenti salted caramel gelato and the Girls finale. I wake up on the couch, and realize I slept through the whole show. And what do you know, baseball is back on. Somehow make it to bed. Collapse. Three Last Things… 1. What is up with that huge happy grin? No one ever smiles on this site. My husband is my unofficial photographer and he totally calls me out when I’m just smiling for the camera. I think he was making faces or doing bunny ears. More likely rolling his eyes and complaining loudly — which always makes me laugh. 2. With all the interiors you have seen, what is your #1 design/decorating faux pas? Hmmm, I have a pretty high tolerance but I’m definitely not a big fan of decorative plates, especially displayed on a wall above a sofa. And I am very done with coffee table tableaus — the first thing I want to do is put everything away. 3. Your site (Unhappy Hipster) was born from glossy interior magazines. Over the years, so many of those publications have died. Tomorrow you get to resurrect one…which one? I am intrigued and hopeful about the resurrection of Domino, though I don’t think it’s really new content. Gourmet is my big one though — Bon Appetit is trying hard but they still haven’t gotten that perfect mix of ridiculously beautiful photography, lifestyle coverage, and Ruth Reichl’s editor’s note, which I’ve always loved. Jenna lives in Boston. She is the founding art director of Design New England magazine, co-creator of unhappyhipsters.com, and co-author of the tongue-in-cheek design book, It’s Lonely in the Modern World. designnewengland.com unhappyhipsters.com

So, How Was Your Day?

Breakfast:

Vermont Bread Company’s Yoga Bread. Uncle Sam’s cereal with a handful of Frosted Mini Wheats on top. Carrot and orange juice.


Lunch:

Avocado, turkey, tomato, and mozzarella wrap sandwiches. Pasta salad. Herbed popcorn.


Dinner:

Fried oysters. Clams. Greek salad. Lemonade.

Morning ➛

Stumble from bed while drinking big glass of water that was bedside all night. Water/weed the garden. Suit up for a run/walk along the Neponset. Return home exhausted — yet more awake! Check address and Google maps for today’s shoot. Pack a small cooler with water and snacks for the day. Head south from Boston to my favorite part of Rhode Island — Aquidneck Island. Today we are shooting at a summer home in Middletown. Inside the house I find an energetic reception, as I haven’t seen the photographer or stylist in quite a while. We quickly set up and complete two more shots before lunch arrives and all agree that food is a great motivator. Lunch.



Noon ➛

Upstairs we shoot the guest bath, kids’ rooms, and master bedroom over the next 2.5 hours. I admire the stylists’ neverending supply of fresh flowers and various vases. Next, the kitchen. This is always one of the biggest productions because it has the most extra stuff, and we start by clearing everything away and then adding a little bit back at a time. I secretly love the tea kettle because it is sunflower yellow and I have the same one, but the stylist thinks it’s terrible so its replaced by a giant stainless steel lobster pot — which is definitely a standard for coastal New England photoshoots. Kitchen is done! It’s a wrap!!



Night ➛

I agree to follow the caravan of cars to Flo’s Clam Shack. I’m dining with the photographer, his daughter, and our founding editor who lives nearby, and the conversation is just as lively as the shoot. Back in the car, headed north. I dream about comfortable clothes and collapsing on my couch to catch up on all the TV missed over the busy week. Home. My husband has grilled a steak and is watching baseball. I recount the day as I arrange leftover flowers the stylist gave me. What I really want is a cold beer, but I will settle for Talenti salted caramel gelato and the Girls finale. I wake up on the couch, and realize I slept through the whole show. And what do you know, baseball is back on. Somehow make it to bed. Collapse.

Three Last Things…

1. What is up with that huge happy grin? No one ever smiles on this site.

My husband is my unofficial photographer and he totally calls me out when I’m just smiling for the camera. I think he was making faces or doing bunny ears. More likely rolling his eyes and complaining loudly — which always makes me laugh.

2. With all the interiors you have seen, what is your #1 design/decorating faux pas?

Hmmm, I have a pretty high tolerance but I’m definitely not a big fan of decorative plates, especially displayed on a wall above a sofa. And I am very done with coffee table tableaus — the first thing I want to do is put everything away.

3. Your site (Unhappy Hipster) was born from glossy interior magazines. Over the years, so many of those publications have died. Tomorrow you get to resurrect one…which one?

I am intrigued and hopeful about the resurrection of Domino, though I don’t think it’s really new content. Gourmet is my big one though — Bon Appetit is trying hard but they still haven’t gotten that perfect mix of ridiculously beautiful photography, lifestyle coverage, and Ruth Reichl’s editor’s note, which I’ve always loved.

Jenna lives in Boston. She is the founding art director of Design New England magazine, co-creator of unhappyhipsters.com, and co-author of the tongue-in-cheek design book, It’s Lonely in the Modern World. designnewengland.com unhappyhipsters.com

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