Have you ever seen engagement photos so elaborate and uniquely conceptualized?

Engagement/wedding photography adopts a certain look and feel with every generation. These shoots break away from a mold.

They create vignettes that are masterful pieces of art.

Yes, these are engagement photos. And they are poetic.

Callithea davisi

Native Origin: Peru

The Lycaenidae family has approximately 4,700 species unevenly distributed worldwide. Coppers are common in northern temperate regions, blues numerous in Old World tropics, and hairstreaks particularly abundant in the New World tropics. Adults are small to tiny and often brilliantly colored–iridescent blues, bright reds, and oranges. Both sexes have three pairs of walking legs, and visit flowers for nectar or feed on aphid honeydew. Females lay single, sea urchin shaped eggs on leaves and flower buds. The resulting caterpillars depend on ants for protection, and so produce a sugary secretion ants collect.

Anax Junius

Native Origin: North America

Upon request, the good people at Butterfly Designs will lovingly hand-pick you a Callithea Davisi, Anax Junius or any other butterfly & insect specimen. Harvested from cruelty free farms, the species are displayed in handmade frames. You need only to find a place to hang it, and be mesmerized.

Charles Phoenix, the “King of Kodachrome,” knows his kitsch. From tree flocking to Pall Malls, Phoenix’s slideshows will educate you on the foibles and follies of the 1950s and 1960s. His delightful narration of found slides highlight the most precious details of vintage American life. From his holiday show, for example, observe this slide and Phoenix’s precise attention:

The candles are lit, the Christmas-ball Christmas tree centerpiece is in place and a very special dinner is served. At each end of the table, Lazy Susans offer carrot sticks, green olives and a half red cabbage studded with sputnik-style multi-colored toothpicks bearing olives, sweet pickles and pearl onions. On either side of the fatty ham being sliced (topped with Maraschino cherries and pineapple slices), a pyramid of carbs and roast turkey. Cranberry sauce served in paper cups, celery and cream cheese platter, potato salad and macaroni salad, lime Jell-O mold, and creamy pink Jell-O fish mold are also on the menu.

Catch one of his vintage slideshows, go on his tour of retro Southern California, or try his original recipe for Cherpumple (a three-layer cake with a pie stuffed in each layer: CHERry, PUMpkin and apPLE pie). Just make sure to shake his hand and introduce yourself; you won’t regret meeting him.

Its as though Mom deck to deck copied every Christmas special, seasonal commercial and holiday episode we ever taped onto one VHS cassette. Betamax Xmas has collected December programing from every year in the 1980’s for us to watch online. You might lose some time on this one.

Hall & Oates (looking like Lionel Ritche) sing an odd little Jingle Bell Rock, Balki Bartokomous dresses up as Myposian Santa, and Skeletor, overwhelmed by the holiday spirit asks that Eternaia question:

“What is this I’m feeling?!“

A new bike is one of the the best gifts you get for Christmas.

Just down the street from Launderette headquarters, we found Linus Bikes building some of the cleanest, most beautiful bikes we’ve seen for people who need to get about town. In their own words:

“simple, affordable, elegant bikes for riding around and doing stuff.”

It seems in the US our bike options have always been terrain specific (a full roadie or a mountain bike, a niche BMX or heavier beach cruiser), when what many have really needed are gentle city bikes that get us to our friends’ houses and help us do our errands. Linus has finally brought a bike of this mentality stateside.

Inspired by European bicycles of the 50’s and 60’s, a lot of love and design has gone into these to make them as reliable and smooth as they are good looking. Our favorite detail is the canvas saddle bags (not yet pictured on the website) that attach to rear racks over the back tire. Currently available in two styles there is a more rigid laptop bag, and set of duel roll-up grocery panniers.

Such graceful touring style starting at $389 – we only wish we had a body to buy one for this year.

An unexpected smell can trigger our strongest memories of a time and place. A waft that unlocks a complete experience.

Perfume can be distracting, often overbearing, and only useful as a reminder of the person who once wore it. The girl wearing Curve in geology class, my brother in his Drakkar Noir period. But what if scent were to commandeer a more ubiquitous association: those of favorite places and things, not only people.

Christopher Brosius and his parfumerie, I Hate Perfume, creates fragrance that stir up impressions we may share in common – bottling our romantic notions of environment and locale. The worn cloth and first edition paper of In The Library, or the new fallen snow and frosted, wool mittens of Winter 1972. I Hate Perfume’s perfumes give our homes, and ourselves, the essence of beloved times and fond memory.

Treat yourself to something in bulk, you’ve earned it.

* (We like to leave ours out so they get a little stale.)