Tuesday, June 30, 2009

this is for you babe


we will never have this time again


summer nights, originally uploaded by me.



As my work by day becomes increasingly intense and overwhelming,
my nights have become filled with creativity and daydreaming -
for a longing to sit at dusk – until daylight,
making, creating, watching, growing, reading and writing.

The last week or so I have become entranced by images-
my own and those I stumble across by chance.
Flickr is my new homepage, and as I begin the process
to upload my entire collection for safe keeping, I recall the past, and
remember to live in each moment and look forward to the future,
whatever it may bring.

I had become so preoccupied in the waiting and hoping and wishing -
forgetting the present in anticipation for what was to come, I had
forgotten what a gift this day can be.
So I slow down, breath steady, remember and recall –

We will never have this time again.
We will never have this time again.

Monday, June 29, 2009

saturday


summer days, originally uploaded by me.



"You must be warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip."
-J.M. Barrie



i know i've mentioned saturday before, but i want to expand on the wonderfulness {i know that's not a word} of the day.
with no plans, we found ourselves in the back yard...
we made ourselves a haven of paradise, around the bright purple-plastic baby pool. we were a sight, with chairs and beach towels and drinks and books. flip flops off, we soaked our feet and i put quite a dent in Middlesex as Curtis wrote a paper for his summer class. it was a delightful way to waste a day.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

myself, a collage


myself, a collage, originally uploaded by me.



yesterday, in the midst of a perfectly relaxing saturday afternoon - between reading the first 200 pages of a wonderful novel {middlesex} in the backyard, dipping my feet in our little plastic kiddy pool, and basking in the heat of the midday sun, i had an impromptu photo shoot in the living room. it was either the humidity getting to my head, or the fact that the newfound wave to my hair was making me feel flirtatious, i was in a mood and i went with it...

smoothie sunday




starting the day with some cool, frothy, frozen goodness.
enjoy your sunday!
more from the weekend later...

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

light + heat



i found a site...
http://bighugelabs.com that allows you to create image mosaics like you see in some flickr streams...and on some blogs.
kind of fun...i foresee many nights spent creating image sets with their mosaic program.

skies + trees





fdsflickrtoys



enjoying flickr lately...really enjoying this image mosaic...trying to figure out how to use some fun flickr programs to create my own...but i think i'm just a little too tired tonight.

sweet sweet sleep



"a well spent day brings happy sleep."
leonardo di vinci

i have been so exhausted lately... i'm home alone tonight, laying on the couch, laptop on my lap. the dog sits next to me, licking the couch for some reason...this picture reminds me that my bed is just upstairs waiting for me...i could go to bed now if i wanted to. but instead i lounge, and yawn and look forward to happy sleep.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

entertainment anyone?


On Saturday, we splurged and bought ourselves our first ever entertainment apparatus. Since our first place, we have been using a horrible, hand-me-down, particle board little cabinet for our tv...it was supposed to only be temporary, but before we knew it, years had passed and we never replaced it...that is, until Saturday. This might seem like a lame thing to post about, but if you were looking at the ugly piece of "furniture" (and i say furniture loosely) that you would know why i was so excited. I just spent 20 minutes searching for a photo of our old one, and it wasn't surprising to me that i had not one picture of the piece of crap. So, here you go, after hours spent assembling it, i think it's a beauty. And although it draws attention to the humble-sized tv, we don't mind...maybe in a few more years, we'll be able to afford one that fits.


project telephone bench


I was talking to my mom a couple of days ago - telling her about my recent obsession with refinishing and reupholstering old furniture. She told me that a while ago she had found a vintage telephone bench on someone's tree lawn with the intention of re-doing it, but she had nowhere to put it so she stuck it in the basement.
"If you want it, you can have it," she said. I was at her house five minutes later. This was on Sunday afternoon. Wasn't it a beauty? I saw the potential and got right to work. But before I did, I documented how bad it looked.
It's now Tuesday night and it is finished. After a good sanding, three coats of wood stain and a newly reupholstered seat cushion, we now are proud owners of a charming little piece of furniture.
I found this fabric, and although it doesn't quite match or coordinate with the living room, it seems to work - and i love it. i think i've found my calling in life...refinishing old furniture, it's just so very rewarding.

hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work i go...

my desk

this is where i spend the majority of my days.
just thought you might like to see my workspace...

another weekend project complete

IMG_0852

If I didn’t mention already, I had a very busy weekend.
For some reason I’ve been on a home project kick this past week…
My mom asked me if I was nesting, but I guarantee you that is not the case.
I would tell you if it were, trust me, I would tell you.

I don’t know what has gotten into me, except for the fact that evenings are long and I have been inspired.
Here is another one of my projects from the weekend.
I made a little kitchen curtain out of cloth napkins I bought years ago while I worked at Anthropologie.
They turned out great and were a sinch to make…they look even cuter when they’re open…

More to come on my current project, refinishing and reupholstering a vintage telephone bench…I should be done with it tonight.

Monday, June 22, 2009

it was a father's day feast






on the menu:

t-bone steaks {courtesy of my sister}

potato & green bean salad (dressed with Italian salad dressing & slivered red onions)

spicy corn salad with fresh cilantro

Israeli couscous with fresh cherry tomatoes

strawberry, red onion, feta and sunflower seed salad with balsamic vinaigrette


to drink:

iced tea

iced water with sliced lime

pink lemonade

blue moon with sliced oranges

a cooler full of other beers & sodas


for dessert:

mom’s peach pan dowdy and vanilla ice cream

smores around the fire pit



it was a good night. nights like these are rare.

When family is together and all is as it should be.

today


dirty hair pulled back in a ponytail

two cups of coffee when all I usually have is one

feverishly scribbling notes to myself on tiny slips of paper

lunch of strawberry salad and couscous

mind wandering every which way

planning and scheming and dreaming

afternoon snack of almonds

listening to old favorites on my iphone

poem inspiration while writing press releases

skies & trees

I just loved this when I saw it {here} by {katie baum}.

 

This summer I’ve had quite an obsession with taking pictures of trees and skies…

Last summer it was feet – although I still take those shots often enough.

 

There’s nothing like the sunrises and sunsets I was lucky enough to witness in my time spent in Africa.

They were of a different caliber altogether…

But since I’m on the other side of the world now, I’ve readjusted my expectations and have grown quite a fondness for the city skies that I live under.

 

On a quiet and clear night, the sky is still dark {although not as black as in our small village town}

and stars are still visible {although you can’t point out every constellations with the tip of your finger}

but this is my home and these are familiar skies

familiar trees

familiar stars that sprinkle the sky when you’re lucky.

And I am lucky,

one lucky girl.

 

{untitled}

as seen on the {lifelovepaper}blog

i like the first half of this quote more than the second.

the part about the "not quite, not yet, or not at all" really speaks to me in this season in my life.

i will not let the spark die.

the spark of life, of hope, of childlike faith.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

summer reading


I have quite the summer reading list accumulating in a stack on the bottom of my book shelf. There’s nothing quite like slipping into soft, cool sheets, right after a refreshing shower, hair sopping wet, fresh face and lotioned skin and turning to the page where the flap has been folded over to mark where you left off.

A few nights ago I finished “Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen” by Julie Powell. It’s the true story of one woman’s quest to find herself while cooking through Julia Child’s famous cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

It was a week overdue at the library, which means I was being a bad library patron by keeping it longer than allowed, thus holding up the queue. But I was enjoying it and wanted to finish before returning it (which I promptly did before work the next morning) .

Next in line to finish, because of course, I never read just one book at a time, is Miranda Joy’s book of stories called “Noone Belongs Here More Than You,” which is a tender look at love in all of its inconsistencies and delusions. A little dark, a little funny and a lot of humanness in a handful of very different yet very similar stories. I’m three quarters of the way done already, and hope to be finished with both by the weekend. There’s nothing better than starting a fresh novel on a weekend, with time to spare, to slip away, to make you forget that Monday is on its way.


fire pitting it






At the end of last summer we almost bought a fire pit.

But we opted against it, and it moved down the list of priorities in terms of our wants vs. needs.

{by August we had also just splurged to hire a painter to do the final coat of paint on our house}

So, needless to say, we almost got a fire pit last year.

Until last Friday night. I had a girls bowling night schedules with some friends, so I left in a tizzy, thinking Curtis would make plans of his own. Fast forward.

I get home at about 10:30, pull in the driveway and see candles lit on the sun porch. He’s standing there, grinning and behind him sits a large wrapped gift, and a card, and some fresh cut flowers from our yard.

It is an early anniversary gift. I open it. It’s a firepit. I squeal – exhausted.

Wanting to just go to bed, I knew that wasn’t an option…so he assembled, and I took pictures as he made a fire.

We pulled chairs up, warmed our feet, made smores and talked late into the night. It was a good night, an early anniversary – a prelude to our real anniversary – that wasn’t quite as romantic or mellow or quiet.

It is our life. It is a good life.

Friday, June 19, 2009

things i'm a little obsessed with lately:

painting furniture

post-it notes

ice water

poetry

smoothies

lists

long necklaces

my iphone

fiction

chilly showers

lipgloss

smores

facebook

slouchy jeans

fresh herbs

freckles

my camera

hastas

flickr

weekends

 

 

 

photo via {here}

this weekend I will...

…finish my patio project

…make a kitchen curtain

…work on that crocheted blanket

…write in my journal

…start a new book

…make a target trip

…continue reading the old testament

…balance my checkbook

…catch up on magazines

…take some pictures

…pull weeds

…host a picnic

…lounge around the fire pit

…paint my nails

…celebrate my dad

 

 

image via {claire kramer} on flickr

what's inspiring me today...

backyard parties

firepits

chartreuse green

coordinating miss-matched patio furniture

frozen smoothies & striped straws

the possibilities that come with a can of paint and old, forgotten furniture

the color of salmon & shrimp

brunch

the color of herbs at sunset

adirondak chairs & canvas umbrellas

grilled esparagus

blank journals & ballpoint pens

pitchers & glasses & ice cubes

grass under toes

washing feet in bathtubs right before bed.

Sleeping soundly to the hum of a ceiling fan

 

 

*Have a happy weekend!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

patios, paint & projects

I wish I had a “before” picture. I  know if I trudged through old photos, even old blog posts I could come up with a good one, but I’m too lazy and I don’t really care that much…just trust me…this patio furniture was ugly.

Forest green rod iron with the most nauseating navy and burgundy and green floral pattern you can imagine. It was bad, but beggars can’t be choosers when you’re talking free furniture.

Thank you in-laws.

They gave it to us when we moved into our first apartment. I hated it then too. It’s not my style. Not the flowery, twirly metal, not the colors, none of it, but again, it was free and we were determined to fill our first place on a budget.

So two years ago, I bought a couple bottles of silver spray paint and started to cover the green with a shiny metallic.

I got the table painted, and I think both chairs before throwing in the towel. I didn’t know which looked worse - the dirty Christmas tree green or my attempt to make it look modern. Turns out metallic spray paint looks more like tin foiled decoupage than anything sleek and metal-like.

So I left it, half green, half silver and called it a day, or a year, or three. Who’s counting?

Until two nights ago, when I had the novel idea to re-re-finish the set – this time in black.

Now, I believe black covers a multitude of sins, and yet again, I believe I was right.  

You can barely see the flower pattern, and the black paint covered both rust and silver spray paint, to my surprise.

I opted against spray paint this time and used an all-purpose black paint, applied with something that looked like a mix between a big mitten and a sponge. Worked like a charm, and by morning all was dry and ready for project #2 – re-upholstering of the seat cushions.

 

Now, I’m artistic but not naturally crafty, but I was on a roll and there was no stopping me. Last night, as Curtis drove away to head to class I headed in the opposite direction to Joanne Fabrics in search of some fun outdoor fabric to recover my two chairs and one swing seat cushion. I was envisioning a bright red paisley type deal, but there wasn’t a whole lot of options to chose from that weren’t special order… but in the end, I found something I actually really liked - that goes with black and fits the overall style of my house and taste. I left with fabric, a staple gun, staples and two wooden, assemble-yourself, pre-primed adirondak chairs and a small table to match (an anniversary gift for my man, who’s been eyeing them on front lawns for weeks now)

 

Stapling fabric onto seat cushions couldn’t be easier…and I was pleased with the quick results, but then I got to the swing seat, which has no wooden board to staple into. I stood, and sweated and stared…then I faced the inevitable. I must sew. I must dust off the sewing machine and relearn what took me so long to forget last winter. I have no choice, this is my destiny.

 

And really, I built it all up in my head for nothing…it wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered it to be. After a few adjustments to the tension I was ready to go. My material was inside out and pinned…and it literally only took me ten minutes to do. I had to hand sew the closing on one end, but all in all, I was proud of the outcome and not too scared to pack away the machine for another six months.

 

Curtis came home early with only minutes warning, and there I was, candle lit on the table, cushions in place and me, grinning like a child, welcoming him home to see my handiwork.

 

I think he liked it.

 

The end.

Kind of.

 

Until I had him look in the trunk of my car for his anniversary gift (he had surprised me earlier in the week with a fire pit for the backyard). He was happy with the chairs, until I “encouraged” him to put them together right then.

But in typical loving husband fashion, he obliged, and I made another Sherwin Williams run for paint.

 

At the end of the night, we had the little table assembled and painted, one chair assembled, a tree-lawn-coffee-table-find painted and another old table painted black to match our patio furniture. I was a whirlwind, a tornado and kind of a wreck to be honest - paint everywhere, hungry, cranky and pms-y. but he was good to me (for the most part) and humored my zaniness and let me keep on swirling in my adrenaline high of projects and paint.

 

We fell into bed exhausted with plans for tonight to finish what we’ve started…and oh I can’t wait until we’re finished…I’ve got other plans and projects spinning through my jumbled (and tired) head.

 

{my new bike}

Meet my bike. I call her Blue. She is a good bike. I have dreamed of her for so long.

I haven’t had a bike since I was about ten.

It was a purple Barbie bike.

It started with training wheels, until I graduated to a two-wheeler.

It lasted for years, until my legs grew long and I no longer played with barbies.

 

I haven’t had a bike since.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

Last summer I inherited a free bike, not sure from where…

It was less than ideal.

It was a mountain bike for a pre-teen…or possibly younger.

It was too small and too bulky, but I made do, without complaining, for the most part.

 

Then this summer rolls around and my dear and darling husband decided he will fix his bike with parts from mine.

And again, there I was, without a bike.

 

Until two weeks ago.
It started with a Saturday morning tour de garage sales, that ended in nothing but a solid lead on a bike shop on the other side of town. A garage sale host showed me her new-to-her used bike and gave us directions,

that we followed, and in the end, that is the story of how I found Blue. Or, maybe how she found me.

 

I am not fond of her handle-bars, and I secretly (well, not soooo secretly) desire a basket in the front.

I have a bell, it reads: I *heart* my bike, and I do, I really do.

 

the sweet sketch was seen {here}

via {here}

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

three years and counting



we bought dresses
and diamonds and bubbles
ate cake and wavered over
rare filet and roast chicken
white cake or lemon
(we went with lemon)

chose our song,
our colors
our first bed

we licked stamps
filled tins with candy
sweated over guest lists and seating

we filled registries
and wrote thank you notes
and love letters

we chose tuxes and
bought earrings and bracelet and
bikinis

we went tanning
read books
bought bedding and flights out of the country

we found an apartment
and found each other at the end of the aisle.

Preparing for a moment
a time of vadiation
a kiss in time

Three years ago.
We prepared for so long.
Now we’re in the ever after.

Happy anniversary my love.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

on mornings...

I have become increasingly aware of what I put into my body, and in doing so I have a newfound love of fruit.

I have always been a veggie girl. I could eat salads for two meals a day no problem, but I barely ever craved fruit.

Well, times, they are a changing I guess, because lately I cannot get enough fruit…

Maybe it’s my body’s way of telling me I have deprived myself for too long, but something has clicked…

 

I read the following by French writer, Sofia Barao of {lafeecoriandre.blogspot.com} and it really speaks to where I’m at in terms of my philosophy on eating:

 

“I don't know if in your side of the world, there's a saying like this one "Manger comme un roi le matin, comme un prince le midi, comme un pauvre le soir, " which would be like "Eat like a king in the morning, like a prince at lunch and like a poor at dinner."

 

Eat slow, take your time. Get up earlier if you can so that you can enjoy your meal.”

 

I’ve always been one to skimp on breakfast, eat a meager, but healthy lunch and cook healthy, but often heavy dinners.

Until a few weeks ago when I began blending my breakfasts…

I have become a smoothie aficionado. Frozen bananas, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, non-fat plain yogurt, honey, skim milk…

Whatever I have, whatever I crave, I blend. And slowly I have fallen in love with fruit again.

 

I have traded dried cereal on the way to work, for smoothies and hot oatmeal at my desk for plain yogurt with blueberries and a handful of granola {my breakfast of choice this morning}

I just feel better in the mornings, knowing what I’m putting into my body is natural, nutrient-laden and intensely delicious.

 

I have not given up on vegetables, however…

Last night I made a spicy corn salad for dinner – complete with fresh corn cut off the cob, home-grown cilantro {freshly picked for its debut use} red/green peppers, diced red onion, a drizzle of olive oil, a few tablespoons of hot sauce and a dash of salt and pepper.

I ate it with a fork by the bowl, but it would be equally wonderful as a salsa with tortilla chips.

 

Tonight, however, I intend it as a side to grilled citrus-glazed scallops.

 

If I had a glass of wine right now, I’d make a toast to fruits and veggies, to fresh herbs, to grills and patios, and to taking time to enjoy every bite, chewed slowly and savored…

 

Bon appetit!

 

Monday, June 15, 2009

peony







I’ve had quite an obsession with peonies since my wedding… actually since my wedding planning really.


here are some of my flickr faves as well as my own wedding bouquet for your summer enjoyment



peony 1


{the paper pony – flickr}



peony 2



{claire kramer – flickr}



peony 3


my bouquet



see more… {here}


 
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