yum yum yum

 peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies
recipe here: cookie

 

blackberry pie made for a friend's birthday (hence the pie-topping decor)
pie crust recipe here: perfect crust

pie recipe: pie

 

 

pumpkin pie snickerdoodle cake

delicious: lovin' from the oven 

to be completely honest, though i have really come to enjoy baking, i started mainly in hopes that it would give me something to do on the days when i am incredibly bored and trying to stay as far away from facebook (creeping) as possible.  

all of the comforts

when each morning usually starts out in fog, it is easy to long for the hot, hot, hot days that always meant summer at home. though the other day it did break the 80 degree mark here and that was cause for celebration (my cats and i spent a few glorious hours outside before the fog came rushing back in with a vengeance).

  

 my(things)self and gerty enjoying the outdoor world

and in speaking of home and the hot (read: real) summer, here are some photos from my last trek there and the wonderfully quirky and comforting things that make me love where i grew up! i hope that everyone has a little list of all the things that they appreciate about their home (especially if you are like me and it took many years and many moves to understand to the fullest extent how lucky i was am).

 

never will there be any bakery/coffee shop that holds a special place in my heart like aria <3
i mean, come on, i get personalized messages from them in my lunches!

 

i love my mother's quirky sense of humor and how much she and my dad love to camp!

 

a buddha that sits in one of the gardens

 

sitting outside on my parent's patio and reading

 

a vintage schwinn bike that has a permanent place on the front porch (he gets dressed up for the holidays with lights).

a drizzly saturday morning

we actually woke up at 4am this morning because the drizzly weather was causing a drip-drip-drip from the condensation pooling up on the bamboo leaves outside of our bedroom window. this type of weather always makes me feel a little more mellow, especially in the mornings when i can sit at my kitchen table and enjoy cup after cup of coffee. i am hesitant to start any form of project/errand/to-do-list that requires me to move very far.

but i am not complaining, this is not a bad way to spend a saturday.

some things that are making me happy:

the aforementioned september issue of instyle (also just acquired the mother-load of september issues: vogue)

two leather bracelets/cuffs that e bought me for a belated anniversary present. the artist is a local named Nancy Ceideburg whose line is called blackbird and she sells them at the (amazing) store, stripe: http://www.stripedesigngroup.com/news/?tag=stripe-santa-cruz

reading about coco chanel, a recent article has sparked interest where there previously was none
 

rediscovering window light 

strawberries, strawberries, strawberries (which always remind me of heartmate b)

nearing september

it is already halfway through august and do you know what that means?
hmmm?
that means that in the fashion world, the largest version of most fashion magazines are making their way to the newsstands.



as anyone who has dropped by my home unexpectedly knows (as do most of my best friends, boyfriend, and family) i am a bag fan of magazines. i am talking piles of them...and i am proud to be a dog-earring, page tearing, idea stealing, cover-to-cover reading fiend of these monthly publications. so when i start to see the september issues rolling around, i do get a bit excited. there is something wonderfully relaxing to me about flipping through every page of a magazine. i love to breakdown each advertisement, stare at the editorial fashion spreads in search of the lighting styles and read the pages of articles. i like to think that if there are thousands of hands out there in the world creating these publications (and as someone who knows the smallest, smallest, smallest bit about how much goes into making any sort of publication), then i will reward them by continually admiring their work.

for those that haven't seen the 2009 documentary the september issue about vogue and its editor in chief, anna wintour, i suggest you put it in your netflix que. you don't have to be an admirer of fashion to admire this film. even for those of you who think that fashion is nothing beyond a superfluous, superficial business, i think (hope) that you can admire that amount of work, brilliance and creativity that is displayed by the amazing grace coddington (creative director of vogue) alone.

this woman has my dream job. 

 

*interview with grace coddington (not part of the september issue)

*official trailer for the september issue

next time you are at the checkout line, take a peak at the magazines there and notice how thick the september issues really are!

the simplicity of it all...

i'm sure it is like this with most people and their chosen hobbies/lifestyles/careers to some degree. people are always going to be asking e about bikes. other people will always ask b how to spell things since she is an english major (i am guilty of it). and people will always ask me if i think film is dying and digital photography is taking over in place of it. and i will always answer: no.

without going into too much detail on my response, there is something elegantly simple about film and as long as that does not change, film will remain. just because you, your mother, her best friend, and her best friend's neighbor all own a digital slr they purchased from target, or walmart, or best buy does not mean that digital is the big mean bully on the school playground that comes along and pushes film off of the swings.

of course, i shoot digital. i mean, come on, there is a very miniscule chance that while i am attempting to pose in my backyard, all while counting backwards from ten slowly as to match the timer on my camera and still take 183792340745 pictures of myself before i can decide on 3 to actually use, that i would do the same with my film. if that were the case, this blog would NEVER see my face nor many other images for that matter and you few souls who read this would be bored to tears. even now, i think i am approaching the limit of words allowed per blog post and someone, somewhere in the blog-o-sphere is going to pop up a la state farm insurance commercial and tell me to can it.

but that is not the point. the point is that i have been thinking a lot about simplicity and for some reason, the world of film popped into my mind in relation to it. perhaps my favorite all time black and white photo is by the amazing american photographer, edward weston. his study of nudes leaves me awestruck every time and somehow, i was lucky enough to see a good number of them in person whilst living in santa barbara.

edward weston, nude, 1936
*image borrowed from http://0rchid-thief.livejournal.com/646774.html

edward weston, nude, 1925
*image borrowed from http://www.edward-weston.com/edward_weston_nudes_23.htm

edward weston, nude, 1927
*image borrowed from http://www.edward-weston.com/edward_weston_nudes_15.htm

case of the mondays

it would seem that the come-down from a good weekend is inevitable. truly. i think the universe conspires every once in awhile to find a few souls who have spent their 48 hours of weekend in genuine happiness, the kind that doesn't necessarily blossom from anything other than enjoyable activities and sweet company, and then trash their following mondays. all while the gods sit back with their popcorn and laugh like at it like it's a bad steve martin screwball comedy.

it reminds me of the quote from office space, "someone's got a case of the mondays." yes. i do.
whew...unloading much?

anyway, it is only monday and already i am scouring back through photos of the weekend in search of some of that happiness (or even calm) that i can reclaim. slowly, it is working its magic and my shoulders are starting to drop from their favorite position (up around my ears).

 

this photo is my favorite of the weekend. it is taken in the forest of nisene marks in aptos. i love that i can stand in a forest of redwoods and feel completely insignificant (in the best of ways) and that there is just utter peace surrounding me. these are the sorts of feelings i need to recall on days like today. 

nostalgia

there is something achingly sweet to me about salt water taffy, and i'm not just talking about the taste. when i think of salt water taffy it reminds me of my childhood and my family. for so many years my family and i would take a trip to san francisco around the holidays to see the huge tree in union square, we would wander around the financial district to look in the giant floor to ceiling windows of the banks to see their glittering trees, and end the evening at fisherman's wharf where we would each get a bag of taffy to munch on while we watched the sea lions. these are some of my favorite memories and now whenever i eat salt water taffy, i am reminded of them. i love that i have these moments in my life where something so simple can transport me in such a way. <3

good finds

well...of all the things on my list for the flea market i attended a week ago, i came home with zero of them. sigh. we did find all the things that k needed though, so it was still a very successful adventure. and just because i didn't come home with the exact things that i went in for, that doesn't mean that i came home empty handed...

 

the most unique belt that i now own (a whopping 50 cents!)

 

as if i needed more bags...whoops. but still, a leather satchel, a berry colored structured bag (for which i have been on the lookout) and a handmade, butter soft, pale yellow medicine bag - who knows what i will do with it, parking $ perhaps, but it was too gorgeous not to bring home.

 

a few clothing items: a vintage fringe shall that i am thinking will be lovely for a sarong; a black, loose, structured top that just needed one seam mended (which i, amazingly, did myself - i am, sadly, needle impaired); and a berry colored, vintage, maxi, pleated skirt that i will have to really work myself up to wearing (read: COLOR COLOR COLOR) but it reminded me of an accordion and was $1. for that amount, i can get over my fear of anything besides black, grey and navy. 

 

 

as for a few others: our fuel for the morning: coffee and homemade raspberry & cream cheese muffins/ myself and k waiting in line for the flea market to open (yes, there was a line and yes, those are fanny packs...)/some odd but fun skulls that one vendor had for sale/and finally, what the bag of k's car looked like after we were done... 

blue songs are like tattoos

 

*gap denim jacket, selé dress, nicole heels

 *tried and true wardrobe staple!

has anyone else noticed that going to a new doctor really feels like going to an interview? think about it. there is the anticipation, the nerves, you spend more time on your appearance (so you don't look like a bum but rather a responsible, clean, upstanding person), you arrive early so you can prepare, then you sit and wait to be called in...
see?

basically the same, and at the end you are just hoping that they give you good news. 

today i went to the dermatologist to double check for possible melanoma signs and while getting ready i felt like i was going in for a job. i haven't taken that much care getting ready in a long time (because let's be honest, i rarely get out of my stretchy pants). and after all the anticipation (and pure stress involved with the actual apt) i did get good news - all clear.

birthday wishes

  

today is a very special day because it is my best friend, b's, 24th birthday. this girl woman is amazing in all senses of the word. in honor of her, here are a few of my favorite memories of the two of us:

1. chicken wing attacks in my kitchen
2. big-ass truck talks
3. highly inappropriate conversations in the liquor aisle of savemart
4. saving her from the snow
5. michael jackson dance nights
6. barbie goes camping
7. nerd costumes on halloween
8. the best family christmas photos ever
9. Hottie McSexyhair, Barb Haggystein
10. meeting one another

now, i completely understand that no one but her and i will recognize anything on this list but let me just tell you that all of these moments were hilarious and heartfelt. she is a goodin' and i can't wait to spend my life loving her!

                       HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL!

to the market we go

so this coming weekend holds a large flea market in my hometown area and this will be the second year i will be attending. however, last year consisted of arriving late, dragging e around while i poked at all the goodies and leaving with only a few (e does not like to hunt through flea markets - which i already knew going into it). so this year i am going with an entirely different game plan and a different teammate - k - who has WAY more experience with this particular market and goes in with a mission (i admire this so much!)

we are talking fanny packs, running shoes, extra caffeine and arriving a full hour before the shindig actually starts. some may call this ridiculous, i call it being (ridiculously) prepared.

anyway, after k explained that she usually has a list of things she hopes to find, i decided to make one of my own. here are a few of the things that i would love to bring home to my small apartment so that i can overstuff it, my closet, the spare bedroom closet, and drive e crazy (the last one not intentionally but let's be honest, it's gonna happen).

 

first and foremost, we are on a hunt for vintage books for k

 

a skinny leopard belt that i'm hoping someone will be selling for a mere 25 cents

 

fun and funky baubles (which will hopefully be aplenty)

 

now, i know i wont find emma's burberry trench there, but i am hoping to find a classic trench that i can have tailored for the upcoming fall/winter/fog/rain/trekking around campus

and of course so many other goodies that i can't comprehend at the current moment. i am very excited.

lucky me

so here's the thing, i have been thinking about this for awhile now, but i truly have been gifted with the most incredible people to surround my world.

this morning i talked to my best friend, b, who lives painfully far away, quite a bit. this lady is the universe's way of making all things good (we think the gods are rewarding us by introducing us to one another and you know what? we are right). she is a gorgeous being who not only lets me yell atrocious things on her voicemail, but also can understand every single thing in my head with just a look (and this is no small feat).

last night i got to talk to one of my heartmates for 2 (yep) hours while she was in malaysia watching a monkey (bob the bra stealing monkey) in her tree. this woman is one of the bravest and most incredible people i know and if i had an ounce of the courage and strength that she has, i would count myself lucky!

over the weekend i got to continue the melding of myself and my other bf, k, while we lounged around and basically let life continue on without bothering us. she is one of the most vital aspects to my world and there are no words to describe how she makes all things better. without her, nothing makes sense.

i also was blessed with the invitation to watch the sweetest person in the world marry the second sweetest person in the world and hear what will go down in history as the greatest best-man and maid of honor speeches ever known. "thank you for falling in love with my sister...." are you kidding me?!?!?! how could that possibly be any more heart wrenching in the best possible way?

not to mention that i was able to spend more time with my parents, whom are the center of my world/life/being.

and at the end, i got to come home to an amazing man who makes me, well...me.

all these people (AND SO MANY MORE) make my everyday world feel brighter, sweeter, more genuine and without them, my heart would never make it. so to them, and to the rest of you, i love you to the deepest parts of my soul.