and this one too

milling about

most saturday mornings you will find me in the kitchen drinking coffee and stirring irish oatmeal as it slowly cooks. yesterday the light was so beautiful streaming through the kitchen window, I snapped a few scenes of my cooking and dining area.

it's funny that you can become so familiar with your surroundings that they almost become invisible. while processing the images, I was pleasantly surprised to see the depth and variety of colors and shapes; that our home is coming together to truly represent who we are.

even the mix of color above the stovetop is so me. curious if I unconsciously choose paprika that will add a design element to the spice shelf...

{ processing images also makes you realize that your wood floors are in need of a really good cleaning.}

in other news:

• gratitude week helped me truly understand the depth of beauty and love in my life. I am grateful for gratitude. at the end the week, I realized that I could go on and on and on. I'll pick up a gratitude week every so often on the blog and hope you will join me. my heart feels full.

• my man gives good date: yesterday post-oatmeal, we strolled vintage shops {scored a polaroid camera for $9}, saw an education {brilliant!} and dined on mole poblano and cheap mexican beer. more reasons to love him.

• being introduced to a photographer whose work literally makes my heart beat faster.

grateful for

• a true partner who is solidly on my team
• the calm center in the middle of the storm that is me
• a man more interested in theatre, literature, photography and art than noisy violent sports
• the voice that reads to me in bed at night
• being kissed goodnight even though I've already fallen asleep
• personality characteristics like my dad {those I admire and none that would creep me out}
• always bringing a book to read when we go to anthropologie and sitting patiently while I shop
• being smarter than me and never making me feel like it
• hands that can build and create
• hands that can instantly ground me when gently placed at the small of my back
• just as much love for my darker side

grateful for

• my muppet luca
• and simon
• and roxy
• and milo, who I miss every day
• for sam, my first canine love
• and for every dog that has ever been a friend to me
• for being uncomplicated friends, just there to elicit a smile or laugh or hug
• for being court jesters
• for your naughtiness and shenanigans
• for standing by
• for nudging me awake via a cold wet nose pressed against my cheek

grateful for

• farmers, growers, merchants and cooks who celebrate organic local food
• food that nourishes, that makes my body strong and my skin glow
• food that doesn't poison children
• never having to go to bed hungry
• food that transports me {to another land or another time}
• the art and craft of creating a meal
• and especially for avocados, fish tacos, steak au poivre, tortilla soup

happy thanksgiving friends! feast away!

grateful for

• the strength, beauty and discipline of yoga
• my teacher nancy {shown here} who has this lovely way about her: all full of humor, grace, muscle and prayer at the same time
• every other yoga teacher in the world: your work is a blessing
• the challenge of moving from plank to chaturanga; every time it rolls around, I say to myself, "what the eff are you thinking?!"...and then when I do it {just do it!}, there is this immense feeling of accomplishment and power and possibility that just blows me away
• practicing in a beautiful old georgian mansion
• savasana
  

grateful for

• a home that is safe and warm
• that is totally accepting of my incessant need to experiment and change things up {like a little brother that gets dolled up in girls' frocks}
• that carries the juxtaposition of bold color and comfort so well
• that holds the scents of my life...fig, balsam, honey, coffee...
• that speaks to me via creaky wood floors and the various soft hums of its many mechanisms
• that seems to want to be just what I want it to be: an artist's house, a place to nurture a soul
  

gratitude week*

grateful for

• a good education
• the love of learning
• the craft of exploration
• a beautiful open mind.
  

{*a week of things to be thankful for.}

unfurl

{and glow.}

dear third week of november

thank you for your light, muted and misty and swirling with the alchemy of chimney smoke and leftover rain. thank you for your softness, your opening, for giving a flighty girl a safe place to land.

dear monday

let's try and behave a bit more like sunday, shall we?

bijou

saturday afternoon I was patiently taught the art of making the french macaron at one of my favorite places in the world. while I have to admit I signed up for the photo ops, I now understand the love affair that so many have with this little jewel. I am so not a baker {the necessary preciseness makes me crazy} and macarons are about as far as you can travel from my slice-and-bake cookie philosophy, but I sit here this morning utterly seduced. and committed to creating them again and again.

I realize that the quirky macaron is very much like the kind of people I'm drawn to: colorful, unique, engaging of the senses and capable of igniting flashes of imagination. its sugary-almond {-lemon, -chocolate, -raspberry, -violet, -pistachio....} scent pulls me in; its bite is both crackly eggshell fragile and gooey soft at once. and oh. my. stars. the taste. {somehow I imagined the taste would be a disappointment...I mean really, how can one little cookie deliver on all fronts?} the taste is unbelievably delicious and instantly transformative {see me: standing alone in saint-germain-des-prés having l'expérience française total}. I am in love.

thank you kathleen for introducing us, for teaching me, for your humor and energy and encouragement and bottles of wine and celebration of even the wonky lemon macaron.

...insomnia...

...is easier with a beautiful dream world of images to wander through...

{please visit here for flickr credits.}

t is for tea

lately I find that I'm sipping as much {and sometimes more} tea as coffee. here's a weird emotional association: coffee makes me feel like a badass; tea makes me feel like a hippie. not sure where those connections came from but clearly the hippie vibe is mine.

mosaic monday

feeling all wishy over here...here's my linky bday/holiday list for 2009.

1. peace slippers
2. double gorgeousness
3. love this baby {like a more sophisticated love's baby soft}
4. modern classics; the entire penguin collection of cloth-covered stories designed by coralie bickford-smith
5. fuji instant photos
6. a yoga mat with one of my photos printed on it! {I'm thinking tiny b...}
7. this beauty belongs with me
8. on the bigger list this year: a yoga class with seane corn
9. and this is so me

here's to wishes coming true, loves. happy monday!

more happy

it's the little things:

• the fifth straight day of crisp brilliant sunshine
• being set loose in the most beautiful shop to photograph its complete and total loveliness
• playing with the images {am now crushing on design}
• honeycrisp apples with almond butter
• the scent of burning leaves
• man shops globe
  

feeling sunny

after a quiet boring week at work (actually two in a row, almost unheard of in the child protection field), I'm feeling very upbeat and balanced. it's amazing what a week absent the stress and frustration that is normal in my work can do for a girl's outlook.

I took a new yoga class this week and it kicked my ass; pilates repaired me. yesterday I shopped for art supplies for a new class where I plan to make a ginormous colorful mess. and I think I just may have bought a magic pair of boots, folks. I swear when I wear my cowgirl boots, it's like nothing can stop me.

happy friday friends! here's hoping your weekends are filled with a little bit of silence, some movement, messy art and magic boots. and lots of sunshine.

♥

what I love about photography

it shows the rest of us the beauty of all souls, the individual pure resilient light in a world of fear.

thank you hamish cairns. I think you're brilliant.

home stretch

yeah, that whole list thing from last year is knocking on the back of my head, "excuse me missus..." {my list has a cockney accent}. today marks one month to go. I'm trying not to kick into high pressure mode because I think that kind of defeats the whole purpose, no?

enter my dear friend compromise. instead of a quilt, I will be making a duvet cover from the gloriousness of this kaffe fassett fabric. I believe this fantastically meets the spirit of no. 16.

now, where are those roller skates...

and I'm totally on a "make ___ not war" kick. on the blackboard wall in my kitchen: make tacos not war. true.

el dia

de los muertos is today.

who are you remembering and celebrating? invite him or her or them for a chat.

I want to sit down with my grandma dee in the soft sunlit california grass and hear about being a wild independent soul.