Hanami

Spring is finally here!

Around this time of year, I always notice how much the sun affects me. I don't really understand Daylight Savings Time (why do we think we can literally change time when the rest of the world carries on like normal?) but when we have to "spring forward", I will absolutely take every hour of daylight I can get! This last weekend was warm in LA and all I wanted to do was be outside. After Jackie and I got some practical things out of the way, we finally revamped the garden with baby kale, thai basil, and beets. Nothing beats fresh veggies but in addition to that, I really do love spending time digging in the dirt - is that weird?

During her visit last weekend, Erin and I talked a lot about ignoring what we think we're "supposed" to do. Sometimes when the weather is so nice and I have a weekend totally free, I stress out because I want to make the best use of my time.  I want to see everyone, spend time by myself, go to the far corners of LA, try new restaurants, go to every flea market, do a yoga class, hike, make smoothies...(the list goes on!) and then I get so bogged down with choices, that I ended up disappointed when I couldn't do it all. This weekend, I tried to leave that mentality behind, and go with whatever my heart desired at the moment, which resulted in tan lines from reading the first Girl With the Dragon Tattoo book outside and going for a long run as the sun set over Santa Monica. Bliss!

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Sidenote: It's Hanami season and I want to teleport myself to Japan to walk through the beautiful  sakura and ume (cherry & plum blossoms) in person! For now, I will resort to Flickr.

Photo Credit: AdrianG

Quote from E.M. Forster

Illustration by the ever so talented Lisa Congdon as part of her inspirational 365 days of Hand Lettering Project.

#Vote for Equality

If you have a moment, please read this beautiful post on why YOUR vote to take a stand against inequality really really matters: No Freedom 'Til We're Equal

Photo Credits: Lisa Congdon

Jackie Wins

In addition to winning 2 tickets to the Divine Fits this upcoming Sunday, Jackie also recently won a 1-year lease on a highly-competitive community garden plot! We can begin planting in November and we can't wait to start growing some winter leafy greens, beans, beets, carrots, zucchini and herbs. I hope that I inherited my mom's green thumb because we're going to need it! If we lived anywhere else in the world, this may not be the right season to begin a garden, but everyone keeps telling us that we shouldn't have too many issues since the climate is so mild here (80 degrees at the end of October - what?!)

Before we moved, one of our neighbors down the street had planted a few rows of vegetables in her side-yard and I've been inspired to do the same ever since. She had the most perfect looking little herb and veggie garden...it seemed like she could have had kale salads for days! If we can come close to her success, I'd be happy. All I want is to be able to harvest one home-grown meal...is that too much to ask?

Brooklyn's Annie Novak is another huge inspiration. She's an "urban farmer" and grows everything on the rooftop of building in the middle of the city. You can check out more photos of her amazing set-up right here on the Selby.

 

*Nope, not about to get a chicken...let's leave that to the professionals. 

Photos are all from the Selby.

Apartment Crush: Dabito's Los Angeles Home

Apartment Crush alert! Dabito posted photos of a dreamy Santa Monica apartment rental a few months ago, but he also has a beautiful home of his own! In his interview on Apartment Therapy, he explains the details of his creative process. The space looks comfy, colorful and modern and best of all, he created all this on a strict budget! Dabito is a self-proclaimed "vintage vulture" and found most of these items at thrift stores, Craigslist, and flea markets. Talk about an inspiration. He advises, "be patient" when it comes to putting together your home, a tip that I have taken to heart!

We finally got Jackie's beautiful collection of botanical drawings up on the wall this weekend but we still have a box full of art and decor sitting on the floor, waiting to find a home. After filling up millions of holes in the walls of my last apartment, I'm hesitant to start putting holes in my pretty new, blank walls. I've been scouring Pinterest, watching lots of HGTV, and reading my favorite blogs for inspiration, but haven't taken the leap quite yet! Will keep you posted.

Last but not least: For all you Craigslisters out there - ever want a tool that would let you browse CL by image instead of by title? Guess what? That exists!! Check out picclick.com and it'll save you tons of time. Yes, no more clicking through coffee table posts and being disappointed with this.

New Goal: Pincha Mayurasana

Time: Last Sunday, 10:30am
Place: Power Yoga, East Studio

Instead of focusing on my breathing and being "in my own space", my gaze was set on watching the girl behind me pop up to forearm stand from dolphin pose. She did it so easily! So much control and openness in her shoulders. Thus, the new goal: get to Pincha Mayurasana by the the end of 2012. Want to try? TGF-Youtube tutorials!

...I should probably add "stop looking at other people in yoga classes" to that goal list as well...:)

Photo Credit: kasuma.yoga on flickr

Thought Of the Day

by the acid dream spaceship via briana rose

The Art of Making

If you have three and a half minutes to spare, watch this beautiful short on how a guitar is made...you will be inspired, I promise!

5 Things I'm Grateful For (with a special emphasis on #5)

1. A cup of coffee on Sunday morning

2. Sashimi Platters - delicious...DELICIOUS....options that fit in this crazy low-carb thing I'm trying

3. Inheriting some fresh flowers - even if they weren't originally intended for me :)

4. My Honda Fit - my car, Bruce, is amazing. It can fit SO MUCH and does way more than get me from point A to point B. I don't give it enough credit for being reliable and awesome.

5. The most thoughtful, wise, organized, crafty, level-headed, adventurous, loving, strong and quirky MA a girl could ask for. (Happy Mother's Day, Mom...how's that Grand Canyon treating you?!)

Happy.

5 Things That I'm Grateful For, in no particular order:

1. Moby - the extra furry one who wakes me up in the morning with purrs and kisses. I don't even need an alarm clock, he is that consistent.

2. Netflix & RedBox - as a girl on a budget, I appreciate having a library of movies available at my fingertips at home instead of going out to the theaters.

3. Arizona Ave - Running outside would be much less appealing without Arizona Ave, my straight shot (and flat!) route to the beach.

4. Quiet Neighbors - it hasn't always been this way, but our apartment building is finally quiet and peaceful. It no longer feels like I'm living in a post-college dorm! Wahoo!

5. Family nearby - my sister lives only a few minutes away and I appreciate having a  home away from home. Sometimes you just want to wear your PJ's somewhere else, right?

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This list is brought to you by a documentary called Happy. Last weekend, Jackie, Nats and I couldn't decide on a Sunday night movie (too many options! See #2) and decided to watch this documentary that explores what causes human happiness. One of the things that I learned is that 50% of what causes our happiness is in our DNA (our general disposition), and our surrounding circumstances only account for 10%! The remaining 40% is up to you; essentially, we have the power to determine our own happiness.

I don't know about you, but I'm often always thinking about whatever's next for me. What's my next apartment going to be like? Is my job turning into my career? Do I want it to? What city will I explore next? My favorite part of Happy was when the producers visited Okinawa, Japan and they interviewed a woman who farmed all her life. She had a huge smile on her face and found her happiness in being outside, growing her own food and feeding her community on her chemical-free produce. She seemed to have no worries about a 401K, debt, or "needing" _______ (you fill in the blank). Another woman was 106 years old and she looked fantastic! Her secret? Lots of sleep and a cup of sake every night! If I remember correctly, she lived on Okinawa her entire life and she was content because she had found a community and support system in her neighborhood, family and friends. Society today tells us that we have to make "this much" money to be happy. We have to have "this many" friends. We have to accomplish "this cool thing" to feel fulfilled. But that's not necessarily true...sometimes I feel like we have it all wrong.

There are so many more take-aways from this documentary, but for the purpose of this post I will focus on one. Do this Daily: List out 5 things that you are grateful for, or 5 things that make you happy, and it can have a profound effect on your overall happiness. Seems easy enough!

(If you made it this far...WOW...congrats!)

So...what makes you happy today?

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Photo credit: "Daydreamer" by Tvir on Flickr

Invite a little bit of chaos in...

An interview between 2 very creative & musical ladies.

"Ugliness is confrontational in a way that's really kind of satisfying. Once you get past it...at first you may say 'eugh this is sour I don't like the taste of this ... oh SH** I want more!' there's something about it. I'm not sure. Invite a little bit of that chaos in...it's powerful!" - Annie Clark (on the right, the one who isn't an Erin Cooley doppelganger)

Getting back into it.

I have been in such a creative rut. The projects at work have become creatively demanding lately (not complaining!) but I find that at the end of the day, I haven't had much energy left for anything except maybe a few hours of TV or some time with a book. The fact that I've totally gotten sucked into the Hunger Games series probably doesn't help either. Oh, and that pesky cold that won't go away.

All sewing endeavors have been on a huuuuuge hold. I don't think I've made something since December - yikes - and I have to admit, I've had the same skirt 3/4 of the way done on my mannequin for much too long. When it comes down to it, I'm a little intimidated to get back into sewing clothes again. I have huge expectations for myself. I want everything to be perfect but I don't have the patience to figure it out on my own. Whine whine complain complain. I just need to get back into it. SO when I saw Wiksten posted some downloadable patterns, I was inspired to give one a go.


I downloaded her tank top pattern and read through the instructions. Everything seems easy peasy. No zippers or button holes. The perfect little tank that'll hopefully ease me back into the sewing world. As an added bonus, it has the same shape as a top that I talked myself out of purchasing yesterday. I'm over the exposed zipper anyway - and $50? Yeah right Urban.

Wish me luck!

New Music Video From Josh Ritter

Wow. Stop-motion with construction paper. What next?! Whenever I see this kind of thing, I am just in awe and wonder of how these artists (apparently a team of 20) didn't tear their hair out throughout this whole process. I can't imagine the level of patience it would take to pull off these intricate cut-outs.

Apparently it took 12,000 pieces of construction paper and there were no extra effects applied in post. Insane.

Knits.

Totally inspired by Jenny over at Wiksten.

She makes knit hats look so easy and flawless!

I received a book dedicated to knit hats for Christmas with some beautiful cool grey baby alpaca yarn. I'm tackling another hat but I've had to start over at least three times! Even had to youtube what a "tubular cast-on" was. Thank goodness for Youtube! Without it, I don't know what us visual learners would do.

Hopefully this wasn't a fluke. I'll report back once I get the hang of it!

house bunny // from me, to you

I'm a little slow to discover the photography blog, From Me to You, but now that I have, I know I'll be visiting often! If you're new to Jamie Beck's work, be sure to set aside a few hours because the world through her lens is beautiful and addicting.

She has a little segment called "At Home With..." where she takes snapshots of the most amazing NY apartments. When I saw these photos of Erica Cerulo's pet bunny, Ernie, my heart just melted. Her Brooklyn apartment is also jaw-droppingly awesome -- but nothing beats this little guy and his floppy ears!

2 cats and a bunny - can I do it? 

Crazy for Ilana Kohn

Wow. Just wow.

I've been following Ilana Kohn's blog for a while now and I'm always inspired by her handmade creations. She's been experimenting with a new marbling technique all summer (seriously, how amazing is this?) so it's so cool to see the final result. Many of the pieces in her new B+W holiday collection feature this new technique but this scarf, in particular, is just gorgeous.

Check out more of her thoughtful creations here and cheers to all things handmade!

Happy November!

It's finally starting to feel like fall in my neck of the woods. Pumpkin-flavored everything, lots of hot caramel, spiced soups and ciders. Stores are stocked with cable-knit sweaters and warm fall colors...so cozy.

I'm loving the new gourd-tastic Anthropologie window displays. Whoever thought of hanging gourds from hand-dyed and wrapped/bound ropes is genius. Could you imagine having the time to just think about how to creatively display gourds? Talk about dream job!

A Quilt for My Sis

I finally finished Nats' birthday quilt! She moved into her new apartment and was looking for something that would add a splash of color to her bedroom so I offered to make her something. We saw this pattern* floating around on Pinterest and I thought I would give it a try...I'm so happy with the way it turned out! This is a sized down version since she just needed a little blanket to cozy up under while watching the Thursday night line up.

A lot of needlework went into this project. I hand-sewed the backside of the red binding to the back of the quilt and since I was never taught how to quilt, I just improvised instead of stitching in the ditch.

Nats, I apologize ahead of time if there is cat hair lovingly sewn into this. I can't help that my assistants tend to shed.



Hooray for finished projects!

*It's called a "Wedding Quilt" because the original pattern-maker designed it as a wedding gift. Consider yourself lucky Nats! You got a quilt without the commitment!

The Principle Business of Life

Good reminders.

seen via Flickr blog // Photo by i enrapture
B. seen via ice cream is better with a fork

A Little Nostalgia Never Hurt Anyone

The independent coffee shop across the street from my office prides itself in its fancy European espressos. Since it's the kind of coffee shop that doesn't offer drip coffee (!) and charges $5 a drink, the snooty atmosphere normally trumps convenience. It wasn't until last week that I discovered their awesome baguette sandwiches, reminiscent of a typical German lunch when I was studying there years ago. Prosciutto, red pepper, a little lettuce...NOM (also, no wonder I got a little pudgy that year). Normally I pile any and every ingredient in my sandwiches, but the simplicity of these ones really allow you to taste the yumminess of the baguette.

Cue nostalgia. Cue wanderlust. Didn't I just go on vacation? After studying abroad in Europe for a year, I thought that I may be "done" with that corner of the world for a while, especially since there's so much more of the globe to explore. Yet something about that baguette changed my mind...I can't stop thinking about those cobblestone streets. Jordan Ferney's recent post on the Parisian Vélib bike-rental system didn't help either. 

Since that first baguette sandwich last week, I've had it again two more times (sidenote: there are so many European-style cafes along the Santa Monica promenade. Who knew?)

Get me to Europe! I'd do so well here...

Image credits: Baguette via Pinterest // Vélib via Jordan Ferney | Oh Happy Day // Photo taken by me in Amsterdam