lunch

i was home for lunch today (a very rare weekday occurrence). on the menu: open faced quesadillas with garbanzo bean salad. wait, let me explain. place medium cheddar and pepper jack cheeses onto 2 corn tortillas, melt to your liking. in a bowl, mix 1 can of drained, cooked, garbanzo beans, chopped raw zucchini, chopped raw carrot, several chopped radishes, and a small handful of chopped cilantro. squeeze fresh lemon juice over beans & veg, stir in a generous amount of olive oil. salt & pepper to taste. it's best if you let the garbanzo bean salad sit for a few hours prior to assemblage. after the cheese has melted nicely, remove from heat, add several avocado slices, spoonfuls of garbanzo bean salad, and fresh salsa to taste. does this sound weird? no, i'm not pregnant!

vintage SEARS

last week, we suffered through a mini heat wave, and i thought it would continue through summer, much like last year. then suddenly, the temperature dropped about 15 degrees, and it's been gloomy ever since. fog and gloom are my favorite, so i'm not complaining. it's forced me to bundle up a bit. i want to be bundled up like the girl in this SEARS ad! everything about this ad is spot on.

p.s. can you see the reflections of the photographer squatting and an assistant standing in the window?

sushi, yum!

my original dinner idea included pesto, cannellini beans, and oven roasted vegetables, but today's weather inspired my taste buds to request sake (rice alcohol). pictured: fresh sake (salmon) & maguro nigiri and sushi rolls with avocado, and rustic (and probably not at all authentic, but quite heavenly) egg flower soup, which i believe is actually a chinese dish; all from whole foods. i made a delicious cocktail by squeezing home-grown oranges and grapefruits into a pretty greenish-glass and adding cold sake (rice alcohol). i think it would have been marvelous with a little fresh mint, but i couldn't wait.

have a playful friday

photo via marco pietracupa

where will your adventures take you this weekend?

it's earth day

jessica williams via paperheart

not to get all preachy-preachy, but do something kind for the earth today. our dear girl is old, and she needs our love and support to keep pushing through for the next couple thousand years.

and... happy birthday jorge!

fire on the mountain

wowsers, what a nice morning surprise. i know, i just complained (see p.s. in the post below) about the rapidly rising temperatures, but, i have to send a huge thanks to the atmosphere for generating the goods (okay, fine, thank you heat) to create this sunrise.

i want to live here

summer home in stockholm. photos by martin lof via apartment therapy.

anytime the weather reaches unbearable (above 83) limits, i begin to wish i still lived on northern california's foggy coast. in the meantime, these photos will help transport me to a much cooler place.

p.s. is it summer already? i know global warming has run amok, but i seriously won't be able to handle months of this sweltering heat. i know, i'm such a baby.

spring's treasures

these (and more) sprouted randomly in the middle of our back lawn. i like to call these wild cat tails.

perfect ending to a crazy day

photo via la times

when i awoke to embark on my friday morning, i had no idea that the rest of my day would be filled with so many surprises. i'll make the long story short by providing key incidents and phrases: hit and run (yes, in an intersection filled wth people, the guy actually thought that backing away from the scene, slowly, was a good idea). early-mid morning blur. home-visit, very rough part of los angeles (imagine me, walking the streets in my vintage boots, with a large trader joe's bag filled with games, looking lost and majorly out of place). client's mother asked where i parked, some 4 blocks away, she let out a gasp and said, "That's too far!" i'm doomed.
on my way home via side streets, i professed my interest in another not-yet-up-and-coming area, stating, "things are really shaping up around here." minutes later, gentleman with clown triangle tattoos above and below both eyes began smoking a cigarette through his trac-tube. i need a drink!

after much debate, nick and i decided to head over to one of my favorite restaurants for fondue. i also discovered a tasty champagne cocktail that dates back to the 17th century. here's the recipe: soak a sugar cube in bitters, drop it into a flute, fill the flute with champagne and prosecco. interesting flavor combination, not too sweet.

hollis brown thornton

No One Knows What Colors or Patterns the Dinosaurs Were, permanent marker on paper

VHS, acrylic, pigment transfer on canvas

TV Room (Entry Hall Wallpaper), acrylic, pigment transfer on canvas

i love these, for so many reasons. see more artwork here.

this week's inspiration

photo via wendy bevan

still unwinding from last week=restless sleep all weekend. sometimes my best, most creative ideas are born via tangled sleep. i'm looking forward to spending some quality time working with repurposed materials and my hands in the coming days.

april is grilled cheese month

april is a month full of celebrations including earth day, passover, easter, and unknown to me until this very morning, the grilled cheese sandwich! nick and i pay homage to the grilled cheese often and typically twist things up a bit. yesterday we whipped up a little something we like to make every now and then: a st. andre brie-prosciutto di parma-crossiant sandwich. here's how we do it: slice open a fresh croissant. spread room temp. st. andre brie on both sides. place open faced in a toaster oven for several minutes, check regularly for preferred meltiness. once it's to your liking, remove from toaster over, and place thinly sliced prosciutto di parma on top. yuuum! see what the creatives over at clementine are cooking up over the next few weeks in honor of the grilled cheese sandwich. and, how will you celebrate the big cheese?

Dark Mirrors--Marci Washington

solo show of the enigmatic work by oakland/san francisco, ca based artist Marci Washington. she states "I am interested in depicting a decadent society in the midst of crisis. I would like to tell a story set in a time that is both past and present - a carefully constructed collapse of historical time capable of revealing what is common between our society now and societies in the past, as well as what is unique to our particular historical moment..." in case you didn't know, marci even draws the wallpaper and carpets in her gigantic paintings by hand! if you're in the san francisco bay area, or planning to be there prior to May 16, check out her exhibit at the Rena Bransten Gallery.

sunshine & ocean breezes

photo via rodel la

spent the afternoon at my brother's new place in redondo. beautiful house in a sweet location. perfect if you're a 20-something, in love with the south bay beach scene.

happy monday

photos via toast

the weather has been unbeatable lately. these photos remind me of the simplest/best ways to celebrate spring. what about you?

concrete magic pt. 2

more concrete magic! this time, green leaf lettuce sprouting up in my grams' backyard.

central park

lovely juxtapose. i knew that very large building were built flush against the park, but there's nothing like seeing it all in person. and, a lucky surprise to see bergdorf's across the street!

huge rocks help add to the landscape.

i was hoping to see pale male and his (current) mate, lola, however, we never did (i'm glad to know he's still alive and thriving in the park!). these beautiful sparrows stopped long enough for me to take a few pics.

beehives and honeycombs at anthropologie

anthropologie near union square, NY

oh those geniuses at anthropologie, they never cease to amaze me. have you ever been able to stop yourself from entering? come on, their windows are purely come-hither in the most mild mannered, cheery, and tasteful of ways! the anthropologie near my house in LA has one lone honeycomb hanging in the window. but, being NY and all, of course the ante was upped!