hey, it's friday already! and, paradoxically, it's friday at long last. this week was both tedious and fleeting and, ultimately, just plain exhausting.
so, in the spirit of the summer weekend, this week's tgif color is orange. it's warm and happy and, among other things, orange represents enthusiasm, creativity, and attraction. it also stimulates the appetite. yeah, that would explain the po' boy, side of hushpuppies, and the spicy espresso chocolate bar that a couple of these photographs recall.
whether you toss the sunblock and a blanket into your favorite blue-striped, crab-adorned tote and head to the beach or visit a local museum to see an incredible collection of prehistoric wolf skulls, i hope you make the most of your weekend. (i plan to.) may it energize and delight you and leave you hungry for more!
this week is going by so fast...it's been a blur! not only is work really busy right now, i seem to be feeling the dog days of summer more than usual this year. it isn't particularly hot here, despite the sudden and appalling appearance of men wearing shorts and flip flops in the workplace, but that's another post for another day. (by the way, did anyone else catch this?)
perhaps it's the busy pace during the day that makes me so ineffectual and unmotivated when i get home in the evenings. there are things to do, of course. some of them nag at me. worse, some pop into my head at random moments: while driving, just as i'm about to drift off to sleep, while pouring my morning coffee... never does one occur, though, at a time or in a place where i'm in any position to do anything about said nagging task, which will, inevitably, leave my addled brain shortly thereafter.
i strive for a balance between work and life, but this week work is definitely winning. so, life, next week it's gonna be you and me. just you wait!
look who helped himself to the "dog's bar" at happy hour!
happy monday, bunnies!
seen tonight last night on my way to meet a friend for dinner, bees gathering above the entrance to l'occitane.
well, who can blame them? l'occitane products smell incredible.
more importantly, by the time i got to dinner i was all abuzz (forgive me), which led to an interesting discussion about the honey bee shortage and colony collapse disorder. nerdy conversation, perhaps, but interesting. and, in typical fashion, i had to do a little additional research when i got home. for more information about what you can do to help save the honey bee, click here. or here.
i am sure this little guy, and his friends, will thank you!
i have never had any luck getting an orchid to rebloom until recently. the beauty on the right in the top photo (and really close up, in the third) is my first success! this is the only time, ever, that i haven't had to admit defeat and throw a (clearly) dead orchid in the trash, sighing a bit over my black thumb, and feeling guilty at my failure.
but, at long last, by following this unusual advice, i have been able not only to keep this orchid alive, but to make it thrive. this may have nothing at all to do with my ability to follow strange advice, but i'm not going to let that prevent me from feeling like some sort of gardening savant. every single bloom opened! i know some people manage this sort of thing all the time, but i am not one of them. that is, until now. now, i give my orchid a little left over coffee once in a while. now, it blooms. now, i'm the orchid whisperer.
this week, i love the idea of white for the usual friday tgif theme. it's crisp, elegant, summery. it's also, based on my photographic documentation at least, sometimes quite sweet. i am inspired to try to replicate those pillowy café du monde beignets in the last photo and am considering this recipe. or, one could buy the mix (i won't tell if you don't). note to self: stock up on confectioners' sugar.
thank you and welcome to my new visitors this week, too. happy weekend, all!
already, this week has been too hectic and i'm exhausted. i'm not sure what to expect with the arrival of Carmageddon in l.a. this weekend, but given the slow pace of my drive to the gym this evening, the car is not going to factor into my plans. i will be glad to have some time at home and a little enforced rest, because right now all i really want to do is a whole lot of this:
take a cat nap in a shady corner of the yard.
find a little fountain somewhere within walking distance -- since the ocean will likely be inaccessible -- so i can enjoy the soothing sounds of trickling water.
catch up on some very important magazine perusal, while dining on meals that don't require turning on the oven. And...
Scrabble©.
i also would like to finish at least one of the three books i'm currently reading. (if i can keep my eyes open for that long.)
almost there -- happy wednesday!
my dear san francisco friends were here this weekend, so saturday was spent catching up with them over glasses of wine, learning about the avengers from my favorite four-year old, "crashing" a family dinner, sipping mojitos, comparing manicures and sparkly headbands with a sweet six-year old girl, naming our if-you-could-go-anywhere-in-the-world travel destinations, reminiscing, philosophizing, and planning a visit to bay area before the summer is over.
on sunday, a shopping trip with another friend yielded the softest summer-weight sweater, new chinos two sizes too big -- for the perfect slouch -- and watch bands in bright summer colors, which i plan to customize with beads and wear as bracelets. and, because my eyes were bigger than my stomach at brunch, i took the remaining half of my chocolate almond croissant home and ate it for dinner. yep, i'm just crazy like that.
here's to a good week. happy monday!
from a recent afternoon visit to the beach: a walk on the pier, an ocean the color of sea glass, a mosaic water wall, beach cruisers in happy jewel tones, and the aftermath of a lovely lunch featuring minty green tables.
bon weekend à tous!
...for the red, white, and blue. also, the taupe, red, and blue, the speckled egg blue, and the green foo dog!
i took these during a recent visit to rolling greens nursery , which has the most incredible selection of planters and garden decor, and which inspired a little sprucing up of my own miniature garden. more to come on that topic, as well as pictures of the actual green stuff (orchids, succulents, air plants, oh my!) that can be had there. for now, i'm content to gaze upon these pretty things...no watering required.
just a few snaps from independence day, a quiet one for me despite the rumblings of fireworks in the distance, which is okay. the fourth of july is not my favorite holiday, for reasons unrelated to patriotism, my belief that we have the best flag design in the world, and fond memories of playing betsy ross in my second grade school play.
so, i went to the bookstore because, although lately i've been rereading everything on my bookshelves in an effort to fill some donation bags, i was desperately craving something new. i left empty-handed and a little disappointed, though, because i had a movie to catch. a movie about paris, in fact. and that made me glad to have failed to choose a new book because now i just want to immerse myself in fitzgerald for the rest of the summer.
later, at home, i followed the sound of the distant fireworks outside and discovered i could see them from the comfort of my driveway. and i found neighbors milling around in the streets enjoying them, as well. it was a nice way to end the day, adding just the right note of holiday spectacle to my low-key day, which i topped off with a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, a quintessential summer holiday dessert, just because it seemed like the summery thing to do.
