summer days driftin' away

happy august!  it may sound crazy, but i'm already beginning to feel a bit nostalgic for summer 2011.  i know, i know, it's the heart of summer, but i fear autumn will be here sooner than i would like -- really, where did july go? -- so i am already plotting ways to prolong the season and bring that summertime feeling right into my home.

no matter the date on the calendar i think any of the following lovely items would do the trick, don't you?

image courtesy anthropologie

image via overstock

walking around the house barefoot in cooler weather would be no problem with either the spiny lobster rug from anthropologie or this coral branch beauty from thomas paul to keep my tootsies warm.  aren't the creamsicle® colors wonderful?

image via the container store 

how about this rugby stripe bin with nautical rope handles to store sandals and sunscreen now, mittens and mufflers later.  or, use it for your collection of these.  (c'mon, admit it, you have one or two or twenty of them, don't you?)

image via votivo

for an aromatic touch, a candle the color of beach sand that smells like the sea!

 image via outer banks trading group

and, finally, i'd really like this sailfish to hang over my bed.  an art canvas as headboard that would surely inspire sweet dreams of summer.

tgif: orange

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!

tgif: white

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!

are we there yet?

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!

hooray...

...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.

you're a firework

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. 

tgif: purple

the jacarandas have dropped all their gorgeous purple buds, june is over, and suddenly, it seems like summer is really here.  could have something to do with the fact that i have been on vacation for the past week, traipsing all over LA with visiting family, and eating myself silly.  oh, and i may have had a glass of wine or two...

well, cheers to that!  see you next week.

seventies bells

image courtesy gap

image courtesy bloomindales

image courtesy shopbop

image courtesy LePoisson's etsy shop

i just bought these retro bell-bottoms at the gap and now i am obsessed with finding the perfect seventies-style top and accessories to go with them: tooled leather, platforms, gauzy lace-trimmed cotton tunics...  

perhaps i am having some sort of flashback to my childhood, because the above inspirations are really approaching costume status rather than modern interpretation.  ah, well, i like it.  makes me want to listen to this.  and some of this, too.  at least, for the moment, my hair is more arizona muse than stevie nicks (btw, how cute is she twirling that baton?), so there's that.

anyway, vacation starts tuesday.  let's hear it for the one-day work week.  happy monday! 

june gloom

it's nearly summer.  my calendar tells me so.  here in southern california that means gray skies that usually burn off by mid-afternoon.  you know, if we're lucky.  if not, like this past weekend, it's dreary and chilly all day long and you layer accordingly.  (of course, you could go twenty minutes down the road and find it's raining, or, in the other direction, that it's hot and sunny.  unpredictable, i tell you.)  

yesterday i left the house in a cashmere sweater and a jacket, fully prepared for the morning chill and the unrelenting air conditioning in my office.  later, as i walked to lunch with a couple of friends, i regretted not having my sunglasses.  no biggie...just a little glare.  by the time we returned to the office, however, it was so warm i found myself scrounging through my gym bag in search of a clean t-shirt to change into for the rest of the day.  i found one and, oh, i wore it proudly, because there's nothing i like better than sporting a logo-adorned, standard issue gym shirt in the workplace.  with a pencil skirt, tights, and ankle boots.  yeah, stylish.

so, mother nature, i'm confused.  i'm trying to be patient, but for the sake of my costumes, can we get on with it already?

in the interim, here are some pictures of recent days when things weren't so confusing (though, i am still confused about this):

1. wild mint growing through the boards of my deck

2. sunlight on miniature roses, chez bb

3. flower kiosk, lyon, france

4. flats of geraniums, also lyon

5. blue skies at castle green

mellow yellow

i just uploaded my photos of our little memorial day backyard barbecue and noticed quite a bit of yellow.  it really was a bright sunny day!

down the shore*

image courtesy J. Crew

image courtesy west elm

image courtesy call me jasper's etsy shop

image courtesy shiny chick's etsy shop

image courtesy jill bent

i hope you had a wonderful memorial day!  now that the summer has unofficially begun, i am beginning to think of all things beachy: the ocean, hot sand, salty breezes, sailboats, and the fragrance of coppertone.  in that spirit, i wouldn't mind if all of these seashore-inspired items made it into my summer wardrobe and decor.  sigh, if only i had a little beach cottage to escape to...

*how we say it in jersey.