peonies too beautiful...

to keep to myself. You can get them at Trader Joes at the moment. $5.99 per bunch. Insane, right? They are perfectly gorgeous and get bigger and more luscious every day. I literally watched them open on Sunday evening. It was amazing.

recycled houses

This is quick because we're just about to get in the car to head to the mountains for the weekend.

My friend Danielle sent this link from a little story the New York Times did on a crafty old gentleman who builds/remodels houses using seriously recycled materials.

The photos are so beautifully inspiring, aren't they?











Floor made out of corks! Ceiling made from frame corners!

Thanks for the link Danielle.

flowers from sweden

many flowers on the internet today. these are quite seriously, shockingly, almost sickeningly beautiful.

I don't speak Swedish, but I do understand pretty pictures... so I think I get the gist.



Seriously? Gasping. That last one... geez.

As if Saipua doesn't come up with enough petal laden content on her own, she posted this:

59Buketter.se

australian seed pods

I have a strong, to quite strong, obsession with seed pods. Some people collect sand from the beaches they've visited or rocks or matchbooks or beer coasters from european pubs. All of which are completely legitimate collecting obsessions. I on the other hand quietly accumulate seed pods. And if it means carrying an 18 inch pod for a full 60 minutes during a run, around an island, wielding it like a wooden saber, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Australia, as it turns out, has neat pods. And it's questionable whether any of them were supposed to make it through customs, but WHATEVER it was my honeymoon. I needed them for my remembering.











Also, I would like to note that I lugged home an entire bag full of scraps and labels and receipts and coasters for the making of our honeymoon scrapbook. I am COMPLETELY committed to starting and finishing this project. (Finishing not so much a strong point for me). Sometime. Hopefully this year.

the biggest day

From our honeymoon, Gertrude Street (our FAVORITE street) in Melbourne.

See, everybody has been waiting for this day. Not just us. I can't possibly sum up how important today feels in this quick post before the speech. Plus there are other blogger friends out there who have probably prepared something lovely, so I'll leave the heartfelt analysis to them.

I will just say that my happiness cup runneth over. And it's coming out my eyes.

PS. I happen to LIKE Michelle's outfit. Not many people can rock that color. Did you see her neat green gloves?

friday morning...

filtered light, sun, fog.



hope everyone has a happy wintery (whatever that means for you) weekend.

our wedding: the ring bowl turned ornament

Confession: I had a ring bowl made. But we didn't use it. It's just that I love Paloma's Nest too much to pass it up. We didn't have a ring bearer or flower girl, instead Brock's brother and best man carried the rings in his pocket. It seemed a little awkward to make a 29 year old guy carry a teeny ceramic ring bowl down the aisle, you know?

And from the beginning, I knew we'd mostly be using it as an ornament on our tree. My parents have an "our first christmas" ornament on their tree and I've always kind of liked the sentiment.

I had the Shakespheare quote that we used on our programs and in our ceremony stamped into our bowl. I like that it doesn't say our names or our wedding date or any traditional wedding-y thing. Instead it's just a pretty, handmade reminder of our wedding and our vows and the awesome time we had that night.



love love love Paloma's Nest. And I promise this is the last Christmasy post.

more etsy things to love

I've been trolling etsy. again. I can't stop myself. It's like a black hole once you start clicking,

mudpuppy






makes the cutest little ceramics. just when i think i can never look at another owl, i see these teeny ornaments and NEED.


also, there is lilfishstudios



and her perfect felted acorns in a range of colors.

why are little, thoughtful things so irresistable this time of year?

firey-eyed polaroids

Have you seen Nectar & Light? sooo pretty. i made a few purchases this afternoon from her etsy store... FOR PRESENTS. not for me. me will come later when the season for giving has passed. but i already have mine picked out.



(i think i originally found a link to her blog from P? cannot remember, but P's blog is muy excellente anyway.)

the one i've been waiting for all year

I have a thing for under appreciated flowers. And foods actually for that matter. I fall happily into line in what Molly from Orangette calls the Parade of Underappreciated Vegetables each winter. Anything odd and bitter, uncommon and under loved is welcome in my kitchen anytime. The same goes for flowers and plants - especially the shaggy, spiny, not quite flowery Protea/Banksia family. Which is kind of like the kohlrabi of flowers, both being curious and semi-prehistoric looking.

Isn't it neat? It's kind of photogenic with all it's varied textures and colors.





Happy holiday season. I can't believe it's December.

more on pumpkins

from the grande dame herself, of course:



These are old news to those who love Martha "regular" (as I like to refer to the original publication) like I do, but I couldn't resist posting them now that I have time.

I LOVE this. Look how many varieties of pumpkin-like squashes there are. And up until a few years ago we've all been stuck with the boring jack-o-lantern sort.

Here's to growing and purchasing heirloom varieties. For why, might I suggest reading The Botany of Desire if you haven't yet? C'est tres excellente!

I'm going to the farmer's market now, because I can.

Heath LA + seasonal beauties

So I was innocently stalking my, I mean OUR, registry a few afternoons ago and there on Heath's homepage was just one teeny new thing... under Sausalito (the original and thus far only store) was another city! Mine. I feel like I've just won the lottery. Next thing you know, they'll be putting in a Ferry Building in my neighborhood. (I can wait until 2010, it's fine). Hee hee.



(accidental obama plug, but how f*ing great is that?)

Factory seconds at any moment. It's like the design gods came down to earth and validated LA. I am such a nerd.

Also. The new seasonal collection is out. It's pretty rad.

pretty pretty gift bag for very crafty peoples

Look how sweet these are:



From Modern Country, a really beautiful blog from Norway that I like to visit when I need some grey and white in my life. Which is regularly. I would like a weekend home in the country that feels like her blog.

Wouldn't they be great favor bags if you had a very small wedding and a lot of time on your hands?

handmade dress to the max

Look at this completely beautious dress made from, ready?, a vintage embroidered sheet. This deserves a "wtf!" don't you think!?



My friend Olivia (friend and member of Laura's Georgia bride tribe as well as one of the brains behind Farm255) sent this over as bridal inspiration last evening. WOW.

This is some unreal DIY. The bride's friend Rebecca found an inspiring antique sheet and, with the help of friends, crafted her wedding dress from it's length. I love the textures and history in vintage textiles. And how amazing are those handmade flowers decorating the neckline of her dress?

r. wood studios, a beautiful ceramics studio in Athens, Georgia, is to thank for sharing this bit of loveliness with the wide world of internets. You can read the story and see more pictures here.

piglets make everyone smile

My friendy Laura, whose beautiful wedding I have yet to post photos of as promised, sent this photo of their new piglets this morning.



10 piglets all lined up next to 450 lb mamma. I do need a farm. In a seriously bad way. Especially after touring Jora's amazing home (complete with raised beds and 9 chickens) on simple lovely yesterday.

Soooo make that a mid-century styled home with farm-like tendencies. And probably no pigs, though they are very cute.

little pumpkins

How sweet is this?



From Little Blue Love, on greatest site in the world, Etsy.

misa jewelry for beachy brides or just every day

I've been meaning to post about Misa Hamamoto's amazing jewelry line since I started this blog, and look at me finally remembering. Misa is a friend who, don't hate her she's the nicest person in the world, quit her 9-5 to do what she really loves... make beautiful and inspired jewelry. I have a few pieces and I can tell you that I SERIOUSLY love mine.

But when she first came over and showed me her collection I was thinking, every single piece would be BEAUTIFUL for a beachy wedding.





You can find her jewelry in (west) Los Angeles only right now, but you should most certainly email her with inquiries. She is, again, the nicest person I've pretty much ever met.

If you're in LA, stop by:

Firefly in Venice
Market in Brentwood Village
Wicati in Westwood
Uzu in Manhattan Beach

If you're lusting from afar, go to her website for the whole collection and contact information: misajewelry.com

meet Stapelia, my most favorite plant

I've been fighting the suspicion that fall is sneakily nudging the warm days of summer out of the air. I love fall. It's by far my favorite season, which is why we're getting married in October. It's just that I'm not really ready to give up on warm nights requiring no sweater. But then again I'm giddy with the subtle change in the light, with the hard squashes piling up at the farmer's market, with that tiny chill that settles over our bed in the early morning.

And of course with the blooming of the coolest succulent on my front porch.



I snipped a little clipping of this guy from a planter in front of a DWP building in Marina Del Rey years ago. I couldn't live without these wild flowers and I decided no one in the public works department would notice a tiny sprig gone missing. The plant part of the Stapelia Gigantea is nothing special, just a regular cactus-y looking thing, but the flowers are bigger than my hand and feel strangely like rubbery flesh. AND they apparently smell like rotting meat in order to attract flies for pollination, but I've never noticed a thing... except for the flies. That part really works.

Isn't it so cool?

our envelopes have arrived

so, for those wondering whether to calligraph or not... um, yes. You should. Look:




We found our box of envelopes waiting on our porch last night when we got home late (I was at work, cutting envelope liners like a good DIYer) and I was absolutely starved for dinner, but couldn't touch a bite until I looked at every single one. They are so beautiful and perfect and completely exceeded my expectations... which for the record, were fairly high to begin with. I am in heaven.

And now everything is starting to feel very real. Heading to the press check today at lunch for our invites. Nervous! I'm not a print designer so I'm perpetually scared of making a huge ugly mistake when I have to design for paper. But our envelopes turned out okay so that's making me feel a little better. You can see our little honey comb details in the photos above. We did a blind emboss on them that included some little details on the front and our return address on the back flap.

Heading into full-on wedding mode. As in go to work in anything I grab off the floor of the laundry room, unbathed, with dirty hair in the interest of saving all energy and time for wedding related projects.

Thank you again Jenna Hein for your amazing work!

passion fruit flowers for fun

Some pretty passion fruit flowers to start the week off. Aren't these the coolest? I love them. The vine grows like crazy, but it's so beautiful I have a hard time cutting it back. And look, a real passion fruit! Actually, I'm not entirely sure if it's real, in the sense that you can eat it, but I'm still excited for it.



And coincidence! Purple is so in these days... seriously, I am wishing I would have chosen plum for my bridesmaids dresses. Would have been so much easier on everyone. But we're in too deep now. 2 months from today. YAY! (i think).