the XX

I never post about music. Mostly because I don't consider myself to be someone who's on the cutting edge of new material. I love music, but I love other people to find it for me. But the XX needs a post because I've been listening to their album non-stop.



Wait, maybe I will just post one of their videos. Wow! So technological of me.



Take a listen here, on their site, or their myspace page, or on itunes or amazon or wherever you like to buy your music. And buy the whole album because it's meant to be listened to as a whole, if you ask me.

omfg this is the funniest thing I've ever read

Trust me on this one. You must read this blog. Probably every entry. Don't worry there are only like 200. I've read the most recent post, on being an adult, like 6 times since yesterday, when my friend Jen sent it over. And every time I laugh.





Here are a few others for you to enjoy:

Boyfriend doesn't have Ebola. Probably.
Emoticons for the advanced writer

At least it's Friday and you can spend the day reading the internet, even if you do happen to be at work.

note to self

It is not best to wear one's fanciest shoes to a cocktail party in a barn:



But see if I don't wear them to weddings, I will never wear them at all since I rarely leave the house for occasions that require me to put on clothes that do not contain at least 80% lycra... let alone high heels. So I had to just go for it.

Do not worry. They are clean and happy in their sleeper bag again.

Still in recovery from weekend away. The wedding was beautiful, Becky's dress was amazing. Hoping the photos are as lovely as the event. It turns out it's a wee bit less relaxing than it used to be to go away to a hotel. Not so much time lying by the pool and taking yoga classes at the spa. But they were serving one of my favorite chardonnays at the wedding so that was quite delicious.

More soon.

away we go

Has anyone else seen this? We watched it over the weekend and it was so cute. I swear we didn't have it at the top of our netflix queue because it happens to be about a young-ish couple preparing for their first baby. Didn't even realize that's what it was about. But that of course made me love it a little bit more.



It's sweet and funny and has a great cast... and the alternative parenting portion of the movie is HI-LARIOUS.

And the whole soundtrack is Alexi Murdoch. I like him, also contributing to my enjoyment of the movie.

currently reading/read

Not sure if anyone actually pays attention to what I'm allegedly reading over there in the right column, but in case you do I'd like to take a moment to discuss. I have not been reading Farm City for the last 2 months, just so you know. (Finally changed to Three Cups of Tea yesterday, as you can see). I'm terrible about updating that little bit and in the meantime have read many good books that you might want to pick up, if you're into that sort of thing.



Farm City was awesomely inspiring. If you're into growing food, or even just the idea of growing food, you should definitely read it. I tried to convince Brock we should get a pig. He wasn't keen.

And since then, I've read:

The Tipping Point - I know, it's super old. But I just found it while cleaning out our magazine basket and realized I hadn't read it. I love pop social theory books. (is that what you'd call them?)

Harry Potter, book 7 - FINALLY. I'm such a nerd. I didn't want to read it because then the entire series would be over. But I'm glad I did. It no longer stares at me from the bookcase.

Never Let Me Go - Excellent, sort of haunting and grey but thoughtful and lovely too.

Olive Kitteridge - I wasn't sure I was going to like this one when I started, but I did of course. The format is really interesting, little vignettes about a small town that all weave the story of the title character together.

Her Fearful Symmetry - I was a little uncertain about reading this one too. The Time Traveler's Wife was just so beautiful that I didn't want her next book to be less good. It was excellent. Completely different, but she has this way with language and storytelling that draws you in instantaneously.

I'm always terribly sad for a moment when I finish a good book. It's like you have to meet all new people again, just when you've really started to become friends.

My mission is to read as many books as possible before February. As if reading tons now will somehow fill up my reserves so Iwon't need to read for all of next year. Doubtful, but I'm giving it a go.

pound cake for the passing of an icon

I now present my post where I properly mourn the passing of Gourmet. I've been holding off because, I don't know, it doesn't seem real? Like how could the company that still publishes such editorial GEMS as Mens Vogue and Travel + Leisure (and sends them to unsuspecting customers for free, I might add) decide to close the best cooking and entertaining magazine in the universe? I am at a loss. I mean doesn't everyone with the slightest culinary leannings read Gourmet? Their recipes are not always 100% reliable, but I love their styling and I get excited every month when my copy appears in my mailbox.

Le sigh.



And to make it worse, they're not even finishing out the year. Just cutting us off with November. No index of Christmas cookies, no New Years Eve parties, no mulled wine. I feel a little betrayed. Especially because I just, not 3 weeks ago, renewed my subscription. So I am saddened. More so even than when Blueprint closed and I loved Blueprint. It was like a magazine made especially for me and women like me. But now Gourmet, an old but ever inspiring aunt, has left without so much as a goodbye.

I think this calls for pound cake. It feels like that sort of weekend. And perhaps I'll even make the brown butter version on the last page of the last Gourmet. Everything is better with brown butter.

(Poundcakes from this month's Martha and Gourmet)

things for the weekend

This week has been a wee bit tumultuous as far as work and things go and I'm so looking forward to the weekend to catch up with myself and clean and garden and bond with my space. Yes I'm weird and take unmentionable pleasure in tidying my house and then relaxing in it. Brock will be out of town so it's just me and the bump (or as my friend Nikki dubbed him/her, the sprout), and the chickens and my list of things to get done.



There's a much larger list of "things to accomplish before February" but that's another post altogether.

As for the weekend, here's the game plan:

1. Remove piles of craft supplies and fabric from the living room. Lug sewing machine back into it's hiding place in the guest room closet.

2. Package and mail 3 very important, very belated presents. I'm terrible with mail.

3. FINALLY unpack and clean vases/flower frogs from the wedding. Don't judge. They're sitting in boxes still. Must get them off the front porch.

4. Chicken coop. blaaah.

5. Harvest the family of pumpkins and hard squash lazing in the backyard sun. Time to clean up the garden. Though it's been so hot, it seems unwise to plant winter vegetables just yet.

6. This list is incredibly boring. But it's all I have for friday. And it will be so satisfying if I get everything done.

the weekend: wedding

I didn't take all that many pictures, actually. When you have an awesome photographer on hand, it seems silly to take photos yourself, you know? But I did take a few during the actual rehearsal because Michèle hadn't arrived yet...



a rather large wedding party, all lined up and waiting for instructions



the beautiful bride



the happy couple



sunset over the ocean



here comes the bride (and her dad)

I can't wait to see their real photos. So excited so excited so excited.

Michael from the Flashdance was the dance party DJ and he was in. sane. Like totally killed it. I haven't had that much fun in months, seriously. Blatant, shameless promotion here, but if you're looking for a DJ you HAVE to hire him. I'm certain that if someone else had been on the tables, the party would have been way less fun. As Melanie said, he's like musical crack. And if our wedding was next year, instead of last year, I would hire him in a nanosecond.

While we were milling about the lobby, waiting for photos to begin, one of you lovely readers stopped me and said hello (What's up Melissa!). OMG. I cannot believe that there are people who read my blog often enough that they would recognize me. Thanks so much for saying hi Melissa. The wedding was amazing and you should totally plan yours at L'Auberge, if you can convince them to squeeze in a few more people for the ceremony. And hire Michael!

Besides a lot of wedding fun, I went to a yoga class taught my first friend in san diego (we met in kindergarten), Wren. Anyone in north county looking for a sweet little studio with an excellent instructor should definitely drop by her class. She teaches Saturday at 9:00 am and Thursday at 7:00 pm.

And we managed to squeeze in a stop at Roberto's on the way out of town. I haven't had Robertos in probably 10 years. OMG it's good. Why aren't there taco stands like this in LA?

Melanie and Sky are on their way to the Maldives. Happy honeymooning you beautiful people! We have such a rad family.

pumpkin babies + fig update

Hi hi. I'm down in San Diego enjoying a morning of pure leisure as I wait for the big wedding festivities to begin this afternoon. I find that I'm exceptionally gifted when it comes to mornings of leisure and that I should have them more often than not.

First, look at this:




That's one of the pumpkins from our wedding last fall that my mom has had on the deck behind my parents' house since October. And look what happens to pumpkins when you leave them be. They make their own little incubator for sprouts! It's kind of rotting and decrepit but I thought it was too cool not to post.

Next, Brock and I went back to the fig trees yesterday morning (after I made that card) and ravaged them. Okay, not ravaged but we took a fair helping. No one seemed to mind? I'm crediting you all for the encouragement.



So now what to do... perhaps I'll go for a swim. And then I have to go down to Cedros to see if they have anything new and exciting since the last time I was here. It's a ridiculous ritual really, but I can't seem to break the habit. And then we're doing a practice session of the ceremony with Brock's younger brother (who is Melanie & Sky's officiant), and then... Mariachis and mexican food and rehearsal dinner.

And today is my parents' 32nd anniversary. Happy Anni, 'rents!

NPR's best beach reads- my votes

Have your seen NPR's best summer books contest? I usually don't play along with things like this, but when it comes to a list of 100 books, I can't resist.

This was ridiculously hard and quite shockingly emotional. I was practically choking back tears as I read through this long list of books at work. What is happening to me?? but there are so many memories associated with books, aren't there? Old favorites you read 10, 15 years ago and still remember how much you miss them. They are like old friends in a way. Or those more recent that were so beautiful, they still sting a bit when you think of them.

I suppose that makes me a bit of a book romantic. But the books you read, they're like a map of your life in some ways. Growing up in my family, you always had a book you were reading. It wasn't like oh, are you reading something? It was, what are you reading right now? Not, did you bring a book? But, where's your book? Yours. It's like part of your identity while it's on your nightstand.



My votes in no particular order
(My criteria for best beach read was more best vacation read. Most absorbing, all encompassing stories that are best read when you have hours and hours of free time, a cool drink and a spot in the sun)

east of eden
the harry potter series
the joy luck club
the poisonwood bible
pride & prejudice
the red tent
the time travelers wife
the bonfire of the vanities
the world according to garp (or any John Irving book)
the yiddish policemen's union (i loved kavalier and clay too, but this one somehow was better)


Others I wanted to vote for but seemed more like just really good books:

empire falls
heart of darkness
the corrections
the sun also rises
the wind up bird chronicles
the unbearable lightness of being
middlesex
the pillars of the earth
bridget jones (this being more a true beach read... hilariously endearing and all of that)

A few that were missing

eat pray love (UM, WHAT?? how did this not make the top 100 summer reads?)
infinite jest
the god of small things
my life in france (I know I'm reading it right now, but it's soooo good)
jitterbug perfume
forever amber (borderline historical romance, but a total epic nonetheless. 100+ 5 star reviews on Amazon. If you like historical fiction, you will LOVE this book. Like, loooooove.)
on the road


and like a bazillion more that I can't think of at this very moment. It's so hard to choose. I'm regretting a few of my decisions already.

beach, yay

This weekend was largely devoted to all things revolving around this:



Isn't Laura's belly neat? (being that this if our first baby of the group, we're all pretty amazed by this whole pregnancy thing). We played smashball for hours in our bikinis and I'm pretty sure our fellow beach go-ers were thoroughly entertained watching her lunge for balls with her belly in tow.



It's always so nice to spend time with your girls.

Also, we found this on the way to breakfast on Sunday morning:




Free flowers are awesome, but even better because my friend Katya just posted this guy on her blog last week and we happened to drive by the same spot. The magic of the blog world. I'm starting to think that everyone should have one, or at least all of my friends. It would be so much easier to keep up with each others' lives.

It was a good weekend. And this is a very short week. Wednesday night I'm off to Nantucket. Anyone have any must-do's while we're there?

weekend with the girls

I'm down in San Diego for the weekend, spending lots of time with my bestest girlfriends from college and celebrating our first baby on the way. The mama-to-be, Laura, came in from Georgia, Nikki flew in from Switzerland, Joy is down from San Fran... But we'll miss our reps from Washington, Hawaii, and Australia. Plus some of us are boring and just drove down from LA. We're so spread out in our advancing age but it's nice to come together whenever we can manage and just laugh for the entire weekend.

We'll be eating lots of eggs (and squash), so here... you can virtually share with us.



Happy weekending.

the weekend, on wednesday

So much for seeing you all on Monday. Some weeks are just like that, you know? First, a big hi-hello-welcome-thanks for coming over to peeps from Simple Lovely! It was so nice to see all of your sweet comments come in over the weekend. I do hope you enjoy yourself, and maybe even come back.

So much going on right now, some of which really doesn't make me want to sit in front of my computer at night, but then again this is fun too.

The weekend was... good.



We took a nice hike up through Temescal Canyon on Friday and found a few flowers still in the throws of spring. This one was so pretty with it's furry yellow insides. But what is it?




My brother did a demo at a glass studio open house (he's a glassblower), and it was really fun to watch him work. He's lived out of state since college and is finally back to start grad school. It's good to have a brother around.




I was pretty into the little bits of colored glass scattered under the work bench. I took one home (thinking I'd make it into a Christmas ornament?) but it broke into a hundred pieces in my purse. Like my brother said it would.




More prep for this weekend's party. So glad it's here, though I could use a few more weekends to make perfect little wine tasting bottle numbers and cards and things. Instead I made balsamic cherries for the cheese platter. They are divine and require little thought. Here is the "recipe": Balsamic, brown sugar, vanilla bean, cherries. I literally made it up over the stove.




And look who finally found the backdoor in a small, curious herd. They were so funny inching their way deeper into the laundry room and then the kitchen. We are getting to know each other, the chickens and I. Though, for the record, they are not allowed in the house. I had to get a picture before I shooed them out.

And now the week begins. And is almost over. It's weird how weeks do that.

blogger faves on simple lovely

Forgot to mention, I'm on Simple Lovely today sharing some of my favorite things. If you don't know Simple Lovely, you must go read Joslyn's blog. I totally love it. And she's so nice.

Kay, bye.

preparing and general puttering

Sorting through my linen closet in search of table cloths for the upcoming party, I found a little stack of handmade aprons from my great grandma. I love the old details. My mom's side of the family was an impressive DIY group, and truly I think the inspiration for my long-standing interest in kitchen crafts and homemade things.



The "winning hearts and minds cake" from A Homemade Life. It's now safely in the the freezer waiting. I really really hope it keeps as beautifully as Molly says.



I'm slightly appalled that I actually made something requiring three bottles of food coloring, but red velvet cupcakes seemed like such a fine, whimsical addition to my dessert spread. These are also stacked in the freezer for the next 2 weeks. I'm thinking coconut cream cheese frosting. Anyone have any better suggestions?

(Cupcake papers from Bake it Pretty. You will die if you haven't been to this site yet).



And fresh radishes. It's amazing how much spicier they are when they come from your own garden. I don't think I can ever go back. Luckily they grow super fast so if you keep reseeding, you'll always have them at the ready. I made a really delicious salad of radish, avocado, cilantro and lime on Sunday. I must make it again and share.

bits from the weekend

It's a sadly dreary monday this morning (um, summer? where art thou?), kind of rainy and grey and not at all the way I like to start the week. I also have to report to jury duty. Which I suppose is kind of perfect, in that monday sort of way. Though I do intend to march into the funny little waiting room and fill out the yellow slip of paper declaring my need for postponement. Again.

So instead of dwelling on such inconveniences as returning to work and fulfilling my civic duty, I will share some weekend shots. It was also grey, and fast, but moderately productive and always satisfying.



Thinning breakfast radishes. Always sad.




But less so when you get to feed the seedlings to your chickens. (I swear I will get tired of posting on the chickens one day).




4 eggs from 4 chickens... we sold the impossibly loud white one on craigslist on Saturday. Love craigslist.




Burgundy okra babies giving it a go in California. Everything grows in California, right?




Hung the lights for Melanie's shower. T-minus 3 weeks. Must start serious menu planning this week.




Pretty dried protea family flowers from last month. Love that they keep looking lovely even when you forget to refill their water for weeks.




And jewel-y roasted beets. Truly one of the most delicious of all simple foods.


There now. Maybe monday won't be so bad.

this is a rad idea

and I'm probably the last person in blogland to see these, but i've been off the blogs lately, people! If I even allow myself to visit one, it will spiral into an hour of clicking and staring and commenting. and we can't have that right now. too much going on and not enough time to sleep as it is.

which is why i just found sleeveface.





Pretty great. I want to make one.

found on Feather Love, (who has some great new work up right now).

merry belated xmas

So things were a leeetle bit crazy leading up to Christmas this year, due to a truly extraordinary feat of procrastination from yours truly. But we did get our house in order which always makes me happy when I get home from work and it's dark and cold. I love having lights on around the eaves, and on the tree. yay christmas decors!



look, it's our funky little house! all dressed up for December. I couldn't resist taking a picture a few weeks ago once I had it all cleaned up and ready for Sunday evening wine drinking and perusing of Gourmet/catching up on emails/spending QT with the computer.







And a few vintage ornaments from my grandma's collection that my mom gave me for my shower. Something about Christmas that makes vintage pretties a necessity.

I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas, if you celebrate, and an excellent few days of general relaxation if you don't.

We're in Mammoth now for a little snowboarding and general lazing by the fire. Everyone should laze by the fire for a few days during December, me thinks.

For those considering getting married...

ALERT.

this is what your life (and house) is going to feel like.



This used to be our guest room/office.

Now it is our guest room/office/craft room/wedding storage unit/temporary home for registry shipping boxes that we might need for the trip out to palm springs/clean laundry staging zone/blogging headquarters/DIY factory/gocco studio/personal nightmare.

Brooklyn Bride posted a photo of their living room after they got married. And I remember thinking to myself at the time, (insanely), OH our house will never look like that because I'm fanatical about picking up after projects and keeping some semblance of order in my home. sooooo wrong. sooo obviously wrong.

good morning fall

This morning, officially, it feels like fall. Southern California fall that is. Perfect light, a teeny breeze blowing off the desert rustling leaves on trees that don't ever really turn, but it's warm still. And just gorgeous.



It's the kind of morning that says, no don't go running, instead sleep a few minutes longer and then drink coffee in the backyard and take pictures.

It's also the kind of morning that says, "Today is your last day of work."

Until December 1st. F*ck yeah.