primative picnic

this is so quaint and charming.... and if i ever have a great old painted canoe like this i am going to try and re-create this atmosphere. cheers to all of you following the traditional memorial day bbq.
gourmet july 2008

perfect weekend vacation

or should i say long weekend vacation. i get to stay home for 3 days and couldn't ask for a better little vacation retreat. its great being home with no plans. i get to do what i love the most...get up late, dig out magazines from the last year, hit the flea & farmers markets in between naps.
ha...

2 new loves

my first new love is this camera i just got as a gift. tonight i decided i needed to see what 7:45pm lighting would look like on film (no flash). not bad for getting a quick shot this late in the evening. its a great point and shoot...auto everything. just my kind of camera.
but, the real focus is about these olives. i'm not a huge fan of stuffed olives, but i was at the farmers market near work and this vendor from central california has this sea of olives for tasting. i got a little closer and realized half of them were stuffed....but she begged (ha) me to try this blue cheese stuffed olive with fresh fig glaze. um...can i say i am in love. these are by M & CP farms. if you are in SF, you can get this at the UCSF campus flea market on Wednesday's between 10-3.

kitchen envy

don't we all have some sort of kitchen envy??? i know i do and it is almost every day. we landed this great appartment almost 3 years ago (rental) that has all its original details except for the kitchen cabinets (i think they are low-end home depot) otherwise the place has all the charm you could ever want. actually, i have some major issues with the bathroom too...but i'll hit that one another time.
every day i want to take the matters into my own hands and pay for the renovation...but have to contain myself and remind myself that i cant pack it up and take it away...at least that seems like the kind of move that would break you down. heee...
heres the real reason why i am posting this one and i will have to sound a little juvenile in this posting: i want that cabinet, i want that table and i REALLY want to taste that olive oil in that great bottle.
This is from interior designer Amanda Mahoney's french and belgian-inspired kitchen and 18th century armoire. found in Australian vogue living

Late, Late, Late

a photo my father took of my mother back in the 60's. i have never framed this one, but just keep it floating around my place leaning here or there.
its a late happy mothers day tribute to one of the most beautiful women i know, and it is hard to imagine that her heart is more beautiful than this photo.

its all about green

i have been looking for these terra cotta pots for over a year now. i have even found the cacti and have it sitting in a basket until i find one of these weather worn and loved pots. this is one of those inspiring photo's that causes one to loose sleep and potentially their mind in the search for recreating it. if i am in town on a sunday...you will find me at the flea market digging for terra cotta...
here is a moment of color that makes my heart sing.

Tiny & Tidy

I love this kind of a space. you can tell it is tiny by looking at the furniture in the room and how close it is to each other...it has to be in NYC.
to me, this room totally works with all the clutter in it. i imagine this room has to be full of those sunday morning flee market finds, at least that is the impression i get. what really makes this work is the neutral-ness of it all. a pop of color here and there...but themed just like i like it....a little bit of everything without loud splashes of color
i don't recall where i got this tear from...but i think it was el decor long ago.

now you see it, now you don't

whenever i see a quaint little chalk drawing like this, i always think the same thing "how inventive". ha, the joke is always on me i guess. i just like the idea that someone may have just scribbled this out in 5 minutes and blessed it with that "effortless" look.
this is a much larger drawing on a beautiful old chalkboard with a perfectly worn wooden frame, but the photo i took was at a bad angle, so i extracted this little portion.
Another treasure of red ticking in seattle.

take a seat if...........

you are not curious what is going on on the other side of the glass door. tempting. i love this room (what i can see of it) because: 1) total neutral space, it could go any direction it wanted...but i would leave it just like it is 2) the minimal art on the walls. it seems to be all about the architecture and the clean lines of the furniture.
looks like someone has spent many hours sitting in that chair, and i think they must have just got up and wondered out that door.

art in the raw...also known as towel head

"at last" is all i have to say. well, not really ALL i have to say, but it is enough to express a contentment i have. so, i finally found my friend Rosemary Warner and was happy not only because i missed her and have been able to reconnect, but also because i was obsessing over this self portrait shown above.
the first time i went to her 5000 sq. ft loft in Brooklyn (dumbo) NY, i was walking through her entry hall when i saw this amazing portrait. it was just tacked to the wall with thumb tacks and it looked incredible. effortless beauty was captured in this shot. i have to get the story again and confirm where and what time of day she took this photograph.
i generally do not have an envious spirit, but i really had a hankering for this photo. I cant wait for the day to have bigger, open space so she can get the whole wall in a room.
it is so much better in person that in this amatuer picture.

before...and after to follow

i found this great little herb kit at one of my favorite, quirky SF home stores, stumasa. this little kit is made from recycled cement bags and each one is so unique and special. i really wanted to buy 10 of them and line center of the kitchen table, but couldn't make a decision on which ones to choose, so i just bought my favorite. i have this feeling i will be heading back there really soon.
this is before the growth....i will post another picture in about a week.

breaking up is hard to do

my good friend patti requested that i keep an eye open for any great ironstone bowls or platters. well, i was in idaho this last weekend and hit up a couple of great antique shops.
wouldn't you know it, i fell in love with this platter as soon as i spotted it. i pushed my way through a crowd of retired school teachers who were oohing and ahhing over shabby chic painted furniture and snagged this beauty without them even knowing what was going on. after the grab they all acted as if they were contemplating this purchase (i really didn't plow through...but like the added drama and imagery.
to me, this is one of the essentials for casual/elegant entertaining. this can serve as a cheese platter, a turkey-ham-lamb platter or just about anything you want to present to your closest friends and loved ones.
now i have to figure out how to actually part with it and hand it over to its rightful owner. i have a feeling it might be a process. (just joshing ya patti)