Urban Chic

Here are some cute things for sale at Urban Outfitters that I am drooling over.

Pitchers of You

In this month's Domino, the designers from Libertine offer their tips on decorating, including: "A collection doesn't have to be accumulated over time. Sometimes it's fun to buy the whole thing at once." In this spirit, I have decided to instantly expand my collection of turquoise creamers via Ebay. This is my current stash, and I have 5 more on the way! For less than $10 a piece, I'm pretty excited about my little family of pitchers. I'll have to post a follow-up when the rest arrive.

Forget Me Not

I have always liked Forget-Me-Nots. They are so delicate and pretty, and I love their symbolic name. Here are some unforgettable items from Ebay:

Love It

Blue glass clock from Solos Glass on Etsy.

Print Envy

One of my friends used to work at Paulson Press here in Berkeley, and I had the opportunity to see many prints in progress while she was there. For my birthday last year, she was kind enough to give me her copy of this gorgeous Polaroid print by Kota Ezawa, which I have proudly hanging above our bed.

Here are some other prints from Paulson that I covet...

By Margaret Kilgallen:

By Salomon Huerta (brightly colored houses AND topiaries, oh my!):

By Chris Johanson:

By Isca Greenfield-Sanders:

Elemental

I am pleased to announce that my contribution to the Periodic Table of Printmaking is finally up! Please check it out here: it's Lead (82). If you click on the image, you can read a little about the element, and my process. And take a look at all the other wonderful artists who have contributed their work. I'm very happy to have been a part of the project.

Pretty, shiny things...

I'm adding this small vase from Jonathan Adler to my wish list...

And this bowl from Hi and Lo Modern...

And also these giraffes...

Sigh...

Woodgrain at The Hat

This is the drive-through menu at The Hat in Glendora.

Woodgrain at Fred Segal

At Fred Segal we discovered the Burn collection, packaged in these gorgeous woodgrain bottles...

La La Land

I'm back from LA, and I had a wonderful time! Myles and Laurel, two of my best and oldest friends live there, and I try to get down there as often as I can to see them. It's always an adventure with them, and this time was no exception. They picked me up from the airport and we went straight to the Donut Man, which was every bit as amazing as we had heard. Apparently they make the strawberry stuffed donuts in the spring and early summer, and then peach donuts for the rest of the summer and fall. Let me just say that the donuts themselves were excellent, and if you can imagine one of the best donuts you've ever eaten sliced open and stuffed with fresh peaches, then you can imagine total bliss. Yum!
Donut Man is located in Glendora, right on historic Route 66, so we decided to drive home along that road and see what else we could find. Not far ahead we discovered The Hat, whose "World Famous Pastrami" we had to try. It was sliced thin and cured more like corned beef than pastrami, but very, very good.

We also found The Derby, home of George "The Iceman" Woolfe, the jockey who rode Seabiscuit.

Finally, we stopped at The Oinkster in Eagle Rock, where we picked up some peanut butter and jelly cupcakes to go. Then we went back to my friends' beautiful new apartment before heading to Culver City to see "Superbad" (SO good) and have dinner at Ford's Filling Station, which was delish. We sampled some of their cured meats as a starter, and I fell in love with Finocchiona, a fennel-cured salami. Mmmm...

The next day, Laurel and I spent some time organizing and decorating the apartment before meeting Myles for dinner at Lucky Devil's in Hollywood, where they have the most amazing grilled cheese and chili sandwich. Then played a couple rounds of Enemy Choclatier, a fantastic board game from Cheapass Games, Myles' favorite game company. Yesterday, Laurel and I went to Fred Segal in search of the elusive Clementine perfume, which they had never heard of. Then we all had some lunch and rented "The Boy Friend", starring Twiggy, which was even more magical than I had remembered it from my childhood, before I had to leave for the airport.

All in all, a fantastic vacation, and I can't wait to see Myles and Laurel again.

Sayonara,

I'm heading down to LA to see friends and eat this, from The Donut Man:

See you in a couple of days!

Perfect

Local Love

I love how Jason Munn of The Small Stakes has interpreted the heart in such different ways in these four concert posters.

One of Those Weeks...

It's looking like one of those weeks, so I am going to leave you for now with this image of watermelon Agua Fresca, and new recipes for zucchini bread on my recipe blog.

Jars

So, if I am going to expand my nest display, how do we feel about using a variety of apothecary jars, as opposed to one uniform kind? The jars I have now come from Paxton Gate, an amazing store in San Francisco's Mission District.

I have them in three sizes, but I wish there was a little more of a range. Some of the smallest nests are only 2 inches in diameter and I think they would look nice in jars that are smaller and footed. But at the same time, I worry that jars that are too ornate or decorative will take away from the scientific look I'm going for. Any thoughts?

Here are some jars from Pottery Barn.


Here are some that are available on Ebay.

Birds of a Feather

Last night Eric and I finally put up the bird's egg lithographs I had bought to display with my nest collection. I found some cheap Target frames for them, and I think they look nice. Only now I think my nests (most of which were collected by my dad while I was growing up) look a little sparse... I will have to keep an eye out for more!

I am also considering spreading them out into their own jars. Right now they are grouped by size, with between two and three nests per jar. Maybe if I fill each jar about 1/3 of the way up with pebbles and set a nest on top, I can make the collection look a little bigger...

I have to say that I feel a little guilty about purchasing prints that were torn from books, but they are so beautiful, and I am secretly hoping that the book they came from was damaged enough that the plates were just falling out anyways.

Kick Out the Jams

There are some new recipes up on the Recipe Blog, including my latest preserves: Wild Plum and Nectarine Jam. Yum!