inspiration

I just learned about this blog the other day, and it's been a good exercise for me to document daily life--also helps me get my day started in a pleasant way!

early, austere

I got to work early today and had to wait for some scripts to run, so I decided to take some photos. I love the low morning light on those bench/cubes, so stark! They'd be good for me to draw to practice perspective and shading.

weekend walks

Saturday we went for a walk around the reservoir by Highway 92. Gorgeous late-afternoon light on some golden California flora. Sunday afternoon we walked downtown for some yogurt and enjoyed some signs that fall is indeed here. I guess the maple trees know the days are getting shorter, even if it's still eighty-degrees out! I love the color!

a place for everything and everything in its place

Our apartment is quite tiny, and we haven't spent a lot of time maximizing the available space with "storage solutions". This is a small step in that direction. My favorite kind of decorating highlights existing, necessary, functional objects (e.g. books, cooking tools, etc.) and doesn't add a lot of superfluous stuff. I'm not sure if this little project falls into that category, but I made these little framed pillows for storing necklaces and earrings this weekend. I wish they were bigger, but perhaps they will help me edit my jewelry collection down to things that look beautiful enough (to my eye) to display.

narcissus

My sister and I are going to exchange photos this month.  Theme = autumn.  Here's my start: Narcissus bulbs from last Sunday's market.  I planted about eight of them, plus a few Hyacinth bulbs left over from my mom's visit last Easter, in a big pot on my front porch covered in about 3 inches of dirt from my building's front yard (according to the bulb purveyor at the market, potting soil isn't good for them, they prefer plain-old dirt for the sand and clay).  Like all my plantings, they're more or less an experiment.  I'm hoping they make it, but in the mean time I wish there was room for something else in the pot too since it's just sitting full of dirt on my little stoop. . .

I like dresses

I have been trying to get out of my t-shirt and jeans rut, deeply established after working in a lab for the past seven (!(sigh)) years, so I was quite excited to receive this new dress from Patagonia in the mail yesterday.

I like Patagonia a lot. Looking at the catalogs they put out, full of fit, attractive people out doing physically challenging things in nature, has always inspired me. Granted, I tend to be impressionable like that (aren't we all, I suppose that's why advertising works), but these catalogs make me want to pare down my existence to a streamlined set of high-quality, responsibly-manufactured products, and then go out and explore the world.

Now Patagonia's starting to make more street clothes as well, and I love the pattern on this new, super-comfy, organic cotton dress!

in season

This is a truly special time of year in California, reflected in the fact that both apples AND stone fruit are in season! It has made for a week of delicious breakfasts for me. I've eaten a bowl of sliced peach, greek yogurt, flax seed meal, and pecans every morning!

Yesterday my drawing teacher brought us apples from her tree, to use for subjects or for eating. I ate mine immediately :) I still can't believe how much better apples, and all fruit, is when it's eaten ripe right off the tree. It's literally a whole new world of fruit compared to what I grew up with. It turns out red delicious apples--all bitter peel and mealy flesh when they come from the supermarket--actually taste like their name implies.

lingering summer hues

Oranges and pinks seem to be congregating in my life at the moment.

1. A bouquet of farmer's market flowers. I fell in love with the large pink dahlias, and the safflower's tiny orange bursts of petals seemed to complement the golden cores of the dahlias.

2. A pile of thank-you notes ready to send out to wedding guests.

3. The fabric that will hopefully become my first sewing project, an apron, one day. I sewed the cut edges with a zig-zag stitch, and put it through the wash last night. Tomorrow night in class I will iron and start cutting the pattern pieces.

welcome fall

Well, our wedding has come and gone, and we are enjoying married life so far. It feels like the quiet after the storm. Planning a wedding was a lot of work, it turns out. There is plenty I would do differently if I could do it again, but it was a perfect day for us.

I hope to post plenty of the wedding-related photos that I never got around to between my last post (in May), and today--the first day of fall--my favorite season!

There is lots of change brewing this season. I'm taking a drawing class and a sewing class and am already enjoying the opportunity to use new parts of my brain.

Above are some new linens, from Alex, new wooden spoons, and my kitchen's dirty floor.

belated cake update

Well, I've got a whole folder full of photos to post since I haven't had much time for blogging this past month. Wedding planning has been put on hold for now since we've gotten the big-ticket items sorted out (venue, caterer, dress, invites, etc.) and will probably start devoting more time to the details (decorations, play list, . . . ) once the summer starts. But I never followed up on the outcome of our quest for yummy cake, so I thought I'd share that we ended up going with Satura Cakes in Palo Alto, much to my surprise.

When I first saw this place I thought it was a bakery that specialized in Asian-style cakes, which tend to be not as sweet as American cakes. This actually isn't the case at all (although the cakes were not overly sweet, they were very Western in flavor). The owner is a Japanese man who apparently he visited the states many years ago and noted a lack of French-style bakery shops where one could pop in and order a pain au chocolat in comparison to Tokyo (which has a slew of pastry chefs trained en France). He decided that if and when he made his millions, he'd come back and start a bakery.

In addition to their fabulous product presentation and packaging, their cake itself does not disappoint. It is delicious and the tasting was a real pleasure to attend--ample servings of a wide variety of cakes, and no pressure to make a decision. Their cakes are all very unique, we ended up selecting four for our wedding. The main wedding cake will have 3 tiers and 2 different flavors--red velvet (dense rich cake, with cream cheese frosting between the layers with fresh blueberries and raspberries to add a touch of tartness), and a very light white cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. In addition we'll have a tray of tiny cake "squares" made of two torte-like sheet cakes. The "Yuna" is a chocolate hazelnut confection, and the other is a coconut cake with layers of mango creme. Mmmm!

Flavors aside, what won me over with this bakery was their great ingredients and commitment to freshness. Our cake will be made the afternoon before our wedding and frosted/decorated the day-of.