Shop Update

There is a new print in the shop today: a delicate Spring Sprig drawn by me for you.

On a walk by the water after dinner with two of my favorite people.

Drinking tea (black currant, stolen from the boy) and working on this and that. There will be a new print in the shop in a few days, as soon as I get a chance to photograph it: a stippled Spring sprig for the month of May.

P.S. I added two new-to-me blogs to my blog list: Hearblack and That's Just It Photo. Both are absolutely lovely. If you haven't checked them out, go ahead--I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

This

Some things I am enjoying on this last Wednesday of April:
-This photographer
-This lookbook
-This card
-This album
-This bookmark set (I love the Spring one I bought)
-This movie (not seen it yet, but look at those stills!)

On Flowers and Time

Every Sunday, I buy a bouquet of flowers for the kitchen table. Now that more and more flowers are blooming, spending my $5 worth of flower money each week at the farmers market is a colorful treat. I know some people think that cut flowers are silly, even pointless. "Why buy cut flowers when you know that, in just a short while, they will die?" I've heard people say.
To me, buying flowers for my home is a kind of affirmation of a lot of things I am trying to remember these days. Yes, my flowers will indeed inevitably die. But isn't that kind of the point? They are a small, lovely, temporary offering each week. The fact that they do not last forever and that I continue to buy them almost religiously each week is one of the most tangible reminders I can think of to stay in the moment. The flowers are here, they are glorious, and then they are gone. As William Blake says (and my mother likes to remind me), we must "kiss the joy as it flies."

Weekend Pairings - Swiftly Moving Slowly

-The more Spring-y the days become, the more excited I get for Summer.
-I guess you could also say that I'm having trouble staying in the moment.
-There are so many sweet things on the horizon--it's difficult to not want to jump ahead and past the next few long weeks.
-I keep reminding myself to stop and try to catch the bits of now and this moment that are lovely and that I know I will miss when time has moved forward.
-It's funny, then, that I feel like this weekend went by all too quickly!
-I worked on Saturday, but on Sunday we did our usual: farmers market meanderings, a library visit, reading on the couch with the cat, a glass of wine, and too many episodes of old Survivor seasons (I know, it's a little embarrassing).
-What's your Sunday routine?

+Here's to this new week, and to staying in the moment.

More shadows, this time from our succulents--when the sun is shining they are waiting for me when I get home for work.

Have a lovely weekend!

Ewa i Walla

I love the atmosphere of these photographs for Swedish designer Ewa i Walla's Spring/Summer collection (shot by Jonas Walla--any relation there?). The whole shoot is romanticised to the extreme, but darn it if it still doesn't make me want to run off to a cabin in the woods and dress in lovely, folk-inspired dresses all day. Now if I could just pull off such impressive Heidi braids--I don't know if there are enough bobby pins in the world to hold my thick hair up like that.

Haze

This is our first Spring in our new apartment (I still call it "new" as opposed to our "old" apartment, but we've lived here 8 months already! It's hard for me to believe). It's been fun watching the neighborhood blossom out our windows. I had no idea that the tree behind our building was a cherry tree. It was just green leaves when we moved in last summer and then looked pretty scraggly this winter, so I clapped my hands when I saw the first blossoms it put out just a week or so ago.

Self-Portrait with Whales

Spring Rose

This dusky pink is my new favorite color right now. It is perfect for Spring.

Maaike Mekking

Here is a Spring collection that I can really get behind. The white and the floral patterns are suitably light and fresh for the season, but the clean simplicity of the lines and the amount of predominantly black pieces keeps it from being too frilly, wispy, and overtly feminine (my main complaints with a lot of Spring fashion).
To me, this isn't just pretty eye-candy, lovely clothes and styling that I admire but can't really see myself in. I would wear all of this.

Positives

View from my obsessively tidy studio space--if only I had more time to work in it!

I'm promising myself this week: going to focus on the good things and let everything else go.
I'm loving:
-This post from le Projet d'Amour
-Bekvam's new work
-Josh Ritter
-Nina Smit's illustrations
-This pie (yes, I made another one)
-My little one

Weekend Pairings - Balm(y)

-I found a set of three cast-iron skillets at the thrift store on Friday for 6 bucks. SCORE. I seasoned them all weekend, so I'm excited to try them out now. Anyone have any good cast-iron recipes?
-We wandered the farmers market in short sleeves and sandals (until my saltwaters from last summer snapped--I guess it's time to get a new pair, sigh) and threw open all our windows.
-Got some basil plants (regular and thai!) all newly potted, along with my spider bébés--here's hoping they are happy in their new home.
-Sunday was a day for fancy eatin'--sushi and gelato at lunchtime, steamed artichokes and wine and cheese for dinner! We felt quite classy, and only a little bit pretentious.
-Not to jump the gun or anything (but jumping the gun...): I am getting so excited for summer!

In the Morning

I am not a morning person. Getting up early is not something I naturally gravitate toward, and with a fuller schedule than usual the last couple of months I've been pretty exhausted. In automatic motions, I prepare my English Breakfast tea each morning and sit at the kitchen table, trying to gather my thoughts in a quiet moment before I head off into the day.
On mornings like this one, however, it's alright to be up early. The sun was just rising above the line of houses out our windows and I was so drunk on the light and intent on trying to capture it with my camera that I actually missed my bus.
Oh well.

Fresh

The boy did one of his co-workers a favor the other day. In return, we were given a carton of eggs fresh from the chickens his co-worker raises on his small urban farm. The were so beautiful I had to restrain myself from taking 100 photos of them, and when I made a few of them into an omelet for dinner I decided that it was the best omelet I'd ever had (this might have something to do with the fact that I just recently finally figured out how to cook an omelet properly, but who cares?). I briefly contemplated whether or not it was silly to be so excited about a dozen eggs, but then dismissed the thought completely. Best. Gift. Ever.