Friday, June 17, 2011

It Wouldn't Be Summer Without:


1) A summer blockbuster—make it Super 8 so you can relive the magic of the first time you sat through E.T. or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. When you put the creator of Lost with Spielberg's genius, the result is a film that's as charming as it is suspenseful. Props to both for presenting an alien we haven't seen in theaters yet (as a total alien-movie nerd, I was pretty sure I'd seen them all). Definitely see it in the theater to maximize the suspenseful jumps and nostalgia that will ensue (preferably with a fantastic date to hang on to for the scary parts).




2) Peter and I will be hitting up the farmer's market this weekend with coffee in hand. In the age of bazillions of recipes available online, I can easily justify buying green tomatoes (to be made into fried green tomatoes, of course), jalapeno jam (for glazing salmon), and Japanese eggplant (um...jury's still out). It's actually tradition that I bring home a full Greek meal of soup, spanakopita, dolmadakia, and baklava whenever I go so we'll be reliving that.
The downtown one is getting almost completely outta control—if I want to buy candles, barrettes for a small child, and baked doggie treats I'll go there but Peter and I prefer the low-key, dogs-allowed, granola-eater's market on Sunday morning off of Old Cheney. God love the hippies!
I love to haul home big bouquets of mustard greens, fresh feta from the dairy, multi-colored peppers (purple's my favorite), and spicy radishes. Peter and I always try to out shop the other by finding the most exotic food and though he usually wins, I put up a pretty good fight.

3) Curling up on the couch with an ice-cold limeade(I made up my own concoction by squeezing a pile of fresh limes, making a muddle of basil and sugar water, and adding cucumber slices) and starting a summer read while it's storming outside. This year it's Moby Dick.

4) An art project. I haven't decided what this will be but I'm open to ideas. I have a few possibilities but so far lack the weekend during which to execute them. Last year it was learning how to knit once and for all.





























5) Weddings! I luuuuurv weddings, what's not to love? You get to watch two people in love commit to one another forever, followed by food and dancing. The dancing is obviously the best part, but still. I can't get enough of weddings and I'm proud to tell you that it's not b/c I'm taking notes for my own. I'd be very okay if that were a long while off. The only thing I know about my someday wedding is that it will be comfortable, easy going, with the best food ever and lots and lots of dancing. I took this shot during the lovely Leslie Davila's wedding last summer (GREAT wedding) of The Test Nest.


6) Long morning jogs/walk with lots of sweat, long cool shower, and lunch outside with a friend is the perfect way to start any day.





9) Fresh flowers from Daddy's garden (they smell best when they're just brought inside all warm from the sun).




8) Summer music is absolutely one of the sweetest things about summer. Most of these are old, some are new, some are "what's old is new again":

Mumford and Sons — "The Cave"

I can't believe it, Fleet Foxes did it again with — "Helplessness Blues"

Sorry for no video, but this song is the sound of my first summer in San Diego. Totally under celebrated is Jacob Miller's — "Charlie Brown's Lament"

Not sure how new this is, but it's new to me as of this week and I can NOT sit still when that guitar gets goin'! The Wooden Birds — "Two Matchsticks" The vocalist sounds identical to that of Death Cab for Cutie, any relation?

Oh Animal Collective led by Panda Bear's Noah Lennox, you have my heart —"Summertime Clothes" (don't miss "My Girls" and "Brother Sport")

This was summer 2009 for me, The Temper Trap's — "Sweet Disposition" thanks to the movie 500 Days of Summer

Hey Rosetta! — "The New Goodbye"

If you haven't heard of Karmin yet, you have now. I'm a little obsessed with her rendition of "Look at me Now" originally by Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes

Friday, June 3, 2011

Long Time No Post

I tell others that successful blogs are like pets; if you don't feed them, they die.

The good news is, I don't have a "successful" blog by anyone's standards, I just have a lovely parking spot on the internet for all the books, artists, projects, and ideas that inspire me.

The next project is on hold; I was trying to create some blocks of time that haven't been and continue to be unavailable to me that I need to make it happen but I'm still stoked about it and it will happen, just not right now.

Until then, I'm back and will be posting regularly (at least as regularly as I used to).

Here are some items since I last posted:

1) Read Hunger Games, it's fine, not spectacular but a really easy summer romp. The movie next year should be entertaining though they picked a really odd director for such an action-packed story—Gary Ross, the guy who did Pleasantville (great movie), Big (yeah, the one from the '80s), Seabiscuit, and Dave...we shall see.

2) Reading The Remains of the Day a poor choice to read simultaneously because Ishiguro's prose can easily outsing any other contemporary voice in writing as it is, let alone a tween author. It's a beautiful novel and I'm savoring it but will have to finish it by book club on Monday. I'm hosting and because the book's all about a butler I'm having everyone dress in black and white and I'll be serving a traditional English meal at Meg Manor.

3) I've decided to never buy wrapping paper ever again. I'm just going to buy huge rolls of brown paper and dress them up in creative ways so I can save money and customize each package for the recipient. "Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things..."





4) I plan to photograph Lincoln more this summer than ever before and how can I help myself? The city is dressed up for farmers market, Jazz in June, First Fridays, and all the doors to all my favorite local haunts stand propped open and inviting. I hate the humidity but I love love love summer.

5) I've been cooking a lot more lately and I'm going to be cooking some delectibles from my wonderful friend's blog, The Test Nest. I've also been commissioned to make a new logo for the blog so I'll be working on that very soon—I'm pretty excited. Recent forays into cooking include a white chocolate bread pudding with fresh berry sauce, down-home beef stew with thyme and a whole bottle of shiraz, and strawberry rhubarb pie from scratch.

More later but for now that's what I've got. If, and I don't flatter myself that there are probably more than two of you, you followed my blog up until I stopped posting there for a while, my apologies and thanks for hangin' tight!