The Little Things

It's officially the unbearable part of the summer, but there are little things to be thankful like my friend Holly, she recently did a post on this super cute dress she made. Her dedication to the little details, like making your own matching binding and french seams makes me want to be a more dedicated sewing enthusiast.
Also despite the heat, I'm getting to enjoy the birds. I've decided the Robin, is my new favorite bird. They are very curious and scurry about using the flower beds as camouflage. They also love to splash around in the bird bath and are pretty hilarious. The other day, I got to see three little siblings. They are mottled and still have baby features, very cute.  What can I say since I am still pet-less at the moment, the birds have become my dog substitute :)
Sorry for my picture quality I was on crazy zoom through the blinds

The table is in the way but you can kind of see the robins and the cardinal looking on

My other favorite is the Wren, there are very tiny and like to hop about. The thing I love the most about them is the have the  prettiest little song and it's so loud it doesn't sound like it could possibly come out of their teeny tiny body, but it does.

 singing in the feeder

Sometimes when things aren't great, it's hard to be thankful or grateful. This week has not been so awesome, but I am reminded that I am blessed. I need to remember to be thankful and grateful.
I was thinking about it on the way home from work today, that is would be nice to have this reminder in my cube. It still needs some work but I wanted to share.

Happy little owl close up

Happy Wednesday Everyone

Patterened Inspiration

I'm excited to share what I've been working on lately. The idea has been bouncing around in my head for a few years but I think I only started working on it recently for a couple reasons. Recently I have become more interested in creating patterns and I think the Black Apple's ability to produce such beautiful things so quickly has challenged me to get more done. So I'm starting a new series, based on my love of patterns and this hilarious scene in Garden State.

Sometimes a quirky fun movie, at other times very depressing and really inappropriate

This is the first drawing I've created entirely on the computer, that I'm actually really happy with.
I'm eager to see how the others will turn out.

Close up of her freckles  :)

Happy Thursday!

Top 5 Tuesday

This is what I'm excited about this week! One of my favorite artist and etsy inspirations is the Black Apple. She paints marvelous paintings and creates all sorts of cute, and girly art. I am particularly smitten with her flower girl collection not sure yet which one is my favorite but right now it's the Geum painting.

I love her inquisitive expression

 I'm always excited about new movies and Wreck it Ralph is no exception. Much in the same vein as Pixar, Disney is taking ordinary objects and making them interesting and heartfelt. I am more excited about Ralph than Brave to me it's seems too similar to How to Train Your Dragon mixed with a headstrong Katniss type but we'll see. I'm trying to be open minded :)

Video game villains need support too

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to go back to Dirt and I did sooner than expected. Now my strand of pearls succulent has a friend, a living stone succulent. I think it looks like cartoonish coral, and I can't wait to get some pretty flowers.

So happy together!

One of my favorite TV chefs, Eric Ripert always has a fun new spin on traditional recipes. My latest discovery is cauliflower couscous with blanched veggies.

Looks pretty amazing

He makes everything look so easy, I'm very excited to try it though, especially since my local fresh market carries bok choy. Get the recipe here.



And last but not least I love Sweet Bestiary's cute and playful creations. Especially her girls with bird pins. Her little monsters, finger puppets, and centaur like creatures are so quirky and sweet. But I'm quite taken with her latest offerings.

I love her attention to detail! Her braid is amazing

Hope the rest of your week goes swimmingly. What are you excited about lately?


photo locations: 1, 5

Local love- Bishop Arts District

I wanted to share my latest trip to Bishop Arts District this past weekend. I love all the cool eclectic shops and fun places to eat.....my current favorite is Bolsa. Their menu centers around local and fresh ingredients. I really love their pulled pork BBQ sandwich, they make their own horsey pickles and they are amazing! I plan to try their flat bread and bruschetta tasting sometime soon.

I also love Dude, Sweet Chocolate, they have very interesting dark chocolate offerings, and if you aren't sure about something they let you try samples in their fun little store. The staff is really nice and helpful. Last time I got to try tub of love and crack in a box which were delicious but I went with my old standby FM1410-2 pickled and smoked tomato jam soft chocolate toffee. I know it sounds weird but it has very subtle flavors it's sweet and a little bit spicy it has bits of jalapenos too. 

I love their packaging

I love looking around at the Artisian Collective, and seeing what new art is in the gallery. I was quite smitten with Brice McCasland's bird paintings. I can't find the ones I saw there but this gives you an idea.

I love his attention to detail

And last but not least. There is an awesome florist called Dirt. I'm sucker for pretty design, I love their logo almost as much as their arrangements. They do traditional flower arrangements but I really love their succulents, and after a couple years of drooling over them I made my first purchase.
It's a string of pearls succulent and you only have to water it once a month. That's my kind of low maintenance plant :)

Look how cute it is

 They also had beautiful pink peonies that smelled amazing and were literally the size of a baby's head. I would of bought some if I was going straight home. But there's always next time, I've got my eye on a couple more succulents that I'm super excited about.

So in short if you are looking for a fun place to explore you should take a trip down to Bishop.

Runway vs. Real Way

So at first I thought the printed jean trend was just a little too 80's and not in a good way but I think it definitely depends on the print. Like some of the traditional large floral prints are a little scary. If you want to check them out further.

I think the sad beige color doesn't help it's case any

I kinda like the graphic floral print.....there's a lot of graphics florals  happening.

Runway Peter Som and real way 7 for all Mankind

But what really got me excited was the ikat print! I saw some similar to this at anthropolgie, but I couldn't justify spending $80 on coral jeans. In my defense the print was more subtle and it was a soft coral.....but I can't find them on their website.

Leave it to Target to be on trend at an affordable price. I found these a couple weeks ago, at my favorite Target....they always have a better selection on clothes and clearance items ;)

t shirt, jeans, flats all from Target :)

These jeans have no stretch in them whatsoever so I'm gonna have to get used to that again. It's too hot to wear skinny jeans now but I'm be excited to wear them when it gets a bit cooler. They are pretty close to the designer jeans

 
So what do you think about printed jeans? Also there's a fun street style slide show on NY times if you want to see more :)

Top 5

Here's my top 5 things I'm excited about right now :)

1. Balloon flowers
It's officially June and it's almost unbearably hot, but some plants are enjoying the warm weather. Like my balloon flowers, they are one of my favorite flowers because purple is my favorite color.
I love their happy star shape :)

Not many flowers look this cool before they bloom...it's like floral origami!

2. My garden is growing

 My squash is going nuts, we had to give it something to climb on.

 I'm also getting quite the tomato harvest from my garden, nothing like fresh tomatoes in a pasta salad :)

3. Dorthy Perkins
Thanks to scathingly brilliant I have recently discovered Dorthy Perkins. An awesome shop from the UK. They've got everything covered: classy and chic, relaxed and trendy, and cutesy and retro!
I ordered a couple dresses, and was very impressed with the presentation, and the price. The quality of the fabric and the construction are impressive, even the polyester, and I normally have a no exceptions polyester policy.
I wish I had paid more attention to the sizes though, as I had to return them but I plan to order from them again :)

4.

Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson's  latest film. He is one of my favorite directors, his attention to detail is inspiring. The character quirks, the costumes, the set design, the cinematography, right down to the soundtrack choices, he's pretty amazing in my opinion. I will have to a summer movie review post very soon.

5. Zinnias
I'll end this post with my Zinnias, I guess I like them so much because they are a bright pop of happy color when everything else has given in to the summer heat. I tried planting some from seeds this year and just when I had given up that they had taken root, they started popping up :)
These are the smaller variety

there's even little blooms around the center of the large bloom...pretty cool huh

What are you excited about lately?