Winter Garden

Winter here has basically been like spring. Most days have been really warm and lovely. My pale legs have been quite pleased to peek out of dresses and bask in the heat. My plants are full of new life as fresh flowers and moist leaves unfold from dormancy. *Botanical names listed under each plant.

Pelargonium 'George Marston'

Fuchsia x hybrida 'Voodoo'

Mentha spicata (common spearmint)

Viola cornuta 'Johnny Jump Up'

Pelargonium x hortorum 'Vancouver Centennial'

Orpheus Melted the Heart of Persephone

I love this song and I adore this new She and Him video. The furniture. Zooey's dress. Zooey's hair... well, just Zooey in general I adore!

Rest in Peace Trish Keenan

Yesterday morning, the world lost a beautiful and amazing artist. Trish Keenan's poetic words were like incantations and I found solace in her music during some of the darkest times of my life. I was lucky enough to see Broadcast perform a few years ago here in San Diego and I still remember how magnetic Trish was in person. Though I did not know her personally, I feel a loss in my heart. Her sweet voice sounds like a ghost now.

*Last two videos are from the collaborative project of Broadcast and The Focus Group.

In This Belly of a Whale

I'm thinking of getting this dress, which makes me think of The Mariner's Revenge Song (which happens to be the inspiration for my next art project) by one of my all time favorite bands, The Decemberists, who I happen to be seeing live this February 13th, when I might be wearing this dress, possibly with linen and curls and lips parting like a flag all unfurled.

Resolutions and Such

I know making New Year's resolutions are considered trite to many people and I totally understand why. However, for the past few years I have made resolutions and I have been successful at following through with all of them. Needless to say, since resolutions are immensely beneficial to me, I've made a significant resolution for 2011.

My resolution for this year is to do something creative everyday of my life. While embracing art full force last year (after almost abandoning it entirely due to an emotional trauma in my late teens) I've learned that I absolutely need to be creative to be happy. Unfortunately, it's all too easy for me to slip out of a daily artistic routine without a deadline for a project. So by making this resolution, I've created a deadline for a completed project every day of my life. Now, I'm not completely insane. I've been liberal enough with my personal definition of a creative project so that it can mean anything from taking my camera on a walk and snapping some beautiful pictures, to writing a blog post, to completing a drawing. I hope to share more of these projects here and get over my fear that my artistic endeavors might not be good enough, whatever good enough even means.

Here's to a fabulous new year full of accomplishments! Wish me luck...

*photo of Caladium bicolor, by me

Hello Presents

I received some seriously amazing gifts this holiday. These two were my absolute favorites and literally brought tears to my eyes. In October, for our 4th anniversary, Josh and I went antiquing all over town and I fell in love with a set of four Portmeirion Botanic Garden Vintage canisters from the 70's. I mean the illustrations are simply stunning, how could I not. The whole set was over $100 and I just couldn't justify spending that much on something I didn't need. Well, I guess a few days after that Josh sneakily went back to the antique store and bought them for me for Christmas and hid them in his car the whole time. I was stunned and swept away. How sweet is that?!

The above two are my favorites. The colors are really lovely and I just adore the butterflies! Here's the whole set.

The other gift that meant the world to me was this set of Penguin clothbound books from my brother in-law. He picked these books out for me without even knowing that some are my favorite books of all time. The graphic covers are just stunning and the books look so pretty lined up together. 

So, did you have a favorite gift? Tell me about it...

Goodbye Christmas

This post is just a wee bit late, but with good excuse. I've been busy having too much fun over the holiday and doing a new blog post has been the last thing on my to do list. As I mentioned earlier this was the first year having our own real Christmas tree and I simply had a blast decorating it. Yeah, who knew this self proclaimed grinch could really get into the Christmas spirit this year. Like full on, I was even listening to and singing along to Christmas music while decorating and drinking hot cocoa with vegan marshmallows. Seriously, The Jackson 5 and The Beach Boys Christmas albums are the best Christmas music! I astounded myself. If past me came to the future this year and saw me, I think past me would have puked. Better late than never, I thought I would take some pictures this morning of my favorite ornaments on the tree before it all comes down. Can you tell I really like mushrooms?

* I made the butterfly terrarium ornaments using Amy Merrick's design*sponge tutorial from last year, found here. Aren't they super cute? I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!