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Monday, January 31, 2011

Flower Porn

I think I've mentioned ink & peat on here before. They are a florist/boutique whose floral design I found and fell in love with before I knew they were Portland-based. Then I loved them even more. I have a small dream of picking up a mystery arrangement from them every two weeks or so. Would be so wonderful to just see what they come up with. Their designs are just amazing. Would love love love to do one of their workshops.
Anyway, was feeling floral today and decided to peruse their portfolio and blog. Swoon.


Really big fan of the giant Dahlia and the unbalanced feel of this bouquet. Hands down the prettiest bridal bouquet I've ever seen.






Usually I don't love the really compact bridal bouquets (think round bunches of red roses. ick) but I really love this. It looks so soft.









Drippy. Whistful. Young. Sophisticated. Dreamy. Seductive. Man oh man. This arrangement kills me. It's my favorite.





Spectacular, no?



I have a thing for scabiosa. that's the feathery looking purple with a greenish center. They look like swinging in the rain feels.


I think this one looks like good sex. Is that a little graphic for a floral arrangement?



Sunday, January 30, 2011

Public Service Announcement


If you feed your dog corn pancakes, he WILL throw up corn pops, minus the delicious sugary coating and plus a really awful smell.

Friday, January 28, 2011

The little things


There are only a couple other people in my office who will enjoy receiving this email as much as I enjoyed sending it. But it surely made me happy.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Miss Mary Mac, Mac, Mac


Jump roping needs to happen more. And not in that torturous I'm-at-the-gym-jump roping-till-I-want-to-die way, but -for fun. Jumping in was always the hardest part, wasn't it?
Perhaps this summer will be the summer of the jump rope.

It's beautiful outside here in Portland today and it makes me wonder if it's time for recess yet.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I want to have a tea party


I want to have a tea party with all of my friends. I want to dress up. And maybe wear little lace gloves and beautiful big hats. And pinkies out! And beautiful mis-matched tea cups like the ones above. And tasty little sandwiches. And sunshine.

But maybe instead of tea, there are bloody marys, screwdrivers, and mimosas in the cups. Or something. I mean, who drinks tea at a party?

Loving...

Lately I'm loving...

...wearing my scarf like this. And failing miserably at photographing this occurrence in a spare office at work-resulting in the above photo.

...surprise visits from friends that include the consumption of embarrassing amounts of fried zucchini and inappropriate conversations in public.

...weekends in Beaverton and Portland with Finch (and I guess Pat, too).

...weeknights in Salem with Joey, Thing 1, and Thing 2.

...and on that note, listening to in-depth John Denver conversations being had by Thing 1 and Thing 2.

...sweet text messages from Jason. He sent me this flower (he's living in Hawaii) with a note that said "made me think of you."


...comments from strangers on this here blog of mine. So surprising and fun.

...creating inspiration boards for weddings and wedding shows. Feels good to stretch my creative brain muscles.

...my favorite book, Atlas Shrugged, is being made into a movie. This is actually incredibly exciting. Will be in theaters this April 15th. Dear everyone in my life, I'm probably going to make you watch this with me at some point. It's part I of III!

...AWOLNATION. There are only like 5 of his songs on my ipod. I've been listening to them on repeat for about 3 days now. Sometimes you just gotta obsess.

...quesadillas with bbq sauce. Pat's fault.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

adventures in a bathtub


The last weekend that I was in my apartment, my friend Ricci came and we did a photo shoot in my bathroom. She does portrait photography and had some ideas. I told her I'd be her guinea pig and it was a pretty neat experience. I look like some kind of sexed up junky-which was sorta the point. It was fun, and strange. I am not especially photogenic and didn't know what to do with my face or body. I needed a lot of coaching.
If you go to her Flickr and check out the portraits section, I'm in there. Towards the end. But look at all of her photos. They're fantastic.

Fun Fact



I once decided I would collect flamingos and things with flamingos on them. And then I never did.


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Joey Monster- or, what I've learned about having a dog

Easily the best thing about living with my parents has been the fact that Joseph gets to be around people all the time. He has a yard. He has old crotchety dogs to annoy. Joseph and I lived in a studio for the last year. This means no yard, and at least 9 hours a day by his lonesome. He was pretty tolerant of the situation but I promised him that next time we moved there would be a yard. And there will be. For now, though, he is being spoiled by his adoring grandparents.
And adoring might be an understatement. After hearing almost exclusively negative things about him from my friends-the nicer of which took place in my living room, the less nice of which took place outside my earshot but as is always the case with friends, got back to me- it has been great to hear nothing but how wonderful he is. Because of the inconvenience he has caused me (in the form of pee on my floor, higher rent, and 4:30 AM trips outside to pee, among other things) and because most people in my life also seemed to feel inconvenienced by him, I was sometimes finding myself on the Joey-sucks-bandwagon. I never wanted to give him up. I think it's ridiculous to adopt an animal and then get rid of them because they are an inconvenience. And also I love the shit out of him. But I have been pretty irritated with his existence in the recent past.
I was aware then and am still aware that a lot of his behavioral issues were/are completely my fault. Inconsistent training and frustration instead of patience are the two biggest factors.
Also, he is large. Large and loud. These two things make any behavioral issue feel so much worse. Finch(boyfriend's dog),for example, barks and you nearly melt because it sounds like a little whisper-bark and it's fucking adorable. Joey barks and I want to throw things because it is so loud that it actually hurts my ears. Finch crawls up on your lap and you barely notice/are pleased by the mythical creature in your presence. Joey crawls up on your lap and depending on your mood and his enthusiasm you either have a rather large snuggle buddy or you can't breath because he's crushing your diaphragm.
This is Finch by the way. I know. Adorable.Anyway, I had almost forgotten how awesome Joey is because very few others seemed to share my opinion. Now remembering that I adore him.

reasons I love the shit out of my dog

He's ridiculously good looking.

He looks like he might rip your face off and is therefore great for going on runs at night.

He cleans up his own vomit. Judge all you want. It's handy.

He always wants to be next to me-sometimes annoying but mostly adorable.

He wouldn't hurt anyone/anything on purpose. I've seen other dogs attack him and he either tries to play or cowers and yelps. Actually kind of a wuss.

He's an exceptional space heater.

He's an amazing snuggler.

He's quite a runner. I love watching him run at the dog park.

He likes to wear clothes.

He's smart. I know lots of people would disagree. But with the parents' help I'm seeing how fast he can learn things. And also seeing that he plays games/plays dumb when it suits him. Too smart, actually.

Photographic evidence of our love affair

Face snuggles

long walks on the beach

protecting me from predators after I pass out

staring lovingly into each other's eyes

just being handsome

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Well, yeah. We could do that....

Parents talking about any topic. Ever.
They can switch roles here so we'll just say Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Thing 1: I think this idea is great. This is my idea. These are all the reasons why my idea makes sense.
Thing 2: Well, yeah. Your idea could work. But these are some reasons why it probably wouldn't. This is what we're actually doing.
Thing 1: Well, yeah. That's what I was thinking.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ridderbuschisms

So I'm living at home for 6 months. Took some sucking up of the pride and also a storage space crammed wall to wall with all of my shit but I will be saving money and paying things off and then in July moving in with the loves of my life. Also known as these people:


Honestly every time I think about it I nearly explode from all of the happy.

Anyway, for now I am with the parents, or my new room mates as some refer to them.
I love them dearly and am eating great food and my dog couldn't be happier.

There is, however, a certain amount of absurdity involved in spending time with my family. I will be documenting these little moments-the morsels of funny/ridiculous/yeah RIGHT?

Really REALLY unfortunately I can't read my notes from Christmas. There is a scribble that says "Corny=Horny". There is another that just says "White Christmas".
I'm sure they are amazing stories. In the future I need to write more clearly or be more on top of sharing these moments. The only note that actually made sense to me was the one that said "White Candy Cane".
White Candy Cane:
Years and years ago my mom bought a box of plain white candy canes to hang from the tree. They're really pretty, actually. We pack them up every year just like the rest of the decorations. They've held up quite well. This Christmas, my brother was opening one of his gifts and found a candy cane in the bag. Thinking it was just a little extra cheer from my mom, he unwrapped and bit into the candy cane. He looks up with the most confused/horrified expression on his face and mumbles with his mouth full "...mom did you put a candy cane in my present?" She says no and someone thinks to ask what color the candy cane was. "White," he mumbles. We all start laughing at him as he chews in a manner that would be much more appropriate for bubble gum than candy canes. It had fallen off the tree and into the bag. I hear 2001 was a good candy cane year. Aged to an ideal soft chewiness.
My brother and I, back when he was scared of me.



One more morsel:
Yesterday my mother and I were bickering and I told her I wouldn't be giving names of other individuals who shared my opinion about whichever specific bit of crazy we were arguing about. "Well, why NOT?" she asked. I told her that I didn't think it was fair to unleash her wrath onto unknowing victims. "I don't have a FUCKING wrath" was her response. Need I go on?

...love you mom

Friday, January 14, 2011

In my (very rarely) humble opinion

Things that people don't do often enough:

get up early to watch sunrises
sit and think
smile at strangers
slow dance
read the book before watching the movie
perform proper maintenance on their cars
moisturize
write letters
skip
read directions
swing
call their grandmothers
play dress up
write down serial numbers
start collections
click their heels together





Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Womp Womp


But I still love my Ducks.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sometimes I pretend...

...that I'm Chelsea Fuss(stylist extraordinaire and sort of my idol. In a very non-creepy way of course)

I got to style our office holiday dinner a few weeks ago. My pictures are terrible but it turned out amazing and I'm not sure I've ever been so proud of myself.


That's me way at the end! The space is Luce which was a great blank canvas. We made and hung swags of curly willow and holly from the rods that run along the wall.

Boyfriend conveniently has access to empty wine bottles in this great dirty green color that you can't actually see very well in any of my photos because I'm useless with a camera. Below is the best picture of the colors. I used the bottles as candle holders and also as vases for sprigs of the curly willow(I'm in love with curly willow, by the way) and holly. They were beautiful and covered in melted wax by the end of the night.




We had amazing food, catered by Navarre and a convenient power outage towards the end of the night that really let us enjoy the candlelight.
Yay for my first opportunity to style an event on my own!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Super Marathon

My boss is running a super marathon this weekend. That is 50 miles. Yeah. 50. His goal time is something like 9 hours. Just thinking about that gives me an asthma attack.

He's telling us this and Tracy asks him "how do you do that?!"

He looks at us, looks down at himself, shrugs and says "how do you NOT?"

Probably my favorite thing he's ever said.

GUH

lovelovelovelovelovelovelove

this.