They are handsome nipples indeed

Lou and his genius from Addie on Vimeo.

Experiment unsuccessful

So remember how I mentioned that I was attempting to grow tomatoes for the first time this year? And how it was a bit of an experiment? Yeah, well, the results are in an the outcome is a 95% failure rate. After suckering it and weeks and weeks of watering it almost everyday, the plant finally yielded some tomatoes. We ate two of them at Kristina's cabin last weekend (they weren't that great) and over the course of the next week all the rest of them were eaten by disgusting black bugs.



This picture is the least disgusting of the ones I took. I'm sparing you the completely bug/worm filled images (you're welcome). When I got home from work last night I had to carry the plant through my apartment to get it out the door and down the trash shoot. And that was enough of a creepy bug feeling to make me need to clean my whole apartment. It needed it anyway and the part where I was out of town last weekend and sick with a cold this week added to the need to have cleanliness in my space.

So I vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, did two loads of laundry, dusted, swept the balcony, watered the plants, did the dishes and got things put away. I even scrubbed my couch down with a wet cloth and some upholstery cleaner since I allow King on my furniture and then it needs to be cleaned more often. Only then did I feel the bug heebie jeebies go away enough that I could pour myself a glass of wine and watch a dvd. And all was well again.

In conclusion, no more tomato growing for me. I'll just get them at the co-op or the organic section of the grocery store from now on. Oh well, at least I tried.

Like moths to a flame

Conversation recently with a Jabba The Hut look-a-like behind the counter while purchasing my lunch:

Jabba: Would you like to spin the prize wheel?

He reaches out a Twister board towards me where pieces of paper with discounts written on them had been taped over the color circles and body part symbols.

I spun.

Jabba: Oh, looks like you get a free medium soda! And if you want me to throw in a date with yours truly, that can be arranged.

Me: Thanks, I'm cool with the soda.

Lou Reed Ribfest

Jady didn't want to have an ultra traditional first birthday for Lou, so she played off her own love for ribs and decided to make it a ribfest birthday party. I don't think Louis has even had much meat of any kind at this point, but that will all change next month!

I spent some time last weekend designing his invitations and was pleased with the way they turned out. The photo of him was taken by Jady.

I'm very much looking forward to celebrating Louis' first year in the world with friends, family and some tasty, tasty ribs.

Munch, Jady says she'll pay you to reprise your role as the Famous Dave's Pig and you can come in the pig suit and entertain the kiddies. You don't even have to wear rollerblades in it like you did in high school. Whaddya say?

Dad, we should get a print of this for uncle Jer

Seeing as how he has plenty of first hand experience with bike accidents and owns three helmets, but refuses to wear any of them. I bet a colorful poster with a positive message would really help. :)

image via ffffound.

Books

So I finally finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. As I mentioned before, it was a bit of a dark read for the middle of summer and it takes a little while to get into, but it was an incredible book.

I didn't know anything about the story when I first cracked the cover. My friend Kelsey loaned it to me a few months ago and said it was good and sometimes I like to go into books (and movies) without knowing anything about them so everything is a surprise. So when I first figured out it was about the holocaust I kind of thought, Oh God, here we go, I'm so over Nazi's.

After so many years of reading about, learning about and watching movies about certain topics I start to feel like that, just kind of over it and ready to move onto other topics. Nazi Germany, concentration camps, slavery, apartheid and segregation all seem to fall under this category to me. Don't get me wrong, they are all very important topics to learn and read about and I don't mean to diminish them or there importance in any way, I just feel like they have been sufficiently covered, for me personally.

So even though I was a little apprehensive about it, I ended up finding The Book Thief fascinating. Zusak managed to take a very new and original approach to an old subject and it's incredibly well written. It's always nice when a story teller can take a topic as large at WWII and widdle it down into a more manageable and personal story.

Now that I finished the Nazi book, I'm moving on. Little Bee by Chris Cleave is about two women in Britain, one an immigrant from Nigera and the other a recent widow, and their interesting relationship. That's all I know because I'm only about 20 pages in and I don't want to know too much about the plot before I read it!

And can I just say, if I had my way, I'd be spending the day reading it here.



A beautiful little cottage on the Isle of Wight, with a glass of wine, fancy crackers, expensive cheese and King.







cottage via light locations. found via sfgirlbybay.

Summer babies

Lou and I are happy to be summer babies. We just can't believe we have a birthday coming up so soon again. Well, again for me, for the first time for him.

Summer Bubbles

We did a lot of bubbling last weekend. Two and a half year olds make it fun again. And as a public service announcement, if you have a Walgreens in your area, all summer bubbles are now on clearance and you can get some fun stuff for ridiculously cheap. I mean like $1. Awesome.

Pictures by Richard Heeks. Found via Cup of Joe.

More water

The second half of the weekend was dedicated to Caroline and Dave's ninth engagement party. Well, actually it was their second, but who's counting. ;) We had a great time and a lovely dinner and then got out on the Minneapolis lakes yesterday afternoon for some sun and boating.

I love summer and I love it when my far away friends come home for visits.

Noemie Goudal

Incredible image by photographer Noemie Goudal. I have to say, I love her name too. :) See more of her lovely work here.

found via ffffound.

Mille Lacs

I spent the beginning of the weekend at Kristina's cabin on lake Mille Lacs with her, her son and our friend Brianna. Mille Lacs is Minnesota's second largest lake and spans 132,000 feet, so it feels less like a lake and a more like an ocean. It's incredibly beautiful.



We had a great time relaxing, swimming, having cocktails and playing with little J-Man and the dogs.




I love this picture. You can just hear King going "Um, kid, where do you think you're going with that thing?" Though I don't think he was really that concerned since we all knew Johan couldn't go too far too fast with his flip flops he insisted on wearing that were two sizes too big and generally slipped on through the wrong toes. And since they're buds and Johan wouldn't really run him over.

Good times had by all.

Merry Mary Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!

you can read about the origins of merry mary monday here.

On the road

Hittin' the road tonight to head up to Kristina's cabin. Have a great weekend ya'll.

image via knitalatte11. via poppytalk.

Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows

The new John Prine Tribute album, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows is quite good and I like the album art as well. Justin Vernon's (Bon Iver) rendition of Bruised Orange is fantastic. I'm much less of a fan of the Angel From Montgomery cut. That happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time so of course I'm going to be more picky with it, but I just really don't care for this version nor do I like when people go switching lyrics around.

But overall, thumbs up.



Everybody knows this is the best version of Angel From Montgomery around.

Ed Emberely & Friends

When we were growing up Jady and I spent hours at our kitchen table with Ed Emberely books. Picking out the characters we wanted to try and recreate and then doing so one line at a time. They were such a great way to learn how to draw and the characters were so cute.



So I had one of those major childhood flashback moments when I saw this post on My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses. Apparently Caleb Neelon loved Ed Emberely's books too, so much so that he's put together a tribute show to pay homage to the man who's books influenced so many young artists. Awesome.



The show includes some of Ed's original work as well as six different artists each creating a panel that will be donated to various children's hospitals after the show closes.



For more information about the show and a great interview with Ed Emberely himself, click here.

I can pretty much guarantee you my mom still has our old Emberely books somewhere, the ones that were only green and black. We'll have to bust those out for Louis in a few years.

Scion Presents: Ed Emberley and Friends from Scion ART on Vimeo.

My pup

When I first opened this picture on the computer I thought, Oh, I'll use this picture for my post on how this dog's hair all over my apartment is the bane of my existence, but that's no longer how I roll.

Instead I will banish that thought and think how unbelievably lucky I am to have such a handsome, sweet K9 friend.

Positive

I fell back into the bad place in my mind again lately. Where negative thoughts were creeping in and I was complaining too much.

It was accidental.

It happens.

So I went back to my netflix and watched a dvd that could help bring me back to the place where I want to be. And that place where I always want to be, even if it's not always easy, is the place of peace and love and understanding. You know, that place where you find a bit of patience for yourself and some for others. The place that reminds you that your thoughts effect your life and that it's important to keep them positive. (I first wrote about this topic here)

Somehow I had fallen into my old habits, having negative thoughts during the day and waking up in the middle of the night a little bit afraid, so I watched Wayne Dyer's Success and Inner Peace and it helped.

I guess sometimes you just have to dedicate a couple hours to having someone tell you, or remind you, what it is you needed to hear.

It's good to be reminded.

At this moment these are my positive thoughts:

I'm thankful for my dog who is my best friend and my constant source of unconditional love and cuddles.

I'm thankful for a healthy, beautiful, free spirited, happy nephew who makes myself and everyone around him smile.

I'm thankful for sausage, egg and cheese bagels. They make the world a better place.

I'm thankful that I find my work gratifying and that somehow I've never doubted my career choice. Not for a second.

I'm thankful that I have Friday off work and get to spend the weekend with my new/old friend Kristina.

I'm thankful for itunes.

I'm thankful that I recently got back into practicing yoga a few times a week because I had forgotten how good it feels and how much strength you have within yourself if you just push yourself to find it.

I'm thankful for cold press coffee.

I'm thankful that my current weight matches that on my drivers license. Do you know the last time that was the case?! A long time ago let me tell you. :)

I'm thankful that the sun is out today.

Ok, dear readers, what do you have in your life that's positive right now? I would love to hear about it. Even if it's just one little thing that you're happy about today. Please feel free to share.

Summer goodness

This summer's dinner obsession, open face caprese sandwiches. Fresh tomato, mozzarella, basil and a little salt and pepper on sourdough toast and drizzled with some balsamic glaze. Absolutely fantastic.

Balsamic glaze (or reduction) is the way to go when you're making a caprese since it has that great balsamic vinaigrette flavor, but with a little extra sweetness and some viscosity that makes it not only stay on the salad, but also keeps it from getting too moist.

It's good. Really good.

WASARA

One time use tableware made with 100% tree-free renewable materials; sugar cane fiber, bamboo, and reed pulp. Biodegradable and compostable. Designed in Japan by Shinichiro Ogata.

So lovely. Click here for the full collection.

found via graphic-exchange.

Happy Pool Days

I spent a good portion of the weekend by the pool and it was pretty fabulous. Both Lou and my floaties were purchased at Walgreens for about $7 and that was probably some of the best money spent all summer. That and the rent paid to have the pool and the money for the wine enjoyed there.

PS. I am wearing a swim suit, it's just strapless. Three weddings at the end of the summer... I don't need tan lines. :)

Merry Mary Monday!

I love this photo. A lot.

It is the beginning of a really beautiful black and white set.

Happy Monday!

you can read about the origins of merry mary monday here.

image by something to see. found via beauty comma.

Sanna Annukka

I'm loving these funky postcards by Sanna Annukka at Nineteenseventythree.

PS. Her wrapping paper is also awesome.

Found via creature comforts.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Of all the moms in all the world I was lucky enough to get the best one. Hands down.

There just aren't enough words to say how much I love her and how glad I am that she is my mom and my friend.

Happy Birthday Mom, I sure do love you.



This painting is Temptation by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1880) from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It used to hang in my parents bedroom and it always reminds me of my mom.

If you're thinking about setting me up

I have come to some sort of peace with being a woman who is single. And by that I mean I realize I am secure enough in who I am to know that I am currently single, but that won't always be the case and I have the utmost faith in the fact that I will meet the right guy someday. And until that day I will refuse to settle.

Does that mean that this guy will ride in on a white horse and be everything I've ever wanted and more and perfect in every way? No. Does that mean that I am unwilling to have a good time dating in the mean time? No. Does that mean that I have to be convinced "he's the one" on the first date to continue dating someone instead of just having some fun? No. But do I have some threshold, a line in the sand if you will, where I decide that I'd rather spend every single Friday and Saturday night alone until the day I die before I spend it with the company of certain men? Hell yes.

I have been on enough truly horrible dates people.

But I think sometimes being single makes other people uncomfortable, or perhaps they're so happy in their own relationship they think that everyone needs to at least be dating someone. So they are very interested in fixing you up. And that's not an all together bad thing. I'm not here saying that I think fixing people up is a horrible crime, but there is one important factor to the fixing up thing that most people seem to ignore and that is the idea that the two single people you want to meet should have at least some teeny tiny minuscule amount of things in common. I mean, more than just both being single. Something, at least one little thing, that makes you think they might actually get along, let alone get to a second date. I think most people are just like "Oh, you're single? I also know someone single! You should get together!"

Somehow the fact that some commonalities should be present seems to completely escape people's minds when they're trying to tell you about someone that they want to set you up with. And in a very Pavlovian way, after years of people talking to me about this subject, my initial reaction to someone telling me they know someone I should meet is now to take off my shoe and hit myself over the head with it until I become dead, or at least until I put myself in a coma. Because that will surely be better than having to stand there and listen to someone elaborate about a guy I need to sit across a table from and have a drink with.

The kicker is, most the people who want to set me up so badly do not even know me, not even a little. That's not true for everyone, some people know me well and then I have a more open mind, but if the guy down the hall who I've said hello to a handful of times tells me he wants me to meet his friend while I'm outside just trying to get my dog to pee quickly so I can get back to my episode of The Biggest Looser, it just makes me wish King was a doberman and I'd trained him well enough that I could give him the command "Sic balls".

And it's not like every single description is so horrible, it's just that not one time in all the conversations I've had on this topic have I ever been like, "Oh, he sounds great! Definitely set me up! Do it now!"

It's more things like,

"He's an engineer and he also has a dog! And he only lives an hour outside the city!" (not said but implied: "he lives in an apartment behind the Walgreens in po-dunk, no-wheres-ville Minnesota and will take you to a nice meal at the local Outback Steak House" PS. I met this guy later in the hallway, I was right.)

"He's quite attractive and nice, but he's not very smart. He's a personal trainer."

"When I saw him recently he was having a really hard time because his wife just left him, but he's really nice and sweet! And I know he wants more kids!"

"When I met up with him recently for drinks he didn't have any bacardi in his coke and I found out he's 30 days sober. But he's really nice. But man, it's good he quit drinking. He's a little older than you though, he's 42 I think." (Um, 42 years old makes him 14 years my elder. I'm not against older men, but at 14 years he better be Edward Burns.)

And one of my favorites (Leslie, I adore you, but this still makes me laugh) when I got a text at about one in the morning that my cousin had met my future husband that night and could we meet for breakfast the next morning so I could meet him? When she texted me again the next day it was to say he was on a plane back to California where he lives and that she was really hungover. "But he's perfect for you!" She said, "He's a democrat!"

After these and many other set up mishaps in the past I have decided that any time anyone wants to set me up with a man in the future my answer will be, "If he isn't a perfect mix between Aiden from Sex In The City and Chris Stevens from Northern Exposure I want no part of it." That isn't exactly my standard, I actually have far more of an open mind than that, but at least it gives people who are out on the lookout for me a good place to start.

So if you have any inclination to set me up on a date with your cousin who just got out of the pen doing 6-12 for money laundering (which you think is impressive he was even able to pull off because he's not even literate), don't call me. Even if he got out in four on good behavior and, like me, he also has a dog.

To review:

Back to it

It can't be happy pool times forever.

Hitting the ground in a full on sprint today.

image via ffffound.

Summer reading

So King and I got back from our walk and I was just mentally gathering things in my head that I'll need to bring with me over to the pool. This list, of course, includes a book. I don't know if anyone really pays much attention to the book I'm reading on the right side of the screen, but when I thought about bringing The Book Thief with me to the pool I realized that a story about a young girl and her dead brother, her poverty stricken foster family and Jews in hiding during WWII Nazi Germany probably isn't the best summer reading choice. No wonder it's taking me so long to get through it.

I'm going to have check the bookshelves in my closet (that's the only place there's room for them) and get one that's less insanely depressing. Something so summer-beach-ready that I might almost become dumber from having read it. I wonder if I have anything like that in there. Maybe something by Emily Giffin. We'll see.

Merry Mary Monday!

I'll tell you what, it is a Merry Mary Monday indeed. I have the day off and I intend to spend it walking my dog and then laying by the pool all day until it's time to go to dinner with my parents. Hot damn!

What a lovely, soft butterfly hu? It seems like I've been seeing so many more butterflies around this city this summer. I'm not sure exactly why that would be, but I really like it.

Have a good day folks!

you can read about the origins of Merry Mary Monday here.

Another place another time

A few old photographs I got at the flea market last weekend for $1.

I love digging through the boxes full of old photos at flea markets and antique stores, so many stories and histories all contained in one box with no way of knowing who or where the people and places are. But it's a little sad too, all those family photos, wedding portraits and baby pictures of people who are now probably long dead being fingered and picked through by a passing group of strangers. But it's kind of fun to make up the stories for them and imagine the context.

I especially love the way all the photos are different shapes and sizes and different shades of yellow. I don't know what I'll do with them yet, but I love them anyway.

Colombo Tea & Coffee Co.

Absolutely fabulous logo and packaging design by The Hardy Boys for Colombo Tea & Coffee Company in Durban, Africa. I'm not having much luck with websites for this post, but check out the original post at the Dieline by clicking here.