the week of thanksgiving

1. plan a side dish for thursday
2. make no knead bread in my lecreuset for thurs.
3. get my new bunny ready for the drive up north (more pics to come)
4. do a photoshoot for blush
5. check out heath ceramics (i ran out of time in sept)
6. print holiday cards for jen, assemble & deliver
7. take photo for our holiday cards
8. smother my cute nephew
9. see if i have time to make this wreath for my apt door
10. read this book
11. eat dad's famous homeade chocolate chip ice cream

what are you doing?

grosgrain blog giveaway

there is a woman who writes a blog called grosgrain. she sews the most stylish outfits for kids, and then gives them away. how amazing is that? this week, she is giving away these sailor pants, jacket and matching hat. i don't even have a kid but i want it for my future girl. and photoshoots. and one in my size? she has great photography skills and adorable little girls. post a link from your blog and you can win too! and then call me and let's do a photoshoot. you have until dec. 2 to enter.

lactose intolorance

me: yes, yes, yes, yes (but who really likes pepperoni? yuck)

it started in highschool. i noticed it more in college and during one of my microderm treatments junior year to work on my breaking out face, the lady said that 80 or 90% of asians were lactose intolorant, and that maybe it was causing me to break out. i went off it almost immediately, pausing only to inhale my dad's homemade ice cream, willing to suffer the consequences. it didn't help my face, but i started to not get stomach sick...ever. i stayed off for about 3 years, and then slowly i craved it all again. i studied abroad in france, how could i not love cheese? buying separate milk w/caroline seemed like a waste and baking w/o dairy was tricky. and who doesn't crave a good bowl of cold cereal at any i could/can easily stray from heavy creme, key lime pie, etc. i've been taking lactaid for the past few years. first everyfew days and then suddenly when i ate like everyone else, 2-3x a day. it's not cheap and it sucks to down the pills all the time. it's gross when i eat pizza (hello nasty clump of cheese) and on the occasion when one pill wasn't enough, i still have to excuse myself.

a few years back my dad saw a product talked about on dr. phil. it's called lactagen and is a 38 day program designed to cure you completely. i lost the print out for about 2 years and just found it as we were unpacking. i ordered it yesterday. there's a 6 month money back guarantee. it's about $140, so it's not cheap, but if it can cure me for good it's worth it. i'll let you know how it goes in the next few months. does anyone else have this problem? is there another cure you've heard of, or are we all doomed to daily chalky pills?

tie rack

we just bought a tie rack for jan that we have to bolt into the closet (nothing special). i think this idea is much more his style, and one of the (very) few ways i would accept a dead animal in my home. images taken by james carriere, via sfgirlbybay. i'm going to keep an eye out for a plaid tie now.

headboards

There is one bed frame out there that j & i both love. we even contemplated getting it when it went on sale for 20% plus free shipping. but it's still really expensive, and although we would have it for life, we want to get into a house first. so..the next alternative is making one ourselves or hacking a craigslist one for less than $100. We figure if we are spending $3-500 on an ikea/west elm bed that we mostly like, but not love, then we should just put the money into savings for the one we do love. i found a few on apartment therapy complete w/how to instructions. I also found some using photography, stencils, old doors, etc. Do you think an actual headboard is necessary? Could you make do with just a stencil or block of paint and no physical wood/cushion?

inspired

by this image, titled: Girls in the Windows by Ormond Gigli. again, another great idea for a family portrait recreation. that would be a rather large family though, so maybe a family reunion?

carnivorous plant

i picked up a pretty plant at trader joes. these tubes w/curly grass in front. i thought it looked hard to kill and would look pretty on our dining table. when i got to the checkout stand, both guys said - hey, you got our favorite plant! it eats things! huh? turns out i got a cold blooded killer. "the pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap." Who knew? I can't find a photo of the curly grass, but they said that ants crawl deeper and deeper into the curls and get trapped. j's excited to find some bugs and try it out.

DIY projects

i browse kids magazines looking for good photo ideas for my shoots. parents magazine online had this cute posting of DIY costumes. some are a little cheesy, but i thought these ones were really cute. green sponges to make a dinasour & gloves to make antlers. genious. my next photo project is going to involve bright fabric and kids in costume.

hello there

i am working w/a company to do illustrations in a vacant store front in beverly hills - very posh! this is my most recent submitted draft. the requirements were - one illustration, 2 color schemes, holiday feel & incorporating their colors for this season of burgandy and silver. what do you think?

of all the luck

i just went on my lunch break to quit pb. i have a lot of freelance on my plate now, plus the full time gig and i can't give up spending time w/family over the holidays for a part time job. they're usually pretty adamant that if you work, you have to help through the holidays and busy season. so i figured i'd have to quit before thanksgiving. only, the manager said no. no? no. she'll let me work one or two sat's a month, help w/floorsets in the evenings every few months, and other than that, i can just call in when i have free time. 'and you can keep your discount.' i think that the black cloud that followed me while we were moving has morphed into a lucky charm. image via

no way!

look at this photo from orange beautiful. doesn't it look VERY similar to wallpaper #2?? it is very cute in real life! my pattern repeats itself every 20", so it's pretty big which makes it not so crazy on the eyes. if you click on the post there is an additional close up. thoughts??

shoot idea

i would love to borrow this idea for a family photoshoot. image via rodney smith

last 2 (i think)

when i tried to post #3 below, the link wasn't working so I had to use the front page of the book and write in a description. So these are now up for voting, #3, and #3.5. (as of today, i'm leaning towards one of these or a b&w one. the wall color to the right will be a lighter to medium grey. really pretty)

wallpaper is back

top: 1,2,3

bottom: 4,5,6

top: 7,8,9

bottom: 10,11

i'm going to wallpaper the entry of our new place w/the sherman-williams easy change line. it's pure genious because when you are done, you just peel it off. the paint underneath is just fine, and you walk - perfect for apartment dwelling! now, what i need you for is helping me pick. i've narrowed it down slightly, but there are a lot of options here. to help you w/the decision, the front wall will eventually have CB2's clear console and a white modern west elm mirror over it, the left wall will have j's antique wood chair and a long strip of zebra wood w/vintage hooks for hanging coats/bags. to the right will be the dining table which is currently grey, with clear chairs. the dining wall will be painted based on the wallpaper. please let me know your top two!

mantra

saw this great print today on orange beautiful from etsy. it's currently sold out, so i hope they print more. doesn't it just make you smile to read? simple happiness is how life should be. j was saying how he saw a few black people walking around town, who, when they saw another black person said - hey, congratulations or it's a great day isn't it? i think it's great. O seems calm and collected and hopefully will do a good job leading our country out of war and a recession. (not an easy task). Maybe he needs this poster?

how to let go

I don't approach dating much on my blog. I am afterall, a year and a half into marriage with my best friend. But, i had to date a few to get to this one. I never admited it at the time, but a few moon's ago a friend sent me this book after I dated Nordon (not his real name). I tossed it out of embarassment to have it on my shelf, but what it said made sense. See, Nordon and I were great. Everything was great. Week 2, he said he loved me, wanted to marry me. And then one day, 6 months later it was over. It just wasn't working. He needed sometime to work on personal goals and then we would reasses. (worst line ever). So I waited. Patiently, then not so patiently. I kept the old hope up and it was hard to break that down. I didn't eat, sleep, lost weight (def. not a bad thing), and cried a lot. Then in time, I moved on. To the next guy who didn't work, and then to my husband. Why do we do it? Why do we hold on to the best that we've had even if they didn't want us back? Even if they were great, the mere fact that they are unwilling to push on and work on things because they like/love you that much means that they're just not that into you. Which is fine, it's just hard to swallow.

For ages women have come together over coffee, cocktails, or late-night phone chats to analyze the puzzling behavior of men. Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo are here to say that -- despite good intentions -- you're wasting your time. Men are not complicated, although they'd like you to think they are. And there are no mixed messages. The truth may be, He's just not that into you. He's Just Not That Into You -- based on a popular episode of Sex and the City -- educates otherwise smart women on how to tell when a guy just doesn't like them enough, so they can stop wasting time making excuses for a dead-end relationship.

What are your thoughts? Guys, when you feel it's over are you just done? Girls - any advise to a friend that is having a hard time letting go?

the election

I downloaded CameraBag on my iphone. It gives me the option to do different filters one of which is very similar to my Diana/Holga. I took these this morning while I waited outside the pretty Culver Hotel to vote. 2 hours in heels. Waiting, waiting, waiting, voting, a quick stop at Noah's (best bagels ever) then off to work! It feels good to take part in history. Did all of you vote absentee or did anyone brave the lines like me? Prop 8 is a big issue out in California, but it was nice to see some other good CA propositions for better schools, transportation, etc.

the tales of moving

last weekend it felt like a black cloud was following us. we submitted in my job contract later than planned and barely got approval on a single vs double deposit on our new place. (if they had said double we would have found a new place, which i spent hours on fri. looking for 'just in case'.) we got a late start to go get the uhaul sat. am and while j was taking care of it all, the battery in the truck died in a very ghetto part of los angeles. we got a jump 40 min's later, and even though pep boys said the battery seemed to be ok, j installed a new one. 4 hrs AFTER we had planned, we loaded up the uhaul and it started pouring on our way to the new apt. it hasn't rained this much since we moved here in may!! just when we thought things couldn't get worse, the rain cleared, our friend showed up to help us move and i caught this sunset off our back patio. things went smoother from then on but man are we tired. the indiana stuff shows up tues., so by this weekend, we should be a little more relaxed.