merry christmas

have a merry christmas! i'll be back sometime next week with photos of what we've been working on all week. we made it safely to utah and are having fun in the snow, spending time w/friends and family before we take off to indiana to do the same for a week.

biscotti

first you find the recipe from a friend who has already tried & succeeded

then you make the dough, refrigerate it for half hour and arrange them into 'flattish' logs. yes, 'flattish' was in the recipe

bake the loaves and let them cool. slice them up into 1" diagonal strips.

bake again, cut side up for 15 min's (we turned them at 15 and did 5 more on the other side)
voila! biscotti with semi-sweet chips, dried cranberries & plenty of orange zest
and into little bags w/red string for office gifts

japanese inspiration

i've been swamped with so much design/illustration freelance work lately that my photography is lacking! i shot a few things for Blush over thanksgiving, but want to make some new goals in the new year to shoot consistantly. i just ordered the new canon 50d, as i have to wait for the husband to graduate and make some $ before i can go full professional with the 5d mark II. i found these images on flickr, by Akihiro Futura. I have felt creatively stumped in the past with family portraits, because in my mind, people sitting or standing together seems a little boring, even with a more creative backdrop. These images sparked some great inspiration, for creating creative portraiture with props, matching clothes, gestures, etc. Matching outfits (ie women's dresses) was so outdated, but I think w/a modern twist it might come back and be pretty rad. These are some of my favorites. Email me to schedule January/February family portraits.

uggh

i was trying to be secretive while wrapping gifts for j and another relation, thus, pulling my excitingly discounted jcrew items out of the shipping box one at a time to wrap them. after wrapping all the gifts, i threw the box away, forgetting to grab the receipt and a cute satin belt that was for me and didn't need to be wrapped!!! and yeah, that was about 3 days ago. Don't think I just woke up w/a start and didn't try to sift through our community garbage. I just wish we didn't share it w/40 other families...

j's wishlist

here is j's man list:

1. five pepper blend from williams-sonoma
2. an ocean fishing license
3. dried montmorency cherries from trader joe's
4. $ towards scuba lessons (he knows an underwater shooter and would like to assist him next year)
5. a gps (he frequently gets lost around los angeles)
6. balsalmic vinegar
7. bike lights for night vision/safety
some of the ideas on my brother's lists included wii controllers, $ towards lift tickets in UT, addidas/pumas, a bluetooth headset, and a wii nunchuck.

holiday wishlist

these are some of the things on my wishlist this year, in case anyone is looking for ideas for your own friends/family. i'll post my list, and then jan's in case you want some guy ideas.

1. a tea kettle (w/my discount)
2. stockings with this style of design,
3. slippers (i know i live in LA, but my feet still get cold!)
4. vintage ornaments from thrift stores/flea markets
5. old archie comic books (i've read/collected these since i was a kid)
6. wicked tickets (the show is over in january!)
7. ground cinnamon from whole foods (seriously, amazing).
i also told his family i would love a small lemon tree (around $20) or a citrus press - the vintage kind that you push the handle down on.

bodies as art

i am always facinated with creative photography collaborations. the site i found these on says,"Art director Willi Dorner and Photographer Lisa Rastl have collaborated on a project combining humans in odd formations and unusual locations. ‘Bodies in Urban Spaces’ sets out to explore the “relationship between body, space and architecture”. The urban based series was created as a set of human sculptures. They are currently spread throughout the city of Philadelphia." images and text found here. i would love to have a print of the first one.

little k

i love my nephew. his laugh is infectious. he ate his first lime, and kept eating! he tried on women's shoes and looked adorable hobbling around macys. he loves to honk your nose and show you his tongue. i'll post a few other pics from my big camera later this week - we didn't have much time. the last photo is of both of my sister-in-laws. i love them. we had a mini shopping spree w/mom at WS to pick up some christmas gifts w/my discount.

pannettone

Someone dropped a loaf of this bread off at our office. It's Italian christmas bread, sprinkled with powdered sugar. A sweet egg type bread. Delicious. Ours has chestnuts (i picked them out) and raisins, but my favorite is just simple and plain. It's great toasted with a little butter, and amazing as french toast. It usually comes in a big tin and can seem intimidatingly huge, but you won't regret it.

hysterosalpingogram

if anyone of you ever has to have this, i can now emphathise. with a lot of silent prayer, i survived it. twice, because the tube broke 80% of the way into the procedure. but, my uterus is golden. and i'm practically wearing a diaper. is that too much info for blogging?

gift ideas

The season for gifts is coming, and I saw these boxes on the onion that are gag boxes that you put your real gift inside of. They are cracking me up. The bottom box says: "Introducing two new attachments, because debris is always in season." This would be hilarous for someone's dad.

need to get my craft on

we have a pendant light from ikea that we used in the small box but haven't put up yet in the new place. i came across this amazing ikea hack. looks like felt circles cut out, then glued in the middle onto the lamp. pretty great in the day, but amazing at night. looks like i'm going to have to get some felt this weekend!

our new panda (rabbit)

When J went to NYC last weekend, I adopted a bunny. We brought our new panda home for Thanksgiving. She still doesn't have a name and I don't want to keep calling her the old name - Zeta-Centauri. It just doesn't fit her. So we're trying to come up w/something new that fits her better. Pandira? Pandora? Pandacious? Any suggestions? Either way, we all love her. K would run down every morning when he woke up, saying 'ba ba!' in a high pitched voice. He fed her carrot tops and cilantro, and even climbed in her box to see how it felt to be a rabbit. She is a rex, in the family of the original velveteen rabbit. (ie the softest thing ever). Come visit!

the kitchen

our apt is coming along. one of the things i have been on the hunt for is a pan rack to open up more cabinet space. all the ones in the stores are a lot longer than the 24" space we have to work with. i used some creative thinking and picked up an 18" modern towel rack at home depot and some S-hooks. I'll post the finished product this week. The cost at crate & barrel was about $99. Mine was $25, and now my fry/crepe/grill pans hang all pretty on the wall.