simple things

the first frost arrived today and brought with it an incredibly gorgeous morning. while standing outside taking it all in, all i could think about was how if this was green lake, my nanny (grandma) would be super pissed that her peas had finally lost the battle. one of my favourite lake memories is waking up at 2am to the sounds of her dragging my bobby (grandpa) outside, into the garden to cover up all the plants to protect them from those relentless august frosts....the thought of her urgent whispers of 'jim! hurry! JIM!' crack me up.


speaking of the lake, i saw 'reign over me' the other night, which i kinda liked actually, but i think that was mostly due to the fact that they play this song in the intro, a fact that made me shush people and turn up the volume. its one of those songs you forget you know all the words to until you hear it years later. it brought me hurtling back to drives up to the lake with my friend amy after having hijacked her brother craig's CSN box set, again, and singing the whole way there (me badly, amy prettily). i LOVE this song- so sad- but i have a thing for sad, pretty songs. it is amazing how music makes a movie. wouldn't that be the best job- to make movie soundtracks?


and how about crosby and nash in that video- can ya dig it?! i love david crosby's super peaceful, casual entrance, full of hippy kindness, just wanting to jump in on some melodies with his friend. so cute.

i'm having one right now

you know those perfect days? the ones you sometimes stop in the middle of and realize you're half holding your breath? the ones that you think about during a bad week in february and wonder 'why can't i have MORE of those perfect days and less of these sucky ones?' well i've had a few recently....the fact that they're fleeting is what makes them perfect really isn't it? life is weird.

ps happy birthday johnnie

this is neat - BluePrint magazine has printable wrapping paper online.

also, the island of kauai is overrun with chickens and roosters (fyi) and some of them can even ride bikes. for real.

the foam that memories are made of

when you say the word 'foam' to people these days, you're likely to set them off on a tangent about this 'memory foam' phenomenon and how much they love their own 'memory foam' mattress topper. i've been amazed at the passion people have for the stuff- until our stiff and springy temporary bed was revolutionized by a thin piece of it. it is truly miraculous....but has one major downside, it sheds fuzz like the dickens- but when you're sleeping? you don't even care.

buttless chaps

we all know someone who this would be PERFECT for...why do the russells keep coming to mind?

also...

check out this cool designer, cyberobtrix, perfect for the tie wearer with an edge- i think these would be perfect for non-traditional yet formal events like, oh i don't know, a shot gun wedding or something.

a spring market saturday

so hungry

just a little taste of how jeremy spoiled us at salt spring recently...yuuuuummmmmmmy...and how happy we were about it!

ps can boys be cougars??

film is so fun...

until you take a WHOLE ROLL of awesome, beautiful (or so you think) photos while inside the guts of your camera, a conspiracy is taking place of devastating proportions.....by some twist of fate, a tiny piece of plastic neglects to latch onto the film and all the pictures that you thought you had, never existed at all. SIGH.

luckily, you have more film.

i dare you to NOT love these

take a moment and lust with me over these beautiful and unique bags by kaleel designs . They even have names ('saturday afternoon', 'dark forest', 'running errands', 'saturday eleven-thirty'):

paper-aholic

hello. my name rhymeswithtarget, and i am a paper-aholic. its a genetic disorder kindly handed down to me from my father, legendary in his time for the wrapping. i come by it honestly but, at times, it affects my life (i like to think it does so in a pretty way, but not everyone feels the same about it as i do).

Paper, cards...........eeeeeeeeeeK! BRING IT!

I also greatly enjoy putting things into boxes of uniform size, and so was very excited to find the container store (via smitten kitchen's great blog) for really inexpensive seamless tins for spices (check out this organizational beauty- my sister will FREAK) and some pretty rad paper products too.

Now we all know where to get those little chinese food take-out containers (i know you've been wondering)! I'm expecting innovative things to come in the wrapping department from now on:) ps you have to check out broadway paper.

better than i remembered

went to check out the house on the rock this week, and it sure is prettier in spring! i love the landscape, the old walls and the cracked stone stairs. call me crazy, but i hate lawns (we do have one of those too in the back, but its the front i really like). arbutus trees TOTALLY make up for dilapitated decks, don't you agree?

also went to the states and checked out bellingham, which i thought was really just bellis fair, but actually is a really pretty town. PLUS, it has a DAISO (admittedly in bellis fair- okay we went there too). BUT i think i showed considerable self-restraint when i did not buy any dishes, only some baby chopsticks for sam & claire's easter presents. CUTE.

crying is weird

this is very interesting....but i can't decide if it feels too construed in a trying to be artsy way... but i contributed anyways because i had a bad weekend and thought hell, may as well put these tears to some collective use and entertainment!

that being said, there was some cake and even some dancing recently, and possibly even lobster risotto at 3am...so that oughta lighten the mood! and MAN that stuff is fun, especially cake!

on another note, spring has really been trying to eek its way out, as you can see from the new banner, which was actually taken 2 weeks ago. its been raining like screaming banshees (that's for aren) since that time until yesterday! i was actually honestly starting to have very serious thoughts while driving like 'what if the sun NEVER comes back?!' that would really be awful wouldn't it? i mean, what would you do?

luckily, it always seems to return, just like your mom when she used to drop you off at daycare....she always came back, just like she said. Speaking of which, a daycare would be a GREAT place to get some really gritty crying photos (from what i remember of daycare anyways)!

hunting

this saturday was spent dashing through the downpour from secret place to not-so-secret place, hunting for a special something to hang in a precariously placed window in the house on the rock. this window in question overlooks an abandoned warehouse i'm currently pretending doesn't exist (but it does). but HOLY are stained glass windows ever pricey! sheesh...going to have to hope that magically timed, well-stocked, garage sale at the 100-year old home of an eccentric world traveller, who has recently died an exciting yet tragic death, who's children only want brand new things not old weird crap that i've been waiting for all comes along soon! saw some other interesting things though.

the poorly lit shots on the bottom are of a fabulous table my aunt just had *imported* which is made out of old wine barrels- the numbers you see are from the vineyard. its very thick and heavy and sumptuously dark. yum.