loving this week

The simplicity and colors, it's the perfect, rustic summer palette. Architetural Digest Noviembre 2012

Adding a bit of lushness to my porch for summer. This porch is the perfect inspiration.

This shot of Lily Stockman's studio wall by Nicole Franzen. Super inspired by Lily's work. 

This article on Miuccia Prada in T Magazine. Actually, I loved the whole issue. 

We're off to Palm Springs with all my sisters and family for a long weekend. We meet there every year and it's something I look so forward to. Hope your weekend is lovely! xx

four

today you are four.

it's so much for me to take in. i have memorized your face, your expressions, and can hear your sweet voice in my head long after you have gone to sleep. sometimes i watch you and feel as if i am seeing you for the first time. it's a strange feeling, one that is totally unique to you. i don't know what it means, but i do know that i love discovering you over and over again.

you have a deep passionate for the tiny, minuscule, and microscopic things in life. your gaze is often pointed downward, scoping out the overlooked and discarded or to the sky searching for the tiny traces of the moon in the daylight. you love collecting, twirling, and following your own path. 

you are a truly the light of my life.

feeling, almost summer

I am always looking for that image, quote, string of words, that takes my breath away. This Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool, 1964 by David Hockney does just that. Found via mnz. It's simply dreamy. 

Then there's this. Please watch and sink into the s l o w life. Think hot summer and cool clay. These Extrusion Bowls by Apparatu are stunning, but the process, that's where it's at for me. 

I love the simplicity of this summerhouse annex in Norway. Found in Thisispaper Magazine.  There is so much goodness there. 
+++We are headed to Mexico tomorrow for a long weekend. Looking forward to relaxing. Hope you have a lovely holiday.

found

I just found the beautiful work of Svenja Deininger. Along with Landon Metz, she's my latest art crush. 

...

This article on the Privileged Poor in an Australian publication could have been written about the US as well. I know what real poverty looks like, but also related to many of the outcries of middle class "poor" mentioned in the article. It's a confusing, pressured time that we are living in. 

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Victoria Wagner's stunning painted redwood rocks. I also love her artist's statement that begins with, "I must have been around seven years old when I heard that my uncle could float." I am reminded once again about how the stories that we tell our children can shape their lives. 

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I loved this post by Kristen Gregg on Marginamia, on coincidence, appropriateness, ordinary events. So beautifully felt and expressed. I know exactly what you mean.

And I woke early this morning wanting to write about this string of ordinary events, linked only by their meaning to one woman. But I didn't. I thought it better to post about something more appropriate to the reaches of this blog, to take my intense need to write this post and channel it into an appropriate subject. But I don't want to write the appropriate post. And I haven't for a while, so I end up posting nothing. writing nothing. stuck. What I want is to write this post, nonsensical and meaningless as it may be for others, indulgent as it may be for me. It's what I need to share. It's what is honest and all consuming.
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A good mother's day gift for me? This Uta Barth book and this Christopher Wool book. Or maybe a trip to Sephora.

Cheers to the mothers. xx

if I was french

If I was french and had a few extra kids, this would be my life. Tous Les Jours Dimanche, translated means, Everyday Sunday. A delightful blog about a family living in a french country house.

The takeaways: 

• start back up our simple evening strolls.
• dust off my sewing machine and make some simple french frocks already. or at the very least, buy them here.
• choose words when writing as if english were my second language (I read through my rss which translates french interestingly, beautifully).
• the ocean and I are well acquainted, think farmhouse for our next getaway.
• let our unfinished side yard channel the land surrounding a french farmhouse. muddy, grass growing where it will, well worn paths, with tin pales and wood hanging stacked around. don't over-think it.
• snap my camera at more, moving through life moments.
• petulance makes a good picture.
• even people in that live in french farmhouses sometimes dream of going elsewhere.

Hope you enjoy. When you read a blog or go to a site, do you look for things that you can apply to your life? I'm always looking for new ways to see or things to learn. Any good sites you're loving right now? 

collected, weekly

Found this shop, Stilleben, via instagram. I love nothing more than art piled high. This collection of watercolors by Trine Struwe are beautiful. 

Caitlin of Sacramento Street did a workspace profile about Joanna Williams of Kneeland Co. Every photo is perfection. Joanna is the kind of woman I find totally inspiring.  

via simple lovely, i dream of california

My favorite characters in books and films are always places. In this article on being a California writer, Marisa Silver describes the California landscape as, "a series of characters, as mysterious and alluring as any people I might invent on the page." So true. 

Do you read The Gentlewoman magazine? This interview Getting to know Penny Martin, The Gentlewoman was great, especially her vision behind the magazine. "I think it is very important that you can hear the way women sound. I think women talk to each other very differently when men aren't in the room and I wanted that sound of their voices,' she says. 'What I wanted to reproduce was that thing when women sit down and say, "God, I love that."' She mimes pulling at a jacket. 'You know, they touch each other." 

via a drawing diary

Simple adobe beauty. Definitely some of my favorite architecture. From the book, Georgia O’Keeffe and her houses.

Ever since Erin of Such Small Steps recommended the Phosphorescent track “Song for Zula” I have been hooked. I've played it a million times. Know how I mentioned finding your song of the season? This is springtime in Mexico right now.

Finally, I took this photo yesterday. The kids were playing with punching balloons. I have many more bright and lively photos, the camera settings got messed up on this one, but I love the feeling that came out of it. Another reminder to love our mistakes.

Hope you're enjoying the week. xx

Heading south

Wow, what a morning. I'm finally returning home from a million errands, last minute work, and a tax appointment. Not my ideal day, but let's be honest, the sun is still shining bright from the mention on Simple Lovely yesterday. xx

Tomorrow, my sister, mom, and I are heading to Mexico with all the kids for the next few weeks. Our family home is the place where we catch up, relax, and feel a million miles away. Before I go, here's a snapshot of what I'm bringing, reading, and listening to this week.  

1. Perfect summer hat. I just bought this natural one from jcrew and wrapped my black silk scarf around it for the same look. 

2. I'm a creature of habit, my aviators are never far from my reach. 

3. The Alexander Wang tank is great for layering.

4. I recently picked up these Leith pants. A great casual, but dressy pant.

5. I've had a million versions of these. Perfect to wear at the beachside bar and the Valle de Guadalupe.

6. My ever-loved blue and white striped scarf, source unknown.

7. My old leather backpack that I picked up somewhere in Rajasthan. Great vintage one here.

8. Recently bought this tunic from Zara.  

9. We're bringing art for the walls. We recently renovated and have giant, empty, white plaster walls in two of the bedrooms. I am enjoying the starkness of the space, but slowly we are curating a collection. 

10. While living in India, I used rose water daily. When I came back I found this Moroccan Rose Toner and now can't go a day without it. 

11. Jcrew swimsuit. 

12. My find of the spring, this jacket. Flat on the page it's not looking like much, but you must try it on. It's the perfect spring color, looks great over everything, and I've gotten endless compliments. And the best part, it's $39 dollars. 

13. Magazines, I always have a stack. Books, I'm bringing many including, A Field Guide to Getting Lost. Great title. My sis and I love to watch seasonal movies, it's kind of an obsession. We've got many queued up, starting with Enchanted April. On rotation, Sea and Cake. 

Hope you enjoy the weekend!!

collected, weekly

Happy Monday! It's a fresh week and I'm feeling rejuvenated and organized, which has been no easy task lately. It's the last week to get some work done before heading out of town for a two week spring break, so I thought I'd start the week with a few things that are inspiring me. 

the list (clockwise)................................................................................

1• This space from a note on design completely drew me in. I struggle with meditation, but feel like I could really clear my head here. 

2• Graphics, graffiti, and big bold shapes are catching my eye.

3• A museum in the mind of someone contemplating the sky by Dale Megan Healey is a beautifully written essay about James Turrell's installation called Meeting, at MoMA PS1. In one of my favorite paragraphs she writes, I admit that I mostly go to PS1 just so I can sit inside Meeting. I enter the building and try to look like I’m moving slowly through the galleries, contemplating the sculptures and video installations like everyone else, when really I just want to run up the stairs into that cold, bright room. Meeting is a permanent installation, and I sometimes don’t want to take the time to be moved by something new. I want to go straight to where feeling something is guaranteed.

4• I liked the cleverness of Nina Katchadourian's Sorted Books Project. She searches through collections of books, clustering titles to create witty sentences, unlikely groupings, and book spine poetry. She got her start while studying and trying to put into practice the theory that art lives in the everyday and is located in unlikely places. 

And speaking of books, I thought this article in the New York Times about the battle of the bedside table was great. Social scientists say that bedrooms are honest spaces and your real self lives on your night stand and in the books you keep there. So true.

5• Want to see the hardcopy precursor to Pinterest? This video on Nowness is an interview with photographer Taryn Simon who has created a series of works inspired by The Picture Collection. It's an archive of 1.2 million prints filed in over 12,000 folders labeled with beautiful terms like handshakes, sunlight, swimming pools and waiting. As someone who still collects torn-out images, someday I will enter that room. 

6• Love this print by Ky Anderson.

7• I've been living in a similar outfit lately. I still prefer my skinnies, but boyfriend jeans are giving me a relaxed springtime look. 

8• The simplicity and lines of this painting by Piet-Mondrian is perfection. 

What are you loving lately?

collected, weekly

the list (clockwise)................................................................................

1• A perfect springtime palette. The pale wood, subtle orange brick, mix of yellow hues, and pops of navy, bring just the right warmth and light.

2• The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon. I stumble across this book from time to time and always read an excerpt. It is a journal, some call it the original blog, written by a noblewoman in tenth century Japan. Although it doesn't beckon me to read it in it's entirety, there are many elements that draw me in. I like that the passing of time is documented by the seasons and weekly routines. The months and days aren't named but called by their order, at the end of the second month, during the long rains of the fifth month. She numbers each entry and lists quirky everyday things like, things that one is in a hurry to see or hear. I have kept journals from time to time, but haven't stuck with it. I like the idea of just jotting down one thought or observation a day, numbered. Maybe I'll do that here. Here's a peek at her thoughts on painting.

74. Things That Lose by Being Painted
Pinks, cherry blossoms, yellow roses. Men or women who are praised in romances as being beautiful.  

75. Things That Gain by Being Painted
Pines. Autumn fields. Mountain villages and paths. Cranes and deer. A very cold winter scene; an unspeakably hot summer scene. 

3• While researching our springtime garden project at school, I found this milk jug watering can and tried it at home. So simple and the girls are wild about them. 

4• Basquiat has long been one of my favorite artists. I just found this piece called now's the time. love it. 

5• If you want to know some of my favorite colors, look to Colour Code. Love the styling, names and the graphics. Not to mention, her braids are killing me. Found via one of my favorite graphic design blogs Breanna Rose. 

6• Popsicle by Ordinary Myth. So fresh, the girls loved this piece. 

7• This post by Sweet Amandine was one of the best things I've read in awhile. It referred to many smart articles and the practice of marginalia, something that I do regularly. 

8• All you need is less. No need to say more. Found via The Handmade Home.

9• To see what happy looks like, stroll through the studio of Kirra Jamison, on one of my favorite sites.

10• I love the mix of the taupe leather and gold in this Anaise Job Hunting Bracelet.

11• The beautiful work called Gau, that serves as my background, is by the sculptor and artist Edwardo Chillida. 

Tell me, what are you loving lately?