Above and below: Joshua Tree National Park

Directly above: The Salton Sea.
Below. Joshua Tree.

I'll be gone for a little while. I'm getting married in the desert on Saturday. Here are some desert pictures from previous trips that I hope you enjoy. I'll be back briefly next week...then it's off to France! xo

Corner View: Modes of Transportation

Modes of Transportation. L.A. is famous for it's traffic. Clogged freeways, smog, car chases and SUV's everywhere. L.A.X. is also famous. For being a pain in the a**. My mom flew into there (yay! see top photo). My favorite mode of transportation, however, is a good book. I haven't read "Pavilion of Women." My mom brought with her a copy from 1946 to read. I love old books. They just don't design them like this anymore!
Check out these Modes:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie,esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon,erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, samantha, kyndale, capturereflection

Another goodie that my mother brought along on her visit. It looks like a remnant from a Japanese kimono...

Impossibly chic (sigh) : Jessica de Ruiter
via Amy of Every Little Counts

My Mom is in town (she's watching me blog this post right now) and she brought me some goodies: vintage buttons! The first photo is of bakelite buttons. They look like candy and I want to eat them. Thanks Mom!!!

Hadley Holliday

My friend Hadley is an amazing painter, and she is really making some fantastic work right now. I thought I'd share some images, as well as the link to her website.
Happy week- end!

All photographs by Hadley Holliday

Corner View: Petit Dejeuner

Ah,
Here it is. My breakfast. My trusty cup of tea. Today; English Breakfast plus milk. I recently had to stop drinking coffee 1st thing in the morning as it was upsetting my stomach.

On the menu: Debbie Bell's Oven Pancake.
To make:
To 1 cup of flour, add about 3/4 cup -1 cup of milk and 2 eggs. Whisk/ stir out the lumps, until you have a nice medium pourable consistency. In the meantime heat your oven to 425 F.
In an iron skillet that has been oiled with olive oil, add a nice chunk of butter (about 1-2 tablespoons) , and throw it in the oven (with just the butter- no batter at this point) until the butter melts. Remove skillet from the oven when the butter melts. Be careful. It will be very hot. Now pour in the batter. Add a handful of any fruit you have laying around (optional...today I used blackberries). Bake for about 10-15 minutes. The pancake will brown lightly and puff up on the sides, and the middle will be slightly springy to the touch and be yellow in color. Remove from the oven. Because of the olive oil & butter- the pancake should come out of the pan easily. Loosen with a butter knife if necessary. Serve with lemon wedges and a drizzle of real maple syrup. Serves 2. Or 1 very hungry blogging nurse on her day off. Enjoy.

Take a look at these breakfasts:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,

jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna,

isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy,

jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison
lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida

Not breakfast.

Sorry to those of you who are participating in this posting project.
As you can see this is not breakfast. Tomorrow I get to sleep in a bit and have a proper breakfast...I just didn't have it together enough to do it this morning on my way to the hospital...so manana!

Last night's dinner. Gazpacho, sauteed peas from our garden with proscuitto, bread with olive oil and a nice bottle of French rose wine.
It's still so hot here.

Tsumori and Mina

Above: Mina Perhonen
Below: Tsumori Chisato
both via Bird.

A girl can dream can't she?

Smashing Shift

The Smashing Shift (if I do say so myself) adapted from Anna Maria Horner's Smashing Smock Pattern. I decided to make a little self- belt for this dress so I could wear it a couple of ways. Loose and flowy, or a little more dressed up. Once again made from Naomi Ito Nani Iro double gauze fabric, which is perfect for 94 degree weather in April, like we had today. Please ignore my messy backyard!

Adam Silverman and Bob Nickas

Above: Boolean Valley. Photo courtesy of MOCA Pacific Design Center.

Below: Pottery by Adam Silverman. Photos courtesy of Atwater Pottery/Adam Silverman.

A few weeks ago, Tomory and I went to go see Bob Nickas, the art writer and curator read from his new book at MOCA Pacific Design Center.

First. I was dreading it. I'm not typically a fan of art criticism or art writing. I find most of it boring, over- analytical, and it usually has nothing to do with the art itself (maybe it's because I never went to graduate school for art...but I really think most art criticism is BS).

Second. I was so wrong. Bob Nickas. I love him. I love his writing. Tomory purchased a copy of his book "Theft is Vision" - I grabbed it that night and started reading it before Tomory could.

Third. Shamefully, this was our first visit to the Pacific Design center. Upstairs was an exhibit by Adam Silverman (of Atwater Pottery and Heath Ceramics) and Nader Tehrani- "Boolean Valley."
It was really interesting. Obsessive compulsive in a very good way. Difficult to describe. I am not an art critic, or even a very good writer for that matter. You should just go see it!

Corner View: Outside My Front Door

Inspired by Ritva's & Schanette's posts...who were inspired by Jane.
View from my front door.
I love the simplicity and creativity of this idea...next weeks theme is to be breakfast!
That might be pretty boring , since many days it consists of tea with milk as I'm running out the door to the hospital (I have my second breakfast - sometimes - at work).

WIP. Still at it with the Anna Maria Horner "I'll Have One of Everything Bag," (I need some medium weight interfacing...too lazy to buy it right now...anybody have some & want to trade for something?)
Just started on my dress version of Anna Maria's "Smashing Smock."
I'm calling it the "Smashing Shift" and I'm also working with Nani Iro fabric again.

Anna Maria has some great new patterns out.

My friend Amy of Every Little Counts just opened a vintage store on Etsy- some cute (affordable!!) stuff on there...take a look!