Jessie's Girl

This makes me smile. Much like Rick Springfield did in 1981.

Six Years

Lindsey and I corresponded for the first time on this day six years ago. What followed was three months of beautiful, clever, charming, and funny emails...sort of old fashioned really. In June, I hopped on a plane to Austin to meet him for the first time. Taking that trip was the bravest and best decision of my life. 

Future Paintings

I have accumulated a pretty large collection of photos from estate sales. These are two that I always come back to because I think they would make great paintings. I love the composition and the mood of the first photo. In the color photo, the scenery seems so majestic, yet everything in the foreground seems slightly odd and funny--the man sitting so far on the edge of the bench, his serious look while oblivious to the guy shooting movies behind him. The color of the photo is great too. I'm going to try to post more of my found photos instead of leaving them stashed away in boxes.I love them.

Wrapping the Week

I love when I stumble upon inspiration in my own backyard, and I consider most of Missouri my own backyard. My parents live in the western part, I grew up in the middle part, and have lived most of my adult life in the eastern part. This week Apartment Therapy featured a letterpress paper house kit made by One Canoe Two, a print shop run by two women artists (Beth and Carrie) in a barn in Columbia, Missouri (that's the middle for those of you who don't know). Super Cute! When I cruised over to Beth's blog (Stitch.Rip.Repeat) she featured a gorgeous school house loft in teeny little Fulton, Missouri, where I spent my first year of college. At the time, I hated that tiny town. Now I daydream about moving to a smaller town, all the time. So I don't even know Beth and Carrie, but they've inspired me and that is what I love about the internet. Discovering people who are making interesting lives and art, following their passions. 

I've found a lot of great things on the web this week like:

• These crayon rings.
• This sweet little video Kiki & Coco in Paris.
• A great blog about Vintage Kids Books, something I've been slightly obsessed with since I've had Audrey. (Thanks to Estelle at Under A Pink Moon for this find!)

And ending on the ultimate inspirational note--my friend Sarah Frost is in a group show called "Debris" that just opened at P.P.O.W. Gallery in Chelsea. Read this great review and see photos. Sarah has a son about six months younger than Audrey, works nearly full-time, and is somehow managing a really successful art career. I don't know how she does it. But I'm glad she does. It gives me hope.

Stuff

I gave my mom the book Factory Girls and when she's finished with it, I'll read it too. I just found these amazing photos of Chinese Toy Factory Workers online. The volume of people and stuff on this planet is sort of unbelievable.   

Steve McQueen

Hubba! 20 never seen before photos of Steve McQueen.

{Life Magazine}

Dreamy

I want to go to there.

{Heath Ceramics Flickr}

Bird & Bee & Hall & Oates

Tomorrow, one of my favorites (The Bird and The Bee) are releasing a tribute album to another favorite (Hall and Oates). Life is perfect.

Wrapping the Week

Yesterday was such a great day. Doctor delivered good health reports on both parents. Audrey and I had a wonderful library visit.  I made a delicious Blackberry Buttermilk Cake. And we had my brother and cousin as dinner guests.

My friend Leslie sent me this great video last week and I can't get over the cheeriness of the lead singer's pants. Ooh Ooh Child things are gonna get easier. The depressing winter is nearly over. Today is supposed to be sunny and 68 degrees, but rain is expected all weekend. We have to clean the work bench in the basement in preparation for a service call from the plumber on Tuesday. Spring cleaning? Already?

Dreaming of:

• Snuggling in and catching up on all my reading. I have a pile of New Yorkers dating to January.
• A treehouse vacation.
• To just get in the car and go somewhere. I am longing for a roadtrip.

I know...I just said I wanted to snuggle in and go on a roadtrip. I guess the ideal would be a roadtrip to the treehouse vacation where I can snuggle in and read.

Wandering. Wondering. Happy Weekend! 

A Man Named Pearl

We watched the 2006 documentary A Man Named Pearl a couple of weeks ago and I've remembered something from it almost every day. I heart netflix.

Potato Love

Potato Love on St. Patrick's Day! Here is one of my favorite potato recipes. We had this at our wedding. Yum!

Pie Town

I just discovered depression era photographer Russell Lee's photos of Pie Town, New Mexico. I'm sure I've seen some of his photos before, but my art history class didn't spend much time on photography and when we did, it was Dorthea Lange. There is an interesting 2005 Smithsonian Magazine article on the photographer and the town. Pie Festival, anyone? I think these images are fantastic. I love looking through the Library of Congress and other public collection photo pools on flickr.

Jipsi

I hadn't visited SKIF for months, but went over the weekend with Tracy and Katy. The display windows on the Daggett side entrance are filled with goodies from a new boutique. Jipsi is a gorgeous amalgamation of rust and glitter, sort of a more authentic and organic Anthropologie. The owner (Jenny Baca) was super sweet and had I not been chasing Audrey away from the sherbert colored typewriters, I would have loved to have talked to her more. Tracy left with a boatload of new Skifwear, and Nina generously gave Lindsey a super foxy blue/slate sweater. I desperately need some new clothes, but there was too much mayhem for me to do serious shopping. Nina gave us a mini tour of Herbaria soap company next door and then we went to k. hall, where a warehouse sale was happening. I'd never been in there and scored some some lemon verbena shower scrub and a clary sage candle for a mere $10 total. A delightful day.

Rock Star Redux

I had to provide a follow up to my Rock Star post from January. Audrey's silver leggings arrived and we finally broke them out yesterday. She hardly stood still long enough in them for me to get a decent photo. The hat came from Aunt Katy's trip to Thailand. Love the bad attitude pose.

Wrapping the Week

This is a picture of my great-grandma Stella. I'm not sure what birthday she was celebrating here, but doesn't she look happy and sweet? March is fairly slow on the birthday front, but come April we have 14 to celebrate. I have a lot to do!

My mom still had the energy to make me my favorite white buttermilk cake for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. She's incredible (and so is the cake).  I want to try this recipe for Salt-Kissed Buttermilk Cake.

The shoes and boots from cydoq are crazy awesome. I've been slobbering all over their website for weeks. 

My folks were in town for a short but delightful visit on Thursday. I'm excited that my dear friend Tracy is going to be in town and my sweet little Katy is back from Thailand. I can't wait to catch up with them both on Friday night and then spend the rest of the weekend with daddio and tiny tot doing all things we missed out on last weekend.

I'm always in love. Hope you are too. Happy Weekend!

Raspberries

Audrey's been sick since Friday and now I have a cold. This is pretty much how we feel about it. I'm making chicken and wild rice soup for dinner. Maybe that will help.

Post-It Note to Self

Wrapping the Week

We don't have a single thing planned this weekend, and after a couple of very busy weeks, I'm oh, so thankful. Just me, daddio, our tiny tot, and a 60 degree Sunday.  

Holy cupcake kits!

I'm eager to try this Potato Matafans recipe from the gorgeous Lucy's Kitchen Notebook blog.

I caught readings from the best of 52nd City magazine on KDHX's Literature for the Halibut on March 1st.

In honor of my friend Tracy and my nephew Jacob...a shoutout to all the redheads.

Make your own custom pocket notebook at Scout Books.

I love this little poem of former St. Louisan, Aaron Belz.

I'm ready to take a giant step into spring, for suresy. Enjoy the weekend.

Alpaca

Some days, I don't have a whole lot to say. 

{Found at Weird Friends.}

More and Less

More, please.

• Utah Carol
• Alec Baldwin
• Turquoise
• Nina Totenburg (I love how she can break it down.)
• Sade (I love how she can break it down, too.)

Less, please.

• John Mayer
• Clients from Hell
• Gretchen Rubin (I absolutely love this snarky reader's review of her book.)

Vegetarian Winter Minestrone and Hummingbird Cake

So many bloggers do beautiful food photography, so not sure why I'm bothering. But I made this soup today and it is so delicious. It isn't difficult, but it is a little time consuming. But Audrey and I didn't have much scheduled for today, so we went for it. Tuesdays and Thursdays (when I'm off work) are my days to make more elaborate dishes.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large stalk celery, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon each dry rosemary, oregano, and thymye
1/2 cup pearl barley
2 medium size potatoes, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 large turnip, peeled and diced
1 can (15 oz.) red kidney beans or white kidney beans (cannellini)
1/2 cup small dry shell or elbow macaroni*
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
salt and pepper

Directions
Heat oil in 5-6 quart pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Cook, stirring often, until onion is soft (8-10 minutes).

Add barley, potatoes, carrots, and broth. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and boil gently for 20 mintues.

Add turnip; cover and cook for 20 more minutes.

Stir in beans and their liquid, pasta, and tomato paste. Increase heat to high and bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and boil gently until pasta is tender to bite (12-15 mintues).

Add cabbage and cook, uncovered, until cabbage is tender/crisp (about 5 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with your favorite cheese and a crusty bread.

*I used whole wheat rotini pasta because Audrey likes it, and I didn't have shell or elbow.

Dessert
I made a Hummingbird Cake with cream cheese frosting. My only change to this recipe was that I used 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cups buttermilk instead of 1-1/4 cups oil. I also baked it in a 9" x 13" pan because it was just easier.

Uniform

I came across Ralph Lauren's spring 2010 look, influenced by The Grapes of Wrath, in the New York Times' T Magazine. Typically, I don't get excited about such things, but the overalls caught my attiontion. Similar overalls were my uniform from about 1987-1990 when I was painting almost daily. I miss that routine of creativity and the routine of the uniform. I would like to dress like this every day, minus the hat. Here is more on overalls from The Sartorialist.