For Married Life

My friend Emilie is a GREAT person. She loves elephants, running, and old-school encyclopedias (her favorite is the “P” book). Some peculiar circumstances happened this Summer that brought Emilie to San Jose where I live, and some even stranger circumstances brought her into the house where I live. (If any of you know my Grandparents, let’s just keep this between us.)

Emilie and I have shared a little over half of our lives with each other. We shared the competitive circus-like world of friendships in Junior High as well as the “exciting” indoctrinators at the small Christian school we attended. We shared our learning-about-ourselves High School experiences even when we attended different schools. We shared our crazy phases in early college and the incredible insight that we gained from those hard times. We have shared all the deaths and new beginnings in our lives. We have shared all the crushes and broken hearts. We have helped each other understand, grow, and heal.

When Emilie moved in with me, it changed both our lives.

After even just a short while of living together- something both of us thought would not be the best scenario- we found that our relationship grew to become that of a married couple. We eat mostly every meal with each other. We meet in between schedules. We do our work together. We have “our shows” that we watch together. We have night-time rituals and wine nights. We share a bathroom and a bed, but we have our own special individual chairs in the living room. Oh yes, and living together actually is the best scenario.

So, Emilie, on your name day: Thank you so much for being the friend you are, the sister you are, and the wife you are.

For Nude Nails

I have never considered myself a nail polish kind of girl. I see these blogs dedicated entirely to nails of different colors and wonder where these girls find the time to paint their nails so incessantly often. However, I have been on the hunt for a good nude color for my rough beat-up-by-guitar nails and today I am going to share my find with you: a perfect nude with a bit of pink in it.

This is the color I found and my nails are shown painted in it. It is OPI’s “Let’s Plié” for Sephora. So if you’ve been looking for a good nude color for light skin, I suggest trying this one.

For Bananas Foster

Forgive the quality of these photos. They were taken from my cell phone. I need to work on bringing my camera with me wherever I go.

It dawned on me sometime last week that I had not made bananas foster since I’ve been Vegan, so I decided to make some for me and my room-mate/wife (Emilie from Flare and Glare).

This recipe is super simple and super fun. It’s basically a topping over ice cream. The ingredients you need are shown in the picture below but you will also need some vanilla ice cream. Almond Dream’s vanilla is what we used but it didn’t make it into the picture.

You’re ready to follow the recipe

For Backyard Camping

I had grand plans for running away this week.  No one really knew, but I was all set to escape somewhere for sometime. I’ve just had a series of crazy days and wanted some solitude. When I’m left to myself, the solitude is an adventurous solitude. I like to make a big deal out of things.

Plans changed.

When you are a giver by heart your “getting” is reciprocated because you find fulfillment.  When you are a giver by occupation or some other responsibility, you simply have to practice delayed gratification.  I’ll get later.  In the meantime, I set up a tent in the backyard complete with: my guitar, travel bar, two pillows, a blanket, my fattest sweater, Han Solo guardian, and (shamelessly) my laptop.

As I fell asleep, I thought about all the times I had gone backyard camping growing up.  A long-standing inside-joke with the eldest four siblings has been “If you want to be a happy camper, then you gotta be quiet…” followed by the punch-line “Toodaloo” which arose from that delirious, excited half-sleep you experience as a child.  It had been a long night of giggles and tent-rustling and when there had finally been enough, the “toodaloo” was offered as a white flag from the youngest.  Technically I should say one of the younger siblings is credited with this saying, as there are still arguments over which child is responsible for the “toodaloo” gold.

I also remembered the time we had gone out on mattresses to sleep under the stars, and my dad joined us for that trip.  When I found out I would be sleeping under bats as well as stars, I went inside.  (In my defense, a bat flew down near enough to touch my nose with its wing.)

I’m glad that changed plans presented me with the opportunity to relate with my past.  I’ll have an adventure and relate to a new present later.  For now, backyard camping it is.

For Fire

This is an old picture of an unfinished piece of old artwork.
My goal is to have new pictures of finished pieces of new artwork.

I made up a genius book.  It’s “The Ultimate List” actually.  I had book-binding supplies (that was a pleasant surprise to find in my drawers when I was cleaning my room) and I got creative.  I am a lists-within-lists organizer and so I developed “drop-down” accordion inserts for the parent pages.

I’m pleased with it.

For Patti Smith

It’s been awhile, but here’s a “Channel Her” post. This one’s all about Patti Smith. I love her style and I love her music. Lord knows I love her hair too. She’s an easy one to channel, fashion-wise. Simple, menswear-inspired, and a little rock and roll.

Click the item you’re interested in seeing the link for:

For Thoughts

I am so slow. I understand.

I am thinking about design and trying to pretend like I know what I am doing. I want to visualize everything and then make it happen here. Until then, this is a picture I like to look at. I took it awhile ago when I was making tea with dried pieces of orange. I am not a big citrus person, but I am a big tea person for sure.

Lately I have been making lists. This is nothing new. I have always made lists. My newest list is titled “Quit Holding Yourself Back and Just…” and each number is an experience I have held myself back from, for one reason or another (and sometimes many). I am embracing my physicality and my aggressive streak. (I do not know when/where I learned to be so cautious- but it is boring and I really never minded breaking things.) I am going to new places and giving people chances. In allowing myself to be the fervent type, I am bound to step on toes and have others see me as reckless.

I think this thinking began when I was again inspired by my age-old (well, since about 1995) crush, Mr. David Crockett, and his wisdom: “You all can go to hell. I’m going to Texas!”

I am becoming a fast person. Or becoming a person fast. Sometimes a person needs to do what he/she cares passionately about, regardless of other people/things.