A World of Whimsy

A night with the Beales...

For my 27th birthday I couldn't help but dwell on the fact that I am truly an adult, there is no use denying it. I will only continue to get older and older and older. To usher in this demise of youth, I could think of nothing more fitting than Grey Gardens: the touching and terrifying 1970's Documentary of the Beales. Relatives to Jackie Kennedy, they were a wealthy, beautiful family riddled by time, circumstance and poor choices. Some how, they are able to be at once an inspiration and a cautionary tale. A fitting analogy for life; a balancing act on the precipice of calamity.  

The guests arrive:

Lindsey Suda and Kelly Zeissner pose as Big and Little Eddie. You look marvelous ladies!

From left to right: Me, Sara Murphy, Sandy Kwan, Leia Casey.  Look at those legs!

Damon Harris, Doug Trieschman, and the lovely Kelly Zeissner. Doug you are truly amazing!!!

  Above, Josh Amaris, Me, Nora Aoyagi, Leia Casey get into character.

Setting the stage: Our derelict garden was a glow with strands of colored lights, flickering candles and the documentary playing soundlessly upon an old sheet. Damon Harris acted as the official bartender mixing up delicious Gin and Tonics, Whiskey Sours, and some on the spot assemblages.

Accordingly the table was decked out with wilting flowers amid an array of deletable crudités. Bree with apricot preserves baked in puff pastry. Fig and goat cheese also baked in puff pastry. Really you can never have enough puff pastry. Slowly Melting ice cream, and amazing Red Velvet cupcakes From the Sugar Mama herself!

The Harsh Light of Day:

The morning always bring with it a slight sadness, a return to reality and the dreaded clean-up. Above Joey takes a nap after waking early to take people home. He returned with strong, hot coffee and yummy muffins form Arizmendi, our weekend favorite! ( I'm a lucky woman!!!) The left over chaos mirrors the state of my severe bedhead.

Thank you to everyone who came and helped to make this night truly unforgettable! The departure of our youth may be a sad truth, but I look forward to every day and every year I get spend with all of you fabulous people! I hope everyone had fun letting their inner crazy shine a little bit brighter last night!

Things Pile Up... Literally

If you are anything like me, you have a " To Do:" list.  If your anything like me yours is practically endless. Every time I see something, try something, make something, eat something new, I'm ready to practically give up whatever it was I was doing and devote my life to this new found answer. Beside baking, I'm very distracted with textiles at the moment. As if I needed yet another hobby, I decided I don't spend nearly enough time sewing. Oh, and felting. I felt compelled to try my hand at that as well this week.
One of my many piles. This contains fabric for my Halloween costume, vintage fabric for aprons, alphabet fabric to make a purse, gray wool for felting, a number of buttons for various things, vintage patterns, and probably some random quirky things, just for fun. Notice in the background a pile of jewelry components on that chair. That is a whole other list entirely!

Designing my new favorite accessory. I hope to find time to make it soon.

My felting set up. It was pretty successful but there is definite room for improvement. If anyone has any tips out there for novice felters, please share. I need all the help I can get! I did manage to make one thing I liked. A sweet little ring.

I love the those colors. I choose the ochre thread because it reminded me of twigs and moss a bird might acquire to cushion their little homes. The blue gray nest contrasting with the ochre thread really exaggerates the white iridescent pearls.

Experimentation with silk cords coupled with inspiration from Anthropologie (of course), led me to rig together this charming little headband. I braided the silk cords, tacked all three pieces to one end of the decorative elastic, and sewed them together. After repeating on the other side, I covered the raw sewn edges with velvet, using an impressively long lasting craft glue. Voila!  An adorable accoutrement ready for wearing.

I hope this post inspires you to tackle (or create) your "To Do" lists!

Sweet Tartine!

These fog filled mornings remind me that Fall has surely arrived. I should have known. I have been intensely preoccupied by baking recipes, a profound need to stay home, knit, and drink copious amounts of hot tea. To satiate my baking desire I hosted an informal baking day with a few other ladies. There is nothing better than spending the whole day baking, other then to do it while chatting over tea with your friends!

Yolanda tried her hand at Shortbread from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking book. A great beginning book with lots of informative pictures. The shortbread was buttery, flaky and delicious with lemon curd and black tea!

I decided to try my hand at a tart. I love to make pies, but have yet attempted to make a true tart. I was surprised at how different the tart dough recipe was, almost like a sugar cookie. With the addition of confectioners sugar and cream, I knew I was awaiting something delicious!

Here is the tart in stage 2. The partially baked crust has been filled with golden raspberries and Red Pears. A mixture of melted butter, dark brown sugar and a smidgen of ground cloves has been drizzled over the the fruit.

A close up of the gooey goodness!

The finished product. It struck the perfect balance between tart and sweet. The buttery, sugary, lemony crust invigorated the ripe, sweet, fruit.  Freshly whipped cream, a favorite addition to any baked good, was highly appreciated.

I can't wait to eat it again tomorrow.... but really, why wait?   Umm,  so yummy!

So comes love....

This  past weekend was filled with love. Thursday night brought the love of old friends back home. Joe and I were honored to join the Suda family for the most delectable dinner at Marzano.

Friday night brought the love of friends on the verge of change. Matlena hosted a dinner party to mark the beginning of her journey to Italy to witness the birth of her sister's first child.  Below Matlena appears in one of her many breathtaking works of art.

Saturday brought the love of novel adornments as well as boisterous tomfoolery, as Joe and I shopped Bay Area thrift stores, purchasing  new outfits, accessories and knick-knacks. I later met up with the wonderful Miss Nora to cut fabric for aprons and visit one of our favorite fabric stores: Stone Mountain and Daughter.

   

Joe models his trendsetting plaid shirt with our little man Sterling.

 
The evening sun makes me feel so completely romantic. Here I wear my thrifted silk blouse. I love the bow closure at the collar and the pin tucking detail. Below notice the teeny tiny fawn in my ear, lovingly made by Figs and Ginger !

 
Sunday brought past loves into the present, as we walked the Alameda Antique Fair in search of long forgotten heirlooms. I ogled the vintage button cards, the Victorian bedclothes, the glass medicine bottles and vintage books; but only bought one thing. The hand silk-screened canvas bag below. It fit the weekend so well, and just about anything with bicycles makes me happy. I had to have it!

Sunday culminated in the careful crafting of delectable cupcakes in celebration of a recent marriage of good friends.

A mouth watering sea of dark chocolate cupcakes. Each cake is topped with homemade cream-cheese frosting that I tinted pink and  adorned with one perfectly tart and sweet raspberry. 

It was a good weekend. Thank you to all of you who were part of it.