It's finally spring and even though the rain has come back after a long, dry winter, I'm dreaming of putting together a little container garden once again.
Here's some things I'm wishing for...
Waterspout planter from Anthro
Birth and butterfly seed bombs from Sears
Hummingbird feeder from Duncraft
V&A watering can from NY Botanical Garden
Airplant garden from Flora Grubb.... well actually anything from Flora Grubb!
Corner plant stand from Ballard Designs
| | | |
| | |
I recently made a couple of garlands for Sarabeth as a thank you to her, plus it was also her birthday right after mine (go pisces!).
Her new business is called Your Artful Life, so I made a pennant banner with the name. The papers came from a paperstack and a lot of them had beautiful gold designs.
And I also made a paper garland of coffee filters, doilies, sheet music and a vintage gardening book
I kept it flat to make it easier to wrap up and give to her, but told her to fluff it all up when she hung it!
It was so much fun to make both of these garlands for her, especially the pennant one. Great minds must think alike because she told me the original design of her website was going to use little pennants to spell out her business name! I thought that was too funny.
It was great to actually make things again. It's part of my goals for this year to get crafting again, but not out of obligation or guilt and just pure enjoyment. It was good to get my hands dirty again.
I also gave her these cute kitchen towels since she has a bunny
| | | |
| | |
I was lucky to receive some great books for birthday gifts this year. The hands down favorite is Laduree: Sucre (the sweet recipes). What eye candy! It came all boxed up and the cover is a soft velvety fabric.
It's been out for a couple of years, but I hadn't gotten around to getting it yet.
I also got the beautiful exhibition catalog for the Marie Antoinette exhibit Royal Treasures from the Louvre that was at the Legion of Honor.
I first found out about Paris in Color from her Etsy shop. The book is laid out by color, of course and is so gorgeous.
The illustrations in the Grimm book are also inspirational...
And then a couple of garland sets and the Theatre of Dreams stationery set. I had been really excited for the stationery because everything Wendy Addison does is beautiful.
The set has letter paper, correspondence cards and stickers. Although it's all gorgeous, I was disappointed by the quality of the paper for both the set and the garlands. But, I find that really thin paper is typical of Chronicle Books stationery.
The Theatre of Dreams garland has a nice variety of fonts
And the Botanicals Garland had a few color options
Yeah, it's a lot of books and papery things, but I love it all!
| | | |
| | |
From Yarnplayer
From Lace of the Month
Vintage tatting thread from Luvpublishing
Antique tatting shuttle from Janet Marie
Tatted Victorian collar from Sheila Jones
| | | |
| | |
I wasn't able to craft anything this Easter like I had hoped, so I'll leave you with a beautiful vintage image from The Graphics Fairy! Have a wonderful Easter!
And here's some eggs I decorated back in 2011...
| | | |
| | |
It's amazing to me that I'm still dealing with this mystery chronic pain, and on top of that I have had a cold for the past three weeks that just doesn't want to go away! So, I'm very behind on posting what I have been wanting to share. I had a fantastic birthday a few weeks ago.
The night before, I had a very yummy dinner at Greens, which is right on the water with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. We got there just in time to have some light.
Then it was off to the Buckeye for dessert and drinks.
The Pear-fection - pear vodka and St. Germain... Yum!
On my birthday, I took the day off and went to see the Girl with the Pearl Earring exhibit again at the De Young Museum
(Photo from the De Young website)
She's gorgeous in person!
Then off across the street to the Moss Room at the Academy of Sciences for lunch with the lovely Sarabeth. She gave me this awesome book because she knows I am an obsessive listmaker.
It's full of great prompts like list of habits to break, list the classes you'd love to take, list events to time travel to....
After lunch, I wandered around the museum, which is usually so pricy I never go. I do love their aquarium and rainforest canopy, though, so I headed right for them.
Then I ran over to Chapeau for dinner with my parents. I looooove this restaurant. We go there a lot for special occassions and it never disappoints. The food is always amazing and the owners are super sweet. And we celebrated with some special occassion wine. More yum.
It was a wonderful and totally exhausting day and one of the best birthdays that I've had in a long time.
| | | |
| | |
Wow, I had such grand plans for this blog for 2013. I got back on a mini roll at the end of 2012, but I was taken down right before New Year's with some serious chronic pain and am still recovering. My plans were thwarted, but I'm trying to get back into the blogging habit now that things are calming down. It's probably far too late in the year to still be talking about goals for 2013, but it's still February, so there's still time, right?? At any rate, I have been working on the goals even if I'm super late posting them.
I don't like making New Year's resolutions, but I did set a couple of broad goals for the year, under which many activities could count. How many years can I possibly say "exercise more and eat better"? Instead, I chose overall goals of health & wellness and creativity. So far things are going pretty well (more to come on that later).
So many more activities could count under this category, but the ones I listed are some of my main focuses and hopes. I've already been working hard on this area, treating myself to facials and pedicures, which I could never do before. I've been trying to bring mindfulness into my life by attending a weekly mindfulness session at work (or at least some weeks...) plus a meditation app. I'm planning a vacation for the summer, and I have been slowly trying to change my habits of trying to set lofty goals, getting overwhelmed and then procrastinating.
I chose my jellyfish photo for this post because they're so beautiful and inspirational to me. For creativity, I have also been doing really well. I've already visited three new places in the Bay Area, and spent New Year's Day over in Marin. It still amazes me that I haven't seen that much of the region I grew up in, but my excuse is that my friends have never cared about visiting other cities around here, so I never did either. I'm working on creating a container garden of succulents (harder to kill!), and I have been taking a lot of architectural pictures lately. In 2012, I don't think I made anything at all, so it was really a priority for me to start getting my hands dirty again. Now that I'm in grad school, it's a lot harder to find the time, but it is important to me so I'm trying to prioritize it. I've made a few projects so far and it has felt good to craft again. Pictures coming soon!
| | | |
| | |
Been feeling under the weather for the past couple of weeks, so just a quickie post to say I have given in and joined Pinterest and Instagram. So much fun, but amazing how much time I can spend on them, especially Pinterest!
I'm momosf on Pinterest and jessicaneaves on Instagram (links in sidebar).
Can't wait to get more into both and start seeing all the loveliness people are sharing.
| | | |
| | |
| | | |
| | |
The year in pictures...
Top row: Palo Alto, Filoli Gardens, Pelican Inn, Ramona Street in Palo Alto
Second row: Chapel of the Chimes, Monterey Aquarium, Muir Woods, Carmel Mission
Third row: Lone Cypress in Monterey, Carmel, Carmel, Palace of Fine Arts in SF
Fourth row: Filoli, Chapel of the Chimes, Monterey Aquarium, Muir Beach
It’s hard to believe that yet another year has come to an end. This was probably one of the most eventful, dramatic and life-changing years that I have had in a very long time. Fortunately, there were many more highs than lows this year.
I started grad school.
I tried to reforge a broken friendship (still working on it…).
I started a new job.
I saw seven amazing art exhibits:
Cindy Sherman
Royal Treasures from the Louvre
Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance
Phantoms of Asia
Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant Garde
Jean Paul Gaultier
The Art of the Anatolian Kilim
I got mugged by a bastard on my lunch break (hence the new job…).
I spent a good portion of the year battling a mystery breathing issue, was diagnosed as having developed asthma, was later told that I didn’t have asthma, and then the issue disappeared as soon as I changed jobs.
My best friend unexpectedly lost her mother.
I went on eight day and weekend trips, five of which were to places I had never been before.
I saw otters, a harbor porpoise, dolphins and sea lions frolicking in the wild on these day trips.
I read 40 books, and started another 10 that I didn’t finish.
I saw my first full opera, my first jazz concert (Brad Mehldau Trio) and my first Bach performance (St. Matthew’s Passion).
And most importantly, I loved and lost. And regained and relost him several times over the year. Goodbye to guy drama in 2013.
I am looking forward to what 2013 will bring!
| | | |
| | |
