the purple room

My birthday was last Friday, so Sam and I took a weekend trip to Ann Arbor, MI. Aside from having breakfast cooked for us each morning and meeting a few incredibly interesting people, we mostly slept, ate, drank, and walked around completely unaware of the time. It was rainy, and snowy, and sunny, and the light that was reflected into our purple room was just as moody as the weather.

brighton

Aquas, teals, turquoises, and even some robin-egg blue.

I only ventured out of London a few times while I was there, but I visited Brighton twice: once for a class trip (seen above), and the other to drink cider on the lawn and eat a Sunday roast, home-cooked by my friend's mum.

Brighton, England // Spring 2009

leap year

Baking is complete magic (and chemistry, I suppose). I used mis-matched freckled eggs, butter, and sugar, and built a four layer cake for Molly's birthday. The ingredients were measured in one apartment, baked in another, and then finally eaten—with several glasses of champagne—at work, where it's perfectly fine to serve alcohol after 4 p.m.

firework studies

A beautiful book of grainy black-and-white fireworks, designed by Pierre Le Hors. He says:

firework studies is a book compiling photographs of fireworks in the night sky. by constraining nearly all tonal values to stark blacks and pure whites, the trails, explosions and clouds of debris are reduced to a series of simple repeated formal elements: arced lines, spherical bursts, and randomly dispersed particles. i made no effort to limit digital artifacts resulting from pushing the image files past their conventional range; the resulting noise becomes hard to distinguish from the texture of the fireworks themselves.

Couldn't resist adding this to my library, and it feels so good in my sloppily red-manicured hands. I like the idea of "reading" it: a couple giggles every now and then, maybe a tear-filled chapter, but definitely a happy ending.

valentine's

For Valentine's Day I gave Sam an olive-colored stocking cap, which I embroidered a secret little heart onto. He gave me the chubbiest little cactus.

a plant

. . . whose hair hangs in its face as mine does. Instant attraction.

Photo by Samuel, whose birthday is today.

Happy 

23rd, 

my boy.

and provence

Now it's snowing in Chicago, and instead of having dreary Parisian thoughts, I'm having sunny Provençial ones. (I wonder what ever happened to that striped dress of mine.)

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Summer 2007

paris

Dreary weather reminds me of the day I left Paris. After spending six weeks studying in France—which was also my first trip out of the States—I caught a cab outside of my hostel in Montmartre. It was dawn, and rainy, and I can't remember the song on the radio. But, mixed with the dawn and the rainy—and the Paris—I couldn't help but cry.

Paris, 2007

rainy sunday

Today was rainy and cold, but there's something different about the air. The birds are chirping, and—even when it's hiding—the sun's a little brighter. Molly and I went thrifting, stopped for brunch, and spent an hour or two at the garden center. I collected some night dresses, terra cotta pots, and pretty patterned textiles (things a lot like this and this). And then I picked up a plant that bears a slight resemblance to myself. You'll see.

sparkly

It's the simple things, really.

here was the sun

The sun was all over my apartment this morning, spreading cheer as it always does. I had a few blueberries from my CSA, in a tiny bowl that Molly gave me for Christmas. It's hand thrown (by her) and she gave me a set. I love this one with its perfect little drips of glaze sliding into the bowl.

(The cranes were included in that gift. She's good.)

blooming

(. . . because the back of a Polaroid is almost just as beautiful.)

an appearance

Two weeks old, yesterday, and look who came out to say hello.

eggs benedict

Someone made me Eggs Benedict for breakfast. It was sunny, and I carried around a new satchel that fell right out of m'dreams.

Happy Saturday, everyone.

sea salt brownies

These are the best brownies I've ever made. (In fact, I . . . uh . . . baked two batches within three days.)

I have to run to a concert, but I'll post the recipe soon. For now, you can find it at its source.

paperwhites

My paperwhite bulbs have begun growing roots. I'm ecstatic.

(Show you tomorrow.)

snow day

This from the inside: (Frommer's Iceland + chai tea)

This from the outside: (20" snow = no work)

But, the truth is, I have work to do. So, let me get to it.