abby try again

five senses friday

Shari started this-it is so fun-take note of what is around you-I'd love to hear it!
Here is my Friday so far:

sight
-my wardrobe colors of turquoise, yellows, greens and greys

-the bright morning sun making me squint the whole busride to work
-beautiful blossoming cherry trees in chinatown
-the wonderful talents of gracia+lousie
-beautiful art from motel gallery

smell
-curry from the Indian food cart on 5th Avenue
-strong peppermint smell of my burt's beeswax lipbalm
-fresh roasted Stumptown Coffee

touch
-thousands of dollars as I sort and face-searching for counterfiets along the way (I work in a cash vault)
-newly grown moss on our front steps
-a cold can of compressed air as I clean my keyboard

hear
-constant buzzing of the ion fans at work
-the voice of nikki-my very first "housemate" after leaving the nest-she lives in Portland-yay-so nice to hear from an old friend
-an old man playing the trumpet downtown
-"Wonder, wonder" by Edith Frost (I want to go to her show Sunday!)

taste
-spicy tomatillo salsa
-wintergreen altoids
-poppyseed onion bagel

That was the first part of my Friday-how was yours? now-on to celebrate the best part-Friday night! Cheers!

Why I am so in love with domino magazine...

***Before I begin: To my Uncle Terry and/or cousin Caitlin-I received your email-but cannot email you back-something won't allow me to. I'll be in touch asap-hope you get this-abby****

Okay, so I'll admit it. At first, I loved this magazine. Colors were awesome, strange ideas, beautiful photos, interesting people.....but then something happened. For a couple months, it just got to be a little too slim, too fancy-pants, too "Traditional Homes" on me. Now, my friends-the wonderful domino mag that was first introduced is back! Look:

A whole spread on succulents-my fave plants. During our honeymoon in Santa Cruz, I brought three tiny succulents and two are still alive! Can you believe it? Maybe I can be a gardener someday. But really, these plants are so beautiful and am zing. I am in love with them.

Hello-a pink kitchen? Yes, this truly is paradise. In my dreams this kitchen resides, in some tiny beach house on the shores of the Mediterranean. Doesn't that sound nice?  I want to tear out all my cupboards and install shelves. too bad I rent, huh?

Ah yes-the color coded bookshelves I first spied at Abigail Percy's blog. Really Abigail-you should feel special that an American mag is copying your brilliant idea!!:) I must move all cruddy books to some other shelf and dedicate the nice ones to be arranged by color. This is calming and so charming.

Oh yea, and this little number about cheese. Okay, I have publicly admitted my love affair with cheese, the number one reason why I could never be a long term vegan.  The one with the little spoon looks glorious...my mouth is watering....
Alright--- I know this must seem like a huge advertisement right now-but I really am so inspired by this issue. I am also doing this as my "cheating blog post" since I am spending time getting ready for the craft fair . Expect more lazy blog posts for the next week or two-okay?

So I'm "it" finally...

Well, I know this meme has been going around-and so-thanks to my cousin Deniese :)
I am FINALLY doing this meme. I hate posting without any photos-so this is my fridge-for your viewing enjoyment.  Look here on flickr and you can see notes.

okay, here goes...

FOUR jobs you have had in your life:

1. folding remnants at a fabric store (hour after hour age 15)

2. barista (three different coffe shops-yeah I know coffee)

3. vegetarian cook

4. vault teller

 

FOUR movies you would watch over and over:
1. Royal Tennenbaums

2. Amelie

3. Life Aquatic

4. Meet Me in St. Louis

 
FOUR places you have lived:
1. Visalia, Ca

2. Poitiers, France

3. Portland, Or

4. Nouaille-Maupertuis, France

 

FOUR TV shows you love to watch:
1. Six Feet Under (I still have not seen the last season)
2. The Office (UK version)

3. America's Next Top Model (hello!)

4. Scrubs (used to think this show was so dumb-but recently developed a sweet spot for it)

FOUR fun places you have been on vacation:
1.  London

2.  Washington DC

3.  Yellowstone  National Park
4.  Saint Malo

FOUR websites you visit daily:
1. Flickr

2. etsy
3. all the links on my blog...which is more than four :)

FOUR of my favorite foods:
1. very ripe home grown tomatos

2. a crusty GOOD baguette

3. chile relleno from Colima in Vtown

4. my mom's chocolate sheet cake

FOUR places I would rather be right now:
1. Poitiers with James

2. Copenhagen with some old and new friends

3. San Clemente, with mae-mae

4. Mississippi with a great camera

 

FOUR friends I am tagging that I think will respond.....
I think that most people I know have done this. If you have not-please do it!

Also, I have some new vintage items in the shop-check it out!
oh yeah-and these, too:

I normally don't post stuff like this, but why not? Found it on the Sweet blog.

I'm an apparently intelligent, liberal, not-too-generous, not-too-selfish, relatively well adjusted human being!
See how compatible you are with me!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

I love my holga camera

Crafty Wonderland!

Well, I am in! My first craft fair ever! Yay! I am a dork and will probably not sell anything-but hey, it will be fun. James' band has a show that night-so I am looking forward to a jam packed day.  So here it is, your official invite to the "Wonderland".

If you are in or around Portland-please stop by-it is free for gosh sakes! I am excited-I better get cracking on some more stuff...

Sunny Sunday

Hey, guess what? It was SUNNY in Portland today! Yeah, it was still cold-but hey-sun-can't beat that! Oh, and James had today off, yes!!!

We went downtown and walked around the park blocks. Look at James and Abe-too cute.

Passed by many o' Benson Bubbler-drinking fountains supposedly created by an old tycoon who was sick of his workers always drinking beer! Ah...Portland-the true "Sin City".
Cheered on some anti-war protestors-three years?!? Can you believe it?

We went to go see the infamous hideous Keller Fountains-but there was no water in them yet :(

 

Here is one of the old public restrooms-they look like beautiful brick bungalows to me...
Stopped by Cameron's Used books to browse around. I almost spent $60, but decided on a practically new hardbound "Martha" book for only $6. This store is so full of inspiration-I found a 1920's children's songbook with beautiful illustrations, many old books of the nautical sort, sea shells, sailboats, strange aquid. If you dig you can find old textbooks-always fun and stange old objects up high on shelves-like a giant projector from the turn of the century. The colors are amazing look:

So "Amelie"...

and I yawn when I read  "Wired" magazine, but all lined up they look nice.

As our walk continued, we meandered through the old hotels and civic buildings. I imagine some art student sitting here, sketching this beautiful detail.

And in case you didn't know-Portland has many a food cart and boy are they pretty! James looks like he's in Mexico-no? BTW-these carts are one of the few places in town with AUTHENTIC and GOOD Mexican food.

After admiring some lovely church doors, we headed back to our neighborhood.

Ah Alberta! Home of the hipster grafitti.

Gobbled up some yummy potatoes and black beans at the Cup and Saucer.

I love sitting in the window***
Came home and made some notebooks....

Now, I get to eat some supper and curl up with my new "Country Living" (British Edition) and re-watch "VAlley of the Dolls". Have a good Sunday.....................

two posts in one day...

here are some "test" vintage items in my shop:

these cool cow figurines

old buttons ...

for you San Francisco lovers.....

okay-now read the post below-they are both from today-he!

goin' etsy crazy...

     

   

yeah...so this week I've been going crazy over at etsy. Selling cards, placing orders, and swapping stuff- I should make etsy my homepage! Okay, at least if I am going to shop-it may as well be at a place where independant crafters unite.
   Okay, the pins above are from Rxdesigns. I usually am not a "pin" kinda girl-but I love the colors of these and love anything with letters or numbers. Check them out-they will combine shipping for several pins.

Next I bought these great magnets. Okay-I now these are super easy to make, I know that every single shop on etsy has like 5 billion-but-this girl makes really funny one. My sis Maci made me some great ones (must post a pic) and Lisa Solomon sent me some lovely ones (robots!) but I really love these. I'm obsessed with blue and white plates (have been since I read "Blue Willow" in the 4th grade) and these satisfy my need for blue and white. Buy them at this shop. Also check out these and these great ones.

 
As long as I was buying magnets-I thought I'd buy these guys made from old photoboth photos-cool huh?
You can buy them at this little etsy shop, sadlola.

I bought this stationary at youngandwithit's shop. So many funny gnome things-love it!

I am swapping some cards with Noelle of pinkbathtub designs and here is one of the lovely cards I will be getting from her:

Beautiful, no?

I am also trasing some cards with SAmi who makes these great "tea hive" teacup cozies!

What are your etsy favorites? I am dying to know!
Also-I will be adding some vintage items to my etsy shop-stay tuned...(and more swaps)

so, yeah.
Weird-this was the first funeral in the "inner" family circle. We all knew that it was coming-does that make it suck less? Here are my memories/observations:
-when did my cousin Andrew become a teenager-and so so wise?
-Hayley (Cindy's daughter) is just like one of my sisters-personality wise-funny, sarcastic, just shy enough
-Andrew reminds me of James
-Steve (Cindy's husband) is a very strong man
-my mother was like cindy's mom-and my heart breaks for her
-my family is the coolest
-my uncle terry is super kind and sensitive
-blood is thicker than a lot of things
-i met my cousin Caitlin for the first time-and she is a sweetheart
-my neice Katelyn is a woman-and I am only 23!
-cindy used to dance A LOT
-I really really want to be cremated-but really-just do whatever the people who are alive want to do-'cause I will be dead
-i am lucky to have such cool aunts
-my mom and aunt diana have the coolest style ever and need to publish a magazine
-religion is WEIRD
-most people are nice
-i held a baby pigmy goat and fed some llamas
-i want kids-but not right now
-I love James so much and he loves me more than I deserve
-i wish i could have a tea party with all my blog friends
-i went and took a million photos at my aunt's house
and here is what i learned about interior design (as far as i see it)

1. old library stuff will ALWAYS be cool and in style

2. collect items from the ocean, they remind you of good times

3.concrete statues are super cool-always

4.collect old. strange, things and group them together
see more of the lovely pics here