Love List Friday: 05.28.10

1. The Balloon People (Part One), 2. candy colored, 3. ☂, 4. Untitled

      The oh-my-it's-summer-already edition of the weekly love roundup:

• blueberry smoothies -- the promise of this deliciousness is what gets me out of bed these days. 1 banana + handful of organic frozen blueberries + 2 large dollops of Stonyfield plain yogurt + a splash of orange juice = breakfast WIN
• only 1 more week until I'm flying to my dear old alma mater in upstate NY and reuniting with my college housemates.
• getting back into a morning yoga routine. SO GOOD. especially fun because Kitty likes to join me on the mat, swirling around me and rubbing her head against me vigorously whenever I'm in a particularly hard-to-balance position.
• hilarious videos of my favorite Japanese comedy duo (I would be interested to know whether the humour translates, or if it leaves you nonplussed).
• the LOST finale. *sniff* It was all that it needed to be -- for me anyway. Kind of beautiful and epic and lingering...
  

Love List Friday: 04.02.10

Spring is...

1. me on the swing, 2. freshly squeezed, 3. Untitled, 4. golden spring

This week's roundup of things I'm loving:

• the lemon yellow sunlight -- that perfect in-between light when winter's grey is dissipating but has yet to give way to summer's blazing glare. My favorite light for shooting product photos, by far.
• having a kitchen again and proper cooked meals. Oh pasta, how I missed you -- let's never part ways again.
• (speaking of which) Penne alla Puttanesca: my new favorite thing to make.
• my new jelly sandals! (A true child of the 80's, that weird plastic smell of the jellies takes me back to the long hot summers of my youth.)
• charlieissocoollike's channel on YouTube. I am telling you, this is hours of quality entertainment. Granted I do have a debilitating weakness for British accents, but even without that, the childish humor + well-spoken intelligence will totally charm you to death. (Thanks to Stephanie for getting me hooked and then enabling my addiction.)

Inspiration & Jewels: 02.27.10

gemstones in every hue & Olivia Bee's winter queen

a sunlit moment from Maren Celest & a golden strand of carnelian and garnet

iridescent glass wrapped with silver & sensing-owl's green reverie

Love List Friday: 02.19.10

1. Untitled, 2. Twinkle, 3. Untitled

The good-lord-enough-with-the-cold-already-this-is-supposed-to-be-the-sunshine-state edition:

I'm feeling the love for

• big fluffy robes that make me feel like a polar bear
• Swiss Miss tapioca pudding
• a package from Hong Kong finally, finally arriving after TWO MONTHS of waiting
• dressing up my Firefox with this persona (thanks to Holly for tweeting about this designer)
• the generosity of new and old friends

Love List Friday Lovestravaganza: 02.12.10

1. Untitled, 2. Pink, 3. Hung To The Sky, 4. rosey vanilla marshmallow & chocolate and earl grey hearts

Love lists are appropriate year-round, but because this weekend is Valentine's, it seemed a good idea to turn this Friday's into a Lovestravaganza! Extra Pink edition.

• Chuck and Blair A favorite fictional couple, mostly because hearing Ed say "I'm Chuck Bass" pretty much never gets old.

• Another thing that never gets old? Jane Austen. Luckily I found out (through Corinna's post) about the newest BBC adaptation of Emma while the episodes are still available online at PBS Masterpiece Classics (until March 9th). All it really takes to make me happy is an empire waist dress and some lush English countryside, but having said that, I thought Johnny Lee Miller's Mr. Knightly was a bit lackluster.

• The delectably quirky jewels of Q-pot -- how crazy is that Alice in Wonderland eye and teardrop ring? And I know if I wore that strawberry whip cream one, I'd catch myself trying to lick it every other minute.

• Demeter Fragrances and their exactly-what-they-say-they-are scents. Because why wouldn't you want to smell like Mildew or Fresh Hay? I am a fan of the combo technique -- a spritz of Fireplace layered with Snow, and it's like winter in my personal corner of Florida.

• Notebook Doodles -- a lovely, lovely blog; a soft and thoughtful aesthetic with dreamy photos and illustrations and handwritten notes in a font that is destined to become iconic.

I think I've reached my sweetness quota for one post, so I bid you bonne weekend and a Happy Valentines Day!

Love and cotton candy,
Lilie

Love List Friday: 02.05.10

1. I, 2. cookie love

After a rather lengthy hiatus, it is time to reinstate the weekly Love List.

So today I'd like to give the Universe props for:

• packages from friends abroad filled with inspiration and the lure of foreign destinations waiting to be explored
• a sexy, shiny-new, swift-as-the-wind macbook
• an upcoming mini-trip to New England
• the return of Lost
• friends who instigate grand plans
• new boots (in black) ordered online and making their way to me as we speak
• coconut milk creamer (since I substituted my usual half+half w/this, I've lost 2.5lbs -- delicious and good for you!)
• my intriguing new classmates and all their encouraging comments
• the lovely Lana for featuring my jewelry on her blog
• a very busy friend taking the time to talk me down off the ledge when I was having one of my (thankfully few and far between) Epic Meltdowns

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

~ Wishlist 2010: Part 1 ~

1. Olympus E-P1 and Traveler's Notebook, 2. faded memory: vienna, 3. picnic, 4. Macpro !

Some things on my wishlist for 2010:

1. the Olympus Pen E-P1 -- the almost perfect camera.
2. a springtime visit to Vienna, the Austrian countryside, and other European locales in the vicinity
3. a fun, frothy, photo-happy picnic with the gals of Unravelling
4. a sparkly new macbook (this one, I think, is closest to manifesting)

~ One Word ~

throuh the lens, originally uploaded by yu+ichiro.

My word for 2010: FOCUS

~ Cloudy, with Scattered Showers ~

1. royalty, 2. at the seaside, 3. Untitled, 4. starry night peacock

An ode to my favorite weather. I love cool, gloomy days, when the wind hints at storms offshore and anticipation hangs heavy in the air.
A palette of dark ash, pale grey, and ice blue.

* Happy June *

1. Anatomica by Yulia

Reasons to rejoice the arrival of my favorite month, June:

• Mercury is direct again
• mangoes are in season (there is homemade mango sorbet in the freezer, and plans to make a mango tarte are underway)
• the rainy season has begun in earnest (does my heart good to know the parched Everglades is getting vital water)
• I've just completed my most favorite jewelry collection yet, and it will be up later this month
• an influx of birthday moola means I get to treat myself to something extra special... what shall I splurge on? maybe a new bikini?
  

Thursday is Sunlit

1. dandelion love, 2. Untitled

Wednesday is Out of Focus

1. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness., 2. Untitled

I've caught another cold and am seeing the world through a feverish haze.
The soft focus and pastel tones of these images are soothing, and the dreamy subject matter provides respite from reality.

Tuesday is Red + Blue + Joy

1. Freckles is my Name (sometimes) 2. Untitled

A cold and beautiful day for big smiles, celebration, and looking forward with eyes wide open.

Monday is Moss Green

1. Green Tea Mousse, 2. Untitled

Sometimes, for fun, I like to play match-up with my flickr faves. To find a combination of colours or textures that just call out to be combined. There is something--I don't know--visually satisfying about juxtaposing pictures, creating a conversation.
So this week I will attempt to present a colour play for each day.

In this combo, what I love is how the deep green undercuts the sweetness in each composition, keeping it palatable.

Christmas Treats *1*

1. giving, 2. Untitled, 3. tree cookies, 4. scenes from a shopping trip

For this week leading up to Christmas Day, I will post a little daily treat.
Today is a wintry montage from some of my flickr favourites.

You can tell I am wistful for snowy winter wonderlands and also for homemade gingerbread cookies. I had such plans for baking up a storm and sending sweet packages to loved ones, but alas, I am too busy working on an exciting new project...

i have it., originally uploaded by Pocket Farmer.

Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be.
- Don Quixote

NYC

1. Regardez, regardez... Les cupcakes!, 2. The Pink Shined Down on Manhattan

What do I know about NYC? Not very much. I've been there three times.
The first time I was an impressionable teen on my Grande College Tour, there to visit Colombia U. (did not end up going there). It was a different world to the laid-back SoCal town I grew up in; time moved at a faster pace, the colors were sharper, the voices louder; it all just seemed so much more. And it was the same both times afterwards; almost too much to absorb -- intimidating, stunning, big.
I am not a city girl at heart (I move much too slowly), but I do like the vibrant energy of New York in small doses. And after a lazy summer of not venturing further than the local library, I am more than ready for a dazzling change of scenery. I am looking forward to taking hundreds of photos and savoring delicious dishes in atmospheric restaurants and sharing it all with a lovely travel companion.
I'm not going until the end of the month, but I'll need that time to start compiling a list of must-sees/eats. Leaving room, of course, for the unexpected discoveries that are always the best part of any trip.

flickr love: ...and then I don't feel so bad

porcelain cups filled with frothy hot coffee,
cupcakes with icing and lights twinkling softly,
brown paper packages tied up with string,
these are a few of my favourite things

1. Martha Stewart Today wedding, 2. red velvet, 3. 23rd January 2005, 4. Fabric Gift Tags

flickr game

Suburose recommended this game, and being the flickr-mosaic-addict that I am, I had to try it.

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

1. HM Queen Elizabeth II 2. Sushi 3. santa monica high school
4. Bygone Era 5. Actor 6. Coffee?
7. Tuscany paths? 8. luncheon old fashioned sundae 9. The graphic+web+flash designer rabbit
10. The Kiss 11. A Quiet Thing 12. 'lime green lilies' canvas

blue monday

I've been a bit blue the past few days, nothing serious, just a little missing someone who's far away kind of blue. Like so:

1. #161 of 365: By Special Request, 2. John Martin's Book

Things that have helped revive the inner cheerleader:

1. working on multiple projects at the same time. making new jewelry, writing the third chapter of my next little book, and designing a new site for my friends. hopping from one kind of work to another keeps my mind occupied and flexible.

2. redesigning my blog -- the online equivalent of redecorating my bedroom. playing with a new format, making a new banner and fiddling endlessly with colours and fonts. it's a little schizophrenic how often i like to change it up here; i do get bored easily.

3. losing myself in a fluffy, utterly-relateable novel where the heroine lives out my fantasy of going to grad school at an atmospheric English college.

4. listening to uber-sweet Euro-pop with brilliant lyrics like "Oh no, oh no, you got it all wrong. You think you're chocolate but you're chewing gum".

it's pretty hard to take anything too seriously when you get a song like this stuck in your head. and the pretty colours make me smile (the turquoise segment with the Lolita sunglasses is my favourite):



5. dreaming of new places i'll voyage to next: Vienna? London? ...Texas? after all, the world is my oyster.