A Minute in the Life: 5 Fabulous Things from My (4th of July) Weekend

Hoping you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Time spent with good friends, lots (too much) of good food, 10-15ish episodes of Arrested Development and countless hours of sleep is how I spent my extended weekend. It was beautiful. I also got around to creating my first new card this year-- I know that sounds rather lazy of me considering it's already July, but please know that I spent the first half of this year on my biggest, most ambitious art project yet...designing and making by hand the 150+ wedding invitations for our wedding later this year! More to come on that...for now, please enjoy...

1// Handmade, watercolor "Happy Heart" Birthday Card by Yours Truly

2// Life-sized Jenga on the beach!

3// Dirt & Worms and Nerds Cupcakes-- surprisingly delicious.

4// 'Merica

5// The Charleston Burger from one of my favorite spots in LA, The Charleston

A Minute in the Life: 5 Fabulous Things from My Weekend

You know those weekends where you get to catch up on all the things on your to-do list that you somehow never get to? Welp, I finally was fortunate to have one of those! Did I get to everything on my to-do list like 'buy a shoe rack' or 'sell iPhone' or 'decide on a bridesmaid dress'...no, I didn't. But I did get to some things like organizing my Pinterest Boards and sleeping in 'til noon.

Other cool things/findings/experiments happened this weekend as well, let me share...

1// Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Pink Frosting + Maybelline Super Stay 14-Hour Lipstick in Fuchsia Forever = Simple Summer Look

2// My fiance made these irresistibly hot, gooey and delicious, Cheesy Jalapeño Cornbread Poppers for a friend's Chili Cook-off....so good. Thinking he'd add a little spice, he left in a couple (too many) jalapeño seeds resulting in some party guests searching the kitchen for something to cool their mouths off with. Key finding: Ice Cream will cool off a mouth set on fire by various hot peppers.

3// My yoga teacher shared these words which really resonated with me. I paired his words with a work in progress of mine to create this as a reminder.

4// Have you ever been to Cafe Gratitude? Everything about the Cafe Gratitude here in LA is different than the one in San Francisco, except for the delicious factor. Basically, they took the Cafe Gratitude from SF and LA-ized it. Stopped in here for some dinner on Friday night with some girlfriends and throughly enjoyed the 'I Am Whole': Macrobiotic  bowl with sea vegetables, stewed adzuki beans, raw kale, butternut squash, house-made red cabbage kim chee and sea whip and black sesame seed gomasio with your choice of quinoa or local brown rice, tahini-garlic sauce and teriyaki almonds. You see this big bowl? I ate it all-- without regret. 

5// Brussel Sprouts are said to lower cholesterol, are packed with antioxidants, are full of fiber and loaded with Vitamin C. I had a bag of brussel sprouts from Trader Joe's and made these delightful little bites in no time at all. Cut off the stems and halve the sprouts. Place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle sea salt, black pepper and any other spices you fancy, bake at 400 for 30 minutes and enjoy!

Did you have a wonderful weekend, too? Make any new discoveries?

2013, You're Spoiling Me

Two months and twenty days...that's how long it's been since my last post-- yikes! So incredibly much has happened in these last two months, it's surreal. I rang in the New Year in Japan with my 96 year old Grandmother, bathed in the natural hot springs of Shimoda with my Mother, made my first international sale, witnessed a mother whale teach her baby how to breach while sipping a cocktail on Lana'i, saw two shooting stars, the moon for the first time through a telescope and went to Hawaii with my boyfriend and came back his finance.

I am one lucky girl.

// Lana'i //

// Oahu //

// Lana'i //

// Oahu //

// Sun Silhouettes //

// Sunrise on Lana'i //

// Sleepy Town of Shimoda //

// Shimoda Shore //

// Tempura Udon //

// Shinto Shrine on New Year's Eve //

// My Beautiful Obachan //

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park: Fenton, California

 

 Every time I go home to visit my family, it has become tradition to take a hiking day trip some where new. This past trip home, we decided to go to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. This beautiful park located in the Santa Cruz mountains has over 20 miles of self guided hiking trails that weave guests through centuries-old majestic Redwoods, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Oak, Riparian and rare ancient marine deposits called Santa Cruz sandhills.

We took the Fall Creek trail which was about a 5 mile hike along the creek bed. Some of my favorite sightings on this trail were banana slugs and a patch of small springs that have popped up out of the forrest floor-- simply magical.

I took all of these pictures with my iPhone using an olloclip. Did I get carried away with the fisheye lens? Yes. But that's okay because it was my first time using an olloclip and, if I do say so myself, I think the pictures came out great!

 // K and O in awe //

// Olivia & Mr. Banana Slug //

 // Happy Accident in Full Effect //

// she'll be comin' round the mountain //

 // Leaves like Glitter //

// So Enchanting //

 // 2 Creeks converging (or reuniting?) into 1 //

 // i was here //

// shrooms galore //

 // Daredevil Dad //

 // uprooted //

Total Solar Eclipse

Wanted to share a quick sneak peak at some paintings I've been working on for a new "Thank You" notecard set. I'm just about done and will be sharing soon!

In other news, a total solar eclipse will take place today, starting at early dawn in Australia (Nov 14)-- 

which is the afternoon here in the US (Tue 13). A total eclipse is when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth.

"The moon's shadow will travel 9,000 miles over Earth's surface in just over three hours, EarthSky reports. The eclipse will begin at 5:45 a.m. (AEST) and finish at 7:40 a.m. During totality [an estimated 4 minutes], several stars and planets will be visible.

The Australian city of Cairns will be the locale of choice--the only city in which the "totality" will be visible." (Huffington Post)

For the rest of us that won't be in Northern Australia during this natural wonder, I came across this paragraph that described the experience in a way that made me 'feel' like I was there:

During totality the sky becomes dark, confusing birds and other animals. You see stars in the sky and it gets strangely cooler. Street lights may come on as their sensors register the lack of light. The birds disappear from the trees and flowers have been known to close up, expecting nightfall. All around you the crowds begin to cheer and clap - that's when you know 'it's on'!

Just before and just after totality the disc of the Sun is glimpsed as a pinpoint of light through mountains and craters at the edge of the Moon. This 'diamond ring effect' is one of the highlights of a total eclipse. (Space Daily)

This particular solar eclipse is very powerful since it coincides with a New Moon. It is said to be a a time to let go of all things that no longer serve you to make way for the new (read more about it here: Scorpio New Moon )-- I'm sure we all have a couple of these.