45 Years Ago; Today...

Is it any mistake that Barack will be giving his acceptance speech on the same date as King Jr's famous "I Have a Dream" speech? I think not.

November is approaching rapidly, and I am glad to see that our country is still dreaming, still hoping. I'm very excited about the changes that we will see this January, and frankly I can't wait for this dark time to be over.

It's about time, America.

Thanks, I think I will...

Saw this flier a few nights ago, after work. Sometimes it takes something so small to make you smile.

Walking Anesthetic.

A little snippet from listing to the radio, last night...

"It didn't hurt 'cause she's so pretty."

-Margaret Cho, on being tattooed by Kat Von D.

Love it. :)

This ain't just California Cuisine.

Okay, here comes your cliche statement of the week: Good food doesn't have to be fancy, complicated or pretentious. It just has to be good.

But you know what? It's true. This past weekend I had the pleasure of putting together an impromptu backyard barbecue with Boyfriend David and some of his friends. We fired up the grill and prepared a small spread of tasty things (pork four ways, anybody?) and enjoyed the simple pleasures in life: good food, good friends, beer and a well-landscaped backyard.

My personal favorite dish of the barbecue was Chef Scott's grilled veggie salad. It started off with some purple and yellow cauliflower heads, grilled dry over an open flame. Next on the fire was the escarole, which was tossed and chopped with the cauliflower and toasted walnut halves, then dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

The end result? A simple, delicious, unique dish that showcases the fresh vegetables perfectly and looks and tastes amazing. How can you go wrong?

small rewards

A friend recently stated that he deserved an "Award of Excellence." I agreed, so I stayed up late to make him just such an award. Now I want to make a whole bunch of them, just to have on hand to give to friends as they continue to show how awesome they are. They all deserve one!

welcome to blogust!

*blink blink* ... Is it possible that my last blog post was from May? Clearly I've been a bad host! But I promise that I have been busy doing all sorts of good things, and having a quite enjoyable summer. I'm working plenty, sure, but I've also made time for a couple of trips down to Los Angeles- which happens to be the boy's new adopted home. as much as I've always said that I don't care much for L.A., I have been enjoying my time there spent with him. It's also been nice to catch up with old friends who I never get chance to see!

So far it's been a summer full of crafting, photo-taking, museum-hoping, Virgin America-flying, dress-wearing good times. How can you go wrong?

But now it's time to get down to business. Today begins a new month, a month which I hope will be full of fun, colorful and exciting tidbits of daily life. The month of Blogust, if you will. It's a personal challenge, but I'd be happy to have you join me! What will you blog about this August?

For now, here's a snippet of some of the new goodies I've been creating to share with ya'll...


A new tote made from vintage, recycled and new materials, featuring one of my very favorite fabrics from my collection of vintage yardage. Find this, and other vintage-y goodies, over at minorthread.etsy.com.