Friday flowers

Cheery yellow mums this week.

{mums & tea}

I think my favorite part about buying flowers is carrying them home on the bus. It feels so chic. Although I also love arranging them when I get home. And looking at them the rest of the week.

So I guess I love everything about my weekly indulgence.

New shoes

Oh, Jeffrey Campbell. How you tempt me. There is a little shoe store in Westwood (Top Shoes - if you are local and you haven't been, you are missing out) that mysteriously stocks huge amounts of your shoes for less than half of what they are supposed to cost. Sometimes I wonder where they come from and if my purchases mean that I am participating in some sort of shoe mafia operation. I choose to believe in a shoe fairy instead, even if the owner is really more of a grumpy middle aged shoe titan. Sigh.

Last month I was forced to go inside (my bus was late, people, and the shoe store was RIGHT THERE) and I walked out 30 minutes later with a tower of shoe boxes. So now I am rocking these lovelies.

And these.

They just toe the line between awesome and absurd, don't you think? I couldn't decide if the bottom pair was too closely related to clown and/or bowling shoes, but I was smitten. And they are so, so comfy, so I was won over to the awesome side.

Other purchases were my standard summer sandal stock up - ruffly sandals you've been seeing in all my photos, metallic sandals, brown strappy sandals, each for just $15. Now I have no excuse for going back this year. I'm done.

The pay it forward love continues...

Jac sent me a pay it forward package, I finally got my act together and mailed my five packages out recently, and now Ashley is keeping it going. Head over to her blog if you want a chance to play and missed out the first time. You can also see what I sent her.

P.S. For those of you who loved Jac's wonderful little zipper pouch, she's opened up an Etsy shop! It's full of the most beautiful things, and I can tell you from experience that they will be as lovely in person as they are in her photographs. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Wouldn't you love to have this large one?

{image from Coco Sunday's Etsy shop}

Walnut pesto

Overwhelmed by the state of our overgrown basil pot*, D whipped up some pesto the other night. We were out of pine nuts, but I mentioned that I'd seen recipes where people use walnuts. It worked beautifully.

Walnut pesto (adapted from The Silver Spoon, serves 4 - 6)

25 leaves of fresh basil (or a few large handfuls)
1/3 cup walnuts
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup Romano cheese (D actually used a Parmesan romano blend)
3 cloves fresh garlic
Scant 1/2 cup olive oil
Sea salt, to taste

1. Toss everything except the olive oil and the salt in the food processor and blend until a paste forms.

2. Add olive oil in a slow stream. Taste before adding salt.

D sprinkled some chevre on top. Because everything is better with a bit of goat cheese.

*Basil really likes to be hacked down regularly. Don't be nervous - trim it all the way down to the last couple of leaves on the stalk. It will pop right back up.

I know what I like...

Isn't that what people always say about art? I have a particular weakness for certain forms of art (screen printing, lino & wood cuts and photography).

Buying art is not exactly easy when you're living on starter salaries, but we've managed to pick up some pieces we love, and many of them are from Self Help Graphics.

{my first art purchase ever, by an unknown artist}

SHG is a wonderful organization located in East Los Angeles, started over 30 years ago by an amazing nun. It has evolved into a community organization that offers classes and work space to the local community, with a strong emphasis on Chicano art. They've been sadly plagued with financial problems and for a while it looked like we might lose them altogether, but so far they've pulled through.

{one corner of last year's purchase - Chavez Ravine by Vincent Valdez}

Every year they hold a print show, where you have a chance to buy pieces from resident and visiting artists. There are lots of limited edition screenprints and lino cuts, which makes it affordable. Last Sunday was our fifth year to attend the show.

I fell in love. Madly in love. I am a very, very practical person and I can spend hours deciding whether or not to indulge in a $30 pair of shoes. But I found this giant piece of art and I knew I was buying it. There was no thought process, no evaluation of the cost, no consideration of where in our tiny apartment it would fit, just an instinctive reaction. And really, I think that's how it should be, with art. I mean, this is why I'm practical the rest of the time, right?

It is a large format serigraph called On Route to County by William Acedo and it depicts the beautiful bridge that leads into East Los Angeles. I am not doing it justice because it is so incredibly detailed that a picture just won't cut it. This is a teeny tiny sliver of it. When you see it in person you just about fall into it - it's intense. I'm going to have to get a custom frame for it because it's too large for any of the standard sizes. And I better do it soon, because right now it is taking up our entire dining room table.

D picked up two amazing (and more reasonably sized) pieces as well. I'll share once we've got them all framed.

The weekend, briefly (out of town friend edition)

D and I got to play hosts last week! Our dear friend Beth was in town, so we had hours of talking, drinking, eating and active TV watching (you know, the kind where you all chime in to mock the dialogue) to participate in. We've known Beth for 11 years, almost to the day, and despite never living in the same state, we manage to get together at least once a year.

We celebrated our reunion with some bubbly. I love having champagne on hand for impromtu celebrations.

{bubbly & peonies}

We spent a lot of time cooking and then sitting on the patio.

{kebabs}


{fresh parsley dips + pita}

{a moscow mule and some lovely early evening light}

The weather cooperated by being gorgeous.

Not pictured - a delicious dinner at Osteria Mozza, going to see The Hangover (amazing), vigorous debate as to which Golden Girl each of us would be (Beth = Dorothy, Dustin = Sophia, I am Rose), buying some art at our favorite annual show.

Friday flowers (+ a winner)

At some point, you guys are going to rebel and refuse to look at pictures of peonies.

Hopefully it won't be this week.

{pink peonies in a yellow glazed cup, made by D}

Oh, do I have other news I'm supposed to share with you? Like telling you the name of the very lucky person who won the Shoestring Home giveaway?

Oh, that's right.

Congratulations, Tammy!

For the rest of us, Mandi is kindly offering a little gift. All purchases of $30 or more will receive this beautiful petite handcreme by Lollia.

Just head over to Shoestring Home and enter the code HEARTOFLIGHT when you check out - the offer is good until 7/3/09.