// i took a break from the internets.
\\ we went to canada, new hampsire, massachusetts, rhode island and new york.  i'm tyring to figure out how to get back to rhode island.
// i continued my break from the internets.
\\ mas' work trips were nixed!
// i decided to quit the internets.  "cancelled" my facebook account, closed my reader "for good," and started writing a farewell to blogging post.
\\ we went to california.  i had a lot of cheeseburgers, mas had a week long class in santa clara.
// since we were on that side of the country, we went to los alamos.  mas is trying to figure out how to get back to los alamos.  ok, i am too.
\\ mas' second round of work trips were postponed!
// i turned 31.
\\ i logged back into my reader.  had too many posts to even consider reading.  unsubscribed to about 50% of my feed.
// i decided that quitting the internet was perhaps just a harsh reaction to a couple of bad days.
\\ we wound up with cable and more importantly hbo.  our one tv is in the basement ... where other people are currently living.  but hbogo runs very well on the ipad.  i've since blown through big love, true blood, and hung.  ok i didn't blow through hung, i stopped watching it.  also newsroom.  we're obsessed.  and game of thrones.

// i missed the internets.  so i came back.  except for facebook.  i think that relationship is over for good.

{photo from our road trip from santa clara to los almos by way of big sur}

woah.

for the past five months we thought we were moving to asia.  we didn't know exactly when, but we knew that sometime before the end of august we would be on the other side of the world.  we were thrilled.  i was half way to my end life goal of becoming asian and mas was planning weekend excursions to places like vietnam and thailand and beijing.  but then, three or four weeks ago, those people that make those decisions called and said no.  no to tokyo, no to seoul, and no to that wee little japanese island.  it was a bit hard to take.  we had been making plans, reading blogs, ALMOST BUYING PLANE TICKETS.  but then, we thought about it, and decided it would all be ok.  we would just pick up next january and move back to california.  california is almost like japan or s. korea, no?  it was fun few days.  we were making up new careers for ourselves (mas - sommelier, me - doughnut maker) and telling a few of our favorites that was the plan, we were coming back.  it was exciting, and scary ... you know the whole picking where you want to live thing.

and then ...

two weeks ago, the phone rang.  and it was them ... those people that make these decisions.  they said : mas come to dc and we will give you a job that you weren't even considering because it is so good, we promise it will be better than becoming a sommelier and living in the best state in the country.  so, mas says yes, has two interviews, fills out a bunch of paperwork and finds out last week that we are going to dc.  we jump and scream and laugh and high five.  the job is ridiculous and dc is a CITY, a city with things and people and snow and cherry blossoms.  we are to be there no later than july 31.  i am excited.  mas is thrilled.  and frances is ready to walk around where the people are.  i ask if maybe we can move SOONER.  mas laughs and says no.  then the phone rings again, or maybe an email was sent, at this point there are too many changes coming from too many directions i can't quite remember the details.  they say, come no later than june 30th.  so we are going house hunting.

i'm not going to say that i haven't finally found a way of life in this tiny town.  i like my yoga studio.  i like the coffee shop that lets me bring frances inside to sit and drink coffee.  i like the two block downtown/business district that has a train track (with frequent trains) running down the center.  i like the new little deli that opened up around the corner from us that serves ALL LOCAL food and sells dried beans and lentils in bulk and makes their own yogurt.  i like the bookstore.  i like our new house, i still haven't painted it even.  but i am also not going to say that the thought of living in dc makes me so excited i could pee.

the past couple have days have sent us in a wicked california spiral.  it's time for a trip.  like now.

{photo by abby trys again}

the move.

we're moving! again! erm, yay?! it's just down the street and around the corner ... into a *maybe* ridiculously large, recently restored, very old home.  i'm not sure how i feel about the largeness of it all, but i'm in love with these things :

+  it won't leave the musky odor of mold on everything we own.

+  on the second floor there is the most amazing bathroom (original sink/tub/toilet set, complete with black and white tile from way back when).

+  my office is quadrupling in size.

+  we are chucking our ikea malm bed (you served us well, and lasted three moves, but that paint job i gave you really cheapened/ruined you) and are replacing it with the fancy sleigh bed we found in mas' parent's basement after they moved from avl.  you should know i am also planning on sanding the sleigh bed and staining it black ... which might be cause for some concern due to my past experiences, but i'm much older and more mature now.  plus it's made of ACTUAL wood and i would use sandpaper and real wood stain, not floor paint.

+  our washer and dryer will now perform magic tricks (i LOVE a nice washer and dryer).

+  knowing that the day after we move everything in and paint the walls, we will get a phone call letting us know that we are moving to japan - this summer.

+  also knowing that it is very nearly too late to receive such a call, landing us in the new house for a whole year, and then freeing us up to live wherever in the world we want ... which might be japan, but more likely somewhere like, um, say .... california?

+  walking the half block to our most favorite restaurant ... as opposed to walking three.

+  not having to worry that our landlords (not so) secretly hate us for not purchasing this house.

and then there will be the things that i will miss, as with all houses that become homes :

-  our insanely large fenced in side yard and our insanely large not fenced in backyard (frances will miss the fence the most, or maybe it will be us, at midnight, in the rain, when we can just throw her out the door anymore).

-  being 15 seconds from the public library.

-  the weird eight inch gap between the bottom of our bedroom door and the floor.

-  the attic, that allows us to store all sorts of things we DO NOT need.  it certainly is easy to just leave them alone and not have to see them ever.

{image found on abandunce due to following a link from color collective}

summer's respite.

temperatures that did not go over 88. baby guinea hens running around our yard. fresh peach and blueberry ice cream. homemade in-n-out* (for realz, all of you ex-west coasters if you have not seen this, well, you must now). lawn mowing. windows open. air conditioning OFF. bike ride. the starting of true blood (yes, we're a little behind). adventureland. cleaning out that shit hole of a front room to the point where we can actually use it as a front room. carrot cantaloupe juice. chocolate chip cookies. sushi. laundry almost done. wearing of jeans. thunder storms. all in all it was a very good weekend.

*check out the article along with the recipe, i think i may have fallen in love with kenji alt a little bit this weekend. i mean the ketchup mayo ratio illustration would have done it alone, but dude, the burger rocked. my hero.

food coma.

it happens every time. i come back to california, eat until i want to puke, gain five pounds in less than five days and promise myself i will NEVER EVER EVER do that again. but you know what? i really think it is worth it. i'll cleanse myself over the next week with a minimum of 1o hours of hot sweaty yoga ... and mas' crazy running work outs. or maybe i won't. maybe i'll just tie-dye some more.

{image via photo lovely abbytrysagain. i was going to include some photos of the food i ate, but am having issues i cannot wrap my head around right now with iphoto, maybe later, or maybe i'm just too embarassed.}

la for a day.

esb and are tie-dye masters, no? try not to be jealous of our skills, though i know that will be hard.

butterflies, california, husband.

last friday mas and i spent our day cutting and hanging butterflies (mas the cutting and me the hanging) at the shop in los alamos. it was a few hours well spent.

and then we gorged ourselves down the street at flatbread.

los alamos.

this little town has my heart, but i think you all know that. mas and frances joined me for a few days this month and i gotta say it has been nice (mas left this morning, boo, but frances is still here, we have tons of fun in the sun together). also a fun part of this trip ... i'm house sitting for someone who has two black labs, six fish, two cats, three donkeys, three horses and a hot tub. did i mention i am RIDICULOUSLY allergic to horses? um, yeah. i went to love them and came away with two arms full of hives and a runny nose. it kills me not to be able to touch them, KILLS ME.

we are heading to california tomorrow, me to work + mas to play, yay! so i've been thinking about my next window display for the shop and well i'm IN LOVE with ferry staverman. these shapes and colors are kind of spot on. now the only thing i have to do is figure out how i can recreate something similar. hrmmmmmm

sneez and wheeze.

this spring thing is shit. our porch table is covered in pollen, our cars are covered in pollen, our grass is covered in pollen, every little surface inside our house is covered in pollen (we had the windows open). we tried escaping to the coast for an evening, but that was negated by our biking to yoga the next day. dear spring, can you be done spewing your yellow dust please?

back home.

the time has come to head back to the part of the world where my husband resides, and while i cannot even tell you how excited i am to do that, i must say that it makes me a tad sad. i like california more and more with every visit. which is funny because when we first moved here and were living on the beach i couldn't wait to leave.

ps - that is a paper airplane, i spent a fair amount of time this past week making them and putting a few up in the window. it was fun.

ca.

it's fun here. and sunny. and the burgers are good. mas quit your job and meet me here tuesday!

it's a research day.

i'm in la with esb and we are breaking out of doors to see what there is in the world away from our desks.

{image}

it really is a shame that i've only experienced nashville from the airport.

i must make a note that a road trip needs to be made.

now on to california where i hear the weather is quite lovely and nothing like the pseudo spring i am leaving.

{images found here and here}

wedding wednesday : inspired by

an accordion fold letterpress invitation with a perforated rsvp. wrapped in a light grey folder and enveloped by a dark grey lined in yellow. the bride did her own calligraphy and it is ridiculously wonderful.


she is getting married in detroit atop a v. tall building downtown in a most gorgeous non-satin dress. i on the other hand want to be back on the central coast fogged in with lanvin and loeffler randall. we were fast friends.

{chair, jose villa - dress, lanvin - earrings, bottega veneta - shoes, loeffler randall - trees, jose villa}

on my way back.

it was a nice vacation from winter, but i'm heading back to a place where cuddling is mandatory to stay warm ... not a bad gig really.

{photo from shauna richardson via the shiny squirrel}

and away we go.

charleston next week. a day or two in asheville the week after. and then a week and a half in california after that. maybe this is why my office is a hell hole*?

*i really should say *was* a hell hole, because i somehow pulled it together today, at least i don't feel like suffocating while working at my computer anymore.

things i am going to miss : part 3

for the first time in, um, 8 or 9 years i am going to be more than a 20 minute drive to a beach, which shouldn't bother me because i never really actually fancied myself a beach person. but thinking about it now, well, it kinda scares me a little (in one those pre-move stress induced states). and i know frances and mas will be quite sad to have to drive over an hour for some sand and salt water*.

*ok, ok, so chicago wasn't exactly on the ocean, but have you been there and seen the lake? it creates it's own weather and the beaches are packed during the summer, so yeah, it counts.

things i am going to miss : part 2

in-n-out. do i really have to say anything more?

{photo taken at dinner last night ... cheesburger animal style ... erm same with the fries only minus the cheese ... and mas and i SPLIT the fries, which makes it almost not bad, sort of.}