the cherry blossoms.

they're starting to affect the way i dress.  i can't help it.  i love them so.

gingham walls, update.

so do you remember, way back when, me saying i was going to paint our vestibule gingham?  it's finally happened.  there was a lot of thinking and researching and painting and repainting.  and after, um, ten coats of paint i think we've got it, and more importantly, i think we LOVE it.  we are toying with the idea of taking the almost black down to the light grey, to be actual gingham, but i'm not sure.  thoughts? 

also, fucking gingham painted walls.  i cannot tell you what a hassle they were.  i mean, seriously.  at first i was certain that one made such a pattern by adding glaze to half of your paint and then subtly layer one coat over the next.  boy was that WRONG.  it turns out that if you use glaze you get this horrible consistency that shows every last brush stroke.  it took four coats of the glazed black paint to start looking decent, and at that point it was no longer a glaze.  it was a straight up solid - waste of time.  

but then, it was magic, while eating with our friends (at their new and beyond wonderful eating establishment, bell street farm, in los alamos) one of them let me in on a little secret.  a little secret that made me want to bang my head on the most perfect farm house table.  that layering technique is really just a third, or in our case fourth, color.  so simple, so smart, so easy.   i'm such an idiot.  

happy valentine's.

here's wishing you at the very least a good bit of cake ... or brownie ... or doughnut.

frances and i are each other's sweethearts this year and i've already ruined it for her.  so, she's gone back to bed. i might attempt walking down to barracks row and trying out this place for the first time (i think it's the last cupcake only shop i'm left to experience). or perhaps i'll just hunker down into some projects and go for these brownies instead.  or maybe we'll head on out to the suburbs for a lowe's/petsmart trip and just hit up krispy kreme?  our options are endless and all very sugary.

{image via}

weekend.

this weekend, well, mostly it was uneventful.  a touch of snow and weather that was just cold enough to keep us inside.  which wasn't bad, in fact it was filled with hours in bed watching homeland, SOOOO GOOD.  but then an errand needed to be run, far away from the comfort of our covers and computer.

so we trekked out to the suburbs, and you know what is in the suburbs?  besides our errand, good vietnamese food, that's what.  we stopped by banh mi dc and had ourselves the most delicious $9.00 lunch around.

we snagged a #2 and #8 and a custard steamed bun.  the custard was a bit too heavy and the bun, not as light as i like, but the #2 WAS TO DIE FOR.  the #8 wasn't too bad either, but damn, the former has me wanting to go back, like now.  the perfectly spicy pork, lotsa mayo and quite a delish showing in the bread department.  the mass amounts of cilantro and veggies didn't hurt either.