oh hello Friday

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It's been quiet around here, but I'm back! What are you up to this weekend? We have a friends' birthday to celebrate and a cookout on Sunday where we can eat our weight in hamburgers and corn on the cob. Gosh, don't you just love summer?  Have a good one and some fun links . . .

Tunes: Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

Heavens, I forgot how much I adore this song, The Police, and Sting. Such a delicious tune for on the heels of a holiday weekend. Repeat, repeat.

ASOS Africa

In continuation of this post, here' s a line from ASOS that I wait for every season- the ASOS Africa line. The line is produced in collaboration with Soko Kenya, a clothing, export workshop that aims to create sustainable and fair employment for marginalized communities in Kenya. The designs are always a little offbeat and a welcoming interpretation of Kenyan style.

Hallway Re-Design

How was your weekend? Boy and I had a much needed quiet few days, and we celebrated our 6 months of marriage on Saturday with sushi takeout. It's all downhill from here, right? The overcast skies and light drizzle brought me to the Home Depot for some minor home projects. Along with potting flowers, I decided to spruce up our little hall library. It was looking pretty drab and an afterthought to the rest of our color saturated apartment. Some yellow paint, a fresh houseplant, and reorganizing certainly brightened up this random little corner. 

Tunes: Bombay

I'm dancing all around to this tune right now, and you will too.

Friends and Birthdays

(Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, source)

Do you have one of those friends that you just can't NOT give presents to? You see it as your personal challenge to outdo yourself with every holiday?

I do my best to give all my closet friends and family some sort of gift for birthdays and holidays; at the very least,  I send a card. But when my friend Katie's birthday rolls around I just love finding gifts for her. I try to find the most obscure gift that everyone else wouldn't understand, but she will surely love it, even if it's just for the thought.

A Week of Groceries

Have you seen the photo essay by Peter Mentzel that shows what a week's worth of groceries mean to families around the world? It's quite fascinating and sobering.

Germany is cracking me up; look at all that booze. 

Bathroom Re-Design

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The design of our bathroom has been the farthest from my mind since we moved. I wanted to keep it minimalist, androgynous in décor, and bright for cleanliness. The colors have stayed black and white, but I think it needs a little facelift. I refuse to paint the walls- too many fixtures that I’m bound to break!

Our current shower curtain is the focal point in the room, and it was a cool and necessary find by boy just as we were moving in. But, in the last few weeks, I’ve grown to really not care for it anymore, and apparently when I’ve had one too many, I have diatribes on why every item is listed a few times, but there are only 2 bars of soap- puzzling? Philip loves to bring up this story at dinner parties. Love him.

Here are some of my new design inspirations . . .

oh hello Friday

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Oh, yes, hello Friday. Has it been quite the week for you, too? Late evenings and early mornings seemed to find me this week, but I really can’t complain. All good things. 

Also . . . the boy is turning 30. You heard me right . . . 30 (!) on Sunday! We’re heading to a lovely resort tucked away in Hot Springs, VA for the weekend. Philip is most excited for rounds of golf, and I’m looking forward to finding myself at the pool. Ambitious, I know. 

Tunes: Pina

Something a little different today . . .

Recipe: Jello Shots

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So to be honest, the Cinco de Mayo food presentation was certainly a last minute show. So much so, that after realizing my avocados were too hard for guacamole, I rushed out to Giant for pre- made guacamole just minutes before the guests arrived. Gasp.

4 Sisters

(1975)

In 1975, Nicholas Nixon photographed his wife and her three sisters. Fond of the photograph, they collectively decided to make it a yearly event. Every year, they've convened to capture a moment in time, and each close of the shutter shows the beautiful bond of the four sisters and the somewhat haunting passing of time.

It was recently made into a book- Nicholas Nixon: The Brown Sisters. Thirty- Three years. 

(1980)

Morning Routine

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What’s your morning routine?

This question really fascinates me for some reason, and I’m always eager to read bloggers’ posts on their morning routine, like The Fresh Exchange or Espresso and Cream. For some, the quiet time is most essential, for others the communal breakfast, and for the crowd that I can only aspire to be, habitual exercise. Here’s our routine, but there are certainly some more habits I hope to adopt.

oh hello Friday

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It’s beautiful outside, summer is nipping at our heels, it’s now May, and Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner. To celebrate (a Mexican battle victory- how odd of us, Americans), we’re hosting some friends on Sunday. I’m having quite the conundrum on what to make as Mexican cuisine is definitely not my specialty. Hmph. 

Some links for your weekend reading . . . 

Tunes: Northern Sky

Some sweet tunes for a quiet Friday morning.

Wedding Photos: Cocktail Reception

I was going to launch right into the reception photos, but some of my favorite moments were captured during the cocktail reception. In the above photo, I simply remember being deliciously happy in that moment. 

Lem Lem

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I love, love reading blogs. I love writing my blog. What I don't love is seeing all these things- clothing, housewares, makeup, hair styles- that I supposedly need to have, and I'm certainly a guilty party. At some point, it just becomes materialistic and too much gimme, gimme.

But, they are some purchases out there that do more than simply provide a temporary high. Today, I'm kicking off a series to highlight products that give back and provide economic enrichment for the workers and local community in marginalized regions.