New Ink!

So, I got two new tattoos this weekend. Both are in white ink as are all the rest of my tattoos. The first one is a tree drawn by Lauren Child, one of my most favorite artists, for a fabric she designed. It's on the side of my left leg on my calf. You can go ahead and ignore how incredibly pale I am.



The other one is a little sleeping cat on the nook of my right arm. I'm thinking of him as my Javier cat except not in a creepy portrait tattoo way. Note the claws. It's all in the details.


I couldn't be happier with them and it makes me smile just to look down at myself. All this adorableness came courtesy of Sean Lanusse at Infinity Tattoo here in Portland, OR.

Way Hardcore

I got two tattoos today! When they aren't covered in plastic wrap, Aquaphor, stencil ink, and dried blood I'll totally show you.

Talib Kweli, I Love You

It took me a couple listens to even notice this but now I can't stop laughing at it.

Some background:


And, the song Tater Tot off Talib Kweli's Gutter Rainbows album.

Snow and Cocoa and Snuggle and Nap Day

Nail color that doesn't chip?

So, I'm a little late to the shellac nail trend but early last week after one of the days Lana came to work with me we decided to get manicures and try it out. If you haven't heard of it before shellac is supposed to be a long lasting nail color that resists chips for up to two weeks.

Here are my impressions:

It definitely does what it says. We got our nails done Tuesday of last week and it's now only a few hours from being Friday of this week and I still have no chips.

While I don't have chips I do have some tiny bubbles at the base of my nails. If I were apt to pick at my nails I could definitely peel the color off. Which Lana has done on two of her nails.

I got a pale pink color but Lana got a more dark hot pink color. What we both got was a gel like nail. The colors don't seem to apply opaquely which is kind of a bummer.

This stuff dries immediately. I pretty much can't do my nails at home because I get so bored and anxious I always decide they're dry before they are and then mess them up. Even in the salon I get all leg bounce-y and have a hard time sitting still. With this as soon as they're done painting you're done. I'm a huge fan of that aspect of things.

Since this is a fairly new thing the colors salons carry are all sort of boring pink and red shades. I usually bring my own colors with a preference for Butter London colors, weird without being too out there, but buying a bottle of shellac polish runs about $20-$30 which is more than even Chanel charges for a bottle of polish and what I use as my limit.

So, here's the day after they were done...


and tonight...

When Technology is Not Awesome

A year ago my best friend tried to kill himself. When it happened I couldn't do anything and I desperately clung to any communication I had with him because at least if I were talking to him or hearing from him I knew he was alive. Not okay but at least alive. Within the first month or two after it happened he stopped talking to me and hasn't since. In the beginning everything came together in a way that made it impossible for me to get myself out of bed. After awhile I was able to go out into the world but I wasn't really actively participating in it and at the oddest times and with no warning my eyes would fill with tears. Over time though that stopped as well and I began to be able to really participate in conversations and laugh and care about things again. Something that hasn't gone away though is him crossing my mind every day. I don't think I'll ever get over my friend or what happened with him. It breaks my heart. I wonder if I could have or should have done something, if he was mad at me, if he felt that not being involved in my life would be better for me or him...and I'll never know. But usually those thoughts are a little more buried.

You know how sometimes in movies people have the date of someone's death or something that happened etched in their mind forever? This wasn't like that. I remember last spring being bad and how tired I felt and how much all I wanted to do was sleep and escape from feeling sad, but I don't remember dates. Know who does though? 1-800-flowers.

The first day that I actually thought my friend was gone a friend of mine came over to stay with me and brought groceries, Advil, tissues, cat food, and her overnight bag. I never would have asked for it but it was exactly what I needed. After a couple days she ended up going back to her own home and I sent her flowers as a thank you for coming to stay with me. 1-800-flowers decided they should remind me of this occasion to ensure I don't forget to send flowers again.

I get it, I do, they want business and I suppose for holidays and birthdays or anniversaries this is a good tool that works to their advantage but come on. Seriously? You know what sort of things people send flowers for? Deaths, illness, injuries, to girlfriends or boyfriends they may or may not be with any longer...people send flowers for a lot of things they don't want to be reminded of. Opening your email to be stunned and then end up crying isn't very fun. And also doesn't make me want to buy flowers either.

Sometimes I miss the olden days when people were expected to remember important dates on their own and allowed to forget the ones that hurt.

All I can say is...

...whoa. Mister West has got it goin' on. As usual.



I was in the car with Lana Friday night and Through the Wire came on my ipod. I told her I remember hearing that song for the first time and just thinking "This is amazing, I need to know who this is."

My love has only gotten harder, better, faster, stronger.

Nothing is forever. Except a tattoo. Also probably being paralyzed. Or dead.

I want another tattoo.

Actually, I want four new tattoos.

I never thought I'd be that girl who was all covered in ink but that whole "once you get one you'll want more" thing is true. I got my first thinking I'd never go under the needle again but here I am a couple years later with four.

I've been collecting images for awhile and here are the things I'm craving. All of these would be in white ink as are all my current tattoos.

There is a book called The Happy Lion by Louise Fatio. When I nannied I read this book to one of my girls nearly every night. In the book there is a lion who lives in the zoo. Every day the people from the town come and visit him and tell him "Bonjour happy lion!" and then, when they leave, "Au revoire happy lion!" One day the zookeeper leaves the happy lion's cage unlocked and he decides that he should return the favor and visit all his friends who come to visit him. When he gets into the city though everyone must have lost their minds because they're running about and yelling and frankly being quite rude to the happy lion who simply came to say hello. I won't ruin the ending for you but the reason this book is so special to me is that every night my little monkey and I would snuggle up and read it, I would tuck her in, turn out the lights, and tell her "Au revoire!" and she would respond "Au revoire Nanny!" Even to this day, years after we've stopped reading this story, she will still call out "Au Revoire Nanny!" when I leave the room after tucking her in. There are few things that bring me as many good feelings as the happy lion. And for that reason I'd like to carry him around with me everywhere.


I love my cat. A lot. Probably kind of a ridiculous amount. But whatever, call me a crazy cat lady, that furball has been with me through a pretty rough time and was one of the few things that got me out of bed some days. I love coming home to him, I love waking up to his cold little wet nose touching mine, I love when he bolts across the apartment in his best attempt to hunt something nonexistent. I would love a little line drawing of a cat with some Javier in him.





I want this, just because I like it. I don't always agree with Bansky's politics but he's fascinating regardless.


Lauren Child is possibly the most talented children's book "illustrator" of all time. I put illustrator in quotes because her work is really mixed media. She creates the most magical worlds that are full of color and pattern and texture. If you haven't read her version of Princess and the Pea you absolutely must. It's so refreshing. I'm not really sure of what I want from her work yet but these are some of the incredible things she's done.

I'm too tired to be clever.

Well, I am exhausted. Work has been extremely hectic and crazy lately. As a personal assistant it's pretty much my job to keep everything together and there have definitely been significantly more things to keep together recently. Luckily Lana offered to come in and help me with some things on her two days off this week.

This is where I get mushy.

Lana has a really full life. She has a big family to keep in touch with, bunches of friends, a job that can involve some pretty early mornings as well as some late nights plus a ton of other stuff. If anyone deserves a nap or bubble bath or mimosa or whatever it'd be this girl. So the fact that she gave up two whole days she could have spent doing any number of more fun things is pretty amazing. Plus, I basically just bossed her around all day telling her things to do and not once did she look at me like she wanted to strangle me. Which is pretty impressive.

I always think of Valentines Day as a day to celebrate and reflect on all kinds of love, not just romantic love, and yesterday got me thinking. I'm really truly lucky to have a friend like Lana who isn't competitive or jealous or mean spirited in the least. It can be hard to find friendships with women that are truly healthy, uplifting, and supportive and I am so thankful I found this one. I look at our interactions and they always seem to have the same goal, which is doing good. Whether the aim is our own happiness, creating good food, making something beautiful, solving a life problem or any number of things, the bottom line is making things better all around for everyone. And maybe I just haven't had a lot of those sorts if friendships and that makes me the odd one but this whole thing is so refreshing and just brings so much happiness and inspiration to my life. Which is what friendships should do.

I love you Boo.

It's Valentines Day! And this has nothing to do with that!

I know there are a lot of single people who get all worked up about Valentines Day and feeling lonely and blah blah blah but I like this holiday. I like the decorations, I like celebrating something positive, and I just love love.

Unfortunately I don't really have anything exciting to offer you that has anything to do with the holiday. Probably because I am single. I do have hair inspiration photos to share though because, whatdayaknow...this girl wants to change her hair. Again.

I Love the Weekends

My day has included major sleeping in, snuggles with Javi, lunch at Jo Bar with Lana on her lunch break, picking up a lace tank and some very adorable shorts at Free People, a tabloid with the season one Teen Mom girls on the cover, Restaurant Impossible, and a mango smoothie.

Weekends are the best.

Spring Trends 2011

I love how every season anyone even remotely fashion related decides to make a list of trends for the upcoming three months until they need to do it again for the next three months. Because if you didn't know, you can only wear something for that long before you are tragically, painfully unfashionable. This morning I was lucky enough to receive emails from both Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom about the Spring 2011 trends.

According to Nordstrom they are:
Pale Neutrals
The Fit and Flare Dress
The Kitten Heel (Please don't wear kitten heels)
The Romantic Blouse
The Framed Satchel
Flared and Wide Leg Pants
Maxi Dresses and Skirts (This one I'll give them since pretty much every one in the entire world from Michael Kors to American Apparel has a pleated maxi skirt out this season)
Statement Rings
The Minimal Jacket
Modern Oxfords

Here's what Neimans has to say:
Coral
Boho Influences
Florals (This is definitely something new for Spring...)
Stripes
Wide-Leg Pants
The White Wardrobe
Flat Sandals
The Spring Face (What even is this?)
Long Necklaces
Crossbody Bags

And, because I love you, I decided to do some research to see what others apparently in the know have to say about it.

Style.com thinks Spring is going to be all about:
Hyper Color
Lace
Prints
Mid-Calf Length
White
The 70s
Pants (I'm not making that up)

Elle predicts:
The 70s
Mixed Prints
Bold Colors
Straight and Narrow Silhouettes
Metallics
Sports Bras as Tops (also not making that one up)
Cutouts
Sheer Materials

Harpers Bazarre says the trends will be:
"Eclectic Chic" (Don't worry, I don't know what it means either)
Bold Colors
"Printed Matter"
"Pajama Dressing"
Minimal White
The 70s

And then, with my most favorite list of Spring 2011 trends is Glamour:
60s Coats
Military Jackets
High Waisted Flare Jeans
70s Dresses
"Mixed Happy Prints"
Platforms
Trench Dresses
Sheer Layers
"Something Simple and Rust Colored"
Japanese Inspired Style
Neutrals and Nudes
Preppy Accesories
Bangles
"Serious Pants"
Citrus Colors
"Comfy Clothes"

So, the good news is pretty much whatever you wear this Spring you're going to be on trend pointe. Because I think every single possible clothing choice fits into some category on these lists. The bad news is our Spring is going to be filled with people wearing sheer, boldly hued, Japanese inspired pajamas from the 70s.

Seriously Fashion Industry, why do you make yourself look so stupid sometimes? You're actually fun when you aren't trying so hard.

A Little Sparkle and Shine

I haven't worn eyeshadow for awhile. I always get tired of the way it changes color through the day and having to use primer to keep it from creasing. As much as I love products I don't actually like needing to take a lot of time to use them. I've just never been a sit down for twenty minutes and put on makeup kind of girl. Before I went to Seattle I needed to pick up a few of those makeup essentials, foundations, concealer, etc. There was this older woman who walked up right after me and seemed to be in one of those old lady hurries that they get in even though they don't really have anywhere to be. So I told the salesgirl she could go ahead and help this other woman first. Which ended up taking fooooooorrrrrrrreeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvveeeeerrrrr (I hope you're picturing Sandlot right now). While I was waiting for my turn I got to playing in all the makeup and decided I wanted to wear eyeshadow again. I tried on a few and fell in love with a "Metallic Long Wear Cream Shadow" by Bobbi Brown in Goldstone. But, it was all sold out. Lovely Sarah at Nordstrom offered to call me when it came in and hold it for me which I'm thankful for because their second shipment sold out in the two days it took me to go pick mine up. Anyways, it's gorgeous and has primer built into it so it seriously doesn't crease or change color at all during the day.

I'm also one of those low maintenance makeup girls who loves the idea of lipstick but isn't so keen on it in reality. Mostly because I spend the entire day wondering if it needs to be touched up or if I have it on my teeth or if I'm going to look like that crazy aunt who leaves lipstick on everything every time I take a drink. I like more "don't need a mirror" kinds of lipcolor. Bobbi makes these tinted lip balms and I found an awesome one that looks like I'm wearing lipstick but that I can totally put on in the car without looking. Mine's Pink Raspberry.


It should probably be noted that that gold shadow can be layered or put on more sheer. I tend to wear it in a day appropriate manner.

Also those gold rings are Lana and my friendship rings and I'm feeling like a three year old who has been fed pixie sticks, handed a puppy, and told we're going to Disneyland because she comes back from vacation today!

Born This Way

This blog was brought to my attention last night and I have to share it.

The premise is that people of course don't choose to be gay or straight any more than they choose their skin color or height. There are stories written by gay men and women accompanied by photos of them as children that "capture them, innocently, showing the beginnings of their innate LGBT selves."

www.borngaybornthisway.blogspot.com

What I'm Listening To

At some point I made a playlist in iTunes that I titled 'Roll Out' and then promptly forgot about it. Probably because I called it 'Roll Out.' But now that I've caught up to 2003 and have got this iPod in the car thing going on I've been able to listen to all my playlists a lot more easily. Which means some old favorites are becoming new favorites again. One of those being 'Roll Out.'

So, if you'd like to recreate this sublime listening experience, I give you my creation.



La belle et le Bad Boy by MC Solaar
So Rich, So Pretty by Mickey Avalon
Ms. Fat Booty by Mos Def
Get By by Talib Kweli
Needy Girl by Chromeo
You Got Me by The Roots
La Vie est Belle by MC Solaar
Bouge de là (part 1) by MC Solaar
The New Workout Plan by Kanye West
Bonafied Lovin' by Chromeo
The Light by Common
Can I Kick It? by A Tribe Called Quest
Hip-Hop by Dead Prez
Solaar Pleure by MC Solaar
Da Vinci Claude by Mc Solaar
Obsolète by MC Solaar
Jane Fonda by Mickey Avalon
Ganja Babe by Michael Franti & Spearhead
Hey Mama by Kanye West
Momma's Boy by Chromeo
Gangster Moderne by MC Solaar
Black Mags by The Cool Kids
Ooh Aah by Grits
Chillin' by Wale Featuring Lady Gaga (Produced By Cool And Dre)
Xxplosive by Dr.Dre
Slow Motion by Juvenile Featuring Soulja Slim
I Rock by The Cool Kids
Luchini AKA This Is It by Camp Lo
Glock Nines by Ratatat and Beanie Sigel featuring Jay-Z
Mama Told Me by Wale (Produced By Best Kept Secret)
Superstar by Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthew Santos
Paris, Tokyo by Lupe Fiasco
Izzo (H.O.V.A.) by Jay-Z
Lost Ones by Jay-Z featuring Chrissette Michelle (Produced By Dr. Dre)
I Just Wanna Love You by Jay-Z

P.S. That's my best "It's not completely ridiculous for me to be listening to this playlist" face. And yes, I was (obviously) drunk.

Indoor Camping

Javi and I have spent pretty much the entire weekend in bed. We've taken brief breaks to eat cereal and watch Ratatouille but mostly it's been a lot of books, magazines, phone, naps, and snuggling in bed. One of his favorite things is when I make him a tent in our bed. Sometimes it happens by accident when I have one leg crossed over the other under the blankets but other times I will purposely make him a tent by lifting up the blankets. I usually just let him sit under there and tickle my feet but this morning I decided to join him.

Also, I know his eyes are closed in pretty much every picture of him but that's for two reasons. 1. I like taking pictures of him while he's sleeping and 2. because he's so dark unless I use flash he pretty much just looks like a black blob in photos. So he actually can and does see he has just learned to close his eyes when I take his picture.

And yes, he is a little bit dusty. I don't know why he always has fuzz on him. I should probably lint brush him.

Guess who's having her birthday in (basically) a tree fort...

me!

It's a long way off (July) but here in the Pacific Northwest if you want a cabin or beach rental in the summer you better arrange it in the winter.










It's owned by this adorable Southern woman who lives in Georgia and has an accent and on her outgoing voicemail at work she's says "God bless." Also her name is LuAnne and she told me this story I couldn't really understand about her niece but I pretty much loved all of it. I want to adopt this lady.

She and her best friend found this house while on vacation, it was about to be torn down, and they bought it and spent years restoring it. They did most of it themselves and learned how to use something like 30 different kinds of saws. There's a firepit, a TV and DVD player so we can be cozy and watch movies at night, a BBQ, it's on an island, wifi so none of us actually have to be disconnected from the real world, and a waffle maker.

It's also the peak of salmon season which means a couple things. First, this cabin is listed at a ridiculously low rate. I was expecting to pay about three times what it costs, but since I guess the fishing is really good at the time of year I wanted the cabin LuAnne said she knew she could rent it for a week and was hesitant to do the four days I wanted. So I bargained with a Southern woman today. Which was actually really easy. I offered her about the price of an extra day for the four I originally wanted and she said "Done."

But this salmon season thing also means maybe we could catch a fish! I mean, I don't have a fishing pole or know how to cut up a fish or really anything about fishing but I am still envisioning these summer days filled with grilling fresh caught salmon marinated in fresh ginger, brown sugar, teriyaki sauce, and beer. And it will come off the grill all perfect and glazed and sweet and it will pretty much be the best birthday ever.

Also I'm moving to the woods.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

Do you think Javi would get along with deer?

Addiction

I'm wondering how many (legal) things you can claim to be addicted to before you realize maybe you actually just possess no self control.

Besides being addicted to shoes, clothes, cheese, popsicles (I almost took one in the car with me on my way to work this morning), sparkly things, cooking utensils, post it notes in fun shapes, and hot cocoa, I'm also addicted to buying cookbooks. And in the immortal words of one, Miss Britney Spears, oops, I did it again.

To be fair it's an awesome cookbook. About baking savory things. Which might actually make me want to bake. In fact it did already because Lana and I used one of the recipes (with some modifications) to make parmesan topped rosemary muffins.

The book is called Savory Baking by Mary Cech. Go make something delicious from it and tell me about it. Or better yet feed it to me.

I might be a tiny bit jealous...

Is that comfortable Javier? Really?

Alright, carry on.

A Second Helping

This is going to be another one of those full of lots of little bits kind of posts. Be warned.

Remember when I mentioned that a real life chef had offered to come cook with me? Well, it happened. She was really kind in asking me what I have trouble with so that we could work on that. I've never been able to make falafel that doesn't fall apart. It doesn't matter if I follow a recipe to the T, it just never works for me. Michelle came up with a whole Greek menu for us which was really fun and awesome of her to take the time to do. She taught me how to hold a knife correctly (which apparently I do not do), and she used lots of science-y words and explained things to me and we ended up making falafel that didn't fall apart. It was really fun and Michelle was wonderful to have over. We didn't even have one bit of awkward pausing.

One thing I think I learned about myself though is that I like the discovery aspect of cooking. Lana was asking me how things went and when I was telling her I sort of like not knowing how to do something she said "Right, you like figuring it out on your own, because that's fun." And she's right. I think I like making mistakes and learning from them and then finally having something be a success. It makes it that much more exciting when you're able to do it right. I think that's why even though I have tons of cookbooks I don't really read them. I like to look at the photos for inspiration or use them as reference but I don't really use them for their intended use. I am super stoked I know how to make falafel now though. And this spinach, currant, pine nut dish that was awesome.

I wanted to take pictures but I was also trying to not be super obviously excited and lame. I am a fan of this one of our tzatziki though. Which was amazing by the way.


Guess what came in the mail this week...both the Urban and Anthro catalogs! Free People should be here soon too. And since the 40% accurate groundhog decided it will be Spring in two weeks that means I need to get working on my Spring wish list.

This is already on it.


Lana and her friend Curtis, who is probably also my friend now since I invited him to my birthday six months from now, came over on Tuesday to make some food. We were going to make more pasta but since I broke my mixer that was a no go. We ended up using some store bought pasta to make a dish with carmelized onions, roasted potatoes, wilted spinach, and a rosemary cream sauce. We also had Lana's famous brussel sprouts on the side. Although I did have to restrain her from burning them since I'm pretty sure had I not stepped in she'd have been perfectly happy to serve them black.

At this point we hadn't added the spinach yet. Not because we forgot though...

I've been looking for a house to rent either on the Oregon coast or in the Puget Sound area for my birthday. I really want to just have a bunch of people stay there and be cozy and watch movies and play games and cook food. Everyone I've talked to about it is on board so I've searched on tons of sites for the perfect house. Mostly I've found a bunch of crappy houses someone thinks are worth $600 a night with a mandatory one month rental and I'm pretty sure if I had to live in one of these floral dust ruffle, jars full of sea shells, futon filled nightmares for a month I would kill myself. But, this search has been making me more thankful to live in the gorgeous Northwest. Yesterday I was driving and in the middle of everything, on a freeway overpass, this was my view.

I realize there is a not so gorgeous fence in the way there but there's also a glowing mountain if you didn't notice. I need to remember not to take this place for granted.