black white black white

thanks my favorite and my best for bringing this couch to my attention. SO right up my alley. nice shape and the print is bangin. it would look divine next to my imaginary red leather couch.

sunday bliss

yet another weekend has come and almost gone. fall is deeply upon long beach. cooler weather, football- my OREGON DUCKS, pumpkin lattes and halloween decorations popping up. sundays are special to N and i. we like to spend them together, doing stuff around the house, catching up on a game or two, cooking and taking walks through our lovely little neighborhood.

sunday evenings come with the newest edition of 60 Minutes and our recent favorite series- Mad Men. through all the ups and downs of life, it's days like this that make me so thankful for everything and everyone i have near and dear. cheers to the week ahead and cheers to the episode ahead in 30 minutes. the Draper's house is already on my mind. what will this sunday bring....

truckers unite!

i need a truck!
these truck farm kats are kewl!

and speaking or reusing, check out my sister's new chicken coop in the Los Gatos mountains. she calls it her ghetto coop. picked up up for free from an alley in Santa Cruz.
Reuse! Recycle!

grass of the gods

LEMONGRASS!!

i try and look on the bright side of things. about twice a year i work @ different trade shows in southern california. the most recent happened to be produce specific. this can be ridiculously boring and the crowd is made up of conventional grocery store buyers...men, lots of them. and not the cool type you might find employed @ a whole foods. i'm talking corporate vons and albertsons men.

i used this time to put my cultural anthropology skills to use. basically, it's great people watching. back to the bright side of things....i always walk away with a bundle of FREE produce and flowers. right now my house is covered with bright color.

this time around i also scored one of my favs, lemongrass. i've got a lot of it so i've been hunting for tasty recipes to try. this one comes from Donna Hay magazine (think Australian Martha Stewart but cooler). this will be din din tomorrow night.

spiced coconut prawns

• 1 stalk lemongrass, very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 large mild red chillies, finly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
• 1kg green prawns, peeled, veins removed, tails intact
• sea salt and cracked pepper
• lemon wedges, to serve

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the lemongrass, ginger, chilli, garlic and oil and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the coconut and cook for 1 minute or until toasted. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the prawns, salt and pepper to the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes or until cooked through. Return the coconut-spice mixture to the pan and toss with the prawns. Serve warm with the lime. Serves 6–8

and some pics of my tradeshow flower score:

notice the S?! love this vase ala mi madre








that little light bulb looking device is something that was passed down to me from mi padre. when the sun hits it, the little flags inside spin due to the heat transfer. radness i do say.

a moment of silence

for that tasty yellow headboard with red buttons....against that dark wall...O FACE! the shade in the bathroom is on point too.


for the 'shoot me i've gone to heaven' couch and round ottoman.
via LivingEct.

style points

gayle mccormack is doin it and doin it well. rock that headband girl. those hipster bitches don't have anything on you!

my heart

so pumped. work is sending me to "the city" two different times this month. once for 3 days..i come home for the weekend then go back for a week. i couldn't be happier right now...except for the fact that my babe has to stay in LB.

not only will i be venturing into SF but i'll also be up in wine country for a day- my old stomping grounds for my last job. i'm going to have some serious heart palpitations.

lazers!

(from the geometrics line)

i'm a jewelry whore so Molly M Designs was a natural fit. the cool thing about Molly M is she is a professionally trained architect, which you can see in her designs, so my eye has double delight when looking at her works. she's now making not only rad earrings and pendants but art to hang in your casita as well. check her out!

(from the lines and circles line)


(from the layers line)


(from the botanicals line)


(from the laser cut prints)


and a little Don Carlos to finish us out........

the legend of Fräulein

(BC on the left, Fräulein to the right and Mexico in the middle)

i used to live in eugene, or. about 9 years ago. going to school there you'd think most of my friends would be from the green state but don't fret my pet, they weren't. i made life long compadres mainly from the east coast and my home state of CA. my time living in "the bubble" as it's referred to by many, was beyond lovely.

2 years before i moved, i lived in a custom, redwood 3 story custom house with 4 other ladies. to say we had it good was an understatement. our place was RAD and our neighborhood was tops in the city...literally. we had a city view from the 3rd story bedroom suite.

across the street lived a giant. well maybe not a giant, but another californian who happened to be 6'6". big tall blond guy from Laguna who was a vision of So. Cal. but Oregon at heart. big chris. BC as he's fondly known became a dear friend to me and has remained so to this day. he is my only college friend living in my same state and to make things even better, driving distance from where i currently live.

now it's well known on the circuit that i'm of german decent (half) and i take pride in this. i can not pin point the exact day or time of the rise of Fräulein, but BC started calling me this. it stuck. it grew. it's transformed into Fräu and Fräutata but remains strongly rooted in the original.

more recently, i've met another Fräu who is now another dear friend to me. Fräu has recently moved back to NY, so she's spreading her German goodness in the northeast...as well as our signature drink, The Winter Fräulein (recipe to come).

so cheers to good friends, cheers to silly nicknames that last a lifetime and prost to an exiting winter on it's way.

(Dj Don Cesar and Fräutata Halloween '08)

green machine

as i sit at home today cursing the bad food i must of ate yesterday (food poisoning hell today) i think of my rooftop dream. when the bf and i first moved into our spanish duplex, we realized our balcony could be a gateway to the roof. i asked the bf if he could build me a ladder to the top so i could sunbath in privacy as well as enjoy the ocean view/sunrise/sunset. he was all for it. (5 mo. later i'm still waiting).

but then i had another thought today. a green roof! why not take advantage of the 1500 sq. ft. of flat roof above our heads?!

such a perfect space! the huge insulation benefits as well as an additional gardening area are nothing to be denied. but i rent. the start up can be a bit spendy for the materials without a little help. the bf and i are on a big savings spree right now so this green machine is still a dream. but you can guarantee i'll be on the hunt for a house to own where i can build by own garden in the sky. i can't wait!