Words & Pictures

To me, the mark of a good book, the kind that I'll recommend to others with breathless insistence, is a wealth of beautifully written sentences. The kind of sentences I want to store away and keep in my pocket. Since you can't keep sentences in your pocket, practically, I should probably keep a notebook of these beauties somewhere.

Artist Evan Robertson seems to have a similar appreciation for beautiful sentences, and he's got a much prettier way to hold onto them: he's paired them with an illustration and turned them into art. I'm curious, what do you do when you come across a bit of writing you love?

Via Evan Robertson & Little Brown Pen

Weekend in Cake

When your roommate gets engaged in San Francisco, it's time to make a two tiered cake with a bow for her engagement party. With pale, mint frosting, an homage to Tiffany blue. It's also time to try your hand at using fondant to make said bow. Congrats, roomie!

Summer Cabin

Just some free cabin porn for your Friday, from freecabinporn.com. I think it's totally hilarious that such a site exists, and a little absurd that I just spent a full hour clicking on page after page and daydreaming. Makes me want to plan that trip to Maine even more. Happy Friday, friends.

Third photo by cmurtaugh, all other photos via free cabin porn, no photographer given.

Summer Rain

So, there was a crazy big thunderstorm over the big apple today. It was the first time I've ever been able to hear thunder from underground in the subway! And apparently, the above picture is what it looked like from the air. It looks like one big cloud above the city, dumping tons of rain. Which it certainly did, I walked home through ankle deep water. Here's what it looked like in my neighborhood:





I didn't grow up with thunderstorms in California, so I still get excited for the really big ones. (Even when they enter me into a wet t-shirt contest that I did not sign up for, like today.) If it's not raining where you are, try this. A summer thunderstorm is so magical, isn't it?

Photo via Buzzfeed & @DhaniJones

(A Pupcation) Weekend in Pictures

{dying dahlias}

{why yes, that is a bell pepper in my weekend bag}

{dog sitting for the weekend}

{out to get coffee was about as far as we made it from the apartment}

{and that tuckered her out}

{dino spotting in the seaport}

{square dancing wallpaper at cowgirl seahorse}

{fresh flowers while pupcationing}

Not fully ready to jump back into real life after my vacation, I jumped at the chance to dog sit for friends and have a reason to be a bit of a homebody. My friend Bethany joined me and, once the dreary weather ruined our plans of hanging out on the roof, we stayed in and played with the pup most of the weekend. Except for a few jaunts out for sustenance and caffeine, it was a thoroughly lazy weekend. And sometimes that's the best kind, right? 

New York Bucket List: The Bronx Zoo

A few weeks ago I checked off another item on my New York Bucket List, The Bronx Zoo. I'm sure it would have taken me ages to go on my own (I'm a little iffy on how I feel about zoos in general) but a friend had corporate passes for the day. So, on a warm June day we took a longer-than-usual subway ride up to the Bronx!



The zoo was easy to find, with these cute signs pointing us in the right direction.



It wasn't super hot that day, but kids were playing in hydrants nonetheless. I was a little giddy about it, it felt like something you'd see in a movie about New York :)



We were greeted by a baby camel and his mama. There were lots of baby animals that day. So, if you like baby animals (and who doesn't?) late spring/early summer is a good time to visit the zoo!



We saw a bored polar bear (he was pacing, so I'm assuming. I'm no bear psychologist).



We starred at these zebras (also mama and a baby, I think!) for a long time, they're so beautiful.



This lady lion (we called her Nala) came close for a bit.



And there were tons of male peacocks showing off their pretty plumage. All in all, a fun day at the zoo.  Have you been? The Bronx Zoo is so big I think we maybe missed a few places, so I'd definitely go back another time.

Hello

Ever wonder why we say "hello?" when we answer the phone? It seems like a normal question to ask if you don't know who's there, but apparently when telephones were first invented, the standard greeting was decided on. There's an old NY Times article on how Thomas Edison coined the phrase that eventually stuck, while his rival Alexander Graham Bell wanted the standard greeting to be "ahoy!" "What is wanted?" was apparently also a contender. I can't imagine saying anything other than "hello?" but wouldn't saying "ahoy!" be fun?

p.s. - Did your parents make you answer the phone a certain way when you were a kid? My best friend growing up had to say "Smith residence, Sarah speaking!"

story via Clive Thompson, photo via

Vacation in Pictures

Sorry for the prolonged silence here last week, I was on vacation! I meant to get some posts up before I left, but bridesmaiding and wedding-cake-making the weekend before I left kept me from functioning like a human. Anyway, I had sort of a combo vacation & staycation, visiting my parents near Charlotte, NC.

I didn't grow up in North Carolina (my parents moved there from California six years ago) so there was a little element of vacationing—exploring downtown Charlotte (or, as they confusingly call it, "uptown"), antique-ing, and shopping. But mostly, it felt like a staycation in a place I don't live—lazy mornings, getting sucked into marathons of Friends and Harry Potter, baking, and playing with my parent's dog. I feel human again, so I think that counts as a successful vacation. Would you like to see some pictures?

{amazing farm stands}

{peaches ready to be turned into jam}

{wandering through bits of the the old south in charlotte}

{hanging with the family pup}

{patriotic explosives}

{trains and tracks}

{exploring in waxhaw, nc}

{old and weathered}

{antique-ing and thrift-ing}

{found the last of my old vhs collection}