Friday, June 17, 2011

root simple book signing!

kelly and erik, creators of root simple blog
and authors of two books!
i had a great time tonight at kelly and erik's 
book-signing at vroman's bookstore in pasadena. 

they are do-it-yourselfers, and their blog 
chronicles their journey toward self-sustainability, 
in their very urban neighborhood of 
Los Feliz, or is it Silverlake, or it is HaFoSaFo? 
(apparently they are right on the boundary). 

i've been stalking, i mean reading, their blog 
for many months now. 
i keep thinking "i can't believe they can do that, or that"

so it was extra cool to be at the book-signing, 
and see they are real people, who are funny and nice. 
and who are confident enough to show real pictures of a real working garden
(meaning: real gardens don't always look perfect). 

i wish i would have taken a pic of them tonight. 
but i was too busy mentally getting on board with kelly's 
assertion that you really can make your own face cream, 
and it's easy, cheap, and eco-friendly. 


this is their new book. 
makes me wish i had taken home ec in high school, 
instead of the agri class. 

can't wait to dive into it. 
and i'm hoping they will open up their space for a tour. 
it is so helpful to see other people's working gardens and get good ideas. 

kelly and erik, you rock! 

Friday, June 10, 2011

farmers' market flowers


fell for these at the south pasadena 
farmers' market yesterday. 


they are exuberant. 


and fill the living room with color 
and summer-time grace. 

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

summer office


it's not totally finished yet, 
but here's my summer office. 
under the pomegranate tree. 

my office mates are the 
neighborhood kitties, 
squirrels, 
and lots of birds. 
the occasional bee buzzes by. 

you can't tell here, 
but the pomegranate branches
droop toward the ground, 
so this is a little hideaway space. 

love it! 

Saturday, June 4, 2011

purples


purple is one of my favorite colors 
(ok, i like them all)
and we have lots of purple
happening right now. 

above, a lily of the nile. 


one of the artichokes 
we didn't eat, 
so we're enjoying the flowers instead. 


lavender. love these always.


happy flowers by the front door. 

and finally ... 


dutch door in the kitchen, 
painted it over memorial day weekend. 


we're almost ready to 
have the exterior painted. hooray! 

i think this purple will be 
an accent color, used sparingly. 

my son, adrian, had a 
heart attack when he learned 
purple had a role
in the paint scheme. oh well! 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

new fave blog - green girl next door


this is my week of new favorites. 
and my new favorite blog is 
and that fabulous green girl
is vanessa meier. 


vanessa's just starting out, 
but she already wrote an honest, compelling post 
about the 180 degree turn 
she took with her shopping habits. 

if you're still buying all your clothes brand-new, 
and all your furniture brand-new, 
read it now! 

 fabulous photos +
delicious vegan recipes +
 thoughtful posts +
cute videos =
my new fave blog. 

vanessa, look forward to reading/seeing more! 

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

new fave magazine


lucky me, i got to spend almost 
the whole three-day weekend out in my garden. 

while i was picking up some seedlings
i ran across urban farm magazine
for the first time. 

i flipped through it and fell in love! 
lots of great articles on growing food in the city, 
keeping bees, 
container gardening, 
crop mobs, 
pretty photos.