blazing a new warpath.

old dutch military bunker + giant saw?

poetic and strikingly handsome.

just slice that thing in half.

boom... place of contemplation.

that's good work you guys.

cut up at sub-studio

peat. repeat.

there's something to be said for anyone

who can elevate something as basic as a gif

brandon jan blommaert blew me away with how beautiful these are

tapped in to the singularity at today and tomorrow

hello, lover.

what a great weekend, eh?

we had an early lunch in the park on saturday

because the taco truck i'm in love with

was parked on the other side of the park near our house.

solid!

the bright red maples are incredible right now.

some are a super pretty dark pinky romantic-y red

and some are practically neon red.

just beautiful.

was it my love for the gorgeous fall reds 

that drove me to buy this bright ass lipstick

over the weekend?

i'm not sure what has possessed me.

i'm not really a lipstick kind of girl...

even at my wedding i wore a natural looking gloss.

whatever the case may be

i'm kinda in love with it.

it's a whole lot of color!

this one in particular smells like cupcakes.

yes, cupcakes.

and it lasts forever without drying your lips.

it's called "lover".

haaaaaay.

the other theory about this whole bright lipstick thing

is that i'm feeling nostalgic 

about the freaking nineties...

oh yeah.

oh no.

it can't be.

my friends and i had super deep mac shades

falling out of our messenger back pockets like crazy.

although, i did find this gem of a shot from 1994 and 

apparently this is not my first love affair

with bright red lipstick.

what's up palazzo pants?

i loved those.  little cream & yellow flowers all over.

this was really pretty dressy for me in college.

lots of great things here people.

the matisse from the poster sale.

my t-square.

the flip & fold lounge seat.

jane's marlboro mediums.

{i was a parliment light fan at the time}

and the shortest haircut i've ever had.

that was a really bad idea. 

it was SO hard to straighten.

besides the red lipstick

this photo falls into the "lesson learned" category.

let's hope for better use of fall reds 

for now...

and in the future.

puff. puff. give...

we've been late to the game on a few seasons of some really great shows.

sometimes they're on channels we don't have.

sometimes we just aren't up to speed.

either way, we just put them in our netflix queue and catch up

marathon style.

we like the rush of watch things marathon style.

we become addicted.

i.e. "tell me this isn't the last episode on this dvd. it can't be!"

and "where's the frickin' mailman already? it's not sunday, is it?"

this happened with mad men, eastbound & down, and true blood

to name a few.

a few weeks back my cousin suggested breaking bad

and gave us a copy of the first season to borrow.

have you seen it?

love it.  i'm so involved sometimes it makes my shoulders tense up!

highly recommend.

the storyline revolves around a chemistry teacher

who hooks up with a former loser student

to cook & sell methamphetamine to pay for his cancer treatment.

trust me. it's good.

we're addicted.

speaking of which...where is my damn dvd,  NETFLIX?!?!?

to show our appreciation for introducing us 

to breaking bad

i decided to make some rock candy 

that looked like meth

and send it to my cousins.

classy, right?

i had never made rock candy before

and when i added vanilla for flavor it changed color.

ideally, it would have been colorless for a more authentic meth look.

oh wellsies.

typed up a little note.

found another excuse to use washi tape on something.

another excuse to use my stamps.

{still working on a straight line}

and sent the care package off to my family

so they could rot their teeth out.

if they eat all that rock candy

{which is a total sugar bomb}

they're going to look like they have meth mouth.

i hope they throw it away.

i had so much fun pulling this package together.

time well spent, right?

the REAL question is:

who's gonna be the lucky recipient of a batch of boob cookies

made from leftover candy cane twist cookie dough 

around the holidays?

more tiny to love

oh here we go again 

falling for things of the tiny sort.

loving these tiny mobile homes 

made by kim baise.

see more of her work here and here.

it's a wrap.

i love wrapping.

always have.

always will.

there's a place in my heart for the art of packaging.

do you have a favorite?

lately i've been snipping tiny bits of paper

for my etsy packages and really loving how they turn out.

even snipping tiny letters and shapes out of washi tape.

these little letterpress packages

{they look like bakers chocolate, no?}

are headed to a family in scotland.

it has been letterpress mania over here, by the way.

bunches of letters like this in the shop.

come see.

so, am i alone with my wrapping obsession?

is everyone else elbow deep in paper, tape, and string too?

special snipping shears?

oh, baby.

loving stripes this fall.

{who am i kidding? i love stripes every season.}

it's more likely that i'll

be wearing mine on top.

perhaps i should wear a drab solid though...

might be less conspicuous when i steal all the

adorable children and softies from luckyboysunday .

seriously.

i want everything pictured.

taco time

photo via freep

you've probably heard a little something about

the growing gourmet lunch truck scene, yes?

perhaps you've seen the great truck race on food network.

i fell in love with the idea shooting gads of 

tv commercials on the west coast. 

my very favorite truck was called "off the shelf."

absolutely incredible.

their french toast sticks are deep fried in funnel cake batter 

for crying out loud.
amazing traveling food? sold.

needless to say, i'd been waiting for this phenomenon

to make it's way to my neck of the woods.

so, last week when i saw a big shiny truck

{all i could make out in passing was the word tacos

and the twitter logo} in my neighborhood

i crossed my fingers and toes.

later found out it was jacques tacos.

LUCKILY they had my neighborhood

on their schedule for the next day.

YES.

aaaand scene.

here's the gritty.

i was too excited to let the long ass line dampen my taco spirits.

good thing it moved pretty quickly.

i followed my original game plan to try one of each.

 one braised beef short rib.

one grilled chicken.

one slow roasted pork.

one marinated avocado.

all dressed in black bean & corn salsa, queso fresco, and sauce vert.

{some crazy force took over my brain for a moment

and made me think i'd be able to save half of each

for my husband. that didn't happen. sorry, love.}

they were all super delicious.

tortillas were warm and their texture perfect.

the marinated avocado was creamy and dreamy. flavor was fresh. 

maybe even a hint of lime. mmm.

generally speaking, i usually pass on grilled chicken. 

it's boring. most times dry. in the case of tacos,

it's usually dripping with mysterious orange overkill.

THIS chicken was the exception.

perfectly tender and juicy. spiced just right.

the slow roasted pork was out of this world.

again, flavors and smoky goodness shining through with 

being drowned and sloppy.

the short rib? also a hit

for similar reasons.

nothing too heavy or rich.

you can actually taste the beef.

i polished it all off with the tiniest can of coke zero

{seriously, it's small enough to fit in your palm.

i'm a sucker for tiny things.}

and gathered my thoughts.

so far, what i really like about these:

you can taste what you're eating.

everything doesn't just taste like generic mexican flavoring.

 suppose i'll go back again

{maybe even today}

just to be sure.

favorites?
hard to say.
my next order will probably be
two avocado. one pork. one chicken.
all amazing. but, when i finished the avocado
i felt like i wasn't quite ready to be done with it.

oh.

one last thing.

it doesn't hurt that the owners

named the whole operation after

their darling english bullie.

behold jacques.

photo via freep.

surprise!

i've been kind of stressing out

about having so much free time lately.

 about two weeks ago

my position at work was eliminated

and i was laid off.

i was aware of the changes months in advance,

so, it wasn't a surprise.

and most certainly wasn't a disappointment

since my position transformed into something

that sucked major MAJOR &%$#

for the past few years.

{it's surprising much energy you use hating something. it's exhausting.}

bottom line: it was a good thing.

but i'm having a hard time 

getting the jist of being able to do whatever i want to do.

i've been living in a "things i have to do" shitstorm

for so long

that i'm not sure i know how to function

in a "things i want to do" scenario.

kind of like going from drive to park

without using the brakes.

i haven't even allowed myself to sack back 

and watch shitty daytime tv

one single time since i've been home.

i'm finding the transition really interesting

in a nerdy self-discovery kind of way.

i would have never guessed 

that it would be quite so hard for me to slow down.

i assure you though

i'm totally up for the challenge.

and really looking forward to getting there.

{slowly.}

so, my friends,

i adjust my stretchy pants

and raise my giant coffee...

let's drink to change.

cheers!

photo found here.