Synonymous

(via postsecret)

    This is my absolute favorite Postsecret of all time. I usually only like the really sad and desperate secrets, but this one isn't sad at all. I don't even think it a secret, really. But I love it.

The Handsome

(via oh,hello friend)

   Let's face it, like baking personalized cookies and ogling over the best seasonal crafts, blogging is mostly a girl thing. That's why I love The Handsome from oh, hello friend! It's a series that features the men behind the women who blog! It's fantastic -and I really like the name The Handsome too!

I Egg You

(via acid cow)



    Hard boiled eggs aren't really my favorite (I'm more of the greasy eggs kind of girl), but if they were always heart shaped like this one, I'd eat them all day long!!! Here is a step by step picture tutorial on how to make these lovely eggs (pun intended!).

Postcard love

(via postsecret)

     Every Sunday, I check the site for the infamous Sunday Secrets, but lately they have been sort of bleh. But this week made me fall in love with Post Secret all over again.

The Bellagio Conservatory...

     Today, I'm leaving for a mini-vacation to Las Vegas with my mom and sister!! I'm really excited even though I actually really don't like gambling (probably due to the fact that I usually have absolutely no idea what I'm doing). Although I feel like Vegas is slightly overrated, I am totally looking forward to visiting the Conservatory at the Bellagio!!!! Seriously.. you can't look at these pictures and tell me it's not magical!!!

Have a happy weekend : )

Sugar coated words...

(via williams-sonoma)

     These fantastic personalized message cookie cutters will be mine. I have to have them! They combine all the things I love about life- little utterances of beautiful words and baking. I'm imagining all the possibilities already.

Fish eyes

(via deviant art)

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

*This week's quote is sort of cheesy, but sometimes we loose focus of the most obvious realities.  Have a fantastic week : )

H-V-D

(via rifle paper co)

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Shugams and Buttercups

     To all the blokes out there who don't have a shugams and buttercups, tomorrow is a repugnant day. If you happen to be one of those despicable people who stalks up on heart shaped peanut butter cups and stays home to watch sad movies to avoid masses of smitten couples, try watching this video. It's a charmingly eccentric "how to" on feeling comfortable being alone. I know Valentine's Day is a chancy day to go stag, but maybe you can muster up enough courage to try it. Well, on the other hand, maybe you should sleep on it...

Flirty texts: 850

(via meg ruth photography)

     I love this so terribly much. 

     Since we're now only two days away from Valentine's Day, I've been trying to stick with the love theme. In my efforts to avoid that feeling you get when you walk into a late night Chinese restaurant in February (the one's that have fabric red roses everywhere you look, shiny cheap hearts taped to every wall surface and swirly sparkly ribbons stapled to the ceiling), I have found this little quirky and real life chart of love. My favorite is the tiny red "Momentary Freak Out" sliver that comes right before the large peach "Back on Track and Feelin' Groovy" bar. And the stats on the bottom are charmingly humorous, my favorite is Miles driven to see each other: 700. This chart is the epitome of what real love is, and no hallmark Valentine's Day card can do it justice like this.

Ps. I know the chart is a little too small to get a clear view, but you can click the link and then click the chart to get a closer view!



Pretty Valentine's Palmiers

(via just food now)

     I recently posted about my favorite cook book I Know How to Cook. So, ok, maybe I chose that book instead of all the rest because it was exploding with great color pallets (yeah. I'm that girl), but truthfully, it was a great choice! Every recipe is sooo simple and the outcome always tastes fancy and delicious! My recent favorite recipe is the delicious Palmiers! These puff pastry desserts taste great with tea and coffee, but the best part is their simplicity. My absolute favorite thing about that cook book is that everything is made from scratch. You only need the most basic ingredients (that you probably already have in your kitchen). These Palmiers only take four ingredients: flour, butter, salt, and sugar. You just mix them together in a fancy way and then roll up the dough in a fancy way and cut the roll into little slices. After all that fancy, the slices look like mangled and droopy, but after you pop them in the oven for a little, they come out looking like hearts (or mustaches)! They are a fantastic Valentine's Day treat! Start off the day right by serving them with coffee to all your loved ones!

Je sais cuisiner!

(via Book by its Cover)

 

     A few Christmases ago, I was determined to get the ultimate cook book. I was planning on making a productive but also fun New Year's resolution (as apposed to the "Drink less coffee" and "Never take the elevator" kinds), so I resolved to cook more often, which, turned into sometimes cooking and often baking. Nevertheless, I needed a fantastic cook book to start the year off right. While weighing my options at the bookstore, I immediately decided against Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and all of its reputation. I don’t care if I can make the best beef bourguignon in all the land, as long as it's not the same beef bourguignon that everybody else takes to the pot luck. Alas, on a shelf below Julia Child, rested a brightly colored book with a catchy minimalist title - I Know How to Cook. I flipped it open to find that not only was the cover memorizing, but so was the inside! Tons of poppy prints filled the inside- I had never seen such a beautiful cook book. And on the inside of the cover, it explained that the book has been the best selling cook book in France, where it was originally published, AND it's a customary gift to new homeowners and young couples! From now on, I think I'm going to do it the French way and give this book as a housewarming gift! Besides, if they don't cook, they could always hang it on their wall!

Naturally Sweet

     This is THE sweetest Valentine's present of all!!! I know a lot of people aren't big fans of one special day to give fancy gifts and eat expensive dinners- besides, it's those little thoughtful surprises that really pack a punch, anyways. For all the couples who don't celebrate the hallmark season, these endearing fruit stickers are a fantastic way to say, "I still remembered". They're not exactly homemade, but these beauties are downloadable from Twig and Thistle for free.

     Call me greedy, but I think that lovers should treat each other every day the way they do on Valentine's. Wouldn't it be sweet to print these out on a random non-Valentine day and stick them on his or her* breakfast?!?!

*most likely her, let's be honest most him's wouldn't even notice the sticker...or eat fruit for breakfast!!!

Camellias....

It's camellias season!!! I absolutely ADORE camellias. They are without a doubt the most delicate and serene of all flowers! I'm so excited to go to the Camellia Show and Plant Sale at the Huntington Library this Saturday!!!!

I'm too busy dreaming about gardens and summer to post anything right now, so enjoy a few posts you might have missed:



What does Wabi-Sabi mean, anyway???

Seriously, the raddest and bravest kid alive- it will give you goose bumps!!

For St. Valentine's sake, a little story about true love.

Ten Venn Diagrams

    In my last post, I wrote about how two separate worlds overlapped, in a venn diagram sort of way- which made me realize I'm sorta obsessed with venn diagrams!! They may be slightly nerdy, but they're beautiful and creative and colorful and quirky too! Here are a few of my favorite venns from around the web...

(via foodbeast)

     These colorful pancakes are made into a super cool edible venn! I'm not a big fan of cakes, but if somebody stuck a few candle in this and gave it to me on my birthday, I would be in birthday heaven. 

(via supermarkethq)

   Framed venn art!!! I can picture this print in a nursery, right next to another colorful venn print that replaced the word love with a baby's name! That would be the sweetest baby shower present!

(via collect3d)

     Combining broidery, venn diagrams, a pair of working clock hands AND crucial zombie info... why didn't I think of this?!?!! Although the venn clocks are no longer avalible, the artist responsible -Beth Cummings-  has an amazing etsy shop.

(via buzzfeed)

     Because I am such a closet nerd, I know that venn diagrams are often used to represent logical concepts. I also happen to love logic. I also love quotes. And art. And have a general appreciation of quirkiness all together. This diagram pretty much sums that up.

(via: unknown)



    I can't get enough of this venn doodle. Who knows if the artist was inspired by wishful thinking of just pure puppy love, but whichever the case, they were clearly smitten! ...not to mention whoever drew this fantastic diagram of love had excellent cross hatching techniques.

(via swiss-miss)

     Speaking of love... Valentines Day is around the corner. This print would make the lovleiest Valentine's card. And yeah sure, proclaiming your love via venn diagrams is slightly nerdy... but who says that's a bad thing!?!

(via lucinda)

     These beautiful venns were created by a 4th grade class as part of a geography lesson!!! UH-MAZ-ING!!! I want to frame them and put them in my bedroom! I'm telling you, the world would be a better place if we stopped underestimating the raw creativity and profound intelligence of all those babies out there!

(via yay!everyday)

     I love quirky tattoos! But nomatter how much I dream about getting one, they just aren't me... It's sorta like the pixie hair- everybody loves it, but only twiggy can pull it off.

 

(via buzzfeed)

     This is just silly! I couldn't help myself...c'mon, a unicorn and a narwhal!!!! I mean, unicorns ARE kind of overrated, in my opinion. BUT WHO ISN'T INTRIGUED BY NARWHALS?!?!?! They actually exist!!

(via flickr)

    This venn-like peice of art is magical and fancy and lovely and perfect in every way! It looks like it is the last illustration in a whimsical childrens book. Although it only whispers, "I'm a venn diagram!!!", it's my favorite.

Trifle things...

 "ALWAYS BE KIND, FOR EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE." -PLATO

     Not too long ago, in a cafe parking lot, the most wonderfully trifle thing happened. My sister was sitting in her car, minding her own business (because she's kind of creepy like that sometimes), when she saw a women depart from her friends and get into the car right next to her.  The second the woman closed off the world with a slam of a door, she fell to pieces. The wheel supported her slumped body as it throbbed in slow motion, and in the confines of her self-made solitude, she could finally let go of whatever she had to hold back outside. My sister, who watched the entire scene unfold from the shadows of her car, explained it as being strikingly beautiful but also terribly heartbreaking. The woman had unknowingly shared an intimate moment with an outsider- and two separate worlds overlapped, in a venn diagram sort of way. The smallest sliver of reality has the ability to remind us of the entire spectrum of human emotions, including the ones we release only in the intimacy of our own solitude.  At the very least, it can remind us to be kind, because above all things- above politics, above business, above romance- I believe in kindness.