Autumn Colours Week: Red Thursday

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Canned tomato spears! Who knew?! Also, that is the yummy lunch I made yesterday and shared with my sweetie who was working from home. Lastly, a vintage typewriter is still on my wish list. :)

There's only one more day of Autumn Colours Week. :( I am going to do a double post tomorrow on the last day, like I did this spring. My own personal highlights will be the additional post.

Autumn Colours Week with Poppytalk

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Good news this morning! Poppytalk announced their annual Autumn Colours Week on Friday afternoon. Of course, I'll be in the playing along in the Flickr pool.





Monday: Green
Tuesday: Yellow
Wednesday: Orange
Thursday: Red
Friday: Brown

The weather has shifted here in the Bay Area today. It's cold enough to wear a jacket outdoors and slippers indoors. I'm so motivated to get out there and shoot this week. Now that I've got the birthday party done, I know my shoulder is up to the task too. Phew!


Sweet Links

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I've got a little cold plus a shoulder injury, so I apologize for being a bit missing around here lately. Also the heat wave? Oh my gosh. I'm not a fan! But I wanted to put together a little Sweet Links post for you because I miss doing those round-ups of things I've seen here & there and liked a lot.

This post from Design*Sponge is from before my birthday, but I keep coming back to it mentally and online. It is so visually stunning. I love the photographs of all the heirloom tomatoes, especially this one.


Next up is this positively gorgeous wooden bike shelf from Knife and Saw.




I really enjoyed this video interview with Amy Butler, her garden is amazing & she is seems so calm and mellow.



I loved this tutorial from Pugly Pixel. Katrina is sooo good at explaining things.




I used it just this morning to make that little button over there that says About Jess, which leads to my about page. I didn't think of adding the tails, I got so excited by the scallop-edged circle. I love scalloped edges on things.

How about we end with this Ooey Gooey Caramel Apple Blackout Cake?


This vegan! recipe comes from the new-to-me blog Desserts for Breakfast. Definitely sweet plus amazing food photography. :)

I hope you enjoy these Sweet Links as much as I did/do!

Sunflower

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I'm co-teaching my first cooking class to 1st/2nd graders in the morning and Saturday afternoon is the annual family reunion hosted by Jeff's mom. I'm looking forward to making a triple batch of chili and catching up with my sister-in-law after all the guests are gone and the kids are sound asleep on Saturday night. Truth be told, it's my favorite part of the annual gathering besides my mother-in-law's stuffed celery and drinking Chardonnay with my other mother-in-law. :)


I snapped this on my iPhone last week. I am going to work on a mammoth Sweet Links post for next week because I've been flying by some amazing content lately but need to make space to breathe and absorb it all.

Here's a mini version for the weekend: I made these for dinner last night, I bought this Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for the family reunion and I got this used book at this rad bookstore in Santa Cruz last weekend. And, this is a photo I fell head over heels in love with a couple of weeks ago and have had on my desktop ever since!

Lovely Clusters Fall Catalog

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Good morning! I wanted to share my excitement at being on the cover of the Lovely Clusters Fall Catalog!


I am also on the purple page in the top row. The entire catalog is beautiful and I don't know about you, but I'm going to pour my morning cup of coffee and get lost on the grey page. Grey is going to be my number one color for fall. 

Ocean Echo Inn

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We went on a little getaway with Jeff's mom this weekend to the quaint and quirky Ocean Echo Inn. We did not bring laptops and I only used my iPhone for photography, maps and weather.







It was a fun place to hang your hat for a few days and Betty introduced me to the most amazing fabric store ever: Harts Fabrics, "creative fabrics for creative people." They aren't kidding with that tagline! The selection of oil cloth and vinyl coated fabric alone was mind-boggling.

Tell me about your weekend. :)

PARK(ing) Day

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I woke up this morning and saw this tweet and it started my day off just right. Today is PARK(ing) Day all around the world. PARK(ing) Day started in 2005 when a single metered parking space in San Francisco was "leased" to explore the range of activities for urban public space, besides the movement and storage of vehicles.

© 2009, Green City Munich via PARK(ing) Day 

I found this video on the PARK(ing) Day blog and the part where the guy tells the story about the little boy made me tear up.



PARK(ing) Day: User-Generated Urbanism from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

I just love this kind of stuff! Look at all the Flickr Groups on this! Next year, I'm in on this for sure. Have you seen this in action anywhere?

Goodbye 30s

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Today is my very last day in my 30s. I had a very nice day and relaxed a lot. Which is good seeing how my left arm has been immobile since the middle of the night on Wednesday. I'm pretty tired from the resulting lack of sleep and waking up at 5 a.m. every day for four days.

But it doesn't matter. I am actually pretty happy and content. My in-laws pampered me all day and sent my 30s out in style with a slow stroll through a local shopping plaza, a pumpkin spice latte, pretty sparkly new lipstick, leftover lasagna and a last-minute Swedish Visiting Cake.


I've been told that the 40s have a certain elegance and grace to them. I'm looking forward to experiencing that. I'm also looking forward to really knowing that i am enough. I have an intuition that in this decade, I will really get the concept. 

My 30s were wild people. Wild! I was bald from chemo and married to another man when I said goodbye to my 20s! When I take even 10 minutes to reflect back, I realize that it has been QUITE a decade people. All told I have beaten cancer four times, gotten divorced, remarried, became a mother, a blogger, a photographer, had premature menopause and now maybe real menopause. I have moved eight times in 10 years. That's a lot of cardboard baby. Maybe in my 40s I will only move three times? I can dream!

I have cried a lot, stressed a lot, worried a lot, learned a lot and yes, laughed quite a lot too. See?


I have been a bit fearful of forty since I turned 39. I will totally admit it. I really only started embracing the idea on Friday night, 48 hours ago truth be told. But you know what? I looked in the mirror to take this photo and I smiled at myself. I am proud of each birthday I get. I really am. 

Whatever 40 is or isn't going to be, I am truly grateful to be here to see it for myself!

Picnik Tutorial

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Good morning friends! I have my Picnik tutorial ready for you today, it is not perfect but hopefully I got the message across and with some charming music too.




Here is the link to my Picnik Tutorial if you want to see it directly on Vimeo instead. I did make an assumption that you are familiar with Picnik so I didn't zoom in on exactly where I was clicking. If you have any questions, please ask and definitely, pretty please let me know what you think!

Goodbye Summer

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It's official in my mind, Labor Day Weekend means the end of summer. Although the weather in California will betray this belief of mine, it matters not. And even though summer is not my #1 season, I will be sending it out in style with a last-minute camping trip.


Do you think of Labor Day Weekend as the last hurrah of summer? Are you going to squeeze the life out of it like that adorable little girl?

Baci,
Jess

P.S. If you are going camping too, check out this site I found full of easy, hopefully delicious recipes. I'm going for the breakfast in a bag. Wish me luck. :)