At the Bay

Yesterday we drove down to the bay in Newport, where I spent many of my own summers growing up, during summer break, to meet Mike for lunch. It was overcast and a bit too cool for my liking, but the boys had a blast in the little time we did spend there on the sand waiting for him to meet us.

We had lunch, and then took a quick drive down to look at an old Land Rover Mike spotted a couple weeks ago around a random residential area, and had considered buying. I think he's since decided against it, (a relief considering the projects he already has on the table are plenty)

But it's nice to have him working closer to home again. The past few months he's been deep in L.A - driving sometimes three hours home. Which is downright awful after a long & labored eight hour day.

Fingers crossed this new job lasts through the summer.
We could get use to some afternoons here, when school is off, and dinner down the street near the board walk is so much fun.

Stuck On:

SHOVELS AND ROPE

The chemistry between these two is unreal.
Can't get enough.


Feels like a good summer soundtrack to me.

Scenes From a Weekend

We stuck around the house. Built teepees, photographed teepees, hung around the garage, played guitar, slept in and even managed a late night *Movie Date! But mostly, we simply slowed down and relaxed a little. The one plans we were counting on, fell through. We ended up getting a bit lost along the Ortega Highway, on one of those narrow turn offs and I started to panic (like I do on any kind of long, dense mountain road) so we headed back down the hill, to San Juan Capistrano for lunch. We missed the party, and the camping. But we made the most of it and ended up enjoying a late afternoon meal of tacos by the Mission.



This coming weekend we'll be looking forward to the Holiday. To barbecuing with friends, hanging around the pool, and whatever else we come up with in between.


Countdown starts now.

* We saw The Great Gatsby, and as much as I wanted to love it, I just did not. I thought it was a cheap, over the top portrayal of one of the most beautiful novels of all time. For a few reasons: One, I was not a fan of the Jay Z / Beyonce tracks replacing what could have been an incredible (time appropriate soundtrack) even though I love both those artists in every other circumstance. Two: I thought it was much louder (visually) than it needed to be, so that the special effects  - stunning as they were - only took away from the breath of the story, rather than complementing it. Three: the gritty, underlying wasteland that shadows the novel so effectively in book, seems almost laughable in the film. Overall I found the whole thing slightly silly in comparison to Fitzgerald's genius story, in words, and images that truly defined the fraud of the whole American Dream. But, I guess that's what you get when you dare watch one of your favorite books retold in movie form? Made me wonder: Is it ever worth it? 

I'm not sure. But I can't help thinking what it might have been had a different director had taken it on...

Anyone else see it?

Dear Wes Lang

You make me yearn for all those old stacks of wire bound notebooks housing my (not so great) teenage sketchings. Or maybe just the time, to sit and sketch until your fingers cramp and you fall fast asleep in the middle of the day to the sounds of whatever awful new band your friend burned on CD for you.

But mostly, you make me sad I don't have something of yours hanging on my wall.

 - WES LANG 

Around Here

We are
counting down the days till summer break: 18
Listening to / loving / new songs sent by old friends
Building wooden railways daily, pulling them apart, rebuilding them again.
Enjoying new weekend breakfasts at home, of hash browns, egg burritos and sliced fruit in the backyard, before the sun bakes us royally.

Catching frogs, dropping frogs, and learning about gentle (er) releases.
Experiencing restrictions for the first time. Dishing out lectures, and scolding new bad habits that seemed to arise out of nowhere just this moth.

Planning a summer party, and a new creative venture alongside a dear, creative friend.
Wearing solely skirts + sandals in this heat.
Taking note of the little boy crushes that bloom around pretty girls, that come and go around this house
Waiting, hoping, praying on a date night. A movie, and a margarita.
Trimming overgrown rose bushes with over sized scissors.
Planting flowers, pulling weeds.


Spring, leaning on summer. A weight we welcome fully.

So far May has been a really tough month, jammed with all kinds of events, and such.
June looks a little wider. With plenty of time for aimless afternoons.

18 days.
18 days and shrinking. . .

Home Works // The First Grilling

Our backyard has big plans for itself. It always has.

In fact it's taken years to come as far as it has now, which is really only about a quarter done. With a million other projects, plans and obligations that consistently float our way, it winds up getting put on the back burner, momentum slows and progress stops. Not too mention, nearly every inch of it Mike has done himself - formed, and poured and dug and designed it all. It's something we have always disagreed on - a sore point because I will occasionally confess to being just as happy with a lot of overgrown grass, a hammock and a metal grill to cook on, while he is always fully offended by the idea of a plain yard, and would rather plans be big, and unfinished, than simple and DONE. And so he gets frustrated that I don't see it the same. I don't. But sometimes I pretend.

So the big news here being, the outdoor kitchen (though still in it's roughly finished stages) was finally fired up and working as of last weekend. We cooked our first meal Friday evening. Nothing fancy, but still divinely satisfying considering I feared this day would never come. The boys sat picnic style out on the lawn, surrounded by the regular neighbor kid crew, who nicely enough seemed equally enthralled by this new set up.

Then we bbq'd each night after that, with some very fine breakfast burritos we woke to Sunday morning.

It's a start. We desperately need a table to eat at (which he will build he decided after seeing the insulting prices in the dog eared catalogues I saved just to show him) Still far from his big, end plan visions, but a hot grill and those last couple of meals are getting me interested in it all again, for now.

Stuck On

The Girl Who Married a Bear

A few years back, when I took up an initial interest in reading blogs on a regular basis, Milla was one of the very first I fell in love with. For lots of reasons. Because her wardrobe was dazzling, her face intriguing, and her quirky life habits on that mysterious little island, completely (and utterly) enchanting. But mainly - because her writing was sharp, endearing, and downright honest in the best (most direct) way possible. Right off the bat I had a pretty good sense of who she was and where she stood in regards to politics, life philosophies, love, and friendship. I like that. It isn't so common, in the land of fluffed up pretty blogs that promote fancy meals and watered down life insights, to find someone with a strong voice, dedicated to sharing great outfit posts, on top of easy nature that bleeds through on these, sometimes (let's be honest) seemingly bleak interweb spaces we all keep these days. I myself struggle to find the time -or solid patience - to sit down and construct an even fairly, well thought, semi meaningful post that doesn't cut off at three sentences. Milla does it regularly. Which is why, while my list of go-to- blogs I use to drop by religiously have continued to shrink due to increasing lack of free time, hers is one I consisntely look forward to settling into late at night, when those last hours in a quiet house are mine to kill.

She is good time. Drop by, catch up and get cozy. You might be there awhile.


In addition, her new Etsy shop is open as of today. So please stop by & have a look. I already want it all.



And happy May day,
J