way to go Mom & Dad

"If you've been married for a long time, you love without looking."

—Meryl Streep

My parents celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary this weekend. Their marriage is 10 years older than I am. I can hardly imagine knowing some one that long, let alone being married to him. I am entirely impressed with you both, Mom & Dad.

{The photos above are of my parents & my big brother. They were taken before I was a glimmer in their eyes by a photographer that I never knew. I apologize for not being able to give proper credit for these lovely shots.}

she was always a king

Posting for the Honest Scrap Award got me thinking about the old fashion kind of reading I do—the kind with words printed in ink on paper. I spent much of the summer reading The Sound and the Fury and fell in love with this description of a honeysuckle scented little sister...

"she was never a queen or a fairy

she was always a king or a giant or a general"

How about you lovelies? Read any good books this summer? Fall in love with any new quotes?

August babies

Some of my favorite gals were born in August—like the fairy princess above who turned 20 this year.

Happy birthday to all you summer lovelies.

Saturday wishes

My first wish for Saturday is that the sun comes out to play. My second wish is that, if the sun doesn't shine, I get a chance to tromp around in some sweet rain boots. What are your wishes for this partly cloudy weekend?

{photo by dmdzine on Flickr}

and the award goes to...

Can you hear the drumroll? The envelope is being opened...

That sweet and stylish gal, Trish, author of Under Lock and Key, has given me the Honest Scrap Award. I never win a thing, so I'm honored and shocked all at once.

Just like the Miss America pageant, there are rules to winning the Honest Scrap Award and the winner has some responsibilities. Firstly, I am to share with you all 10 true things about myself that few people know. Then, I am to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers and, of course, notify them of their victory. And it almost goes without saying that it is my duty, as wearer of the the Honest Scrap crown, to curtsy and give a link of credit to the wonderful lady who gave it to me. Thank you Trish.

Hmmm... 10 true things about myself that few of you know...

1. I love to keep secrets (so this is a challenge)    2. I like a good challenge and I'm very competitive    3. I'm running out of clean underwear    4. from Sunday to Sunday I baked 6 pies (that's a personal record)    5. I always get nervous on the first day of school even though I'm a professor    6. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up    7. I'm very good at making messes (some of you might already know that, Ian)    8. I love musicals and know the lyrics to many    9. every once in a while I get lost driving around my own town 10. sometimes I lie (but not very often)

And now (drumroll please), it is my honor to present the Honest Scrap Award to...

Wait! Stop the music and hold the acceptance speaches. I read so many amazing blogs that this next part proved to be a bit daunting. There are far more than 10 authors on my reading list that are brimming with creativity and spilling over with inspiration. Since this award didn't appear to come with any criteria, I made up my own. The blogs I've chosen here all have a following of less than 100. They also all have something that I would consider close to "honesty" (since honest is in the name of the award). That is to say that they include stories of everday and images of life. I wanted whoever (is it whomever?) receives this to be able to post "10 True Things" without it taking away from the theme they've already established. And, last but not least, I wanted to choose bloggers who I thought could handle the responsibilities that come with the crown (Jabe, I just didn't think you'd do it).

Alright. Without further ado (start the drums rolling again), here are The Board of Lucys picks for the Honest Scrap Award:

1. Around the Way Girl

2. Little Paper Dresses

3. Green Island Studios

4. White Rabbit

5. Day in History, via...

6. And Your Heart Will Follow

7. Black Ribbon Interiors

8. Soulful Toaster

9. The Red Baron (who recently moved here)

10. Traveling Circus (or Three Wheels Short of a Wagon)

And a few honorable shout outs...

Her Name Was Lola—What a great sense of style this gal has. I actually had her in my list of 10 winners, but I don't know how many followers she has and I was really trying to promote blogs with under 100

Milky Entropicalia—I love this just-getting-started-baby-blog, and that has nothing to do with my brother being the author. I do wish he'd write more though. He's so good at it.

Beyond Wunderman—Speaking of great writers, when this author gets famous for his screenplays and novels, I will say "I read his blog way back when."

Dubious Ventures—Yet another "wordsmith," I just can't keep up with this guy and all that amazing stuff he does. From designing to working on his first novel, this author seems to put his heart into everything. And he loves baseball.

{the photos are from here and here respectively}

music to my ears

This just gave me shivers of happiness and excitement.

Here's Beck with his Record Club covering "I'll Be Your Mirror" by The Velvet Underground & Nico.

You can check out more covers by Beck's Record Club here.

fire in the sky

Nightly fireworks are, without a doubt, my favorite part of the fair. We "ooh and aah" from our front porch as they illuminate the palm trees and telephone poles.

all's fair

We went to the Ventura County Fair on opening day.



I gazed at the painted ponies and Ian tried on a new profession.

As the sun went down and the lights went on, we made our way to the motor sports...

... and cheered for our favorite demo derby drivers.

Then, of course, it was down the midway. Oooh, I just love a nighttime midway, with it's bright bulbs and musical screams.

Zest

I love when a recipe calls for orange zest because you get to eat the fruit slices. Lemon zest, not so much (though I have been known to eat all the lemon slices from garnished ice teas).

Tonight's pie is full of peaches and blueberries and finished with a pecan crumb topping. It's in the oven right now. I'll let you know how it turns out.

window shopping

I am crushin' on these vintage lovelies I saw in the window of Whimsy in Carpinteria. This is fast becoming one of my favorite spots for antique and old timey treasures. I'd love to sport one of these swim costumes at a sunny beach this weekend, but alas, there has been no sun here lately.

How 'bout you? Have you got any good weekend plans?

pepperoni jalapeño with a side of Galaga

I have a new favorite pizza parlor... Giovanni's in Carpenteria. Today was my first time there. Ian and I devoured a mighty tasty pepperoni jalapeño pie.

Even better than the pizza was the arcade, fully equipped with race car games and pinball.

And as if good pizza and a stellar arcade weren't already enough... this place has all you can play, free Galaga. Awesome.

I knew him when...

My friend Dustin makes the most amazing films. You might have seen some of his side splitting literal music videos. The Huffington Post has given him credit "as the founding father of this genre."

He also does these hilarious mockumentaries and spoof commercials. I hear he's still collecting gold from his Send UR Gold film. I sent him all the gold I had just laying around the house. One of my favorite Dust Films is the Trash Artist. As and art school graduate, I feel I can really relate to the trials and tribulations of this Pasadena based creator.

He is endlessly clever and beyond prolific (I'm not sure he ever sleeps). And some of my favorite pieces are the oldies like this one here called Play. I really never get tired of watching this.

I am so proud to say I knew him when.... we were just kids. You can see more of Dustin's work on YouTube, Funnie or Die and on his own website, dustfilms.com.

Barefoot Blackberry Pie

Sunday's pie was named for the beautiful summer berries we found at the farmers' market and for the afternoon spent barefoot in the kitchen.

This pie required a partially pre-baked cream cheese crust. I was very proud of it since it was the first succesful pre-baked pastry crust I've ever made.

Ian took this photo of me placing the berries into the shell. I think this was my second favorite part of the process.

Here it is ready to assemble—berry filled shell, sour cream filling and streusel topping. The photo on the right is what the pie looked like just before it went into the oven. In case the whole thing fell apart while baking, I thought I should have a picture of all it's raw glory.

Ian was a champ and kept up with the dishes as I made a mess.

Out of the oven, baked and beautiful (it didn't fall apart after all) we set it on the cooling rack and began the hardest part of pie making—

waiting to eat it.

And here it is, my favorite part of baking a Barefoot Blackberry pie... watching Ian eat 4 pieces of it.

Julie & Julia, Audrey & Coco

We went to the movies again last night. I'll admit that we've been watching a wonderful amount of movies lately, and I won't apologize for it. Especially since some of the films we've seen recently have inspired me to do things like dress in my petticoats and bake pies on a Sunday afternoon. And besides being completely entertained by (and in some cases enamored with) the feature film, I have fallen in love with a great many trailers for movies yet to come. Last night was no exception. While the lights dimmed and we all got ready for Julie and Julia, I saw a preview that made me gasp and swoon.

Here it is... Coco Before Chanel. And yes that is the lovely Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel.

{P.S.—I can wait to tell you all about the Sour Cream Blackberry pie I am making. I am just about to pre-bake my first ever cream cheese crust for it. Wish me luck!}

Oooh, I just love a parade

The fair came to town and with it the annual Ventura County Fair parade.

Ian and I sat among the cactus to watch—the same place I used to watch the parade from when I was a kid. It was once the front yard of my dad's dental office. Now it's the stoop of our home.

We watched the clowns...

... and admired the shoes of the Shriners.

There were tractors and cowgirl hats... and, of course...

... marching bands. Oooh, I just love marching bands.

In between parade floats, I read my pie book. I'm planning on baking a summer pie tomorrow, maybe strawberry raspberry mint or blackberry silk. I also read an interesting recipe for a champagne grape pie, but what I bake will depend on my farmers' market finds. Any pie suggestions?

{the parade photos are by me, Mia B., and the photo of me is by my hubby, Ian C.}

Almodovar's newest

Still on my Almodovar kick. Check out these beautiful images from his new film "Broken Embraces."

This behind the scenes hug is so sweet.

{images found at filmofilia.com}