Hwy 1

Mr. C and I took a drive down the coast this sunny Saturday. Oooh I just love a spring day on Highway 1. Convertible cars and festival buses at the camp spots. Glorious.


Did you have any adventures this weekend?

Signs of Spring

I love this time of year... bees in the lavender and birds by the roses. We even found this little yellow moth on our mud room window. 

What's your favorite thing about Spring?

May Day

Did you ever participate in a May Day pageant? I have little kid memories of sunny spring days, dancing on asphalt around a make shift May pole, wrapping it with rainbowy ribbons. I think there were probably flowers in my hair. Seems so old timey now. I don't ever see that kind of thing anymore. 


Whether you're striking or celebrating, I hope there are flowers in your hair. Happy May Day.


{photo from here}

April Showers

I'm loving this Spring weather we've been having. It's wild and unpredictable—one minute hot with sunshine and the next minute dark with clouds and windy rain. And you know what they say about April showers...

afternoon sunshine

It was like a taunt from the sky when I woke up for work this morning and the sun was shining through my window. It was gloomy nearly all of yesterday. And here it is, Monday, sunny and 70˚.

At least the gray melted for a few hours before the Sunday sunset. There were golden rays just long enough for a warm(ish) afternoon walk with my sweetheart.

Monday Meditations

It was my first day back to work after a glorious Spring Break. I can't say I was glad to be up with the sun...

... but everything else was lovely. Our campus is in bloom and the air is thick with bees and Spring Fever.

Hope your week started with sweet smells and sunshine.

missing you - day 3

There are wild flowers galore on the coastal highway routes of our roadtrip. But still, I miss our garden and all that grows there. I do so love getting dressed up in my gardener's garb and getting dirty... one of my favorite Sunday pastimes.

hittin' the road

My dad and I leave today for our springtime road trip. We'll be gone for about a week which is the longest I have been away from Mr. C since... forever.

Hopefully, I'll get some perfect pictures of the places we go to share with y'all.

Lilacs & Mums

Lilacs are in season and are decorating our local farmers' market. When these lovelies are in bloom I always buy a bunch for my mom. They're her favorite.

Not only are lilacs easy on the eyes, but they smell wonderful—like the freshest springtime perfume. We filled out our lilac bouquet with some pale pink mums.

Do you have a favorite spring blossom?

Girl From Ipanema

It's not yet Spring and I'm already excited for Summer. The warmer weather and the slightly longer days have me thinking of bare feet and beach bon fires... of late afternoons spent listening to jazz records and holding hands with my sweetheart.

The Girl From Ipanema is one of my all time favorite summertime songs. Maybe in part because Astrud Gilberto (pictured above) had such lovely summer style. And maybe because I can remember many perfectly sunny days with that song as the soundtrack.

What do you listen to when you want to dream of long days and warm weather?

{images found here}

object of desire

Spring is here and my feet are dying to be in these shoes. Over-the-top and they go with nothing... they're perfect.

{available at DSW.com}

May Day

Goodbye April showers. Hello May flowers.

{Holga photos from Le Quaintrelle, vikkiness, occhichiusi, shanti929, irregulara, leafy tenement, embleton, one2ku, Amyinaphotograph, samfowler}

our first yellow rose of Spring

I love it, bug bites and all.

strawberry love

Oooh I just love strawberry season!

These lovelies are from the Channel Islands Farmers' Market and they are the best strawberries I've ever had in my life. And I have had a lot of strawberries.

Easter Sunday

Here's to tulips and chocolate eggs, pastels baskets and tall green grass. Here's to life, renewal, Springtime & new beginnings. Happy Easter.

{image from leafy tenement's photostream}

Springtime & Lazy Daisies

The combination of Spring break and our internet being down has made me a lazy daisy. At least when it comes to blogging. In all other matters I have been anything but lazy and sometimes feel as though I am running around like a spring chicken with its head cut off.

I've been so distracted that I even forgot to play an April Fool's joke. Did any of you trick or get tricked? I'd love to hear about it.

April Fool's or no, I hope that your season has started off with a smile and that you are enjoying the birds and the blossoms.

Saturday at the Getty Villa

The Saturday that followed my birthday found me and Ian at the

Getty Villa. 

It was such a lovely day and such a day for lovers.

While we explored some of the ancient arts, most of our time was spent in the gardens.

We  observed the wildlife and gazed at the water lilies.

Scenes, scientific plant names and fallen pink rose petals were collected in our sketchbooks.

There were tall stalks of unusual Hollyhocks...

... and this glowing red specimen called "Lovage." I loved it.

We took turns being the photographer and being the model...

... and both posed for a stranger who offered her photography services.

Then we lunched where pink cows graze in a field of yellow. Perfection.

signs of summer coming

Here is the first lily to blossom in our garden this year. It seems fitting that it should open up just as the Memorial weekend begins. I always think of this weekend as the kick off to summer, even though the seasons won't officially change for almost another month. At any rate, a holiday weekend is always a great excuse to do something fun. We'll be classic Americana as we go to multiple weekend BBQs.

What will you be doing?

and many more...

SOME FAVORITE MEMORIES OF BIRTHDAYS PAST:

Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, flip flops, perfect Levi's and a tiny cactus Ian walks through the back door, home made chocolate birthday cake breakfast and a shiney new banjo Juno and Arianne as the sun is setting, surprise sushi dinner with good friends, black petticoat and 'Tropic of Cancer' May 6, 1986, turning 6, loving pink hearts on my golden birthday, the Ventura board walk, a shell necklace from mom, a magic wand from Jabe paper doll art opening, white dress and bare feet, aimless flirting with a crush Afternoon driving on Vinyard Ave. with my big brother and no plans, avocados from a roadside fruit stand, cooking dinner together, just the 4 of us BRUNCH WITH THE MOTHERS ON JOANNAFINA'S PATIO, MARIACHIS AND ROSES ALL AROUND happy hour with new friends, tgif until the wee hours of Saturday, nursing a hangover with strawberries and kettle corn on a sunny beach with you paper crown, my name in glitter, the birthday belle of the preschool playground BLUE HAWAII GOWN, A GIANT SUNFLOWER FROM MISS BRAVERMAN, BLOOD ORANGE TIRAMISU BY TANYA B, A PERFECT SNAPSHOT Las Vegas turning 20, lemonade instead of margaritas, photographing photographers, a cape cod in the casino—Andy's treat 30 minutes until 29 years, coming home from work, Ian asleep in melting ice cream, french vanilla kisses

viva la vida

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Here's to bright light Tuesdays, local swap meets and best friends in sequined sombreros. And, of course, hats off to the small Mexican army who defeated Napoleon's invasive (yet stylish) military in 1862.

For more on Cinco de Mayo...