This Linus bike wants to live with me.

Two words.

B e r t o i a C h a i r s.

I have lusted after some Bertoia chairs probably longer than any other specific furniture item.

Funny thing was, I recently made a resolve to stop tempting myself with perfect dressers and such, and be diligent in only making furniture purchases when I find a really good deal.

Next day, literally, they show up on craigslist for 50 bucks a pop. Yay!

Kilian Rüthemann via

The other week was Ben's birthday. It was pretty low key. Veggie burger and beer, something of traditional for him. I wasn't supposed to buy him a gift, as he is getting a pretty rad guitar soon, but I can't not get him a gift. I was thinking of picking up a wallet or slippers. Both of his current ones are falling apart, and I swear I saw him eyeing a pair of slippers the other day.

But ESB stopped me. "pls don't buy slippers at the mall. that's so *father's day.*"

Fine, I guess your right, I thought begrugingly.

I decided to stop thinking like me and start thinking like him, and headed to the record shop.

He had the day off, so I just slipped the records into the stack of current listens by the record player. In the morning I texted him suggesting that he listen to some records.

"Good idea!" He texted back in sincerity. Ha.

The Nick Cave and Wipers are both excellent, the Love is so so. [Stick with the earlier stuff]

We have been dog sitting. Emmy Lou meet Emmy Lou. Seriously. Sillyness.

So you didn't care for Manray's Anne Geddes Halloween costume?

Well, his post surgical ultra-realistic vampire bite look is pretty boss.

Check out Lily's follow up post. How could I forget the Ace?

Sadly, we don't use our yard as much as I would expect. I think it is a result of a poor environment. It's just not as comfortable out there as I would like. I am slowly gathering some ideas on how to make it more livable, focusing in easy fixes and furnishings, nothing big and permanent and expensive.

First up is this patio from Copenhagen. I like it. And it reminds me of our physical constraints (up against a blank wall). I really like the way the canopy was made, I could easily mimic that.

But what worries me is that what really makes this patio nice is the wild, kind of over grown and lush landscape that flows into the organic hardscape. Not our situation, at all.

Next I spied this sitting area that Lily posted. Ok, so, no decking. No ocean views. No mid century fire place. (Would you beleive that I saw one for sale at a crappy thrift store in the middle of the desert where my mom lives, which is *not* the desert where people value mid century things and mark them up, and DIDN'T BUY IT) But still, thought it should go in the inspiration files.

And finally, the other Lily shared her outdoor living space, and this is really brining it all together for me. The "outdoor living space" phrase being the key.

From all of this I am taking, a large shade covering, which will help define the space I think. Plants, a rug, and a variety of seating* and table types. I think I can do this.

So, I'm going to sell our ugly patio furniture. Cause, it's like, a big table with regimented chairs all around it. And, who wants to sit at a formal table area when you are sitting with a book and a glass of wine in the evening sun after work?

*wishing my best friend decided her place was too small for that butterfly chair after all, then I could buy it back from her, have a real pair, and move them outside, where they belong. (unless I could afford a leather cover, then they would belong inside)

the first place i dreamed of having our wedding was figuora mountain farm house. this is like seeing it realized. and, this is just what our set up looked like, but, you know, in the desert.

life according to celia, via esb photo by cathryn farnsworth

I've long been a fan of the Grand Opening's storefront projects. One car drive in? Single table Ping Pong parlourp? They know the good things in life, and redefine their scale. So when I heard their space would next be a wedding chapel, well, I was excited to see what would happen next. Pretty rad. Via New York Wedding Guide.

via

How is it possible that Fantastic Mr. Fox fell so far off my radar that I had forgotten it completely. That when Peonies mentioned it, I didn't realize what she was talking about until a couple of days later when it clicked. The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Wes Anderson. F* Yeah!

I hadn't even seen a preview for it and it comes out in 8 DAYS.

A few weekends ago I finally got to see my oldest best friend perform with her marching band, MarchFourth. She is a wonderfully entertaining and talented and so cute stilt-walker /dancer /extraordinaire. [that's her pretty much center in the back, above the people not on stilts, lower than those on.] They were fantastic. See more pictures from their rad Shangri-La photo shoot.

Because of his bad fighting habits, Manny got an icky abscess last week, and had to have a little surgery. Our friends cat very recently, for the same reason, had the same.

See below for the communications that resulted. [warning, it is ridiculous]

hi man ray! cow here. we haven't officially met but my mom really likes you so i guess you must be pretty cool. well, i just wanted to tell you i know it sux to have a hole in your head and have to wear that lame-ass satellite dish but soon it will be over & you'll get to be a scrappy hell-raiser again. i'm jealous you get to wear a tube, too, that's pretty tuff. just let your mom give you medicine because she really cares. oh and milk it for all it's worth buddy, it's ALL about you right now so go with it!

peace out brother,
cow

cow. dude. you need to talk to your doc about that f*cking lampshade around your neck. seriously. i may look like an anne geddes flower baby, but this shit is pliable. can you even sleep in that thing?

there is a hole in my head??? i didn't even notice. that must be why no one is letting me outside. i have been yelling at them non stop, morning noon and night. i think i almost lost my voice. but they haven't cracked. all day, i watch those dogs go in and out, and i'm stuck. do you know that they gave me a box to shit in? can you believe that? who would do that? a box? i don't see them shitting in a box.

well. see you around the 'hood. if i ever get outta here, that is.

manray

In the continuation of cleaning out the "guest" room, no it's still not done, I have had to make some hard decisions about tossing some of my school projects. Only a few things made the keep cut. This is one of my favorite things I made in school. It's kind of a conceptual, almost 3d diagram attempting to communicate the function of the thesis project I designed. [That would be the uh, integrated holistic nature of social, architectural, and natural systems...]

The background grid is the site of the project [rotated to be axonometric], under a very thick layer of acrylic. Like, 1/2 an inch. Sucker is heavy. The top is various layers cut into museum board. [Medium of my choice.] The detail on the right is one of my favorites, showing the importance of a community space. See the heart? That is for community.

You guys are great. Thank you. So, I think I better turn my ill formed plan into a solid plan of action. I will start with the cheap, un-debatably healthy stuff like exercise, nature, rescue remedy, reading, sleep and me time. I will then move on to acupuncture [worth a try?] and if all else fails, therapy and chemistry. Don't judge, but I don't do yoga. I tried, and it just doesn't work for me.



Ok, so, I never tried that hard, but sill.

You guys would have been proud last night. After a nice dinner [at the table] and walking the dogs, I crawled in to bed hours before bedtime to read. Ben Left played dj. [His last name starts with a J, so when he does this, we call him DJ BJ.] Anyways, I enjoyed the nice, relaxing songs so much I started making a note of what he was playing. And made him help me remember back what he started with. Here is a little nice kind of mellow good for a wintery night play list.

hidden landscapes.

I remember driving home from school one night, during the first quarter of school after I started studying architecture full time.

*let me make a note here that for anyone with any kind of dedication, architecture is kinda hard core on the demanding scale. The thing is, you are never done. You could always do more. 5 years is not enough time, and too much. Architecture students are pretty up there in the non sleeping student category.

I remember clearly the anxious, knotty feeling in my stomach that I was feeling because I had so much to do. All the tension in my neck and shoulders, causing a deep ache. The jittery buzz in my hands. I remember driving home thinking, "is this it? is this how I am going to feel from now on? for the next five years?"

I can remember it so clearly not only because it was a new experience for me [I don't think I had been a very stressed person before this] but because I am feeling it right now.

I am not in school, studio classes are behind me, my thesis is behind me. Literally, it is a Thursday afternoon. [I started writing this last week....] I left work early today, paused to write this from "doing things around the house" [I LOVE doing things around the house], and I am looking forward to a fun evening with my husband and friends. I have a 3 day weekend, with no tasks that *need* to be completed, no obligations or commitments. The bills are all paid, and the bank account is not empty. I am not thinking about work. Ben and I are healthy. We are happy. My animals are healthy. I rested well last night. I have no friends tottering on the edge of life, and my immediate family are well and free of crisis. And, yet.

When we left for Joshua Tree a few weekends ago, we were trying to get out of town early enough to beat traffic then make it up there and get ready for the rehearsal dinner at our rental a leisurely pace. Admittedly, it was a really busy week, and I had to hurry my ass off to be ready by 1pm, the time my best friend was meeting us at our place to hit the road. But I don't think that justified how stressed and irritated I was when she caused us to leave late. What the fuck was my problem. I could not calm down.

Ben feels it too. He will ask- what on earth is wrong with me. My only answer is, "I'm stressed", see above re: knots in stomach. But my old answers "I'm stressed about [money, school, family, take your pick]" aren't there. So, I don't have an answer.

Thing is, until recentely all of those issues have bombarded me. When discussing this with some friends, they brought up the phenomenon of peptide addiction or reaction. I *think* what this boils down to is; my body is so used to feeling stressed, that it just continues to operate that way.

So, I'm working slowly to combat this. I'm hoping awareness is the first step. Slowing down and being conscious of the tension in my body, asking why it is there, and reminding myself that it is not necessary, take many deep breaths or something.

Here are some more ideas I have;

-making sure I have enough down time [a difficult balance- I like being busy]
-getting exercise
-spending more in nature [perhaps while getting exercise, always gotta multi task]
-maybe accupunture? [I have never had!]
-eating well [ok, so this is just my answer for everything]

So, I know you are all crazy-busy-active-multi-tasking types. How do you deal with ongoing long term stress?

I just ran across this polaroid going through paperwork. I think it was taken the night Ben met Emmy Lou. This was before me.

I love the story; Ben was grieving the loss of his alley cat, Lou*, who had died recently. He came home from the bar one night, slightly, um, intoxicated, to discover two pit-mix puppies in his living room. "That one is yours." said his roommate, pointing to the little girl puppy who looked like a piglet with a black eye.

A friend of theirs had found the two puppies on the side of the freeway, their mother had been hit by a car and killed. I am not sure if his friends knew this at the time, but Ben, who had been bit in the face by a dog as a child, had always been afraid of dogs. Emmy Lou cured him of this. She is by far the sweetest dog I have ever met. I wish I knew her when she looked like a piglet. [But I'm glad I didn't know her when she did things like chew up couches]

*Ben claims that Emmy is named after Emmy Lou Harris only, and in no way was he paying homage to his recently lost friend Lou. I don't believe him, I mean; Lou and Emmy Lou? I guess it was subconscious.

Update.

The chair has since moved to our bedroom. Who knows what will happen when we find a dresser, but big things are in store, and the red def won't fly then.

While photographing the chair, the cat kept vying for my attention. A photoshoot subsequently followed.

yes. please. aesa at una.

and aesa at home.