San Francisco

The City from WTK Photography on Vimeo.
I have for a while thought that San Francisco would be the perfect escape from the island life for a few days. All i have to do now is save up a little cash to go!

Moon River

I Have Always Loved this Song, ever since I saw Audrey sing it on the widow sill in the movie Breakfast at Tiffanys.  This is a beautiful cover of it... 

I've fallen in love...

I often find my mind wandering through life and the things that surround me. I would like to think that it is a set of romantic colored glasses thru which I see. Yet my mind gets away from me. I set unattainable goals, plan my future, name my future children, buy amazing cars, and plan my future wardrobe. The problem with all this wishful thinking is that I am not present now! The benefit of this thinking I find myself focusing on great life plans, like buying the perfect fixer-upper home. And as of late that is all I can seem to think about. Funny thing is I know what I want and where to find it but I'm here (in Hawaii) and I can't afford a home. I want a little house in some pastel shade of pink or yellow with a picket fence. Something a little like this...

I've fallen in love...  With a little 4 bedroom house!  I scour the real estate ads daily for homes with "good bones" that are cheap. I found this un-polished gem in my home town. 


I would paint the stucco all white, the gutters and the window trim bright red.  The jury is still out on the what color I would paint the front door, it is a tie between pink and yellow.  

I mocked up what that house would look like if I owned it!  Even with my car in the driveway.

Truly this small demure looking home has TONS of potential.  There is an entire basement with a separate entrance.  If I bought the home the improvements would begin downstairs.  It would make a perfect rental.
Oh and did mention there is a two car garage too?
I can just imagine the poppies that I remember my in grandma's garden would grace the this long flower bed along the driveway.     

 

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I would decorate the house with things I love.

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  Paint the walls colors I like not what the landlord thinks will blend in all the ugly holes in the walls the best. 



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I would love to have a simple lovely home...

Finishing up. The toilet paper tube project!

Four cans of white spray paint, and 2 trips to the art supply store later...

I finished my toilet paper tube project!

 Here is the tiny dog Pikake on her perch while I click away, she is pretty curious about the camera though.

 I wanted more of a statement so I did three foam core boards hanging super close, it cuts down the cost and makes it big.

 I did add color.  Some red, pink and a touch of white.  I really wanted the flowers to resemble the Plumerias in my back yard.

I have a Alter Ego

Her name is Ginger.  Not Ginger-Last Name of my choice.  But JUST Ginger. 

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Whats funny about my alter ego, she comes out when I don't really want to talk to someone..  Or I have a guy ask for my number, not because he will call, but he wants the bragging rights...   But also Ginger is the girl that is the perfect size when she slips on a pair of $165 jeans.

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Ginger has the perfect waist and perfect tush, and doesn't drink too much. 

Ginger has guys that yell her name as she drives by.  

Ginger is the girl that has a cute car with even cuter car name.

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And when she drives by folks stop look, turn, and say something like "NO I wasn't checking her out"!

I have to say this it has been months since Ginger has introduced herself.  And to be honest that is a good and bad sign.  That means I have not had my fill of seedy clubs and bad introductions, but it also means that I have not been out.  I think that the good comes with the bad, and so we adapt.   Then Ginger steps in.   She says NO far to often, kisses then walks away having given him a wrong phone number (this is called the kissing bandit), or just enjoys herself then promptly forgets.     

Mello Yello...

A friend invited (actually, quite nearly demanded) that I join her on her next photo shoot.  [Thanks Peggy!]  She was going to paint a model in all yellow.

I had to shoot the model next to my yellow bug Jezebel!

I loved the tall grass as an interesting foreground..

The detail of the paint drying on her skin and in her hair.

The paint was the same shade of yellow as these small flowers, I had to shoot her holding them.

This is the ever cute Pikake.  She was along for the ride.  But did not like the sharp rocks all around so I set up a small oasis for her in my purse hanging from my tripod.

Peggy Sue had a fun surprise in her lens hood when we finished.  She must have wandered through a spiderweb and did not notice.  We all had a good laugh!



4th of July 2011

So Thursdays being one of my days off (I NEVER get two in a row) I most often hit all the local thrift stores.  Now thrifting in Hawaii is not like most.  In Montana I could find things from the 30's and the 40's every time out.  Now I'm lucky to find used clothes from 2009 in good condition.  Most good things mildew due to proximity to the ocean.  I was more than lucky to find....

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A framed poster of Ansel Adams late work...   Nice and clean... 

I will always remember my father as an avid photographer.  My father had MANY cameras, darkroom, and film.  One thing I will never forget, my father's collection of Ansel Adams books.  I read a number of them as a young girl (not realizing that I would LOVE photography) and found a simple interest.

Well now my home decor is rounded out by my framed poster by Ansel Adams.  I feel whole now...

Swoon...

I see things pop up all the time in multiple blogs then later on TV shows.  One item caught my attention...  This white ceramic owl umbrella holder.  Swoon....

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 I wanted one so badly that it seemed every where I turned, poof! There was the white owl umbrella stand.  Definitely a little pricey and my budget does not allow for a $149 umbrella stand. 

One day as I was wandering Ross Dress For Less, I saw this!   A white owl vase for only $6.99!  I grabbed it and never looked back!  My infatuation with the umbrella stand over... 

 I set it on the shelf right next to my TV, near all the white books and my camera collection.

I think it fits in just perfect!

Oh the hats!

There was nothing about the recent royal wedding that didn't make me want to make use of these handy bags by designer Lydia Leith, that is except the hats all the women were wearing. And I only admired the outlandish hats as a testement to what can, in the hands of a bunch of rich socialites, go off-the-tracks weird.

I find myself drawn to them, I admit, and the more of them I see the more I am conditioned to think they're stylish. It takes moxie to wear these outlandish hats, which I admire. In my browsing, I may have found one I'd wear if I was invited to some fancy-pants ladies luncheon.



I like the 40s style and the lacy veil, but I'd eliminate the bouquet or go with just one or two flowers in the same shade as the hat. Then again, I like my floppy canvas fishing hat pretty well too!

Moving..

Every time I helped my sister Laura move I noticed a GIANT map!   She always decorated her walls with a map or two.  Then I came across this amazing DIY! 

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She never really knew how truly chic she is!

Compatibility ...

Turns out that compatibility isn't just something couples should be concerned about. I've been struggling with Blogger and IE9 compatibility for the past few days, and it's even tried Regina's and my sisterly relationship. So after much incompatibility, this is a test post.

Serenity..

Serenity and spiders don't go together. 
I have been terrorised for days as a cane spider has taken up residence in my living room.  Hawaii has been graced by my presence for six years now, but I almost flew back to the mainland permanently...  Because I am deathly afraid of spiders.  And no, I will NEVER EVER post a photo of one of these spiders on my blog, because that would mean I have to see it again and again (this would continue the grip of fear that spider had on me).  Some folks can live with a spider and not be bothered.  I can't.  I would sit at work and wonder if the spider had found it's way into my bedroom, even after I carefully tucked a towel around the door.  To be honest it kept me up at night.

I got proactive and made many attempts to kill the spider with Raid (great stuff for the smaller insect varieties).  Every time I got close, he would lunge at me.  I gave up quickly out shear fear.

I can not forget that spiders have a valid place in every eco-system, but please not the one where I enjoy sitting and watching movies.  So I asked my neighbor if he could help... My 6 foot 2 inch neighbor is  more scared than I!  So his teenie, tiny, sweet, wife grabbed a tissue and trudged over to my place.  She tried the traditional spider killing tool, the flip flop. The spider would not give up and die. 

 You see the spider had to die at this point. I was convinced that had we caught him, and relocated him, he would return (my place is super cute and comfy!).  I was deep in a spider psychosis.  Then she grabbed my favorite pair of wedges....



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The spider did not stand a chance!  

Now the reason for this lengthy post about a spider....

As I watched the tissue with spider bits and pieces swirl around the toilet bowl then disappear, I realized that all I wanted was serenity...

At long last ... Wine!

It's been about eight months ago that I wrote about my first adventures in winemaking. And last week Ben and I bottled our first batch: Rip Rap Rosehip Wine.

You can see I look a little ragged. We fumbled a quite a bit with the hoses and siphons, and it took some experimenting to learn how to use the bottler (pictured there in front of me) Needless to say, we spilled more of the wine than we wanted to, but we managed to get 10 good bottles in two varieties. One was made with just rosehips, lemon juice and lots of clover honey. The other is made with rosehips, cane sugar and a pound of golden raisins. In our busy-ness of bottling, we didn't stop to compare the two varieties side by side, but, oh well, we'll have company over soon to help us with that.

We sweetened the final product, too, because we thought it could use a flavor boost, but it's still got quite a floral character. Isn't it such a lovely color?

Ben's father, a graphic designer, put together this logo for us for the labels.

We're calling it Rip Rap Rosehip after the location where we found the rosehips. Riprap is the large rock material used to shore up the banks of rivers where erosion is liable to take out a road or stretch of train tracks. We harvested our rosehips from a riprap bank along the Yellowstone near Columbus last fall.

Next batch to come: Plum, five gallons, our first big batch!

My perfect enemy

Our grandmother collected quotations -- little bits of wisdom she came across in her reading. She wrote or clipped and pasted them into empty books. I think it's from her that I developed my love of quotations. Lately, I've been contemplating a quote from Voltaire, a French philosopher and writer. He said,

"The perfect is the enemy of good."

I've never thought of myself as a serious, hard-driving perfectionist, but in my professional life as a writer, I've always been hesitant to publish anything but my personal best. It's why I've been quiet on the blog for so long.

I've lost sight of just how good, good can be. And maybe a steady stream of everyday, ordinary good is perfection -- at least for now.

I read lots of lovely, well-written blogs with beautiful photos, and, even though I'm an accomplished writer and aspiring photographer, I tell myself that I could never do anything as good as that, so I don't even do a good thing by trying.

Whatever comes of it, today I'm going to quiet that inner critic and stop comparing my work to the work of others.

Here's to the good and here's to Voltaire, who I imagine struggled with the enemy of perfect as well.

A simple locket...

 

A simple locket I found while out shopping, my Grandma would have loved it.

 

So I had to put my grandparents photos in the locket.  

Both these images are my favorite.

Stylish Grandma

My grandmother was a secretary for the school district during the 40's to the 50's.  I imagine her in that Iconic Mad Men styling.   She had a great figure and gorgeous red hair. 

 

I imagine that nightly she would lay out her outfit for the next day.  She would never leave the house with out looking her best.  This often included a fancy broach.  

 

She never pierced her ears so this pin had a set of matching clip on earrings.   

 

This is by far my favorite pin, simple and elegant.

 

Grandma always adored cherries. 

 

Just recently I inherited a handful of her broaches.  Rather than feel bad that I would never wear them I created this shadow box with a few and my favorite photos of her.   Fitting tribute.