evidence that i am raising my child in the city

 

·        When she plays telephone, she ends all her calls with “OK, I’ll buzz you up!”
·        When she plays with toy cars, she spends at least a few minutes “looking for parking”.
·        She points out all the empty parking spaces in any parking lot and cheers once we park.
·        She asks to go to brunch or downtown as often as she asks to go to the playground.
·        She knows the bus lines and says things like “Mama, we taking the 44 bus?”
·        She saw an illustration of an Italian sidewalk café in her Babar book and said “Mama, I want to go there.”
·        She occasionally says “Mama, I want to go to the liquor store”. (They have freeze dried fruit and fancy cheese — it’s pretty awesome, but perhaps I should start calling it “the corner store”.)
·        She knows that pennies, nickels and dimes are fair game for her piggy bank, but quarters are sacred.

greener pastures

 

 

Today, I am day dreaming of greener pastures. I have a recurring country fantasy. Once I saw this post (scroll all the way down), I added sheep to that fantasy. Imagine raising sheep to simply enjoy their beauty and to tend the pastures. Now, I just need to find pastures that need tending in San Francisco.
 
Happy Monday!

curioser and curiouser

 On the topic of Alice in Wonderland, take a look at this stop motion version from 1949 by Lou Bunin. It wasn’t widely released in the US because of a lawsuit by Disney, who didn’t want it to compete with their animated version that was set to release two years later in 1951. Interesting.

alice

Have you seen this? I can’t wait!

 

why i love the farmers market

I have never seen this orange juggling pineapple princess or the mayor at the supermarket.

 

(Someone bumped into me while I was taking a picture of the mayor with my phone so it didn’t come out. I promise he was there.)

jody ake

 

Jody Ake uses a historic photographic technique called wet collodion process.

 

From his website :

“Invented in 1851, the method entails coating a glass plate with collodion
and exposing the plate while it is still wet. The end result are ambrotypes,
appearing on glass in the form of a negative until backed by
black velvet, thus rendering the positive image.”

 

I think these are stunning. I am happy to see people keeping these historic techniques alive in the age of digital. What do you think?

foggy foggy forest

 

We read this book quite a  lot in our house. It is such a cute book and so appropriate for a San Francisco girl. The pages are made of vellum. On the front side you see shadows through the “foggy foggy forest” and when you turn the page various magical creatures are revealed. Pip loves this book even though the “ogre doing yoga” freaks her out. We just skip that page.

 

Happy Monday.

eugenio recuenco

 

 

Enjoying the magic of Eugenio Recuenco this morning.

 

nasomatto

 

Quite possibly the coolest perfume bottle ever. See more here.

dance with me

 

Happy Monday. I’m trying to start the week off with a smile after a lovely weekend full of ballet class, accidentally stumbling upon the North Beach Festival, and pony rides at a coastal farm. This video of Nouvelle Vague set to a scene from Bande a Part does the trick. Some highlights from the weekend:
 
·         Finding out that my fried E had her baby and she is a girl! I called it a girl and I’m pretty sure she was secretly hoping for a girl.
·         Pip’s response to the news that Auntie E had a baby girl – “And she’ll get bigger and bigger and bigger?”
·         Finding out that Pip is indeed ready for the 3 year old division in ballet class.
·         Fiore de leche gelato at Naia.
·         The frisky goat at the farm trying to eat Pip’s dress.
·         Pip’s response to the goat – “Hey goat! Don’t eat my pretty dress!”
 
What made you smile this weekend?

watch out!!

Or Swoops, the Front Street attack bird will get you! She is just a couple of blocks from my office, so I have to be especially careful. Happy Friday!

 

Photo via Attack Bird Chronicles

eau des merveilles

 

 

I love fragrance. A lot. I have a nice perfume collection, My best friend refuses to set foot in a bath and body store with me for fear of how long she would have to wait for me to sniff every bottle in the store. It can be a problem. I don’t have a signature fragrance; I usually decide on a fragrance based on my mood. Lately, my mood had been taking me to Hermes Eau de Merveilles. Hermes makes great fragrances and this is one of my favorites. The name translates to something like “Wonder Water” which I love. It is a really unusual fragrance which suits my taste. If you like sweeter fruity florals, this may not be for you. It is not sweet at all. It is really hard to describe. Perfume descriptions can be so esoteric anyway. I’ll just say that it smells a little woody and a little salty to me. I know that sounds weird, but it is really nice. There is a more eloquent description here. I’m not sure why, but it feels perfect for the weird grey weather we have this time of year in San Francisco. The bottle is really pretty too. In person, it looks like it is covered in gold fairy dust. I also like the commercial — so light hearted and fun.

 What about you? Do you have a signature fragrance or do you like to mix it up? What are your favorites?