Los Angeles, I'm Yours!

 My husband's in an art show with Jason Schwartzman!!!! 

Put on by Bobby Solomon, of Kitsune Noir, and Poketo at Space15Twenty in Los Angeles.  

You are NOT going to want to miss this! In fact, don't!!

I'll be at Unique LA all day and then will meet up with the husb that night! Mark your calendars!!

to help you enjoy life more...

Eric stumbled upon something on the web that I think everyone should be exposed to.

POGO. His name is Nick Bertke - he's 21 years old and lives in Perth, Australia.

He take clips and snippets from films and creates amazing new songs/ music videos from the sounds in the movie.

Make sure you watch them all. They're all astounding!!!  (again, please excuse blogger's editing capabilities - I see they have cut off the films I have posted - I hope this doesn't stop you from watching!)

For more of Pogo's mixed videos, click here to go to his YouTube page.

Wasn't that fantastic!!!?!?!

we all wear cloaks

Through a tangled inter-web search of some sort of inspiration that would ignite a flame under my tooshie, I stumbled upon this historic collection of American sheet music from Duke Universities Library from 1980-1920.

This one's a fav...

Amazing typography abounds!! I mean, there are some truly beautiful pieces in there. Kinda funny that we use Illustrator and other software these days to get this look when during those days, this was the norm.

welcome to the adventure

My husband and I have been working on a few small projects in and around the house lately. We like to change the space up a bit every now and then to freshen things up.

As my mother-in-law stated recently,

"I love going to your house because I can sit on the couch and look around at all the new things you've done to your place. It's always an adventure!"

(please take note: I am not a photographer)

we took these out of old kid's books and framed them.

The backyard in particular has been my husband's project. He made us a picnic table!

found vintage long filing drawers and planted succulents in them...

built a free-standing succulent stand....

and for when we have families over...and table for the kiddos!!!!

He's AMAZING, I tell you! Shear talent & skill!! Check out more of what he does on his site!

There you have it. I'm sure come summer we'll be tired of this arrangement and a whole new arrangement will be showcased!

Our home is home I enjoy coming home to.

Craft Brunch Bunch

There's no denying that spring has sprung.

This weekend was the official beginning of spring for me. I didn't blog last week because, to be completely honest, I didn't have it in me to sit in front of the computer when I could be outside enjoying the beauitful sunshiney days we've been having here.

A couple weeks ago, my close friend, Ruthi Auda, and I decided it was time to implement a monthly craft brunch. Appropriately, we named it the Craft Brunch Bunch.

On the menu this week:

*mimosas

*croissants from a local bakery

*homemade cinnamon rolls (thank you Ruthi!!)

*homemade lemon muffins w/ homemade blueberry drizzle (courtes de moi)

*peach & grapefruit slices covered in powdered sugar

I hosted the first meeting.

Here are some photos from our time together!

Carissa is the Visual Display Coordinator for Anthropologie in Rancho Cucamonga. She made these amazing birds from Hansen's drink cans!

Paige worked on a necklace made from mixed media materials. So cute!

Whitney croqueted the most adorable blue octopus!

Ruthi worked on a gift based on an inside joke for some friends...

And I finished embroidering one panel of our curtains...

We had a really great time enjoying and getting to know one another, while working on our projects, drinking mimosas, and relaxing. It was wonderful!

If you live in Southern California and are interested in joining, please contact me @ heather.trine@gmail.com so that I may contact you regarding our next meeting time and place. We'd love to have you!

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" (Robin Williams)

a spring awakening for your taste buds

My husband and I have a habit of buying fruit with the intention of eating them before they go bad, however, often times, that is not the case. This is especially so with bananas. I hate bananas. I can only eat bananas if I put them in my cereal or if they're in bread form. In fact, it's pretty safe to say that I buy bananas so that I can make banana bread. As soon as they turn black, it's on!!

So, for those of you who are like me, you'll love this recipe. And if you LOVE bananas, then you'll REALLY love this recipe.

It goes like so...

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large mixing bowl, with a wooden spoon (no need for a mixer), mash the bananas, then blend in your butter in with the nanners. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Then mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the flour last, and mix. Pour your mixture into a 4x8 greased loaf pan (I used butt'ah) and bake for 1 hour (I also sprinkle nutmeg atop my mixture before baking). Let cool.

By this time, your house should be filled with a delicious aroma of fresh banana loaf bread.

Spread honey, agave, or cream cheese on your bread and enjoy!

If you decide to try this recipe, please let me know what you think and how it turned out.

Bon Appetit!

the sugarcoating to these sunny days

if you haven't yet...you should...

AND

mm mm good.

thanks to my husb who told me about these little gems. he's a scout.

the Blarney about St. Patrick

What many people don't know about the patron Saint of Ireland is that he wasn't Irish at all. He was English, and was captured by Irish raiders after the Romans withdrew from the UK.

He spent over 10 years in captivity until he escaped and fled back to England. In a dream, he heard God tell him to return to Ireland to save them from their pagan celtic culture and convert them to Christianity. So he did.

The shamrock was said to be used by St. Patrick to help explain the Trinity. That may be blarney as well but it is quite possible he did.

And it wouldn't be St. Patty's without a little Irish folk music... (she really gets going towards the end!)

Last night's floral design class was St. Patty's inspired as well. Not a fan of the cheesy plastic pot but it's the spirit of the day that makes it fun...

speaking of nectar...

I had dinner at a friend's house last week and was introduced to the most delicious salad dressing I think I've ever tasted! And get this...it was made only lime, honey, and a bit of canola oil! Maybe you've made this dressing or had it before but I've just discovered how delicious it is.

This dressing, oddly enough, ties in with this realization/confirmation that the simple things in life are the truest and the most important, and we continue to complicate things only to find that the simplest way of action, often times, is the best.

Hence, Honey-Lime Dressing via Lorrie Bostic's homecooked meal! Thank you Lorrie.

Here's how:

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 or 3 limes)

1 tablespoon canola oil - optional

(the dressing is good enough without the oil but some people like to add it)

Add the ingredients into a jar with a twist-tight lid (or a dressing shaker) and shake the jar until the contents are mixed. Drizzle it over greens with a little feta cheese or ricotta and some grape tomatoes cut in half for a delicious tasting healthy snack or side to your meal.

3rd Annual Salton Sea Trip - 2010 Recap

Our annual Salton Sea trip was a success. About 20 of us camped under the stars. The New Camp campground location was closed due to state budget cuts but a mile down the road was another camping spot that we enjoyed just as well.  In fact, every morning we awoke to views of the water and a beautiful hillscape. 


Friday, we set up our campsites and chatted around the campfire until morning. 
On Saturday, we ventured to Bombay Beach for the best burgers in town at the Ski Inn and then explored the little town and it's haunting environment.  We continued down the road to Salvation Mountain to visit Leonard.  On our way back to the campsite, a few of us stopped along the way to do some more exploring.  We found an old abandoned warehouse where pigeons were flying all around inside and graffiti covered the walls. The boys found salvaged some scrap metal and iron, and Eric knocked off a rusted metal door in hopes of making a table out of it, but it ended up being too big to carry home along with our camping supplies.  Sad realization. We went back to the site and as soon as the coals were hot, started preparing Hobo Stew - our traditional Saturday night camping meal complete with every veggie imaginable, seasoning, spices, beer, wine (for some added flavor - see my previous post for the video). After our bellies had been filled, we continued enjoying each other's company by the fire, and one-by-one slowly crept to bed in preparation to start the long journey back home the next day...


(disclaimer: blogger wouldn't let me add text next to the photos after uploading them all.  Samuel Lippke will have amazing photos posted on his blog within the next few days so check back to get even BETTER shots of the weekend!!) 


Here are the photos I took from the trip. Enjoy!