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Taking a little break here for a while.  Got some big things cooking that require 100% of my attention.  See you guys sometime soon.

Photo: taken by me while traveling in Brazil.  

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Women make the world go round.  Let's never forget it.  Happy International Women's Day!

Photo: Anna Yausheva's flickr

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Some internet wanderings this weekend left me visiting places that I don't tend to frequent.  But I happily fell entranced with these two pictures.  Beautiful, no?  Judy's (from the blog Atlantis Home) shot of the arcade along the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, and Hanneli Mustaparta in Tuscany have got me jonesing for a summer vacation in Europe, big-time.

Left Photo: Judy Aldridge, Right Photo: Hanneli Mustaparta

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I recently bought PJ Harvey's new album, Let England Shake.  It's pretty fabulous!  I can't stop listening to it, especially the song, The Glorious Land.  Also here is an interesting interview with Harvey on Fresh Air.

photo source: Seamus Murphy, from NPR

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I always adore the styling in the Toast House and Home catalogues.  This is basically what I want my next vacation/summer months to look like.  All images from Toast SS11 catalogue.

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Do you guys ever get the wanderlust?  You know, that insatiable need to hop on a plane and fly to someplace new, exotic, and far away?  I have this feeling pretty much all the time, but am especially feeling it this morning.  If you could get on a plane right now, where would you go?  I'd go to England, where the snowdrops are probably signaling the very beginning of spring, and have a nice visit with my sister.

photo by zsita on flickr

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On that (new) note.

A bright and colorful window shopping collection.  (Svpply makes window shopping really fun.)  Really, it's all about those tights.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

(Oh and I have no problem listing these things through links as above.  Because we are just looking, not actually shopping...)

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If you read this space somewhat regularly, you may have noticed that I haven't posted about clothes lately.  A while back I was thinking about my own relationship to materialism and became slightly disturbed by just how much my blog was devoted to the notion of wanting things.  Specifically, wanting things that I don't really need and that I have no business trying to purchase at this moment in my life.  

Since September I have been on a self-imposed spending freeze.  It started slowly at first, more out of need to drastically curb my spending, but after a while I just decided to keep up with it.  And with the exception of buying Christmas presents (including a few items of on sale clothing for myself) I have stuck to it, more or less.  And it's been surprisingly easy.  Yes I still dream about the perfect pair of Rachel Comey boots, but I'm getting by without for now, and that's OK.  Pretty soon I will have to temporarily freeze my spending freeze out of necessity (more on that later), and I will feel totally OK with that as well.  

In the meantime I have continued to troll my favorite blogs, perusing the internet and magazines and pausing when I see something beautiful that I like.  It's like window shopping--you get to have the nice part of looking and admiring without having to really try anything on.  And it's fun.  So I've decided that bringing a few "pretty things" back to this space is alright.  Because it's nice to appreciate, even from afar.

photo by Lieke Romeijn, one of my favorite photographers

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I'm not even sure why I'm posting these images.  They are from a historical house in NSW, Australia, and for some reason they intrigue me.  Maybe it's because I tend to like things that aren't overly "done," in the sense that things are so decorated that they look twee, or overly matchy.  I think good interiors, like good homes, tell the stories of the people who have lived in them.  And when I look at this old house I can't help but wonder about the people who have lived it, including as the article indicates, Miss Aphrasia Maughan.  Aphrasia Maughan, now there's a name.

images and article from Real Homes

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My favorite line from one of my favorite movies, Lost In Translation: "and every girl goes through a photography phase, like horses, you know, pictures of your feet..."

Guilty as charged.

(Although, underneath those feet is a 300 foot plunge into the southern atlantic ocean at the Cape of Good Hope, which is pretty cool, I think.)

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What is it about us humans that we are always looking to get what we can't have?  When I was little I fantasized about having curly hair even though my blond hair basically hangs as straight as pieces of dried spaghetti.  I've made my peace with my hair (and my looks in general) but I still find myself living as a "grass is greener" person.

Lately that has come in the form of scouring blogs from the southern hemisphere.  Where it is summer.  And hot.  And life seems like the vacation that we northern hemisphere people would take drastic measures to be on.  Of course I'm sure that life down South is just as hectic as anywhere, but still the images of blue skies, oceans and bare skin have me swooning.

Here are my current favorites.  From Australia:  Rummey Bears, Little Pinwheel, Pia Jane Bijkerk.  From South Africa: Size Too Small and Miss Moss.

Photos: top - Yosigo; bottom - Alice Bernarndo

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Today I woke up and I felt good.  Good for the first time since the holidays.  I think there is something about January that, well, doesn't bring out the best in me.  The weather here in San Francisco has been truly glorious for the past few weeks, and I today my mood seems to be finally matching the endless blue skies.  So here's to that!

What are you up to this weekend?  I'm having a very "California in February" weekend.  Tonight we are making fish tacos and I'm going to be reading Persuasion, by Jane Austen, for school.  Tomorrow I'd like to take a do some laps in the outdoor swimming pool where I swim, and on Sunday I'm going to watch a friend run her first half marathon!  (There will be some football viewing, too.)

Hope whatever you are up to that it brings a smile to your face. xo

Photograph by Yosigo, via the English Muse.

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A couple of weeks ago my husband went on a ski trip in the remote mountains of British Columbia.  He and a group of guys stayed in two cabins that can only be reached by helicopter!  Some of their pictures take my breath away.

Photos by Harris Jordan, one of the skiers.

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Over the holidays, my oh so chic sister was wearing these Penelope Chilvers clogs.  Comfort plus shearling on the inside?  Yes, please.

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I want to go to here.  Turpan, China, and the Silk Road as seen through the lens of Jacky Douchet.

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A big thank you to Liz, from Say Yes to Hoboken!, for featuring By Its Own Design on her list of up and coming blogs from the Alt Summit!  Such lovely company to be in.

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My other half has been away for over a week, ski touring from a remote cabin in British Columbia.  I've been taking advantage of a quiet house to try and write as much as possible, and am sure ready for a little break.  Off to the pictures to catch either The Fighter or Black Swan.  Such different options, I know.  Inspired by the words of Roald Dahl, have a magical weekend.  Whether it be snowy or sunny!

Can't remember where I found this image.  Let me know if you know its attribution.

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What I'm thinking about and working on today.  A little glimpse of the novel I'm writing about various generations of a family (some of them peach farmers) that live in the high desert of Western Colorado.

Harlan grew up studying both at the little school down the hill and along the shaded rows of the orchards.  During the summers he worked underneath the trees, picking and packing alongside everyone they knew.  His long body would be covered up in overalls and his tawny hair tucked underneath his broad cowboy hat as he tried to shield himself from the deadly desert sun.

      
Redhavens were the first ones to ripen, as early as mid-July.  They were plump, like rosy cheeks, and had vermillion rings around their pits.  Redglobes were the giants of the group—to an untrained eye they resembled apples, until you wrapped your palm around their velvety skin.  Suncrests were like little precious stones that grew on trees with their yellow undercoat and brushing of red fuzz.  Cresthavens came in towards September, right when the light would start to turn, and it often seemed to Harlan that their amber flesh was a harbinger of autumn’s fading golden days.   

photographs by J. Nordberg

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Ahh, winter.  I am one of those people whose mood goes kaput when the sun circles low in the winter sky.  Little threads of doubt creep into my head.  They usually revolve around the same theme: “your work/writing is total rubbish—why are you even attempting this?”  I try very hard to keep these thoughts away, and am forever coming up with new solutions.  Exercise!  No matter what, fresh air makes you feel better.  Embrace the coziness!  Light candles all around your house and stay warm, then you won’t feel depressed.  Wake up early with the light and go to bed with the dark, and you’ll feel energized! 

The thing is, that none of these things have ever really worked for me.  The fact is that when the sun goes away, my usual optimistic “I can handle it with a smile on my face” attitude sort of disappears. 

I remember once when talking to a friend about struggle, she told me that for years and years, she would bang her head against whatever obstacle was in her way, and no matter how heavy it was, she’d try to push it away.  Only it inevitably turned out to be way to heavy for her to do anything about it.  Then one day, doing something completely mundane, she realized that she could just walk around the boulder, rather than walk into it.

Walk around it.  Hmm.  What exactly does that mean?  I’ve thought about it for a while now, and I think what it means for me is surrendering.  That there are times in life—seasons in the year, where you aren’t always in control over how you feel.  And that this is OK.  Here’s the real thing: not only is it OK, it’s totally natural. 

What would happen if I gave in to these feelings of somberness and soberness?  What would happen if I let myself sleep in rather than waking up and going for a run?  What would happen if I allowed myself to be quiet and still.  What would happen if I acknowledged that I feel less “good” than other times when I’m energized and feel great and life is good?  After all, what’s the worst that could happen?  I’d be what I already am: a body in sleep mode, waiting for spring.

photos credits. top: Katie de Bruycker, middle: MariaJC, bottom: Lara Alegre.

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On happier note, some dreamy images of Europe under snow over at Pia's blog.  Glad that there are some who are enjoying the wintry wonderland.  (Still soliciting good thoughts for my sister's situation!)