Lego Land

I don't think I've ever mentioned my love of miniatures and dioramas here. Well a trip to Lego Land last week totally reignited the passion. So. Awesome.

California Home and Design

I bought three copies of the April issue of California Home and Design last night. Why? Because inside is a story that I shot all the images for! I'm so excited to share my first editorial spread with you.


I look a little bit serious here in my contributor photo (yay for being a contributor).




It was a really great project put together by Vanessa de Vargas. Basically 18 different interior designers took on a room in the Upward Bound Shelter in Culver City and made it their own. Many of the designers went deep into their own pockets to get it done and a lot of care went into each one. I shot all 18 (in one day and without any electricity in the rooms, omg it was stressful) and California Home and Design featured 3 of them: Vanessa de Vargas, Kelly La Plante and Bridgid Coulter. For info on all the designers and vendors who donated their time, energy and goods click here.

From the Garden

The Garden is exploding! I've made 3 salads already with all the lettuce and on a whim I just go out back and grab a hand full of herbs. It is intoxicating. Can't wait for the tomatoes and cucumbers to start coming in.



Here are the heirloom pumpkin seedlings. Need to get these into the ground.



How is everyone's Spring?

Wick Architecture and Design

I wanted to share a recent project photographing a Build it Green and Energy Star certified residence designed by Leed Certified architect David Wick. David was great to work with and obviously the space he created is awesome.

See more of the pics on the Wick Architecture and Design website.

And stay tuned, I'm putting some finishing touches on my new photo site. (Can someone else please write my bio for me, though?).

UPDATE: Yay, Jetson Green covered the house and wrote up a quick story right here.

Framed Paintings

I noticed this simple idea at my dad's house. He has quite a collection of smaller thrift store paintings up around the house. Recently he put some of them in simple Ikea Ribba frames, floating without a matte.

I think it gives them a lot more presence without any of the fuss of 'framing' your artwork.

My Little Office Update

Despite positive reviews for my little office, I did a swaparoo to accommodate a little credenza I found at the salvation army and painted with leftover paint from the kitchen. I love it, though it's sort of so small that it's not that practical for storing the boxes I have full of decorations, supplies and photographs.





I paired it with Elliott's pelican, a poster I found at a store in Portland for $4, a thrift store print of Mt. Hood and the portraits of my grandmothers that I love so. I'm also trying out a succulent I had sitting outside. Not sure if there's enough light in there. And, of course, Hazel likes to squeeze herself in anywhere she can.

Anywho, I put it against the wall that the desk use to be against and now the desk is on the other side, though it needs some major tlc so it doesn't look so sad and alone over there.



I'd like a nice chair to cuddle up in next to it. And I'm still searching for the rug that went missing after our move because I think it would be perfect for covering up the wall to wall.

I love this little room. It clearly used to be a sleeping porch that someone walled in at some point. But it feels like a little tree house. In another life, this would be my bedroom.

Thea's Parents' Garden

Went back in time yesterday to dye eggs with some of my best friends at a house we all spent a lot of time in in High School. Thea's Parents' house in echo park has a giant backyard with 4 raised bed vegetable gardens, a koi pond, wildflowers (from Theodore Payne), a cheramoya tree, a whole succulent propogation area and a beautiful view. It always feels reassuring to be able to return to a place that is so familiar and so beautiful.

Happy Weekend

Wrapping up a long week of editing and retouching images and going cross eyed from looking at the computer (also, stay tuned, I should have my website updated next week). Looking forward to an easy Easter weekend with relaxation, a couple episodes of Friday Night Lights (I know, I'm about 3 years late, but I'm obsessed!) and some time spent outdoors.

I'm also excited to dye some eggs and hide them for the little girls. Then, with the hard boiled bounty I plan to make an ass load of egg salad.



Happy Weekend Everyone!

Show Off Alert

Just wanted to mention that things have been a little slow around here because of a little work I picked up with the man pictured above. Yes, that's who you think it is. I got a special spot in the art department of a show he's working on. I've had a great time over the last week with the crew and even a few funny moments with Thom.

Spring Flowers

I have been good about keeping fresh flowers in this vase on this credenza in the dining room since we moved. And when I'm feeling flexible I'll even get stargazers, even though they inevitably fall apart and leave staining pollen dust on everything. They're just so beautiful they're hard to say no to.

But hands down, my favorite flowers right now are ranunculus. The way they always look wild and the petals feather out and they come in all these colors, they just make me feel so happy. So these sit next to the bathtub and in front of Elliott's zebra (the one he got from his gramma).

Bird's Nest

We recently discovered a bird's nest tucked under the eaves on the front porch. When I peeked inside there were these two little eggs. Then this morning, I peeked again and there were three! The mama stays close unless we slam the front door (or start climbing up to peek) and I can't wait to hear those babies hatch.

DIY Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

On my list of things I wanted to do in 2010 was build a raised bed vegetable garden. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have done it. With the help of E and Thea and my mom I am now the proud caretaker of a vegetable garden complete with cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, swiss chard, lettuce, beans, artichokes and squash. I'm also trying to start some pumpkins, watermelon and other tomatoes from seed, so those might end up in the bed further down the road.

I was surprised how easy it was to build. A lot of sites suggest some pretty complicated ways to build a raised bed, but here's how we did it:

Pick a spot.



We picked this spot because the grass was already dead and it got really good light all day (south facing).

Choose Dimensions:



I did 4x6 so that I could still easily reach across about 2 feet on each side. I plotted where the box would sit and turned the soil to discourage any of that grass from growing underneath my vegetables.

Deter Weeds and Rodents:





I used a wire mesh to keep gophers and moles from burrowing up below and a weed cloth to keep the grass out.

Build the Frame:



To build the box we used 2x6 pieces of redwood (you want to get redwood or cedar because they're just straight wood and won't leach any chemicals into your food the way a pressboard or plywood would). I wanted the bed to be about a foot deep so we built two levels of 4x6 dimension frames and stacked them. Nothing fancy, just screwed it all together and stacked them.

Fill It With Dirt/Compost/Fertilizer:





I bought a whole car load of soil (24 cubic feet of soil). I got 'organic' and didn't go for anything with a fertilizer built in because that stuff scares me. I also bought 2 bags of manure for fertilizer and 2 bags of compost to work into the soil to keep it from getting too dense.

Placement:


We poured all the soil in, stirred it around and then leveled it off and started plotting our placement. Since it was my first vegetable garden I wanted to start with some momentum so I didn't start everything from seed, I just went to armstrong and picked out the things I wanted to try and grow. I followed the directions on the packages for placement and made sure that anything that would grow really large wouldn't end up shading other plants. I'll need to make a trellis for the beans once they grow larger so I put them on the northern side of the box so that they won't cast a shadow when they're growing up. Besides that, I just tried to make them look nice.



I can't wait to watch these things grow and then walk out to the garden to pick things to cook. Delicious!