Hello, friends. I am so excited to share this with you. I made a book!

Well, I like to believe this book made itself, really. I'll be sharing some sneak peaks on film next week of some of my favorite spreads But for now, feel free to glipse the first 15 pages of my book HERE. ;)

we never really knew what time it was is a collection of photographs taken while camping on a remote island in Lake Michigan. As a bonus, I included a few of our favorite camping recipes, too.

Its a quiet book. And I like to think it celebrates the sun and its summery magical-ness.




To ensure the recipes are just right, I tested them a few times, as when I cook and bake I usually find myself adding a little bit of this and that, which can be so trying keeping tabs on, so I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

As summer will soon be coming to a close, I hope you turn to the pages in this book for inspiration, to fulfill your need for a bit of sun magic to give you warm thoughts in the coming weeks and months.

You can preview the book HERE, and if you feel so inclined, you can order a copy of the book, HERE.

As an aside, thank you, Jen for featuring me as a breakfast guest on your blog this week.

a recipe for you.. (we're really enjoying this lately)

Summer Salsa

1 peach {chopped into 1in cubes}
1 mango {chopped into 1in cubes}
2 avocados {chopped into 1in cubes}
1C black beans {soaked overnight, or canned}
1C fresh corn {freshly shucked; steamed and left to cool is best}
1/2C fresh cilantro roughly chopped
1/2 medium red onion or 1 small red onion finely chopped
4 romas {deseeded and chopped into 1in cubes}

Combine all ingredients above in a large bowl; lightly toss with fingers; drizzle in a few tablespoons of your favorite frangrant extra virgin olive oil, a teaspoon or so of chili pepper sauce such as this one, juice of a lime and or lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss once again lightly with your fingers and serve.

Happy sunday! xx

Just a quick stop in to show you a few images that make me happy lately. Please do click on the links below to view each image bigger and to also see who each image belongs to!

1. that time of year, 2. Bubble boom!, 3. The sky is so shallow., 4. yes it's summer

I will be returning to this space Friday to show you more film from our trip last week.

this image {above} along with a few other fun bits were sent out to a special
person for a trade ;)



i will be away from this space for a few days, as i have a roaring deadline to meet.. though, some of you may be delighted to know i have updated my shop a bit.



For now, i leave you with this last image to daydream about your next campfire or bonfire affair. Smokey campfire meals are really some of the best meals, aren't they?

see you soon.

We readily enjoyed the peaceful simplicity the island provided us. With full bellies, we chased the golden sun in the evening on our walks with only the simple desire to bask in the quiet, breathe in the cool air breezes wafting from lake michigan, and of course, find the perfect spot with which to clean our freshly soiled campfire pots and dishes.

We never really knew what time it was. No phones. No cell service. No watches, left them at home. Only the two of us on an island, surrounded by beautiful woods, crisp water that tickled our toes, refreshing, cool lake breezes and endless sun for a couple of days. Heaven.

This past September we took a train and ferry ride from Zagreb and ventured eastward to an island in the adriatic sea. Tomorrow, we head northward for a camping adventure and ferry ride to an island getaway on the other side of the lake. :) I love ferry rides and camping adventures. I really cannot wait to set up camp on the sandy beaches.. dive into the chilly water by day and fill my lungs with the salty, crisp lake breezes by night. I baked a lemon almond blueberry crumble, daily granola and lemon blueberry muffins along with preparing vegetables to have with a handful of our highly anticipated campfire meals. Today I will be making a hearty batch of this soup to pack in our two thermoses.. because really, there is nothing like soup when you're camping, hot or cold. This particular island only allows travel by foot. No bikes or cars allowed, which will be a wonderful departure from our bustling city life.

Above is a snap I took on film while vacationing in Komiza, Croatia this past September.

See you back in this space in about a week, friends. xx

While I was away visiting with family this past week my niece's first dance class happened! and I was able to be there to see her shy smile and twinkling eyes as she bit her lower lip tapping her toes to the music, gazing into the mirror at the other young boys and girls trying to keep up. The whole 5 minute long routine just about melted my heart.

I began my own relationship with ballet when I was about 2 1/2ish years old (my niece's age, too.) I actually remember those classes well. We would run and jump over this large, dusty, red, velvet pillow and always ate teeny tiny colored marshmallows at the end of every class. I trained for about 3 days a week with my ballet instructor, Mrs. Atkinson for years. Mrs. Atkinson loved to partake in snacking and sucking on mints during class, and she always wore a pink velour sweatsuit and bright pink lipstick. I trained until I was about 18 years old and haven't gone to a class since, because I think I'd insist my instructor to play the same piano tunes, wear pink velour sweat suites and suck on mints -- it just wouldn't be the same!

Maybe M will love ballet as much as I had? She was so quiet in the car ride home, daydreaming about the experience she just had. An aunt can dream too..

Above is a snap of my niece dancing in her first dance class and below it, my very first pair of pointe shoes. {To my surprise, my mom had them stashed away in her hope chest for me.}

What I recall being a beautifully sunny week at home has been captured as dim and quiet. To me, the quiet really resonates here. I really like how the peacefulness of my day-to-day can be captured in the subtleties of my everyday life... the simple moments of our home life I treasure most.

a portrait of our mussy bed. Featured HERE.

The sun has been so beautiful in our home lately. Above are a few images I took last week... the sun setting in our hallway and my breakfast of yoghurt, honey, fresh blackberries and espresso. I will be working all day tomorrow, but it will be fun work.

Happy weekend friends!

We dined on castel vetrano olives and wood fired pizza at a favorite restaurant a few nights ago and the magical sun made a garden patch of ferns glow. I have a few fun projects in the works over these next few days. I can't wait to share them with you next week.

Happy weekend friends!

Making messes cooking in the kitchen this past week has kept me happy while the sun was away, but it finally reared its head yesterday. Oh thank goodness. Let's hope the sunshine has plans to stick around for a while.

S is preparing for a trip to work abroad and premiere a work in progress performance at the PSI Conference in Zagreb, Croatia... and I think our boys are suspicious of his actions. :)

Remember my post about Maya Lin's Storm King Wavefield? Her website plays a beautiful melody.

More beautiful sounds.

Interview Project. Gordon lives in Moab, Utah, one of my favorite places to visit...

We've been munching on something delicious these past few days so I'm sharing a recipe today, adapted from Sunset's Backyard dining issue, June 2007.

Chipotle Slaw
Makes 6-8 Servings

1/3 C mayonnaise
1/3 C sour cream
3 tbsp. to 1/4 C white vinegar
1 tbsp. molasses (not blackstrap)
1 1/2 tsp. raw sugar
1 canned chipotle chile, minced, plus 2 tbsp. abobo sauce from the can (I usually add adobo sauce to taste, as we love spicy foods around here)
About 1 tsp. kosher salt
6 C each packed shredded napa and red cabbage
7 green onions, light green and pale portions, sliced into thin rounds
1 C tightly packed chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

1. Prepare the dressing: In a medium bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, molasses, sugar, minced chile, adobo sauce, and 1tsp. salt.

2. In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, green onions, and 3/4 C chopped cilantro (if using). Pour dressing over vegetables, toss well, and refrigerate for atleast 30 minutes and up to 4 hours before serving. Also, before serving, scatter remaining cilantro on top (if using).

We find this slaw goes with anything. Especially if anything is grilled. Its even incredibly good by itself. In that case all you need is a big spoon. ;) This lovely slaw gets better with age, so if you are planning a party, I would recommend making hours or a day in advance. Stays fresh in the fridge for a good 3-4 days, if it lasts that long. :)

I've been spending a lot of time in my studio these days.

I'm off to my show with a bunch of studio flat mates.. Its a really fantastic show and I am thrilled to be apart of it. stop by if you're a chicagoan!..

oh yes.. there may be free beer as grolsch has kindly sponsored the event.

Everyday life images making breakfast and watering our plants a few weeks ago. Our roma tomatoes are ripening. So anxious to eat them in a summer salad with fresh greens from our neighborhood farmer's market.

Happy weekend friends!

"I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realizes an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past. "

— Virginia Woolf

I leave you on a rainy chicago friday with this beautiful tune.

Spring Prints Set available in my shop.

happy weekend, friends :)

I have spring fever mixed with polaroid fever lately.

My shop has been updated for spring!

In austin I found a mint vintage yashica electro 35 gsn rangefinder at uncommon objects on south congress. I'm so happy about that find..

while flying home i came across this passage reading dave eggers's the only meaning of the oil-wet water:

low-flying, quick moving clouds: I haven't long to live.

treetops, rounded and rough: That's probably true.

low-flying, quick moving clouds: I won't even make it to the sea. I can already see where I'll end.

treetops, rounded and rough: I don't know what to tell you.

low-flying, quick moving clouds: But the thing is, I really love moving like this, though I know I won't even make it.

treetops, rounded and rough: There are advantages to flight.

low-flying, quick moving clouds: But thought is its unfitting companion.

so fitting... isn't it? it was really wonderful watching the boys perform their latest in austin.

Hello there! Austin was perfect. Busying ourselves with s's performances and venturing out to see performances by forced entertainment and miguel gutierrez, it was actually a wonderfully relaxing trip.

Here is a list of a few favorite spots.. a list of must see, must eat places:

~ polvos .. a great spot for mexican food.

~ salt lick bbq .. the great salt lick.

~ woodland cafe .. i highly recommend their chocolate banana bread and chocolate cream pie. You can't really leave this place without having some pie. ;) Tyler said their pulled pork sandwich was the best he's ever had, s dived into their grilled salmon fish tacos without room for dessert and i feasted on their signature woodland salad... so good.

~ bouldin creek .. best vegetarian spot in town. I don't know how they do it.

~ jo's for migas, fresh scones, iced coffee, free wifi and a place you'll want to just sit and take in south congress for hours.

~ iron works .. i went for the ribs and i'm a vegetarian. if you don't have time to drive out to the salt lick, this is the next best place to stop for authentic texas bbq.

~ east austin .. best area of austin my opinion. so rich with character.

~ matt's garden .. an old college friend lives on holly st. in east austin and has the most incredible garden and chicken coup.

~ barton springs pool .. i made myself at home here and chatted it up with the locals. I hope the trees are saved!

~ spider house cafe .. relaxing garden patio night spot.

~ jackalope on 6th and trinity for salty lime tecate, catching up with an old friend.

~ trailer park eatery .. awesome tacos.

~ doc's .. fried pickles.. yum!

~ san jose hotel .. so gorgeous.

Spring is officially outside our window. Its a beautiful day to be outside. We are off to this fine place for a week, more sun!. Happy weekend to you!

s is premiering his 4th evening length performance tomorrow. You can read a review of the show here. I am so excited and am greatly anticipating seeing it.

I took the above photo yesterday while taking a tea and cookie break and below it are the bright and happy flowers i picked up on my walk this morning.

happy weekend ;)

Our everyday mundane sights make for interesting subjects.

We're horribly mundane, aggressively mundane individuals. We're the ninjas of the mundane, you might say.

Andrew John Partridge, (1953- )

Some exciting things happening in the shop today. A new print, cheyenne is available for purchase. {6.5 x 6.5 inch archival inkjet prints on matte Canon photo paper.}

Happy thursday :)

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Jen posted about my postcards on her blog this week, (I am so very happy she loves them). shari was very kind to include me in her curated project, everyone needs a rock. Feel free to click here to see my contribution. ohh, yes and Nancy Bauch is the creator of the geode featured in the photographs I took.

Above: looking out on lake michigan on march 15 and the landscape in my apartment march 16.

... It was a landscape exquisite beyond compare. In this prolonged avenue one was quite overcome, so singular was it, so beautifully haloed and touched around with the gold of sundown; the beauty of it even made one a bit frightened. The avenue turned me into a diffident little boy–whether that's possible or not. The lake and the entire world, this high dome where all things are, stood calm and still, no noise, no breeze passed by, it was like a song, it was like a gentle, solemn, joyful song worshiping creation, in beauty indescribable, and I'm trying here to convey it, as the painter tried to deal with the lake raked by the wind ...

The above excerpt is from Speaking to the Rose by Robert Walser.

with spring so near, I have been longing for the sights and smells, sounds and tastes and feel of the sun on my skin as it was in komiza this past september. I look forward to a time when we can return and enjoy the quiet, peaceful and charming solitude the island provided us.

"Nature, the sky above us, is conducting no mean politics when it presents beauty to all, without discrimination, and nothing old and defective, but fresh and most tasty. Little snowdrops, of what do you speak? They speak still of winter, but also already of spring; they speak of the past, but also saucily and merrily of the new. They speak of the cold but also of something warmer; they speak of snow and at the same time of green, of burgeoning growth. They speak of this and that; they say : Still in the shadows and on the hills lies a fair quantity of snow, but where the sun reaches, it has already melted away. ... the warmth will assert itself everywhere."

Above is an excerpt from 'Snowdrops' in The Walk by Robert Walser.