The weekend, briefly

{colors, photos}

{puppy feet}

{breakfast with d}*

{impromtu tea strainer}

{pups, avocado}**

{snowy, avocado}**

{orange}***

{tape, hearts}

* I may do a lot of the cooking during the week, but Dustin is all over weekend breakfast, always. I love it. 

** I'm not the only one obsessed with avocados this season - the pups were eating them all weekend. They can't finish one in a single sitting, but they are afraid to leave them lying around in case the other one steals it.

*** Currently averaging four oranges a day. This is the only time of year that I eat fruit on a regular basis. I'm more of a veggie person normally.

Mondays have not been happening around here lately. I mean, I get up and go to work because there isn't any way around that. But if I don't feel like looking over photos on Sunday evening, then I don't. I've been trying to institute a two hour pre-bed cutoff, wherein I don't do any work for at least two hours before I go to bed. No computer, no filling orders, nothing. I have intermittent bouts of really annoying insomnia (I fall asleep with no problem, but I'm wide awake at 2 am and can't fall back asleep), which I think mostly flares up when my mind is still running too fast at night, so I'm hoping this will help. So far I'm managing to stick to this 2/3 of the time, and I think it makes a difference when I do.

Whew. The point is, sometimes there will be photos on Mondays and sometimes they won't be here until Tuesday. My random and unsolicited sleep musings were just a bonus. You're welcome!

The weekend, briefly

{rain drops}

{huevos rancheros, sort of}

{streamers}

{terrier tail}

{harvesting}

{for planting}

{circe, bored}

{circe + d}

{byblos baklava}

We had a fairly laid back weekend with significantly less running around than the last few, and it was such a nice break. Southern California suddenly remembered that it is supposed to be January and we got a bit of rain. We let ourselves start thinking about wedding projects, which might have been a mistake because now neither of us wants to look at catering menus or rental information. Instead we watched an entire season of Party Down, while playing around with project mock ups. D drew a set of mustaches with such beautiful crosshatching detail that I couldn't bear to tell him he wasn't the first one to come up with the idea of using them as photobooth props. Sadly, he discovered it the next day while searching a wedding blog. Cue sadness. I maintain that you should do whatever you want for your wedding, no matter how played out it might be online. Because the majority of our guests will have never seen a wedding blog, so they won't have any idea. But I still get the sadness.

The weekend, briefly

Mild weather continues and it feels freakishly good. The light is soft, the afternoons are beautiful. Is it actually January?

{circe sidekick}*

{sunday afternoon}

{light, chopping}

{grapefruit}**

{scene}***

* Sometimes Circe likes to stick very close - this weekend was one of those times. She's usually very independent, so it's kind of sweet to have her underfoot, although it means quite a bit of tripping.

** Grapefruit is so much work to peel completely, but sometimes I like to eat it this way. So satisfying.

*** D experimented with ceramic molds in college, so we have lots of these funny baby doll parts lying around. We arrange them in random places around the house and I tend to forget how strange it must look to other people.

The weekend, briefly

The weekend was a blur of driving, venue visits, budget heart attacks, and dilemmas. Seriously improved by the crazily perfect summer weather we're having. The world was exposed to my bare legs for the first time in months. Hopefully no one was blinded.

{summer in january}

{the casino, ballroom ceiling}

{the casino}

{skeleton, suspended}

{summer in january}

{oranges, eaten}

{parsley, against all odds}

{working}

{jalousies}

The weekend, briefly

Quite a bit of running around this weekend, but weather and traffic cooperated beautifully, making it a good kind of hectic.

The orange tree back home is so full that several of the branches are starting to drag on the ground. Thus commences January in southern California - soon people will resort to leaving full bags on porches at night. Circe has discovered that she loves oranges and she won't leave you alone when you start peeling. She's even convinced the little guy to beg for them, although he isn't as wild about them.

{sink, oranges}

{circe, orange}

{pups, orange}

We did some venue hunting (here and here), following each visit with a food + drinks session.

{san juan capistrano}

Haven is a newish restaurant in Orange, with an excellent rotating beer menu. The hamburger, topped with roasted red bells, pickled red onion and arugula, was seriously good. 

{haven - custom beer flight}

{haven - beer flight finished}

Sunsets have been gorgeous this week - definitely makes the freeway driving more fun.

{driving}

{january sunset}

The last two weeks, briefly

Sorry for the radio silence around here. We had a major family crisis the week before Christmas and all my plans got thrown up in the air. I ended up (after a few tears) letting go of most of the projects I had planned, in favor of actually getting some sleep and a shower. Always the best choice, even if it's hard to make.

And, as treacley as it sounds, the forced simplicity helped remind me of what is most important - our friends and family (and food, of course). It was a very love filled holiday, and we are very blessed. We had an abundance of parties to attend and lots of people to whom we needed to send cards, and I'm grateful for that, even if it feels like a lot of work in the moment.

We did get our beautiful cards sent out, although we cut it really close.  I kept my Ikea fabric on the table for a full two weeks.

{pre-christmas prep}

One of our oldest friends threw a holiday party that mixed strong drinks with gingerbread house decorating. 

{house party}

We had three family Christmas parties to attend and they were all wonderful. We have seriously massive families (marriages + divorces + remarriages + hippie parents that like to stay friends afterwards).

{family christmas party 2010}

And I had my annual girls' Christmas party. It's our 12th year celebrating together and we've added one baby to the pack and have one more on the way (it was Kristin's beautiful baby shower that I went to just a few weeks ago). 

{girls' christmas party 2010}

I didn't actually wrap anything (delegated the few presents we had purchased to D's excellent hands), but my mom had a pretty amazing wrapping station set up, using just the Ikea paper.

{wrapping station}

Circe condescended to snuggle with my on Christmas eve, and she was granted the privilege of being the only dog allowed in the living room for the Christmas celebrations. Of course, she insisted on wearing her dorky bandanna instead of the trendy cowl I made her last year.

{christmas circe}

I made our usual Christmas main dish, savory bread pudding. I honestly don't think there is a better dish for the holiday - it's easy, you set it up the night before, and it can be served warm out of the oven or at room temperature. I make the standard version with applewood smoked bacon for the meat eaters, and a separate dish sans bacon for the veggies. (Baked and served in my beloved Dansk dishes)

{savory bread pudding}

We had the standard trappings - a blazing fire and plenty of pies (made by my mom - I didn't touch a pie crust this whole season, sadly). 

{firewood}

{pies}

My parents have given up traditional Christmas trees for good, and this year they created a sparse tree from the manzanita branches collected from the garden. It's mostly hung with crystals from the chandelier we had years ago and the china snowflakes that my mom has bought for my stepdad each year of their marriage.

{manzanita christmas tree}

D and I had a very low key New Year's Eve, with fancy champagne and take out Chinese food, a detailed new year budget proposal (my traditional new year's activity) and a Bored to Death marathon. Exactly what I needed.

{new year's eve 2010}

Whew. So I'm back, and easing back into the normal routine, which will hopefully also include regular blogging. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!