Sit and Be Fit?!

Ankle hurt, no chance of any kind of exercise. Please tell me if you have any better alternatives. Though I must admit these old birds seem sassy.

Thiebaud

Thanks to Ali, I knew to check out the Springville Art Museum to see a Wayne Thiebaud exhibit on the way back from the family reunion. I love Thiebaud's food art (for which you probably know him best). At this exhibit, what I loved the most was the California-ness of his art. The colors are so pretty and washed out, yet vibrant. You can see the rest of my pix from the show (and the rest of the museum) here.Not to take the surprise away from all of you which will receive this but... my favorite baby gift of late has been this. So adorable.

Food?

I am obsessed with convenience stores. Typically ones in other countries have the most mysterious things, but I recently realized that Idaho also has some true gems. I present you with three:

I've actually eaten these. They are chocolate, marshmallow, and coconut, and so are obviously good.
I want to meet the creative GENIUS who had the vision to know that what sunflower seeds lacked was artificial dill pickle flavoring. I did not taste these.

I don't want to get all racialist on you, but, am I allowed to start saying "TJ mama" in lieu of "hot mama"? Again, with the pickling!

All in the Family

Memorial Day was spent in Idaho at a family reunion with my mother's family. We haven't all been together for 15 years. It was a really great time-- so nice to see how you turned out like you did, where your parents came from, and what makes you a family, after all. Oh, and there were so many adorable babies. Chief among them was my nephew Owen.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of great photos of the weekend. My favorite is this one of my sister Jane (age 13), just as she won a backseat battle royale against my sister Mary (age 26) who can be seen in the background. Family + hours in the car = remembering what childhood is all about.

Get Better

I've been loving Mates of State's new album (and get to see them tonight). This video is great-- I think it does a nice job synthesizing a lot of visual trends of the last year- lighting, themes, animals etc. Plus the song is great.

Dreaming

No more. This beauty is mine all mine! I'm so excited for some pretty pictures. Look for them soon.

Indy Rocks

well mostly. Attacking zombie people, monkeys, crystal skulls, aliens, real Russians, fake Russians. Really the new Indiana Jones has it all, except perhaps some sense. None the less it was worth a low sleep night to catch at 12:15 viewing. My costume (lots of safari type stuff w/ eppulets and aviators) was under appreciated. Rebecca's costume was understated but awesome.

'e' is for emily

and that's good enough for me. . . I love letters, especially the little letter e. Stephanie DeArmond's work is amazing, and I'm happy to report that I am now the proud owner of this beauty-- a cursive 'e'.

All the Pretty Girls

My friend Amanda Michelle Smith had a solo show open at Jack Fischer Gallery on Saturday. Her art is AMAZING (that's a total understatement, but it may have to stand). It's all ceramic, and she does the most amazing miniature details with glazes and under glazes-- and then has to fire, and refire it all. They are absolutely beautiful, and pretty much at the top of my list of stuff I will buy when I begin contributing to society.
Full set of pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80952611@N00/sets/72157605131822071/

Hope on the Streets

Always see the best things wandering around SF on week nights. This was in the financial district.

Eye of the ...

Love the packaging on this-- especially since the jar is the size of a quarter.

Any guesses what my favorite color is?

As I was driving up to Amanda Smith's opening yesterday I glanced over at the passenger seat, and this is what I saw:

May 5th

Today is an allegedly Mexican holiday which I'm pretty sure only people in the US celebrate. However, since I love all things Mexican (really) I think it's worth celebrating. In addition to gorging myself on some delicious tacos and enchiladas, I made small versions of this lime cream cheese pound cake (citrus = Mexican, sorta, no?). I also recommend this salad-- though it lacks queso, it is truly amazing.
On a recent trip to Mexico, I realized how pathetic my Spanish is (which I feel mainly ok about, since I've never actually taken a class). However, I soon realized, that knowing a few key phrases and adding "corazón" (heart!) to them pretty much got me everything I wanted there. This somewhat novel (controversial?) notion of the Spanish language was re-enforced a few days ago, when I was listening to the radio and hear the greatest song. Imagine a Rod Stewart type voice saying "Donde sta corazón?!!!" with a lot of pain in it. Then children pick up the refrain, back and forth. It pretty much changed my life-- am working on getting a copy of the song, will keep you posted.

My quest to find my corazón led to the discovery of some killer Mexican handicrafts like these. I think I like them because my heart really does spontaneously erupt into flames occasionally. Special thanks to my travel mates who were supportive and patient with the shopping portion of my quest for corazón.
Bottom line, I hope that on this day all of you find your fill of Mexican food and also your own special corazóns.

P.S. This is the best Corazon picture, but I can't seem to get it to post-- do look at it though.

Happy May Day!

flower 005
Originally uploaded by yein~

I love the old fashion traditions of giving flowers and having worker's demonstrations on May 1. Hope you're having a good day, with a few flowers in sight.

Helping Hands

Walking out of a club the other night it became apparent that even the mighty trolleys of San Francisco can use a little help. The driver and a few passengers were trying to push the car to a rolling start. Was I any help? Nah, I was busy snapping pix.

Travel in Style

I'm sick of those ugly black rollerbags everyone has. I finally found a super cute alternative, but then decided that it didn't fit my budget. I just put it up on on ebay (sobbing noise). But my budget goals could be your style gain.
Anyone got some budget alternatives?

Earth Day meets Spring Cleaning

Recycling is good for you, me, and the earth. The problem I sometimes face is that I truly love a lot of the cool stuff I have, and fear that if I donate it, it may not be as beloved in someone else's home. This fear, as you might imagine, means I have more treasures than a small, shared apartment can hold. Solution? Swap time!

Spring cleaning swap: The idea is that you need to free up some space, but which cool treasure to get rid of? Hopefully sending it off to the loving embrace of a fellow swapper will ease the pain, create some extra space, and let you anticipate getting mail from a stranger. Even better is the fact that swapping that stuff is a form of recycling.

The nitty gritty:
1- Select a treasure to be treasured by someone else.
2- shoot me an email at emilycox at gmail dot com with the subject line: Spring Cleaning Swap and please include
a) your name
b) your mailing address
c) your email
d) something about treasures you could make room for
e) what you hate to clean the very most
f) indicate if you are ok with an international partner
e) your blog or flickr url (not required but nice)
3- do this by may 3
4- you'll get your swap assignment
5- send off your treasure and eagerly await yours by the may 12

Who says you can't kill 5 birds with one stone?

Picture from Real Simple

Earth Day: Giving to your Mom

For Mother's day this year I've decided to give my mom something that will help Mother Earth. I've settled on reusable shopping bags-- something I've been working on being better about myself. After hearing my idea my friend Amanda hunted down all these great options. I actually think the best strategy is to get a couple of different kinds of bags-- some really sturdy ones for things like milk and detergent, and a couple of small portable ones, to keep in her purse for smaller purchases.

If any of you have sources for great reusable shopping bags, I'd love to hear them. Any other great earth friendly Mother's day gifts? I think my Earth day gift to myself will be one of these bottles-- bottled water is so bourgeoise, and bad for the environment.

Earth Day: Get Involved

The most innovative environmental organization I know of is Seacology, based in Berkeley, CA. It was started by my father in order to provide a way for indigenous people to build things like schools, hospitals and water supplies without resorting to destroying their environment to raise the money. Seacology has won all kinds of awards for the creative way in which it respects the ability of indigenous cultures to take care of the environment, while at the same time improving their opportunities for and access to health care and education. The business model for Seacology is also unique in that every cent of every dollar you donate will to a project-- not to any kind of administrative overhead.

If you're looking into a way to celebrate Earth Day, take a look at Seacology's projects. Maybe even donate a little money-- it's one way in which even the smallest donation make a big difference.

Happy Earth Day!

Go Green! The environment is something that I care about deeply-- it's a family thing, since I come from a long line of biologists and park rangers. There's a lot of little things we each can do to make the world a better place-- and I hope we each choose a small thing or two and work on improving our own behavior.

Old Stuff

Is always better than new stuff. Discuss amongst yourselves.
* found amongst all kinds of older wonders here. (click on picture for specific info)

Lust

$1000.. but so beautiful. She's amazing.

Whether or not

You'll be voting for the man, you've got to give it up for Shepard Fairey's campaign posters. I have a very soft spot for propaganda art, and it doesn't get any better than these. You can buy your "Change" poster here.

Inspiring?

Found this in a copy of Wallpaper. The copy on this ad unbelievably awesome. The most significant development in the world? Really? I might have voted for the Polio Vaccine or Tivo. Nope, apparently it is in fact a pricey condo. Online, they've changed the wording to "most significant residential development"view the site with sound ON).

Style

She had it. I've been going to a lot of films at the Stanford Theatre lately. So many reasons to love them. Mainly because of how well dressed all the ladies are. Sigh. Oh, and the $1.50 sodas.

Sweetness is my weakness

Especially when it comes in an adorable package. After eying these at the check out for the last month I finally swallowed the $3.49 price tage, and bought these little guys. Spicy Freshness is MINE!

In the mail..

Much as I adore the world wide web, I have to say I still enjoy getting a few catalogues in the m (I have canceled most of the ones that used to come in an attempt to save trees and money). The reason I love the physical catalogue is that I think it's a lot easier to get a sense of the products, especially when they are well merchandised. For example, I like Cath Kidston (though it's not really my style), but I LOVE these two spreads from the Spring 2008 catalogue. They make me think about her line in a different way. That skirt! The sewing box!

Lost Boys?

I fell in LOVE with this little guy. He was hustling at the Chris Johanson opening at Jack Hanley on Saturday night. The show was amazing-- Chris had installed all kinds of fake walls and low beams in the gallery. It made it feel like you were crawling around a kid's fort. Probably why the kiddy ink artist was there. I asked him to show me some of his work-- he had B-I-K-E across his knuckles. Ahh... The sign read “ Skull & Crossbones Tattoos Here! 50 cents per tattoo! Cheap!”**** I did take a photo where you could read the sign.. but I liked this one, w/ the focus on his face, more.

Vignettes

Ali got me started thinking about little pieces of my pad that I love. Living in a small space with a roommate means that there are a lot of compromises. But here are a few spots I love just the way they are.

The first is on the bathroom counter where a girlie side of me I didn't know I had has come out. The pink jar is from Target, the blue from anthropologie, and the white from the Alameda Flea market.
This is a postcard made by my friend Casey Jex Smith specifically for this frame. He mailed it to my work address-- getting it was one of the best days working for the man ever! I got the deer at a flea market in Moscow, and the bird is an antique toy my mom found.

So Not PC.....

but also but adorable. I took a break from working hard to drop by the flea market. Found these invitations-- I can't wait to use them.

Spring has Sprung!

20 daffodils in a vintage vase I picked up at the charity shop.

Get thee hence!

This time of year is hard. Hard because of the bounty of delicious sugary goodness. The only way to be healthy is to avoid all grocery stores and strictly ration all these gems. I'll just admit. I'm a failure on both those counts.

Exhibit A
Sugar in its purest, most delicious form. There are two types of people in the world. Those who get it. And haters.


Exhibit B
One gram of fat (almost) per piece. So good. So very, very, very good. good. good. good. I am utterly powerless to resist these.

Exhibit C
How can something that seems so wrong be so right? Proof positive that the UK is more civilized than the US? Cross the pond these gems are available year round. And, they don't seem to be shrinking in size over there.

wish i was a baller..

Not really. But I do wish that I was a better photographer. That same same dim/dark mobile pictured last month looks so much better in her photographs. So glad it got a good home, AND that she likes it! For inspirational mobiles see this flickr set. More of my contribution here. I have to say, I'm kinda proud of the little guy. Special thanks to Molly A. who supplied me with vintage ric rac many years ago.