the KITCHEN view

Despite the crack in our front door that lets spiders and rollypollies roam free in our living room, the slant of every interior surface that gives me a headache if I focus on it too hard, the spring pollen that lets itself into our home and noses, and the paper thin windows that allow us to hear every crackle of every leaf at every hour of the night... I truly love living here for sights such as this- the view out my kitchen window yesterday.

happy MONDAY & WEEKEND recap

- via simple moth-

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday (or non-holiday) weekend! On the third, Hubby and I joined family friends at their beautiful home in the wine country to enjoy food, drinks, and dessert and watch the local fireworks from their backyard. They are talented caterers so the food is always delicious, and their home is also surrounded by luscious vineyards so it is always lovely to look at. Then Saturday and Sunday I spent my days inside, being rather sluggish. Hubby made Johnnycakes for breakfast both days from the Babycakes NYC Cookbook. They were amazing and I drowned them in agave nectar. Hubby spoils me. (xo)

In other news, I am considering leaving California so I can have a pet hedgehog. Why must California keep me from having all the best pets?

meet YOGURT & BOOBOO

Have I ever introduced you to my dear little kitties? I don't think I have! Shame on me! Hubby and I don't have children, but we do have cats. Here they are in all their stretched out glory. Yogurt (Yogi for short) is our white furball and BooBoo is the tabby (yes, Yogi and BooBoo). They are brothers and we adopted them a year and a half ago from a local animal shelter. We went to the shelter to adopt one kitten and came out with two. How could we separate siblings? I'm glad we brought them both home because they adore each other and I can't imagine how sad they would have been in separate homes. They are two of the sweetest, funniest and most loving cats you'll ever meet. 

Oh, and Yogurt is terribly photogenic, and I think he knows it, while BooBoo is not, but BooBoo is perfectly fine staying out of the limelight. That's all. I just thought you should meet them. They make me smile and I like to share the things that make me smile. : )

BOYGIRLPARTY musical animals

How cute would these prints by Susie Ghahremani of boygirlparty look above someone's piano or in their music room... Or pretty much anywhere?

Pianocto

Duckling Guitar

Organ Owls

Cat Bird

So cute that I want to get them for above MY piano!

nice to meet you, NAOKOSSTOOP

Meet one of my new etsy favorites, naokosstoop.

1. dream   2. Bird in a Cage   3. Good Night   4. Knitting   

and Happy December!

Holiday Tree

my treasured EMBROIDERED ANIMAL ALPHABET

I can't believe I haven't shared my most treasured antiquing find with you yet. Hubby and I found this embroidered animal alphabet at our favorite antique & salvage store in Sebastopol, Ray's Trading Co. It was our first time there and we saw this lovely amidst a pile of old frames and paintings in the very back of the store. We didn't buy it, but as the week went on, I thought about it more and more and how much I would love to have it in my home. We went on a mini-vacation and said that if it was there when we returned, we would buy it. I was nervous that someone else would fall in love with it and take it home while I was gone, but when we returned, it was just sitting and waiting in the pile for us. Almost all of the animals are missing their googly eyes, so it needs a little repair, but I am going to find some buttons or something less googly to restore their sight. This cheery piece of art is the inspiration for our eclectic guest room. I love the bright animals. I love that they chose a newt for the letter N. I love that the letter H is a hare rather than a horse. 

Price tag: $10

And in case you are wondering, there are animals that start with the letter X, but they are rather obscure and probably not commonly known to anyone who would have seen the alphabet. 

I know, quite a story for one embroidered animal alphabet. But I love those eyeless animals!

smitten with ANIMALS

So who knows how long until we start doing anything on the house. My ideal plans are to get the wall knocked out between the two living areas to make a larger living area, and to have the bathroom done- in the next couple of months. We'll see. But I realized if I only post about the project, I may only post a couple of times a month. So I decided I am going to post whatever I want, as long as it has to do with decorating, design, fashion or... okay, no qualifications- I will just post whatever I want.

Tonight I choose to share my animal obsession with you. I have always loved animals and I had no idea that my love of animals would influence my decorating tastes, but any time I see a unique animal figurine, lamp, sketch, book or anything, I want it. Here are some animals I would love to add to my zoo... or house.

Clive and Sunshine camel via Oh Joy!

A New Apron print via Amber Alexander

Vintage Owls by Mig Sertl via Mend

Snail Lamp via Anthropologie

Vintage Dinosaur Flash Cards via Bouquet Thrift

Hummingbird Painting via Mincing Mockingbird

I really should have been a zookeeper.