Top Five Tuesday: Road Trip:: Picnic

I'm a road trip and picnic lover.  Are you?  I definitely don't have the opportunities to take part in them as much as I'd like.  But we did the other day and it was wonderful.  We explored, relaxed and generally did what we don't normally let ourselves do- which is to not work.  Baby steps.  This was a kind of bigger and much welcomed baby step.  Here are my top five things (in no particular order) about this adventure...

* We live along the coast of California and are used to seeing the ocean.  We are also pretty lucky to have the mountains, as well.  But we traveled inland and really got to delve into the awesomeness of the valleys and nooks within these mountain ranges.  We saw everything from lush wildflower mountainsides to rugged rock formations. I've seen these before, but I'm never desensitized to the beauty.  Stunning.  I had my mouth gaping open the entire ride and way too many of this: "Oh my gosh!" and "Oh my goodness!" and ," Look!  LOOK!!!!!"

 

* Mars the Dog had a blast.  This dog just likes to run but, like his mom and dad, only short distances.  He's a dopey runner.  His hind legs and butt appear to be completely separate from his front half of his body.  So that the back just bounces up and down, always off the ground.  And his front half is just his huge square head and slobbering mouth, gargantuan tongue hyper focused on the possibility of extreme fun before him.  He mostly loves running between his peeps- like monkey in the middle, but less cruel/more blissed out.
Here he's running up the hill to Sebastian:

and then down the hill back toward me (check out his ears!):

* We set up our picnic on a field along a hillside and enjoyed the pure goodness of it all (Mars assumed all the food was for him. He came at it from every angle.  See him here trying to figure out how to attack.  He thinks he's a ninja, of course, but he really is just a -well loved-clumsy goofball):

* The hubs and the dog went off exploring...

and returned with this sweet wildflower (which I put in a little blue vase.  Also note the flask- filled with port.  I was ambitious and thought, for sure, I'd kick back with it, but really just ended up taking a sip and drank water instead.  All those cheese and crackers make a person thirsty.)

* Sunshine on my toes!

It also totally made my day when the few cars that did pass, along the tiny road in the distance, waved to us... just further proof that picnics make everyone happy.

p.s. The hillside we were on kept reminding me of Little House on the Prairie- especially that scene in the beginning song where Carrie eats it after running down the hill and stumbling.  So great.

Word for the Week: Bring (it.)

Okay, "Bring it." is more of a Sentence for the Week, but a very short and concise and proactive sentence-ish word.  This week, I have plans and scheduled happenings, but really have no idea how any of it will unfold... which, I guess, is just life in general, but still.  Big things are underfoot and I'm hopeful that if I just welcome them all and embrace it with huge warm, blissed out mental hugs, then they'll all turn out better than I had envisioned.
Here's to hoping for the very best and actually letting it happen...

(Image: Sweet card by Here My Dear. )

Into the Weekend...

Want in on some things that got me through this nutty and befuddled week?  Here ya go...

This blog feature on Royal Wedding combos... stunning! Ciara Obscura's Stars in Your Eyes has an appearance!

How crazy awesome are these lingerie for toes?!  Voet Hosiery is as darling as can be.  Spring is here and I'm finally getting my butt over to their shop to buy myself some.  Look how darn sweet (and so sexy) they are:

This bathing suit from Anthropologie has my name on it...

 

And these shoes from Chie Mihara say this to me, they say,"Cath, you really really should have these."

(p.s. I think that Talula the bicycle would also agree.)

And let's conclude this post on this fine Friday with something that is free and simple and so SO beautiful...

California wildflowers (photographer unknown)

The hubs and I are taking a day off next week to head out to a field very similar to this one to have a picnic to celebrate our anniversary.  This makes me very happy.

Tonight I'm hitting' the town with pal, Steph.  And I'm also mentally preparing myself for the launch of a mini documentary artist profile on me... nail biting nervous.  More to come on that.

Enjoy a lovely weekend, dear peeps. 

Neeeeeeeed.

Ah... Yes, please!

(Manostiles boxes as seen on Decor8)

What we do on a half day off...

Me and the hubs, we don't get much time off.  So when we have an afternoon... or a few hours... to unwind, we do something like this.  Which is to take Mars the Dog for a free for all in one of our favorite spots (Sebastian calls it Doggie Vegas because the beasts go nutty with each other there and then resume their normal lives when they have to go home.).  It's pretty much the best place ever.

Mars is ready to take off on his adventure with his peeps:

 

And then he misses Dad, so they hang out for a while:

 

Until he gets distracted with a passerby...

And then more... PARTAY!

While I enjoy the flowers and tall grass and lady bugs:

Mars keeps going (he totally wiped out right before I took this shot, but it obviously didn't phase him.):

 

And he's done.  Back by Dad's side:

 And one more visit with the wildflowers for me makes this a perfect few hours away from working:

What do you do with a day off (or a half day or an hour off?)

Top Five Tuesday:: Pants

Dresses and skirts are generally my thing, but I'll pop on a pair of pants on days when I feel more like focusing on the nitty gritty of life.  They automatically ground me and help me to get the job done.  I have no idea why.  They just do.  So here are some that I am into lately.  Which are your favorites?

(Stella McCartney .  There's a real good chance I'd trip and fall on my face while walking in these. But still... they're totally sexy.)

(Anthropologie)

(loving the red here.)

(Adorable.  I think these are from Chanel.)

 

(And the ol' standby... solid black velvet leggings. Nicole Miller)

p.s. I also love dickies, but I'm at a loss for finding a photo wherein a male is not modeling them.  Ah well.

Word for the Week:: Befuddled

So I was chatting with my pal, Meaghan, this weekend and the word, "befuddled" was used to describe a particularly loony situation.  Leave it to Meggy to bring such great words to light.  I was so delighted with the word, in fact, that I jokingly said I should use it as my Word for the Week (WFW!).  Haha... yeah yeah yeah... that would be awesome but, you know, it's not really a "pleasant" WFW (though I have to say it's a super fun word to say... akin to onomatopoeia- which will likely be my next Word for the Week.). 

Anyhow, as luck (or misfortune) would have it, "befuddled" suits me today.  Maybe a little too much.  The brain is mushy and ditsy and I'm way overdue to take some time off.  In my calendar, I've scheduled in a day off in another week (another suggestion from Meaghan).  I'm hopeful that, by then, my mental capacity is less like the love child of a 14 year old who just had her first strawberry wine cooler and a mad scientist and more like, say, oh I don't know, the love child of Coco Chanel and a monk.
Fingers crossed.

(Tin of vintage buttons from Milkyway Beads)

Into the weekend...

I wonder if you've seen these incredible art to life pairings that the fine lady over at Miss Moss has constructed (her blog has a wonderful diversity to it...never ho hum or same ol').  Have you?  If not, I've compiled a few of my favorites here.  If so, maybe you'll want to relive their greatness...

So what she does is match street style with classic paintings.  Like this:

 

and this... (holy perfection.)

And then she might take street style and match it with characters within period piece films  Like this one paired with a still from The Piano...

 

My first glimpse into this was from a guest post she did on A Cup of Jo a little while back.  Her subjects?  Sophia Loren and (gasp!) Gustav Klimt...

Can you even get over this? I sure can't.  

Hope you have a lovely weekend.  Doing anything special? 

Me?  I'm sure as hell going to enjoy this 80 degree sunshiny weather we have right now (while my peeps back east are dealing with another round of snowfall on April 1st.)  A bicycle ride, it is.

Happiness Inducer:: The Daydream Edition

Well, I sure as heck am still recuperating from being up 'til 4am finishing the new collection on the website, but I'll do my very best to get through this post without conking out and smacking my head on the keyboard. Soooooo....
Welcome to the launch of the Ciara Obscura Spring/Summer 2011 collection:  *Daydream*  This has been yet another labor of love, but I'm pretty sure I'm really happy with how the designs turned out.  I hope you agree!  Onto the unveiling of select pieces... (Want to see more? New website and more pieces can be seen here.)

 

 

 

 

 All model photos photographed by the wonderful Kiel Rucker.

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A special thank you to the lovely models: Jennifer Borchert, Erika Leachman and Andrea Guillen.

And an extra shout out to the always inspiring Stephanie who helped out with the styling for the photo shoot.

Top Five Tuesday:: Mail Goodness

Those who know me well know that I still love good old snail mail (so much so that I kind of despise that term for it... I mean, are we that impatient with our lives that a few days is way too long to wait for a cute card or letter or lovely care package?  Well, sometimes, I suppose...).  I have a little belly flip every time I open the mailbox to find a piece of mail from a friend or family, tucked in there with the kazillion bills. And when the envelope is decorated all pretty like... that's happiness, right there.  So today's Top Five Tuesday will be my favorite things to spruce up your mail to those you love from the company Pink Olive, who (whom?  gah!  Why can I never get that right?) I just discovered in an email (go figure) from my friend, Meaghan, this morning. They carry all sorts of fantastic goodies from really wonderful companies.
Here.  See for yourself...

1. This packaging

 

2. and this packaging from Knot and Bow adds that extra pop of love to your mailings:

 

3. These adorable colored pencils , from Woodluck, can be used to deck out your card or letter with sweet colors and drawings.  I received a bundle of these recycled wood pencils from a former art student and I loved them.  So endearing, don't you think?

  

4.  Maybe throw in these cute pins, courtesy of Regional Assembly of Text (great name!) as a (eh-hem) hint for a little mail lovin' reciprocation.

 

5. And, of course, a lovely something to write your message on (also from Regional Assembly of Text):

 

There now.  Hop to it.  Make some one's day.

p.s. As it turns out, Pink Olive also carries the wraps I mentioned in this post.

p.p.s. The Ciara Obscura Spring/Summer 2011 collection launches tomorrow.  Stay tuned, peeps!