Top Five Tuesday: Briefcases

Lately, I've been having to pile more stuff in my bag for meetings with the various crew for the upcoming Fall/Winter photoshoot and have come to appreciate the notion of a good old fashioned briefcase for such times.  I'm loving these:

The fifth choice is my very own briefcase.  It's bright red patent vinyl circa 1968 and I had a picture here with me and my briefcase, but a friend told me I looked bleached out in it and that I should take it down.  So it's down.  I'll get another photo to replace it soon.

Photos: (1) Bottega Veneta  (2) Unknown (3) Street Peepers (4) We Good Looking

Word for the week...

You choose your word for the week ::  Rock. Paper. Scissors.

 CLICK TO ENLARGE

(image source here)

Oh weekend...

It's the Summer Solstice parade today here in town- which generally means a lot of spirited, dehydrated people and girls wearing bikini/ ugg boot combos with a hula hoop.  It also means beer garden at the park wherein I will be for a short while this afternoon.  I hope to nab myself one or two of these...

and later go back home to enjoy more making and creating before date night.  These images here (by Lotta Nieminen) are gorgeous, aren't they?  And incredibly inspiring to my design work.  I like.

(photo credit)

Happy weekend, friends.

UPDATE: They did not have Guiness, but they did have some random beer- which sufficed.... for now.

Behind the design...

Gaining some inspiration for an upcoming photoshoot.  Aren't these great?

(1): Vogue Italia
(2)
(3)
(4)

Image for the week...

I'm shaking things up over here.  Feeling too lazy to figure out my word for the week, so- instead- I'm taking the easy way out and sharing an image that suits me just fine in its place.  Freedom.  Fearlessness. Carefree.  Fun Fun Fun.  That's my angle.  And if I forget, I have this picture to come back to as a reminder.

(photo source)

Into the weekend...

Hi folks.  What are you up to this weekend?  It should be beach weather here, but it is not.  Instead we are graced with grey skies and a slight chill in the air.  But that's okay.  After this super active social and work week, it'll be nice to sneak behind closed doors and nestle into a good book (I'm currently reading Cutting for Stone- which is so well written. It's a story that has already, effectively, sucked me in.)  Also I just feel like eating a whole lot of food  So I'll be doing that,too.
Some things from around the web that might interest you as much as they did me...

+ Love this gift for a dad who loves to garden... or who can appreciate the nature boy within.

+ Agreed.

+ The perfect house.

+ What a cool idea!

+ Awesome people hanging out together. Really scroll through...there are some fantastically random pairings in there.

+ and Happy Father's Day to all the good and true ones out there... including my own father who has never once- even a second-  faltered on his love, support, compassion and friendship.  You're the best, Papa.

Drink some wine, eat some cookies, stare off into the starlit sky.
Love,
Cath

Intermission- Part II

 

Not much time to stop and chat today... or tomorrow, for that matter.  But feel free sit and enjoy these fun images until Friday's post. 

Until then...

 (original photo sources unknown)

Top Five Tuesday: A little bit of bliss

I go to the post office often.  I mail letters and packages and pick up stamps.  But first I put everything aside, take out my stationery, my special pens, and pretty labels.  If I'm packaging an order, I almost get more into that than I do making the pieces going out to ship.  I love mail.  I love receiving it.   I love sending it out. 
So today at the post office, the new postal worker there complimented the labels on the cards I was mailing out.  Her mouth gaping open, drooling over the beauty and the sparkle.  I take credit for none of it... just for sticking them on there.  The credit goes to Papaya Art.  Mentioned in this here blog a few times in the past ( and...er... in yesterday's post), this company makes the most heart thumping goodies for the home, for mailing, for staring off into.  And then I received a lovely card in the mail from my soon-to-be sister in law with one of Papaya's cards enclosed.  Dreamy.  It just seems right to honor this gorgeous resource for this week's Top Five Tuesday.  Enjoy.  Stare off.  Feel blissed out.  Go ahead.  You deserve it.

(1) wrapping paper (2) wall art (3) gift tags (4) card/envelope sets (5) journals

p.s. I've been steadily, tirelessly working on the Fall/Winter collection for launch in late August.  I'm so excited for it all and hope you'll love it as much as I do creating it.  Will keep you posted!

Word for the Week... Thanks

This week, it's all about being thankful.... thankful for the sun that just finally popped out, for the space I have to create, for the nice new neighbors.  And then more thanks for the little pink aster flower that bloomed this morning, for the coffee from the awesome people at the coffee shop down the street, for the people who put up with me, keep me and still love me despite myself, and for songs like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjDu3E5zDks

Have a week filled up and over with appreciation for the good.  It's very easy to get sidetracked and we all need a little kinder, gentler push to see the beauty.

Thank you print by Papaya Art
Merci from Nouveau Nancy

Into the weekend...

This week, I had a couple of moments where I wished I didn't feel compelled to rant on about this or that.  I wish I had been less feisty and more positive about the state of the world and so on (damn you,  angry drivers and Sarah Palin!).  Now I'm going to make up for it.  Here are some things that are making me look at the world, and its sum parts, with a lighter attitude...

These note cards

Avocado popsicles

This colorful website

This room.

And, if I may add... this non-sunshiny day ripe for nestling indoors and making things, this sleepy dog at my feet, and this moment in which I take a perfectly deep breath.
Happy weekend.
Love,
Cath

(photo: Marie Claire Maison)

To dream...

Is it too cheesy to pretend this is me?  Oh, and also to pretend that I can actually safely drive a vespa?

(poster source)

Top Five Tuesday: Gifts for Dad

It's almost not Tuesday anymore, but it is still Tuesday here in California and in Tegucigalpa, Honduras (I looked it up.).  So I can get away with this post for just about another 43 minutes Honduras time/ 1 hour and 43 minutes California time.  And given that Father's Day is right around the corner and I'm a big fan of really great dads (especially my own), I thought I'd share some cool gift ideas for these wonderful men in our lives.  Here ya go:

Credits:
(1)Whiskey cologne: Portland General Store
(2) Flask belt buckle: Edwardian Renaissance 
(3) Geek Dad book
(4) Cycling book
(5) Shave kit: Dirty Deeds Soap

Word for the Week: Intermission

 (photo source here.)

I don't think any other word can describe the necessity inherent in this week's word.  The hubs keeps trying to get me to take a week off, but I know that a staycation, or whatever the kids are calling it these days, won't be happening any time soon.  So, instead, I'm taking an intermission- which still allows me to stop and assess while, simultaneously, getting enough work done so that I won't feel like a slacker or ignore my customers.  So what I'll be doing is this: ordering all remaining materials to construct the Fall/Winter collection, finalizing the photographer and shoot date and will step back, breathe, and then let it all fit into place.  My intermission happens during those breathes and the observing.  It's a little bit like stopping to smell the roses, but in my case, I'll stop and smell the lavender and mint and rosemary growing in our yard and watch the ladybugs and butterflies.  This week I'm trusting that the moments in between the breathes and the observing will unleash a love bomb of awesomeness.
Love,
Cath
p.s. I've taken the comments section out of the blog mostly because recently I've had issues with them being randomly deleted along with a few posts ( Is mercury in retrograde again or something?  Because I've been having problems with both FB and my emails, too.  I think I'm the antithesis of technologically capable.).  I will be opening the comments to select posts, like giveaways, but if you'd like to get in touch with me... always feel free to shoot me an email (info@CiaraObscura.com).  Also... Feel free to share through your preferred social network site by clicking on the tab below...Neat!

Into the weekend...

How about these pretty images to take you into the weekend? 

 

We have so many opportunities to find and be beauty.  I hope you find much of this in your adventures this weekend.

All photos from AdornVintage's blog

Nice.

Maybe these two images don't, technically, normally go together.  But today they do.

(Image credits: room source HERE and cupcake photo HERE)

The color of chaos

If I can just get passed freaking out that these super balls might go straight into the bay and take out every bicyclist and elderly person with a can or walker, I can enjoy the sheer beauty of the bouncing colors (and that frog!). 

Top Five Tuesday:: Food!

I took the day off yesterday.  Most of the day.  I probably shouldn't have ended it off with bills and taking care of organizing finances.  But the first chunk of the day, we slept in, ate a breakfast at IHOP and took the dog for a long walk.  Also, I skipped the Word for the Week blog post, so you're free to conjure up your own this week.  Meantime, this Top Five Tuesday includes the new "bagged lunch" food craze that's everywhere now... food in a jar.  Fun to bring to work, school, a picnic... Neat.

(Photos (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) )