Sweet

For our first Valentine's Day years ago, when we were first dating, I made my husband a batch of chocolate truffles, which he graciously enjoyed and shared with me. Only later did I learn that he doesn't really have a sweet tooth. I now keep a stash of emergency chocolate on hand for myself because we just don't have dessert at our house.

I admit that I am guilty of what my husband accuses me of; I'm really hard to buy for. I have more perfume than Cleopatra, and my tastes in clothing can run a little unusual (and I know better what looks good on me -- and what really doesn't). For me, chcolate, roses and champagne will do just fine, thank you. But I got him something he both wants and needs.

What are you giving your Valentine?

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

*Card from Igloo Press in Worthington, Ohio. I just love them.

Signs

After a few weeks of harsh temperatures, today felt nearly tropical, so I went out to hunt down a few signs of Spring.

Recently, some friends had us over for a lovely dinner (Hi, Mindy & Stephanie!). They'd just had their kitchen renovated, and one of them pointed out to me that her favorite part of the granite countertops was the areas that revealed depths beneath the surface. That stuck with me. I liked that a lot.

Float On - Modest Mouse

Hi folks, I thought this music fit with the crazy weather, and driving conditions, and power outage issues, we had this week. Sorry to be cryptic, but I nudged things in a new direction today and it's all out of my hands now. We'll see what comes next. We'll all float on, I'm sure. Oh, and you can find me here tonight, too.



Have a lovely weekend!

Neutral

I was working on my portfolio tonight, and organizing my flickr pictures by color (I know, it sounds as exciting as organizing your sock drawer, doesn't it?), and decidedly chose the neutral set as my favorite today. I'm into neutrals these days (as my co-workers would attest), and love any color that can be described as wheat, oyster, ochre, clam or dust. Oh, I love COLOR, I do ... but there's something quiet and enduring about neutrals. Don't you think?

If you want to see more color sets, visit me here.

Winter

In case you haven't seen the news today, Central Ohio is engulfed in ice. Even negotiating the glassy sidewalk to get to your car in this weather is a strategic affair, unless you have cleats, which I do not. I'd be braver about driving in it if I hadn't crashed my car a year ago in similar weather. Seeing a semi that jack-knifed on a neighborhood street doesn't boost my confidence either. "But you're from Vermont!" friends argue with me. "Yes," I humbly admit, "they kicked me out."

Last Year ...

Hi Folks, it's another fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants week, and I haven't been spending much time with my camera. But I've enjoyed looking back at a year ago, when I was apparently cooking something with garlic, mushrooms, onions and red wine. I'm not sure what the end result was, but I'm thinking it must have been tasty. Over the next few months, I have something interesting in store for you to see.

What are your travel plans for the year?

Glorious Weekend

Winter itself, it seems, presents a compelling argument for gathering with friends and celebrating nothing in particular. We had our neighborhood happy hour Friday night, shopping and dinner with good friends Saturday, and a Sunday of laundry and gentle nothingness. Oh, and sun. This is what weekends were made for!

How was your weekend?

Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis

Hi friends, I don't mean to ignore you ... it's been a whirlwind of a week in my parts. I hope you all have an amazing weekend with friends, family and good food.

A Year Ago

Once in a while, I like taking a look back to see what I was doing a year ago. Apparently, I was shooting eggs. I remember that, because I didn't want to deal with the frustration of indoor lighting, I took my eggs outside for nice, clean light.

What were you doing a year ago?