foster house

 

an idyllic farmhouse in the english country side. its got outbuildings galore and oodles of beautiful nooks to love. its rentable for location photo shoots and the like. Im already planning a million projects for this space....

 

 foster house website for more photos to drool over. 

happy wednesday. 

margaret howell

loving these looks from Margaret Howell. sweet and perfect for cool san francisco summers. mostly neutral with a punch of coral. 
.... just divine. 

flowers for friday

 tea from dreambox photography (pop on over to her blog to see more) was kind enough to share her photos of the wedding I did in point reyes station this past fall. Wanted to share some of her amazing shots and some more of this event and the flowers.  

 have a happy happy weekend !!

soon in the shop

cottage farm is restocking. a little sneak peek of whats to come. plus lots, lots more. 

NH Woodcraft

 simply beautiful. hand carved spoons from nhwoodcraft. i love the way they all so clearly follow line of their origins. many of them are from small cuttings to trees on the artists property and others are from recently fallen trees. love the lines and delicate little imperfections. 

florals for the feet

some seriously cute floral footwear. 


and speaking of florals. ive been running around making crazy amounts of flowers all over san francisco. So sorry to be neglecting this little blog of mine. but for a play by floral play i've been rockin it on instagram. find me at cottagefarm 

spring showers

its spring here in sf, or at least if feels like it at the moment. rainy nights, cool misty morning and warm afternoons. its weather i love but it requires some saavy dressing - layers are my friend & a scarf is always in my bag. this morning i woke up and the mist was so thick i could barely make out the neighbors house across the street. total poetry. 
The cherry blossoms are out in full force on the trees and they look gorgeous ladened with the previous nights marine layer. heavy with big fat droplets. Pear and quince branches are also all over the flower market. I took some quince home the other morning & cant wait for it to start blooming. 


three things im loving from lands end canvas for spring: pretty yellow to chase away spring showers. 

 canvas 1963 washed tote 

waxed cotton parka

dandelion geo square scarf

interior inspiration

kitchen envy. 

sorry for the shorter posts this week. Time is short here and im up the walls, but i hope youll enjoy drooling over this fabulous kitchen shot as much as i have. 


.... that sink fixture! 




image found here. 

the butcher

In Ireland over the christmas holiday one of the the best experiences was heading into the butcher shop. I waited in line with a few other ladies and watched as each placed their order with either the butcher or his assistant. After the request was made which ever type of meat was taken from the cooler, the desired cut selected from the whole animal and then skillfully the butcher cut away the exact piece (each time he was with in tenths of the poundage requested) and the customer left with a neat little brown paper package. 

(check out the apron!)

I was nearly giddy at my turn, and im sure the butcher was thinking (as some of you may be reading this at the moment) what was up with the silly american. I practically climbed behind the counter to see into the walk-in. Since then I have been thinking that butcher has some of the coolest tools in the trade. 

Drywell meat drawing, twine, apron, trays, salt, paper, cleavers 

Monday Mood Board

sink, lights, clutch, top, pony, french sequins 

Lela Rose

some very pretty spring 2012 from texas native, designer Lela Rose. it all seems so easy to wear and effortless. I like the bright but somehow restrained color palette too. That car coat with the orange inside.....

ramblings

a muse on practice. I have been rolling these little thoughts around in my head for days.


As kids we are constantly told to practice. when I was 9 my music teacher told me if I ever wanted to be any good at the clarinet i would have to practice. I didnt want to be any good at the clarinet and so I didnt practice. Practice at that age sometimes seemed something like a punishment. I should have been in practicing my instrument diligently but where I really wanted to be was outside playing. Playing is really what you want to be doing at that age, after all. 


In high school when I was first interested in photography my teacher stressed the importance of diligently learning and practicing the proper techniques. He was rigid in this stance. All i wanted to do was be out shooting, having fun, seeing how things looked through the lens and that translated onto paper 


But now as an adult practice has become synonymous with play. I relish the opportunity to practice making a flower arrangement or playing with Polaroid film a perfect exposure is achieved. And i wonder at what point these two, play and practice, merged. Practice has become a welcomed luxury and something self-motivated. I actually want to practice doing the things I am passionate about. In graduate school the importance of play was often stressed (ok, it was art school) but the impetus behind the conversation was that often as adults we dismiss play as a childish notion and it is not tied to productivity. But play (or what I now think of as practice) is/can be very fruitful. It seems so very important at this point and I sometimes have to remind myself that it is a good activity, a good use of time. 


Maybe they were just having us practice for the practice... 




hope that wasn't too tortuous, thanks for sticking with my random wednesday thoughts