elliot bay book company

elliot bay book company is one of the most unique bookstores i've been to. all wood, creaky floors and new books (i'm used to funky old stores like this selling only used books). today is their last day inside this space, because within the next few weeks they will be moving locations. for 20+ years elliot bay has resided in the heart of pioneer square, seattle but times are tough and they are making a go at capitol hill. it is a bold, brave and creative move. i can't wait to celebrate their opening and buy some new books to support their endeavor.
good luck, elliot bay!

march 30

today i'm thinking about evenings spent outside with lukewarm air. i'm thinking about freedom and hope and what those words mean in my life and why we are brought to remember them yearly, at a passover seder. i'm thinking about memories. of holidays with all my family, of special people, of loved ones.

hope this isn't too sappy for you, it's just what i'm thinking.

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seattle friends, some of my photos will be hanging in the fremont place book company for all of april. join me there at the arts walk this friday! (feel free to email me for more details).

a nice walk

 

a week or so ago, i had a nice walk with my friend, lecia. sometimes a nice conversation and frequent stops for pictures is all i need. see lecia's view here.

housekeeping

hi! i've been a little silent this week. sorry about that. i will say, though, that my spring post was very refreshing. i love making wishes from time to time.

i have a lot of housekeeping notes that i want to catch up on. scissors fit well with housekeeping, right? either way i love this photo. i love these scissors that hang for sale in lucca great finds. i think i have to get myself a pair.

okay, here we go:

i added my cafe project as a tab in the sidebar, so they can all collect there together. also, i'd love it if you joined my cafe flickr group. there are some great images up already.
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i got a new lens! it's been really great to play with. it is a 28-80, so i have a nice comfortable range of wide and zoom. also, it has a macro setting which is fun to play with. photos from those experiments soon.
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i wanted to give a special mention to two links in my 'current inspiration' list. one is jen of sophik's post from jan 28th. go look at it, the images and the words all paired together--oh! i can't get enough of it. the other is read roll show, a new venture by the former marketing director of powell's books, dave weich. dave is a smart, creative guy with an amazing interview style. he interviewed over 200 authors at powell's and now he is melding his video inclinations with his interview skills in read roll show. this site is just starting up and i can't wait to see how it develops.
**
also, about my current inspiration links: i am trying to change and rearrange these frequently. i felt like a huge long list of my friends and favorite bloggers was overwhelming, but i also don't want to put up a few links and never change them. so i hope to give special mention to things that touch me and continue to look for things that touch me. thanks for understanding that i can't keep every link on here.
**
i am gathering my photos to hang at the fremont book co. for the month of april. woot! more on that, i hope...
**
there are a few new prints in my shop. sorry for the lack of change recently. suggestions always welcome.

okay! housekeeping over. thanks for sitting through that.

signs of spring

 

spring is here in full force! this weekend was an unreliable mixture of sunny and drizzly and windy and warm. it seems that the whole city is about to bloom. people are excited, happy, smiling, and friendly in a way that only spring in seattle can generate. i feel a wave of optimism coming over me and i am ready to embrace it. spring always gives me the sense of new beginnings and recreations. this spring, i am hoping for more challenging creative endeavors, new friendships and a revitalization of older ones, plenty of time wandering around noticing new flowers and smelling the air, to add some gluten-free baked goods to my recipe repertoire, iced coffees, and time for myself.

here's to refreshing our day to day lives!

cafe flickr group

hi friends! i'm just stopping in today to say--inspired by the great response to my cafe series--i have started a flickr group called the best kinds of cafes. i hope you will join me in sharing your coffee photos there. anything coffee shop related goes: coffee, cafe interiors, yummy baked goods, sandwiches, pastries...
i know you've got some good ones!
i'll see you over there.
hope you have a wonderful weekend.

cafe besalu

okay.
hold on tight.
we are about to enter cafe besalu.
oh my, this place is amazing. have you ever been to france? you don't need to go (if you live in seattle). all the crunchy, buttery croissants, and yeasty, moist pastries, and rich quiches and delicious coffee are curled right up in this little bakery in ballard. besalu gets packed pretty much everyday, but working your way up to the front of the line is worth it, if even just to stare into their pastry case. you may or may not get a seat, but if you do you will have time to watch bakers weighing out large amounts of flour in their open bakery. at besalu, i can take a bite of pastry, close my eyes and pretend i'm back in france.

tag

good morning! today is not a rainy day (phew), even though i'm showing a photo of very rainy day a few weeks back. i had intended to take a picture of the bright orange dress in the window, but i realized that i was more clear than the dress was. i think i even said right after i snapped this photo "that photo was definitely more me than the dress." but i like it. i'm always happy to have some photos of myself, even if you can't see anythng but my raincoat and pentax.

caroline hancox tagged me with a fun blogging award and a challenge to share 7 things about myself. have you seen caroline's photography? she's good.

seven things about me:
1. i live a few blocks away from a man-made lake (oops! i guess greenlake is not a man made lake. who knew?) with a path circling it. i just got back from a nice walk around it.
2. i have a weakness for toasted bagels and cream cheese. i have always loved that combination and always will.
3. i once lived in paris, on a street called mouffetard.
4. my paternal grandfather immigrated to america from belarus (ussr) when he was 6. i wish i knew more about his experience.
5. there was a period of time in my life where my best friend and i would watch austin powers the movie over and over. we would pause the vcr when dr. evil said "liquid hot magma" to watch him say it in slow motion.
6. i really love having friends over for dinner.
7. on sunday i got a new lens!

march 15

i spent a very limited time on the computer this weekend, and it felt really great. taking little breaks like that are really important to me. besides being good for my brain, it also gave me time to read like nobody's business. for most of fall i had a reading dry spell. a drought, really. and i think a big part of it was because i spent so much time online. it can be super fun to be on the computer, but it can also take a lot of time away from my day. i am working on limiting my computer time so that i can feel fulfilled in my days.

in january, something snapped me back into reading and since then i've been on a book frenzy. i spent a lot of time on the couch this weekend, soaking up the extra hour of daylight, and finishing my book. it was great.

light and shadows

these pictures: the sun in the perfect part of the sky, a building with windows slanted just so, a turn down the right street.

do you have plans for the weekend? i plan to meet a new friend for drinks, make a chocolaty treat to share, go to a secret cafe fundraiser, read a lot, and...(drumroll)...get a new lens! i'm crossing my fingers for some good light again, seattle has been pretty dreary this week.

enjoy.

and right now...

"And right now in this country, magazines, newspapers, and bookstores are drowning polar bears. And if people can't see that or don't want to talk about it, I don't understand them at all." 

-sherman alexie in an interview with mother jones 

today i had the pleasure of hearing sherman alexie speak. ever since i saw his segment on the colbert report where he disparaged the disconnect between those who want to eat local but don't think about shopping locally, or the "local value of a book," i've been tracking his work and reading through a lot of his books.

sherman alexie is one of the few authors who has made the choice to not allow his books to be published in digital format. i realize most authors don't even get a choice on this matter and that makes sherman's choice all the more powerful. he is an author with a long career and many many awards, he uses his clout and sway and he chooses to defend the importance of books and therefore all the jobs and infrastructure that surround them. thank you, sherman.

beyond being publicly bold and brave, he is also an amazing thinker and storyteller who, in his fiction, embraces contradictions, is unafraid to talk about real hard issues, is unafraid to to be honest. i just finished his new book, war dances and his national book award winning the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian. next is another short story collection of his, ten little indians. a list of all his publications is here, as well as more about who sherman alexie is.

over the years

yesterday i threw a smashing party celebrating my dad's 65th birthday. i made a spread of really classic deli style food: sliced corned beef, pastrami, roasted turkey, rye bread, bagels, pickles, cucumber salad, cheeses, chips and cookies. we gathered photos from his years and displayed them all together. it was really something special.

i like thinking about photographs as archiving a life; what we choose to document, what we remember because of this form of self reflection. i also like the way that, in some respects, a life archives the development of photography, from black and white, to polaroids, to very faded color, all sort of sizes and shapes, rounded corners, yellow tinges, digital on printer paper, scans.

speaking of the development of photography, that photo up there was taken with my trusty polaroid sun 660, dusted off from 12 years of hiding in a closet and loaded up with resourcefully snagged 600 film. clicking the shutter was so natural, it all came flooding back to me. if you are ever curious about what camera i'm using or what type of film, keep on checking my flickr stream. i usually tag my photos with all that info. also, i heart flickr.

fresh air

recently i've been longing for a little getaway. fresh air, the outdoors. i'm also dreaming of summer trips, camping and hiking and lounging. i can't help myself, but the waves lapping against a shore is by far my favorite sound. and what better way to read a bunch of books, than to enjoy them in a camping chair by the fire? sometimes i just need to clear my head and take in deep breaths. i am diving back into the busy season at work, and i'd really like to be energetic and enthusiastic about it. i would like to be focused. i hope that dreaming of a little getaway will be a good reprise to get me through the next few busy months.

assemble gallery and studio

one day i went to pick up some photos i had printed from moonphoto lab and decided to take a little walk and get some coffee. on my way to coffee i ran into this cute little shop that i've never seen before. the ladies in there were nice enough to tell me all about who they are and let me take pictures of their awesome space.
assemble gallery and studio is a new venture by andie wurster and emily grosse, it is located on phinney ridge and functions as a storefront for some top notch hand crafted goods, a workshop space for frequent crafting classes, and a gallery for artists. i swear, every little item in there i wanted to buy. they have such an eye for what is cute and hip and beautiful right now. i hope to go back with more time, more money and better film. maybe i'll even learn how to sew in one of their workshops.

p.s. thank you thank you for adding your march lists to my last post, they were really great! and i couldn't help but feel like i have a little community when i saw all those great lists rolling in.

march 1

 

march is...

bursts of sun

bursts of new buds

color

smiles

drizzles

hoods and rainboots

lightweight coats

more light in the day

my dad's birthday

lots of reading and thinking

jam filled cookies

the giddy anticipation of spring

and for you?