Henhouse Update

from Coffee Lovin' Mom

We were so happy to have our friends stay with us for 3 days, but by the time they left, we were quite exhausted. Naturally, without skipping a beat, we started working on our chicken coop. (By the way, in less than 2 weeks, our chicks have literally DOUBLED in size!) So, despite our need for sleep, we started deconstructing all the pallets we had recently acquired and began frame out a home for our hens.

Since we already had a bare corner between our garage and garden shed, I felt like it made sense to utilize the existing walls and tuck our coop into the empty space. Our research clued us in on three things: a.) the structure should be above to ground so that our ladies don't catch cold, b.) the nesting boxes need easy access that won't cause the eggs to drop when we retrieve them (thus, our down-swinging access door), and c.) we need to enclose all open areas with chicken wire so the neighborhood cats (or mountains lions in our case- check the news) and raccoons keep to themselves.

Here's what we've come up with so far (and check out my drill skills- truth be told, I'm a fairly worthless construction worker)!

“No one big thing, finish work consists of a great variety of discrete tasks, many niggling, some inspiring, but none you would call heroic. And yet, day by day, each task checked off moves you another notch down the punch list, that much closer to move-in day, when the time of building ends and the time of habitation begins." - Michael Pollan, A Place of My Own

Foto Friday: 6.14.13

Yesterday, two of our favorite friends made their way to Santa Cruz to stay with us on the last leg of their California trip. Today we plan to take them to San Francisco and Sausalito to do the sights, sounds, and tastes, of the Bay Area. While I like when any visitor comes all the way out here to see us, my favorite part about having guests is that it allows you to look at where you live with a fresh perspective. My appreciation for Santa Cruz rarely wanes, but sometimes I need to be reminded of how much I love living here.

Hope you all have a great a weekend!

"Mighty proud I am that I am able to have a spare bed for my friends." -Samuel Pepys

Coral Color Palette

Recently, I've been thinking about color schemes for my house and how to pull it together by incorporating the colors in each room. Believe it or not, we actually like our coral pink living room and would like to leave it, so now we need to decide on a palette that works well with pink. 

I'm seeing warm variations of orangey pink, turquoise, soft greens, mustard yellow, and a light grey accented with gold and wooden accessories for some texture and masculinity. The painting Pt Reyes Spring by Karen Smidth below serves as an inspiration for how my color palette could work together. 

from Serena and Lily

Here are a few other examples of how these colors can work in harmony in the home. What do you think?

from Huset ved Fjordan 

from Visualize Us

from My Home Look Book

"Colors must fit together as pieces in a puzzle or cogs in a wheel." -Hans Hofmann

Free Online Photo Editor

A few weeks ago, I took some engagement photos for my friends at Wilder Ranch with my new camera. Unfortunately, my dinosaur of a Macbook could not handle the power of my RAW images, and the photos have since remained on my memory card, untouched.

Fast forward a few weeks- new Macbook pro, recent Photoshop Elements purchase (needless to say, my financial well has run dry as of late), and about 600 unedited images beckon. Unfortunately, I am new to Elements and my friends have been patient long enough. They want some pictures!

So, in the absence of time (and Photoshop skills), I have decided to do something slightly uncouth and go rogue in the world of photo editing by using Pixlr, a free, easy to use online photo editor while I take the time to master Elements.

The results? Pretty cool! Of course the quality of the images could be better and I am still a novice with my new camera, but to get an idea of how to later edit the images my friends actually want, Pixlr proved a quick and effective fix.

“You don't take a photograph, you make it.” - Ansel Adams

Foto Friday: 6.7.13

Meet my brother and his girlfriend's twelve-year-old pug, Otis. While mostly toothless and raspy-voiced in his old age, Otis's impressively long and ever visible tongue combined with his symphony of grunts and groans proves charming to even the most reluctant dog lovers. 

Let Otis be a reminder that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Have a great weekend!

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” -Confucius

Dancing Dads

One of my clearest childhood memories of my father is "dancing" with him, via my feet on his, to his prized Earth Wind & Fire records. Another is the times when my father recalled his own dancing days ala Tony Zuko and Cha-Cha DeGregorio at Rydell High's National Bandstand Competition. To this day, I still don't know if his stories of glory are true or not.

In ten days, it will be Father's Day. To celebrate, I present the Evolution of Dad Dancing, as performed by the hilarious living room hero, Jimmy Fallon. Some of the moves are frighteningly familiar... but in a good way. Here's to funky dads who like to bust a move!

“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” - Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum

Urban Hen Houses

Now that Dustin and I are California home owners, we are chomping at the bit to start making our house our home. Naturally, one of the first things we did was impulsively adopt 3 baby chicks... even though we don't have a hen house. Sigh. (But come on, they're pretty cute, right?)

Luckily, the chicks are young enough that they need to remain inside the house under a lamp overnight, so our trusty cardboard box will work for now. Still, there isn't much time until they will need a permanent outdoor habitat that is comfortable, safe, and large enough to accommodate three egg-laying ladies. Here are a few examples we found in which we would be happy to house our hens. 

Pallet Chicken Coop Plans from Helicoptor Studios

Reclaimed Modern Coop by Modern Coops

Urban Chicken Coop from The Davis Enterprise, Yolo (!) County News

Chicken Coop by Michael Snyder Architecture

Backyard Chicken Coop Plans at MRVCC

“Many of us who aren't farmers or gardeners still have some element of farm nostalgia in our family past, real or imagined: a secret longing for some connection to a life where a rooster crows in the yard.” - Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Foto Friday: 5.31.13

This morning, Dustin and I are purchasing the house we've been renting the past few months, which makes Santa Cruz our official home! It's been almost a year since our cross country move, but we love the Best Coast more and more each day. Now that we have a place to call our own, my design mind is spinning.

The only caveat is that our home is 700 sq ft (yes, you read that correctly), which means that we have our work cut out for us. I will be sure to document all of our impending updates and ideas in the following months, so stay tuned!

“Home is the nicest word there is.”- Laura Ingalls Wilder

A Spanish Road Trip

from Laura Amiss

Although I've been to Spain before, I decided a few years ago to add a second trip to Espana on my bucket list. One, because my grandfather, a Navy captain, who also served as Commander of the Jacques Cousteau's ship The Calypso,  named Gibraltar as his favorite place he's ever visited, and two, to fulfill my mission to stuff my face with all the deliciousness that Spain offers.

In the past few years, tapas has become a common menu item in American bars and restaurants, and I have been right there gorging on all the manchego cheese, warmed olives, and cured meats I can get my hands on. My culinary interest in Spain was first ignited by Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, and Mark Bittman's series Spain: On the Road Again.  Though a little pretentious at times, the show revealed a world of culinary delights of which I was not fully aware.

Tony Bourdain sealed the deal with his No Reservations episodes on Spain, one which he prefaces with, "No one has eaten as well as us in the history of the world." His continued praises for Spanish food would even make a narcissist blush.

Here's a great video on a Spanish (food) road trip. I hope to follow their trail sooner than later. ¡Ole!

"Oh, lovely Spain! renown'd, romantic land!"- Rochdale

Vintage Modern Kitchen

Retro Kitchen Print from Etsy

Now that home ownership is once again on the horizon, I am pinning like a maniac on my Pinterest boards (you can follow me here). Since our house is a 1919 California bungalow with half the footprint of our last home, we realize that function may take precedence over form. Still, I'd like to make my home as aesthetically pleasing as possible while still maintaining the integrity of the vintage era.

That being said, I have developed a mantra, "Don't buy it unless you love it." Therefore, I will resist the urge to complete a room at the expense of creating one that is comprised of things I love. Since we currently reside in the home we are purchasing, I have a better idea of my options and limitations when it comes to updating the kitchen. Here are a few images I've bookmarked for inspiration. More to come soon....

from Houzz

from Sunset Magazine

from Coastal Living Magazine

from Pinterest

from Diane Bergeron

from Old House Online

"Design is not making beauty- beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love." -Louis Kahn

Foto Friday: 5.24.13

Even though my whirlwind tour of home as left me sick as a dog, I am happy to have been able to see so many familiar faces. It's been almost a year since I moved across the country, but being home made it feel like I'd never left. It's strange to feel like I have two mutually exclusive lives, but I know that the longer I live on the West Coast the less familiar the East Coast will become. (I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.)

Luckily, many of our friends and family plan to visit us in the next few months. I can't wait!

“Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us.” -Arundhati Roy

Homeward Bound

After 6 hours beside a screaming child on an overnight flight from San Fran to Philly, my eyes are about as red as my flight. But, despite my fatigue, I am excited to spend a few days with friends and family! With a wedding, Dustin's 31st (!) birthday, and an assortment of family members to seek out in various corners of Pennsylvania, we will be uber busy; thus, I won't be writing a new post until next week. Until then!

“You can go other places, all right - you can live on the other side of the world, but you can't ever leave home.”- Sue Monk Kidd