little red fox

dreams sometimes do come true

I think I just scored the find of my lifetime.

Today--a gorgeous, lazy fall Sunday--we wandered up to Barnes & Noble because I wanted to get the November Italian Marie Claire after seeing these photos on Liebmarlene Vintage. They're just so amazing I have to own them--it's not enough to just bookmark them and look at them whenever I want. This particular B&N, however, didn't have it. I huffed and stamped my foot and accidentally wandered into the 'bargain books' section--where I never go! Because I don't remember ever finding anything worthwhile in that section ever. So it was completely random--and there it was.

I just can't believe it. I know I've talked a lot about my fascination for all things old-timey-circus related-blahblahblahI'mabrokenrecordetc. But get this: I have had the above book on my Amazon wish list for well over a year--never hoping to get it since it cost around $100. But there it was--and it was $20. Twenty dollars. I gasped out loud. And almost dropped my coffee. I picked up the book and held it to my chest, flooded with 14 emotions like guilt, joy, maybe a tear or two--and distinctly feeling like I was getting away with something and the feeling was delightful.

How could this beautiful beautiful book be only twenty dollars?? This book is huge! It's over a foot tall and almost 400 glorious color pages of the history of the circus. It is jaw-dropping.

 

 

Look at these drawings! My heart is beating so fast right now...

Oh my goodness the colors...

And these are just random pages I'm turning to. I can literally turn to any page and there's another thing to blow me away:

 

I will get the Italian Marie Claire because the photos are just too amazing, but this. This is my prize.

In the same section I also got the Vargas book for $15! I have to say--I do think I had some good luck coming to me and I think I just cashed in all my chips today. Look how beautiful:

(Yeah I didn't quite get the silly cheapy sticker off the front...)

 

 

Look at these women. I could look at them all day. I probably will...

And then outside we see this!:

It really was a day filled top to bottom with all kinds of beauty! It was so wonderful--we slept in, had a big breakfast, walked out into a gorgeous fall day (I liked my outfit even!)--sipped cappuccinos surrounding ourselves in piles of books and magazines and these amazing picture books...I really needed a day like this too. It's inspired a little project for the shop, too, which I hope to have ready to share in the next week or so...until then--I so hope you're having a nice day or night wherever you may be :)

a mental getaway

You're looking at a very important part of my week last week. I was doing a workshop for a new play all week that ended up being pretty exhausting. That will be my last one of those for a while. It's usually very helpful for the writers, but as an actor, unless I'm in love with the play--they can be frustrating. UNLESS you happen to find your new favorite little cafe in the city in which to exhale on your breaks...which I did. Cafe Keko--(on Madison between 30th and 31st for you NYCers) I had never noticed it before but it was just what I needed on these gorgeous gray fall days. Croissants, crepes, quiche, cappucinos, a sweet little atmosphere...

(photo from yelp!)

great reading material (my favorite issue of Lula so far!)...

...and I was able to mentally salvage a good attitude as needed.

After falling behind last week (albeit with a few extra croissant pounds) I am trying to catch up with a bunch of custom orders. I also made this stew which turned out pretty good--the perfect fall/winter meal in my opinion.

Off to sew! Be back soon with a fabulous recipe we made up the other night with my favorite fall vegetable--kale! (I actually get legitimately excited about vegetables.)

i have a new interest (because i needed more things to be into)

We have some friends who are waaay into graphic novels and comic books. I have to come clean on my under-appreciation of (read: total lack of interest in) anything comic-book related heretofore. I would put them under the same umbrella as role-playing games and long black trenchcoats. You know--Spider-Man, super powers, etc. These are the items that are typically the property of the boy-nerd. And that is not to offend the boy-nerds out there. I know who you are and you are the best-kept secret of the dating world in my opinion! There is no better combo than sweet and smart and the nerd boys usually have that in spades. 

I was browsing through a cute little local Brooklyn bookstore yesterday on a gorgeous fall Saturday (oh, fall...you are so pretty) and I picked up this book, "Stitches" and within a few seconds was completely sucked in. And I officially stand corrected on everything I previously thought about them. I was completely unaware of how moving emotionally they can be. And I'm really blown away with the beauty of telling a gripping story cel by cel. Especially as an artist, I got completely schooled on image-storytelling. In a good way.

This is the main character joy-riding on a hospital elevator at night.

And his first x-ray...

I love discovering new worlds of things and I'm really excited about this one! I already have "Persepolis" lined up to read next and a series recommended by our comic-book friends the name of which I can't remember right now. I would love any other suggestions anybody out there might have on this topic--I'm a newbie and I'm ready to learn!

In other news:

• I absolutely must make these at some point this fall. This might be the best idea ever.
• On TCM tonight, they are playing some silent shorts starting at midnight. If I can stay up (Hi, Grandma) I will be watching. Very exciting.
• I made these as a thank-you for some friends who fed our kittens for us while we were in DC. They looked exactly like the picture so I didn't even need to take pictures of them... I Lie. It was my first attempt at biscotti and though they weren't visually as...smooth, shall we say, as I would have liked--dang, they were tasty. Super chocolatey and the perfect texture: crispy on the outside and just slightly soft and chewy on the inside. They're very rich (and yet somehow my husband ate about 6 in one sitting :). And for my first batch, I didn't find it too difficult. The only picture I got was of the big 'log' or 'loaf' shape before you slice them up and bake them again:

I can't decide if this picture is weird or beautiful...maybe both. Either way it's a pretty impressive baked object. I used almonds instead of pistachios and taste-wise it was still delicious. I missed the bright green of the pistachios, though. I bet you could also use pine nuts if you had those on hand.

putting up

This is the best phrase I've heard in a long time. It sounds so Southern. And it's the perfect title for a book all about canning in the Southern tradition. My mom bought this book for me last week during their visit (it's also here) and I am terribly, terribly excited about it. I actually had it on my Amazon wish-list though I had never seen it in person and it's so much prettier than I even imagined it would be! Beautiful photography to whet the mental appetite:

 

And the set-up of the book is really great. It starts out with the details on the hows/whys/whats of canning and then it goes into month-by-month with what's seasonally available for canning, with tons of recipes throughout like pickled okra, basic tomato sauce, sweet potato butter, all kinds of sauces and preserves, etc and delicious etc. All of which feeds into my independent/fringe-society-member longings:

 

Right now, according to the book, blueberries are the thing. So the plan is to get my hands on some and get on blueberry preserves. For the record: I have never canned anything. I have never made preserves. But my grandmother--who was not unlike Martha Stewart in her domestic prowess and organizational abilities--always did and I just bet you some of it seeped in. And maybe it will be a nice way to feel close to her again. 

Completely unrelated:

• I'm not sure where yet, but I definitely have to make this. And I do love tutorials. They're so generous.
• We are still eating the everyday cake for breakfast and snacks. Which means I'll be baking it again. But not until after I make this. Again, no icing (unless a glaze counts?), and humble origins. Sense a pattern? I'm learning about myself via baking!
• I am so excited--ridiculously so--about the new things I'm making for my shop. Everything's taken me waaay longer than I expected, but in a way, I expected that. Drawing, packaging, and photographs happening today, hopefully up by tonight! But first, cake.
• I have to work on a long, rather emotionally demanding audition for tomorrow and all I really want to do is watch TCM and draw. It's so hard to get it up for anything acting-related when I'm like this. My brain does not want to switch modes. And it seems mean to force it.
• I neglected to mention two new members of our household. Meet Earl and Cricket, two little rescued brothers who have flipped the switch on one avowed "Non-cat person." Color me in love :)

hey, that's me!

(french toast and hash-browns, made by my hubby)

I really love Flickr. Since I naively dived into this blogging universe a year or so ago, I felt like I found something new and exciting basically every day. Finding Flickr was a very good day. I didn't even know that I was missing something in my life, but it turns out, I was in a wardrobe vacuum! On a philosophical level I was facing this question: if you wear a cute outfit and nobody sees it--did it really even happen? Enter the Flickr group 'Wardrobe Remix' and lo, it hath been writ and witnessed. I upload my outfit photos with such gusto, such wild abandon, and it satisfies me on such a weirdly deep level, I swear it's added years to my (already very young) life. So imagine my delight (and the postive health benefits to boot!) when I happened upon this post! Thank you, Tricia, for the gift that is Wardrobe Remix. It is infinitely pleasurable to see what everyday, creative, self-styled people wear. And for my money, the interest-quotient is through-the-roof for street-style as opposed to Vogue magazine and the like.

Which was, as it turns out, a perfect segue to my next item (love it when that happens). Another lovely connection made via Flickr and Wardrobe Remix is the delightful Sam of Daily Fashion Boost, who very sweetly inquired if I would do an interview for her fashion blog and here it is. She was so sweet about it!! But, lord, I have NO qualms (at all it would seem :) putting myself out there so I am thanking her for the opportunity. It was fun to answer all her questions and you can read it here.

Oh, Sunday, how I love you! Until my show starts, that is, when it is a 2-performance day...Then I will write my ode to 'Monday, the Holy Day of Showbiz Freedom'... I have been away from my blog longer than I would like, but I've had some custom orders and some soon-to-be-not-secret project collaborations that have been occupying my brain space of late. After this week I should have a lot squared away, lined-up ducks, etc. Happy Sunday all you lovely readers!!!

happiness recipes

I love rainy days. Have I said that before? I really love them. I don't really even mind being out in them. A little weather-enforced melancholia gives me a pleasant, snuggly feeling. I was out and about in the rain today for a few auditions and found myself in Kunikuniya which is a Japanese book store around Bryant Park here in Manhattan. In case you didn't know, the Japanese have got some seriously beautiful happenings in the world of craft books. I mean--it's really outrageous. They're slightly more expensive than their American counterparts, but it's negligible. And for the most part, they're so much more beautiful. I treated myself to the two lovelies you see above. It was hard to narrow it down to two. It's partly the photography/aesthetic, but mostly the patterns themselves are so great. The one on top (with maybe the cutest girl I've ever seen in my life) is called "Sweet Dress Recipe"  (thus the title of this post). Can you stand it? I gather what we call "patterns" they sometimes refer to as "recipes" which I find wonderful. It implies a measure of creativity as opposed to an absolute which is certainly how I feel about most sewing. It features such 'recipes' as:

(Note the bow tie and the saddle oxfords. I'm in love.)

I could just. Die.

The second book features various recipes for homemade slippers. Which is perhaps the sweetest thing ever. I was thinking what a great gift homemade slippers would be. You'd have to be pretty stealthy gathering shoe sizes, but I used to want to be a spy so I say it could be done. Look how dear:

(Those are embroidered. Devastating.)

Did I mention that every single word of these books is in Japanese? I am presuming I will be able to decipher the instructions using common sense and their very thorough drawings. I think I can!

So a few new items added to the ever-multiplying master to-do list... in my little studio right now is a stack of 12 mis-matched fabric dinner napkins which are waiting to have ric-rac sewn onto them. We really needed new everyday napkins with color and I had some sizable remnants. I hope to have them ready to show you tomorrow after a full day of auditions...

What I have to show you right now, however, arrived in the mail today:

When I tell you that I have been searching for months for a pair of bright red, vintage, interesting, easy to walk-in pair of shoes--I'm not kidding. Months! And it turns out they were waiting patiently for me over at the lovely etsy shop AvantGarb. And, truly, the shop proprietor Stacey is so lovely and enthusiastic, I can't recommend her or her shop enough. She has quite the on-going collection and very reasonable prices so run don't walk!

In other news: I am very happy to report (though I've known for awhile and am only just now sharing) that on the acting front I have a very exciting project/job to look forward to, which begins rehearsals in March. I know a bunch of the people involved and I have a very good feeling about the whole experience. I'm still auditioning for TV and movie roles of course, as well as some commercials and voice-overs as they come up (in fact I recorded a radio spot for Corona today! Super fun!) but it would have to be a pretty amazing something-or-other to take me away from this play. I'm a very lucky girl :)

Sigh. I also have to show you a cake I made the other night that was so divine, but I think I'm done typing. I need tea and a bath. So off I go :)

i love lazy sundays...

...especially when they follow an active Saturday night :)

We had a lovely little dinner party but I was lax in getting photos. So while I have no proof of it, we made this, among other things, and it turned out pretty good. Lots of lovely food and the above which is my first attempt at a bundt cake. I have been mildly obsessed with making a bundt cake because my mom gave me an old heavy, iron mold that I just had to experience first-hand. There's something very retro and funny about a bundt cake, isn't there? I mean, it's the baking equivalent of Madmen. I have to say, when I turned it out, and it actually came out, it was thrilling. It was just so pretty, especially with the dusting of confectioner's sugar. I found the recipe in an older issue of Southern Living and the title got me: Buttermilk Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake. You use cinnamon in addition to all the chocolate and it sounded so unusual and, indeed, it was--delicious. So moist and dark and rich. I made some vanilla whipped cream (1 TBS confectioners sugar, 1 TBS vanilla for 1 carton heavy whipping cream) and it was perfect together. The recipe is here.

And here is why I love a lazy Sunday: We have some music playing, and I am sipping coffee perusing a recent birthday gift from my wonderful little sister who knows me so well:

I literally squealed when I opened the box and saw these books. To be fair, my mom, my sister and I have started doing wish lists on Amazon to make it easier on us for holidays and birthdays and such. And though I was skeptical at first, I have arrived at the conclusion that it's brilliant. And highly recommended. Think about it: you want to get somebody something that they actually want, and having a list to choose from, you can't go wrong and they still don't know which thing(s) you chose! I was completely surprised and delighted when I saw these--I had really, really wanted them, after all :) It was so satisfying, I've now started an Anthropologie wish list, as well :) Not that I actually expect anything from it, but more because pretend-shopping is weirdly very gratifying and certainly a lot less expensive...

Back to the books: the Nigella book is fabulous. If you bake or are thinking about getting into it, it's got to be the most perfect book to start with. Her attitude toward food and baking is so laid back and all about pleasure. She reassures you at every turn how doable and ultimately gratifying it can be. I am very excited to try these recipes. Her recipe for a dark, moist chocolate pound cake is one of the best cakes I have ever had. Ever.

And the French General Home Sewn book I can't even believe. The photos, patterns, ideas are great. Just lovely and great. It even comes with iron-on embroidery transfers.

Life is good. The earth has gone around the sun almost one more time in my life and I can say it and honestly mean it: Life is good.

I hope everyone is having a nice, lazy Sunday in your own way... :)

...to be inspired

New book I had been waiting and waiting on from here. So exciting! And on this gloomy, dreary day (which normally I would savor, but today...well the weather somehow took me down a notch) it was a bright spot.

Look at the Louise Brooks-looking girl 2nd in top left in the smoking pajamas/lounge wear. So creative! I would wear a version of (almost) every one of these outfits right now. Most I want to hem and make into a mini and add knee socks or tights but still... Never without a hat, these ladies...which put me in the mood...

And that's only a few of them... Even though society doesn't expect me to wear a hat every day, I expect me to wear a hat everyday...

I have a vintage camel hair cape I bought a few years ago off of ebay that I am trying to hem and it is driving me crazy so I needed a break. As per the usual, my seemingly 'simple' sewing projects are way more complicated than expected. More accessorizing may be in order to ease the pain. Or wine.

Also--I wasn't satisfied with the plain black shoestrings in these shoes so I dug up some irridescent ribbon and I think they're much more interesting now:

Especially with knee socks :)

new orleans, mon amour...

Well, you know you've gotten used to blogging when a few days off feels like months:)

We are back safe and sound from our first anniversary trip to New Orleans (specifically the French Quarter), which was just wonderful. It's where I'm from, it's where we got married last year and it is one of my most favorite places in the world. Literally and definitely. If I could have made a living acting in that city, I don't know if I could have left.

It's such a fascinating place, historically, and just dripping with romance, mystery, decadence and if you have delusions of being whisked back in time to the 1920s and all its splendorous bohemia, hot jazz, burlesque, the fashion--like me :)--it is a dream come true. I love knowing that my great-great-grandparents came over on boats from France and Spain and landed in New Orleans, my dad spent his summers there, my uncle was a butcher there, the beginning of my love for acting, for clothes and for making art started there. I'm reading a few books on New Orleans just to satiate my hunger for history and visuals. This one is not the best writing (although fascinating), this one is next, and then this one. I also went to PaperBackSwap and ordered 4 more books on New Orleans. I tend to get obsessed.

We got married in an old courtyard in the French Quarter under a huge magnolia tree (the theme was peacocks and art deco--peacock feathers everywhere!!). The smell of magnolias is a constant in the "smell-track" of my life. So--finally--after wishing and wanting, I went into Hove Parfumeur and decided what my signature fragrance would be. The shop itself is so lovely. It's in an historic home and looks much like it would in the early part of the century:

I smelled and smelled and finally arrived on a combination of two scents--Tea Olive and Magnolia--that felt like me: just musky enough, just bright enough, and just evocative of my history and past to feel like it's with me all the time. They're so tiny and pretty:

Besides eating and drinking like we were getting paid to, I stopped into one of my most favorite shops of all time-- Fleur De Paris. And as if I haven't said it enough-- it truly makes you feel as if you have ventured back to an elegant, dreamy, romantic era. They have, quite simply, the most beautiful hats I have ever laid my eyes on and why won't elegant hats come back in style?? This is really hard for me because I have a beret in every color but what I would give to have an elegant evening cloche with peacock feathers and wear it without feeling like I'm in the 'flapper costume.' Or to have real reason to buy this devastating number:

It's a skullcap with Swarovski crystals and hand-blocked lace.

And this one:

They're so pretty--and in person--so artful it's almost painful. The pricetags actually are painful. Thus--I have also decided that I am going to learn millenry, which is, of course, the art of hat-making. I have adored hats my entire life and it just. Makes. Sense.

We also had Absinthe in a little bar in an alley behind St. Louis Cathedral:

What to say about absinthe...? We did not hallucinate (sadly), and it has a weird taste that was hard to enjoy. But we did it! I can scratch it off my master-to-do-list :)

And I had to do a little shopping, of course:

I have been looking and looking for a new purse for a long while and this one is close to perfect for me. I am mighty burnt out on the giant, slouchy 80s-looking ones and I have had enough of black and brown ones for a bit. This is my favorite color (it was my main color at our wedding :) and it is found frequently in my closet and when I found matching shoes, well. I can't even stand how cute these will look with all my myriad of tights and if you can believe it, they're from here (!) which means they are totally comfortable! Happy lady, me :) I still want to do a wardrobe remix a la this adorable girl, and I plan to get on it this weekend.

Also--I have tons of alterations to finish, I think I'm going to try and make a shoulder-bag for myself after a certain lady inspired me :), and I feel like these fresh feelings and images floating about in my head via New Orleans will be sitting with me for quite a while and hopefully inform the next batch of art/things to make. Yay for inspiration :)

This was a very long post, but I really do feel like I've been away for so long and had so much to express! Now I am off to make white bean and spinach soup and corn bread... Oh, Fall, you move me like no other...

how tacky of me!

I think a new rule should be: if you are not able to blog for a stretch of time, then you should at least leave it on a more pleasant note than "ugh." My most sincere apologies! And while I would love to say all that feeling is past, the truth of the matter is that I have felt that a few more times, felt wonderful a few times, felt livid twice, terrificly fantastic once and really, really tired the rest of the time. I am not schizophrenic, I am in previews. Such is previews and a rehearsal process that seems endless. I think our little show is finally getting into a good place, but MAN it is not without some serious work. People are walking out of the theatre in droves, so apparently it is a bit offensive for some of the older theater patrons. It's ironic because the play essentially has a thing or two to say about capitalism, and presumably, those that have benefited from it are the only ones who can really afford a season subscription to Manhattan Theatre Club--the very ones who are walking out. So we are, of course very grateful for the ones who do stay (who are many, btw!) I'm also very impressed that a woman who is now a grandmother for the 8th time wrote a play 20 years ago that still gets under the fingernails of her contemporaries :) I think that's pretty cool. I hope I am still pushing myself and thinking as far ahead as I can at her age so I can look back at 20 years prior and still feel relevant. Time moves and one must move with it!

Anyhoo--it is our day off today (Monday) and here are some happy-making things for me:

Garbanzo beans simmering happily and awaiting their transformation into roasted red pepper hummus. It's so good and so easy and it lasts a long time, so I like to make it in big batches. I add 8 million garlic cloves, tahini, sea salt, lemon juice, put it all in the cuisinart and add olive oil and a little water til it has the winning consistency. You can add whatever you like: cilantro, hot sauce, roasted jalapenos, white chocolate (maybe not) but I am adding roasted red peppers. I love the little hint of sweetness you get. And because we like our food to hurt us, I will probably add hot sauce as well in a ridiculous quantity.

More happiness:

The new Martha Stewart Magazine, the new issue of Craft (p.s. I'm not thrilled with this issue. it's almost all about making shoes which is so weird to me. Please note the headline: SHOE TIME! ((?)) I will most likely never knit a pair of high-tops, nor purchase a $900 Scroll saw or Drill Press to make clogs. wtf?? who got that issue in the mail and said "yay! 14 different ways to make weird home-made looking shoes!" Tres hippie and not my steez.)

And my new favorite book/person: Built By Wendy's Sew U. OMG. This is THE book. I am such an amateur and to read a book by a self-taught sewer who now has a crazy successful business as a clothing designer is thrilling because she breaks. it. down. Everything. How terrifying was the prospect of a zipper before? VERY. Now? Not so much! Buttonholes, working with different kinds of fabric, cutting, altering patterns for your body/creative urge. All doable! I had never been brave enough to actually alter a pattern, but dear Wendy, you have given me the confidence! She also includes 3 basic patterns: shirt, skirt and pants that you can alter into just about whatever you want. It's actually great reading, too. It's been my little subway companion during the many hours I have spent to and from the theatre on the dang train. I first heard about this book here and I am so grateful she blogged about it. I am so inspired and have already designed 23 things in my head! Including a pair of white skinny summer pants. With vintage gold buttons. (high-pitched squeal!!!)

And last but CERTAINLY not least: today's relaxed, rainy-day soundtrack--the new album from Lucy Wainwright Roche. I just met her the other night through my dressing-room mate and friend, Martha Plimpton who also sings a GORGEOUS duet of "Hungry Heart" with Lucy that is so sweet and devastating. Her whole record is. Her voice is as pure as a bell and her lyrics are equally lovely. She sells them off her myspace. It is also important to note that she is a seriously delightful, sweet human being and both her (and the Plimpy!) fall under the "Favorite People in the Universe" category. So it feels double-triple-good to listen to her music knowing the nice heart it comes from :)

Speaking of Lucy: she just returned from a tour in New Zealand and brought back some pictures, one of which speaks profoundly to my attitude and to-do list today, The Day of the Off:

(BTW--Did we know that kangaroos lounged around like that? I'm pretty I was not made aware of that.)

I think I may have to draw some kangaroos now in honor of that. I am off to make the hummus, organize my little studio, maybe make a tablecloth, then have a proper date with that man I live with, the husband-person.

Listen, people. I want and need for all of you to have a happy Monday.

xoxoxoxox