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L: via gourmet magazine; R: photo by dean isidro

Feelin' ready for the week after spending a relaxed and peaceful weekend outdoors :)

Yearly Camping Trip

It's Friday and later today I'll be on my way up north to Santa Barbara County for a little camping trip at Lake Cachuma.

photos via stylist twig hutchinson

Ever since my husband and I started dating, we've made it a tradition to go camping at that lake every year. It was during one such trip about 3 years ago that he proposed to me. The memories of that makes the yearly visit that much more special :)

I'm off to finish packing! Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday!

Aren't you glad the weekend is just around the corner? I'm looking forward to waking up to sunshine and spending some time outdoors riding my bicycle.

the jewels of new york via design sponge

L: via flickr Will Kane; R: via canadian house and home

What about you, what are you looking forward to?

Hang Drying

If I had a backyard area, I'd try to hang dry my clothes as often as possible. As a kid, I used to help my mom hang everything on the clothesline and always thought of it as a pleasant experience, especially when we'd do it on beautifully sunny day.

photo by Patrick Cline

The photo above is of Deborah Lloyd's lakeside home as seen in issue 5 of Lonny Magazine, which just came out today. If you haven't already, go check it out! Beautiful features as always :-)

Flower Planter Update

The idea for the balcony flower planter was to make a custom piece that would wrap around and cover the bottom gap where Little Foot likes to poke his head through. We want to be able to let him hang out there without worrying about him somehow falling through the gap (we're one story up and above a driveway).

My husband made four pieces that will fit together:

We need to move the existing potted plants out of the way and fit all the pieces together.

We still need to figure out some sort of mini-drainage system, paint it, and fill it up with soil and plants (my favorite part!). I have a view of the balcony from my desk so I can't wait to be able to look over and see beautiful flowers everyday!

Flowers on Balcony

Happy Friday! This weekend we'll be working on a little DIY project making a flower box for our balcony and I'm taking inspiration from these beautiful photographs...

I know I definitely want to have some jasmine and several hydrangeas, but not sure yet what else. Do you have a flower box at home? Any tips?? I'll be sure to post pictures once its all done :)

*All photos limked to source

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

photography by melanie acevedo

At Casa Vargas-Arias tonight, we'll be making tostadas and margaritas and enjoying colorful tabletop decor. How about you, any fun plans?

Happy First Day of Spring + LF Update

image via here

Thank you for all your sweet comments regarding Little Foot! Thankfully everything went well. Here' s a recap:

Thursday morning as soon as we walked into the vet's office, he started trembling as if he knew he wasn't going to have a fun experience in there. Last time he had been there was when he was getting treated for Parvo, and I'm guessing he recognized the smell of the place. Although saddened that he hadn't stopped trembling after several minutes we kissed him goodbye and handed him over to the nurse. After about an hour of dropping him off we got a call from the vet. He told us that Little Foot's double front teeth were a problem. His adult teeth had come in but were being impacted by his baby teeth which hadn't fallen off yet. So he recommended they pull them out since he'd be under anesthesia anyway.

We picked him up that evening. The nurse handed us over his four baby teeth and gave us a cone in case he was licking too much. He wagged his tail happy to see us but we could definitely tell he was in pain. He was swollen and had stitches. Not surprisingly he didn't want to eat and remained mellow through the night.

On Friday though he had a lot more energy and as of today he's back to being a hyper little puppy :-)

Happy first official day of spring! Enjoy your weekend!

Photographer Spotlight: Francois Halard

I am enchanted by these photographs by Francois Halard. They beautifully capture the places and spaces I'd love to escape to....