one, two, three.

one, two, three: a look back at the week.

one. That's not California/Highway 1 up there, man - that's the French countryside. SO gorgeous, and I'm just about IN LOVE with the song. (via Edwin-Europe; my entire tumblr feed)

two. When I was little all I wanted only two things: freckles and glasses. At one point I faked an eye exam so badly that I ended up an eight year old with bifocals; the freckles I never figured out how to wheedle my way into. Consider it an ongoing project. (via NYTimes)

three. GET IT, ALYSSA LESSER aka LESS JEWELRY. (via TENOVERSIX)

flickr friday.

Georgia, last July (and YES - that lake IS the exact color of iced tea).

new-new-newsletter.

a BEHIND THE SCENES look at a July newsletter feature - click HERE for June's, and HERE to get the July edition all up in YR INBOX.

tabletribes.

Sunday evening we were siked to be in attendance for the very first TABLETRIBES, a nine-week picnic and discussion series founded by Hosan Lee. Each week will feature a different topic (all related to the human condition - Sunday's was ORDER), various speakers (we especially enjoyed DC Central Kitchen's Robert Egger, and The Curiosity Project's Richard Sergay), and picnic-appropriate food and drink. AND OH, THE DRINK. Mixologist JP Caceres had a beautiful little line-up of cocktails throughout the night; his take on the Tom Collins (with lemon balm-infused gin) was my fave, with the "Margarita Love Me Long Time" a very close second (that one included Damiana flower, a rumored APHRODISIAC). Caceres himself was quite the charmer, and his closing remarks on order in his own life ended things on a near-perfect note.

Other highlights? An evening-opening performance from Margot MacDonald; catching up, PICNIC BLANKET STYLE, with a few familiar faces (including the planning committee's/Butler + Claypool's/Project Beltway's Rachel Cothran); and definitely the decor - an astroturf "field" had been laid out on the second floor, and - until a minor lil' smokeout - the party was lit by hundreds of pillars and votives.  With a couple of different locations at the ready (this week's was a verdeHOUSE property overlooking the Canal) and several week's worth of topics and guest directors already announced, I'm excited to check back in for a completely different experience a little later in the Summer.

Invites can be requested by application HERE; and STUDY UP, DUDES. There's a question about how your LIFE would taste as a PIE.

no news is good news: july preview.

July's No News is Good News mails out Monday - are you in? 

nairobi.

My current favorite clothing item is this BREEZY SUMMER TOP, which until recently was a vintage Summer dress - the above is a scan of the leftover fabric, and THIS is the history of its Nairobi-Geneva-DC route to my closet. Wild, right?

chocolate milk.

fine wine.

Bryan and Katie came over for dinner last week; their generosity truly knows no bounds.

local tourists.

camera one (bathroom shenanigans with Svet and Alex), camera two (photo by Jeff Martin)

Oh man. I, too, had a pretty great Friday night (and by PRETTY GREAT I actually mean INTENSELY AND AMAZINGLY EPIC). After dropping Mitchell off at the rock and roll show (a MOM MOVE if there ever was one), I made the last-minute decision to stop by BYT's Local Tourist Party at the National Geographic Museum - a decision that resulted in all sorts of unforeseen excellence, namely: an impromptu GIRLS NIGHT OUT, a dance floor GLITTER BAPTISM (courtesy of the geniuses that are CHERYL; I'm different now, and better, for it), and THESE sorts of moves being elicited, en masse, by Tariq's end-of-night SOUL/BLUES/BRILLIANCE set in the courtyard. There's a big fat photo roundup over at BYT today, which includes that above, dance-blissed, hat-askance, GLITTER-BLAZING gem by Jeff Martin.

favorited.

So Mitchell had a GREAT Friday night
(see: Hot Snakes, Rock and Roll Hotel, BEER).

one, two, three.

a look back at the week. photo Alexandra Valenti/SOTBM.

one. Vessel To Venus - the new Sisters of the Black Moon Summer lookbook - is jaw-dropping/over the top/full stop AMAZING.

two. My friend Casey saw The Hives. (via caseyweird)

three. A Night At the Opera: ON REPEAT this week (and for eternity).

flickr friday.

nuit blanche.

NUIT BLANCHE: a Summer Solstice party, tonight at Redeem.

wonder.

This video is amazing, and is giving me ALL THE REGRET for having missed Saturday night's Eternal Summers show at Comet.

full hessian.

 park it yrself, metallica breath.

I recently unearthed a pair of oversized, light wash, weird-90s-MAN JEANS from the back of my closet. How they got there, I don't know - I can only assume they were a thrifted attempt at boyfriend jeans, but it didn't NOT cross my mind that they might, at some point, have belonged to my Dad? Regardless of origin, the damage is done: I'm smitten. They're a little like this (except WORSE), and their ugliness is appealing to me in ways that I KNOW are wrong, yet still feel terribly, terribly right.
If, at this point in time, you're assuming that I'm pairing these things with a feminine or fitted top (to offset the DUDE VIBES, of course), then I thank you for the benefit of the doubt - BUT. I'd like to make it clear that I'm currently wearing them with a) a strong contender for the world's most disgusting Metallica t-shirt, and b) my hair down, and with a center part - meaning that in all reality, the only thing separating me from Kenny Crandall & co up there is some Nars and a few pieces of jewelry.*
*my being A-OK with this can be filed under "things that should surprise NO ONE."

his/hers/mine.

HIS: Peary & Henson Aftershave, from the Mutiny Collection (available at Redeem)/HERS: Gucci Flora: Gracious Tuberose (usually layered with some Skeem jazz).

TRUTH: I'm about to start stealing from the HIS category; smelling like a girl has its charms, sure - but am I alone in thinking that there's little-to-no point in wearing perfume if it doesn't kind of make you want to fall in LOVE with YOURSELF? 

no news is good news: july preview.

No News is Good News emails out July 2 - TUNE IN/TURN ON.

PICKLE!

I bought this pickle wine stopper for a friend last week and couldn't help but grab one for myself; the hilarity involved in pouring myself a glass of wine has since increased by about A MILLION.

farmer's market.

 early morning Mt. Pleasant; Farmer's Market finds, one and two.

I spent an early and TOTALLY ENJOYABLE Saturday morning at the Mt. Pleasant Farmer's Market with Elizabeth and Glory of Hand Drawn Bazaar; come end of the month we'll be putting the final touches on a project we're working on together - I'm siked to share!

PS: documentation is in instagram-form because MERCURY IS IN RETROGRADE.* Translation: my point-and-shoot bit the dust, which elicited THESE sorts of feelings for the rest of the weekend.
*ASTROLOGY. I warned you. ASTROLOGY.

one, two, three.

one, two, three: a look back at the week. photo via Nerd Boyfriend.

one. Sometimes I forget about The Impossible Cool and then other times I remember; same goes for Tomboy Style and Nerd Boyfriend and if nothing else I need that last one tattooed on my computer screen FOR LIFE.

two. I stopped by Montserrat House on Wednesday to check out Heart of a Lion: The Streets of Kingston. Josh Cogan's photography is, as ever, totally moving and gorgeous, and THE FRAMES - constructed from 100 year old joists of the Montserrat House itself - WERE ALSO MOVING AND GORGEOUS (I mean, as moving as frames can be. Let it be known that the photos were far more moving).

three. I'm worried about becoming one of those people who earnestly references their STAR CHART at dinner parties, as from there it's a short ride to setting up my own pottery studio in some Southwestern barn, consistently pairing flowy pants with a sensible sandal, and welding my own new-age jewelry on the weekends. THANKS A LOT, Astrology Zone.

flickr friday.

from May 2008's "Summer of Love" spread at BYT

photography by Hatnim Lee

styling and headpieces: Morgan Hungerford

makeup: Ashley May; hair: Claibourne Reppert

and featuring Liz Gorman, Becca Gourley, Alexandra Verville, 

John Thornley, Paul Thornley, and Dee Wong

evil woman.

Some AFTERNOON ELO (in light of that new EVIL EYE header).

related; also - while THIS may be the best youtube comment I've ever read, the first one HERE is a STRONG contender for second.

HEAVY.

blown out.

In keeping with today's theme of WEAR AND TEAR, the above photo (by C. Freeman) was part of the June edition of No News is Good News - click HERE to view and and HERE HERE HERE to sign up for July's newsletter!

R. I. P.

they died tragically rescuing their family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship.
PS: another sad farewell.

it's summer.

watermelon + red onion + feta + basil,
olive oil-drizzled/black sea salt-ed/EATEN UP.

centerpiece.

My friend Andrew threw a 1950s-themed dinner party last month (hence the MARSHMALLOW presence, and also those amazing plates), and while there were a GOOD MANY aspects of the evening to love, one of my favorite parts of the night occurred upon arrival - each guest was asked to bring a single flower, which we were then instructed to fit into a handmade, wooden centerpiece to create a collaborative sculpture. Not immediately visible: the drilled-in grooves that held onto each stem; completely invisible: a SUPER 50s, pineapple-topped pork dish that totally knocked my socks off.

serenity now.

HIGH TEA at the Mayflower (for a dear one's Bridal Shower):
a MOST ELEGANT way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

the national building museum...

...is a real humdinger; Friday night's SAVOR was a blast (barring, of course, the existential crisis I had while trying to get dressed beforehand. Let it be known that in these moments, searching the bottom of one's wardrobe MAY lead to the excavation of the Jovovich-Hawk for Target dress one has been looking for, for the last three years, and that said discovery will not only soothe the crisis at hand, but will in fact be the equivalent of finding a cool million in the pocket of an old pair of jeans, thereby righting the path of the GOOD TIME one [or one's husband] may have had in mind before the aforementioned first world problem arose).

one, two, three.

one, two, three: a look back at the week. photo nudiesuits.tumblr.com

one. I want a Nudie Suit. I want a Nudie Suit REAL BAD. (via Tablet, via Longform).

two. Welcome back, Worn Magazine!

three. Vice's look at "The Immortality Commune of Gavdos" is totally fascinating, as is the video accompanying the fundraiser page for an in-progress documentary about it. SO DHARMA INITIATIVE/I'M SO INTO IT.

flickr friday.

from Panda Head Magazine: Issue 5

The Birthday Party

photographs: Joshua Cogan

hair: Rebekah Calo

makeup: Akemi Kanakazi

featuring: Bianka Brunson, Susan Edwards, and Akemi Kanakazi

generals.

GET IT. 

I couldn't be more excited and FRIEND-PROUD for all the AMAZING (and amazingly DESERVED) press Laura Burhenn's The Mynabirds are getting for her new album; the IFC premiere of GENERALS would have put me six feet under if it hadn't actually made me jump up out of my chair and march around my living room.

father/faughter/forest.

my brother-in-law and niece.

THAT VEST.

Thrifted for a quarter when I was in college, this TAWDRY little paperback (titled FUN CITY GIRLS) came sans cover; lucky for all our viewing pleasures, the backside (hubba hubba) remains fully intact (and fully OUTFIT/HAIR/EXISTENCE inspirational).

frayed.

five minute reupholstery project.

MY COUCH WAS NOT DEAD
(it just needed a Pendleton-blanket makeover).

PS: INSTAGRAM.

movie night.

all photos by Chris Chen. 

The week after the Issue 6 Preview Dinner we found ourselves with a FURNITURE-FREE living room and a surplus of chairs; having recently unearthed an old-school/old school projection screen in Mitchell's parents' basement, we jumped at the opportunity to host a mid-week movie night at our place.
AS IT HAPPENS, our friend (and director) Nelson Cuellar (along with his wife and writing partner, Jess Cuellar) made a short film last year - we first saw THE DEL RAY STORY when it premiered at Galaxy Hut this past October and have been preaching it as gospel ever since. So sweet and so funny, locally made and just a joy to watch - we were thrilled to finally get to share it with friends (including, among other dear ones, our friend and photographer Chris Chen).
Also a weeknight thrill: the POST-FILM decision to walk to Smoke + Barrel, en masse, for barbecue, beers, and whiskeys. I've had FOLLOWING MORNINGS go a little easier but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't worth the GOOD TIME (and a good time was had, certainly, by all).

newslettering.

June's edition of NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS mailed out this AM - was it all up in yr inbox?