The Late Afternoon

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! 

I’ll be moving apartments, springtime concert-ing, and enjoying a sunny three-day weekend. What are your plans?

Fun art with a funny name. Every so often, I go through the many, many links that I’ve bookmarked and today found ToonPoot amongst my website collection. What drew me to these painting were the bright colors and odd shapes that somehow are transformed into animals and characters. The concept and shapes are simple, but these quirky images are still fun to look at.

All images from http://www.toonpoot.com

My friend, Sarah, is a Williams-Sonoma expert (mention before here). While skimming through the store catalogue, we came across the “Message in a Cookie” cookie cutters and I had to have them. They’ve been out-of-stock for awhile, but luckily Williams-Sonoma brought them back! Yay! I received mine from Sarah yesterday and gave them a try this afternoon.

Cutting out the cookies.

The “Message in a Cookie” cookie cutters come with three cookie shapes (star, heart, scalloped rectangle), a small mesh bag of letters, and a sugar cookie recipe. To create the cookie messages, all you do is slide the small white letters into the cookie cutters.

I made plain, pink, and purple sugar cookies using gel food coloring.

I am a big fan of typography posters, cards, pillows, etc…and am happy to now have typography cookies! The possibilities are endless. There are so many options that I had a hard time thinking of messages to stamp into the dough, which hopefully explains the corny, corny, “Have a Happy Day.” Haha.

Collection of cookie messages.

Message in a Cookie Box and cookie cutters.

To learn more about the Message in a Cookie Cutters, visit Williams-Sonoma online.

Lemon and chocolate is such a delicious combination. My sister shared this mouth-watering recipe for lemon and chocolate chip loaf cake awhile ago. The cake is deliciously moist and I am a big fan of gooey, warm chocolate chips. The photos are taken by her as well. Yum! The recipe can be found below:

I spent yesterday’s sunny Sunday afternoon exploring the Marin Farmer’s Market with my mom. We sampled delicious fruit, cheese, sea salts, ate a chocolate brioche, and wandered through the crafty booths. We came across this one booth of vintage dressers, shelves, and coat hangers made from found door knobs from the 1950s, old vintage hardware, and splashed with beachy colors. The pieces look like they belong in a laid-back Stinson summer beach home. It became my instant favorite.

Coat hangers made of found wood and vintage San Francisco crystal door knobs. I liked how the pieces were displayed on old white washed doors and planks of wood.

I am officially on my one week vacation from work and back home in Marin. It feels so nice!

  From a late afternoon stroll through Sausalito with my friend, Sarah. Loving the fact that it stays sunny past 7 PM!

I headed up to the Wine Country yesterday for my friend’s birthday and spent the day of wining, dining, lounging, and exploring. It was all together lovely. We spent most of our time at Sterling Winery in Calistoga, CA. The rows and rows of vineyards and greenery are so beautiful and refreshing. The wine country is the perfect place for photo-taking. Above are some photographs captured while at Sterling and from our lunch at Rutherford Grill (so delicious!).

Additionally, I stumbled upon these Succulent candles at the Sterling Wine Shop and thought they were adorable. I originally took these photos for my sister who is obsessed with her little succulent plants, but thought I should share this cute find with all of you.

Succulent or candle? Succulent candle!

I’ve noticed succulent plants tend to be super symmetrical. These candles totally mimic the symmetry of the real plants.

   A variety of different candles. The little tin containers the candles are placed in are cute too.