four-day slow clap.

ltd - stairs to dp beach - isla vista, ca

i'm home from my third alumni weekend. it was an absolute success, just as i hoped it'd be. (this time i even managed to hang onto my voice, which will make the transition back to work a little less painful.) seeing so many of my pals in one place never fails to fill my heart, and i plan to ration the gaucho love that was dished my way until our time to relive and relinquish our real-world selves comes again next year.

p.s. and now, we sleep.

[s]tepping [b]arefoot.

staircase - from my bedroom door - sf, ca

ahh, the familiar, fond places.

giant-winged, glass-slippered.

fit for a fairy tale - work - sf, ca

i have an active imagination, but it remains mostly stifled monday through friday. stifled or stepped on or brushed aside to let the checklist forever multiply. that's why i maintain this blog--it keeps my mind in reaching mode and my desire to retire at bay. it holds my glowing beetle-bug of a future between my cupped fingertips. and i'll tell ya, one of these days that little sucker is going to escape with rapture and ravenous resolve.

welcome to the workplace, woman.

tissue paper flower -made by ms. e. euser - napa, ca

my sister got a job! she'll be working in the yountville chamber of commerce as the executive assistant to the mayor. i am incredibly proud of her, as i am more often than not. i can say with confidence that she will bring a lot of life to that quaint little town. watch the tourism triple, i tell ya.

so many toads and worms on the road.

hello toad - taken by my mom - napa, ca

today, after celebrating my oma's ninetieth birthday, my mom and i took the dogs on a walk in the middle of a downpour. walking in wellies was exactly what i needed to finish this fabulous weekend.

an intern's noise is noise to me.

peter som for louboutin - way back - nyc

i was just rifling through old photos since i haven't taken any worth seeing in the past week. coming across the one above brought back a little memory:

there are few things i can vividly recall about the two-week stint in early 2007 when i worked slash flailed around during new york fashion week. but one thing, one sound (onesound.onesound), that has stomped and stomped itself into the wrinkles of my brain is that of an intern's walk. this girl--full-lipped, full-hipped, and bare-faced--wore a pair of hardwood-heeled, vintage working boots each of the three days i was at the peter som studio. the floors all grey cement, it was impossible to not hear her HEEL-toe, HEEL-toe, HEEL-toe. it was obvious that she had some deep-seated catwalk fantasy--a result of watching hundreds of ostrich-humans teeter around her workplace, i'm sure (ugh, that's not how you do it. pick me, pick me, peter. i'll show them how it's done). and let me tell you, she lived that couture-cloud dream from fax machine to her little desk chair at least seventy nine times a day. she was satisfied with herself. she stomped it out. she was going places where there would be a shoe-sound status quo. and so it goes in the fashion industry--make your presence known or run the risk of being forgotten altogether. that is, until being forgotten is the new black. in which case, move over, world, intern incoming.

t-minus two.

a dog and his ball - rocky at home - napa, ca

can't wait to jump into the weekend. here's to two more days of this workweek.

the damn gate won't latch.

i call your bluff - front gate - filbert steps - sf, ca

just when you manage to put something out of your head, life has a toothy way of shooting it right back to the surface.

dawn to deluge to dusk.

water cans - front porch - napa, ca

it's april, and the showers are fast upon us. though don't be fooled by clear-skied mornings. wearing suede flats and a silk chiffon skirt, you'll be lured from your front doorstep sans umbrella. the sun will stay out just long enough to render itself promising, so much so that you'll consider having yoppi frozen yogurt for lunch. hell, you'll even eat it outside while watching the ill-fitting suits pass by. but that midday dream bubble will burst the second you leave your workplace. spontaneously, cumulous clouds will combust, and your outfit--along with your craving for coconut tart--will be sent to the gutter with the rest of the raindrops.

consider this a warning.