hotel, motel, holiday inn

Oliver, Austin, NV.

Happy hour, Santa Fe, NM.

Bathroom basket weave, Santa Fe, NM.

Stella, Austin, NV.

In-room breakfast (and map), Santa Fe, NM.

Selfie, Austin, NV.

The only guests at a hidden retreat center, Baker, NV.

Tropic, Utah.

Nightfall, Sante Fe. Repeat times six.

Adjoining bedrooms, detached bath, Austin, NV.

Road weary and heading home.

We stayed in eight different hotels and motor lodges during our fifteen days on the road. Some were awesome, some were weird, some were charming, some were downright depressing. The most antiseptic ones were the saddest to us, and luckily we only came across two of those.

The feeling of padding my nest is still fresh on me as I look at these photos. Like when you arrive at a new place and first make sure it is clean, then if it has light, and then maybe you find out it offers a whole lot more than that. Then you unpack the car and scatter a few things about. A pool, the kids forcing you to swim. Maybe you fall in love with your room and rush out to see if you can get a second night there and start arranging your rock collection on an end table and tuck all your road snacks in next to the mini fridge. 

Every day of our trip David or I made sure we saw something GOOD. Underground caves, national monuments, incredible canyons and bizarre museums. We will remember all of that, undoubtably. But I am glad I took the time to shoot some of our temporary homes along the way, because I think a lot of the memories of our road trip will lie in them.

home again

We're back from our 3,100+ mile road trip through the desert Southwest! One car, two kids, a trunk stuffed to the gills with camping gear we never used, and the open road. David did all the driving and pack-muling, the kids were SO patient, the weather behaved due to scattered rains, and it was epic. 

I've never been on vacation that long. I've been on much longer trips, but I've never just checked out like that (and it was only 15 days). It was fantastic! I have to brag about Stella and Oliver. Some days we were seven or eight hours in the car. No electronics, no books because Stella gets car sick. Just knick knacks, souvenirs and music to keep them entertained. They are fucking champs.

We stayed in some wacky places (the living ghost town of Austin, NV for starters) and ate some terrible food where there were just no options. It was such an adventure. 

I want to share our route from here to there (Santa Fe, NM) and back again and all the fun things we found. But today we rest and eat vegetables! Vacation "slides" to come.

I decided to make my Instagram account public while we were out. There are a lot of fun photos there. Instagram is fun! I think I'm liking it better than Facebook right now. I'm "sfcornerblog" if you want to check them out.

Happy Monday! Let's get back to work! :)

giant paper peony piñatas

This tutorial is no longer available. Other beautiful crepe paper d.i.y. projects can be found at the links below.

October 2013  CREPE PAPER FLOWER HEADPIECES FOR FALL (giant dahlias)

November 2013 CREPE PAPER WOODLAND ORNAMENTS

December 2013 MOCK-VINTAGE FLORAL BULB REFLECTORS

February 2014 EGG + CREPE PAPER VALENTINE'S DAY HEARTS

August 2014 CREPE PAPER GODETIA + BOUGAINVILLEA

tonight!

Tonight I'm blowing it all out and doing three acts in one show! I can't wait. It's the Art History show. There's a new act I'm doing that I am so, so excited about. If you can, you should come. The Art History show is one of the best of the year. I have people coming from far and wide tonight which makes it really special for me. It is always so much better with friends and loved ones in the audience. Info is here, see you there? 

donut pan idea no. 54: chocolate eclair donuts

Oh man, these were gone in a heartbeat. Delicious chocolate eclair donuts. A wonderful play on your average chocolate glazed donut, these use your typical choux pastry, pastry cream and a simple chocolate glaze and taste exactly. like. eclairs. but. better. because. they. are. donuts.

I adapted this Joy of Baking recipe which yielded one dozen perfect eclair donuts. Click on "read more" below to read more!

photo booth II

Shamelessly I take my photo with my laptop Photo Booth several days a week. I do it to entertain Oliver, to try to figure out where my eyelashes and eyebrows have gone, to practice giving face without duck and to chronicle good hair days. A previous display of this vanity can be seen here.

I'm fascinated with the mirroring feature.

Sweet Photo Booth reminds me what I've been up to and gives me no lip. It lets me see only what I want to see. It gently records me growing older, but not. I love it, truly.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. I have a few things I can't wait to share next week and then, ROAD TRIP! xoxo

from bbq to breakfast

I wanted to share a little breakfast dish you can whip up with the scraps leftover from your Fourth of July cookout this year. I made this over Father's Day weekend when we were away and barbequing every night. It's a quick dish called chilaquiles. I've made chilaquiles from slightly more involved and delicious recipes (like this one) for a brunch potluck before, but what I did here you can whip up with four simple ingredients you probably left out on the picnic table all night the night before. 

You'll need 1-2 c. leftover salsa, about 1/2 c. chopped onions, some cheese (cheddar works) and the remains of the day in your bag of tortilla chips. Seriously, those things are always just lying around after a picnic or barbecue, aren't they?

Serve the chilaquiles with some avocado and eggs your way, and that's good hangover food. It's just science!

This is super easy. A little oil in the pan and saute the onions on medium for about five minutes or so until soft and just starting to brown.

Add the salsa, enough to cover the chips you anticipate adding.

I used a few kinds, some fresh salsa and a can of our favorite from the Herdez line, Salsa Taquera.

Crush your chips up just a bit.

Add the chips to the salsa mixture a bit at a time.

Stir until they are all coated.

Add cheese, to your liking, and enough so there's some in every bite.

You're done!

I hope you have an awesome Fourth of July. I'll be dreaming about the East Coast and what a phenomenal Fourth we had last year in New Hampshire while I'm bundled up in blankets at the parade in Sausalito and then later watching the fog turn different colors from the fireworks over the San Francisco Bay. xoxo!

babiekins

Photo credit: Babiekins Etsy shop

This is cute. Back in November (when I was still using regular ol' crepe paper streamers), the editor of Babiekins magazine contacted me to ask to use a few of my egg piñatas for a shoot. I whipped three up in a few nights and sent them her way. The print issue is out now and I was able to take a peek via the Babiekins Etsy shop. Can you find the piñatas?

Keeping my fingers crossed that some credit was given for them in the digital and print issues, no matter how minor a role they played. Can't wait to get my hands on a print issue, it's a nice magazine.

Happy Monday!