Some recent flickr favorites. It’s been so long since I shared flickr favorites.

I have jury duty today. I’m not excited about it, but I suppose in my nearly 27 years, I’m about due for it finally. I gathered necklace making supplies that only require string and my hands, a gigantic book, and all the patience I can muster. When I was in 4th grade I was awarded with the “Empathy Award” by my elementary school*, and I plan to use this as evidence that I would be terrible on a jury. I have too much empathy! I’m a die-hard Libra who always weighs both sides of a story! But mostly the thought of taking the train all the way to Jamaica, Queens every day for a week or more for a trial makes me want to tear my eyes out. Cross your fingers for me.

*This is a very true fact. When I came home with it, my mom asked me if it was a joke. These are the kinds of awards they give extremely shy nine year olds.

harrybloom
coolhandluke
indierocket
younga

I still have summer dresses on my mind, and this one by Lekkerlife perfectly fits the bill.

I love these new prints by Debbie Carlos. They’re big and beautiful, printed on airy vellum. (And how awesome is that cat?)

I downloaded the Girl Groups Mix by Mike Powell at the recommendation of Gotta Girl Crush on Friday, and added it to my own collection of Ronnettes and Ikettes songs I already had. Ah, so ,so good. My two favorites above (please excuse the awful visuals on the second one. I wish youtube would ban horrible homemade videos, ha.)

And then, because I seem to only live in the past lately, can we talk about how excited I am for the new Best Coast album, Crazy For You? Do I really have to wait two more weeks?* One of their new songs off the album below, if you haven’t obsessively listened to it on repeat lately like me… this song fits nicely with the girl groups songs, too, I think.

*UPDATE: UO just sent out an email that they’re streaming the album! Whoa, mind readers. So excited.

As always, you can click on the photos to read (possibly) more info on flickr!

Summer was decidedly better to me this weekend. Reasons include so much good food: homemade popsicles, chicken & waffles, summer squash pizza, burgers from the grill, lots of Red Stripe, peaches peaches peaches (oh I love you, summer peaches). Also: aimless wandering in Williamsburg (we excel at aimless wandering, yet somehow forget how much fun it is when we’re trying to figure out what to do some days), necklace making progress, Sleepless In Seattle, polka dots, backyard bbqs with ac/dc on the record player, running longer and harder than I ever have (the result was a combination of feeling of awful and awesome), hot weather cat sleeping positions, and I even liked the random rain here and there. I think taking a break from going into the city this weekend was helpful. Ignoring the chaos. Picking and choosing better, sifting through all the muchness in this heat with better clarity of what makes me happy.

As always, you can click on the photos to read (possibly) more info on flickr!

Ah, finally. Some weekend bits for ya. Taken with my ikoflex. Fuji Pro 400H.

To be perfectly honest, I had a less than stellar weekend. Once the temperature goes above 90, I became the Incredible Hulk. If I have to hear one more person talk about their amazing weekend away doing something fun and relaxing among nature, I might scream. I won’t get into my first-world problems, but a hate for this crowded, hot city* swelled up inside of me this weekend, and I really hope it goes away soon.

But there were good moments: a brief trip to Governor’s Island for 30 minutes of silence (let’s not discuss getting there though, hence the briefness), a trek to Petey’s Burgers for In ‘N Out-like amazingness, a slight view of the fireworks from my fire escape, Toy Story 3, homemade margaritas and watermelon, and eating bread pudding for dinner (can’t decide if that’s a good or bad moment…)

I’m taking the rest of this week off from blogging, and I’ll be back Monday. Hoping to hop on the LIRR Saturday to escape to a beach that doesn’t include people physically and verbally abusing their children in front of everyone and smashed beer bottles in the sand.** I also bought new beads for more indian summer necklaces, and that makes me pretty excited. I have such a huge shop update in the works:)

*Sara told me “nyc is like a hot, sexy, bad boyfriend that you can’t break up with.” So true. Sigh.

**I fully realized what a huge idiot I am for thinking going to Coney Island was a good idea on Sunday. Totally, fully, 100%. I just wanted to take photos! Ha.

Just realized I should probably post Music Monday actually on Monday. Just in the nick of time.

If you haven’t heard, it’s really damn hot here in the Northeast. More on that later, but allow me to indulge in the greatest summer song ever, stereotypical as it may be. Because if 100 degrees isn’t summertime, I don’t know what is.

Available now!

ps. I misquoted the price the other day. I apologize about that!

Lately I am really into drinking delicious beverages. Because it’s summer, natch. Here are some recipes from last weekend, I apologize that I am such a right-brain person and cannot give lovely detailed instructions. I’m definitely an “add a little of this and see how it tastes” person.

Cucumber Mint Limeade
(Makes a nice big pitcher, perfect for sharing.)
3/4 of a big cucumber, peeled and chopped (If I had to guess I’d say it was a cup of cucumber? You can add more later if you feel it needs it)
1/3 cup of fresh mint
1 cup lime juice (roughly 12-14 limes)
agave nectar to taste (will require a lot – 1/2 cup or more)
water

Blend the chopped cucumber and mint in a blender until smooth (I put a little bit of water in it so it will strain easier.) Strain the mixture through a sieve into a pitcher, pushing on the mixture with the back of a spoon to push the liquid through. Add the lime juice. Add cold water to fill the pitcher (I recommend going 3/4 of the way so you can adjust as needed.) Add agave juice to taste. You can also use simple syrup if you’re not an agave person, but trust me, the agave is so good and if you’ll be downing this deliciousness with alcohol, it helps you feel less disgusting.
Refrigerate til nice and cold, serve with ice, mint leaves, and cucumber slices. Drink with a shot of Hendrick’s gin for boozey amazingness.

Watermelon Lemon Fizz
This one I truly guessed on because I made this recipe up on the fly and didn’t have an extra regular size pitcher so it was a smaller batch. Basically you chop watermelon and then blend it, strain it through a sieve to get delicious watermelon juice. Add a lemon juice (I used four lemons) and agave to taste – you want it to be pretty sweet and strong flavored because you’re adding soda water to it. Pour in a glass over ice 3/4 of the way up and fill the rest of the glass with soda water. Add the alcohol of your choice. I used gin, vodka would be even better. If you were a fancy person you would garnish this drink with a lemon spiral and a mint sprig. I’m so not fancy I couldn’t even remember to take a picture of this drink so obviously I wasn’t at the fancy garnish stage.

Lastly, Kelly brought me a jar of homemade rhubarb ginger syrup on Sunday, and I just last night got around to trying it out. She has a recipe that would have been perfect to use it on, but sadly I was lacking in the bourbon department and only had gin. So I mixed the syrup with lemon juice and gin, shook it in a cocktail shaker, poured it over ice and added soda water. Really amazing. I can’t wait to try it with bourbon or a spiced whiskey!

Oh and Wendy just wanted to say hi. She obviously had a hard day when this photo was taken.

I’m signing off early for a 3.5 day weekend, happy 4th of July to my stateside friends, and don’t forget – necklaces go on sale Monday on Target’s website!! Eeep, I can’t believe the day has finally come:) I’ll post a link here when I get it.

Bits Of My Weekend will come late Tuesday because I think I’m going to shoot some medium format film. Have a great weekend!

“Woven“, my recent favorite Etsy search term for vintage. It’s all so summer-tastic.

pineapple mint – Old Baltimore Vintage
santoki vintage – pineapple mint
reclaimer – dig vintage