click the photos to see the answers to probably most of your questions on flickr!

This weekend we went on a seven mile bike ride (not very far, but far to us!), and as we rode home through the quiet neighborhoods, pointing out our dream bungalows to each other, it dawned on me that somehow, somewhere, I’d come to feel at home in LA. We ate good food, saw good art, and had that perfect balance of time at home and time off our butts outside. Recipe for a good weekend. Sure, I could do without these gloomy mornings that make it tough to get out of bed, but thankfully by late afternoon the sun is shining golden enough for a good magic hour.

1. Kinfolk looks pretty fantastic. Thumbs-up to more minimalism on the web.
2. Pretty jazzed about Warby Parker’s upcoming sunglasses collection!*
3. I love Genevieve’s DIY table, made for under $100.
4. More clog love.
5. I love this print by Otsuki Yuji.
6. Yarn wrapped around a wood block = an awesome stamp. In Christine Schmidt’s new book Print Workshop. Via Pennyweight.

*Warby Parker is a blog sponsor but this mention is 100% of my own free will because I really am jazzed!

Have a great, patience-filled weekend, everyone:) I need this weekend like nobody’s business. And I can’t wait to shoot weekend photos with my new camera!

ps. I have a summer music mix up over on K.I.D. Collective, perfect for the beach! I’ll just pretend that it will actually be warm enough to hang out on the beach this weekend, unlike some of you lucky ducks.

Lately I’m teaching myself to be more patient. I’m sure that many of you can relate, but the internet is making me ADD (I’ve touched on this before, and it’s why I cut down on blogging), and I cannot sit still for a second to let something load without that nervous tick kicking in that tells me check gmail, check twitter. It could literally be just a 30 second wait, saving a file or something, and I twitch twitch twitch. But it spills over outside of my digital life, making me impatient with the sound of silence and the act of doing nothing. Standing in line somewhere. twitch twitch twitch. Eating dinner. twitch twitch twitch. Sitting in traffic. twitch twitch twitch. It’s not entirely uncalled for – I am busy lately, piling up my plate and stuffing my mouth with more than I can chew, so those minutes spent standing in line and sitting in traffic eat away at my to-do list, funneling down my fingers, tapping my steering wheel or drumming on my thighs.

I can’t remember the exact moment that it dawned on me that it had to stop, but it’s a struggle for me lately to sit calmly and let things load, cars inch forward, lines move slowly. On the computer my trick is to fold my hands in my lap. It sounds silly, but it works. I hit save on a huge file, I fold my hands, I zone out. I savor that moment. Last night we were eating dinner at a restaurant, and I took a moment to slow down and the waiter mistook this as a sign that I was done and asked to take my plate, and I realized that a lot of us reinforce this habit, hurrying each other. Hence the difficulty in changing. But I’m trying, and I hope that I can lead by example (*coughboyfriendcough*).

This week was one of those whatever can go wrong, will go wrong weeks (does June gloom also bring June doom, Angelenos?), but I just fold my hands in my lap and zone out, waiting for what I cannot control to pass. Silver lining: my new camera came and it’s the best, we made a life plan for the coming year that terrifies and excites me, I’m eating healthier lately (though I had to quit seeing my nutritionist because I can’t afford her, but that’s a story for another day), and riding my bike makes me feel weightless, where the only thing on my to-do list is feeling the damn wind in my hair.

ps. fist-bump to Jenna for her thoughts on being zen, which I enjoyed and got me thinking about posting my own.

I hesitate to even type here because I fear I will lose this post the second it publishes (saved it this time on my desktop! ha), but I think I have most of the technical issues under control. The email addresses are still being wonky, so email my gmail if you have anything shop or sponsor related.

click on the photos for possibly more info – the top photo is admittedly not from this weekend but from a few weeks ago, hanging out on my Ikoflex.

Gah, I can’t even remember what I wrote about the weekend before my previous post was deleted, retyping it again makes my head hurt. So I’ll just let you look at the photos and say that I worked my ass off all weekend, only taking breaks at night for fun times that involved a bbq in Silverlake, and seeing The Hangover II, which made us laugh til we cried (totally underrated), and reading Mockingjay (I’m going to CRY when I finish this series!).

It’s really difficult to focus properly with my Ikoflex because the viewfinder is really battered and scratched, plus you have to be at least 4 feet away from anything, which is a lot of room for my style. But I still like the out of focus ones – there’s a soft warmth to them I love.

Hey guys, I’m having some crazy domain problems today due to my host changing IP addresses and bla bla bla bla. So, you may have noticed that I lost some posts and that my shop is down right now (shop is back up!). I’m going to put the posts back up  tonight when I get home so ignore them in your rss readers if you’re seeing things like “preview of shop update tomorrow!” and “friday bits!” when it is most certainly (and sadly) Monday. In the midst of the shop going down, there are actually a couple of these fine fine bracelets left that you can secretly access by going to formeforyou.bigcartel.com instead of the other domain. I’m actually surprised this colorway sold last because it was my favorite.

I think mercury is in retrograde just for me because I’ve had so many technical problems in various aspect of my life for the past week it’s not even funny!

Bits Of My Weekend will be here in all it’s glory tomorrow. That is if the film I dropped off to get developed doesn’t turn out blank, at the rate I’m going.

* It’s driving me crazy that this photo is blurry, but I didn’t notice until I was uploading it and I’m sans-camera til tomorrow. I’m done whining. I promise.

Well, the votes are in and Alicia’s submission of Jean Seberg’s dress from Breathless is a clear winner of the Vintage Redux Contest! I knew the blogsphere wouldn’t be able to resist stripes, as usual! Alicia’s dress will now be re-imagined by Vain & Vapid and I will be sure to let you all know when it’s available to purchase at Fancy French Cologne.

Thank you all for submitted and voting! Here are the final numbers, in case you’re curious:

A preview of tomorrow’s shop update is now available! I hope you all like the new bracelets, and some of the color experimenting I did with contrasting mixes and vibrant hues. I looked a lot to my wardrobe lately and how I keep it simple, but always find myself reaching for a vibrant necklace to give my outfit a kick of color. And for those of you not so experimental with color, some nice classic neutrals (you can never go wrong with them!) will be available as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions! (With the exception of “can I reserve a necklace because I have xyz to do at 4pm” :) An update for July is already in the works. I told you I’m trying to make it happen, guys.

1. everyeskimo’s shop is killing me lately with the vintage goodness. You can’t buy these plant stands as they’re reserved, but you can pine for them with me.
2. Miranda July models for Hansel From Basel’s latest collection. I mean, need I explain why this is amazing? Nope. via GGC.
3. Sometimes when I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac, I think about how Christine McVie’s talents are often overshadowed by everyone’s favorite gypsy girl. I think Rotter and Friends feels me on that.
4. Not that it’s warm enough yet here (learning all about June weather here), but… the perfect summer dress…
5. …and the perfect summer sandals.
6. Wood & Faulk’s new Northwestern Series looks amazing, and Lisa Warninger‘s photos perfectly encapsulate that Northwestern feel. Look at that moss!
7. Iris Apfel’s apartment is truly a feast for the eyes. As if girlfriend wasn’t amazing enough to me already. via Miss Moss.
8. I can’t stop staring at this incredible photo by photographer Barry Underwood. via Alison.
9. Another fun voyeuristic look into other lives, work.place is a peek behind the scenes with Portland artists.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I am sans digital camera this weekend because my new camera was delayed in shipment, so I – gasp! – won’t have Bits Of My Weekend on Monday! Luckily I was in the middle of shooting a roll of medium format film, so I’m crossing my fingers I can finish that up and get it developed on Monday in time for a Tuesday post. I will be so busy with the shop update on Sunday (don’t forget!) that I doubt any of the photos will be that thrilling anyway.

It’s come to my attention that the poll for the contest stopped working – only four people were able to vote before it decided to die. So I switch poll hosts and it seems to be working! So you can re-vote if you already had. Thanks, guys!

Can you believe it’s already June? That it’s almost … summer?? There’s brand new sponsors on the sidebar I hope you check out, full of new friends and old (old old!) friends that I’m excited to have. Now, onto this great music…

My friend Gretchen’s mom, Patty, who is a devoted blog reader, sent me an email telling me I had to check out this band The Civil Wars because she knew I’d like them. And she was correct. I am so in love with their super stripped down live recordings, gorgeous harmonies, and how adorable they are. Apparently they’re getting really popular, but I’d never heard of them. But I think I like their older recordings more than their newer, more studio produced songs. They’ve been touring with Adele in the states, which seems like an interesting combo.