sophia loren

I have a slight obsession with Sophia Loren [my cat may, or may not be named after her!]. These photos really need no words. Happy weekend!

hustle & bustle

I am ecstatic that the shoot I mentioned here was featured on Style Me Pretty today! Can it get any better than that? I love working with Bustle whenever I can, and this shoot was no different.

Check out the inspiration for the shoot and the rest of the images here.

[photos via Christine Taylor]

blackberry bliss

The last time I spent hours picking blackberries may have been when I was about 8 years old. Every time I visited my aunt's house in the sierra foothills she would recruit all the little ones to pluck berries so that she could bake blackberry pies [and we didn't object because we would eat them!]. I always ended up with stained fingers [and sometimes toes], and I knew that would be a danger when I decided to go blackberry picking this past weekend, but what I seemed to forget is how thorny the bushes can be. Regardless, the stains and pains were absolutely worth the delicious blackberry crisp reward I devoured a few hours later!

This article in 7x7 (which featured this blackberry crisp recipe from Saveur) sparked my desire to bake this simple & sweet crisp. And the fact that I know someone who [thank you Shaw family!] has a multitude of blackberry bushes in their backyard made it easy for me to use fresh berries.

[ready for the picking]

[warmed by the sun]

[stains]

[berries & sugar]

[Willie's blackberry crisp]

nikon heaven

It isn't necessarily the perfect time [financially] for my boyfriend and I to have made such a huge investment in a new camera [we picked up the Nikon D3000 last weekend!] + telephoto lens. But after thinking about the major things happening [see here] or about to happen in our lives, we couldn't say no. [In addition to the fact my boyfriend lost our point-and-shoot and I've been dying for a DSLR]. And now, we can't put it down. I suffered a small case of buyer's remorse the night we bought it, but have come to realize it is the absolute best purchase we've ever made.

Below is a small sample from the 421 [!] photos we took within the first 24 hours it was ours!

On another note, it's quite possible my quest for the perfect dress has ended. See me in Rebecca Taylor below.