Favorite Things: June 2013
Weekends are when I log most of my hours at work and it leaves little time for blogging, so I’m just popping in with a quick fun little post today. It’s Monday, right? Who wants to read anything too long anyway? Here’s a few things I’m super into at the moment.
Store Front: The disappearing face of New York — Doug and I have been reading this book together and it’s both sad and beautiful. “Reading together” is a relative term with us… he reads while I’m at work and I read while he’s in bed (I stay up way later than he does). But! We have a good time discussing the interesting stories of storefronts who have been forced to close due to New York City real estate prices, or those who are still making do. It really is heartbreaking the way “old New York” disappears one shopfront at a time and will soon be made up of chains, deluxe boutiques, and shady tourist shops selling bootleg soccer jerseys and Empire State building keychains.
Cronuts – These are one of my favorite things in the way that Zac Efron was one of my favorite things a few years ago: Mostly I’m obsessed/intrigued with the hype around them. I was never obsessed with Zac Efron, just with the fanaticism surrounding him, and I think I feel the same way about Cronuts. Of course… if I ever got the chance to taste one maybe I would actually become obsessed with the pastry. Does that make sense? (For the adventurous types, you can try making your own croissant-donuts at home using this recipe– thanks Libby!)
Dark Horse Coffee — Is it lame to include one of your own instagrams on your “favorite things” post? I don’t know what the Emily Post of blogging has to say about something like this. If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right because this coffee is the. best. We were out of all forms of coffee last week (the bank account was all dried up until payday) and I definitely noticed an effect on my demeanor and my interactions with others. Whoops!
What makes your “June favorites” shortlist? Share in the comments, I want to hear!
Salvation Mountain
This week I had a day (plus a half day) off, so Angela and I sneaked away to the desert for a quick trip to see one of America’s best examples of large-scale folk art– Salvation Mountain.
Seeing Salvation Mountain in person was very moving. I spent a lot of time thinking about the man who built it and his devotion to spreading The Gospel. For twenty years he labored out in the heat (it was 104° when we were there) first building, then maintaining and expanding this “mountain,” every inch packed with the message “God is Love” and important Bible verses. I compared this to other religious monuments I’ve seen… The Vatican, cathedrals like Notre Dame, Chartres, and Sacré Coeur in particular came to mind, as well as the Ali Ben Yousef Madrassa in Marrakech. Here in America we have not kept up the tradition of great religious monuments (for a variety of reasons–too many to discuss here), so seeing something like this that totally doesn’t fit in with the old tradition was very powerful… Even more so considering its ephemeral nature. Without diligent upkeep, the sun, heat, and desert winds can and will reduce this shrine to only a memory that lives on through photos and stories shared by those who made the trip to visit.
Angela and I were greeted by two men representing a group that exists to continue the work of Leonard Knight now that he is in a home due to age and health. I overheard them reminiscing about the time when Leonard still lived at the mountain–it was said that he greeted each visitor personally and made a connection with them, sharing his story and often sending them home with a trinket to remember the experience. It is only fitting that a shrine-like dome built under the mountain was filled with trinkets from visitors (instant photos, ID cards, candles, etc) to commemorate their trip out to the desert.
Adjacent to Salvation Mountain is Slab City, where a collection of hippies, nomads, and other unique individuals live. Some make this area their home full-time, others visit seasonally, and yet others are simply passing through. During the summer the population dwindles as not everyone can endure 100°+ days. This community is featured prominently in the book and film Into The Wild. I liked looking around, but we didn’t linger because I didn’t like the idea of violating anyone’s privacy.
After Slab City, we headed north a little more until we reached the Salton Sea. The area we found appeared as if at one time it had been a boating ramp with camping stations around it, but now the buildings have collapsed, the ramp is a memory, and the water stagnant. Instead of sand, we walked on the strangest ground made up of crushed fish bones. The Border Control officer we encountered was puzzled as to why we were visiting there. I was a little, too. It was kind of creepy! We took a lot of photos then headed to our hotel and dinner.
The next morning we headed back since I had to be at work after lunch. The trip overall was very brief but unlike one I have ever taken before! The desert is such a haunting, isolated place.
Most photos by me, with a select few by Angela.
Movers and Shakers
It seems like every time I load my bloglovin’ feed these days, somebody has purchased a new house! It makes me itchy about living in my shoebox (as we affectionately call it) and eager to purchase my own home. I guess it really lit a fire under me to start getting serious about putting every spare penny into a savings fund. With this renewed focus and inspiration, I’m more obsessed than ever with scouring real estate websites for affordable fixer-uppers with lots of potential. We are no strangers to living in less-than-perfect conditions and I feel like I have the ability to see inspiration in anything. We’ll see what happens! Don’t hold your breath though, because you’d probably be holding it for like a year.
Anyway, this is a fantastic time to share with you some inspirational and influential blogs I follow, that happen to have just moved or will be moving in the near future! I love all of these blogs dearly and very strongly recommend all of them.
- It all started with Emily at Merrypad, who in April began sharing a several part series on their quest to find their new home. Spoiler alert: they bought one! I can’t wait to find out more about their new home as she and her hubby settle into life together with their elementary-aged daughter, oh and not to mention the one on the way. (Squee!!)
- Not long after that, Sherry and John Young House Love shared a bombshell with us: They bought a house and would be moving in within a few weeks’ time. They’ve since re-floored the upstairs, moved over all their belongings, and started arranging the new home!
- And of course there are Kim and Scott at Yellow Brick Home who closed on their new house last Friday, after a rollercoaster ride of finding what they thought was “the one,” then losing it (I can only imagine the heartbreak) and now finding “the real one!”
What?!??!! If there’s one way to ensure that I’m addicted to your home blog… it’s to start over with a blank slate and let me watch you work your magic again.*
- Monday Tanya at Dans le Townhouse revealed that yes indeed, they bought a Canadian lakefront home that they’d been eyeing…
- Ashley from First Home Dreams bought a home a while ago but have just begun to move in…
And just yesterday (!!!) two more bloggers dropped bombshells on us… Little Green Notebook and Oh Happy Day!
This is a very exciting time to be a blogger… and a blog reader! So much hopefulness, excitement, adrenaline, and future-thinking is swirling around everywhere I look! I must admit, these blogs inspired me to finish rearranging my living and dining room and generally refresh my living space. And, of course, as the end of my lease approaches (September) I’m weighing the pros and cons of a new apartment… A new apartment (PRO!) and moving again (CON!) Maybe I should split the difference and sign a six-month lease? I guess it will all depend on the dolla billz.
*I am not implying that any of these bloggers moved simply for more followers, although I’m sure those rumors are swirling like mad. I’m simply along for the ride of their lives and enjoying every minute of it.
