A New Bathroom

I know its summer and all; birds are tweeting, flowers are blooming, wee bugs are out flying. But today I thought we should take a look inside as well as out.

My friend Tara lives in Portland, Oregon. I love it there and given the chance I'd go in a New York minute.

Tara is a talent in so many ways. She is an expert felter. She can do amazing things with a sewing machine and her gift giving talents are absolutely unmatched!

But she is also a great inspiration to me and the people around her. She has a magical heart and it shows in her little cottage. I am blessed to call her friend.

When she and her husband bought this house in the South West burrough of Portland, they knew they'd be doing some work.  Add to the list of her talents above, she is also an accomplished gardener and her interior eye is enviable!

The pictures below are first of her cottage. It's my dream home. You'll love it too. Next I'll do the "after" pics of the bathroom and finally, I'll end with before shots. They are all original photos taken by Tara.

Building more vegetable beds.

Look at this sumptuous little rain garden!

Look at that beautiful arch and the subway tile.

Medicine above, laundry below. And a deeper blue within.

Tangerine objet and a sweet little whale.

Before shots here: The difference is palpable.

Lots of storage but everything got lost in the back.

This storage spot was sacrificed to move the door.
See below.

Concatenation Mix - SRSLY!

I have a tiny bit of time between jobs. It's been forever since I made a mix and this is the concatenation of my efforts. I hope I get the job I want as the concatenation of my efforts there. See how I used "concatenation?"

Enjoy it! It's a smattering of mall jams and hipster finery all concatenated with a surprise ending! I really like that word.

Concatenation: SRSLY from poppiesandpaperbacks on 8tracks Radio.

Garlic Red Pepper Green Beans with Lemon Vinaigrette

My friends Suzanne and Brad have a ridiculously awesome garden. I am not one of those people who arbitrarily goes around humming the word awesome unless I mean it either. I mean this garden of theirs is EPIC.

Suzanne and I had our once a month outing this past weekend and she came bearing gifts. They grew mad amounts of pole beans, bush beans, green beans and we got to reap the benefits!

I opened the fridge today, and lo and behold as I stared at the bag of gifted green beans an easy and delicious recipe poured from my soul; a recipe even Thug Kitchen would be proud of.

If you're lucky enough to have a friend who brings you home grown varietals like these beans, you're lucky. If not, this recipe is equally delicious with store bought haricots.

Garlic Red Pepper Green Beans with Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 2 cups cleaned snapped green beans
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

1. Clean, half and steam the beans.
2. Drain and cool beans, transfer to mixing bowl.
3. Crush garlic on beans.
4. Add red pepper flakes to beans.
5. Add the zest of the lemon to the beans.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk the juice of the lemon and the olive oil together.
7. Add salt and pepper.
8. Serve warm or cold - I prefer cold.