Colorful Life

Between traveling for weddings and my good friend Erin visiting, the last few weeks have been chaotic and wonderful!  Here are some colorful photos from adventures.

 

Gorgeous farmer's market bouquets. 

 

Catching up in Fort Collins.  

Awesome murals in the Mission district of SF.

Colorful necklace bought in Union Square, and a fab Italian meal in North Beach.

Chilling at a winery in Sonoma; Doesn't this background look like a stage set?  I swear it is real!!

Garrick Ohlsson Video

Someone recently told me that she believes that if you can say you like 80% of your job, you've got it made.  She really thinks (and I think I agree) that every job is going to have some element that you could do without. 

Today I thought I'd share one of the many great things about my job!  Its a video of a recent lecture we hosted, by the renowned pianist Garrick Ohlsson. Let me tell you: It was such a headache to arrange the rental and moving of a grand piano for this lecture, but when he started to play all that went out of my head!  Ohlsson does an amazing job of deconstructing this piece, which is really interesting, but if you'd just like to hear him play, skip ahead to minute 54 for the beautiful Chopin's Nocturne in D-flat Op.27 No.2.  I really do recommend taking the few minutes to listen!!



And then right when he gets done playing, you can see the back of my head!  ;)

New Class, Old Design Problem

For our first assignment in my summer graphic design class, we had to make one of the most common signs ever: a poster for a yard sale! Here's mine.  I wanted to keep it simple and easy to read quickly and from a distance, but also include some style.  I also had fun making the icons of the objects for sale, and using the photoshop brush tool to create the background with them! 

Living Building!

My friend just told me about Lifewall, and amazing way for plants to grow ON BUILDINGS!  A Spanish company called Ceracasa developed this.  This is just the kind of thing that gets me out of my sometimes bleak feelings about the future of our planet.  We humans have the creativity to change things, we've just gotta get creative!!! Doesn't this look amazing!  Leaning against this building would be kind of like laying out on a soft patch of grass.  Just watch out for grass stains!

Read more here: LIFEWALL: Modular Vertical Garden Panels Clean up the Air | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Best Short Song Ever

I love this 47 second song, and always will. I haven't listened to it in awhile, and am happy to be reminded of it again.  I wonder why they didn't make it longer.  Have you ever heard an extended version of this?  If so, let me know!  That might ruin it though; there's something about the shortness that gets me! Happy Friday!!

Yummmmmm

I've been feeling rather uninspired in regards to cooking lately.  That has resulted in quite a few quesadilla or cereal dinners.  I even made a weird version of macaroni & cheese/tuna/pea tuna helper-esque thing the other night (actually not that bad, but nothing I'd like to keep on the regular rotation!).  So today, I dragged myself to my favorite store, the Berkeley Bowl to get some ingredients for SOMETHING that I'd be excited to see in my leftover lunch the next day.

I made this roasted eggplant, tomato & goat cheese pasta salad with fresh basil and oregano from my garden!  Pair that with a glass of Pinot that I traded for some design work--yes, I will do graphic design in exchange for food & drink ;) --and I am now remembering why I like cooking again.  This was easy and cheap!  Recipe below.

Roasted Vegetable-Basil Pasta

1 3/4 cups dried whole grain rotini

6 cups chopped, peeled eggplant (1 medium)

1 1/2 cups chopped, seeded roma tomato (4)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 cup snipped basil

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

1. Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain; cover and keep warm

2. In a large bowl, combine eggplant, tomato, and garlic.  Drizzle olive oil over vegetables; sprinkle with salt and crushed red pepper.  Toss to coat.  Transfer vegetable mixture to a lightly greased baking pan.

3. Roast, uncovered, in a 450 degree oven about 20 min. or until eggplant is tender, stirring occasionally.  Toss roasted vegetables with pasta.  Add a little more salt, the basil, and goat cheese; toss gently.  

Marina and the Diamonds

Here's what I've been unable to get out of my head lately.  Enjoy!