Here are a few lovely things I came across this week:

Love lessons from 100 happy couples.

The myth of Prince Charming.

Hot matchstick art.

Sweetheart pinchusions.

Valentine’s table centerpiece.

Pink Cake!

XOXOXO

When we were young and broke it was a challenge to fill our empty walls with something more than inexpensive framed posters.  We actually rented our first piece of original art through a rent-to-buy program at the Oakland Museum.  That program has since been discontinued (though SFMOMA still runs one), but I’m grateful that it allowed us to sample art not found in a cardboard tube. Twenty-two years later I still love that rented, and eventually purchased, piece—a collage called “Childhood Memories” by Berkeley artist Pam Johnson. Mostly because it evokes the farm landscape of my childhood and my pioneer ancestors, but also because it is unique, one-of-a-kind, special. Even more so now that it’s made four different homes ours.

Find out more about selecting, buying and displaying art for your home in my latest BANG article.  As designer Kriste Michelini says, “Art should bring you joy!”

Here are a few other arty things I enjoyed this week:

Simple holiday decorations like these needlepoint houses are the best.

On the other hand, this quirky, complex, lovely home (owned by the visual director at Eileen Fisher) invites exploration.

Quilted landscapes (thanks Heather) look like elaborate Settlers of Catan game pieces, don’t they?

This little pep-talk on setting priorities by Anne Lamott rang true.

I loved this glimpse into the marriage of performance artist Laurie Anderson and musician husband Lou Reed.

Here’s some good advice for beginning writers.

I want to try this apple cake this weekend. And learn more about salt.

Just for fun, here’s the Story of Thanksgivvukah.

And finally, how one doctor’s heartache helped him connect to his patients.

Happy Weekend All!

Happy Birthday to my husband, M.J.  Well before Google was invented, he became the search engine in my world. Brilliant, clever, kind and decent–he’s provided the answers to so many questions in my life. Big and little.

Our children mock our geeky courtship–we met in our university’s honors program, competed on the same College Bowl team and got engaged amidst the stacks when he said “what will our children think when we tell them I asked you to marry me in the library?”

Thirty-three years later we know what they think.  They think we were nerdy nerd nerds. (Though I can’t imagine a more fitting and romantic place for two wannabe know-it-alls to commit to spend their lives together.)

When I tell the longer version of our story, I always say that M.J. was the most interesting guy I’d ever dated.  I knew I’d never be bored with him.  And I was right.

Happy Birthday, honey!

Here are a few other things that engaged me this week:

This elegant cast iron kitchenware.

Hand-dyed yarn inspired by duck hunting season.

Learning about the origins of one of my favorite colors—Vosey blue.

Some musings on Sunbonnet Sue and other sentimentalized quilt imagery.

Developing empathy through reading literary fiction.

And finally, painter Llius Lleo talks about becoming an artist.   Lleo on inspiration –”There’s not unlimited space in your brain. . .if you need to see more to do your work, maybe you should do something else.”

Off to make a birthday cake — Happy Weekend!