a bit for me

11.27.2011
by psaugust
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Books

The holiday shopping season has officially begun. This past weekend has been all about shopping for the kids, but I did manage to spend some time at the Anthro sale bins to rummage through the books. I picked up a few lovely ones with colorful illustrations and patterns. I really love the Nigel Peake book of illustrations. His line drawings are so wonderful. The Secret Garden will be a sweet edition for one of the kids.

I also picked up a pack of socks (95 cents baby!) in prepration for lots of boot-wearing this season. Don’t pretend you’re not absolutely jealous of my banana socks.

The owl cuff is a gift from the sis. The owl face is a bit ominous, but I’ve been wearing it quite a bit lately.

 

Tanggibbing, part 1

11.21.2011
by psaugust
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Parties

Last Saturday, we had our friends over to celebrate Thanksgiving (or what Roshan likes to call Tanggibbing), one of our favorite holidays. This is my third year hosting the dinner party and I have to say I’m getting the hang of things now. I’m usually stressed out up to the day of the party, but I think I’ve managed to work out most of the kinks and figure out what I need to get done in order to enjoy the dinner with my friends. By Saturday, I managed to be relaxed and all I had to worry about was making the food delicious. There’s a lot of photos I’d like to share so I’m probably going to split this post into two parts.

This year, instead of turkey, we opted for pork and beef, which I find is so much easier to prepare and cook. The beef is a simple salt and pepper rub and the pork is Martha Stewart recipe, slow-roasted with honeyed tangerines (in lieu of kumquats). The Phamily really came together to help. I heart them. For the decor, I decided to give into the recession and pick leaves and branches and only splurge on a bouquet of roses. We picked a few holly branches and sprigs for centerpieces and those velvety red leaves were so lovely against the pale mantle.

discovering new trails…

11.21.2011
by psaugust
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Life

During our adventures to gather twigs and berries for our Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday, we discovered a secluded trail. It was eeire and beautiful at the same time. There’s a  fork in the hiking trail where a small open field lies revealing patches of clover and small weeds. The only thing that might have been missing was a circle of toadstools. Now, that would have been magical. (images from our phones)

 

screen gems

11.13.2011
by psaugust
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film

The Houston Cinema Arts Festival was back in town these past few days and I was able to catch a matinee screening of  this awesome performance by Miwa Matreyek. Myth & Infrastructure was so visually beautiful and magical, the way the scenes flowed organically and seamlessly into one another accompanied by a lush and ethereal soundtrack. I really loved everything about it. Watch snippets of it here.

Yesterday, I, along with a full house of people at the MFAH,  saw a screening of Ethan Hawke’s new film, The Woman in the Fifth. It was really beautifully filmed and Ethan Hawke never fails to impress me with his performance. I really loved the way the camera moved throughout the film, shifting focus in and out, revealing people, as if there was always a third person watching from behind the trees. And Hawke  is such an eloquent, intelligent, and  likeable guy in person. The Q & A session after the movie screening revealed an honest and passionate side of him that I hadn’t seen before in his interviews. You can listen in on the conversation here. ( It’s a little blurry but the audio is good.)