FLORA

I've been lucky enough to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden three times in the last month and a half, and each time I've found something new to fill me with awe. In the photos above, it was cherry blossoms and magnolias, gardenias in the Tropical Room, and an enormous patch of vibrant blue grape hyacinths. Last week, it was a swath of bluebells under a cool canopy of trees, the most bluebells I have ever seen in my life. It was incredible, like something out of my pastoral British countryside dreams! I forgot my camera like a fool, but fortunately I was there with Eva from Bows & Bandits for another little project that I'm excited to share with you soon :n )

PICK YOUR POSEY

Somehow in the last few months, we ended up with two bottles of St. Germain in the house. Which is fantastic, because St. Germain tastes and smells like delicious flowers, which is exactly what it's made of. I've been known to drink it with nothing but soda, but ever since a bartender flat out refused to serve it to me that way (Too sweet?? Maybe for you, sir...) I've been trying to come up with something extra creative to do with it. After having a lychee mojito the other night, and finding fresh lychee at my local Over-Priced Fruit Store, I came up with this little doozy. Might make a nice addition to your weekend? If you can find time between Dark & Stormies that is...

Pick Your Posey
Juice of half a lime (which is enough for two drinks)
Fresh mint leaves
1 lychee fruit
1 Part St. Germain
1 Part Vodka
Seltzer/sparkling water

Juice the lime half and split the liquid equally between two smallish tumblers. Muddle a couple mint leaves and one pitted lychee fruit in the bottom of each. Add one part vodka and one part St. Germain (size of the "parts" depends on taste, the glass is usually about 1/3 full when I'm done with this step.) Top it off with seltzer. Add ice cubes and garnish with a lime slice.

I don't have any "fancy" tools like a real muddler or a cocktail shaker, but if you do you can probably find a way to incorporate them to positive effect. Enjoy responsibly, preferable in a reclined/semi-nude position.

A VERY MERRY UN-BIRTHDAY

Mociun Turquoise Triangle Necklace from Domahoka


Lost in Translation Soundtrack on vinyl picture disk by toykohanna on flickr


Vintage Earthen Display Orb from Nest & Forage on Etsy


Fungi Crop Top by Leah Goren


Patti Smith 1969-1976 by Judy Linn

My birthday isn't actually for another solid month. But since Alex leaves soon and will be away when it finally rolls around (and will miss his as well a week later) we're going to celebrate a little on Friday instead. He's already pitched in to give me what I wanted the very most (plane tickets home for two weeks this summer) so I'm refusing to let him get me anything else...except flowers, maybe. But if there had been any change leftover from those (INSANELY effing expensive) tickets, I certainly wouldn't have said no to any one of these pretty things.

WOLVERINE PRIDE

I wish I had photo from my trip to share already...but in the meantime, these are some shots from a roll I got back just before we left. Purple and gold might just be one of my least favorite color combinations (they were also the official colors of my highschool, coincidence?), but this day it felt like they were following me: curtains on 6th St., flowers in the cooler at Sunny's Busy Florist, and my reading material on my lap in a little park somewhere in Alphabet City. Do you ever have days like those, when certain colors seem to pop out at you non-stop?

HEAVEN by KAILA C. NILES

Though I've yet to have the privilege of meeting her in person, Kaila C. Niles (the C stands for Chanel, ya heard) is someone whose taste and style I've admired from afar through the magic of the internet for a good long while now. Kaila is an amazing, Oakland, CA-based artist whose interest in textile dying and design clicks completely with my love of tie dye and shibori. A few of her gorgeous pieces, all created from reused vintage and second-hand garments, have just become available on Mother's Daughter (one of the best curated and styled online vintage shops I know of!) Pretty, soft, abstract, and perfect for summer--I honestly want EVERY LAST THING.