Happy Friday! This week was a busy one between work and appointments and hosting a weeknight birthday party at our place (yay!). But through it all, the weather has been beautiful. A few nights this week, Mischa and I managed to get out for bikes and hikes after working hours. More of that please! I’m looking forward to enjoying the sunshine through the weekend – I love the real start of spring. (Although I’m feeling for folks in New England with the onset of just-one-last snowfall – spring is near!)

+ Springtime means asparagus season! I always love 101cookbooks for seasonal recipe ideas.

+ This super local brewery in Durham, NC makes beers from locally foraged fruits – like sweet potatoes and persimmons. I can’t get over how awesome this is! (Plus it tastes delicious, of course.)

+ Dresses by EmersonMade are simple + stylish, plus made by a husband-and-wife team in New Hampshire.

+ Make some homemade lemon balm with easy ingredients.

+ Check out the Ancient Tree Archive (and on NPR). Mischa was working with them last month on a video project, as they climbed + sampled huge old redwood trees. So cool!

+ Books galore, and reading more.

Have a great weekend!

Happy happy Friday! What are you looking forward to this weekend? Here the rainy weather is clearing up for a couple of sunny days. Tonight we’re riding the ferry to the city to meet friends for dinner at the Plant Cafe. Riding the ferry is my favorite transit to the city, and I’m excited to try out a new-to-me restaurant.

Then looking forward to a relaxed Saturday and maybe popping into a local jewelry class. On Sunday, Mischa and I are gearing up for our first bicycle training ride of the AIDS Lifecycle season – 50 miles, go!

here are a few favorite finds from the past week…

+ How to grow amazing things in the kitchen - ginger, lentils, beans, younameit!

+ Still loving all kinds of midwinter citrus. Marmalade is now on my to-make-or to-buy list. (Also, the Small Measures sustainable/DIY feature at d*s is totally sweet.)

+ Once I conquer cinnamon rolls, next up may be perfect homemade croissants.

+ These vegetable-dyed yarns have gorgeous jewely color.

+ Beautiful creamy painting by tastes orangey, reminding me of  some favorite contemporary artists from my Art History days. (via a cup of jo)

+ Cute organic cotton tunic T-shirts, handprinted by Linea Carta. (via thehaystackneedle)

+ Inspired and always loving the simple photo postcards + bookmarks by abbytrysagain.

+ Saving up lots of jewelry ideas lately. I love simple colored beads and wire like these green onyx earrings.

What inspired you this week? Hope you have some good plans and sunny days ahead!

listening to: I’ll Be Around by Bobby Bare (listen)

Woooosh… where did this last week go? It flew away in a whirl of projects and evening meetups (every night last week? yup.) and trying to keep up with it all. A good week, but a busy one. I ended up with a lot of chocolate stout cake (eaten almost daily for a week) and new work to begin and creative projects to do. Still things seem to move too quickly sometimes. To slow it down a bit, Mischa and I took off for a one-night retreat to Harbin Hot Springs. Natural hot springs at 110+ degrees? Yes please. And so now I’m relaxed on Monday and ready to begin the week again!

In other news, there’s still plenty of lovely and inspiring things to find around the web. To catchup from last week, here are a few favorites…

+ I’m getting my business finances all lined up this month (taxes, quickbooks and all!). So crafty side projects like this receipts envelope book is what my right brain thinks about as my left brain is crunching numbers…

+ Snow! I know winter in California hardly counts (shout out to New England!) – but there was snow on Mount Tam this week. Snow – I saw it from my window! This post reminds me of that February-but-almost-March feeling of spring on the verge.

+ Another too-sweet-to-forget screenprinted orange burtuqal tote bag. (I think I find a new tote bag every week.)

+ Another Valentine’s Day come and gone, but always a good time for some ee cummings love poems. If love’s not your thing, go read some other ee.

+ I don’t own any perfumes these days, but I’m very intrigued by the sample set by MCMC Fragrances. Her “Maine” scent (sea, air, sun, pine) has an especially sweet story.

+ One of my must-do craft projects for this year is to make recycled cups from glass bottles. I’ve been eyeing sets of lovely wine-bottle green glasses for too long to not try my hands to it…

+ The ladies of 3191 have been some of my longest loved bloggers – so I will will buy a hardcopy of 3191 Quarterly, their seasonal printed mag.

+ Baked goods – always need more of them in these chilly months. Here are some standard+sweet Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, which remind me of my dad who is the king of cookie baking. He makes a mean oatmeal-chip, yum!

Ready for the weekend! It’s been a good week past here with work projects both wrapping up and beginning, some fun catching up with friends, and some plan making for the first half of the year. This weekend, there will be some visiting and playing tomorrow, a big trip to our beloved Rainbow Grocery in the city, and a first-of-many hike around nearby China Camp.

Here are a few things recently found this week…

+ This recipe for Apple Green-Chile with Cheddar Crust and Walnut Streusel is a must-try. At Chile Pies in SF, they make a version of this and it is killer.
+ Still thinking about snowdays, brrrr. And that mug of hot cocoa after an afternoon in the snow, mhmm.
+ Back to muffin baking this week, which I love. This sweet fresh ginger muffin recipes sounds just right.
+ Another recipe – this one for Curried Scrambled Tofu. After making a few batches of our standard tofu scramble for unsuspecting friends and family, I’m convinced that everyone would love tofu scramble, well made.
+ Looking up at the winter sky. Ordered a big batch of printed photos (so fun!) this week, including some additions to my sky photo collection.
+ I love these handmade biz cards – and although I ordered a batch of fancy printed cards for myself this week, I still fantasize about making a big pack of handcrafted ones.
+ Tasty all-natural root beers + flavored sodas from a maker in Maine! I would love to there for a tasting…

Have a lovely weekend, wherever it takes you!

Happy Friday! These first two weeks of January are buzzing by, but it feels good to be settling and growing into this new year. This will be the first back-to-normal weekend since December – complete with pancakes for breakfast and farmer’s market on Sunday.

Here are a few highlights from the past month of my daily finds…

+ Wishing for The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook and its gorgeous food photos.
+ Beautiful, moody photos of the Maine coast from the dusk “blue hour” on 1/11/11.
+ Colorful wishes for a joyful New Year.
+ Lots of citrus – sweet clementines + satsuma oranges + ruby red grapefruits.
+ Growing windowsill plants. Something about the winter months makes me wish for lots more greenery in the house.
+ Homemade nutella – oh yes yes.
+ Still loving the twinkle of winter candlelight.
+ Summery clothes from Scout & Catalogue and its “bohemian beach culture of Mexico.”
+ Photos of snowfall and thoughts of winter in New England.
+ and daydreams of winter in SoCal and that something-special energy of LA.

Cheers to the weekend! Hope yours is relaxing and happy and full of good meals and good company.

listening to: Mando-Bass Boogie Sonata by David Grisman (listen)