A much belated (posting of an) honor...

About 2 weeks ago I was honored by the lovely Homely Heroine with some blogger awards and I have failed to post them. Which I feel is not only bad blogger etiquette but really bad manners towards my longest and best blogger friend. For these things I apologize and hope that she will forgive me. I was delayed in posting mostly because of 2 things, I have been working a temp job full time and have just had less time to blog and also because my life has been a bit of a roller coaster lately and most of the things that I blog about (on either blog) have been put on a back burner while I deal with the other things in my life. Everything is on its way to being worked out and I am trying to get myself back on the blogging band wagon but it may be a little slow so please bear with me. And now with out further adieu...



This award is kind of special to me. Homely Heroine honored The Dart and The Hem with this one and it made my day. My life has been a bit difficult and stressful lately and I was so elated to receive this (and for a blog that I am working very hard on with not too much success). For this I must tell 7 things about myself that you may not know and then nominate 7 other blogs.

1. I want to go to grad school and study fashion history and theory (and maybe museum practice too). FIT in NYC has a perfect program but I don't really want to live in NYC anymore. I have been thinking that maybe studying in the UK would not only be appropriate but more interesting than NYC. I am just not sure how to research programs in other countries.

2. I also would like to spend an extended amount of time in Israel, probably before going to grad school. I think if I could intern or volunteer at a museum it would be beneficial to my grad school resume but there are also really great environmental programs that I would love to do and just can't decide which I want to do.

3. I have never been away from home for more than 3 weeks. I am DYING to live somewhere else for awhile. Though I am fiercely proud of my hometown. (Check out Bertha Honore Palmer, she was proud of my hometown too and she is my heroine)

4. I hate wearing pants, most of the time. I much prefer to wear skirts and dresses. I feel more like myself in them. I also freeze in the winter so I am wearing mostly pants right now which drives me crazy. I am working on making myself winter skirts and stocking up on tights. I am in love with wool tights right now too.

5. I hate shopping. Which I think is kind of weird because I like clothes and fashion. Though most of my interest lies in good construction details which is hard to find these days at a reasonable price point and in vintage styles which can also be expensive and isn't necessarily mainstream. But my loathe for shopping extends everywhere. I don't even go to the grocery store. We have groceries delivered and then go to the Farmer's market or a small local grocer. It is all just so overwhelming and makes me question my old school-ness and I feel like I don't fit in and need to be something that I am not.

6. I am obsessed with self sufficiency. From making my own clothes (everything in my wardrobe, including underwear and socks except shoes) to growing my own food (I would love to have a kitchen garden that provides most veggies and some fruit trees and shrubs. I also want to have chickens because I eat an insane amount of eggs and I have a weird fascination with chickens. Now I think a few dairy goats would be good too) and making my own lip balm and soap and lotion and studying herbal medicine. I have actually been thinking about writing a book about urban homesteading for truly urban people. AKA you live in a tiny apartment with no personal outdoor space or very little of it so what can you do to feel and be more self sufficient? There will be no chicken keeping or outdoor composting or hooking up your bicycle to you washing machine in this book.

7. This one is for HH. I have not read all of the Aubrey Maturin series yet. BUT I have been wandering around singing "Safe and sound and home again.." under my breath for a very long time. I will read all of the PO'B repertoire within my lifetime and i will learn to sail at some point. :)


This was awarded to amy was here just for making HH smile and has no meme requirements. HH, you make me smile too!



So here are my nominees for both awards:

1. Wild Rumpus because she writes very thoughtful and honest posts that make me think, want to be a better person and make me feel less alone in my short comings.

2. Amanda Atkins in a Canary Forest because she is an amazing artist as well as a fellow vintage style and animal lover. (and the person I heard about SNM from. Sorry I just can't get over it!)

3. Vintage Red because she has placed a formidable and admirable task in front of her and goes through it with hilarious honesty. And she used to live in Chi-town.

4. Sustenancebecause she is a good friend of mine, a newbie to blogging and has really good insights and ideas.

5. My Happy Sewing Place because she got the vintage haircut I wanted! (Though I think i wanted the one that was the next step longer, the middy plus.) She also lives in Scotland and I really really want to go there right now.

6. Sweet Sassafras because she inspires me and is a most lovely and friendly person (even though I don't really know her) and she designs the most fabulous vintage inspired home sewing patterns.

7. Rockin' the Roccoco because I just have to bring attention to this project and unendingly praise her for it. I drool buckets over this.

Hope these blogs inspire you as much as they inspire me and keep checking back because i definitely have some lovely and tasty things to share with you very soon!

San Francisco: Take one, the countryside.

After the Hazon Conference B and I spent a few days in San Francisco visiting his aunt, famous restaurants and intersections, and hugging redwoods.



The Painted Ladies. You can see the slope of the street.

The hippie in me had to, even though this is a horrible picture. We went shopping here and checked out a bunch of vintage shops. There is also a really awesome sock store where I found turquoise merino wool tights by hue. I decided not to buy them because I thought I could find them at home. I have had zero luck finding them online and haven't had time to go shopping in actual stores. :(

Dutch Windmills! There are two but the other one is under restoration.

the Botanic Garden. Can you see the awesome sunclock?

Bison! There have been Bison kept in Golden Gate Park for many years. I think it started around the turn of the century but I don't remember.


California Academy of Science is located in Golden Gate Park and is a natural history museum, a planetarium and an aquarium. It is huge! It was also packed being over Christmas holidays the kids were out of school and it was therefore crazy. Note to self do not go to museums over school breaks. I LOVE taking pictures at aquariums. I always get images that are extremely beautiful, graceful, colorful and serene (in contrast to the actual environment of the aquarium). I have a ton of aquarium pictures and I want to do a separate post of them so the extreme beauty can be fully enjoyed.

The are some kind of eel. I don't remember what they are called but they pop out of the sand at the bottom to feed and they are very small.

I love this guy. He posed for me and was very patient with me as I took a lot of pictures because I couldn't get him in focus.

Jellyfish are the epitome of photgoraphic beauty.


Sea dragons are my favorite. They are also everyone else's favorite too. They are very light sensitive and their tanks had a no photography sign on them. I think because people use their flash too much (a pet peeve of mine) I never use a flash anyway so I went ahead a took pictures. All the other people around the tank were making comments about me.



I have become interested in taxidermy. Weird, I know. I don't want to be a taxidermist I have just been interested in looking at it and in related objects. Like those frames of different species of butterflies pinned to a board. I think my fascination with Jan Svankmajer's Alice started it and Sleep No More fueled it. The jar and the skulls are from the naturalist's center. They have all kinds of stuff on display and they have a great library where you can do research. Members of the museum are also able to check out the books. I found a few titles I would like to read there. The leopard is from the old part of the natural history museum.

The Eco-roof. It is created in hills to imitate the hills of the local landscape. Circular windows are part of a computerized heating and cooling system. The air from outside is circulated within the museum. They also keep beehives and have botany studies on the roof.