holiday home {life}

I know you want Charleston. Who doesn't want Charleston? But people, I hit the ground running as soon as I got home, and I haven't stopped yet. In one of my first photography classes, my teacher suggested taking a breath and waiting (if possible) before downloading and looking at your pictures. Sometimes that's possible, sometimes it's not. Sometimes, all I can do is breathe. So I'm breathing right now and processing my trip. I have pictures from Charleston and pictures from my class and lots to tell you about, but yesterday I finally got the Christmas decorations out.

I thought I'd show you.

Decorating more than just the tree was not something I remembered that we did growing up. Tree, wreath, stockings on the mantle. That's all. It wasn't until a few years ago that I got a bit inspired to do more. Pier 1 can do that to you. Although I wasn't terribly inspired there this year.

We tend to do more of a winter-wonderland theme. With pops of silver and green. I think it looks nice against the pink wall this year. Although when I finally got a chance to get everything up it was SO dark and gloomy that you can't even tell the wall is pink!

I love all of our stuff. I love getting it out every year. We primarily decorate the living room, although I put a few touches in the family room since it's where we spend most of our time.

Callum's advent calendar hangs at the top of the stairs, and it was his idea last year to wrap the tulle around the banister. That's where we hang our cards. And the tree really is our best ever. Fat and sassy.

Did Christmas move up a week? I'm convinced it did. But now that the house is decked, well, now I feel a little like I'm getting there.

monday mash up, december 12

I'm home. It was wonderful. Beyond wonderful, really. And I haven't even downloaded my photos yet. I have so much to think about and to tell you, but it might take some time to process it all. So many moments of unexpected delight. It was exactly what I needed it to be and so much more. I wasn't there nearly long enough. I didn't get to shop! We'll go back, and I'll take the boys with me next time. I love Charleston. Tomorrow, I'll show you a bit of how beautiful it is too.

five things, december 9th edition

1. I think I have finally accepted the fact that aside from the tree, things aren't going to get decorated until Monday.
2. I think if I'm going to rock this to-do list thing a bit better, I'll need new notebooks.
3. I think a blog that's not from my BYW course that I'm really enjoying right now is Under the Tulip Tree. I'm still thinking about this walk that Julie wrote about.
4. I think of course I met my new neighbors on a day that I'd been working like mad, had no make-up on, my hair was what my grandpa used to call "stribbley" and I was late to get Callum from school. Of course.
5. I think I can't believe I'm going to write this. In a couple of hours, after I drop Callum off at school, I am leaving by myself to travel to Charleston, South Carolina to take a one-day photography workshp with Helene DuJardin. It is not the photography weekend that I talked about missing out on earlier, but in some ways, for me at least, it's better. When I was taking photography classes at the Contemporary Art Center in Virginia Beach (which is now called the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art), my instructor Jackie recommended Helene's book to me. It's called Plate to Pixel. I love this book. I love still life photography of all kinds, but especially food photography, and Helen's book really taught me so very much. After devouring her book (get it, har har), I started following her blog, tartlette, and every time I read it, I am so captivated by the recipes and visual images. When I emailed about this class and she emailed me back, I felt like I was emailing a rock star!

My mom and my aunt are taking good care of me and putting me up in an amazing hotel. I can't wait to take pictures and tell you about it. Every single piece of this weekend feels important to me. The drive, the trip to one of my favorite cities in the world. Making this journey alone. My aunt was, sweetly, gunning for me to bring Neel and Callum (Can you believe Neel hasn't been to Charleston?) but when I suggested it, Neel told me, "This time you need to go alone." We'll all go together sometime. After this, I'll make sure of that. I haven't traveled alone anywhere since Callum was two. That's a long time.

And there's the photography. Well, you can probably guess how I feel about that. I don't have enough words.

So I'll see you Monday, I suppose. I'll be checking in all weekend through twitter, instagram and the still+life facebook page (go Like me!) if you're so inclined to see if I survive it all.

cocktail time {life}

I think it's pretty ironic that I'm writing this post when I've been fighting a raging headache for most of the day. No cocktails for me tonight.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy a cocktail, in general. I like cocktail hour a lot. Neel was drinking martinis before they were cool. Years and years ago he and my dad were martini guys. I'm a gin and tonic gal myself. Until lately. I have to temper myself a bit, because of the headaches.

I don't want you to get the impression that it's all illness and whatnot around here. Neel can make a mean martini. It's hard to resist.

Weeknights, if I have something with dinner or while I'm cooking, I tend to go for a glass of wine. I try to save the heavy duty stuff for weekend nights. But I love the ritual of the cocktail hour. And lately, a martini has been my request. Straight up. (I used to do the dirty kind, with olive juice, and I still like those. But I've been more of a purist lately.) We have quite a martini glass collection, (I'll take a picture of it someday) and I love seeing what glass he chooses. I'll tThere's such a satisfying clink of ice in the shaker and burble of liquid into the martini glass. You sip a martini instead of gulping, or at least you should. It slows you down. Slows you down to appreciate the night.

Neel's Vodka Martini: Put "some" vodka into a shaker with ice, shake and pour into glasses. Garnish at will.

tree time {life}

We got our tree this weekend. It was different when I was growing up. We got our tree much later in the month when I was a little kid. It's a funny thing about being a grown up and learning you can change things. Make things different.

Somewhere along the way Neel and I decided to put the tree up early in the month. Not Thanksgiving weekend, but the weekend after. One year, on that same weekend, Lucy-the-Beagle came home. That was a bonus for Callum. Christmas tree and a beagle! When we lived in Pennsylvania we were able to get a few cut-your-own, and in California trees were SO expensive. Here we've been to the same nursery for the last four years. Eggleston Garden Center just feels like a good place to get our tree. Every year the people are so nice. Just really lovely. And we scooped up a bonus camellia this time around too. This year they're sponsoring a $50 gift card as a prize for the best decorated tree. Neel is pushing me to enter!

It was just cold enough to feel festive. Not cold enough for foot stomping. You'll likely see Neel like this a lot from here on out though. His head gets cold.

Back home that night it was late, and our sweet tree (Neel and Callum finally caught on that I claim it our "best tree ever" every year.) sat and patiently waited for us through the next day. I love this shot of it from the kitchen and through the dining room. Waiting.

Getting the star on top was a near thing. Neel insisted that Callum could climb on his shoulders. That was all well and good, but once Neel got on the stepstool, Callum got nervous.

We got it done.

The lights are lit and the decorations are on. Not much else is done. I'm trying to get to the rest of the house this week, but it just hasn't happened yet. I looks sweet from outside, though doesn't it? I think it's our best tree ever.

clementines {life}

It seems like everyone is talking about clementines these days. Annabel at Insideology did a great montage of them for her photo class, and Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy (the blog that got me blogging...I'm so not worthy!) mentioned a few posts ago that she's been eating something like three a day, or is it more? Who can blame her? I think Callum's up to three a day for sure! The grocery stores are overflowing with those sweet crates, and I can't resist them every time I pass by.

I am not generally a fan of citrus. Neel and Callum will tease me by offering me "a big old glass of orange juice." Totally not my thing. Never has been. There is some suggestion that citrus can trigger migraines, and I've often wondered if that was the cause of my natural resistance. My general disdain.

But clementines. Oh, clementines. I can distinctly remember the first time I had a clementine. In 1992 I was a senior in college, and Neel was living and working from his parent's home. Away from me. That was less than fun. My friend Jessica, who was living near me at the time but was from Neel's part of Pennsylvania, invited me home with her one weekend. It was to meet her family, but it was to see my beau as well. (Jessica, I think you know about still + life, are you out there? Does this ring any bells?!) Jessica asked Neel to pick her up from the airport (which in Philly can be a real chore), and being the nice guy that he is, he did. No questions asked. He didn't know that I was on the plane too.

It was fun, surprising him.

Back to the clementines. Aside from surprising Neel, a few things stand out about that trip. One was learning a new word. Marinara. At my house we always just had spaghetti, but when I got to Jessica's her mother offered me "pasta with marinara sauce." It's a good thing I'm not generally afraid to ask questions, because looking back I feel pretty stupid for asking, "What's marinara sauce?" I'd never heard it called marinara. But I liked it. It rolled off the tongue. When she told me it was just red sauce, everything made sense. I remember they had bottles of Pelligrino in their wine rack.

And I remember the clementines.

Oranges are iffy. Oranges are pithy. (And not the good kind of pithy.) Oranges are hard to peel, sometimes bitter and untrustworthy. Oranges have seeds. Not clementines.

Easy to access. Always sweet. Little bites of golden delight. They were a revelation to me. We didn't have clementines in Tennessee. I ordered a crate to have sent to my parents. It felt very grown up, sharing this new-found wonder.

It's funny now to look back at how magical the clementines felt to me. Not-from-around-here. Unusual. Exoctic. A rare and special thing.

Now they're a winter staple for us. I start grabbing the crates as soon as they show up in the grocery store. It's our vitamin C and winter sunshine. Everyday Callum will ask, "Can I have a clementine?" as if he too knows this is something special. As if. Of course you can have a clementine.

Have three.

monday mash up

We had a great weekend. Really productive. The kind that makes you feel like you sorta missed the weekend. Know what I mean? I think for now, I'm going to follow the suit of some of my favorite bloggers (like here) and do a Monday Mash-Up. This collage is all Instagram; man I'm working hard here trying to maximize that tool. My iPhone is dying though. Right Neel? Right???? Anyhoo, Callum got to hang out with an friend from his old school (and Tracy, I had my camera, why didn't I take pictures of the boys? Next time!), we got lots of Christmas shopping done, I had Pho for the first time (hello Pho, where have you been all my life?), we got our tree and had Cheesesteak Night on Friday night. Neel's been telling me for years that it's all in the bread for cheesesteaks, and it turns out, he's right. I haven't looked at my photos yet of that evening, but I imagine I'll have more to report on that later this week.

So I think I will disable comments on the {still} posts, and I think I will do this weekend recap on Mondays. It's fun! What were you guys up to this weekend? I have a lot to do and a work deadline on Thursday, but I think it's going to be a good week.

five things, december 2nd edition

  1. I think this has been the most amazing week! Your response to the redesign of SPL of the has been so touching and overwhelming to me; I am so very moved by it. I especially appreciate your encouragement over the new format, of a early-day photo and a later day expansion post. I just wasn't sure when I decided to embark on that particular path, but with you guys behind me, I think I'll keep it up! It may take awhile to catch on, but I'm (mostly) patient. I'm thinking of disabling comments on the {still} posts, and saving up for the {life} posts, but you guys will have to let me know what you think. Want to try to guess what the {still} is about, or just want to take a peek and comment once {life} rolls around?
  2. I think having a couple of my photos published in a local news magazine (Veer) as part of ads for Simply Selma's was the icing on the cake of a pretty nice week.
  3. I think I have to stop saying that I never win anything, since I (quite by accident since I thought the contest was over) won this gorgeous painting at white tapestry. This is a gorgeous blog. You should check it out.
  4. I think the fact that we're having some photos taken tomorrow and I'm going on a little trip next week should mean new clothes. Yes?
  5. I think you still have a couple of days to hop over to inspirationCooperative and participate in Theresa's birthday giveaway. This is another gorgeous blog I discovered through my Blogging Your Way class. I'll be sharing more in the coming weeks.

Just a little bit of housekeeping... if you've subscribed to SPL via RSS, you may need to re-subscribe. Once I changed platforms, the old blog (which had the link "bluerainroom" attached) ceased to exist, so it won't get you anywhere. Sorry for any confusion. Also, for the same reason, if you've posted a link to my blog in your sidebar, would you mind updating it? Thanks so very much. I'm trying very hard to get into the holiday spirit. How's that going for the rest of you? Also, I've added a facebook page for still+life if you want to hop over and "like" it, or whatever it is that we do on facebook these days. Even if you don't love to comment, feel free to come show me some love! There's a link under the "Find" tab. The camera icon on the "Find" page links to my Instagram feed on Followgram. And thanks to Annabel at insideology, I sort of know what I'm doing there. Sort of. And I don't know why that last link looks different from all of the other links, but there you are. I still have a lot to figure out apparently.

Finally, "five things" will still be here on Fridays (obvs) as a standalone post. See you dears on Monday. Hope you have a great weekend. The first weekend of the last month of the year. Yipes!

Can Can Brasserie, Richmond {life}

I have been dying to get Neel and Callum to Can Can Brasserie in Richmond. We love the Blue Talon Bistro in Williamsburg, but if we're unable willing to make that 45 minute drive, I figured my chances to get us to Can Can were pretty slim. We have to be on our way somewhere and passing through, I suppose.

I first went to Can Can with my friends Debbie and Tracy last winter when we went to a Picasso exhibit that was showing at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. On the recommendation of friends who used to live there, we knew, based on their description, that we couldn't go wrong. Debbie, Tracy and I were avid lunch-goers, but with Debbie close to moving home to California and away from us, that visit took on a special meaning. It was nice to be back at Can Can and remember my dear friends while I shared this special place with my family.

The place was hopping when we got there, even though it was well after lunch. All of Cary Street in Richmond was exceptionally busy. The front windows of the restaurant were thrown completely open to the sidewalk, with the noise and bustle of brunch-goers spilling out. (I wish I had a picture of that scene, but let's face it: Callum was starving, and we were lucky to get in at all. My attention was needed elsewhere.)

So after Neel asked, I went to Dr. Wikipedia (much less alarming than Dr. Google) and found that brasserie is the the French word for "brewery." It refers to a type of restaurant with an upscale, yet relaxed setting. There are linens on the tables and printed menus. Bistros may have none of these.

We started with mussels, which Callum swore he'd never had until they showed up at the table and he said, "Oh yeah! Mussels! I like those!" Our boy had a burger and fries, and Neel had a duck, mushroom and brie sandwich while I had a beet salad with hazelnut vinaigrette. After a weekend of eating, I was ready for some greens.

Neel loved his salad, and the burger disappeared pretty sharpish too. And beets. Well, I adore beets. I would give anything to have this place around the corner instead of an hour or so down the pike. Although given how heavenly the crocks of onion soup looked, perhaps it's just as well.

blessing {life}

Three riders at The Blessing of the Hounds, Grace Episcopal Church, Thanksgiving Day, 2011

Grace Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, Virginia has been Blessing the Hounds for the annual Hunt every Thanksgiving for the last 82 years. When we made our plans to travel there for the holiday and Seamane mentioned that she'd always wanted to attend the Blessing, we jumped at the chance. How could we not? The day was perfect. Quintessential Virginia Thanksgiving. November in Virginia can be capricious, but generally she'll treat you kindly. Today she smiled upon us. Crisp air and skies of brilliant blue. Among those rolling hills and next to those hallowed halls, it wasn't hard to feel transported back in time. 

As we gathered, the rector walked among the guests, sharing a photo of a past Blessing. At the beginning of the ceremony it was given to the person who'd traveled the furthest. I had a whisper of a hope that it might be Norfolk, but even we couldn't beat Shanghai! And then the bagpiper began! What a brilliant perfect touch! He finished with Amazing Grace, which never fails to move me to tears. Especially with the haunting tones of the pipes.

And then the horses and the hounds came in! We were handed brochures when we arrived (and offered cider and hot cocoa!), and from it we learned that the Keswick Hunt Club was founded in 1896. Most of their customs are English in origin, with formal attire like the the scarlet coats you see pictured. The coats are earned by demonstrating abilities as fox hunters such as knowledge of the countryside, horsemanship, and of course, familiarity with the hounds.

Oh! The hounds.

We love us some hounds around here. These were all foxhounds, sadly no beagles, and they were the most well-behaved hounds we'd ever seen. The brochure on the blessing notes that hounds require hours of patient training, so perhaps that's where we fall down.

And they were quiet! Neel and I both marveled at it unil we walked across the street after the blessing to find that the number of dogs waiting in the nearby field had tripled.

"Only the good ones were allowed to come to the church," Neel commented wryly.

We sang We Gather Together, which was so lovely and perfect for Thanksgiving, as well as My Country Tis of Thee, and John Lennon's Imagine was performed as a beautiful solo.

Several riders then wandered among the crowd accepting donations for three local animal rescue organizations: Eagle Hill Equine Rescue, Houses of Wood and Straw, and Rikki's Refuge. 

I wish I could remember the whole of the blessing that the Rector gave. I only remember snippets. May the horses be sure footed...may the hounds be disciplined (!)...may the fox be elusive.

After the blessing, once the horses and the hounds departed, Neel suggested we walk across the street to the neighboring field. It was Callum's idea. I'm so glad we did.

We got there just in time to hear the horn blow and see the hounds and horses take off.

Maybe each year is different. Maybe it's less moving, not to mention comfortable, when there's a chilly rain. But there on that day, with the crunch of overlong and dying grass underfoot and the vast, vast unspeakably blue sky above; well, that was something special. To be part of all that teaming life of beast and fellow human; there was such joy there. Such bright spirit. I would go back every year. 

we gather {life}

For us, Thanksgiving has often been as much about spending time with friends as it has been with family. Once you step outside the circle of the three of us, our family is fairly far flung, making this holiday as much about the families you create as the ones you came to the table with.

This year we traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to spend the holiday with our dear friends Seamane and Rob.

Seamane and I go way back. Like elementary-school back. Here are Neel, Callum and Rob looking over our old high school year books. Har Har. Glad you guys got a chuckle out of that. Up until a couple of years ago, I hadn't seen Seamane since our early, early college days. At a cocktail party at their house Wednesday night, I chatted with a friend from Seamane's book club who shared with me an appreciation of the thing that brought me and Seamane back together. I'll go ahead and say it. Thank you, Facebook. Seamane's mom Kathy was there visiting too, and I haven't seen her since I graduated from high school! She hasn't aged a bit, and I'm sure I haven't either. Cough, cough.

Rob always smokes the turkey, and Callum (and Neel) wanted every part of that!

I made chestnut stuffing (which while delicious, is not terribly photogenic), and Seamane made sweet potatoes (with just a little butter) to go with the turkey. And there's Callum, both before and after trying brussel sprouts.

We sampled several Virginia Viogniers (a tradition for Seamane and Rob), the first from Pollak Vineyards. Oh how I envy Charlottesville and their vineyards! It was stunning. The perfect counterbalance to the smoky turkey.

And of course, the pie. Three kinds, for five people! Pumpkin, of course, and a pecan. Kathy and Callum were clearly kindred spirits, got a head start on the apple.

Sweet family. Sweet time. Sweet life.

welcome friends

The pineapple was a originally used as a symbol of hospitality when Christopher Columbus returned to Europe bearing the fruit from his travels to the New World. In Colonial America, where visiting was the primary means of entertainment and cultural enlightenment, the pineapple became a symbol of the warmest of welcomes.

Served as a decadent dessert, the pineapple displayed the dedication a hostess felt to her guests. Overnight visitors were shown to bedrooms with pineapples carved on bedposts, and in seaside towns, sea captians would impale a fresh pineapple on their porch railing to show that they were home and receiving visitors.

So, in the spirit of hospitality, I say to you, Welcome Friends! Welcome to the new and improved Still + Life. Things are a little different around here, but the essence is the same. It's still me. It's still us. It's still our lives and the things that catch my eye.

We'll be doing some things differently, in the hopes of encouraging you to stop by more often. In the mornings, with your coffee (if I may be so bold to suggest...it's what I would do), stop by for a daily photo. The still. Come back later in the day for more photos and the story behind the photo. The life. If you're rushed for time, it'll all be there in the afternoon sometime.

I still have some tweaks to work out and some loose ends to clip, but come on in and stay awhile. If you're missing something from the old blog, click on the Archives tab at the top of the page, and it'll take you to where you need to go. In the meantime, take a look around the new space, and tell me what you think. I hope you like it and come back often.