If you haven’t heard, polaroid week is upon us!  Time to get your game on and play along with us! So. Excited. (Here are my shots from last season, the one above is my twin brother and I, tee hehehe.)

My family crafted this enormous DIY movie screen from a pair of bed sheets sewn together and then put into the ground with stakes.  It’s one of life’s thrills to lay on the grass wrapped in cozy blankets and snacks with your gang ready to see your favorite flick projected into the night!

Maybe it’s because of my 80s childhood when Halloween was most exciting that I want to relive a bit of it and have a double feature of the Goonies and E.T. this weekend.

And maybe I’m sharing one of my favorite music videos that has nothing to do with Halloween but everything to do with the same creepy and visually stunning feeling it evokes…

Daniel – Bat For Lashes

I saw an interview with Natasha Khan (singer for Bat for Lashes) where she was describing how her art was fueled by the nostalgia in films that inspired her growing up.  It’s all so theatrical, I love everything from the burnt props matching the lyrics to the karate kid clothes and blue tears.  The dark faceless figures (who seem to represent the darkness) are actually ballet dancers pulling some really modern moves.  (Plus, how great would that be for a Halloween costume: Darkness.) I love that she works her way through the “cinder and rain” for the promise of Daniel in the end.  Anyway, I’ve seen this so many times that it’s almost ridiculous, but it still hasn’t lost it’s weird wonder for me.

I love Halloween not because it’s dark and menacing but because it celebrates childhood and imagination and make believe, the freedom to be whatever you want to be for a night.  We could use more of that.

These Christian Louboutin Miss Clinchy boots completely fascinate me.  Probably because I can’t get through my day on anything higher than a two and a half inch heel, and even if I could, they aren’t really my style… but still, I can’t stop looking at them. I had an issue of Flare that I picked up while in Canada spread out in front of me the other night when I was painting landscapes and somehow ended up painting these too.  I mean – - – Ponyhair. Leopard. Print.  So outrageously high and sculptural and insane, they look like an object d’art to me.  Can one use a shoe as a vase?  Oh well, If you can’t wear ‘em, paint ‘em. (The other boot is just out of my imagination, but more my style.)

Leafing through Martha Stewart October issue from 2001, I saw this delicious idea for carving out a pumpkin and using it as a soup bowl…

I can’t wait to live off of my soup and stew recipes as the weather is getting colder.  I can read cookbooks like novels and devour the good ones from cover to cover in one sitting, especially if they feature great food photography.  I just bought a Nava Atlas cookbook and it looks pretty promising so far.  What are your favorite cookbooks? Any that you can recommend?

Over the weekend, I went thrifting for the first time in ages. I didn’t have my usual shopping mojo, but I did come away with this incredible pair of twist earrings. I can’t decide if I will wear them as is, or turn them into rings…

I’ve been working on some handpainted black and white photographs again in preparation for some workshops I’ll be teaching soon. (For anyone in the Seattle area who’s interested, sign up by shooing me an email or comment below!)  This is a series I shot of my baby Max, who will already be eight years old this coming spring.  I loved this set because the coloring is so simple and subtle, it brings out that giant apple and his rosy cheeks.

Speaking of apples…I’m finally going to bake my first pie of the season this weekend. What are you plans? Do spill.

My sister and her repose, captured on film, at the Everett Street Bistro in Portland…

My sister and her luminous smile, captured loosely in paint, from a memory on the beach…

Even though we are a decade apart, we are close at heart.

It’s my favorite time of the year, so I’m offering FREE shipping on all jewelry at Supermarket! Enjoy it!