Japan

http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html

I'd like to share a raw sentiment with you: my heart has been heavy all day today because I received a heartbreaking email from a dear friend of mine who lives in Tokyo. This heaviness in my heart has been building and growing as the days go by and the realization of the substantial impact that this disaster has presented to not just Japan, but the world entirely, is simply overwhelming. I feel so small and helpless. Playing small does not benefit the world in any light, however. Japan needs us right now. My friend needs us right now. We're all in this together. Let's help.
Do you have any other ways of contributing? Any websites, blogs, forums, disaster reliefs that you believe in and support that you could share with us? I'd like to know. Thank you.

xx, Lili

Stunning. Thanks so much, Simone*

Woodstock, NY

Here you go my dears, some of my photos from Woodstock! I hope that you get to go and visit too some time. Here are some things to do:

1.) Stay at the quaint Twin Gables B&B!
2.) Have a coffee & vegan dessert up in the trees at Joshua's Cafè and stay for the open-mic
3.) Have a romantic vegetarian dinner & wine at Garden Cafe
4.) Take a long stroll through the town and surrounding forest & creeks
5.) Stop by Anatolia Rugs (a serious must!) and enjoy a lovely chat about Turkish rugs with the awesome & knowledgeable Leib and Shaylin, and then buy one!
6.) Enjoy a good whiskey and listen to live blue grass at Harmony
7.) Sample some of the country's finest raw cheeses and bread at C'est Cheese
8.) Enjoy a thorough chat with Ricochet and then buy some of his one-of-a-kind tye-dye shirts
9.) Slurp up an amazing bowl of noodles and crunch up a raw kale salad at YumYum Noodle Bar

I really hope that you go and visit. I already want to go back. I somehow left a piece of my heart there. If you'd like, I have a couple more pictures here.

And we're back. We had so much (cold) fun! We did so much walking & eating great food & drinking (maybe a little too much) & hanging out with good friends & dancing & laughing that I always feel a little down when the vacation is over and we're waiting to get on the plane to go home. I can't wait to share Woodstock with you (hopefully tomorrow).

Sure is nice though waiting for the rain to come today here in LA...the gray clouds are slowly growing darker and darker...

Off to Woodstock & NYC...

Elijah and I are off for a week, but before locking up our home, I had to leave you with this teeny side-arrangement that I made early this morning. It's simple and my elegant vase is an old spaghetti jar, but somehow I really love it. Hellebores, anemones, ranunculus, and clematis.

I hope you have an excellent week. See you in seven days*

It took some coaxing to let me see my dear friend Lisa's wedding photos. I fell for her daisy tiara in less than a heartbeat and her sweet and elegant beauty and begged her to let me share it on my blog. I'm so glad that she finally agreed. Isn't she lovely?

I would wear this gardening. Honestly. LOVE***

(via Refinery29)

Dreaming Walls

This really makes my heart feel heavy. Photographer Lucia Ganieva discovered that in a rural village in the Udmurt Republic of Russia, the interiors of almost every single home has room sized photographic murals of exotic places that the home-dwellers feel they will never get to experience, except only in their dreams. The Udmurt people are strongly connected to nature and they treasure these over-sized photographic murals and are proud to show them off. I love the juxtaposition between these intense nature scenes and the everyday furniture, textures, fabrics and colors of an ordinary well-lived home. Pretty touching story and exceptionally beautiful photographs. Take a second and see more here.

*thank you so much for sharing, Rachel*

Little Flower School

My dear friend Olga was sweet enough to take a ton of pictures from Little Flower School's class that she so luckily and so deserved to attend (perfect birthday present, no)? Not only does the Ban.do studio look like a perfect fit to host such a lavish event, but it also looks like the lucky students were served some bubbly too! Olga said she had so much fun and that Sarah & Nicolette were the coolest teachers ever...nuff said! I so need to catch these amazing girls next time they swing through California!

* Thank you for letting me live the class vicariously through you, Olga! *

(Doesn't the wall of pictures in the studio behind the girls look incredibly cool?! Geez, I really missed out)...

Happy Wednesday, doves.

Papier Mache Issue 6!

The sweet, endearing, beautiful, creative world of Papier Mache...check it out! Even if you don't have children, you will find inspiration from the imaginative worlds peeped through with their little eyes. I promise.