l'élégance du hérisson

they had me at: "madame michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she’s covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary—and terribly elegant."

do you have any hedgehogs in your life?

raleigh denim

sarah + victor, by juli

do you ever feel inspired by your friends?  i know that i do when i slow down to really take them in.  i feel so lucky to know some really talented people like sarah and victor of raleigh denim.  i remember when they started making jeans over four years ago and turned it into a fine craft with the entire process of the jeans made by hand and sourced locally.  i recently helped work on photos for a story about how their business has continued to expand into barney's and saks as well as a move into a larger warehouse with a lovely retail space called curatory (which includes their jeans as well as well-crafted and hand-picked clothing, accessories and other items.)  the business is so personal to them and it really shows in the thought and care they put into every aspect of the process. 

details from curatory, by juli

fall apples

fall apples, by juli

fall reminds me of picking apples at my uncle charlie's home in alabama.  he has a small orchard on land near my grandfather's farm.  i always loved the tart, crisp apples we picked there.  i live in north carolina now where families enjoy taking a trip out to orchards in the mountains to pick heirloom apples.  we have quite a few varieties here and we just completed a story about their different uses as well as some recipes that i thought all of you might enjoy as well.  btw, if you want to look at some lovely apple books take a peek at "apples i have eaten" by jonathan gerken and "the apple lover's cookbook" by amy traverso.

from left: honeycrisp, empire and mutsu, by juli

sometimes i shoot fashion...

scenes from a life...

wembley at the union

tula mirth + pals

two artists and a bike romance

this weekend is a big one as far as music festivals go in little ol'raleigh with several awesome acts including fellow slow lifer tracy's band, wembley.  it is also a big weekend because tula mirth, at age five, is loving this kind of stuff far more than she once did.  i watched amazed as my daughter befriended an artist who was painting in the front row of the ben sollee show and actually ended up working on the painting alongside him.  she later made some new friends and convinced them to lift her onto a brick wall to dance with them to the rosebuds.  ha!  i have so much love for that girl of mine who is truly a surprise.

happy rest of weekend!

do you ever get tired of...

tweeting, liking, texting, blogging, tagging, emailing?  

the social remedy by farnell

 yes, me too.  and that is why i just might buy this awesome print.