A few of my favorite things

Mexican bubble glass
Some good deals on similar barware at Pottery Barn

A little Hawaiiana
Vintage Trader Vic's ashtray, 60s matchbooks, lovely hula girl

Tiki candle (thank you Lissa)
Let America Be America Again, poetry by Langston Hughes

The Essential Book of Boat Drinks (recipe below)
Vintage bottle of Trader Vic's Pomegranate Grenadine Syrup

STARFISH
After one sip, you'll be ready to lend everyone a hand.

1 jigger Light Rum
1/2 jigger Orange Juice
4 dashes Grenadine
2 jiggers Tonic Water

Fill rocks glass with ice. Add ingredients. Stir.

Visions of Johanna

photos by Jay "Juice" Watson

Have you listened to it recently?

Short Stuff

Photo shoot at home

This shoot made me laugh a lot because I've never seen my husband in a mustache. He really got into character. In a gravelly voice he was saying things like, "Yeahhhhh, I'm gonna get in my van".

Jay had very specific ideas for this shoot and searched all over the bay area for wood paneling. Apparently it's out of fashion (really?) and it was nowhere to be found, until someone tipped him off about a home in Palo Alto that was going to be salvaged. We went one Saturday morning with a crowbar and scored a sheet from a garage for 6 bucks.

I'll let you know when the finished product is on the Interwebs. In the meantime, turn on your classic rock station and get loose.

Mustaches rock!

Hardware upgrade

or, how I got a really boring dresser and made it more fun...

I needed a 5-drawer dresser so I turned to what else, Craigslist. There, waiting in someone's storage unit in San Francisco, was a totally adequate dresser for under $80. I knew it wasn't even close to my dream dresser, but it was what I needed for now. When we put it in our room, I felt a little bit bummed at its plainness. It was very, nilla-waferish. Jay looked at the dresser, not really liking it much either and said, "What if you put some red glass knobs on it?"

Yes Jay, Yes! Gosh you're good.

came with nice, plain wooden knobs

vava-voom!

much better

If you're in northern Calif., you can find tons of fun knobs at Belmont Hardware, or from a vendor at the Alameda antique fair.

A photo shoot at home

So there's this handsome guy I know. He's a photographer and he has to do a product shoot for Garage Magazine - you know, the one I wrote about recently. The product is a "clip-on" liquor dispenser, the kind one would wear to a party full of beatniks several decades ago. Well, there's no male model around so the photographer decides to set up a studio in the living room and do a self portrait. He gives his wife step-by-step instructions to get the right angle, focus the shot, shoot it on delay, run into the frame and hold the shot glass. By the 10th try, I poured us a shot of whiskey on the side. I promised I wouldn't get frustrated (I'm not an angel when it comes to being instructed) and we ended up having a lot of fun. You can find the finished product here. Have a drink on me (wink)!