Beklina

These and my Summer wardrobe would be complete! (all from Beklina)

Freshen up

As I sip my coffee and struggle with the daily crossword, I find myself distracted with thoughts of spring.  It is an exciting time of year when the sun shines a little brighter and everyone seems to smile a little harder.   

Spring awakens us from the lulls of winter and without warning motivates us to get moving and make changes in our lives (and purge our closets/desks of unnecessary things). My distracted mind and inability to answer 23. Across led me to browsing some of my favorite blogs...

Apartment therapy reflects on winter's flee by urging readers to freshen up their sofas with minty hues this spring. What better way to enter the season than by adorning your couch or favorite reading chair with a splash of mint?  

Spring: a time to freshen up.
Words by: Natalie K.
Images found at Bohemian Musings, Apartment Therapy and here.

The Burning House

Have you read this blog? It's fantastic. 'The Burning House' features a collection of things you would take with you if your house was burning. Got me thinking...I would definitely grab Marsha (my cat), passport, camera, iphone, my well broken in APC jeans (worked hard for those), necklaces from my travels, a few Proud Mary bags, my current notebook, and my computer. Seems like a lot!

Rachel Kaye

Painting, drawing, and sculpture by San Francisco artist Rachel Kaye. Equally as amazing as her Outer Sunset "beach house".

Quotable...

Love this. Happy Friday! (image from here)

International Women's Day 2012

Happy International Women's Day! The theme this year is 'Empower rural women--End hunger and poverty'. This sounds simple enough but the job is tremendous and the thought of all the work to do feels very overwhelming! My view of empowerment is to treat these women as business partners. The women that Proud Mary works with in Mali and Guatemala are just that...partners. By providing a fair wage and market access for quality, beautiful, artisanal goods we can help them expand their business so they can support themselves. It's so important to me not to pity these women but to respect their craft and talent and hopefully have them respect me and how I run my business. Mutual respect and pride=empowerment.

Check out these sites celebrating Women's Day! UN, International Women's Day, Women for Women International.

(photo from here)

PM afuera

Love seeing our Guatemala Collection pillows used in this amazing outdoor space in Southern California. We approve!

Quotable...

Happy Friday! (via here)

Venice Treasure

I'm in love. (from here)

Universal medium

Food differentiates one culture from another, embodying its traditions and customs. Conversely, food is universal. Food sustains us and brings people together everyday and everywhere in the world.

NPR harped on a similar universality yesterday: music. In the article, A Tour of Northern Mali, Courtesy of Sidi Toure, Anastacia Tsioulcas writes, "Music might be universal, but sometimes a song can instantly transport you to a very specific place within just a couple of beats." The music shared does just that. It embodies the North African culture and rhythms while allowing you to virtually travel to this desert land through the sense of sound.
"Ni See Ay Ga Done," by Sidi Touré a Malian singer/songwriter and guitarist. (Originally heard here)

Both food and music diffuse customs and traditions from one culture to another. Globalization is often a complicated and political phenomenon but through food and music we can find a peaceful common ground, a universal medium.

Cambodian marketplace

Posted by: Natalie K

Christian Chaize

Large scale landscapes are my favorite when it comes to photography. I love these seaside images by Christian Chaize. (discovered via Design*Sponge)

Dezso

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was exhausting in the best way possible! Some eye candy to start the week...Dezso by Sara Beltran. The jewels are stunning and I absolutely love the presentation. (photos from here)