The trip was part learning part relaxing, and we had a great time. Everything was kind of dead since Coachella was going on and i think everyone was out in the Valley getting drunk. We did get to go to Kings Highway at the Ace for cocktails, but when we tried to get into the pool they were hosting some sort of event for famous people. sheesh.

Can’t wait to find a time to go back so I can explore more architectural goodness. Our only full day was spent driving to the NOF showroom (in Irvine) and back (with a stop for lunch in Laguna Beach) so we didn’t have a ton of time for exploring.

Also, the ‘HOT’ doesn’t even begin to explain it. It was 105 in April, which coming from rainy and 60 Seattle was a little bit, um, warm…

We did get a chance to hit up their thursday night art walk/farmers market where I fell in LOVE with this coral vintage maribou dress. Alas, no where to wear it. . .

We also stopped by The Riviera (for another cocktail), and I tried to take a selfie in the mirrored subway tile. This was a surprisingly difficult task.

I know that it must seem really trivial to spend a whole post complaining about being overworked and tired and then follow it up directly with “look at my free trip to the desert!” but I’m pretty sure this 36 hour escape in the midst of it all is what kept me sane enough to get to the finish line.

In my ten on ten post I mentioned some crazy work goings the last few weeks. While the last 6 weeks have been the worst, its really been back to back deadlines every 3-4 weeks since the holidays. The final 6 weeks were long hours pretty much every day, and while I got a chance to relax a bit on the weekends there were still some items to get done and I felt like I could never really quite relax. You know the feeling?

Our biggest deadline to date was last Friday, and it came at a perfect time, just as I was preparing for a week long trip to Virginia to visit my boyfriend, Erik. Usually I make these working trips so that I don’t have to take much PTO, but this time I was/am determined to make it more of a true spell of time off.

I expected that I’d be able to relax in Seattle over the weekend (which I did) and show up in Virginia feeling in restful vacation mode. I knew that Erik had to work a 48 hr shift Wednesday/Thursday and I was excited to be able to sit down with my laptop, do some pinning, do some blogging and finally get a bunch of creative stuff on paper. I’ve been so burned out on projects at work that need just drawings produced (nuts and bolts technical drawings) that I haven’t had a chance to be creative on some of my other jobs that are still in the design phases. I’ve just felt BLAH oh those.

But the truth is, I’m 5 days into my vacation and I just feel drained. It didn’t even occur to me to put something up on the blog until this afternoon. I guess I was more spent than I expected because the recharge time has been longer than expected as well.

I had also hoped to contribute to the “Things I’m afraid to tell you” series that has been floating around, but I found myself wanting to write a post for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to join in to be part of the group, sort of a “look at me, I’m brave too!” gesture. That feeling especially kicked in when there was an invited round two that went around and my immediate feeling wasn’t “wow, these are so genuine and heartfelt”, it was “I feel left out”. So, I guess thats my miniature “Things I’m afraid to tell you” is that sometimes when I get burnt out on true creativity and genuine spirit I consider doing things for the wrong reason. I’m glad I had at least enough willpower to restrain a full post because the bloggers who have participated really deserve to shine.

That being said, this evening I sifted through some photos and have some pictoral evidence of the last couple months to share with you. Thanks for sticking around

Top photo is a sneak peek of a quick 36 hour trip I took to Palm Springs for “work” smack dab in the middle of all the deadline craziness. Lets just say that I managed to clock in 52 hours in the office that week AND take a day and a half trip to Palm Springs. Oye.

BUT! I was determined to find beautiful moments throughout the day, and I made it to 9. I did take some wonderful time out of the evening to join my best girlfriends for book club (We discussed this book) and that was much needed. Overall, a good day even though I’m totally spent and cannot wait for some rest and relaxation with my boyfriend next week.

Because I can’t currently find my camera battery charger, I took the opportunity to this months ten Instagram style. It was actually really fun getting the chance to post throughout the day. You can follow me at RavennaGirlB.

A few months ago I stumbled across a kickstarter campaign that I could really get behind: Mason Jar Pour Spouts. How many times have I tried to serve something cutely in a mason jar only to have pouring it (liquid or otherwise) be a total disaster?

Of course I thought these were totally genius and wanted in on the action. We won’t even go into how awesome it was that she used “beer pong mishaps” as a selling point. For my $10 donation, not only did I receive two lids once the design was complete, but also participation in the entire development process which was pretty cool to be a part of.

After becoming a backer, Karen kept us informed with a series of project update emails relating to the creation of the prototype design drawings, custom molds,  and material selection. She also sent information on the incubator where the project was being worked on so you could check out the other projects. So interesting!

She also sent sneak peeks of the first products off the line. It was pretty exciting to see someone’s dreams come to fruition.

Another cool part of the process was the opportunity to vote on logo designs for the fledgling company. There were 4 options and all backers got the chance to vote and comment on their favorite.

I was happy that the choice I voted for (second from the left) was the winner!

After a few months of watching the development unfold, final photos came in of the pieces being assembled and shipment notifications were in my inbox.

Luckily my two pour spouts came in the mail just in time for our crafternoon. We christened them with pink and yellow sprinkles for our decorate-your-own cupcakes. They were perfect! Can’t wait to let you know the other uses we come up with. Until then, you can follow the Recap pinterest board to see what all the recipients are doing.

Or better yet, visit the Recap site and buy a couple of your own!

{All photos by Karen Rzepecki of Recap Mason Jars, except the last photo by me}

And for a bit of added interest, an article on the history of the mason jar.

Head over to Michaela’s blog, take a look around, and enter the giveaway Giveaway is open until Monday night, May 7th.

So yeah, sorry for the radio silence this week. We both worked a ton, and I couldn’t quite muster any creative thoughts after a few 14 hour days in a row. Hoping to rest up this weekend and be back in tip top shape in no time.

onto some post pairs:

For Mothers Day, bring mom a bottle of wine in these beautiful bags, with this cute stopper [via]

Throwing a Cinco de Mayo party? Cilantro Lime Popsicles and Margarita Cookies sound like a great dessert spread to me!

Buy some Ed Emberley fabric (remember his books from your elementary school library?!) and whip up a quilted chevron comforter (whip up? who am I kidding?!)

Rainy day? Watch an amazing vintage musical movie montage while sipping some Bella Donnas to cheer you up.

Have you found yourself in Seattle? Rachel and Robin both put together amazing round ups this week. I can’t wait to try out many of these new (to me) places.

Enjoy the weekend, friends!

FOOD The Book Larder is hosting two fabulous events this week:

Monday 4/30:  Baking In Translation – How to Bake British Without Freaking Out  is for anyone who’s tried to use a recipe from British website or cookbook and been flummoxed by strange ingredients or metric measurements. This class is hosted by the wonderful Paola who blogs at Mirror Mirror and I’m sure is going to be super fantastic!

Thursday 5/3: Demonstration with Molly Moon Neitzel – Molly Moon Homemade Ice Cream. Yes, that Molly Moon has a cookbook out. Just, Go.

PRETTY: West Elm Pop Up Flower Shops

The Seattle West Elm is hosting a series of Pop-Up Flower Shops taking place on two upcoming Saturdays from 10am-3pm – May 5 and May 12 (There was an April 28th but I’m remiss is getting this posted!). They have partnered with Marigold and Mint, a beautiful local florist, who will offer advice on how to arrange flowers and have plenty of fresh flowers for purchase. Check out the West Elm Front & Main blog to see all the cities where the flower shops are popping up!

GARDEN Olympic View Elementary Plant Sale

The Elementary School in our neighborhood hosts an annual fundraising plant sale, and its next weekend. Its a pretty good one, and we know a lot of the kiddos who go to this school so if you’re in the neighborhood pay them a visit. And let us know you’re coming, we can pop down and say hello! Address of the school

Times for the sale are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, May 4; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 5; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 6. Bring the kids Saturday for kids craft time, and there may be a visit from Peaks Frozen Custard that day, too. Address for the school is 504 NE 95th St. Seattle, WA 98115.

Its Spring, Folks!

Throw a Party in this color scheme and serve this champagne punch.

Go glamping and don’t forget your candy colored bento box

Make custom legs for your vintage dresser and then make custom drawer liners

Get dressed up in pretty pastels and tie your hair with a dip dyed ribbon

Scheme up some backyard lighting in prep for the summer and get your bar stocked with pretty bottles

** Image Credits: Half Moon Bay Photo by Gluten Free Travelette, Bento Boxes by Takenaka via Creature Comforts. Graphic Embellishment by me **

We’ll see how regular I keep up with this, but its a fun little project scrolling through my favorites from the week and coming up with some combos.  What fun ideas are you combining this week?

This month we’ve also welcomed a new sponsor swap blog – Kerry and Dalton at Eat Make Play. They’re two ladies who blog together just like us so I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Jenny has started a new  series for summer entertaining called Color Coded Coolers. We loved the first installment! She also has fiestas on the brain (who doesn’t?!)

Lyndsey also has fiestas on the brain, sharing a roundup of fiesta invitations. She also did an awesome showcase on Igloo Letterpress. Allison from Igloo was my roomie at Alt, so I loved seeing this showcase of her work.

Rebekah made some awesome paint chip easter egg treats. Bookmark these for next year! She also had an absolutely beautiful set for ten on ten this month. She’s expecting her 4th little one in just a few weeks!

Vanessa finished her 100 movies project (which is a feat I’m super impressed with!). She also did a round up of future family traditions – such an interesting thing to ponder how to recreate those memories of childhood.

Kerry & Dalton shared a great recipe for Huevos Rancheros (to continue our fiesta theme!). They, too, are suckers for anything turquoise (I knew there was a reason we’re blog buddies).

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Today I’m sharing a little cake D and I whipped up for Easter a couple weeks back to a dinner party where we were asked to bring dessert.

Over Christmas, I’d had had my eye on the Nordic Ware Stump du Noel pan; I thought it was such a whimsical interpretation of the yule log tradition. I happened upon one at an after Christmas sale at the Williams Sonoma in Manhattan, and totally scored one for $11! Since the holidays were past I came up with the idea to create a springtime forest stump and had been saving the idea for easter.

We waffled between doing a true chocolate recipe like a devils food cake, or doing some lighter like a nutella bundt cake, but in the end we settled on this recipe which was a great decision.

It was easy since the base was cake mix, which on a busy weekend was a relief. The combination of sour cream and pudding made it super moist and I think the cake part was a hit.

I took Paola and Jeanne’s suggestions by buttering the HECK out of the pan, but instead of flour I used cocoa powder. After the cake was done we let it cool completely (overnight actually), and it came out of the pan just fine. I was worried because of all the fine detailing of the tree rings, but it was no biggie with a little elbow grease.

After releasing from the pan, slice off the “top” so you have a level laying surface, and tada! A wonderful cakey stump.

I wandered down to our neighborhood cake shop, Home Cake, where they make homemade buttercream at a great price. While there I also picked up the Wilton Basic Decorating Set which has 5 tips perfect for creating a variety of textures. I whipped up some green and frosted grass growing up the sides and around a birds nest in the center.

I also bought some sugar flowers from Home Cake because they were too beautiful to pass up. They really made the decorations look presentable, haha, drawing the eye away from my beginner leaf piping.

Finished off with some Robins Eggs on a coconut nest in the center and a dusting of pink sprinkle, we were off to celebrate!

Now I can’t wait to try out a summer, fall, and winter stump cake. Its a weird thing, but ended up fitting the day perfectly.