I've clearly been a shutterbug of late. Which isn't a bad thing.  I'm very fortunate to get photo gigs now and then, shooting what I love -- FOOD. I've been working with Black Bottle, a longtime favorite tavern/gastro pub in Seattle, getting their menu photographed, as well as their great space in Belltown, as well as their Bellevue location. I spent a mostly sunny afternoon crawling all over the place to get just the right angle, craning over food while standing on chairs, all the photo-acrobatics that anyone who's done this before totally gets. And it's kind of a good core workout -- I was a bit stiff the next morning. But doing what you love, oh man, it hurts so good!

Indulge the Birdy's penchant for photos lately -- the springtime blooms and more hospitable weather is inspiring to my shutterbug tendencies.  I know it sounds silly, but I consider the camellia plants in the backyard my Miracle Plants. I put them in YEARS ago, and they have been overdue to bloom, but thankfully over the last couple of years, we've been getting a steady and growing number of flowers. I can see the bright blooms from our bedroom window, it's so very nice, and I like to celebrate that. 

I'm constantly amazed at how good cel phone cameras have gotten.  I daresay most smartphones probably have what would have been considered a top-of-the-line point-and-shoot digital camera way back in the day. I spent a long weekend snapping photos of our journey to Eastern Washington and back, to see the Mister's family. It's amazing to see how drastically different both sides of the state look, when you go from rainy, mountainous Evergreen Western WA to the big sky, rolling farmland of Eastern WA. 

Can this Birdy just say - WHEW!!  It's funny that this Lunar New Year is the Year of the Ram/Sheep, as I'm reminded of that saying that goes with the month of March: In like a lion, out like a lamb. I would call this year so far: "In like a lamb who acts like a lion." ROAR. It's been a little hectic at the Magpie's Nest. Work is going well, keeping me very busy, and my stressbuster of late has been baking. Not so much eating what I make, just enjoying the process, which can be very zen. My latest challenge has been teaching myself the method of French macaron-making, which is very much process-oriented. So while this is probably a better fit for my food blog, Wasabi Prime, I'm sharing this photo of an imperfect first attempt at these tricky cookies. Imperfection is OK. We learn from shortcomings and it only encourages us to keep learning. And at the end of the day, it's a nice reminder to not freak out, and just eat a cookie. Class dismissed!    

Jaunty Fine Print: Photograph by Denise Sakaki

We interrupt your day to bring you this message... DOG. In what I can only describe as Dog Therapy (I'm pretty sure I've hashtagged it a few times), my heart is not bereft of happy dog smiles, belly rubs, ear scratches and the longing stares as you're trying to eat pizza. Here's to Dogs, and the joy they bring.

Indulge me yet again in another dreamy seasonal post, if you will. I took these photos in a friend's yard a little while back, admiring the change of light and color as the sun was setting. I love that when autumn arrives, you feel it in the air.

It's been an amazing summer, Pacific Northwest, I have to hand it to you -- and I don't mind that you haven't been in a hurry to depart. It's nice to enjoy the in-between of Summer and Fall -- which I'd just like to name Summerfall. You're not quite ready to pull out the winter coats, you can still wear summery flats, and you're walking around in a flutter of rapidly-changing leaves.

Can you not already tell how much I'm making the most of these waning days of sun-filled skies? It had been a long time since we had left the homestead to visit family -- the Mister and I joined a gathering with his grandfather, who will be turning 90 (we celebrated early -- why not??). We all met up at his aunt and uncle's house in Brewster, which is just outside of Chelan, if you're familiar with that part of Washington State. If you've never headed out there, you should -- it's a uniquely beautiful landscape, so different from what we see on our evergreen, tree-filled horizon.

I know it's been a steady stream of summer flowers, blooms and dogs -- but this is a personal blog, and I feel like it should reflect what's happening in one's life. I haven't been super excited about things to buy or what's "on trend," instead, I've been inspired more by special moments and experiences. I've always said that Real Life informs how we express ourselves, in work, appearance, etc. It's been a year of emotional up's and down's, and I feel like more than ever, I need the simple but powerful inspiration of life around me, and not what's in a magazine or on a store shelf.

Negative Space:  A term in the art world referring to the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, which forms an interesting or meaningful shape.  

These images were taken on August 20, 2014, while cleaning our house after we said farewell to our dog Indy the evening before. 



It's startling how the absence of something has as much impact as when that something was present. Going through the house and removing all traces of our dog Indy was a sad but necessary task. These everyday items took on a completely new meaning without Indy. We kept her toys in a basket, in the bedroom, so that they would be out of the way. You hardly noticed them before, but they looked so empty and out of place without her around.  

Gather ye flowers, while ye may... I remember when we first bought our house and the yard was a huge canvas full of possibilities. I wanted to fill it with every possible plant, and there have been as many failures as there have successes in terms of my Green Thumb. It's taken many years, and I don't always baby the yard with the attention it needs, but I'm thankful so many plants have accepted my Neglectful Gardening method and continue to flourish from year to year.

I'm falling in love with the Fine Art of Doing Nothing. I wouldn't call it being lazy -- you're still doing things like having backyard barbecues, sitting around with a cocktail in hand on a hot day, and just taking a moment to soak in the Nothingness. And it can be in your yard or someone else's, as we've been yard-hopping all summer at friends' houses.

The Birdy is BACK! Or more to the point, the Birdy didn't really fly the coop, she stayed on terra firma and had a quiet few days off to tend to the homefront. I did not, in fact, make it to Hell-on-Earth-Nevada for the aforementioned trip, but I kept with the vacation days off and spent the much-needed break savoring some quality time with the Mister and our dear pup, Indy, who was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia last October.

I'm going on vacation. I think. I hope...? You would think one would be sure about such serious matters like taking some time off. But my plan is to take a week off from the bloggosphere and have a long overdue visit with family and friends in the annual Scorch Yourself Alive summer trip to Las Vegas. I'm scheduled to meet up with my parents who are there for a reunion and my BFF from college, a gal I affectionately refer to as the Angry Peanut. I took this photo a couple of years ago at the Bellagio, visiting their beautiful atrium garden, which they change seasonal and holiday themes regularly. I don't gamble, I just go to look at stuff like this. Vegas hates people like me.

Despite plane tickets being bought (with insurance) and hotel rooms reserved, I may cancel if our pup Indy isn't doing well. My biggest fear is not being here if her health takes a sharp turn for the worst;the last time I left for just an overnight trip, the Mister had to take her to the ER. So, we'll see. I've got a vacation I think/I hope I'll be going on. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And Indy. 

Jaunty Fine Print: Photo by Denise Sakaki

Have you ever measured the power of a gesture as simple as telling someone you're thinking of them? It's surprisingly large, for something that seems so small. I'm dedicating this post to the loved ones out there who have had a rough time of things this year; there's been a surprisingly sad amount of loss in such a short time. And I dedicate this post to the loved ones who have been unwavering in their little check-in's on us, to make sure we're not going crazy, dealing with a sick dog. I find myself saying, "I'm thinking of you," and "My heart is with you," to so many people, and I mean it with every fiber of my being, because they've given the same encouragement to me. With these small gestures, I swear, it's the thing that keeps our heads up and moving forward every day. 

I encourage everyone to be generous with these little gestures of encouragement to your loved ones. Tell them you're thinking of them. Remind them they're not alone. Even just a little text message saying you're thinking of them can be an incredible bright spot in their day.
  Jaunty Fine Print: Photography by Denise Sakaki

Lookout! It's Vancouver! Or so I want to say whenever I see the Canadian city's iconic revolving Lookout Tower. One of the tallest buildings in Vancouver, it stands out against all the city's blue-green glass landscape, given its unique shape. As we were driving into the city, this photo was quickly snapped from the window of a moving bus, a total let's-see-if-anything-turns-out flurry of photo-taking. Of all the photos I took on the trip, this one stands out as a favorite.

This Birdy has finally "got it" when it comes to the power of flowers. I always loved fresh-cut blooms and bouquets but they were never a thing I sought out, as they felt like such a short-lived gift. Flowers fade, the blooms wilt, and you're left with something that needs to be cleaned up and swept away. But over the last few years, I finally appreciate the gift that fresh flowers bring to a household. It's a bit of colorful light and life that suddenly makes a room pleasant, and it's definitely a gift worth giving to others, as it's the thing we so rarely treat ourselves with.

Can't you tell? I'm totally feeling the springtime greens right now. I know I should be talking about cute dresses, shoes, or jewelry, but it's easy to forget that we are what we eat, and we wear those choices long after the heels pinch our feet and we slip into flats. Why not be as excited about eating our greens as we are wearing something green?

Hear that sound? I think that was perhaps the door closing as Winter finally left the room.  I may have just jinxed us for a springtime freeze or a freak snowstorm to roll in, during the middle of April, but as I've been noticing on the rare sunny walks, it truly feels like Spring is, at last, in bloom.  

Call it Procastination vs. Procrastination. It's taking me forever to get around to doing my taxes, but it took me EVEN LONGER to update my work portfolio. Like, a year. So I finally sat down one afternoon, in the rare lull of waiting for email feedback on a project, and dug through the last year of project work and whittled it down to some favorites. And finally, my online portfolio is up to date. For the most part.