aglassjar

thursday playlist

2013-05-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

hi. it's nate here...

we're still hooked on the new vampire weekend album.

another current favorite around our house is phosphorescent.
and sometimes the stars just aline or whatever cause i just discovered he made a willie nelson cover album , and it's really really good. check it out here: PHOSPHORESCENT - TO WILLIE.

here's a cool video for the first song on our mix...

and now for a batch of 8 random songs we like (the cover photo is a picture i took of a wall mural in denver, co last week):

5 / 16 / 13 from natetracks on 8tracks Radio.

friends and fleas

2013-05-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

as in flea markets! :)

a couple months ago, my friend olga had this ingenious idea of meeting up with us, in oakland/alameda/SF after we were done with the flea market. since they live about an hour & 1/2 away from SF, & they love us so much, they drove out for drinks/dinner/walks :)
we have a few friends that live in sacramento, so now it's kind of a thing, after selling at the flea market, we get to hang with our pals.

selling at the flea market to me is very fun. the hustle & bustle of bargaining i dreaded at first is actually growing on me. i love seeing repeat customers, and talking to the new ones. i always wonder if anyone ever looks up my blog or our etsy shop.
i also wonder if we are going to sell at the flea markets forever... (i know we wont, but still...maybe, right?) i wonder if we'll ever become like that grumpy grumpy bickering old couple setting up next to us last time. i mean, they're in their late 60s and still saying stuff like "you just can't do anything right" or "how many times do i have to tell you to not put this here" "a million times" at 5am in angry loud voices. they actually were cracking us up, b/c it was just so embarrassing i thought, but they were past caring, obviously. but maybe they were like us 30 years ago...

one of my favorite couples i see every month shopping around the flea...now i could totally see nate & i looking something more like them when we're older he he.

we went into SF to hang out. for dinner we decided on a vegan mexican restaurant, it was cinco de mayo, after all. that restaurant is one of my favorites!
then "walking distance" is humphry slocombe ice cream shop, with many unique ice cream (& sorbet) flavors.

cutie leeza, with unintentional (or so they said he he) matching lipstick/jacket. while it was 100degrees in fresno, it was jacket weather in SF.

so anyway, that was our flea market weekend. looking forward to the next one. (our friends better not ditch out, haha)

his & her picks

2013-05-14T18:34:00.002-07:00

my pick is this dress, with an accordion skirt. it's sheer & ombre & so pretty.

nate is wearing a levi's sherpa jacket. totally not right for our weather here, but good for someone somewhere else :)

the background flowers grow like weeds in our neighborhood. i love them.
unfortunately they barely last a day once cut.

see ya!

your thursday playlist

2013-05-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

would you look at that, here i am again with a playlist for you on this wonderful thursday afternoon.
(but... you know it's only b/c nate actually put it together, and i have nothing to do with it, ha.)

anyway, he has a few of my favorites on there, like tammy wynette's "stand by your man." we go to this little bar, some friday & sunday nights, where they have open mic, and there is this one lady who always sings this song. so nate & i have both started really liking it.
i'm actually trying to learn it so i can sing it next time we go do karaoke!

in other music news, vampire weekend is streaming their new album, modern vampires of the city, on itunes! we're loving it. the new album sounds very fresh, and i like that they're trying some new things. nate keeps saying how good the actual recording is too.

did you watch any of the steve buscemi promos with them? pretty funny...

5 / 9 / 13 from natetracks on 8tracks Radio.

the simple life

2013-05-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

we were invited over for supper, by our friend don, who plays a lap steel guitar & his wife denise. they live in a little house, on a big property, with horses and dogs and cats. while we were there, the water stopped working and we all went out to the water well, to see if it was hopefully an easy fix (it was).

denise makes, literally, the best iced tea i've ever had. i brought my "famous" fruit salad (with mint from our yard), and a kale salad. (when you have a certain way you eat, the best (and nicest) way to go about that is to bring something tasty with you to share with everyone too.)
also, our friend is currently on a diet, so i looked up the special diet, to make sure & not bring something she wasn't allowed to eat.
don said "you can really taste the kale," when he tried the salad. he said it was a quote from cheers, but i can't seem to find a clip of it.
nate had a slice of angel food cake with a few scoops of ice cream & cherry jam topping, but said no to whip cream. i told him to just go for it, since i don't ever make anything like that at home.

don strummed country tunes, and sang and nate sang some of the ones he knew.
the sunset was the prettiest thing.

their cat buddy was the best. he's one of those friendly lil guys, who wants you to pet him as much as possible. just lounging out there, he knows who the real boss of the house is ;)

i'm still getting used to living in fresno, but also starting to prefer this life to city life. cinco de mayo marks one whole year of living here!
when i was little, i couldn't wait to grow up and move to some big city (like paris)! so sometimes i can't help but think maybe i'm failing my little-self''s dreams by not living in london or somewhere.
i feel like i'm getting the best of both worlds, really...a bunch of trips planned thru august!

also, i have this way of forgetting anything negative about big cities, for example, the living spaces we could actually afford in new york city if we ever moved back! (lolz)

anyway, more on all of this later!
for now, thanks for stopping by!

it's that time again...

2013-05-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

alameda point antiques faire!

here we are again, middle of the night & we are heading to the flea market.....why do we keep doing this again?lulz.

it is a lil rough getting up im the middle of the night & driving three hours...but hey, ya do whatcha gotta do, right? I'm looking forward to seeing who will come by, & which items will get picked.

also looking forward to lunch (it's 3am & food sounds pretty bad, but I know 10am rolls around (my lunch time on flea market days) I'll be hella excited about the indian food stand there!)

anyway! if by chance you are in the San Francisco area today, and you are reading this, go to the alameda flea market! (& of course come by & browse our racks at j28:) )

you know it! n8 tracks thrusday

2013-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

gawd, please tell me it really is thrusday today.

so here you have it, 8 tracks for you, hand picked by nate.

last week we lost a legend, and this week a legend turned 80 years old, happy birthday willie nelson!
there is a willie track on the mix for you today (one of my favorites!).

enjoy!

5 / 2 / 13 from natetracks on 8tracks Radio.

what to expect when...

2013-05-01T20:16:00.001-07:00

you come visit us in fresno! :)

i'll make coffee, juice, breakfast, lunch, dinner, we'll have plenty of wine, beer, cocktails. i'll take photos of your pet or child (when applicable), you will choose to either chill out at our house most of your stay, or venture out to yosemite or another national park for a hike. perhaps you'll want to go out on the town, maybe go to a thrift store or estate sale, go get coffee at a place where they're out of their best drink (come on fresno, get it together!)... or drop in for some karaoke at a dive bar, maybe go hear some live old timey country muisc....it'll be up to you.
also, my sister got me this vegan baking cookbook, so i may try a recipe out while you're here.
& you can definitely count on a magic hour walk.

our friends tim & michael came up for the weekend! we went to sequoia national park for the afternoon.
sequoia national park is a slightly winding, one hour drive from our house. & it so happens that the current issue of sunset magazine (why didn't i realize earlier, how awesome this magazine is!? duh!) mentions a couple hikes in sequoia national park! we were headed to hike the congress trail & possibly muir grove & moro rock, until the park ranger at the entrance of the park, suggested we go to hume lake, and described it as "spectacular."

so we deviated from our original plan to go see this spectacular lake. i will say, while it was a nice lake, but considering its surroundings (3,000 yr old trees, mountains), spectacular wouldn't be the word i would use to describe the lake.
we took a quick stroll around hume lake and then, by following road signs, stumbled upon big stump basin.
we walked thru a green meadow of tree stumps, to the what seemed like, the edge of the earth. just beautiful!
nate brought his mini instax, so nice to see actual photos vs digital for some reason!

anyway, can't wait to go back and find more trails.

alright guys, til next time!
thanks for stopping by :)

life these days

2013-04-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

fresh orange /ginger juice is how we've been starting out our mornings. (after our coffee... can't quite shake that yet. must...have....our damn fine cup of coffee)

celebrating something at a cute italian restaurant in fresno.

our kitties have a subtle way of letting us know, when they want our attention :)

n8 tracks thrusday hahaha

2013-04-26T10:17:00.001-07:00

ok, i could have sworn today was thursday! i woke up thinking, ok great, i'll finally post "n8 tracks thursday" on... thursday. but no, it's friday, and i'm tempted to change it to n8 tracks friday....but i am stubborn, so next week i will try again to get it right.

jeez... this isn't rocket science!

in other news,
RIP george jones :/
nate put one of his tracks to start out the playlist, since he just passed away today.
if you haven't had a george jones moment, now might be a good time :)

4/25/13 from natetracks on 8tracks Radio.

his&her picks

2013-04-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

here are a few of our favorites from the last shop update.

Big Smith Pleated Denim Jacket & Flags of the World tshirt

silk foxy fox shirt

kitchen

2013-04-23T16:03:00.002-07:00

could someone please tell me how a kitchen can go from this :

to this, in just a day or two? :/

probably 88% of the time, our kitchen is like figure a., but sometimes, we just don't want to clean our dishes, or put things away. then we just start avoiding the kitchen all together.
i know i know... "clean as you go."

ok. bye. i'm going to go clean the kitchen now, it's a figure b., kinda day.

playlist for ya

2013-04-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

since nate is sort of in charge of our music around the house, i figured it would be appropriate to ask him to make a weekly playlist.

nate + 8 tracks = n8 tracks ;)

he's the kind of person who finds new/old-new music all the time. reads music sites, takes chances on records, reads/listens/listens some more, then gets the good records for us. i get to listen to what he's already picked and put those songs into our rotation. well, isn't that nice?

so here is it, even tho it's not thursday anymore, an 8 track playlist for ya.

hoomas

2013-04-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

hey guys!

so i discovered i can easily make (much) better hummus at home, than store bought! i discovered this, b/c we were running very low on produce at home & didn't feel like going out for food.
this is a super short-cut & very easy version.
ideal me, would want to cook my beans vs using canned, but i'm not ideal me yet, ha. [also, if you are using canned, try and find the company "EDEN," b/c the inside lining of their cans is BPA free. & BPA pretty much sucks.]
anyway, when you don't have time to cook beans, canned works great.

it's so easy. did i say that already? yeah, well...it's so easy.

hummus

1 can of chickpeas

2-4TBSP tahini*

1/2 lemon juiced

2 tbsp EVOO

2 tbsp of water

1-3 cloves of garlic (up to you!)

pinch of salt

pinch of cumin

put chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice & garlic into a food processor. (a blender will definitely work too) blend, and add water as needed. while it is processing, slowly pour in the evoo (if you don't have a feed at the top of your machine to do this, it is totally fine to just add it all together, i just think this makes the hummus light and fluffy). after it's all blended & creamy, add the cumin & salt. i also sprinkled some sweet smokey paprika & dropped a few kalamata olives on top..yum!

we ate it all with those everything pretzels from trader joes & thickly sliced carrots. seriously, so good! make it today! you will never want to buy hummus again :)

* i was out of tahini the last time i wanted to make hummus, but i had toasted sesame seeds ;) so i blended 1/2 cup of seeds with a little water & wa-la, tahini! so you can definitely use toasted (or raw) sesame seeds, and i actually liked the taste better with the toasted sesame seeds b/c the hummus had this toasty taste to it...

i want to try and make "hummus" using raw zucchini instead of beans next time. i think it would make it lighter and, according to some very light research, it looks like it would make it higher in protein & tons of other nutrients, using zucchini! also with summer around the corner, literally (lol jk) i will be craving more fresh veggies vs cooked heavier foods. i'll let ya know how it turns out!

his & her picks

2013-04-12T14:57:00.002-07:00

we're in the middle of a mass update for our shop.

while photographing the clothing, we picked out our favorite pieces of the bunch.

brown rust suede leather jacket & white band collar shirt

mountains & horses blazer & southwestern rust top

have a great weekend :)

p.s. could someone help me make my garden look like this?

oh and also, could someone please buy me a plane ticket to here? blue lagoon in iceland, someday...

it's that flea market time again

2013-04-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

if you're in san francisco, oakland, alameda or anywhere near there (sacramento!) come out to the alameda flea market. it's really one of the best flea markets, and we'll be there (which makes it even better, ha)

our inventory is growing with tons of great vintage clothing & we're expanding into home stuff.

anyway. maybe see ya there tomorrow?

these days

2013-04-05T19:35:00.003-07:00

i have to say, it's the best time of the year here. warm during the day, cool and windy at night. soaking it up, cuz we have some hot hot summer coming our way. well, i like to think of the good things that come with super hot weather, for example : local fruits, clovis farmers market, swimming, camping, iced everything... yeah it's not going to be so bad. (much better than snow, in my opinion)

i bought two edamame seedlings at whole foods. didn't know you can grow these here! we'll see if i can get them to actually grow. my tomato seeds sprouted & are almost ready for the outside too, i'm getting pretty good at this whole garden thing ;) (not!) (well, not yet!)

coop is his usual funny self. i was in the kitchen, and kept hearing a squeaky sound every few seconds. finally found coop getting comfy on the dryer door.

we're getting ready for the alameda flea market this sunday, woohoo! we have a ton of new cute things, it's gonna be a good one!

thanks for stopping by guys

april fools' day

2013-04-03T22:54:00.001-07:00

monday was april fools day, and also our wedding anniversary :)

we spent the day out and about fresno, doing things we like...
lunch at a vegetarian cafe, tea at a chinese herbal shop, & records & old cat pictures at an old jukebox shop.

one of my favorite parts of the day was when nate said he found a coffee shop via yelp, that served vegan dessert, & we went to check it out.
(lolz) a guy with a gas mask opened the door & let us know that it was definitely not a coffee shop.

all day i kept saying "wow we did it!" i guess meaning we made it to seven years ? ha, i don't know.

i was just thinking how it's pretty cool that we have our life and each other... how lucky we are, really.
i was born in ukraine, but my parents were nuts and decided it was a good idea to move, with four little kids, to a different country with a language they didn't speak! i always go back to that thought, what if my mom & dad weren't so crazy...how weird, i'd be living in ukraine (?) (actually, kinda sounds cool...ha ha) anyway, because of a few interesting turns of events i met nate in 2004, fell in love instantly, &, well, the rest is history :)

so, i guess the advice i can give to someone who is not as experienced in being married as i am (lol, kidding, i don't know anything) is, to not take yourself (& each other) too seriously, don't forget to have fun & laugh. that's all.

here's a random video clip i found from a couple years back, while we were in new york.
it's a really weird video, but we were clearing some space on our computer by deleting old pictures/videos, and couldn't delete this one!
i must have had the day off work or something & met nate for lunch at the park for his 30min break...

rozzy the flirt

2013-03-29T20:46:00.001-07:00

we made a quick trip up north to sac-town, to visit family, this week. we went to see traces with the fam, it's our second time seeing them, just spectacular! we saw them while living in nyc, i mean... i would go see it again...so good!

& of course, we caught up with our pals too.

when we got home, a couple friends from LA were driving up to SF and stopped by at the famous "hotel cole" in fresno for the night;)
they had a dog, which i thought was not really going to work with our cats, but surprisingly rozzy decided "trixy" was hot and started waving his tail feathers in front of her.

there was no fight, no nothing. trixy just chilled & rozzy flirted.
coop was not ok with any of this though, ha, we had to lock him in a separate room. poor guy, just doesn't like other animals at all.

spring

2013-03-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

weather is the best right now. spring. 60-70degree, breezy, sunny. ahhh
we've been going to our neighbor's yard to pick oranges and tangelos. it's so crazy, there are about 10 or more trees of citrus, & no one wants 'em!
i've been juicing about 8-10 of them everyday, adding juice from a fresh coconut & sometimes the actual coconut meat too...with some strawberries & blending. i made that the other day, and drank a huge glass of it in about 10 seconds. imagine a (light) orange/strawberry creamsicle...
anyway. since it's warming up outside, i am leaning towards more smoothies and juices and less heavy greasy foods.

there is an asian grocery market near our house, and they sell fresh young coconuts in bulk! i got a cleaver too ($6), and know how to open those suckers with just one hit.
the smoothie above is:

1 banana

10 strawberries

2 mangos

handful of chard and spinach

a couple ice cubes

coconut juice+coconut mean

yum.

little paper animals brought to ya by my niece and nephew.

i also finally bought us some smoothie glass straws. don't worry i know they are super nerdy, my husband reminds me of this every time i give him one, ha. but i like drinking out of straws and don't like being wasteful. also, these glass straws have a lifetime warranty...soooo yeah.

another favorite, is fresh orange/tangelo juice with just the juice of a coconut (& sometimes a tiny bit of ginger juice)so good, and so good for you!

los angeles

2013-03-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

hi guys

i started missing LA, so we packed our bags, said sorry to our cats & went 3hrs south for the weekend. two days really isn't very long, i was only able to see a couple friends & stopped by a few of my favorite places. (which included cafe gratitude & the spice station!)
(wearing my favorite dress from our shop. looks like something rachel comey might design)

the weather was 70 degrees, as per usual. there was a marathon that weekend, & it seemed like everyone else decided to stay home, which meant no traffic for us! i miss LA sometimes, but most of the time i am content being here, in fresno. plus, now, everything there seems a little more special, because we can't go there everyday.

(below is the best coconut curry raw soup i've ever had. i will try & replicate it this summer, when it's too hot to eat hot food)

we are at "that age" when everyone we know is having babies. we're not planning on babies anytime soon, so it's fun to hold everyone else's.
& what's up with this generation's babies...they're so cute!?

the first evening in LA, i made dinner for a few friends. it was indian themed, of course (lentil dahl, sweet&spicy cauliflower, kale salad & date poppers!) ...recipe to come (...lies).
there were no leftovers, btw. that means it was either that good, or i didn't make enough food!

here's a crappy phone pic of some of them pretending like i'm not taking a photo.
at least it captured a nice moment... (right guys?)

thanks for looking! see ya lata!

garden time

2013-03-16T11:46:00.001-07:00

anyone out there trying to garden this summer? if so, what are ya growing?

i'm going to try, i really don't know anything about gardening though. i have a big yard, so it would be criminal not to at least try!
i usually buy some seeds for a vegetable, then try and find blogs that have tips on growing it...

there is this story from years ago, about my mom, i guess she planted some tomatoes, and a weed started growing there. she wouldn't let my dad pull the weed, b/c she thought it was a tomato plant. i've heard this story being told several times, kinda making fun of my mom, but i think it's totally unfair! she didn't have google, or even a library she could look up any information! her mom didn't grow tomatoes... so how would she know?

anyway.

i've also started a compost (w/o worms) & it's working! worms end up in there anyway, thanks to my niece & nephew. they ome over and pick up big rocks & pull worms out of the ground & toss them in there for me :)

i guess this is my "before" picture of our back garden area. we'll see what happens in a few months!

also, my naughty kitties ate about 6 of my tomato seedlings. they sit right next to them in the sun, and i guess they must have gotten bored one day & decided to eat a few of them?

hanging around

2013-03-11T21:09:00.003-07:00

my neice and nephew. may be some of the cutest people...ever?
they are a big part of what swayed us to move to fresno, in the first place.

everything around here is turning into spring. we made a pretty bouquet out of flowers from our neighborhood bushes/trees.
there was a pretty tulip tree in someone's yard, & the kiddos insisted we get some of those too. nate had to knock on our neighbor's door to see if we could have a couple (while i hid, lol).

big sur (road trip continues)

2013-03-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

big sur, one of my favorite places on earth?

on our way to big sur, we stopped at casa de fruta, definitely stop there if you're driving by. pretty views plus fruit, nuts & dried fruit snacks. (i picked up some guacamole flavored pistachios!)
also, our friend greg, introduced us to geocashing, so we did a little geocashing on our trip (does anyone else do this?!)

we stopped at "our spot," with the bixby in view for some photos. just doesn't get old.

we rented a cabin, and took it easy, chatting, napping and kindling a fire. we reserved a spot to go night bathing... on a cliff, in a hot spring at 1am...it was so peaceful...and magical, really unexplainable, you'll just have to go & find out for yourself, someday.

morning! (lol my hair the morning after the baths)

when going to big sur, you don't really need a guide, just find a spot to park, and go for a hike, ya can't go wrong there!
aside from night bathing, i will suggest getting lunch or drinks at nepenthe. a sweet restaurant, on the edge of the earth, just spectacular.

that's all for our road trips with our LA/NYC/UK pals, this time ;)

baby chick

2013-03-07T23:58:00.004-08:00

have i mentioned i want to get a couples chickens someday? well i do, as pets.
they lay an egg a day! i don't eat eggs, but nate does & i'm sure my sister would be happy to get fresh eggs too.

we went to the cherry avenue swapmeet market (fun/weird market in fresno), and i wanted to take one of these guys home.

kinda sad, all in a big box like that...i guess at least they have each other