A couple more

pictures from Winterset. The diorama is from The Pheasant Run bar.

Winterset

Took a gray day drive to Winterset, IA, the birthplace of John Wayne and home of the covered bridges.

Delancey

I wish I was visiting Seattle in the near future. Molly, the author of Orangette, and her husband recently opened Delancey (I also happen to love that name) there, specializing in wood-fired pizzas. YUM! Visit her blog for more behind-the-scenes about opening a restaurant and mouth-watering pictures of the food.

Vancouver II

Me with stylist Janna Lufkin, who lives in Seattle. Other pix are from a walk to Stanley Park and from the Hotel Sylvia along the English Bay. Beautiful.

Vancouver

Traveled here last week for a photo shoot and loved it. I really, really like the pacific Northwest. Weather was great, views spectacular, and the shoot went really well. The bottom shot is from the Museum of Anthropology.

Reading

I'm devouring Pat Conroy's latest, South of Broad. My mom recently finished the book and loved it, and I am loving it as well. I wish that the main character, Leo, was a real person.

Fourth Grade

It's hard to believe our little man is a fourth grader. He sat down with me a few nights ago to discuss his first day of school. He really likes his teacher. Yay.

Summer trip

I had a work trip to NYC in August, so Mark and Evan joined me for Evan's first trip to the big city. I'll post some pictures soon.

Aug. 13, 2009

Aug. 13, 2009, originally uploaded by kkegans.

Made these veggie "pizzas" twice this week using produce from our garden. yum!

Aug. 12, 2009

Aug. 12, 2009, originally uploaded by kkegans.

First tomatoes of the season

Farmer's Market

Aug. 8, 2009, originally uploaded by kkegans.

Today I went to the market with our next-door neighbor. We bought a flat of baby cucumbers to make bread-and-butter pickles tomorrow.

Books and spider plants

Aug. 2, 2009, originally uploaded by kkegans.

Must. Stop. Collecting. Books. And spider plants.

Aug. 1, 2009

Aug. 1, 2009, originally uploaded by kkegans.

First Flickr photo upload. Goal is to take a picture a day for the next year.

DSM Art Center

We're pretty lucky to live within walking distance of such a great art museum in Des Moines. Today's weather was awesome, so we took a walk to check out the Tara Donovan exhibit, which was quite interesting. She makes art out of things like Scotch tape and drinking straws. Mostly though what I love about the art center is the building itself. Sort of a gem for a city the size of Des Moines...the building was designed by three outstanding architects: Saarinen, Meier, and Pei.

Happy V-Day in July

As I've written before, I'm drawn to Grey Gardens-style homes, and here's one my mom and I drove by when Evan and I were visiting her Little Rock. I especially loved the paper hearts alongside crepe myrtle trees still wrapped in Christmas lights.

Hello, Sunshine

A sunflower tree is growing in my kitchen garden. We didn't plant any seeds, but here it is in all its glory. Blossoms are finally opening all over the place. The stalk is so thick that I haven't had to stake it.

Chicago

I was in Chicago last week covering the Blogher convention. Lots of fun and lots of great women. Top, my view from the Hotel Monaco, just off the Chicago river. And bottom, other Iowans appeared to have made the trip east, too.

Summer squash

I'm quite sure everyone is tired of seeing everyone else's homegrown veggies, but I cannot resist since I'm such a newbie at this. Here is a summer dish prepared using Deborah Madison's cooking with farmer's market produce cookbook. We grew this squash, which I prepared using olive oil, sea salt, ground pepper, and herbs I've been growing: oregano and flat-leaf parsley.

Morning fog

This is from my morning drive into downtown today.

Can't wait

Where the Wild Things Are movie release Oct. 16. The boy's hair and freckles remind me of sweet Evan.

New look from Anthro

Check out Anthropologie's new Web interface. Very cool and love these new images.

Biker Boots

These are seriously some way cool boots. To wear now and punk up a flowery dress, and this fall with tights (and same flowery dress with a biker jacket). Sadly, they are priced way out of my league. Here's the link via Camp Comfort blog.

Minneapolis

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Pix from my recent trip to Minneapolis over the 4th of July. From the top: Walker Sculpture Garden, Java Jack's Coffee house (great bostock pastries and lattes), the cafe in the Swedish Institute, "waitress" on the way to dinner in downtown. The last two pics: The Staghead (great Belgian beers) and a church in Red Wing, MN

Behind the scenes

Making food pretty (for the October issue) doesn't necessarily mean the making part is pretty. From our photo shoot last week.

The Beach

Went on a trip for work to deliver a presentation and was pleasantly surprised by the hotel/views where we stayed--in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Top pic is of sweet tea, and it was quite sweet indeed.

For Shawn

Dude: this picture is all you! From isuwannee.com.