14 Photos, Day 6: L’oignon

I am not a fan of the red onion, so I always opt for yellow or white ones.

When I was making this recipe for Chorizo and White Bean Stew, I prepped all of the ingredients on our mobile kitchen island after I got home from work, the late-afternoon sun glaring through the last windows it could before it disappeared behind the 12-foot-tall wall of orange trees that separates our house from our neighbor’s. It gave my sliced onions an otherworldly, lit-from-within translucent glow that the camera didn’t really do justice to.

WHAT SAM WORE: 02-18-13
The shirt: Tailored long-sleeved madras button-down, from the J. Crew outlet store at Anthem.
The pants: Regular-fit straight-cut jeans, from Uniqlo, New York.
The shoes: Sneakers by Onitsuka Tigers, from Nordstrom in Chandler.

14 Photos, Day 5: Pergola

The allure of the pergola escapes me.

The ones at Casa Flor are made with 2x2s, which don’t block enough sun to cool an area. Meanwhile, the gaps between them mean the patio is still unusable during rainstorms. So their weather-related functions are … nil, basically.

At the correct angle, though, they can look pretty cool.

WHAT SAM WORE: 02-17-13
The shirt: Long-sleeved cotton button-down, on clearance at abercrombie.com.
The short: Below-the-knee cargo shorts, from Uniqlo, New York.
The shoes: Sneakers by Diesel, from Last Chance.

14 Photos, Day 4: Gold! (… Leaf)

I’m never going to be rich.

I accepted that fact as inevitable long ago, but every once in a while it sticks in my craw. I think the last time it made me grouchy was during the rise of Speidi, when I was aghast at how awful they were with spending. (“I would be so much better at spending wisely!”)

But long before then, I had devised a workaround that made me happy (and decorated my apartment). Sure, I may never be surrounded by piles of precious metals — but I could at least be surrounded by an infinitesimal quantity of them.

So I gilded a trio of canvases that I half-jokingly referred to as my “King Midas” collection: The largest one is covered entirely with different sheets of copper leaf, one’s done with genuine silver leaf, and the third is varying weights of gold leaf. Thanks to the different application techniques, products and weights, each piece ripples with valleys and veins of matte and metallic finishes.

It’s odd how you can forget how cool something you made is, after you’ve seen it every day for a decade.

WHAT SAM WORE: 02-16-13
The shirt: Short-sleeved cotton henley by Converse One-Star, from Target.
The short: Corduroy cutoffs, on clearance at Lucky Brand.
The shoes: Sneakers by Puma, a holiday gift.

14 Photos, Day 3: Vetiver

I hadn’t realized how much work actually went into creating this decorative orb made out of vetiver root. When I examined it closely, I noticed that the “rope” is made of hundreds of strands that have been roughly but tightly wrapped, then arranged and tied to stay in place.

And it’s a multisensory experience: If you douse it with water, or keep it in a humid room, it lightly scents the air with vetiver. (The plant, not the band.)

WHAT SAM WORE: 02-12-13
The shirt: Velour shirt by Martin Gordon, from Last Chance.
The pants: Jeans by William Rast for Target.
The shoes: Trainers by Diesel, from Last Chance.

14 Photos, Day 2: Candy counter

After seeing this case filled with vegan chocolates at Whole Foods, I fully understand the allure of luster dust. They looked like jewels, but since they’re vegan, I wondered how tasty the chocolate would be without the milk component. (I should have bought one to sample, huh?)

WHAT SAM WORE: 02-11-13
The shirt: Long-sleeved waffle-weave T-shirt from Old Navy.
The shorts: Slim straight jeans, from Uniqlo in New York.
The shoes: Custom slip-on All-Stars, created at converse.com.