A few months ago I got an email from someone I had never met, asking for advice. She specifically asked for none of that “look into my heart” stuff, so I ended up offering her something somewhere between profoundly awkward and vaguely impossible because, really, I never expect people to actually take my advice. So a few months later, when I got a letter (yes, a real letter) from Sarah Coffman, thanking me for my advice, with a few business cards, and an invitation to her new site, I nearly pitched forward out of my chair and into this very laptop on which I write to you today.

Not that I’m taking the credit for any of this, but Sarah—a gifted designer, photographer, illustrator and writer—has created this very sharp and incredibly funny universe to house her many creative pursuits. All her art’n’stuff is there, but she’s also got a bunch of extras from a list of current obsessions to her own questions for you. Her Little Books I Make That You Might Like To Make makes me want to make little books; her Things You Should Know Before You Eat With Me makes me want to eat with her, but strictly for the entertainment value. She’s very kindly added me to her list of They Make Me Want to Live One More Day, right before Debbie Millman, who is coincidentally someone who makes me want to live more days as well.

But I only just today noticed the best part about her business cards, the fact that they are printed on cereal boxes, which you will find as a topic in many of the links above. I don’t even know Sarah Coffman, but I know that all of this is very her.

For the last 15 days an amazing technicolor stream of fluids has poured forth from every orifice on my head. After living here for six springs with nary a sneeze, suddenly Los Angeles, a place I believed I was immune to, has rendered me allergic.

After decorating my desk with festive Kleenex drifts for a week, I ventured out of the house for a walk up Outpost. Looking towards Runyon Canyon Park I suddenly realized the hills were not only green, but yellow and purple and blue (they’re usually brown, brown, brown) and remembered that thanks to the expert timing of a monsoon in January, this is a banner year for wildflowers. So I ran home, got my camera, and over the course of three expeditions to Runyon, documented exactly what was incapacitating me.

Now, nearing the end of my congestion, I present to you:  Project Runyon.

Some findings:

· These are only the plants that are currently blooming and this changes every day. I’ll try to add to them over the next few weeks, noting which are just starting to bloom into May.

· Using my Introduction to the Plant Life of Southern California, I think I’ve identified about 75% of them, so please let me know if you know something I don’t, or if I have something wrong, or send this to someone who might know such things.

· If I knew a flower was not native or invasive, I noted it beneath the photo. Plus since people lived/live in Runyon, there are plenty of flowers that have been planted around residences. I tried to note that, too.

· Also important: I am not a photographer, these are only reference photos. But I did use that little tulip icon on my camera.

· The most prevalent flower in Runyon—that fluorescent yellow bloom so bright you can see it from planes—is not native! Black mustard creeps over our hillsides, choking out our SoCal natives. Here’s a nice piece about the noxious plants and invasive weeds in the area, and what you can do about it.

·  I have tried for years to learn the names of the native plants in Los Angeles by reading books but this is the first time I actually remembered them! The process of identifying them in the park, sorting through the photos, and looking them up has truly burned them into my brain.

· I found plenty of what I’m allergic to—oak and grass—but it would be interesting to know why all of a sudden I’m reliving my childhood of hayfever. However, if you’re suffering this time of year, rest assured:  That which doesn’t kill you sure looks pretty.

After recording plenty of audio interviews, my first Straight to Video production for my good friends at Core77 features the delightful Elena Manferdini and her elegant MERLETTI<inter>LACE installation at SCI-Arc. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s up until May 11 and definitely worth the trip downtown.

I shot this with my new Flip Ultra, which I highly recommend (Mac users need to install this free plug-in, but otherwise, no issues whatsoever). Still working on improving the sound quality (I’m gluing acoustic tiles to my closet walls right now) and optimizing the export from iMovie, but overall, I think it turned out great. Thanks to Elena and everyone at SCI-Arc who shot my b-roll for me. See, that’s one of the benefits of having such a cool little camera: Everyone wants to play with it!

Long, long ago, before Jabba glamorized the hookah and live frog-eating craze, Star Wars PSAs tried to educate my generation about the evils of smoking and drinking. Carrie Fisher was originally cast in this drinking and driving ad but she showed up on set too drunk to shoot the spot. And just because R2-D2 needs a menthol Kool to soothe his circuits after a long day at work doesn’t mean you should smoke (never mind that C-3PO is operating what sounds like an electronic water bong).

Thanks to Luke Walker. Really.

A gorgeous spread in this month’s Vanity Fair peeks inside Bob Dylan’s brain, cataloging everything covered on his Theme Time Radio Hour show from Artists He Plays to Television Shows Referenced to his Recipes (Saltines in the Perfect Meatball? Brilliant!). And, in tiny type that you can’t see above, author Duff McDonald offers proper attribution in the form of his deepest apologies to the one person who is referenced the most: this guy.

You can view the spread larger at VF.com.