the window ledge

Time warp

2012-01-22T21:53:00.000-06:00

What?
What just happened, here?

Suddenly I'm approaching my last full week of maternity leave (sob, panic, panic some more) and I'm standing here looking at the past 3.5 months, shaking my head.

How did this happen?

I had all of these lofty goals for my leave, and I am absolutely laughing my ass off at how totally clueless I was (and still am, but it's getting better) about parenting. Here are the things I thought I could accomplish while my baby napped (ha!) and hung out happily by my side (ha ha!) all day long:
- redesign my website.
- blog.
- sew cute little baby clothes.
- take an online Photoshop class.
- catch up on TV via hulu.
- read books.
- watch movies.
- document every second of his life in photographs.
- update my Etsy shop with tons of new items.
- make some new art.
- go on lots of outings.
- visit lots of friends.

Here is what I actually did:
- held baby on couch for many hours at a time.
- cat-napped.
- spent 10 hellish weeks learning how to breastfeed.
- listened to baby scream in his car seat.
- read "The Hunger Games." (Book #1 only.)
- ate a lot of trail mix.
- went on walks around the neighborhood, pointing out various trees, birds, animals, and vehicles.
- went to our weekly parent/baby group (thank jeezuz for this).
- played the piano.
- sewed some super simple bibs in 10-minute spurts.
- did lots of laundry.
- documented some of his life in photographs.
- went to yoga as much as possible.
- got at least 20 new wrinkles, and let's not even talk about the gray hair.
- snuggled.
- rocked.
- cried.
- marveled.
- grew.

Some people thrive by doing. They tick all the "things" off their lists and all of those little checkmarks pile up to create a sense of accomplishment. I'm one of those people. But I'm learning to let go of that a little bit. The biggest difference between my first list of ambitions and my second list of reality is that the first list contains some really big, broad things. Redesign MY ENTIRE WEBSITE. Take a photoshop class. Go on lots of outings. In reality, I had to learn to do things in tiny chunks. It was an accomplishment if we got out the door for a 15-minute walk. That was the definition of "a good day." It was an incredible day if I wore pants that were not black and stretchy and put on mascara.

So when I look at my second list, I actually feel pretty awesome about it. Hell, we survived! Isn't that enough? I think it is.

And beyond survival, I learned that the heart can grow, but it can take some time. When I was pregnant, I would hear things like, "I immediately fell in love with my baby the moment I saw her face." Or "The birth of my baby was the best day of my life."

I expected that I would feel the same way. But I didn't. It took many weeks, months, even, for my heart to grow. My son's birth was absolutely not the best day of my life - it was hard. It was traumatic. I still replay that day in my head, and doesn't seem real. It took me awhile to accept that all of that was perfectly OK. Love doesn't happen all at once. It grows, like a snowball rolling down a hill, collecting gravel and little bits of debris along the way. And suddenly you are standing there, trying to figure out how you'll ever wrap your arms around the span of this immense thing, this love, and you know you'll never really be able to, but dammitall, you're going to try.

Try your very best.

The post office

2011-12-21T09:43:00.000-06:00

(The photos that illustrate this post come courtesy of the Flickr Commons, which hosts a wonderful collection of vintage postal photography from the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and more.)

When I was growing up, my dad was postmaster at a small Wisconsin post office in the next town over from ours. I always thought that his title sounded so powerful and important: POSTMASTER. Being declared "master" of anything should automatically entitle you to carry a really awesome sword or wear a cloak, or something. But really, he just wore ties and plastic pocket protectors to keep his No. 3H pencils (ALWAYS No. 3 pencils) from shedding graphite dust in the pockets of his clean white dress shirts.

Some of my best childhood memories are from time spent at the post office while my dad worked Saturdays. To a child, the post office was magic. Everything smelled of carbon paper and ink, and it felt like the entire building and its contents were covered in at least 30 years of dirt - sunbeams streaming through the high windows revealed just how dusty it was. There were always rubber stamps and label makers to play with, and an old typewriter to plunk around on. When that got old, I would draw pictures with No. 3H pencils and thick black felt pens, or go fill the powdered soap dispensers in the bathrooms (exciting, I know...but it was!). One time he taught me how to decipher bar codes. And when all that that got boring, I'd explore the guts of the post office - the stuff that most people hardly ever get to see.

One of my favorite games was to shoot rubber bands at the big wall of open PO Box cubbies - the side where the postal workers stick your mail. I'd sit on a low countertop opposite the mailboxes, swinging my feet off the edge, and make a game of trying to get my rubber band into a certain "target" box. One time I thought it would be fun to try to hit a box just as a customer was opening it to claim their mail. Surely my aim couldn't be that good. But I totally nailed it, and the person jumped back, surprised at the rubber band that was flying at their hand. (I ran and hid.)

The rest of the post office was a maze of shelves and mail cubbies, and each letter carrier had their own little space to sort mail and organize their daily haul.

I'd explore each cubicle, finding all sorts of curious things. Once I found a coconut that someone had covered in stamps and sent just like that, with the address scrawled on the husk. Another time there was a crate of live, chirping crickets. I'm sure those aren't the strangest things that the post office has ever seen, but for a little girl who only thought of mail in terms of letters, it blew my mind that someone could send CRICKETS through the mail.

The best moments were when my dad would let me help him sort packages. He taught me to memorize which addresses were rural routes and city routes, and I'd toss packages into big canvas bins labeled with corresponding numbers. "River Park Circle!" He'd call out, and I'd respond with "Rural Route 3!" I can't believe I still remember that, to this day. My dad had a great way of making you feel important, even if you were only seven years old - and tossing brown paper-wrapped packages into those giant rolling bins made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

The little post office that I remember best eventually moved to a bigger location as the town grew. My old typewriter was replaced with a dinosaur of a computer, where I occupied my time learning to type with Mavis Beacon. An automated machine sorted letters right outside my dad's office. The old PO Boxes with the tiny brass dials, the kind that required a special series of turns and stops to unlock them, were replaced by sleek gray metal panels of doors that unlocked with a key.

One Christmas when I was about 13, I think, I asked my dad what happened to all of the letters that kids sent to Santa Claus. I don't recall the exact protocol that they used, but at the time, I think they eventually just threw them out. This broke my heart, so that year, I decided to collect the letters that came through the post office and respond to every one that had a return address.

I vaguely recall whipping up a snazzy stationery design on the computer, one with lots of festive 90s clip art. That Christmas, somewhere in a little sliver of southeastern Wisconsin, a handful of kids got a response from Santa Claus. (Maybe it ruined them for future years, where they didn't get a letter back...oops.) I don't remember what I wrote in those letters, but I remember my heart feeling fuller than usual that year. One letter was written in Spanish, and I did my best to decipher it and respond. I'm sure I butchered it. Another envelope contained a letter and a single yellow feather. I kept that feather tucked away in my top dresser drawer for years.

So when I hear stories about how the postal service is struggling, it hits home and makes my heart drop a little bit. And it makes me even sadder to hear people complain about the postal service, or poke fun at its employees. Those employees were, and still are, my family.

But of course, I'm biased. I will always have a beautiful, romanticized idea of the post office to hold in my heart - images of big wooden rolling carts loaded with heavy canvas bags, of inky fingertips and air mail stickers, and of seeing the inner workings of that world as a little girl. Those Saturdays spent "working" with dad made unintentional memories and sparked hours of creative play, with nothing more than rubber bands and a typewriter. Good, clean fun.

I'm pretty darn lucky.

Arlo's room

2011-12-08T21:46:00.001-06:00

When we first found out we were expecting, we agreed right away that we wanted the sex of the baby to be a big surprise. So in a culture that loves to code things in pink and blue and princesses and cars, we were faced with the (kinda fun!) challenge of creating a gender-neutral nursery. I think that even if we DID know whether our little one was a boy or a girl, we would have still tried to keep things neutral. Neither of us is big on themes or characters or that pink/blue nonsense. We just wanted a bright, cheerful, and relaxed space for our kiddo to hang out in.

The crib area is my favorite part of the room. Back in September, I wrote about a few simple nursery sewing projects that I did to spruce up baby's little sleeping corner. The little cloud embroideries and the crib bunting make my heart oh so happy. And the blue crocheted blanket seen below was my husband's when he was a baby - so awesome that we can pass it down to our son.

Hanging above the crib is a sweet mobile that we got on our fifth anniversary trip to Orcas Island. We had stumbled upon a most excellent farmer's market, and lo and behold one of my most favorite etsy shops, Bossy's Feltworks, happened to be a seller there. I had been coveting one of their cute felted sheep mobiles for awhile, and there it was, swaying in the breeze, right over my head.

As soon as we got it home and hung it, the cat promptly attacked the two lowest sheep and I had to do some serious reconstructive surgery to get them looking normal again. Sigh.

The only furniture we bought new for the room was the crib. The rest was pieced together with old IKEA furniture on its second (or third, or fourth) life. Instead of a dresser, we took our favorite, heavily used wood bookshelf and added storage bins and baskets. The bookshelf, which is no longer available at IKEA, I think (I don't even know the name of it anymore), is the single best piece of furniture that we've ever purchased there. This is the fifth place we've lived where it's been put to good use.

The decor is a hodge podge of vintage goodies. A wonderful hidden gem of an antique store, just a few blocks from my house, has been an awesome source for good finds like the colorful metal xylophone. (Not pictured: some sweet vintage globes that got added later on.) I also made the round blue gingham-checked fabric bin seen below, which is quite possibly the most poorly-sewn thing that I've ever created. Seriously, if anyone were to deconstruct that sucker, they'd wonder if I let a possum loose with a sewing machine. It's appalling. But at least it looks passable from afar.

The element of the room that took me the most time was sewing the yellow chevron curtains (fabric from fabric.com). I love the cheery bright punch they add to the whole space.

The raggedy chair in the corner is a Goodwill find that we've dragged through two apartments and now to our house. I've been meaning to reupholster it forever, and still intend to. In the meantime, it makes a good snuggling and storytime spot, and the dog enjoys expanding what was once a tiny hole in the fabric of the seat with her claws of death. (Oh animals. Are you sensing a pattern here? Yes. My once-precious fur babies are driving me NUTS right now.)

Last but not least, some sunny artwork by Laura George adds some color to the "library corner," where re-used IKEA bookshelves hold lots of books, thrift store finds, and some mementos from my childhood.

My favorite thing? A tiny travel clock that reminds me of the one my dad always used. It has a nice soothing tick.

All that said and done, now that I'm getting to know this little baby boy of ours a little better, I'd do his room completely different. Crazy. But in his two short months with us, I feel like his personality clashes with the calm, cutesy feel of the room. Sure he has his calm moments, and he is 100% cute, but his personality has an edge to it. There's an intensity about him that I'd love to capture in the next iteration of his room with something bolder and more spirited like the stubborn, insistent, constantly-in-motion, curious fella that he is.

I'm thinking firefighting laser octopus robots. Or something like that. Yeah. That's more like it.

Holiday Etsy Sale

2011-11-27T18:53:00.001-06:00

In between feeding, rocking, soothing, and staring at cranky baby trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with him, I've somehow managed to update my etsy shop! There are lots of new jewelry designs to check out. Here's a wee sample...

Ice stone necklace

Yellow pennant hoop earrings

And hey, how about a sale!

Get 15% off your entire purchase (not including shipping) through Friday, December 2, by using the coupon code HOLIDAY2011 at checkout. Enjoy!

Hazy days

2011-11-02T10:58:00.005-05:00

I knew that taking care of a newborn was not going to be easy, but this little dude is giving his mama a run for her money.

Good thing he's so cute.

In other news, the Window Ledge Arts Etsy shop has re-opened. After a brief "maternity leave," we're back up and running! When I grab a few moments of grace, I'll be posting some new photographic prints and jewelry designs. But for now, enjoy some more recent creations made from reclaimed leather and vintage wallpaper:

"Vegas" silver leather earrings

Folk Art necklace (vintage wallpaper)

Shiny and new

2011-10-15T12:25:00.006-05:00

Arlo James came crashing into this world on Monday, Oct 10th, at 2:15 AM - a week past his due date. He weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz and measured 21 1/4" long. He looks like a miniaturized version of my husband, at least in my opinion, right down to the inward curve of his long skinny pinky finger. He has perhaps acquired my nose. Only time will tell.

Everything about his birth defied my every expectation. All of the book reading and nesting and last-minute frantic slipper shopping because OMG I'm so going to need something to shuffle down the corridors in while I'm in labor...it didn't matter. Not even an ounce. My "birth plan" never left the front pocket of the suitcase.

But everything about him has exceeded my every expectation. All I can do is stare at him. Except for now, when I have been granted these few precious moments to catch up on the outside world.

I'm still wrapping my head around his birth story. Every time I think about it, I'm left a sobbing mess. But I'll get there.

Now. Off to go stare at a certain little man...

better than words...

2011-10-04T14:19:00.004-05:00

...but if I had to choose just one, weary would be it.

they never mention temporary insanity in all of those cutesy pregnancy books.

Waiting.

2011-09-29T12:41:00.003-05:00

There's a whole lot of watching and waiting going on in this household right now. And there's a whole lotta nothin' going on. It's agonizing. Patience has never been a strength, but I'm trying to make peace with Things That I Cannot Control.

The dog. Sweet Gia girl. She knows something is up. She knows that there is a now a bedroom that she is not allowed to enter unsupervised. She knows that I smell different and curls up close next to my belly at night, when I let her. She pooped in my shoe the other day. And she ate a disposable diaper. Hard times for little dogs. Hard times.

Little nursery sewing projects

2011-09-11T19:16:00.009-05:00

Only three weeks 'til my due date. Panic has been slowly and steadily replaced with excitement and readiness to get this show on the road. Just one week ago, I was not feeling ready. But some magical neurons fired in my brain, and now I just seem to be propelling forward.

This morning my husband walked in on me standing in the baby's room, ripping the plastic bag off the crib mattress and wrestling a sheet onto it. "Nesting is so funny," he said, and I couldn't agree more. It's the weirdest sensation, like you will be unable to survive unless you get the damned fitted sheet on RIGHT THAT SECOND. I stepped back and looked at my handiwork. I sighed. I felt much better.

I've been working on the baby's room in little spurts for the past few months now, and just put the finishing touches on a couple of last-minute sewing projects. First up, a simple scalloped garland for the bottom of the crib. I couldn't find a crib skirt that I liked, and after just having finished sewing some pretty intense curtains, I didn't want to attempt to make one myself. But garlands and buntings? I could totally do that. I especially like this solution because it won't get in the way/require extra sewing once we need drop the level of the crib. Here's what I came up with:

And here's how to make it!

1. First, I measured around three edges of the crib to calculate the total length of the garland. Then I purchased some extra-wide bias tape, that just happened to come in the exact length needed (3 yards).

2. Next I selected three different fabrics from my stash, and used a kitchen bowl to trace and then cut out 12 circles (4 of each fabric type) of the same size. Mine ended up being about 7 inches in diameter.

3. Each circle was then folded in half, keeping the "right" sides of the fabric facing inward. I pinned the edges to keep everything tidy and lined up. Then I cut across the straight folded seam with pinking shears, leaving me with two half-circles, still pinned together with the printed/patterned sides of the fabric facing in.

4. Next, I ran the half circles through the sewing machine with a simple straight stitch along the curve. This binds the curved edges together so you have a cute little pocket. I left the straight tops open, and then turned the finished pieces right-side out.

5. Almost done. Next step was to iron all the half-circle pockets nice and flat.

6. Finally, I snugged each half-circle up inside the fold of the bias tape, pinned each in place, and then ran a zig-zag stitch the whole length of the tape to secure all 12 of my little scallops. I left a few extra inches of bias tape at each end in order to make it a little easier to tie the garland to the crib rails.

And that's it. I attached it to the crib with bits of ribbon at the corners, and tied off the ends with the excess bias tape that I'd purposely left free.

---

For my other spontaneous project, I was seeking out something that was soft and light enough to hang on the wall near the crib. The blank walls were starting to scream at me. So I decided on making some super-simple embroidered wall-hangings.

I have a huge stash of plain unbleached muslin in my fabric bin (this is seriously the best stuff to just have hanging around in large quantities), so that served perfectly for the background. I stretched it over the embroidery hoops tight as a drum, and then trimmed off the excess, leaving about an inch around the edges.

Next, I cut some fluffy cloud shapes out of plain white felt. I attached them to the muslin by stitching around the edges of each cloud with silvery-gray embroidery floss.

To finish off the muslin edges, I simply folded them over and secured them to the inner edge of the hoop with hot glue. Hang them on the wall, and that's pretty much it!

So that's a little sneak preview of what's going on in the "spare room" turned office turned nursery, soon to be occupied by a whole brand-new, soft, squirming human being.

Yikes.

Cracked open

2011-09-08T21:25:00.006-05:00

Crab legs were (and still are) one of my favorite meals as a kid, introduced to me as soon as I was capable of wielding a set of claw crackers. Growing up in Wisconsin, true, fresh ocean seafood was impossible to come by. So all I knew was the salty sweet platters that we'd get at Red Lobster, only on the most special of occasions.

I never needed the melted butter.

Today, I am lucky enough to be able to go to the market or to the fisherman's pier and get fresh dungeness crab, still alive and clacking away in the cooler on the drive home. (This is also terrifying and I probably won't ever do that again. I prefer my seafood pre-killed, thankyouverymuch.) Boil them up in a big red pot, and then spend a good hour hammering away at them, trying to extract the tiny bits of delicious crabby meat. This is not the stuff of Red Lobster. This is the stuff of the hard gray Pacific, tough, calcified, lots of elbow grease required.

---

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the beach on Camano Island and we hunted for crab shells under the shade of a big wind-blown beach tree. In a small radius, we found a treasure trove of crab bits.

We gathered the tiniest skeletons, and being no biologist, I wondered if they were just really little full-grown crabs, or if they were babies that never made it. The sun had bleached and dried them fully. Hollow crab ghosts.

I secretly hoped that they were not baby crabs.

---

It's just a crab.

Even baby crabs have mothers.

Do you think that mother crabs have feelings?

Everyone has a mother.

Maybe they were full-grown crabs, and they lived a long, happy crab life.

Everyone has a mother, even the homeless guy standing outside of Whole Foods, with his sign, asking for socks.

---

Every day, my heart cracks open a little bit more.

Project: How to make wool dryer balls

2011-08-19T19:27:00.020-05:00

I never thought I'd be exploring the scintillating world of dryer sheet alternatives, but deciding to use cloth diapers can bring you down paths you never ever thought you'd find yourself. Amidst an overwhelming amount of information about all things cloth, I learned that dryer sheets could no longer be a part of our regular laundry routine. No worries there, as I've long known that dryer sheets were full of not-so-lovely chemicals, are less than earth-friendly in landfills, and that they made my towels less absorbent. But they made things smell nice and come out soft. So. Meh. We continued to use them anyways.

But faced with finding an alternative so that the diapers we plan to use will, um, actually absorb everything that a baby is capable of generating, I stumbled upon the solution of using wool dryer balls, as recommended by many a cloth-diapering website.

Perhaps you've seen the spiky-looking plastic dryer balls that you toss in with your clothes and they rattle around and soften things up. This is almost the same concept. Except that wool is awesome and natural and NOT plastic, is much quieter tumbling around in your dryer, lasts longer, won't damage your clothes with pokey bits, and actually absorbs moisture. Unlike plastic.

Other awesome things about wool dryer balls:
1. Since they actually pull moisture out of your clothes, this shortens drying time and in turn saves money.
2. They reduce static just like dryer sheets do.
3. They soften your clothes like liquid fabric softener/dryer sheets - without the chemicals!
4. They’re made out of 100% wool and are safe for kiddos to play with and chew on, if they get a hold of them.

So I looked high and low for places to buy these magical balls. Many online stores sell them for at least $7 or $8 apiece for a single tennis-sized ball. This seemed kind of steep to me. And while Etsy has some wonderful sellers who make wool dryer ball sets for more reasonable prices, I really thought I could figure out how to make some. I mean, it's a ball of yarn. How hard can it be? (Ha ha. Yeah. Read my verdict at the end.) Armed with advice from a few tutorials found online, I set out to do it myself.

First I needed to find 100% wool yarn. The yarn cannot be blended with any acrylic fibers or other non-wool materials, or else it won't felt up nice and solid. I have a pretty big yarn stash already, but after tearing through my bin I discovered that I had NO wool yarn. So off to the store I went. I really wanted to make some fun colored balls, but the yarn was far too expensive and I would have ended up spending over $6.00 per ball that way - not really a cost savings there. So I ended up buying 2 large skeins of very utilitarian-looking Lion brand fisherman's yarn, the only other wool option at the store. Note to self: I could really use some sheep.

I also picked up some cheap knee-high pantyhose to hold the dryer balls during the various stages of felting - very, very necessary. You can also use an old tube sock or old tights/pantyhose. I had none of the above. I'm pretty sure the last time I wore pantyhose was to my freshman homecoming dance (and only because my mom made me) where my friends and I dressed in floor-length skirts and stuffy cardigans and looked about as unhappy as teenagers can look. Cardigans and nude pantyhose will do that to you.

No nonsense! Still sassy as ever!

With all supplies secured, I started making the core of the ball by wrapping the wool around two fingers. Then I tied it off in the middle to make a little butterfly shape.

Now the fun part! Making a yarn ball!

I wound a fairly tight ball until it was about the size of a lime.

Ta da! Dryer ball core, complete. Once the lime-sized ball was done, I secured the tail end of the yarn so that it wouldn't unravel during the first felting. The tail can be tucked into the core with something pointy and sharp. I used a tiny crochet hook to thread it under and through a hunk of the yarn ball.

With several cores ready to go (I started with three), it was time for the first felting. The cores went into the nylon (be careful that the balls don't unravel during this step) and each ball was tied off with NON-WOOL yarn. This is where all that spare acrylic or cotton yarn comes in handy. Tying off each ball into its own separate nylon compartment prevents the balls from felting together into a giant mess in the washer.

My nylon full of dryer ball cores looked like this when it was ready for felting:

Next, I tossed the whole nylon caterpillar into a hot wash cycle. The hot water helps the wool fibers to felt more quickly, but I've read that you can use cold or warm water, too. I'm impatient, so I went with hot water. And I was doing some other laundry at the time, so I just washed it with my other stuff. After the first wash, I tossed the caterpillar in the dryer to complete the first felting. I used high heat - you can use lower heat if you'd like, but it will take longer to dry and felt up completely. Once the dryer cycle was done, I snipped the strings and removed the cores from the nylon.

Now as I may have mentioned, I'm pretty impatient. So of course I got excited and removed my newly-felted cores from the dryer while they were still a bit damp. They came out smelling like a ripe wet sheep and I started to think that I really messed this up. But happily, the smell went away completely once the balls were completely dry. I completed the final yarn layer while the balls were still slightly damp, and finished drying them later. The smell & dampness won't hurt a thing, just as long as the balls are eventually dried completely.

So my finished cores were nice and firm and felt dense. (If the core is still a little loose after the first felting, another hot wash/dry felting cycle should do the trick.) With my cores, some of them turned out perfect on the first try and others needed a second felting. Once I was satisfied with how the felting turned out, I completed each ball by weaving in a new end of yarn (again, using a pointed tool or small crochet hook to secure the end), and continued to wrap the yarn around the core until the ball was approximately the size of a tennis ball. At that point, I tucked in the tail end of the yarn again and was ready for the final felting.

Here is what a felted core looks like (left), next to an almost-finished ball (right), that has been built up to tennis-ball size and is ready for its final round of felting.

Once all of the balls were ready for their final felting, I tossed them back in the nylon, tied off each section, and ran them through another hot wash/dry cycle. After this round of felting, the balls still felt too loose to me so I washed/dried them again. The dryer balls will get more and more felted on their own when being used, but I wanted to be extra sure that these puppies weren't going to come unwound. NOTE: They may come unwound. One of mine did after a couple of uses. Just cut off any wooly clumps & stuff the loose end back into the ball, toss it back into a nylon or sock (remembering to tie off the end) and wash/dry again. It will re-felt back together.

Here are the finished dryer balls after several uses. They get delightfully fuzzy:

Costs:
The two skeins of yarn made about 7 tennis ball sized dryer balls, with a little bit of yarn left over. My yarn cost was about $10.00 per skein, and I also had to buy the pantyhose. Total supply costs: approx. $23 plus tax, or about $3.30 per ball.

Unknown costs: Felting the balls does take quite a bit of washer and dryer time, so that's a fair amount of water and electricity. And while winding the balls is not necessarily hard to do, it is very time consuming.

Verdict: Unless you have tons of time, or have some kids or friends who want to help you mindlessly wind yarn balls, I think the Etsy and/or private seller route is probably worth it in the long run. Between mindlessly winding yarn all day and numerous lengthy washing/drying cycles, these ended up taking forever and being less cost-effective than I had hoped for. I also think I'd be happier with more solidly felted balls that use wool roving instead of stringy yarn - the yarn just doesn't feel like it felts up solid enough, and they can come unraveled over time.

HOWEVER, they still work great. And I want more.

So how many dryer balls do you need per load? Estimates:
For small light loads, 2 to 4 dryer balls.
For medium-sized loads, anywhere from 4-8 balls.
For a huge load of wet towels and jeans, use as many dryer balls as possible – as many as 10-12, or more if you really want to! A good rule of thumb: the more you use, the more drying time it will save you.

Whew. Who would have thought that I could talk so much about wool dryer balls? I guess we all have our secret passions...

The really big mullet

2011-07-28T14:45:00.007-05:00

I haven't been writing much about my pregnancy here.

The truth is, I don't really know what to say most of the time. Some women are fantastic at writing about their journeys to motherhood, documenting each milestone with great detail and care. The sheer number of pregnancy/mommy blogs on the internet will make anyone's head spin. But for some reason, here I am 30 weeks pregnant, still speechless at the whole thing.

I write long posts and then save them in the hopper, never having the guts to hit the "publish" button. And then I come back a week later and delete them without even re-reading. The words never seem right, or enough.

This might sound strange, but for me, pregnancy both is and isn't special. Details aside, the path to get here wasn't the easiest - but it also wasn't the hardest. Even so, it was starting to wear me down emotionally, and no matter what a person's situation is, pain is pain - if you feel it, it's real. So when I found out that I was indeed pregnant, I couldn't believe it. I truly thought that we were just beginning a very long, unknown, journey, and I was mentally preparing myself for the worst. But we started a long, unknown journey of a different, happier variety. So in that sense, pregnancy is so very special, and I'm beyond grateful to be where I'm at now. There are no words. Every day I marvel at each kick and roll, wondering how we got so damn lucky. It is everything I hoped it would be, and a lot of what I could never ever have imagined.

But at the same time, I don't feel particularly special. Biology wants us to multiply, and so we do. The physical process itself is complex and incredible, but we are mammals - this is what we do, and we're really good at it. I walked around Target at 8 PM the other night and found myself surrounded by at least a half-dozen other moms-to-be. I was not unique. I was just another woman with a round belly, standing in the paper goods aisle and wrestling with whether to get the 6-pack or the 12-pack of toilet paper.

We can blame good ol' biology for simultaneous hunger and hatred for all food (WTF), the insomnia, the heartburn, and all the other crazy physical changes. But mix in culture with all that logical biology and things start to get a little weird for me to grasp. Pregnancy and child-rearing get elevated to strange levels of "specialness" - we have entire superstores filled with STUFF! JUST FOR THE BABY!; boutiques specializing in (mostly lame) clothes to accommodate women's growing bellies; our current medical culture requires that we have a zillion doctor's appointments (sometimes a good thing, sometimes it feels like overkill) - add all this up and you start feeling like you're nature's super special little snowflake. But you're not. You're a human being. Special, just like everyone else.

Here's a brilliant metaphor (ha ha): I kind of feel as though our whole life experience is like a giant mullet. Biology's all "business in the front," telling you to pipe down because you're just a human, doing what you do best. But culture is all "Woo-hoo! Party in the back! Let's celebrate because babies are so freakin' awesome!" Allow me to illustrate:

Yeah. It's exactly like that. And that's what makes life so great. So I'm not complaining at all, or trying to be negative. It's an observation, more than anything. Celebrating new life is so much fun, and is part of our culture. But when I get to thinking about these things, it gets tough to write about. I'm just doing what my body has apparently known how to do forever, and it's really cool and awesome, and that's all I really have to say.

I haven't been completely wrapped up in thinking about biology (the party crasher!) and how un-special I sometimes feel (really! I promise that I do have a soul!) From the beginning, I've been keeping a little journal for this baby. It is interspersed with little doodles and fleeting thoughts about pregnancy. I often forget to write in it. But it is something. Here's an excerpt:

And I'll close with the thing that has been on my mind most lately, as I move ever-closer to the end: I'm really, really going to miss being pregnant. It has been so good to me.

Golden.

2011-07-13T21:53:00.003-05:00

Feeling quiet lately.
When I feel quiet, I post cat pictures.

Little doodles

2011-07-03T16:37:00.005-05:00

I used to post all of my doodles and drawings on a separate blog, but it was getting too hard to keep up. So from now on, I will post brief doodle interludes here whenever it strikes my fancy. Here are a couple from work a few weeks ago.

I'm a chronic doodler, always drawing on the backs of IMPORTANT PAPERS and in the margins of my meeting notes at work. Luckily I work in an incredibly creative place that doesn't mind my wandering pencil.

Quite honestly, it helps me to focus. And research shows that I'm not just making that up!

Embroidery

2011-06-23T17:42:00.008-05:00

I have the very VERY bad habit of trying something new (recipes, techniques, skills) at inappropriate times. Like...when you have to bring a dish to pass to feed a large-ish group of people, and you decide to try to make Monkey Bread for the first time at 8:00 PM the night before, and you go out and buy a brand new bundt pan and everything, and the top ends up blackish and burnt and stuck to the pan and you find yourself "gluing" the good bits of pastry back together on with caramel sauce...yeah.

Anyways, I always pick the wrong time to try new things. So given my track record, it only made sense that I would try to learn how to embroider and make a gift for my dear friend's new baby girl. And I needed to finish it in a week, in time for said friend's birthday.

It turned out waaay better than the monkey bread. I used a pretty fabric remnant that I'd been hanging on to forever - and in fact, I just realized now that the banner of this blog was created from a scan of the same fabric.

I screwed up a ton along the way, but this website saved my life. I cannot learn things by reading. I have to watch someone do it, and then repeat. Over and over again. So thank you, mighty interwebs and the Needle 'N Thread site, for being so awesome and having tons and tons of videos. Without you, I could not have mastered the chain stitch. The site also has some great hand embroidery patterns suitable for total beginners, so I picked out a lovely letter C and got to it.

And now it hangs sweetly in Baby C's room. I think she approves.

Dad

2011-06-19T11:32:00.005-05:00

I'm thinking about my dad a lot today, on father's day. I'm thinking about what an attentive, involved dad he was. I'm thinking about how lucky I was to have him as a dad for 16 short years. I'm thinking about what an incredible grandpa he would have been to our little one on the way, and how sad I am that he/she won't know him. (This stings, more than anything.) And mostly, I'm thinking about how much I just plain miss him.

People say, "It gets easier." But it really doesn't. Perhaps you grow more numb, or maybe it's that sadness just wears you down. Beats you into submission. Becomes as present as your own breath and as regular as putting on socks. But it certainly doesn't get any easier.

So when I find myself buried in really sad, hard thoughts, I dig through my photo stash. (Yet another reminder to myself to make actual copies of all the digital files stashed away on the computer - nothing compares to holding a physical print.) And I smile, because it was so, so good. Here are some favorites:

What is it about trains?

A big kid at heart, always.

Well-loved. Plain and simple.

Super easy paper lantern project

2011-06-10T22:13:00.009-05:00

When you're going through boxes that have remained largely untouched for several years, you're bound to find a TON of crap that makes you scratch your head. I've recently been puzzling over why I have acquired multiple paper lanterns. They've been stashed away for years and it makes me wonder why we even bought them in the first place.

But a couple of weeks ago I spotted this cute tutorial for a lantern makeover over at ohdeedoh.com, and I was inspired to give one of my useless boring white paper lanterns a little facelift and maybe have something cute to add to baby's room. Yes, the bunting lantern in the tutorial is completely adorable. But I was feeling pretty lazy and didn't feel like sewing my own bunting, and even if I wanted to, I'd have to go out and buy a few new supplies. I was determined not to have to buy anything new. So what could I use that I already have laying around the house?

Yes. Oh yes.

A few months ago, I snagged a bag full of vintage rick-rack from a local thrift store for about a buck, and it has been sitting patiently in my sewing box, waiting. Finally, a chance to use it!

I used a hot glue gun and slowly started working my way around the lantern, using the wooden lantern frame as a guide. Hot glue guns make me feel like a total old school "crafter" (hello, early 90s midwest craft fairs filled with lifesaver candy trains, potpourri wreaths, and painted santas), but I put my pride aside and remembered how much I love hot glue. It's so much fun! And smells like burning plastic...mmm. Since the yellow trim was so skinny, I used some white buttons from my old timey button jar to anchor everything together and tidily hold the glue globs.

And that's pretty much it. Super simple, took a little over an hour, and the possibilities are endless. You could use just about any lightweight material to decorate a lantern: simple jute rope, colored yarn, feathers, strips of old fabric. What a great way to customize an otherwise-boring object that was destined for the Goodwill pile.

(And you get to use a hot glue gun!!!)

5 years

2011-06-07T23:20:00.012-05:00

Dave and I usually don't get super excited about our wedding anniversary. We'll maybe go out to dinner, but that's about it. Perhaps it's because we've been together for what feels like forever (11 years of couplehood, since our junior year of high school) and we're already old and curmudgeonly - in a very much in love and happy, settled way. But this year was a pretty special milestone: 5 years of marriage and a kiddo on the way. So we took a long weekend and finally ferried ourselves to the San Juan Islands.

Ferry rides make me feel like I'm five years old. I love everything about them - I love finding a quiet spot away from all the people and standing with the wind in my face. I love the twisted piles of fat rope. I love watching for otters and birds. I love getting a soft, salty pretzel from the cafeteria (Although sadly, the pretzel case was out-of-order this time. I wanted to cry.)

We stayed on Orcas Island at a little place called Pebble Cove Farm. Our room opened right up to a gorgeous grassy expanse facing the water. Chickens roamed freely, and you could even gather fresh eggs in the morning to cook for your breakfast. I really wish I liked eggs - the thought of cooking up the freshest egg you can imagine, still warm from the hen, is just so wonderful.

They also had some goats, a pony, and a beautifully maintained garden that was open to picking as you pleased, though not much was quite ready for harvest quite yet after our cool spring. It really was a fantastic little place to stay, and seemed especially friendly to kids and dogs.

We hiked and explored, and ate and ate and ate. When it was all over, I felt like we had been gone for a week. The best kind of vacation ever.

I'm looking forward to what the next years bring for us, as a couple, as a family. It struck me, at some point, that this was our last real vacation as kidless couple. Well-meaning people, strangers, even, tell us how much things will change (you know, just in case we weren't aware).

Yes.
Change is the one thing I have come to depend on.
And things will change in ways that we cannot even fathom.
(I am afraid, excited, terrified, delighted, anxious, happy.)

But we will learn this slow, awkward dance just as we have every other awkward dance (fast-rewind 11 years to junior prom. Talk about awkward...). And while this time it might be slower than ever, with more shuffling and fumbling around, and maybe even some panicked flailing of the arms, I'm so grateful to have a partner to stumble through the often-graceless moves of parenthood with me. We make a pretty darn good team, flailing arms and all.

Flora

2011-05-27T15:07:00.003-05:00

Around this time last year, I was busily documenting the happenings of every little bud and mysterious shrub in my new-to-me yard.

This year, quite honestly, I've let things go a bit. Part of the problem is that it's getting increasingly difficult to haul my growing belly around the yard - particularly when it comes to weeding and mulching and doing bendy-over kinds of things.

Thus, photos looking UP at trees. No bending required.
The other problem is that the weather has completely sucked. Rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Cold rain. Cold gray days that have made all of my plants about a month behind last year's schedule. So my garden looks rather sad. Growing and wild with weeds, but sad. So I'm accepting the less-than-desirable state of things, and crossing my fingers that summer (or at least our usual spring) gets here soon.

Llama font!

2011-05-27T11:36:00.003-05:00

It's the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend. Bored at work? Watching the minutes tick down until your precious 3-day weekend begins? Pass the time with with llama font!

Via Pikaland.

Progress?

2011-05-23T22:07:00.015-05:00

When we moved into our house a little over a year ago, one of my greatest joys was having an entire room, and a large room, at that, to use as my office and creative space. I organized my shelves, separated all of my art supplies into cute little bins, and for once, after about 7 years of nomadic, somewhat chaotic living, I had a place to store all of my stuff AND know exactly where everything was.

That blissful year has passed, and any sense of organization that I might have had has flown out the window. For reference, here is what the room looked like when we moved in:

And after some fresh paint and organization:

And (cringe) then there's the current state of things. There's no better way to show desperation than with a crappy cell phone photo:

But seriously, it looks better than it did last week when there was about 3 feet of open space to walk in. See? Progress! Yes, we're making way for baby, and while I probably could have kept at least part of my precious space intact and usable, I really wanted to make this room all his/hers. I can't wait to share it once it's all done. In the meantime, I'm relocating my stuff and making messes in order to make things tidier. Oddly, that's always how it goes.

But while sorting out needs from trash, I found a treasure trove of goodies from years past...

Polaroids! From the summer that we got our sweet dog, Gia, five years ago.

Drawings! Really really weird drawings. I found some of my old college notebooks in the stack, filled to the brim with doodles and drawings in the margins. I was really really bored during class. Really bored. This one cracks me up - the notes at the top are all about sacrificing women and children to volcano gods, and my drawing features...a rockstar psychiatrist? Clearly, the class material made a big impression. (click to enlarge, if you dare.)

And then there are some irate vowels...

...and a trio of lovely friends.

And here's a gem from 10 years ago, the summer after I graduated high school. Sigh. Ten years.

I wonder why I saved all of this stuff, which seems so useless and space-hogging. I despise my inability to let things go. But sometimes I think that it's only human to leave behind little time capsules of ourselves. To remember that we have indeed changed, no matter how much we try to deny it. To remember the places that our brains were, at a given space in time, learning about Inca sacrifices or hanging out in plastic tubs.

I still couldn't get rid of everything. Like always, there will be new time capsules waiting for me the next time around. I can't wait.

And so it begins...

2011-05-08T22:44:00.006-05:00

This is about the fifth time that I’ve tried to write this post, and every single time I seem to get flustered and not sure of what to say or how to say it, so I end up deleting everything and turning the computer off to try again some other time.

But today is Mother’s Day, and I can think of no day more fitting to ponder the process of becoming a mama. I’m pleased to announce that motherhood will soon be an enormous part of my life - we’re expecting our very first little one in early October! I haven’t really wrapped my head around how I would like our adventures in parenting to become a part of this blog, but since I write about life and what’s happening from day to day, I imagine that writing about my family will come quite naturally. And I vow to keep things reasonable. There are some things that you just don’t share with the internet.

So yeah. How 'bout that baby? Motherhood still feels incredibly abstract to me. But every day, I feel a little more connected and I am starting to understand why my own mother worries so much. I watch those car commercials on TV where the dad hands over the keys to his teenage daughter, and my eyes well up. Already, this tiny little baby is growing way too fast. Slow down, please. You will not be allowed to drive a car. You will never date. Simple as that. (Kidding. Kind of.)

I still sometimes stare in disbelief at the wriggling image on the ultrasound screen. Wait a second, that's my body - are they sure that’s not a picture of the innards of someone in the next room over? The ultrasound might as well be magic. But I did feel an undeniable, intense sense of protectiveness from the moment that I first saw that tiny heartbeat flickering away on the screen.

I must. Take. Care. Of this.
Must. Keep. Safe.
Love. Love. Love.

I’ll always always hold onto that moment (and I cry now, just remembering it) - suddenly it was real and I burst into tears, and my doctor handed me a box of Kleenex. I felt my heart grow huge and explode into a thousand tiny pieces. If this is what motherhood is like, then I’m pretty sure I’m going to need an extra stash of ribcages and hearts to support all of the explosions that are to come. And now, as I feel the first kicks and rolls and jabs, I just want to keep this mini person safe and protected. I look at my mom in awe. Somehow, she managed to keep me alive and safe all of these years. But the world! It’s full of danger! And bad stuff! And OMG if we’re going to keep this thing safe, we’re going to need bubble wrap. A lot of bubble wrap. See? It’s already starting, the first stirrings of fierce mama protectiveness.

But despite all of my anxieties and fears, (and the fact that swaddling a writhing infant looks about as easy as wrestling an alligator) I am excited beyond belief, and every day is something to marvel at. This is odd to describe, but I often think about how pregnancy has made me feel more like an animal than anything I’ve ever experienced. The pure biology of it all is astounding. The things that happen to the body, beyond my control, are incredible (and also a little gross at times) - everything balancing perfectly on a razor’s edge. But at the same time, pregnancy makes me feel more like a human than ever before. To experience emotions that I never thought possible, for my brain and my heart to connect in new ways, for my relationship with my husband to strengthen even further, for my prior concept of love to expand beyond my wildest dreams, that is what makes being a human so mind-numbingly fantastic.

I am in awe.

(And thank you, mom, for everything. For keeping me safe. For trimming my tiny nails so I couldn't claw my eyeballs out. For long nights. I love you 'round the moon and back again.)

Homemade Laundry Soap - (almost) 1 year later

2011-05-03T22:08:00.003-05:00

It has been almost a whole year since I've had to buy laundry detergent from the store. I am not a spreadsheets and charts person and so I cannot tell you how much money I have saved, but it is A LOT.

I made my third batch of homemade laundry soap this past weekend. Each 5-gallon bucket seems to last us approx 6 months, give or take a little bit. I still have ingredients leftover from my initial $7.00 supply investment, and only need to buy a fresh bar of Fels-Naptha soap with each new batch.

I looooove the smell of Fels-Naptha. LOVE.

So would I go back? NEVER. I love making this stuff. It takes a little bit of elbow grease and patience, but it has become rather meditative and soothing. And I feel like I'm doing something good. And the whole house smells squeaky clean when I'm done. Our clothes are holding up splendidly and they don't look or feel any different than before. Our skivvies might not smell like a field of flowers or a mountain stream, but everything smells just plain clean. Like air. Or nothing at all. Which is, in my humble opinion, how it should be.

Wanna give it a try?
Original post and recipe for homemade liquid laundry soap.

From fence to table

2011-04-28T17:23:00.006-05:00

When we moved into our house over a year ago, our back yard had a little raspberry patch surrounded by a cute wooden fence.

Adorable! And who doesn't love raspberries? I could eat 'em by the bushel full.

But delicious delicious raspberries hold a dark secret: their roots hold water. Lots and lots of water. And when big heavy roots that hold lots and lots of water happen to be located up against a house without proper waterproofing between house and dirt, it's a recipe for disaster. The wood sheathing of our house is rotting away near the garden, and the raspberries needed to come out. And then the wood needed to be fixed, and proper membranes put in between house and dirt, etc. So last summer, the digging began and the fence was ripped out. We saved what we could of the fence to be reused, and super awesome husband Dave gave our little old fence a new life as...

...a dining room table!

This is the first time in about 6 years that we've actually had room for a table, so this is actually kind of a big deal. Dave sanded down the old fence boards, arranged them in a random fashion to create the table top, and used the big thick fence posts as the 4 table legs. The whole thing was finished with Cabot "Moonshadow" colored stain and a couple of coats of polyurethane, and there you have it. A glorious, rustic table.

The table has actually been done for awhile, but I kept telling myself that I was going to get some better photos of it all styled up nice with plates and a table cloth before posting it on here. But who am I kidding. Right now the table has been taken over by sewing projects and stacks of paperwork that need to be filed. He he. (Sometimes we still eat on the couch. Shhh. But we do eat on real plates, I swear.)

Sock monster - Leeland!

2011-04-12T20:07:00.008-05:00

I'm waaaay into cute plush/stuffed things these days, and it just dawned on me that you can do some pretty amazing things with socks as inspiration! So this past weekend, some friends came over and we had a sock creature pow-wow.

I made this little guy. His name is "Leeland."

There's LOADS of inspiration out there (see resources below) on teh mighty interwebs. I pulled my general concept from the nifty little pattern found at the Monster-Munch blog. It's super easy to customize, and it's pretty liberating to just let your sock creature be what it will be.

My favorite thing is how the heel of the sock becomes a nice squatty bum.

I also gave Leeland a little potbelly so he could happily perch on a shelf. Here he is, settling in nicely with a dinosaur friend.

Everything on Leeland was hand-stitched and it took for-evah, so next time I'll run the limb seams through the sewing machine. Overall, this was a super simple project that would be really fun to have kiddos help with!

If you want to try making some sock creatures of your own, here are some handy resources*:

- Monster-Munch: This is the pattern that was the inspiration for Leeland. Perfectly simple and easy to follow if you have some basic sewing skills - I like things open-ended and wouldn't change a thing!

- Socks Appeal: 16 Fun & Funky Friends Sewn from Socks by Brenna Maloney: My friend brought this book along, and while I didn't reference it for my sock creature, it was chock full of cute ideas. (Note: The penguins are RIDICULOUSLY cute.) The instructions seemed fairly simple, but certain parts of the projects called for specific stitching techniques (which the book explains), and could be a bit more complicated for beginners/kids. Personally, I prefer a free-for-all and don't care if things get a little wonky. It just adds to the charm of your creature! My friends made some awesome floppity-eared bunnies from the book. So cute. Wish I had taken a photo :(

- Make Your Own Stupid Sock Creatures by Lark Books: Now I haven't used this book/kit, but I pondered over it at a craft store and really considered buying it. In the end, I decided that I wanted to pick out my own socks, not be stuck with the ones that came with the kit. If you're not into customizing and like everything you need to get started in one box, then this is your kit!

- Do-It-Yourself Sock Monsters: I didn't use this site, but it breaks everything down step-by-step and has clear photographs and tips.

*I'm not affiliated with any of the links above. Just sharing them for reference only!

Ocean + Forest

2011-04-03T10:46:00.011-05:00

The week before last, two of my most favorite ladies in the whole wide world trekked out to WA to visit. I took a much-needed week off of work and we all indulged in salty ocean air, comfy cottage luxuries, mossy rainforest, and good-for-the-soul lounging about.

The cottage that we rented was fully stocked and far fancier than I could have ever imagined. (hello, hot tub!) The kitchen had all the baking supplies needed to make this amazing cinnamon pull-apart bread by Joy the Baker. I am really starting to enjoy baking. And even though I am a total novice when it comes to breads, it turned out pretty acceptable.

It was about a 10 minute walk to the beach. Somehow I always end up going to the ocean during the blustery off season - I've never actually been there in the summer when the weather is decent. But there's just something about standing at the edge of a continent in March, with the wind blowing mist into the hood of a too-thin jacket, and angry gray waves crashing, and no other humans as far as the eye can see. I wouldn't trade that feeling for the sunniest, clearest day.

We did have one blissfully sunny warm day, so we left the coast and headed inland to the Quinault Rainforest within Olympic National Park.

The forest was wet and dripping and green and soft and stunning. It made Washington seem that much bigger, and that much more special. We were only in a tiny tiny sliver of forest - it would take us eons to explore all that this state has to offer.

I'm so glad that I live here.

Somebody stop me.

2011-03-27T20:37:00.004-05:00

Now with new improved wings!!

Original birdie crochet post with pattern link here.

Little bird

2011-03-03T15:19:00.006-06:00

In an effort to expand my crochet horizons beyond granny squares, I started searching for easy (and I mean EASY) amigurumi patterns so I could try my hand at making cute little stuffed toys. I've always been so jealous of folks who do amigurumi - those little critters are just so adorable, but to this total novice, they also look dang hard to make. I wanted to make a bird, so I stumbled across this handy page of bird pattern links. Lots of inspiration!

This lovebirds pattern (you may need to register. it's free!) from Lion Brand was perfect. Basically the birds looked like simple roly-poly little egg-shaped things, and I thought I could handle that.

Image by Lion Brand Yarn.
So after much cursing, and a TON of extra stitches and screw-ups and me saying, "Meh! Let's just see what happens!" I made a bird. It looks nothing like the ones in the photos on the pattern site, but who cares. It's relatively cute and holy smokes, I was able to read a pattern. This is a major, major achievement.

The tiny little tail nubbin just kills me.

What I did differently: I made rounded wings instead of half-circles, because I couldn't quite figure out the half circle thing; I had trouble sewing on the bill - my stitches kept getting lost - so I crocheted a larger bill by chaining a few stitches, slip-stitching them together, and sewing to the bird's body. I like the look of the smaller bill and will try again next time; and finally, I stitched on the eyes with embroidery floss instead of using plastic eyes.

I made a ton of mistakes with this little bird, but now I know what NOT to do the next time. I am officially addicted and making another as we speak...

Sketchbook: completed

2011-02-20T21:00:00.009-06:00

Back at the beginning of the year, I was frantically trying to finish my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project, a collaborative effort to collect thousands and thousands of sketchbooks from willing (and paying) participants, catalog them, and then send them on a whirlwind tour across the globe. I admit, I was a total procrastinator. Back in August I kept telling myself, "I'll get started in October!" and then October rolled around and I said, "I'll work on it over Thanksgiving!" And then Thanksgiving passed and suddenly all I had left were a few meager weekends until it was due in January. Eep. Feelin' like I'm in high school all over again here.

So I altered my sketchbook from its original format - partially to save me some time, and partially because moleskine journal paper is thin and not exactly good for painting on. (I tried pencil and markers and just wasn't feeling it. Paint! I haven't painted in ages. What a perfect excuse to pick it up again.) I ripped out all the pages and rebound it with a little brown paper accordion, drastically reducing the # pages that preventing a total meltdown. Crucial move.

The theme that I chose when I signed up was "a face in the crowd," and I interpreted that as loosely as possible. My book contains faces, but it's really more about the weather and how I was completely fed up with our dismal Pacific Northwest winter at that time. Not super deep subject matter here, but it was fun and loose and got me to pick up a brush, so that's all that matters!

I'll share a few pages, but if you want to see the whole thing along with tons of other awesome work, I recommend trying to catch the traveling show if it comes to a city near you. Check out the current tour stops here. (Seattle! June 10-12, 2011!)

Here's the cover. It kept popping open so I had to make a little band for it. Hope it survives being handled...(as always, click on the images to enlarge.)

Opener.

A longer interior section. I have so much fun drawing funny little faces!

Here's a figure from side 2 of the accordion, which, I'm embarrassed to admit, is filled mostly with portraits of made-up people who look like unhappy hipsters. This girl's my favorite, though, with her pink nose and cheeks.

And here's a portion of the final spread.

Overall, I had a blast pulling this together and only wish that I had given myself some more time to relax with my sketchbook a bit. I did get a little fussy with it. But it was a good exercise and well worth it. For more info, check out Art House Co-op, the folks who run this whole huge project and then some.

Bathroom update + etched glass

2011-01-31T21:38:00.017-06:00

Our latest project around the house has been completing an unexpected bathroom makeover. We weren't planning to do a darn thing to our tiny guest bathroom for several years, thinking that we had much bigger fish to fry before we even thought about touching it. But as it goes in homeownership, there's always a surprise lurking around the corner. And ours came in the form of a leak in the wall and a malfunctioning toilet, both of which needed fixing...um...immediately.

To make a very long, stressful story short, we ended up doing a major overhaul keeping to a budget of $500. At some point I totally lost track of the budget due to major plumbing issues and sheer insanity, but when you boil it all down we did manage to stick to it. The most expensive part was the little tiles, which had to be special-ordered.

Here's the super sexy before. So much pink! So much beige!

And here's the after.

Dave constructed the counter top by hand from simple pine boards. It's a very low-traffic, low humidity bathroom, so we felt OK going with wood, and the softness of the pine wasn't a huge concern. Lots and lots of layers of polyurethane give it some extra durability and water resistance. I wouldn't recommend this kind of top for a heavily used bathroom, though.

It really turned out beautiful.

He also cut some sweet cubby holes into the cabinet, which was a huge hulking waste of space before. Now we have a place to store extra linens and such.

We tried to reuse as much from the old bathroom as possible. We kept the towel bars and vanity light, swapping out the dingy old glass shades for inexpensive frosted ones, making everything look brighter. We also gave the old faucet a facelift, shining it up sparkling and new with my homemade "softscrub" concoction of baking soda and dish soap.

The biggest thing that we reused was the mirror that hung over the sink. It's your standard boring bathroom mirror, so I decided to experiment with glass etching cream to make a little hexagon pattern that echoed the shape of the mosaic tiles on the floor.

Now I had never used etching cream before, but figured that it couldn't be that hard to use. Let's just say that it's a good thing I tested my moves on an old drinking glass first, because the stuff was a bitch to work with. I bought a blank vinyl stencil made to use with the cream, printed out a pattern template on the computer, taped it to the stencil, and then cut out my pattern with an exacto knife.

The stencil has a tacky backing that sticks to anything smooth and can be pulled off and re-stuck an infinite number of times. It also picks up every piece of invisible cat hair that you might have floating around the room. Here's the stencil stuck to the glass.

Now I neglected to take a picture of what the cream looked like applied to the glass, but let's just say it was a pretty thin, uneven layer. I let it sit for 5 minutes, per the instructions on the bottle, and then rinsed it clean. Annnnd it turned out like crap.

I experimented a little more on the glass and on an old mirror I had laying around, and discovered the magic solution: Lay it on ridiculously thick and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. No streaks. No clear spots. Just solid white goopy goodness.

THIS IS BAD. DO NOT DO IT LIKE THIS.

THIS IS GOOD. DO IT LIKE THIS. (and forgive the terrible lighting in this photo. but you get the idea.)

In the end, I was 60% pleased with how it turned out. The etching always came out slightly streaky and uneven no matter how much cream I applied or how long it sat. But it was a quick way to spruce up the mirror with relative success and probably would work just fine for the non-perfectionist. Would I do it again? Maybe for a smaller, less fussy design. But probably not.

Bam.

Flood.

2011-01-17T16:44:00.009-06:00

When we moved to our little town, we knew that there would be seasonal flooding in the wide river valley near our home. But we had no idea that the flooding would be so widespread...and so impressive.

It's truly astounding to see the familiar green fields completely filled with deep, fast moving water. It is cyclical, and it is a way of life here. We all know which roads are closed, how to get around them, and when to stay put. The farmers move their livestock and hay to higher, dryer ground, and hunker down until it passes. Some of them truly are in the thick of it, and I don't really know why they stay.

I think the thing that most surprised me was just how many people were out taking pictures of the flooding. I came across maybe a dozen people, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, toting cell phones and cameras around and stopping at the same closed roads that I had visited. It was actually pretty fun to see everyone scratching the itch of curiosity, seeking a little thrill, and inching their boots to the point where pavement meets temporary ocean.

The benefit of all this is that come spring, the valley will be the deepest green from end to end, dotted with moss-covered trees and happy horses and cows. Even now, in the midst of January, the rains bring us so much green. There's nothing I love more about living here.

(Except for maybe the mountains.)

Doodleables

2011-01-08T18:10:00.007-06:00

My big goal this weekend is to finish up my submission for the Sketchbook Project, with the deadline looming next week. I admit that I totally put it off after getting swamped with work and other things. I actually started my sketchbook about three times, but was not pleased with the thin paper quality of the moleskine journals that were provided. My markers kept soaking through, making a huge muddy mess. Happily, participants have the opportunity to do whatever they want to the notebooks just as long as they stay within the original dimensions. So I unbound it and replaced the see-through cream colored paper with a long accordion strip of thick brown packing paper - my personal favorite drawing surface.

Here's a sneak peak of where I'm at. Still a long ways to go, but it's coming along.

Speaking of drawing and doodles, I was browsing Target's online clearance items and found these two completely awesome (and on sale!) items:

First, a shower curtain THAT YOU CAN DRAW ON. How cool is that? It makes me think that you could probably do this with just about any plain white shower curtain and a permanent marker/fabric marker. Hmmm...

And then there's this fun "paint by number" wallpaper. What a fantastic idea. I'm tempted to snap up a couple of rolls at such a great price!

Products like these make me so excited! I love seeing fun, creative products for adults. Why should kids have all the fun?

new year.

2010-12-30T22:24:00.008-06:00

At the beginning of this year, I quietly announced to myself that this would be my best year yet. I'm not sure why I thought that 2010 would be different from any other. I don't know what I was expecting, and I had no clear goals or plans. I suppose by "best yet," I meant that I wanted to pursue a positive shift of thought. Less negativity, less cynicism, more positivity and creativity and love. My hope was that the creativity would flow, my artistic endeavors would flourish, and personal satisfaction and happiness would abound.

But in reality, I actually feel like I'm in an even more uncomfortable place now than I was 12 months ago. My work life has been challenging and stressful, leaving me creatively exhausted at the end of each day. This year has left me questioning my passions, questioning my future, and questioning everything, really. And in the process, I've probably let much more anger into my world than all that positivity and inner peace I was aiming for. It has been a hard year. I still feel like I'm fumbling around, searching for plans and answers and clear-cut paths, knowing that nothing is ever really clear-cut. I wish my mind had a shutoff valve, like our currently malfunctioning toilet. Broken? Running constantly? Twist the knob and turn it off. Bam. Fixed. At least until you can figure out what the real source of the problem is.

-----

But.
It has also been a very very good year.

We bought our first home. Epic, really, when you consider that less than 3 years ago we moved out here, terrified, with no real plans other than 1) get a job 2) see how it goes. Looking back on the photos from our closing day, my eyes well up with tears. The flowers in the yard were blossoming, the sun was setting golden and perfect, our dog was tearing up happy circles in her big new yard. I remember laying on my back on the ugly mauve carpet upstairs and thinking, "This is MY mauve carpet. And I love it. Because it is mine."

I never in a million years thought I'd be where I am today. In so many ways.

-----

Home.

Home has always been a bit of a struggle for me to put into words. Wisconsin will always be my first home. I returned there over the holidays for a long overdue visit. Truth be told, I had been feeling pretty homesick lately, second-guessing whether we had made the right choice to move across the country. I was missing my family and my friends, I was missing my old neighborhood in Milwaukee, and just generally feeling uncertain about everything we had worked so hard to build.

But sometimes all it takes is a trip back to where you started to restore your confidence in where you ended up. I love Wisconsin, but it no longer feels like it is mine in the way that it used to. Driving down old familiar streets, I felt like an outsider, transplanted from a different country. Different planet, even. We drove past the tiny house that we used to rent, and balanced on the planters out front were two pale frozen pumpkins in various stages of icy rot. I felt sad. Everything was covered in ice and gray snow. Absolutely nothing had changed, everywhere I looked. This is what I left behind.

Outside of the city, the quiet rural roads near where I grew up were still beautiful and serene. But something was missing amidst those wide white fields.

Mountains.
Winter green.
Rhododendrons.
Rain.

Just a couple days into the trip, every ounce of homesickness that I had for the Midwest was replaced with an aching for Washington. I had never been so excited to get back on the plane, look out the airplane window, and make out the familiar peaks of the Cascades, the deep blue gray of Lake Washington, and cars dotting the floating bridges.

Home.

For the first time in...probably...ever, I unpacked my entire suitcase within hours of returning home. Usually it's a process that lingers over the course of several days. Slowly the clothes make it out and into the laundry, then the tiny soaps and shampoos make their way to the bathroom, and the guilty pleasure trashy hollywood magazine finds its way to the recycling bin. Then it takes me another week to put the empty suitcase in its rightful place in the closet. It's like I'm not quite ready to let go of a trip and acclimate to reality. Not this time. I was so ready to sink back into the rhythm of home. The past few years have felt a bit nomadic at times, and finally, my suitcase has a permanent resting place. It is a good feeling.

-----

What's next for 2011? I have no idea. I'm not one to make resolutions, and I'm not going to set myself up for disappointment with fluffy thoughts about how this year will be AMAZING and AWESOME and my BEST YET.

But I can't help but cling to a tiny strand of hope and think that yes, the best is yet to come.

Here's hoping that this year is everything you dream of, and more.

xoxo

jessica

Achievements in knitting

2010-12-08T18:27:00.010-06:00

Well boy howdy, I finally knit something that I actually love and will wear and get good use out of this winter. It is a big chunky buttoned cowl/scarf. And I adore it.

I had been searching for something similar on Etsy for a very long time. People make such gorgeous things, but everything that I love is far beyond my budget. I used to get all up in arms about the prices of knitted goods, but now I totally understand. I am not blessed with fingers that make knitting look as easy as breathing. My stitches are slow and clumsy. I cannot listen to music or watch TV or focus on anything other than the needles and the yarn while I knit. And I undoubtedly will screw it up 17 times and need to pull out entire rows and start over, so by my estimates, I'd probably need to charge about $800 for a scarf in order to break even.

So given that I do not want to spend $$$ on a scarf, however lovely it may be, I set out to make my own. I wanted something thick, plush, and navy blue, and 1.5 skeins of Lion brand Hometown USA yarn fit the bill perfectly. I already had the needles, big fat #17s (12mm). To finish it off, I bought some simple unfinished wooden buttons and gave them my newest "secret beautification treatment for natural porous things": jojoba oil. I'm kind of obsessed. I rub a small dab into everything from wood to leather, and it brings out the grain and rich reds and browns like nothing else. (You can find jojoba oil in the cosmetics section of most health food stores.) And then I took a grand leap of faith and taught myself a new stitch.

Disclaimer: I'm terrible, impatient knitter. At one point I sorta knew how to knit and purl, but my skills regressed to somehow only being able to do the knit stitch and I could not for the life of me figure out how purl. Or do anything else, for that matter. So all I could do was make the same boring bland scarf over and over again, year after year. This year I finally got REALLY bored and spent some quality time with youtube videos and taught myself to properly purl, thus broadening my horizons to moss stitch. Or at least what I think is moss stitch. Sigh. It gets complicated with the whole UK/US moss stitch vs. seed stitch blahbity blah can't the whole world just do the same thing and make it simple???

I don't really care what it's called. What matters is that I did something entirely new and different for once, and it actually turned out. Hurrah!

The big thick wool is super with the buttons. The stitches are big and loose enough that you don't need real buttonholes - you just stick them through where ever you'd like, making this scarf super versatile and fun. Loose and slouchy. Cozy and buttoned up tight. Fancy and to the side.

So simple as it may be, this is a great achievement in expanding my limited, fumbling knitting skills. I will wear this scarf often, with pride.

Wisconsin.

2010-11-22T19:16:00.007-06:00

This will be my third winter in Washington, and the way things have been going the past two days, it looks like we may have a repeat performance of the infamous winter of 2008. We've been slammed with our first real snowfall of the season, unseasonably early. The roads are a mess, we were let out of work early, and there's just a general air of panic for the meager one, maybe two inches of snow on the ground. It's hilarious to watch the news here any time snow is in the forecast. You'd think the skies were raining dead bodies.

See? No dead bodies. Just cute little white peaks on the fence posts.
Happily, I'm all safe and snuggly in my cozy house, watching the flakes build up tiny piles on the tree branches. Poor Dave is not so cozy, still crawling through traffic after having left work almost two hours ago. Ahh. Welcome winter. And it's not even technically winter yet.

It's a little bit fun though, because it reminds me so much of my home state of Wisconsin (that is currently, as it would happen, dealing with tornados today near my hometown.)

Real WI snow.
The frozen-solid farm fields covered in a heavy blanket of "real" snow are no comparison to the Puget Sound's sticky, sloppy, mud-mixed-with-snow mess.

Wussy WA snow.
But I can't help it. The snow makes me feel a little nostalgic. As I walked down the hallway of my office building today, everything smelled bright and cold and wet, the exact same smell of snowsuits and velcro boots and the hard-packed pellets that clung to knit mittens (the worst kind of mitten). As I brushed the snow off my car, everything was hushed. The world was becoming insulated.

And there's just something about even the prospect of having a snow day that still stirs up a little bit of excitement, a little bit of hope, in even the most grown-up heart. Except that now my snow days are for an inch of snow, not the prerequisite three feet (or so it seemed) demanded by the hardy Wisconsin school districts. In grade school, there were rumors that the superintendent had a huge 4WD vehicle! With a plow on the front! And if he could plow out his driveway in time, school would go on! So. Not. Fair. In a span of less than 3 years, I've definitely had more consecutive snow days here in WA than I ever had growing up in the Midwest. The only difference is that now, I'm the poor white-knuckled driver behind the wheel. No matter how much I think I'm used to it, it's always intensely nerve-wracking.

But so far, so good. I'm starting to (dare I say it) feel Christmasy. The heater is on, I'm wrapped up in a warm crocheted blanket watching the yard turn all fluffy, and the hydrangeas are still clinging to that last bit of blue...

New (ish) in the shop.

2010-11-14T18:55:00.005-06:00

I've added lots and lots of new things in the window ledge arts etsy shop since I last posted, and there's more to come for the holidays. Here's some of the latest highlights...

Sweet dangly earrings with the softest green stones (Australian opal).

Beautiful hammered brass beads hanging from silver hoops.

Silver hoops with vintage lucite teal ropes - super fun!

A delightfully asymmetric necklace with wood and vintage beads.

And little bird notebook sets - I can't seem to make these fast enough! They're flying (ha ha. get it? bird puns - wheeee) off the shelves!

Hats

2010-11-09T22:02:00.003-06:00

The University of Washington Digital Collections has a very cool Flickr page with lots of historical photos of various people and places in WA state. My favorite set of photos in the bunch is simply titled "Hats." Oh how I love these photos:

There's a hat for hugging cute things.

A hat for serious moments in profile.

A hat for packing tuna.

And a hat for flying in style.

And my absolute favorite, a hat to wear with chaps while frolicking with sandhill cranes.

I love hats. LOVE them. But I look pretty silly in anything other than a knit winter hat, which makes me a little sad. I want to be a fedora person, I really do. But in the realm of winter hats, at least there is this to make me smile:

(~~Want.~~ Need. Owl hat. Badly. Now. And my god the model in the link looks ridiculous. I guarantee it would be 10x cuter on my big ol' noggin.)

Pumpkin farm

2010-10-28T22:18:00.008-05:00

I always loved Halloween as a kid. Some of my best memories are of trick-or-treating until I couldn't feel my feet - we could cover most of our small village in just a couple of hours, but it was enough time to get numb toes in the unpredictable Wisconsin fall. I'm pretty sure there were a few Halloweens where we were stuffed into our costumes with puffy winter coats and turtlenecks underneath, with more than a few snowflakes in sight. I also LOVED helping my dad get all gored up with fake blood, peeling zombie flesh, and fake latex spikes. He got such a kick out of scaring the bejeezus out of the neighborhood kids. Good times, good times.

Halloween is a little tamer for me now, but I still can't resist carving pumpkins, roasting seeds, and stuffing myself silly with candy. The pumpkins are definitely the best part. "Pumpkin Farms" where the pumpkins are already chopped off the vine and stacked in neat piles make me a little sad. Sure, it's convenient. But where's the sweat? Where's the mud-caked jeans? And the true need to wear galoshes? Admittedly I've bought pumpkins from the grocery store in the past, but it's just no fun. But what a happy discovery this year: the nearest pumpkin farm to our house is the kind where they hand you a pair of clippers, point to the wheelbarrows, and turn you loose in a big wet misty field.

Yes.

Oh YES.

We went home with 57 lbs of pumpkins and and armful of fresh produce from the farm stand, all for about $20.

I love our pumpkin farm.

Whiskey Barrel Flooring

2010-10-14T15:48:00.003-05:00

Sweet baby jesus I want these reclaimed whiskey barrel wood floors from McKay Flooring Ltd. in the UK.

Since $275 a square meter is a bit steep for me, does anybody want to ship me a multitude of old whiskey barrels so I can figure out how to do it myself? Thanks in advance.

Found via Cool Material.

I can't believe I'm writing about cat art.

2010-10-13T22:38:00.010-05:00

Ahhh. Cat art. It can either be charming and well done, or completely repulsive. As a kid, I definitely had tastes that leaned heavily toward the latter - my room was sponge painted pink and topped off with kitten wallpaper border, and my walls were adorned with cut-outs from old cat calendars. I wore a sweatshirt with a fluffy white persian cat that had a glued-on gemstone tear falling from its eye. Why was it even crying? Maybe from the lace trimmed denim leggings and slouch socks that I wore with it? That'd be my guess.

So the big question I wrestled with this evening: does any good cat art exist? Cat art that doesn't make me feel like pushing down my socks and popping in a Paula Abdul cassette? Cat art that I'd actually be cool with hanging up in my home?

just resting by blackoutwell

scaredy cat by cabin

you're not an owner you're an opportunity by jamie shelman

cat print by JenniferDowney

kitty by boaandfriends

matter of fact by maejane

cat by dimdi

It looks pretty promising...

To soothe a numbed mind

2010-10-04T20:06:00.010-05:00

Sometimes my day job consumes my life in ways that just zap all the creativity out of me. At the end of the day I'm a tired lump of Jess and blogging/writing/making things is the farthest thing from my mind. So when those days roll around, I just need to dig around for a little inspiration. What are people making? And what else can I add to my list of things to lust after?

Well, these little bowls, for starters:

by New Moon Studio

And some tiny button houses:

by hodge podge arts

A very useful plate:

by jimbob art

An incredible ring that I could probably never buy because I'm such a klutz and would break it. But still. Oh my:

by Maap Studio

And a gorgeous necklace:

by Vanilya Design

The tie that binds all of these lovely pieces? Porcelain. I've not yet had the pleasure of working in porcelain, but I imagine that it feels like butter. Mmm.

Rhode Island

2010-09-24T23:26:00.006-05:00

Just got back from a little work trip to Providence, Rhode Island, a place I probably never would have visited on my own. What a cute little city with incredible food and friendly people. Here is what I saw:

The wonderful Haven Brothers food truck.

Art windows everywhere!

Food, music, and art at AS220. (FANTASTIC. Highly recommended!)

Fallen cherries.

Beautiful stained glass at Brown University's Economics Dept. Building.

Reaching vines.

Locksmith shops that also specialize in adjectives.

Tiny feathers at RISD's Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab. (This place was like Disneyland to me.)

Vicious taxidermy.

Kitty in a bell jar.

A stack of Audubon prints. Really I could not get enough of the Nature Lab.

Oh...and some unicorn graffiti!

Whee!

September

2010-09-12T18:08:00.009-05:00

I can't help but feel a little out of sorts every fall. The days are grayer and I can hear the drone of football on the TV. (Gaaaaah...noooo!) And there's something about the smell of the air and the changing light that zaps me back to being eight and worrying about memorizing multiplication tables. Or being fourteen and futzing with my hair forever in hopes that this will be the year that I fit in. Or being twenty-two and wondering what on earth I'm going to do with my fine arts education.

Fall brings change. But luckily, the only changes I have to deal with this year revolve around fiddling with my garden and restocking my pantry to be ready to bake bread and cookies on a weekend whim. Not so bad at all.

How 'bout that garden?

The crocosmia is getting tired and morphing into autumn mode.

The hydrangeas are inching past the vibrant stage and fading to dusty blue. I love it. I think they're most gorgeous right now.

My favorites are leathery and green.

The columbine dried up and set to seed, leaving behind lovely-looking pods.

A strange little succulent plant started working on growing a mighty long stem last month. Now it's all showy with tiny flowers.

And while digging up the raspberry patch, we found a little tree frog.

It's been pretty cool watching my yard shift with the seasons these first 6 months in our new home. Truly a learning experience. And truly awesome (and a little scary) how the plants just keep on going, whether you're watching or not.

Pillows

2010-09-09T15:12:00.011-05:00

While in San Francisco, I inherited a stack of handkerchiefs and doilies that once belonged to my grandmother and great grandmother. Rumor has it that some of the doilies may have been handmade by my great grandmother.

I don't really put out doilies on tables, so I tried to figure out a way to incorporate these vintage things into our home. I thought I'd start out simple by making a muslin pillow for our new couch. Many moons ago, when I thought I was going to transition into being a portrait photographer, I bought about a thousand yards of cheap unbleached muslin fabric with the plan to paint/dye some photo backdrops. The fabric sat in a bin for ages, I moved to the west coast, and my photo goals entirely shifted. But my giant roll of muslin still remained. So I decided to start cutting it up into chunks and dyeing segments to add to my fabric collection. I had a little hand-dyeing festival in my kitchen last Sunday, and ended up with an array of pretty soft colors.

I also threw one of the old yellowed doilies into the gray dye bath, thinking it might work for the top of a pillow.

I love the variation in colors. I used standard grocery store Rit dye and followed the package instructions for dyeing in the sink or a bucket. I wanted softer colors, so I never let the fabric sit for longer than 10 minutes. Some strips of fabric were in for 5 min for a lighter wash, some were in for 10 minutes for a richer color. The gray was my favorite because some of the pieces have a lavender-like tone to them. The colors got even softer after I gave them a thorough rinse and final wash in the washing machine.

And so, I made a pillow.

Sewing the perimeter of the doily to the fabric was incredibly tedious but necessary.

While I was digging through fabic, I found an old feed sack that I bought at an antique store in middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin right before I left in 2008. I decided that it needed to become a pillow as well.

I didn't use a pillow form on this one, so it's lumpy bumpy and stuffed with fluff. And I like it.

And so does dog.

And a thought on pillows: I used to read a blog that answered a lot of reader mail on how to do home-decor type stuff on your own. They did an entire post on the "science" of selecting and arranging throw pillows, and that was the turning point where I stopped subscribing and could no longer read that blog. Throw pillows are not scientific. There is no magic formula. I don't care if you have two on one end and one on the other, or four all lined up in a row, or one stripedy one and one solid. People got all worked up and were all like, "OMG this is so hard! I've been doing it wrong all these years! Gaaahhh!" and "I'm afraid to use a circular pillow! Maybe it should be oval instead? Waaaah!" Oh man. The insecurities. The scorn. The pillow drama. Honestly, who the hell cares? DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. The end.

San Francisco

2010-09-05T20:35:00.015-05:00

San Francisco is a city near and dear to me. My dad grew up there and we visited family often when I was growing up. Seems like into adulthood, funerals were the only thing that brought me back to the city. Not so cheery, and not very conducive to sightseeing. So finally, we planned a trip for the sole purpose of having fun and being tourists - something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

We drove along Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz, stopping at beaches to marvel at the mighty Pacific Coast.

I spied succulents everywhere...

...and tiny trees coaxed into tidy shapes. So very California.

My Uncle Carl's garage was exactly as I remembered it. A spot for every tool...

...and an old chest with drawers that rolled out like velvet.

We practically had the tea garden to ourselves on a quiet Sunday morning...

...and afterwards, Sutro Heights was a quiet, eerie spot to explore.

But the place that surprised me most and continues to linger?

Alcatraz.

I had never been there, and really wasn't quite sure what to expect. Everything about it was fascinating. The audio tour, which I initially scoffed at, was incredibly well done.

So many corridors to explore, so many worn floors, and doors that won't open...

(I don't believe in ghosts.)

...and so many ghosts.

My dog is famous.

2010-08-31T20:29:00.010-05:00

HUGE AWESOME NEWS!

The mailman brought me a box today. I love boxes. And I especially loved this box, because it contained...

...merchandise from the Cheezburger Network/Madison Park Greetings! Featuring my photography and the lovely mug of my sweet dog Gia.

She is on two greeting cards...

...and a magnet!

She's pretty embarrassed about the hangover incident.

And the cat is pisssssed that none of his pics made the cut.

He'll just have to get over himself.

So yep, we're pretty excited to have Gia's face plastered all over some awesome Cheezburger products. And best of all: a portion of the profits from the products will be donated "to support a number of charitable rescue and shelter organizations which are providing a valuable service both locally and nationally."

Sweet.
In the weeks to come, info on where to purchase these goodies will be made available at www.madisonparkgroup.com and www.cheezburger.com. I'll post official links when they're ready!

The July garden

2010-08-19T22:18:00.008-05:00

Well hello there. I have fallen off the face of the earth. But I thought I'd pop back in with a belated July garden post, because sadly I don't have pictures of anything else right now.

The crocosmia is all fiery orange in August now. But I like the July phase too, all smoothly buttoned up and green and nodding.

The hydrangeas just kill me, they're so pretty. Our plants are old and huge and thick. Now the blossoms are heavy and drooping, almost done for the season.

But first...it was like Christmas waiting to see what color they'd be. I was hoping for blue.

Oh. What's that there?

BLUE.

BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE.

And then there's this little annual. Like a spark. Or a dragon's head.

Ahhh.

The sun is sinking a little sooner these days, and I'm cringing to even think of winter. But watching my yard unfold this summer has been a treat - truly like unwrapping a present, never quite sure what to expect. I've learned: Plants will take over your house very quickly if you are not careful; wisteria is intense; bindweed is terrible; so is creeping buttercup; and English Ivy; Rhubarb and raspberries are indestructible; clematis is not indestructible; herbs like sun, but not that much sun; sigh. moles.; birch trees are lovely but oh so messy; groundcover is your friend; and most important of all, never ever get overzealous with the planting in the spring in a new house where you do not yet understand how big those dormant winter plants will get. Ooooh look at all that empty space! Let's fill it up with pretty things! THAT SPACE WAS EMPTY FOR A REASON (e.g. Jurassic Hostas, gigundo hydrangeas, spreading crocosmia, etc. Lessons learned.

And many more to come.

Swap meet album

2010-08-02T20:39:00.009-05:00

Several weeks ago I went to a local swap meet and haggled with a nice fella for an old album stuffed to the gills with photographs. When I got it home, I examined each photo one by one, read all the handwritten captions, and put together a picture of the family held inside the album's pages. Here are some of the highlights (please click on photos to enlarge. it's worth it.):

The cover has gorgeous embossed trees on the front.

This pair stopped me in my tracks.

"We cut down the old pine trees."

Beach scenes

My absolute favorite image in the book, captioned "Three mermaids."

I wish we still had bathing suits like this.

"On our way."

Poring over the album made me think about my own way of preserving images. Admittedly, I've been a slacker. I have a couple years worth of somewhat organized photo boxes, but I have very little in albums and most of the past 5 years or so exists only in digital format. I recently started getting caught up in printing my backlog of photos and have vowed to put them into an album. I absolutely adored going through old photo albums as a child, and I can't imagine denying that pleasure to any future kiddos in my life. A photo album is a treasured thing indeed, and I'm determined to keep the tradition.

Well. If all else fails, at least I'll have the well-organized photo albums of complete strangers to show off :)

Dresser refinishing project

2010-07-25T23:02:00.011-05:00

Boy was this a big project to tackle for a couple of beginners. Actually it was really just one beginner. I played a minimal role in the whole process of refinishing this awesome mid-century dresser (credenza? lowboy? sideboard? who knows).

We found this diamond in the rough at the RE Store in Ballard. It's a fantastic place to score some really great old architectural bits, odd plumbing parts, sweet doorknobs, lighting, tools, and much more.

The poor thing was pretty scratched up, but we saw through it. There was a brand name pressed into one of the drawers, proclaiming it a "Dixie" - much research on the web yielded next to no info about the company, but I did see a few similar pieces for sale in online vintage shops. The craftsmanship is pretty nice, with good solid drawers and a reasonably thick veneer, making it the perfect candidate for a little restoration.

Dave sanded. And sanded. And stained. And cussed. And shellacked. And sanded. And shellacked. And cussed. And polished. And in the end, it turned out gorgeous.

We opted for a dark walnut stain with some nice warm golden undertones. It really helped to bring out the pretty grain of the wood. (I have no idea what kind of wood this is. If anyone can ID it by the photos, please tell me.)

Check out that shine. And we loved the old drawer pulls so much that we kept them, despite being a little beat up from years of wear & tear.

I painted the recessed area behind the drawers a deep chocolate brown to make them pop a little bit more. I also made a simple table runner to protect the surface from all our gear - no pics yet...sorry.

I'd guess we spent about $75-80 total, including the cost of the actual dresser + stain, sandpaper, and other refinishing materials. A good project, with much learned and much to be done differently the next time around. But all in all, a roaring success. The best part? It's really good at storing all of our crap!

Progression

2010-07-18T17:37:00.008-05:00

Crochet class is over. No children were wounded. And I made something. I actually made something. Here's the progression:

First I practiced rows of crappy stitches. Note the hourglass shape from when I unknowingly kept decreasing and increasing stitches in every row.

Then I made another hourglass shaped...thingy. I am very good at making hourglass shaped thingies.

And then suddenly I made a granny square. It happened so quickly I didn't even know what hit me. The instructions, the symbols in the pattern - they all made sense!

And then I couldn't stop.

Cute little buggers.

I think I've just found my new favorite thing to do. Much more excited about this than I ever was about knitting. Hurrah!

Old dogs

2010-07-15T10:55:00.005-05:00

I signed up for a two-session beginner’s crochet class held at a local fabric store, and my first class was last Saturday. To my delight, only two other people were there – which meant that I could ask all the questions I wanted without feeling like a dope, and get plenty of hands on demonstration. I’ve tried to teach myself to crochet for years now, and books and youtube videos just don’t cut it. I need a physical person showing me exactly how to hold the yarn. I need someone sitting next to me so I can lean over to show them my mangled row of stitches and ask, “what the hell have I done?”

One of my two classmates is a very nice older woman who is right where I am – fumbling through each and every stitch and just trying to learn how to hold the dang yarn. My other classmate is an odd and freckled 12ish year-old girl who knows it all, who scoffed at my technique and informed me “That’s how I crocheted…when I was SEVEN.”

She proceeded to fly through the tutorial (without hesitating to tell us all that she already knew how to do this) and complete a perfect granny square before the end of class. The other lady and I ended up cross-eyed and stiff, with split overworked yarn and a few misshapen rows of single and double crochet. Which I was immensely proud of. At the end of class, the girl told me, “It’s a good thing this class is so long, because you really need it.” I contemplated stabbing her with my tiny blunt crochet hook, but then her mom came to pick her up and I thought better of it. Just kidding. Maybe.

I realized, during that class, that my brain works differently now than it did when I was twelve. I never thought this would happen. I used to be that girl. My knowledge now fills space like the way that water fills a watering can. You can only fill so high, and then the water starts to push out the spout. So that little spot in my brain that I previously used to identify different varieties of goldfinch? The birds have been pushed out, and now it houses a tiny library of crochet stitches and hook sizes.

My only satisfaction in the matter is that someday, that vile little snot of a girl will be in her late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and she’ll want to take a class or learn a new skill. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll sit down at a sticky round table in the middle of a fabric store, and be humbled by the stalling pace of her own mind.

Super Simple Recipe Box makeover

2010-07-04T14:47:00.011-05:00

My recipe box and I had a stare-down last night.

Hello, recipe box. You are rather unattractive.

Olives & Garlic. How quaint.*

So I browsed the mighty interwebs in search of a cute replacement. These beauties from Rifle Paper Co. have been making their way around design blogs for a couple weeks now. I want one, bad. But they are $120 each, good god.

This little woodburned owl recipe box is awesome, and a little closer to my price range.

And I love the woodgrain file cards that come with this file box.

And you can't go wrong with a mint-green vintage tin.

But ultimately I decided to save my pennies and work with what I had on hand to give my old box a facelift. I pasted some fancy patterned paper onto the outside and covered the whole thing with glossy acrylic gel medium (kinda like mod podge) to seal it up and make it wipe-able. (Probably smart if your box is going to hang out near the stove next to splattering sauces and such.) I finished off the edges with some simple trim/ribbony stuff

And now it is cute.

The end.

What do you use to hold your recipes?

*I KNOW that a dear relative gave this box to me for Christmas. It is a perfectly good, functional box that I've had for years. However. It needed a makeover. Don't be offended. I love you. Bye.

Homemade Laundry Detergent: The Verdict

2010-07-03T20:01:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent. This week, I got to try it out. The results?

I'd call it a success. I washed a load of sheets and a load of towels, and they feel...well...clean. Things of note: this soap is veeeery low sudsing. The only bubbles I saw were from leftover store-bought soap still clinging to my re-used bottle. Also, the soap left no fragrance at all. Just. Clean.

But I got to thinking. How do you officially deem something clean? I mean, it's obvious with things like mustard stains and dirt. Clean = dirt/mustard gone. And it's obvious with smelly things. Clean = smell gone. I realized how much I depend on the heavy fragrances that are usually in my store-bought laundry detergent, and how I automatically equate "mountain breeze" with "clean." So I sat there smelling my sheets forever wondering, "are these really clean? I don't smell anything!"

So fair warning: with the recipe I used, there is zero smell. Which makes it perfect for folks who are sensitive to perfumes. Honestly though, I like a little fresh scent to my clothes and will probably try A) adding a few drops of essential oil to the next jug I pour from the master bucket or B) making my next jug more concentrated and adding less water. The soapy gel mixture actually does smell kind of nice - maybe keeping the concentration higher will help it stick around.

Long term, I have no idea what the effects might be on clothes. I've read that some detergents can wear out clothes more quickly, and this also depends on the washing machine. I wish I had a washing machine laboratory so I could test this out, washing load after load and watching how quickly my blacks turn to grays. No. Actually I do not wish for a washing machine laboratory. That sounds boring as hell.

Here's what I know: we make life far too complicated. If you're anything like me, you probably won't even notice the minute difference in the rate of wear on your crappy old navy hoodie while using homemade soap. Are your clothes really that nice? If so, then you're probably getting them dry cleaned anyways. Or hand-washing with woolite. So don't freak out. Just give it a try.

And don't even get me started on the controversy about using special soap in HE front-loading washers...talk about making things more complicated for ourselves. Yeesh.

Homemade Laundry detergent - with photos!

2010-06-29T22:45:00.015-05:00

There are a million reasons to DIY, and the one that makes the most sense is that it saves money. I hate buying the following:
- toilet paper
- laundry soap
- cleaning supplies/household cleaners
- underwear
- pants
- bottled water
- kitty litter

I've not yet figured out a way to make my own toilet paper or kitty litter (and I don't think I want to). And I could make my own pants and underwear, but I'm not that talented of a seamstress (also: don't think I want to). And as ridiculous as bottled water is, having a stash in the fridge gets me to drink approximately 300x more water than I normally do, so it's a ridiculous, frivolous purchase that I feel is justified. But cleaning supplies and laundry soap...that's something I can handle.

So last weekend I set out to make my first ever batch of homemade liquid laundry detergent. The recipe came from a certain incredibly fertile television family whom I don't care to link to and assume you could easily google to find the source yourself. But they have a nice, simple recipe that I modified ever so slightly. Here are the ingredients:

4 cups water, 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap, 1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, 1/2 Cup Borax. You will also need a clean 5-gallon bucket with a lid, and some old laundry soap containers, rinsed out kitty litter containers, or anything smaller and more manageable than a 5-gallon bucket. Unless you like pouring your laundry soap from a giant hulking 5-gallon bucket. Then by all means, go ahead.

Here is how to make the magic happen:

First, grate the bar of soap into a medium-sized saucepan. Use a cheese grater. And don't whine that it will ruin your cheese grater, because it's SOAP for cryin' out loud and your grater will end up cleaner than when you started.

If you are like me and have zero upper body strength, get a bodybuilder/hyperactive teenager/special helper to grate it for you. It will take approximately 2 minutes instead of 37. You will end up with a mighty pile of shavings that looks like delicious, delicious cheese.

Mmmm....cheese.
Add 4 cups of warmish water to the saucepan full of ~~cheese~~ soap.

Heat on medium until it all dissolves into a lovely smooth soap soup. Stir it lots, and be patient. This part takes time. Maybe ten minutes. Or less, if you get impatient and crank the heat because you are bored. But I would never do such a thing.

When it's ready, it will look like this:

Now if you're thinking ahead, have that bodybuilder/hyperactive teenager/special helper mix the rest of the ingredients together while you are watching soap melt. In the five-gallon bucket, add 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and 1/2 Cup of Borax. Fill the bucket halfway with hot water, and stir everything up until completely dissolved. Then, by the time your soap is done melting, everything else will be ready for the next step. Look at you...savin' time. Makin' soap. You're awesome.

So let's see...your washing soda and borax are dissolved, and your soap is melted. Add the melted soap to the mixture in the five gallon bucket. Give it a stir and then fill the rest of the bucket almost to the top with water. We left a few good inches at the top to make it easier to stir/pour later on.

Stir it all up, put on the lid, and go do something for 24 hours. Really, wait a whooooole day. The magic is happening. Magic takes time. It is worth it. Because 24 hours later....

What the?

OH GOD.

OH GOD NO.

You have just made a 5-gallon bucket of mucus.

Just kidding.

It did exactly what it was supposed to do. Yay!!! Now stir it up! Mush it with your hands (very satisfying). Notice how clean and fresh it smells. Mmmmm! Now fill your smaller soap container half-full of the lovely gel soap. Fill the container the rest of the way with water. And you're done! Remember to give your container a good shake before using, because it will all gel up again.

For a top load machine, you'll need about 5/8 Cup per load (OMG 5/8? For serious? It can't be 3/4 of a cup or 1/2 cup? Get an old measuring cup and mark it with a sharpie. it is now your official laundry measuring cup)

For front load machines, just use 1/4 Cup per load

Don't ask me about those fancy HE machines, because I don't have one.

If you don't like the laundry-fresh scent of fels-naptha and washing soda, you can add several drops of essential oil to your soap. (Add after it cools).

This recipe makes 10 gallons. TEN GALLONS of laundry soap. The ingredients cost about $7.00 total, and I have enough washing soda and borax left over to make a zillion more batches.

TIPS:
- Do not eat grated Fels-Naptha even if it looks like delicious delicious cheese.
- FIND THE WASHING SODA. Do not substitute baking soda or anything else. Washing soda. It will be hard to find, but be patient. I finally found mine at Fred Meyer out in the sticks. City folk apparently don't need washing soda.
- Look by the laundry detergent at the grocery store for the ingredients. I found most everything along the top shelves.
- Google lots of other recipes and figure out which one you like best. This is not the only one. Others call for different soaps, different ratios, etc.
- Experiment. This is my first batch, and I'm guessing we'll want to tweak the recipe for strength/smell in the future. Although right now I'm really digging how it smells...

Stay tuned for the results post, where I tell you if it actually works!

paint.

2010-06-20T18:33:00.008-05:00

This is my paintin' rag for watercolors:

It is disgusting.
And also beautiful.

I've been digging into my old watercolors again lately, and found my favorite soft strip of cotton t-shirt in my blue lunch tin, heavy with a history of paint all the way back to college. I can't bear to wash it - it's perfect just the way it is.

So anyways. Makin' stuff:

I love how water moves pigment. I love watching it collect in pools and in corners, and then the paper takes it all up in an instant and all that's left is subtle shadow. Watercolor is a life force all its own.

Ah. paint.

Rust

2010-06-13T22:16:00.007-05:00

My worst traits/habits as an artist:

procrastination
fear of what others are thinking
self criticism
constantly worrying about "who will buy it" or "how to make this my livelihood"
over-thinking
inability to complete projects (see above: "fear....")

So I signed up for Pikaland's Artist Bootcamp, a month-long online session of creating, sharing, and critiques.

All those sick churning "art school feelings" have come flooding back (and if you have ever been to an arts college, then you probably know...) But now that we are halfway through, it has become easier. I am learning.

My work in this class might not be brilliant, but it is work. IT IS WORK and that feels pretty fantastic.

In a super-condensed nutshell, we were asked to photograph some nature-y type things and create a piece inspired by the photo.

I saw this:

And in it, I saw this:

Next up was a three-part assignment. Create a piece about something you love, with a medium you know well. Then do a version in straight black ink. Then do a version in collage.

It's been a creaky process, stretching out and loosening a few years of good rust. The machine has been running, but not at 100%. I like this class. I like seeing how everyone interprets the assignments differently. I like having something to focus on. It is work.
It is work.
It is work.

More sharing at the end of the session...

Featured on Apartment Therapy

2010-06-12T23:20:00.002-05:00

My spoon herb markers were featured on the Apartment Therapy blog the other day. Yay! I love a good shout out. If you missed it the first time around, check out my tips on how to make 'em here.

HOME and Pin it Foward

2010-06-10T23:07:00.006-05:00

Today is my day to share inspiration for pin it forward, another blogger mashup of sorts brought to you by sfgirlbybay.

The coolest thing about this mashup is getting to try out an awesome new tool called Pinterest - a very and fun way of keeping track of images and inspiration on the web. It seriously beats printing out images I find an pasting them into an idea book.

You can use Pinterest for just about any kind of image collection you can think of - I'm using it to create a wish list for my house, and collect favorite works of art and old-timey photos. For pin it forward, we were all invited to try out Pinterest and create a collection of images that embody the idea of HOME. Here is what a portion of my board looks like:

And below is a sampling of images I collected that start to define what home means to me. Some photos are mine. Others are from all over internetland.

I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and that place will always have a piece of my heart. It is my first home.

But home is also Washington, starting with Seattle and branching out to my new house in the valley.

In my home, you will find:
Lots of blank books. Moleskines being my favorite. I loved moleskines before it was cool to love moleskines. Just saying.

Cups filled with pencils and pens and important things.

Buttons and snapshots from long ago.

A cat.

And a dog.

And the bestest friend I could ask for.

Home is where you make it. It might not be perfect, but it's yours.

You can see my complete board here. Full list of participants here - over 300! Phew! Up next in my group is fuzzygreenlights.

Enjoy.

Curtains: Now with Mountain Goats

2010-05-31T20:06:00.008-05:00

I may have just outdone myself in making the World's Cutest Curtains.

Yep.

It's ridiculous, the cuteness.

I hold this fabric responsible. The photo on Ikea's site doesn't do it justice.

Here. Let me show you. There are leaves and berries and cabins and pine cones and mountains and goats.

Did I mention there are goats?

P.S. I totally cheated and used fusible webbing for the entire things. Lazy lazy McLazerson. But sooooo easy it hurts.

Things held.

2010-05-30T21:57:00.006-05:00

This weekend was spent camping and playing in the woods.

I held nature bits in my hands. Wood and earth and sap and stones and moss. I also made good use of bark and rocks as art supplies. The sign said "No gathering firewood." It didn't say anything about art supplies :)

First treasures: a morel and a pinecone. They can look a lot alike when skimming a dark forest floor.

And then some art was made.

And then I hid them all in the woods.

I hope that an adventurous explorer will find my treasures someday.

Big Team Scribble: Get your coloring book now!

2010-05-27T09:58:00.005-05:00

Woo-hoo!

The BIG Team Scribble coloring book, which I wrote about back in February, is now up for pre-sale on Etsy!

It's 52 pages of coloring fun, and features the handiwork of over 110 artists - including me! I gotta say that participating was a blast, and I can't wait to see how our little trains look all connected together. Here's a sneak peek - my own personal little train car is the one with the goofy birds, on the right:

(And hopefully there will be another surprise from me at the end of the book, if it made it in - guess you'll just have to buy one to find out!)

After the pre-sale the coloring book will only be printed in a limited amount - so step lively! To get your copy, and for more details and images, go here. BEST OF ALL: a portion of every sale will be donated to UNICEF!

You can learn more about The Scribble Project here. And remember: I'm always whipping up some tasty doodles over at my other blog, Two Pound Press.

Swan dive

2010-05-25T21:40:00.003-05:00

This old photo stopped me dead in my tracks.

It's just really really simple.
And really really gorgeous.
And just what I needed today.

Things acquired

2010-05-16T18:21:00.011-05:00

When I see a GIANT custom-made banner advertising for a community wide rummage sale, hung in front of a huge stretch of subdivisions, I get big expectations. Driveways packed with bargains. Dozens of lemonade stands. Happy smiling home dwellers, thrilled to be getting rid of decades worth of acquired goods and ready for a good haggle.

HEY WASHINGTON. Five crappy items on a card table do not a yard sale make. And that whole "community-wide" thing? There were maybe 5 or 6 that we could find after driving through giant subdivisions with hundreds of houses. Sigh. Guess I'm spoiled by the Midwestern rummage sale.

We gave up on rummages and finally visited the antique stores in town. AMAZING. Packed to the brim with wonderful, reasonably priced odds and ends. I brought home:

"The Button" Polaroid camera. I was especially excited about it because it takes SX-70 film, which I've never used before. Now to stalk The Impossible Project shop and hope to snag some of that Silver Shade or Fade to Black. Sooo expensive but so so good.

And not really an antique, but I needed this:

To water my elephant plant, of course.

Also found the perfect chalk holder to go with our freshly repainted pantry doors, featuring chalkboard paint.

Yay! I freakin' love chalkboard paint. Sadly, I never took a before photo of the outside. It was all a sticky buttery yellow with gold handles. We used the Valspar brand chalkboard paint from Lowe's. 1 coat regular primer, three coats chalkboard paint. Works great and erases easy with a wet rag. The gray is "Wet Pavement" by Valspar.

The pantry was seriously gross when we moved in. I think there was a brown sugar explosion in there at some point, and the entire thing was sticky and dirty. That Mary Moo-cow contact paper had probably been there since 1986 and was totally crusted on. We made it nice and clean! (Click the pic to enlarge.)

Now to get the rest of the cabinets painted gray...

Pickle art

2010-05-15T20:05:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite local burger/sandwich shops is pickle-themed. They have a pickle-y name, pickle paintings on the windows, and my favorite, a pickle-shaped pen to sign your credit card receipts. (Sadly, for some strange reason, you don't get a pickle with your meal. I won't ever understand this...)

Today's visit to the pickle restaurant was even better than normal because the ENTIRE place was filled with customer-created crayon drawings of pickles. It seemed like my entire town got together and had a doodle explosion. I definitely saw a broad scope of talents and age groups represented. There were giant pickles, pickle families, fashion model pickles, Miley Cyrus pickles (he he), pickles wearing hats, pickles in cars, pickles with canes, dancing pickles, pickles wearing bikinis - pretty much any scenario you could think of, someone had drawn. I contributed a Robo Pickle.

Ridiculous as it might be, I was completely in awe of the creativity in that little burger joint. People were having fun. Kids and adults were sitting down with baskets of crayons and coming up with the craziest pickle-themed stuff you could ever imagine. Remember my post about coloring from the other day? This was like a dream come true.

Spoon herb markers

2010-05-12T21:33:00.005-05:00

Dave and I made our own herb markers from flattened old spoons tonight. We saw them posted on a blog somewhere awhile back and thought, "Hey, we can do that!" And while browsing at Goodwill the other day, we remembered the spoons and rummaged through the dingy bins of used silverware to find the "good" ones - metal slightly thinner than what you'd buy new today, with beautiful worn and almost-golden patina.

Dave flattened them out with a hammer, and I finally got to put my cheap metal stamping kit ($5 at Harbor Freight) to good use.

If you want to try your had at it, here are some tips:
- Clamp the spoon down to your work surface while using the metal stamps.
- Work on a really hard surface. Like an anvil or a solid workbench. I tried it on an old wooden cutting board on the carpet and that was waaaay too cushioned.
- Use a hammer with some heft to it. After all, you are trying to pound metal into metal. Those little stubby hammers don't work out real well.
- If you want the letters to stand out more, rub black paint on the surface and push it into the crevices of each letter. Wipe off the excess with a paper towel.
- I'd also recommend having a good dog nearby to guard your workspace. It truly helps.

(P.S. You can find people making these on Etsy as well, if you'd prefer to just buy 'em rather than make 'em.)

Garden: Early May 2010

2010-05-09T21:14:00.007-05:00

Warning: This post is solely for me and my desire to log what is happening in my garden and document it for future reference. Read along, if you'd like, but it's not for the easily bored.

I wish I would have started this log in early April, after I had a chance to get my eyes on the smorgasbord of plants we inherited. It would have been nice to document them in various states of blossom. But May is also a perfectly good month to start keeping track of things.

After a long long stretch of wet, cool, and gray weather, this weekend was an explosion of sun and warmth. So very very welcome. This is my third spring in the pacific northwest, and it was the hardest. The longest. The wettest (at least to my still-newbie eyes). I think it was only made harder by the fact that I finally have my very own yard -- a yard that needs a little TLC -- and I have been so anxious for the rain to stop so I can get out there and get my knees muddy. But this weekend was well worth the wait.

The local plant sale on Saturday was incredible and I scored quite a few excellent additions for very little money:
- Mystery rosebush, which we'll try to grow in a pot on the balcony upstairs for the time being. We'll see how it does. Dave built the most lovely of trellises for it after we got angry at how expensive cedar trellises are in the store. Buy your own cedar strips. Nail gun. Done.

- Mystery lilac - not sure if it's going to be purple or white. We currently have a white one that's lovely, but it can't get enough sun because of the very naughty and very big thundercloud flowering plum. It's sparseness makes it look even more delicate and fragile. This new one will go in a sunnier spot with less competition.

- A Gooseneck Loostrife (lysimachia clethroides) which I am somewhat nervous about after reading about its aggression. The woman selling it told me to make sure I had room for something that spreads. I will definitely keep an eye on this one and perhaps build up a rocky area to help contain it. It's in a rather lonely patch of the garden right now and I was definitely looking for something to spread and fill. But I don't want it to take over the entire yard, and I definitely don't want to contribute to any start of a broader local invasion. I've got my eye on you, gooseneck, so keep it clean, or you're toast. Lovely plant though.

- Phlox, a white variety to grow nice and tall toward the back border of the garden.

And then there were a couple of purchases from the big box garden center:
- Purple Anemone
- "Baby's Tears" groundcover (lamest name ever. waaaah.)
- And thing with silvery leaves and tiny flowers that I cannot remember

Ground cover is desperately needed. I spent all weekend trying to wrangle a breakout of creeping buttercup. It loves my heavy wet soil and is relentless and evil. At first I was all, "oh look, pretty yellow straw-like flowers" and then a little research revealed its true colors. It's bad stuff that will probably come back after all the pulling I did. And I absolutely refuse to go the route of Roundup or other nasty chemicals. So my best effort was to pull and extract the roots and runners as deeply as I could, and fill in the space with groundcover and mulch in hope that it will get choked out.

The people who created the landscaping in my yard were probably well-meaning, but there is seriously a grab bag of stuff that seems to have no rhyme or reason. I'm still trying to learn what it all is, and furthermore, how to maintain it. And it's especially hard because I have NO FREAKING CLUE what I'm doing. I'm so fascinated by gardening and I want very much to learn all that I can. This weekend has been information overload, learning to deal with invasive weeds and groundcover and the various springing up of disease that my rhododendrons especially seem to be acquiring. Every 5 minutes I'm running from the yard to the computer to google some other strange ailment I've spotted. Poor, poor plants. I get the sense that they have been let to go wild and free for many years, and no one had thought to prune or inspect or work the soil back to optimal conditions.

The rhododendron out front breaks my heart. It is big and was probably once gorgeous, with deep deep red flowers (my favorite rhody color) but something is draining it. Half of the buds have serious blight and I spent all weekend pinching them off.

Other parts of the shrub look like they've been battle-scarred by root weevils - hard to tell how old the damage is, so I'll be keeping an eye out for bugs and new notches. And the algae that grows on our wooden porch seems to be jumping to the rhody's leaves, leaving them dusty-looking and sickly. I'm determined to nurse this beauty back to health - half of the plant looks healthy and is just about ready to bloom, so we'll see.

My other rhododendron seems to have leaf scorch, either from being in too sunny of a spot (which seems unlikely because it was sooooo gray prior to this weekend) or from fertilizer (a possibility, as I just did a light application to the lawn - there was probably runoff). It seems minimal, and I'm hoping it will heal. Lesson learned about the fertilizer.

I feel so garden-naive. Sure, Jess -- buy the invasive plant. And hey, why don't you apply that fertilizer that you probably didn't need anyways and scorch the leaves of your lovely rhododendron? And while you're at it, just plant whatever the hell you want, disregarding its needs for full sun or part shade. Sounds great! You're awesome at this! But you know what? You don't learn any other way. If I had the time and money to go to school for horticulture, I would. But I don't. So I'm just going to learn to screw up a lot of things in my own yard, and maybe by the time I'm eighty and wise with wild white hair, I'll have this all down pat. On the positive side, I have an excellent, excellent book to guide me through this. And the internet, of course. But this book, the Timber Press Guide to Gardening in the Pacific Northwest, is AMAZING. I've been geeking out over learning about weather patterns and soil pH and liming and diseases. I haven't even got to the part about actual PLANTS yet. Highly recommended for any beginning gardener in the PNW.

Oh yes. And then there are the moles. Damn them. I don't care if "every creature has it's place" or whatever other crap anyone wants to throw at me. Moles do not belong in my yard. They are making a tiny mole empire beneath my front lawn and are swiftly moving to the backyard. Or perhaps that's their satellite location. But whatever they are doing, they are tricksy and no amount of dried blood chaser, sonic doodads, and seemingly well-placed traps seems to help. Our neighbor gave us one of her unused traps. I think she's trying to tell us something. She said she poured bleach down their tunnels in her yard which seems...uh...a wee bit toxic to more than just moles. I don't recommend that. But we've researched this to death and want desperately to avoid hiring someone to do this for us. Perseverance. Sigh.

The good news:
- The wisteria is almost in bloom.
- The azaleas are yellow.

- The tulips are still lingering (and these are like 3 feet tall. Huge.)

- I am learning, learning.
- I have a gnome.

An office corner facelift

2010-05-04T21:21:00.013-05:00

Oh ho! It's my first before and after on the house. It's not a big one, and it's not complete yet, but redoing my workspace has made a huge difference on the ol' happiness and productivity scale.

The spare bedroom was originally painted beige with a bright lemon yellow accent wall.

I wanted something a little gentler, so I painted two of the walls "Lime Light" by Behr (Home Depot). It's the weirdest color ever. It is not limey. It is barely even green. It looks downright blue in a certain light. But it was exactly what I wanted for this room. We also painted the remaining walls, ceiling, window seat, and trim bright white. And replaced all the crusty beige electrical sockets and switches with white ones. Because you all know how I feel about beige.

And what a difference. I probably could have tidied my desk a little nicer for this shot, but that wouldn't be very realistic, now would it?

We also took down what we like to call the "Burlesque Show chandelier" in the dining room and replaced it with a ceiling fan (another story for another day). Isn't she a beauty?

And instead of ditching it at the nearest Goodwill or running it over repeatedly with the truck, I cleaned up the dust, removed the sexy beaded shades, and replaced the flame-shaped bulbs with some old-timey looking round bulbs. (Which for some reason were clearanced out at 40 cents for each pack of 4). Five bucks for some white spray paint, and suddenly I had a really cool light to replace the old fixture...

...with this:

And now I have my own little corner of the world.

Other things of note:
- The oval mirror on the far wall was from Goodwill. It was icky and dirty and yellowed, but I cleaned it up and painted it white.
- The desk lamp also came from Goodwill for like 2.99.
- I had the shelves above the desk for years. They were previously painted a watercolory bright blue and green, but I repainted them in white.
- The desk and file cabinet were presents to myself, purchased at IKEA. The file cabinet was found in the scratch and dent section with nary a scratch or dent to be found. I sat there caressing its surfaces like a weirdo for like 15 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I finally gave up and happily accepted it all pre-assembled and perfect at 40% off.
- Not sure what to do with the octagon window, which is cracked and sad looking.
- Oh, and there's a reason why I only have photos of one corner of the room: the rest of the room is a tiny disaster to be tackled some other day.
- my husband is awesome. Thanks for your experiments with electricity, mister.

Circles

2010-05-03T21:16:00.004-05:00

When I was in first or second grade, my class would hold "coloring contests" where the kids who did the best job coloring were awarded a novelty eraser as a prize. I seem to recall eraser collections being huge in the 80s, and the girls especially coveted little rubbery bits in the shape of roller skates, hamburgers, and Lisa Frank dolphins.

I was one of those girls, and I had a tin full of neon erasers. And I wanted more. And I was an awesome colorer. So naturally, I thought that I should always win. My eraser dreams were crushed one day by our awful teacher who really should not have been allowed to work with children, for many reasons. She pronounced my coloring sheet a failure because I had colored in some rocks in a circular fashion instead of with smooth linear strokes. It was pretty traumatizing to a 7 year old, and I never ever ever colored in a circular pattern again for risk of losing another purple boom box shaped eraser. Until now.

(Yeah hey mom, remember that thing about me swearing on my blog? Well it's my blog. And I can do what I want. And seriously, maybe 20 people read this. So I don't care if it's "unladylike.")

Anyways, me and the circles reached an understanding, and I can color in peace again.

On Saturday we went to a local farmer's market and sat down at a picnic table to eat cheeseburgers from a catering tent. At the table was a basket full of crayons and coloring books, and I set out to get some quality coloring time in while waiting for our food. The owners of the cheeseburger stand laughed at me (in a good-natured way) and told me if I finished my drawing, they'd stick it on the fridge. I was happy to oblige. The caterer said, "You'd be surprised by how many adults just sit down there and start coloring."

I'm not surprised at all.

Why is it surprising that people of all ages enjoy participating and engaging in art? It's soothing. It's relaxing. It's FUN. Why do we suddenly put on the brakes into adulthood and resist the urge to pick up/ask for crayons in a restaurant? I've seen parents with kids sneak in coloring time on their kids' menus. Why can't childless adults indulge in that same pleasure? They can. There's nothing stopping us. Let's start a coloring revolution. Let's ask for kiddie menus and our cup of crayons, because art is for everyone. I don't want to sit down and read the news. I want to color the news. I want to draw blue mustaches on the congressmen on the front-page photo and fill in the crossword with pink and orange.

Let's do it.

up. up. up.

2010-05-03T09:29:00.001-05:00

Found my brown paper sketchbook the other day. Made me happy.

Stuck

2010-04-27T21:27:00.004-05:00

Stuck in traffic on the way home from work today (there is very little in this world that I find more frustrating) I played a game to quiet my angry mind.

Mind, (I said)
What are some things that could be worse than being stuck in traffic?

Well.

1. Being bitten by 1,000 crabs.
2. Eating a tomato.
3. Being crushed in a natural disaster.
4. Being on fire.
5. Eating a spoonful of caviar.
6. Not being able to listen to music again ever.
7. Being stuck in traffic AND have a car full of bees.
8. Being stuck in traffic with high volume Indian music permanently on the radio.
9. Being on an international flight while seated in front of a child who screams/kicks the seat the entire way.
10. Being stuck in traffic behind/in front of/beside a car playing rap music with the bass cranked up.
11. Water torture.

I'm a little disappointed that that's all I could come up with.

The weekend is just not enough.

2010-04-25T22:00:00.005-05:00

I love my house. So much so that I dread going to work on Monday because it means leaving my sweet sanctuary and all of the unfinished projects left to be done. It's hard, this lifestyle we've created for ourselves: work all week so you can work all weekend on your home. But it's enjoyable. Mostly. Except when you discover that the "Five-minute Fan" is nothing but a myth. Ceiling fans are evil and should come with a disclaimer that you'll need at least three hours (more, if you have to deal with shoddy pre-existing electical work), some band-aids, and a beer or two to numb the frustration. 90% pre-assembled my arse.

Ahem.

Anyways, in between painting and puttering and laundry and dandelions, I've been working on restocking my shop with some new earrings. All are available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/windowledge. And lots more being added every day!

Silver hoops made with African brass seed beads.

Hand-sculpted fine silver striped hoops.

Australian Opal and copper.

And more African brass shaped into sweet petals.

Collection of strangers

2010-04-23T22:17:00.010-05:00

When I lived in Milwaukee, I frequented a fabulous antique mall and bought handfuls of old photographs for 25 or 50 cents a pop. I found some of the photos the other day, having completely forgotten which ones I selected years ago. My odd little photo collection is really starting to take shape.

I love photos of toddlers in snowsuits and men who look too busy to be bothered with a snapshot.

I love photos of pretty women holding chubby babies and furry dogs.

I love postcards for technicolor motels named "El Siesta."

I love photos that quietly take my breath away.

I love photos of women who look beautiful holding a gun.

I love scenic photos with tones that bring me to my knees. Written on the back of the photo below: "Gateway to the Garden of the Gods -- See Pikes Peak in the distance -- the rocks are almost Japonica in color."

I love that the photographer recorded his/her memory of color on a black and white photo.

All of this makes me a little sad every time I pick up my iPhone to snap a picture. Or when I leave digital photo files on my computer for three years and never print them or put them into an album. There's nothing quite like holding a tiny print in the palm of your hand and seeing the whole world unfurl.

P.S. New blog banner. Figured it was time for something a little different.

Kitty-versary

2010-04-15T22:13:00.005-05:00

It feels like forever, but I just realized that it's been a little bit over a year since we adopted our cat, Curio.

We rarely call him Curio.

More like: Cat. Kitty. Mr. Naughty. Mr. Meow. Jerkface (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). Little brudder.

I always had cats growing up. My two childhood cats are still alive and well (astounding, really). But into adulthood, I shifted from cat person to dog person and didn't really entertain the thought of having another feline in my life. But last year I got the bug, and so Cat was adopted.

He might wake us up for food at 5 AM. He might gallop up and down the stairs like a herd of 50 elephants. He might chew up my eye glasses, destroy cardboard boxes, and knock shit over just for the fun of it. And oh, we cannot have any wicker/woven furniture or baskets, because he will destroy them, but we love him. Or rather, as my husband puts it, "we have an understanding." And who else would we conjure up wacked business plans for? Examples: Who purchased a giant tuna for a huge sum of money? Cat. Who started offering night-school doctor certification programs? Cat. And who is also an electrical contractor, real estate specialist, arsonist, scam artist, and keeper of minions (we're pretty sure he and the moles in the yard are up to no good)? Cat. Please tell me that someone else out there conjures up ridiculous employment schemes for their cats.

Yes.

Cat: Because I know you read this blog, you're all right, buddy. You're all right.

Nice Package

2010-04-14T23:57:00.005-05:00

Got my order today from Shim + Sons, a Portland-based design studio that makes lovely office goods and things for the home.

And they have really, really, really nice packaging.

I'm a sucker for stripedy tape and glassine envelopes.

And little tags.

And string.

And the mousepad I ordered is ok too, I guess. Just kidding. I love it.

Pretty packaging is always such a nice surprise when I order things from Etsy. Some folks really go the extra mile.

P.S. There was a teeny candy tucked inside as well, but I ate it already. So you'll just have to imagine the cutest little bumpy green candy ever.

Bits

2010-04-12T23:21:00.005-05:00

The Pacific Northwest strings you along. Long stretches of gray are interrupted by brief, brilliant sunny days. And for a second you think, "This isn't that bad." And really, it isn't.

I don't think it's fair for this part of the country to complain too heartily about the weather. We have, after all, chosen this spot. And some days, the gray is like a blanket and it is a comfort. It holds you in and the world feels just a little bit smaller, a little bit more manageable.

Anyways.

Some things I've been looking at lately.
An incredible discovery. The vine on my fence is Wisteria.

Something is blossoming.

The tulips are in fine form (these are from my garden).

Toes. Do they make you uncomfortable? I rather like them.

Bits. Good buttons, me, and my brother. Long ago.

I could get used to this.

2010-04-05T00:11:00.002-05:00

Well well. It’s been a long haul (literally) but we finally have a house and functional Internet and the planets have aligned and the birds are singing and all is well.

I’ve learned a great deal from this whole home-buying process thing. Through it all, I cried (more than necessary), obsessed (way more than necessary), second-guessed myself (normal), and lost plenty of sleep (also probably normal). And in the end, here we are.

Home, home at last.

Here are some things that I love about our new home:

1) The location. Most often when I told people where we were looking for houses, their eyes would get really huge and they’d say, “______? Wow. That’s way out there.” Or they’d chortle about living in “the sticks” or “the boonies” and ask why we’d want to do that. These are incredibly stupid things to say to someone who is making a huge investment of both monetary and emotional caliber. I’ve come to learn that buying a house falls into the category of “Things people have strong opinions about.” It’s nestled right next to “Baby names” and “College Basketball.” People will either love what you do no matter what and will smile and cheer you on every step of the way (big thanks to everyone who did that), or their eyes will get all wide and googly and they’ll stare down their noses at you in disbelief. “You’re moving WHERE?” Snort sniff stomp. I might as well have just committed to naming my first-born “Tallulah Rainbow.”

So yes, I love love love the location. We moved from Very Urban to Kinda Rural. And I love it. I love driving across the wide green farmlands every day. I love climbing up the big big hill and seeing the mountains dusted in snow. I love the moss draped on the trees. I love the brown and white horse in the pasture. I love the fuzzy cows. And I love the signs that say “No Shooting.” Yes, it takes 30 minute (gasp!) to get to work. Guess what, geniuses? It took me (and most other people) 30 minutes while living in the city. Sometimes more. But now I have 30 minutes of pretty countryside instead of 30 minutes of stop and go staring at the “Coexist” and "Simplify" bumper stickers slapped to the Subaru in front of me. Don’t misunderstand: I adore Seattle, and I will always deeply love it. But the urban-ness and the traffic and the many many people were wearing on both of us. We wanted quiet. And now when I open my window at night, I hear frogs and soft rain instead sirens and traffic and shouting.

2) The people. So far, my new neighbors have been amazing, particularly the sweet older woman across the street who knocked on our door bearing carrot cake and her phone number in case we needed anything. Today she came over with a plate of chocolate birthday cake, and we watched her march plates of cake over to all the neighbors’ homes. I love it. She also told us that this morning she saw two deer munching on plants in our front yard. She took photos and said she’d bring us copies. And while part of me was thinking, shit, they just ate my tulip bulbs, the other part of me said OMG DEER! In my YARD! Our other neighbors have been sweet as pie, too, and many of them have been living here for decades. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

3) The house itself. It is full of little charms like a claw foot tub and a red porch swing and antique crystal doorknobs. It is sweet and cozy and fits both of us so well it hurts. When I saw this house online, I didn’t think much of it. But when we drove by on a whim one day, my heart skipped and I knew it was the one. When we actually got inside to look at it, I knew it was the one. Sigh. There was so much serendipity in this process it’ll make you sick. But house, I love you.

Now…there are most certainly things that need work. And that’s part of the reason why we loved it. We are big on DIY and experimenting and building/redoing things on our own. This house is the perfect playground for that, without being an overwhelming frustrating money pit. Knock on wood. But right now I am happily typing away in my freshly painted office space that we have, in one weekend, completely rid of all traces of beige and yellow. Please. Just say NO to beige, people. It makes everything look dirty and dingy and old. So a fresh coat of bright white and a little bit o’ color (paint chip said “Lime Light,” which apparently means “blue,” Go figure. Never trust a paint chip) and I have a brand new room.

4) The yard. Our yard is good-sized with lots of mature plants, tons of tulips, daffodils, and other bulbs, and big pretty trees. Our pup can runandrunandrun in a fully fenced yard. It has a shed/shop, which Dave has already done a number on and made totally usable, adding lots of shelves and a potting bench area for me. I don’t know what half of the plants in the yard are, but I’ll learn. And I’ll work on honing my green thumb. I may have hated being outside as a kid and I despised helping with the garden, but now there’s no place I’d rather be than out in the yard with the sun on my back and dirt under my nails. My momma taught me well. I was watching, and the skills lay dormant for awhile, but I’m uncovering that part of me in adulthood.

So I’m happy to be back, happy to be home, and just plain happy altogether. I hope it lingers.

5 good things

2010-03-21T21:56:00.002-05:00

1. Springtime. It's my all-time favorite season in Seattle. I don't have photos to prove it right now, but trust me. The magnolias are opening and there are bits of white flowery fluff blowing everywhere. I adore it.

2. Beer. In my green drinking glass made from a wine bottle.

3. A big real grown up mattress. So long, crappy Ikea foam piece of garbage.

4. A gluttonous Easter Basket sent from my mom. I don't care how gross the innards of a Cadbury Egg look - I will always love them. Thank you mom, because you're never too old for an Easter Basket.

5. Closing on our house. On Monday. As in: tomorrow. Holycrapholycrapholycrap. Our apartment is filled with boxes and messes and fur tumbleweeds. But it'll be worth it. And you can bet there will be photos of lots of little projects to come. I'm bursting at the seams.

If I don't have much to say for awhile, bear with me. This moving thing has kinda got a hold on me.

Fire

2010-03-11T10:25:00.006-06:00

This morning I awoke to the sound of Dave peeking through the aluminum mini blinds, followed by sirens and rumble of fire trucks. I slipped outside in my pajamas and saw the yellow glow of a huge house fire, just a couple houses down from our apartment. The trees obscured most of it, but I could see flames licking out toward the road and the smoke was intense. Soon our entire street was filled with fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. It was still dark out, and the whole block was eerily lit with the glow of flashing red and white and blue, and the subtle yellow of the house in flames. I couldn't even picture which house it was, but Dave said it was a decrepit looking house of sticks that you could barely notice from the road. As far as we know, no one was inside. Abandoned houses make me sad. Abandoned houses that go up in flames make me even sadder.

I really wanted to get a photo of my street packed with emergency vehicles, but I didn't want to get in the way. So I shot what I could from my apartment. The glow on my blossoming tree was really creepy.

Like a pink blizzard.

And the condensation on my crappy windows was rather beautiful.

I made a little animation of the lights through my bedroom window. They're kind of pretty and almost hypnotic after awhile.

Explorers

2010-03-09T09:46:00.013-06:00

One of the best things about living in the Pacific Northwest is that there's always something really awesome to explore within a couple hours from home. I'd been craving a mini road trip for awhile now, so last Saturday we ferried ourselves over the water and drove to Port Townsend, an eclectic little town at the NE tip of the Olympic Peninsula.

In town we found plenty of little shops, restaurants, antique stores, and subtle tourist quirk. There were street musicians (including a didgeridoo player who was really quite good) and the prerequisite 50's style diner that always seems to pop up in most tourist towns. But I love those joints because it means I can get a Green River soda, which instantly transports me back to my high school sodajerking days at Lauber's Ice Cream parlor.

We explored Chetzemoka Park, a lovely little patch of green with pretty camellias, beautifully landscaped walking paths, and access to the beach.

Off in the distance, I spotted a lighthouse on a sandy strip of land. We decided to hop back in the car and see if we could get out to the lighthouse point. But what we stumbled upon was really quite unexpected and awesome.

The quest for the Point Wilson Lighthouse (the top peeking out, above) led us to Fort Worden State Park, a once active U.S. Army base that now houses many restored and functional facility buildings, an artillery museum, a campground, a marine science center, a small independent publisher of poetry - Copper Canyon Press, a school of woodworking, the Madrona MindBody Institute, and of course, plenty of old concrete batteries to climb around and explore. Incredible - and all located within one state park.

The gutted concrete buildings were eerie. Luckily there were quite a few other people exploring. If it had been any less populated, I would have been terrified. I'm sure the campers have fun scaring the bejeezuz out of each other at night.

Although the entire park was remarkably clean, I got the feeling that this was a popular teenage hangout. A friend of mine reminisced about having her first cigarette at Fort Worden, "and probably my first kiss, too," she laughed.

Many walls had several layers of paint applied to cover up graffiti, but a few clever bits could still be found. Nothing can stop taggers. I rather appreciate it.

'Twas truly a fascinating, fascinating place. I cannot wait to go back and explore more someday. I already feel like I missed so much.

More on Fort Worden here.

Dogs

2010-03-04T20:13:00.003-06:00

Some favorite pooches found while exploring the images at Flickr Commons.

Proud.

Intelligent.

Sweet.

Combative.

Adored.

Every day that goes by, I love my dog Gia more and more. Even though she makes messes/gets into the cat box/eats things on the counter/growls at doorbells on TV commercials. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Little paintings

2010-02-23T22:36:00.005-06:00

My artist friend Kim Zsebe had the incredible idea to create tiny pencil/watercolor/ink paintings of her facebook friends' profile photos. They look amazing in a big grid together, and I just had to share.

(Please click on the pic to enlarge.)

I think the coolest part was seeing how everybody she painted reacted to finding themselves in a little piece of art. By the look of all the positive comments she received, everyone was pretty thrilled to see how she had turned our grubby mugs into something quite beautiful. How intriguing to find our tiny digital profile pictures, just bits of data and pixels, translated into a tangible painting made with hands and paper and pigment.

Kim is ridiculously talented, and is offering custom paintings in her etsy shop. What a wonderful gift for mother's day, or as a special memorial, or for any loved one who already has everything. Not many people have the opportunity to own a custom piece of artwork at such an affordable price.

P.S. She's also a talented photographer, too.