A Classier Side of Hollywood

How excited are you for this flick?

Dining Room.

Remember all that talk about pendant lamps? We finally bought and installed the CB2 Eden lamp in our dining room.

Not a good picture for this but I also made new seat cushions from Ikea's cecilia fabric. I'll post better photos soon.

So Simple, So Brilliant -- Window Photographs

Image via i suwannee.

Wedding Invitation Worthy of Framing

Found on Lulu Bliss.

Rug of the Century

Saw this on Making It Lovely a few weeks back...

Just Pickled

After all that work - only 4 of 6 jars sealed (and two had to be re-processed for that to happen.) My first experience with pickling and I get the gist that it's a lot of work for little pay off. If they taste out-of-this-world, then maybe I'd pickle again...just 1 or 2 more weeks and these cumin lime pickles should be ready.

We Be Tripping

August was pretty great. We loaded Genson (below) into the car and drove from Miami to NYC in two days. Staying with your dog in a hotel feels very odd...but he was a trooper.



Genson even made fast friends with my in-law's lab, Jessie.
Before leaving NYC for the Bershires, we were able to spend a day with our niece, Ida.
Soon enough, we jumped ship to go to the mountains for hiking, grilling, Mass Moca and friends.
We fled back to NYC to reminisce in Brooklyn (saw Project Runway winner Leanne Marshall in Williamsburg), check out historic Jersey City, and spend time with family. We jumped back in the car to Ithaca to pick up some Vancouver friends before crossing the Canadian border for a wedding outside of Toronto...quite a driving whirlwind but so good to get away.

Inside. Cabinet. Painted.

Remember how I wanted to paint the inside of my built-in hutch? Well, I did. Who lacks initiative now, huh?

We chose a bright yellow called "Macaw" by Glidden. In fact, it's so bright that when I walk by it at night, I keep thinking there's a light on inside of it that I should turn off. Magic paint!

The below pics show the color more accurately: Macaw!

Back with Pickles

I know, I know. It's been a while. What can I say? I observe the European knack of taking the month August off.

But today, I'm making Martha's cumin and lime pickles with my mom. More to come...

Tunic fabric

I scored some sale fabric at Jo Ann's for my Simplicity 2584 pattern tunic. The best part? It's got a little stretch to it.

This weekend

We're taking our dog, Genson, on the 20 hour drive to upstate New York. This is making me nervous - he's a 50 lb-er shelter mutt.

(Above image is via BetterOffDead (Claire Marie Vogel))

Yarn Likenesses

Check out these yarn skills....

Embroidery artist Justin Morin and his modern-style portraits.


And Jo Hamilton creates these stunning portraits in crochet, based on photographs.

Paint inside of cabinet?

I just saw this cabinet on Design*Sponge and it made me wonder if I should paint the inside of this built-in hutch in our living room....

Stick With This

Brilliant packing tape from TapeSwell.com. These are way too nice to waste on moving. I'm envisioning this year's holiday wrapping in plain brown craft paper or plain white boxes with these crisscrossing the top. $7

A Day in the Clouds

How great are these cloud magazine wall racks?? $67 on Overstock.com. They would really perk up my home office and solve some magazine pile-up issues at the same time.

The Home Office: Ideals vs. Reality

As someone who works from home, Centsational Girl's round-up of inspiring home offices is great eye candy, even though a majority of her finds are a bit too girly for me.

For some reason, our home office/guest room is the place we stuck everything that didn't "go" in the rest of the house. It's on the long list of "To do's." Here's a shameful glimpse at what's behind me as I type:
Although, I am pretty excited/proud of the lamp I found will thrifting this weekend:

More Radical Cross Stitch

how the Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle stitched ‘I Wanna Live Here’ on a fence to send out a message that it's ridiculousness that there are so many empty lots when the problem of homelessness persists. They'd surely be appalled by all the empty foreclosed homes around here....

The Fairies Have Lights

I'm really enjoying the fairy lights set from Beth Retro's flickr page....

New Kitchen Curtains: Sun Blocker

New curtain for my kitchen. I really like the fabric but with no pattern in hand, I ended up ordering too little yardage and had to make a trip to Jo Ann's just for extra fabric to trim it with. Blocks the summer morning sun so it will stay for now....

Add this to your dinner rotation: Bean Burgers

While I'm on the subject of food - let me also recommend this easy recipe, Black Bean Burgers. They hold together pretty well...we ate them with a little spicy/smoky mayo concoction and some leafy greens from the garden.

OK, this photo was taken at our garden's prime in a bountiful Spring - this hot summer has almost scorched everything but the arugula and rosemary seem to be hanging in there.

Soft pillows of gnocchi

Culinary success. I made this gnocchi recipe from Apt. Therapy last night. Very easy and tasty - got a little messy with all that flour flying around but well, worth it. Go make it!

Soothing

A wonderful photograph by Mr. Sir Ed.

Vib-Robot Tut on Martha

During lunch I had on the Martha Stewart Show and saw Mark Frauenfelder, editor of Make Magazine, do a how-to on these fun, robot toys. Looks easy enough and it's a nice change of pace from knitting and sewing.

A Working Vacation

Have you heard of WWOOF? Sounds like a wrestling org but it actually stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. You pay a $20 membership and which gets you a directory of farms looking for volunteers. You work half a day on the farm and the host gives you accommodations and meals.

Vacations seem to be about walking around from one big meal to the next so I like the idea of having a purpose to my vacation days. I just took a peak at their list of farms and they are in some pretty spectacular locations. Good excuse to stay in Montana or Itlay for free...

The Goblin King

This may a little off topic but holy jeez, Mass Moca is hold a LABYRINTH SING-A-LONG on August 27th. Like most ladies my age, I memorized all dialogue and song from this movie -- and still know it by heart.

"Your remind me of the babe. What babe? The babe with the power. What power? The power of the voodoo. Who do? You do. You remind of the babe."

The really sad part: I will be staying a few miles from Mass Moca for 3 weeks in August but leave Aug. 24.

Biz Cards, Yes It's Time

Somehow, I've garnered work writing food + drink stories. And it seems when you meet people in this industry, they expect an exchange of business cards. I didn't think I was the business card type but I'd prefer not to have to sheepishly smile and say "Sorry - I don't have a card" anymore.

And this morning, I'm supposed to be writing (and finishing and submitting) the article from the interview in which the biz card situation arose but this paper and design lover is now obsessing over said cards. I've already spent a few hours playing in photoshop and now I'm researching others' card designs as well as the companies that have free biz card offers.

If money were no object (is that EVER the case?), I'd die for letterpress business cards. And I'm now realizing that even tho I have a web site, I don't have a logo. Do I need one as a freelance writer? I'm flummoxed about how one goes about designing one sans cheese...I guess that's why designers exist??

Rounded corners: two thumbs up.

Here are some inspiring designs: