morning alarm.

6:41:01

6:50:53

7:00:58

It all started when my hot water bottle at my feet started to tremble.

When gigi starts shivering uncontrollably, it usually is one of two things: she's just had a seizure or there is thunder. So when I felt it this morning, I called her name and in both cases she always comes to cling to us in fear. But when she's having a seizure she usually drags her front legs, and in this case she walked to me and I was relieved.

I don't know why but it felt odd to have a morning thunderstorm, especially with bursts of lightening. While gigi settled into all my negative spaces under the covers in fright, I was wide awake and watched the sky through the window above my head.

I love thunderstorms, maybe a little more because it means I get some intense gigi snuggles.

adding a little.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to accessorize more. I am pretty minimal in my style, and I am very particular about jewelry. I have a few pieces, but I'm trying to add more. I seem to have to follow the opposite of the rule of taking something off before you leave the house. I need to add a few things.

One of my favorite things are my thin stacking gold rings by favor jewelry. I wanted to be able to swap out my wedding ring sometimes. And I usually just wear one. Which I guess isn't adding but subtracting, maybe I'll try wearing them on my right hand with my bling. Baby steps.

I got these earrings by Amber from Mani designs. I love her jewelry (and I already have two of pieces), so simple but also complex in detail. She takes tiny bits of natures and casts them. These posts are large, which is the kind of earring I love. They both are a little different, and they make me feel a bit glam. 


I recently got my first watch in a really long time, a swatch. I like that it's a bit large and chunky. I was a little surprised that I picked this color a warm brown rubber band with hot pink accents. I'm not a hot pink person, but I love the brightness. It might drive some people crazy, but it makes a loudish tick with the seconds, and I love that sound. I also like having a quiet statement of my lefty-ness. I can always pick out a lefty when people wear a watch on their right hand.

I'm trying! Next I need to get some chunky necklaces or something.

happy birthday to marlow.

Today is my grandpa's 80's birthday. He's one of my favorite people in the whole world. I recently went through a lot of his old photos when I was designing an invite for a party we are having for him at home. There were so many that I had never seen before, it was so fun to see him so young. 

He's where my sister and I get our blond hair from. I swear he has always looked exactly the same from when I was a little kid, I can't believe he is 80! He is still so active, helping his neighbors, refinishing furniture, and volunteering every week. He is an expert gardener, and has a kind heart.

I am so happy that we get to go home for his party and see all our family again, it's been a while since we've been back.

polishing.

Today I took a little time to do some things I needed to do, mostly picking up my studio. + a little polish. I almost went for the winter color, but I instead choose spring. I got all my japanese books all in a row. Makes me happy for them to have a place. I just replicate mess at a constant rate.

You know all those perfect studio photos, of perfectly aligned pencils and fresh flowers? Where do they put all their computer cords and chargers? Dishes from eating lunch? What about scraps of fabric and yarn and WIP's? That's the studio I want to see.

But then again I'm to afraid to show you mine. 

Although it is nice to have things perfectly in place, usually us creative types just don't work that way. Or maybe it's just me. I'm a pile-er. 

But don't worry, I'll have a perfect photo session when my studio is finally where I want it to be. Someday.

midnight snow.

I took think as I was walking out of work last night. I love snowstorms in the middle of the night, how everything is quiet and oddly bright.

The roads were a bit bad though, and we did have a car hit us when they couldn't stop at a light. But luckily enough there was no damage to our car and slight damage to theirs, they were going really slow.

I finished the pouf, but I stuffed it with pillows and it looks a bit lumpy. So I don't want to show it off until I'm satisfied with how it looks. Need to find some cheap duvets. 

I'm still here.

Saturday I spent a lot of the day working on the pouf. Or puff. It felt like I was knitting a blanket for a giant, it was heavy like one of those metal aprons that they put on you at the dentist. Which is where I'm going tomorrow. Gulp.

Tyler made me some chai and it was a pretty delightful day. I'm assembling the giant striped sea urchin today, stuffing it with pillows for now.

After a beautiful weekend, we got snow this morning, and a fresh set of puppy prints. I love that she walked back the same way she came.

week wrap up.

Late friday post. It's been a busy week, I've had things looming over my head. Aha! Crafty pun!

I've been saving all my leftover yarn, for something, and this weekend I'm going to use it to make one of these. Or two. I've got a lot of tiny yarn balls. Busting out the big needles, this is serious business!

This week's fleeting (tomorrow it will be back to the 30's) warm weather got me thinking about my garden. This post helped me feel positive about trying again this year. And I got this book to help me.

I've made this twice this week. Best. Banana. Bread. I made it once with chocolate chips, and I have to say, I prefer it slightly without, but that's not saying I won't do it again.

afternoon stroll

Today was a balmy 60 degrees. I ran a bunch of errands with the windows down (for gigi mostly) and then came home and took a little walk to the thrift store right by my house that is open on Thursdays. Didn't get much, a couple sweaters and a tiny jelly jar.

I think it's my destiny someday to have a round door. I don't care how it happens, it will happen. 

Other than huge muddy puddles from melting snow, it was so nice to walk around and not think about the cold weather. That puddle in the first picture, I stood there for a few minutes trying to plan, go left through mud or right through melting snow. I choose melting snow.

I'm sure it will get cold again soon, but it was a nice little break to get me thinking about spring.

***bit of maintenance, for all you RSS readers old and new out there, I would urge you to update your feed subscription url to this. I changed my domain a while ago and I just want to make sure it keeps working in the future, and I know there are a bunch of you that are still using my old address. Any questions let me know.  

so warm.

Maybe she convinced me to stand in the sun for a while. Now I want to take a siesta.

Love her.

*ps. my sale is ending today. thanks.

big wool.

Friday night we discovered we had run out of heating oil. And we had a house guest. Luckily we had a space heater to give our guest and at 5am I woke up in an anxious panic and turned on the faucets to drip so the pipes wouldn't freeze.

We woke up to our house being 50 degrees and I took a check over to the oil company. I will never get used to heating a house this way. I would have to wait until the driver would get to my house to pump the oil into a huge metal drum in our garage (which didn't happen until 6:30 pm!), and in the meantime I stayed extra cozy in my Icelandic sweater.

Made from wool from their purebred sheep, I was pretty determined to get a sweater while we were there. Their sweaters are hand-knit, and have a traditional yoke patterning. Walking around, I saw they were pretty expensive, but of course we found the greatest second-hand store. What's better than an authentic Icelandic sweater but a vintage Icelandic sweater?

They have to fit a particular way, loose, and long. They are made to be layered, and many of the locals wear them as coats or chic over-sized tunics. This was the only one in my perfect size, and I loved the subtle colors of tan and brown. The woman there approved of my authentic Iceland style and I was sold. Especially at 1/5th the price.

love day.

Happy Valentine's day. Tyler and I celebrated it a bit early because tonight I have work. I can't really put my finger on how I feel about this holiday, but we are pretty casual about it, which I like.

I did get to open my valentine Tyler got for me, which was pretty spectacular. It came in the mail on Saturday and I've just been staring at the beautiful envelope for a few days. It was perfect.

A tradition that is starting to form is me making Tyler some kind of fancy treat. This year I made Tyler some peanut butter cups, which are his favorites. I had been thinking about it and then this recipe popped up, and it was perfect timing. They are fantastic, as irregular as they look.

I guess our real gift to each other is two posters that we got in Denmark that we are custom framing. They should be done this week and I am so excited to put them up.

silky + wrinkly.

Yesterday my friend and I went spur of the moment to Goodwill. They were having a big sale, and we had some time to kill. Usually I don't find too many things there, but I did find a few dresses + these shirts. My friend Kim found a bunch of stuff too, which included some of my dresses I donated last week in a closet clean out spree Tyler and I had. Whoops!

We found these two 100% silk shirts. The first is an off white (not peachy ombre, I wish.) and is pretty perfect for the slightly over-sized silk shirt moment going on right now. Maybe?

The other is a vintage jcrew, probably from the 90's, and the fit is superb, but the color is a bit too much 90's vomit on my body. The picture doesn't do it's color justice. So this is going to be my I'm-going-to-modify-and-make-do purchase. I'm thinking I would like to dye this, maybe a navy or gray? Anyone dyed silk before?

Lastly, there are always dresses at a thrift store I pick up because I just have to try it on. The fact that this garment still exists is a treasure. Because I love you guys, and I'm a bit self deprecating, here it is.

Don't say I never did anything for you.

man onesie

I ran across this photo again from our trip and it always makes me laugh. These guys were on our flight with us from Copenhagen to NYC with a layover in Iceland, which is where I managed to get the sneaky pic.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these "outfits." I was like hoodie, sweatpants, no wait? no waistband? I love how they are wearing them cool high school boy style with the legs scrunched up. You have to do something to make it look like you wore a onesie on purpose.

I found out they are called a one-piece, and are from the UK. Maybe my friends over the pond can explain if this sight is a common occurrence? Don't get me wrong, I would love love love to have one of these to hang out in my house with these days, but walking out in public is another story.

rice bowl

The last couple days have been a deep freeze, the kind where the high is in the teens and the wind seems to blow through your jeans (and bones). I decided to make something comforting and warm, but also fitting with my goal to eat healthy this week.

Now I know the idea of fried rice isn't really mind blowing, but right now my favorite meal is dolsot bibimbap. A korean dish that uses a hot stone bowl, rice and veggies with an egg (raw or fried) on top. You stir it all together with a spicy chili sauce and the bowl cook everything and makes the rice crunchy. I decided to try and replicate that taste in a simple and healthy way.

Today I also made a ton of brown rice, I cook brown rice in a pot like pasta for about 30 minutes, until it is still a tiny bit chewy, drain the water, cover with the lid and let it steam off heat for 15 minutes, then fluff. It makes the best rice and it also means you can make more than one cup at a time without messing it up.

I let the rice cool down and then divide it into one cup portions in freezer bags, flattened. They can be frozen and when I need some I can just take one out and run it under hot water to thaw it. I made around 12 cups of rice from about 4 cups uncooked.

My version of dolsot bibimbap
I guess it would be called just bibimbap because I don't have a stone bowl.

you can pretty much use any combo of veggies, frozen or fresh. I think the sesame oil, sriracha and egg are key to getting the same flavor. 


vegetable oil
sesame oil
soy sauce or fish sauce to taste to flavor (maybe 1/2 a tablespoon)
fresh broccoli florets (3/4 cup)
grated or finely chopped carrot (I grate them with my food processor)
1/2 cup snow peas, ends trimmed and halved
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
sriracha
fried egg (or scrambled, my husband likes it this way, he's not an runny egg yolk fanatic like me)




Use a tiny bit of vegetable oil (1 tablespoon) in a heavy-bottomed pot heated to medium-high, add in a teaspoon of sesame oil (gives it so much flavor) and put in the broccoli and stir fry for a couple minutes. Throw in a few shakes of soy sauce (this time I was out so I used fish sauce) and then put in the halved snow peas, grated carrots and brown rice. The idea is to use at least half veggies, and you want them to still be crisp, just warmed though.


Stir it around to get the rice crispy and meanwhile heat up a sauce pan to fry up an egg over easy. Get that going and stir in about a teaspoon of sriracha (or more or less to taste). Put the rice mixture in a bowl and top it with the egg (yolk still runny). The yolk gives the rice moisture and great flavor. 

seize the tuesday.

So if you read my post yesterday, I had a serious case of the Mondays. Today I decided to make the most of Tuesday. I woke up early, helped Tyler cut his hair, did some exercise, showered and got dressed, went to test some hearing products (random thing I do sometimes for $), got back and started up with my leftover cross stitch from yesterday to make it a complete project.

I had something in mind, I had seen somewhere a picture of a pincushion around a sewing machine, and I thought it was the best idea because I always end up putting pins weird places.

So I just put together a couple 3 inch squares of linen, sewing them with elastic on the sides, turning it right side out and stuffing it with scraps of wool yarn I had around. I should have put a button and a loop around the back, for now it's just tied together in some weird way.

It isn't perfect, the elastic isn't on symmetrical, my sewing wasn't straight, the corners seem oddly pointy, and maybe I should have made it a little smaller. But really the point was to finish a project and just do something new. I like it!

What are you doing to seize the (tues)day?

ps, if anyone is wondering, I have a Viking Emerald 118, which is a super great basic-yet-long-lasting machine. No frills, but it does everything I want and it doesn't even look ugly.

mondays 5 me 0.

I haven't been able to get over my case of the Mondays since I got back from my trip. Every Monday feels sluggish and very unproductive. I just can't get past it.

Today I started my day a little late, and had a one-two punch of leftovers: seven layer dip and some pad thai, which I doctored with sesame oil and a healthy amount of sriracha. If it can't be fresh, then let it be spicy.

I tried to work a couple projects and orders, but still am a little scatter brained, so I started a little cross stitch project to keep me busy until I have to go to work.

I have high hopes for Tuesday.

cables of love.

I stayed up until 1am last night focused on getting his hat done, I was determined to finish it. It turned out so well, I was so happy that it fit Tyler perfect, and it got his approval. Success!

I had him put it on this morning so I could take some pictures, and whenever I take pictures of Tyler it makes me laugh. He gets all serious, and I tell him a million ways to look, and I direct him pretty strongly because I can be a bit particular about pictures. I was joking that he was so serious and he let out a laugh.

This picture isn't one of the ones that he would have picked, but to me it wraps up everything that I love about him.  My big mission in life is to do something to make Tyler bust up laughing, he's got a laugh that is just pure gold.

check out my ravelry for more details about the hat.

swan song.

Happy Thursday all! This is my favorite day of the week, maybe it is because I have the day off, and it's always lingered from when I was in college that Thursday was always an extra weekend day.

After a bit of thought, I've decided to finish up my time with the loop scarves. I have loved (loved) making them, and I have been so grateful to how well they were received. After making more of them then I even expected in my wildest dreams, I am having a sale at my shop on the last few as a thank you to all of you.

I'm going to start developing some new ideas I've been mulling around in my head that I'm pretty excited about. Don't worry, my weaving isn't going away just yet.

Maybe you've had your eye on one and now need a blizzard/valentine present to yourself?

**I've started a little group on flickr if you have a secret pocket scarf and want to show it off, I thought it would be fun to see how everyone wears them.