I thought it would be colder...

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We headed out on a camping trip to the state park nearby. We got a good camping spot, and set up camp, Gigi seemed to really love being outside, and she's so obedient, she did great.

We had amazing meals, we had salmon hobo dinners with potatoes and carrots. I precooked the potatoes and carrots before we left, so we just needed the salmon to cook. It was so delicious. I didn't get an after picture because it was dark by the time we were done. Which reminded us that a lantern is the next thing we need to buy.

We had smores of course, and in the morning we made some sausage biscuits. We used the grill to bake the biscuits and heat the sausage. I used canned biscuit dough, and with some experimenting we realized that splitting them in half so that they were thinner helped them cook faster. We buttered some foil, and would set the dough on top on the grill, in more of a cooler spot, put the lid on, and flip halfway through, until both sides were browned. I had some english muffins just in case it didn't work out. 

Other than being really hot and a bit humid with no breezes in the evening, it was a really enjoyable and relaxing experience. We both woke up a lot at night, but not because we were uncomfortable, it was just a little too warm. I'm used to camping at a higher altitude, so it cools down a lot more at night. But I only whined a few times.

yes, we got married young.

Our most recent picture together, on our trip to Iceland in December. I look a little creepster. We should work on that. 

Today is our 6th anniversary. We've grown into semi-mature adults together. We've made all our major individual life decisions together, and I think we make a pretty great team. He's the best partner I could ever ask for.

We will celebrate by eating, and this weekend we're going on our first solo-camping trip. Anyone have any favorite camping meals? Of course this is the only thing I'm really concerned about, and bugs. and bears. eating gigi.

For all the yanks, have a great memorial day weekend! (for people planning weddings, if you get married over memorial day weekend, you'll always have a 3-day weekend for your anniversary. Genius!)

potted.

Today it was hot and sunny. I had the day off, got a little morning knitting done, ran some errands and came back and worked outside. I enjoy spending time out on our roof deck, where gigi just lounges while I work, it's really coming together. I got the rest of my plants planted. My tomatoes, and herbs, and a few flowers too. My tomatoes already have a couple blossoms.

Tyler made me a planter for the deck rail with some leftover wood we had. I love how rustic it is. It's old pine, but I'm not sure if it was treated so I lined it with plastic, with holes and gravel to help it drain. Now I just need to get home to make me a few more...

ps. made grilled pizza again, they were great! The key was to make them personal sized for our small grill.

haul

This Saturday we woke up with a start at 8:20. Tyler remembered that the yard sale he'd been waiting for all year started at 8:30. It is a huge sale at the retirement home nearby, so lots of old stuff just waiting to be found. We were up and in the car 3 minutes later. Tyler parked and ran as fast as he could, as the crowd was already pretty big. We got a good amount of stuff, the only thing pictured here is that shoe thing. I think it's for a cobbler for making shoes, but whatever. It's old, it's cool, it's now in our house.

We also went thrifting and I found a dusty lavender blouse, a super camping shirt, and what I've been dreaming about since my road trip of feasting: an elastic waist skirt. This one is really casual and prefect for summer, knee length and broken in (and only $1.25). Tyler usually finds me a tee or two, and this one was a gem, wrestling graphics are just...awkward. That's all I'm going to say about that. 

Tyler also got our vintage glass pendant light hung, and it looks so great in our living room. We've just been using something really lame just waiting for something just right to come along. 

Sometimes I think I should just make a haul vlog with all my vintage finds, then I could explain all the odd things I get. That would be fun but seeing myself on video makes me dry heave. Maybe gigi could do it. She's got a flair for the dramatic.

grilling again.

We were lucky that Saturday turned out to be rain free. We tried some more grilling, this time kebabs/kabobs. I grew up saying kabobs, but now that seems like the non-cool way to say it? Not sure about that. We used shrimp, zucchini, red pepper and pineapple. At the end of grilling we brushed on mixture of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce and rice vinegar. I think all our kebabs before were missing a sauce or marinade. That really adds a lot. These were pretty delicious, no fires this time.

I love how grilling turns into Tyler and I working together, problem solving, eating and chatting as we go. The last couple years some of my favorite memories with Tyler have been cooking together. I'm sure there will be lots more grilling to show as we go through the summer.

road trip!

I got back from an epic road-trip with Shanna. She launched her amazing new spring line, jumped in a car, and we started our journey to end up in Asheville, North Carolina to see our friend Betsy.

I don't think I can fully even describe how fun this was. Over 20 hours in the car + 5 states + 1,423 miles passed by so quickly. We laughed so much, saw the most gorgeous views in the Shenandoah Valley, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and our world went silent when we suddenly passed through a town that had been completely ripped apart by the tornadoes near Tennessee.

Asheville is a beautiful and vibrant city. We took advantage of going to as many amazing restaurants as we physically could (I'm still waiting to feel hungry). I had southern BBQ and grits 3 times (I love them!). Betsy was a great host and the perfect guide to her town.

We didn't even take any pictures, I treasured so much this time I could spend with a dear friend, my first "online" friend. I loved feeling like I could just experience it, and not worry about taking photos to document it.

We went to Monticello on our way back (the only photos I took), which was really special. The weather was perfect and it was the best way to end the trip. Thomas Jefferson's life was truly complex, and it was surreal to be in a place and be surrounded by things that existed at that time.

I feel creatively recharged and ready to tackle the summer, and all the things that you feel when you can spend time with great friends. I hope you have a road-trip planned this summer!

medium well, please.

Since we got our new grill recently we've used it a few times, only really for hot dogs, hamburgers, and some veggies. We wanted to branch out, and I think we've grilled our last hamburger for a while (or at least a week).

We decided to try some grilled pizzas. The concept is simple, put some dough on the grill, flip, and put on your toppings. Well, we're still figuring out the whole charcoal/heat thing, and we put our first attempt on the grill and it practically burst into flames. So we let it cool down to about medium/medium high, and then tried again. Much better.

We topped it with our favorite toppings, sweet caramelized onions and fontina cheese. It was chewy, charred, and delicious, though as you can see, it was a bit big for our tiny grill. Next time we'll split the dough into fourths. We're happy to perfect it as the hot summer drones on and we won't have to heat our oven to 500 degrees for a half hour and make our house a sauna for one of our favorite meals.

Do you have any adventurous grilling recipes? We're game for anything!

I'm beyond thrilled to be a bit adventurous myself and go out with a dear dear friend of mine and head out on a bit of a vacation and exploring. I might be sparse around here for a few days, but I'll be posting TMI as usual on twitter. See you there?

project 1 over. sort of.

It's done! I finally got my box cushions done for my sofa, and I finally cleaned up my studio so I could get a couple pictures. This was a $40 craigslist find from Michigan which came with 4 cushions that were from two different couches. Taking it home in our car also caused us to get pulled over in Ohio (we were not speeding), where the cop thought our Idaho plate was a fake Ohio plate (that was his only excuse), and we had a full car and Tyler had a HUGE beard, so the cop made him sit in the back of the cop car so his drug sniffing dog could check him out. Profiling at its best, well not exactly, it is a lot worse to others, but you get what I mean. 

I think they turned out pretty good, I tried to tuft one and it was way harder than I thought, so I abandoned that. Mostly because I had a shank pop off a button, and weilding a 5 inch needle through thick dense foam is kinda a nightmare. I think it would look much better with the tufts, and help so you don't notice so much wrinkling, maybe I will try it again.

So it's not really perfect in my mind, which I'm trying to not worry about, but it does bug me a little. Deep breath. Serenity now. I just need to make some pillows for it and then it will be more complete.

happy mother's day

Happy mother's day yesterday. Last year I made handmade gifts for my mom and MIL, and I think it's turned into a tradition.

I had a willing model for my mother's day gifts I made. Well maybe not totally willing, but she didn't really protest too much. Trying to model them myself was a total fail, and she's much cuter anyways. I made some loop scarves made from a yard of stretchy soft jersey that I sewed together with a flat felled seam.

They are a nice spring alternative and I thought it would be a great layering piece for my mom's big trip to Norway that she's leaving for today (so exciting!). I was inspired by Sally's scarves she made for her boys, they've been in the back of my mind since I saw them.

I'm so grateful for my mom and MIL for everything they have taught me and Tyler as stellar moms. We love them so much! 

souvenirs

We didn't get too many things from our trip to Iceland and Denmark, but we did get these two posters in Copenhagen at a flea market. We had them framed, and there was a bunch of problems and we finally got them back, just a couple months longer than we hoped.

The top one is a poster by Bjørn Wiinblad, who was a famous Danish painter and designer. I love the graphic nature of his illustrations. They almost look like a woodcut or cut paper. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this one, we have too many windows and the glare was driving me crazy. I was lazy enough that I didn't take it off the wall, it's huge.


The second poster is a fun one that reminds me of Copenhagen. We were able to walk around the royal palaces/homes, you can actually walk real close to them, like in a cul-da-sac. But there were guards posted around the houses, and when we would walk by, they would march over to the side nearest us and stand at the ready. They had super tall hats just like the poster. 

Tyler picked up these peonies today. They are perfect in my recently-thrifted pyrex beaker. I can't wait until it's a bit warmer and they start blooming outside and I can steal them from my neighbors (college boys who couldn't care less). 


Have you gotten art from your travels?