Breakfast


Yeah, my favorite breakfast is eggs, bacon and a plain doughnut to dunk in my coffee. Check out my new favorite mug!
My friend Garth gave me a subscription to Pie of the Month Club! So far I've only made one pie and it totally burned cause I was being a little forgetful. (Sorry about leaving you with that burnt pie guys!) But I'm really rockin this mug. I actually wash it right away to reuse it again instead of tossing it in the dishwasher. I don't normally play favorites... I hope my other mugs aren't jealous!

Easter Eggs with Eleanor

This year I dyed Easter eggs with my small pal Eleanor. Check us out in our aprons!
This is one of my favorite activities of the season!! I love that at a mere three years old, Eleanor can totally roll with the crafty projects. She would delicatly pick up a drying egg to admire it and it just broke my heart.

Eleanor did point out that dying eggs was, "a little stinky"

Renegade Craft Fair


Well, Anne and I just got the news that we've been accepted to the Renegade Craft Fair this year! Mark your calenders!!

Some favorites

I'm a relatively new convert to the blog world. I used to wonder how on earth people found time to write a blog, let alone read each other’s blogs! In a culture where writing has gotten increasingly short and abbreviated, I applaud the effort of bloggers who compile beautifully written musings about their life. I really think shared human experience is one of the key ways of understanding our culture... I feel I've gotten to know very close friends even better by experiencing their writing voice. It lends a poetic weight to the day to day and I think it says something our human desire to be heard, understood, relevant and part of something bigger.

After starting my own blog, I've gotten very gung ho about finding and reading great blogs. I love artsy/crafty/shopping/girly/diy/pretty/why didn't I think of that kind of blogs. I wanted to share them with you and say that I'm always looking for more! I wish these people were my friends in real life!

OH JOY! is a lovely little blog just filled with beautiful collections of things. She finds such great things! Look:

My other favorite is How About Orange. Great how to's like these fabric covered thumbtacks!

Lastly, my friends at Purl Soho have an awesome blog called The Purl Bee with great projects, tutorials and inspirations in knitting, sewing, quilting, embroidery and crochet. The kids at Purl are good people with great style and are major supporters of natural fibers. Look at this beautiful fabric display idea:

27

My birthday began gathered with my dearest Brooklyn family, during the final bits of a Passsover Sedar. All four cups of wine finished (plus more of course!!), a delightful meal savored, the Afikoman found and nibbled to fill the tiniest remaining spot in our tums... we read Song of Songs aloud. I spent the first few minutes of my birthday reciting verses that illuminate the LOVE story between a man and woman, between God and and tells the story of how we all came to be free.... all of this which brought me into being.

As I get older I begin to expect less and less of my birthday and yet it always amazes me. My Mom wrote on her birthday card that she could only remember three of her own birthdays!!!! All I can say is that I'm sorry for not giving you more memorable birthdays Mom and that I feel truly lucky to remember so many wonderful ones!! At my Mom's suggestion, I will end this post with a list of my favorites!

Because the simple pleasures are what make my birthday, here's how the rest of my day went down...

After my first Sedar, the day continued with a late, spring night walk home with a great chat, a little sleep, waking up to a morning of beautiful sun and left over charoset balls for breakfast. I actually went to work watching my three year old pal Eleanor. We had a tea party, blew bubbles, swang on the swings together and enjoyed the sunshine (my favorite spring time activities!!!) I picked up a package sent from mom, opened it with Eleanor and shared some chocolatty treats with her. We also had fun stomping on the bubble wrap! Then I met a friend in the city for a lovely lunch of sunny side up eggs on toast with truffle oil and asparagus. Let's not forget the beautiful large latte! No matter how many I drink a day... always a pleasure. We looked around at pretty things, I got a pair of Marc Jacobs rain boots for $17 and then we shared a slice of cake with pink frosting before I headed out to Sedar #2 at Eleanor's house. My day ended in much the same way it began.

Now I'm jammin (my language for being dressed in pajamas) listening to an "Angry teenager 90's mix" cd, which was a birthday gift from a friend. It's all the music I never owned!! Now I finally feel cool! And writing a list of my favorite birthdays.

*********************BIRTHDAY LIST******************

Age 3: My first birthday in my house. I don't remember the apartment we lived in before this house and we never moved again. My friends came over and I remember organizing a music parade down the long hallway. I always think of this as my 2nd birthday though, my Mom says #3. Either way, it's the first one I remember and we ate cake at my tiny, pussy willow table.

Age 7: My birthday was on Easter. I had my first suprise birthday party. I'm pretty sure I was dressed as a bunny and it was at my Grandpas house. I didn't suspect a thing and it felt pretty great. Easter has always been my favorite. This might have bee the year of the bike... I kept pretty regular journals from this time on, maybe I got a diary too? I described my bike as "prepole and pink" in the first pages. That means purple and pink....

Age 13: I got a charm bracelet with a lucky 13 charm. I still have it. It has my Jr. High class ring on it and the moose charm my friend Abbie gave me that same year. She gave me a bracelet too, because they were really cool to us then. I traded the bracelet in for another charm I think, but Abbie didn't mind. She would have done the same.

Age 16: I threw a big party for this one, but only a few people came. I had hoped it to be an awesome boy/girl rockin thing. I decorated my basement by hanging all this funky cloth and old sheets along the walls and filling the floor with pillows. I was utterly crushed at the lack of peeps that showed up, even though the gals who did were true, true buds. You know how you are at this age... the boys, the boys.... why don't they like me??????

Age 17: My mom rented a hotel room in Portland, the BIG city, so my friends and I could go out dancing. This was a pretty cool gift.

Age 19: First college birthday. My friends commissioned the college cafe make me a carrot cake and we all ate it together. My roommate made a magnet of a model she found in a magazine who looked like me and happened to be reading a Martha Stewart cookbook. She pasted my face over hers.... this was totally impressive in the time before digital photo and all that print it yourself crap was as readily available. My mom has the magnet on her fridge, it's so wierd looking! This was also the first birthday I really felt the comradery of true friends gathering to celebrate you. Most of the gals there that night are still dear, kindered spirits.

Age 20: Smoothie party #1. I began hosting a series of smoothie parties with unique recipies and other yummy treats. Several boys entered the picture here... My then boyfriend Jesse, Hans and Garth (all solid dudes and practically brothers now) along with several other star appearences....Liza Stillhard anyone? My friends chipped in to buy me a sewing machine... my first appliance. The night ended in Meredith and Wolfie wrestling.

Age 21: Smoothie Party #2- the apartment. We were all excited because our 'rival' heckling dining hall table (they were our buddies) attended this party, which was a first social mixing outside the dining hall. Um, and then there was this boy visiting who I met in South Carolina, I was kinda stressed this day and fainted for the first time. My friends gave me a blender this year, which I still have!!! Appliance #2.

Age 22: The final college smoothie party! Even more guests this year. We wrote each other fortunes and made magnets.

Age 23: NEW YORK! well, Brooklyn style! Anne, my roommate at the time, gave me an entire jar of fortune cookies! Rick, was my roommate then too and Garth came over for brunch. I think this is when I got my camper boots, a memorable big ny purchase.

Age 24: I don't remember 24, but it was in brooklyn.

Age 25: another bklyn bday. 25 gifts from mom, 25 cards made by the kids in Mom's classroom and more than 25 cards fromf friends an family that my mom had asked to send me something.

Age 26: I had an Easter egg decorating party!!! I also was taken out to dinner at Lulu in Brooklyn.

Age 27: A pear cocktail party.... soon so get ready!

Hanami

April 7th is the first day of Hanami at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Hanami celebrates every step of the cherry blossom season. I look forward to this time, especially Sakuri Matsuri, the culminating weekend festival where the petals fall like snow!

Luckily I nanny for children with family passes to the Botanic Garden so I get to go often and check on the progress of the cherry trees during this time of year. It also affords me the luxury of going during the week, avoiding crowds and getting to experience the blossoms in a very peaceful way. Here are some photos from last year...



Many spring flowers have already started popping up around the garden, which is such a welcome sight! We've waited a long time. Endured cold wind, snow, woolen layers, bunching longjohns, runny noses and popsicle toes- enjoying these flowers is our reward! Everyone get out there and call me if you want to go to the garden with a pair of awesome three year olds...

I love Laundry day!

Simple pleasures people. Simple pleasures.
I wait so long to do laundry... weeks...not because I'm gross or anything, I just have a lot of clothes and don't have time to do full out laundry (the way I like it) that often. Plus as a procrastinator I just wait until I get to the last of my unders.

So yesterday was laundry day, just in time for spring! I put away all my wooly sweaters too and brought out the spring dresses. I couldn't be happier! Laundry day begins with the piling of colors: browns, greens & yellows, pinks and reds, blues, whites, greys, blacks, jeans and sheets and towels. Mostly, my towels are bright and fit into the other colored piles accordingly.... unless I have a massive amount of dish towels, in which case they get their own load. Ok, so you're begining to think I'm crazy to have so many piles.... that I'm the only person to break it down to individual colors.... not just darks/lights. Well, there's a method to my madness. But first here is a laundry dance, you can imagine your own music:

So as I already pointed out, I have a lot of clothes. Making these specific piles is the easiest way for me to break it down into small loads. Small loads get your laundry cleaner... which is after all the whole point of laundry day, is it not? The best part however, comes as you begin to fold your laundry. I usually take multiple trips to the laundromat next door. I put in two loads, go home, play computer/dance/clean/eat, bring over two more loads, put my first two loads in the dryer and repeat this cycle as necessary. I do this because I'm nice and don't want to hog all the washers and dryers from those who aren't as anal as I am.

So the best part.... folding! I love folding my clothes into neat little stacks. As I pull out the loads... blue was first yesterday, my folding table fills up with a wash of color- blues, then greys, then came the reds and pinks. You can see the progression of colors in the stacks. Each laundry day is different. I like the random color combinations that pop up. It gives me good ideas for new projects and I just fall in love with my clothes all over again. Here's an awesome color combo that happened randomly yesterday...

I though you might also get a kick out of this, my oldest article of clothing. Believe it or not, I made this tie dyed t-shirt when I was 12. It's totally see through, I've cut the collar off and you can't even tell it was once brightly colored. I only wear it to bed or to dance in and plan to keep it until it disintegrates!

"Oh, I had to throw out my old face cream, it didn't match my new ORGANIZED, bathroom."

Some of you may know, but I recently 'interviewed' at Martha Stewart Living for a position in the crafts department. After a month of not hearing from them, I was finally told there wasn't a position available. One can't assume that being interviewed for an open position actually means there is a position available after all, what was I thinking?

My spirit for the magazine has been fading over the last few years, especially in light of recent events, but mainly becuse with every new issue, there is some cute new craft project that either I have been working on already.... or was thinking about doing soon. Take this issue's postage stamp eggs.
Was my second blog post NOT about my new obsession with postage stamps? Hmmmmm, my favorite holiday being EASTER, it wouldn't have taken me long to put two and two together. Did I already make a postage stamp egg? No. Will I? HELLS no! Certainly not now. Am I angry? Yes. I'm tired of having such great ideas seem like copy cats of boring conservative crafting housewives who wear cashmere twinsets!!!! I am not a follower! I am a designer!

Is this jealousy? Envy? I'm mostly mad because my ideas are not getting published on those pages to. I wanted the job.

What really did it for me though, was this photo in the article about bathroom organization. I mean, I'm all for beautiful photographs, with insane styling and unique props. I understand that they are to provide inspiration and not necessarily be realistic.... but everything in this bathroom matches! It's all green.... even the toothpaste and fine print on the toiletries!!!!

My eyes practically rolled out of my head. I can't take it guys. Not any more. It's just..... pathetic or something. So unreal. An ideal that I don't feel a part of. My bathroom has hair in the brushes. My toiletries don't match. I actually...... LIVE in my house. You can tell that and to me, it is still beautiful.

So..... M. Stew, I'm kinda over you. It's time for spring cleaning and I'm pretty sure what I'm throwing away first.

Musings of the day

This morning I noticed that advertisors think a song will make us buy sour cream. Two compaines, Daisy and Frienship, have ads on t.v. that use cheesy jingles. They also think we should put sour cream on EVERYTHING, including muffins.

Then I looked on my bed and saw this...

Louis and Dinah dog just chillin and messing up my bed. After I took this photo, I set my camera down on my desk. When I saw this next image, I had to take it. Sometimes, actually, most of the time, color looks different through the camera lens. The color here looks nothing like the jar of colored pencils sitting next to me now. I collect these kind of photographs for future color references.

I drew this picture for a friend I thought could use a little city.

Finally, it's a beautiful spring day, so I went for a beautiful spring outfit.

Trash Camera


So lately Ii'[ve been bummed because my awesome camera, my partner in crime for the last year, is on the fritz. I have to send it in for repairs. Who knows how long it'll take or how much it will cost. Ok, but the real bummer is not being able to take photos of new work and keep up to date on this blog!

I was thrilled the other day when my friend Fran offered this camera to me. He found it in the trash!
Thank you Fran and thank you trash camera!

Kidland Mix


I just finished a marathon baby-sitting day: 7:45 am -7:15pm! The usual suspects: Miss Eleanor in the morning and then her bestie Luke joined us in the afternoon. These are the only two children I take care of and I've been doing it for two years now, wow! They are now three, fastly approaching four... great ones...Here's the cool necklace of Eleanor's I got to wear all day! But I digress...

There's something really special about spending such a large chunk of time with kids. It's not easy by any means, but you get enough time to just exist together. You have your ups and downs, your tears, your quarrels, your 'rules', your fun... you learn and do stuff and you just chill. This is my absolute favorite favorite part, just sitting with a child, chillin and chatting, Bill Cosby style. (total hero with the children and new addition to my team, btw)

Needless to say, this afternoon I was a little pooped, so I sent the little bffs off to Kid Land while I hung out in Grownup Land. I described Kid Land in a previous post, but it's the place where the kids 'go' to play however they want, without me around, as loud as they want, as messy as they want and I don't wander in unless I hear something in need of intervention. I actually keep pretty close tabs on them... and you think I'm just in it for the extra knitting time! It's been a really great system for me, especially when I need a little grownup land time and I think it's good for them too.

But today, before sending them off to Kid Land, I made them some Kid Land Mix:

In a big ziplock bag mix hand fulls of: crackers, raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, cheerios or any other "trail mixy" items. Really it doesn't matter, it's more about the presentation. Shake up the bag so it all gets mixed evenly. This is your master bag and must be marked KIDS ONLY!!!! Seriously, no grownups allowed. (Sometimes you can get a kid to share with you though...)

I gave each child his(her) own little ziplock bag, with his(her) initial on it. This is very important, to keep them straight. I'm going to be picking them up this whole week after school, so this is their snack bag for the week with me. I told them not to eat all the chocolate chips today, or else they'd be all gone on Friday. Of course they could if they wanted to and maybe they'll learn to trade items for their favorites as the bag gets thinner? I'm curious to see what happens. Each day I plain to add a little something extra. Today, a couple of carrots got tossed in. Tomorrow? Not sure yet, but some healthy vegetabaly thing.

I can't tell you how into this they were! They carried around their bags all afternoon announcing each new item as they munched it. They also couldn't wait to show their parents. It made me really glad to see them carefully close their bag and set it down in a safe spot while they played. We have a designated time period that is ok for snacking, basically up to an hour before dinner, and then the bags go away until the next day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow...

Here are the kids enjoying their Kid Land Mix

To sheet or not to sheet...


I'll always give a big thumbs up to down comforters. Soft, fluffy, warm, just the right amount of weight on you... but I'm torn about the whole sheet or no sheet thing. I've always treated duvet covered down comforters as any other blanket or quilt, the top layer of the sleepy sandwich. You pick your one beautiful cover and your done.

But now I've met all these people who skip the middle man... they drop the flat sheet and just change their duvet cover! I can sort of see the reason behind this, but what about all your beautiful sheets? Is there really a true advantage to this?

Advantage no, pleasure yes! I just got a new, fluff in every area, down comforter and decided to try this approach. It's kind of the best. Mostly because the darn thing feels so good on you, why put anything else in the way? It's all you need.

The other thing is that it moves easily with you and the sheets don't get all bunched up. I love curling up into a little ball with mr. downy all mooshed around me... then with one swift kick-o-the legs.... she's down around my ankles again, like the perfect bed of my dreams. None of this could be done if there was a sheet in there. It'd be getting all stuck and folded and I'd feel inclined to adjust it.

I sleep really well sans sheet, who knew?

I guess I'll have to make some more duvets with all my favorite sheets. Then again, I'm sure I'll need them in the summer.

So smart, it's stupid!

As I was browsing the interweb this morning, I came across this awesome idea.

It might just be me, but I often am at a loss as to how to best sew on a four-holed button... like a box? Like an X?
Neither has ever satisfied me, but what more could I do?

Check it out:

How abouut a beautiful little flower? Why didn't I think of this?????

Needless to say, my buttons will look like this from now on!

The best meatballs EVER!!!!

With the help of friends, I've developed the best meatballs EVER!!

It all started when Niegel and I decided to make meatloaf one night. I mentioned our plan to someone... "Oh, you've gotta use this..." she said and so it began. I'm totally stealing the best parts of all these family recipies and secrets.... but I guess that's what this is all about, so enjoy.

I'll tell you my way, because I think it's pretty jiffy. I'll do the whole meal, it makes more sense ingredients wise.

THE BEST MEATBALLS & SAUCE EVER!!!!!

Preheat oven to 400

Ingredients:

1lb ground sirloin
1 lg hot Italian sausage
1 lg sweet sausage
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 can whole peeled tomatoes

Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Coarse salt
Your favorite pasta...
Parmesan cheese

In a large bowl mix onion, parsley, sirloin, sausages (remove casings), 1 clove garlic, some salt, 1/2 of the beaten egg, bread crumbs, some parmesan and a little of the juice from the can of tomatoes (about 2 Tbl). Mix with your hands until just blended. Don't over mix or the balls will be tough. Mix just enough so that sausages are incorporated, the breadcrumbs are spread around and every ball has a bit of everything in it. Roll into 2" balls and set aside.

In a frying pan, heat olive oil over med-high heat. Place meatballs in oil and cook, flipping until at least three sides are browned, about 3-5 min. per side. Remove from heat and pour meatballs into baking pan, juices and all. Place the pan in the oven to bake until everything else is ready, or about 20 min. (Meatballs should be cooked through)

Using the same frying pan (don't worry about brown bits etc. it adds flavor!) add a little more olive oil, and place over med heat. Add remaining onion and garlic. Cook until onions are tender. Add can of tomatoes. Simmer over medium heat. Do not boil. Stir occasionally. (I use my spoon to cut up the tomatoes and press them a little bit while they cook.) Add salt and basil to the sauce to your liking. The salt will help draw out more liquid in the tomatoes, plus it tastes good.

Now is the time to make the pasta.
Once pasta is done, pour a little bit of the pasta water into the simmering sauce. (This adds a little starchiness to the and helps it grip to the pasta better)

Basically, you're done.
Put all the pieces together and in your tummy!!!!!

You can cook the sauce anywhere from just ten minutes to an hour. The longer you cook it, the thicker it'll get. I like it more on the less thick side... so that's more of what you'll get here. If you want it to cook longer, wait to make your pasta and keep the balls warm in a low temp. oven.

Have fun and tell me what you think!
It's totally worth a try!

When life throws you lemons...


Make Lemonade...

Or in my case, Banana Bread.
I'm a bit bummed today and am not in the spirit to dig to deep into making things. I needed something simple and satisfying.
Luckily I just happened to have three, very ripe bananas lying around.

Yum.
Here's my family recipie:

3 mashed bananas
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
2T melted butter
2 cups flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mash it all up together and bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Oh yeah, grease the loaf pan.

Inspired Knitting: One

In my quest to identify, isolate and illuminate areas that inspire us, I've come up with the following triggers:

Place
Be it a favorite coffee shop, a street, the beach or an entire city, place can be an extreme influence over us. How does a place or better still, a sense of place inspire you? Your trip to India... your Grandmas house...your bed?

Materials
Sometimes just looking at a skein of yarn is enough to inspire. Silk, cashmere, twine.... but what about beads, buttons, ribbons? I have a bundle of little red buttons for example, just begging for a sweater to show them off. We can design projects specifically to highlight and utilize our awesome materials.

People
Friends, family, strangers, celebrities... they can all inspire us to make things. My favorite thing is trying to imagine just the right sweater for a particular pal. How do they move? What would they wear? What would make him or her feel like a king?

Color
It be be one color or a combination of colors that jump start your engine. I love the muted color in this photo, which was a total accident by the way, because it feels other worldly. I could design using these colors or try to re-create the mood it suggests say, in a rooms decor....

Fashion
Obviously, the trends and style of the times play a very important role in what we make.

Necessity
Most commonly we make things for a particular purpose like.... I'm cold, I need a sweater. Or my sister is having a baby, I should make her a gift. Filling the needs of others or even ourselves, is an important reason to make anything and perhaps the most satisfying.

I'd say most things we make are a combination of the above ideas. I like to include my "inspiration story" when writing up patterns because I think it's often more motivating than the project itself. If we learn how others are inspired, we too, can begin to notice what gets us in the mood to make.

Look for experiments with these ideas in the future....

This Morning...

So this morning marks the first day of my new plan: working.

Well, I'm always working on something, but I need to get it together to make my day more productive and official. I work at home and it's really easy to get distracted by making cookies or cleaning something. I've decided to give myself a 10-6 working day. Luckily for me, much of that time will mean sitting and knitting with my favorite programs (pronounced progums). Did you know that Queer Eye is now on NBC morning television? I've yet to watch it at this time slot, but I'm looking forward to it. I used to look forward to the Cosby Show, it's kinda the best show, but it's not on anymore. So, I'm listening to public radio, which makes me feel smarter and is actually helping me with my computer tasks.

My work day is about to begin. Wish me luck!