funnelcloud

800 paper hearts

2012-02-17T05:33:00.013-05:00

From the looks of these photos, it would appear that I am a hopeless - and sappy - romantic. Which certainly isn't true. Valentine's Day has never been a big deal for us. We're not the type to go out to dinner on the one holiday of the year when everyone else goes out. In the past, we've celebrated by watching LOST and eating pizza on the couch. Last Valentine's Day, Larry was in Asia. And this year there is no LOST to watch. In fact, other than Christmas, birthdays, and stuffing our faces on Thanksgiving (the one holiday all about food!) - Larry and I don't do much to celebrate holidays. Maybe because we don't have kids it doesn't seem worth the effort? But lately, I've been realizing it's the little celebrations that make life fun and I've been trying to have more fun with holidays - especially the easy ones that don't require gift giving, family stress, or a big budget.

This year, I didn't want the day to go unacknowledged, so I started brainstorming how I could surprise Larry with a nice low-key Valentines at home. We're in the throes of refinancing our mortgage, doing our taxes, and trying to run a small business - as well as all the other daily adult responsibilities that seem to get in the way of our relationship and sap the fun out of life. (Doesn't being a grown-up suck sometimes?!) An evening dedicated to the two of us paying attention to each other was just what we needed...

However, Larry and I have been together for almost nine years. At this point, surprising each other is virtually impossible. We both enjoy the simple pleasures - a good meal, a glass of wine - but are avid home cooks and we love cooking together. We try new recipes all the time and don't shy away from difficult recipes. Since we cook special meals almost every night, making a special meal for a special occasion is also virtually impossible for us. (Which isn't to say that we are such food snobs that we don't order pizza or eat cereal for dinner from time to time - we definitely do that, too!)

While I certainly don't need a Hallmark holiday to prove my love for Larry - why not take the time to do something special on the day dedicated to love? Which is why I spent the weekend before the big day punching out hundreds of paper hearts and slaving away at my sewing machine. The Valentine's surprise? A wall of garlands made of over 800 hearts:

In true Rachel (Queen of Procrastination) fashion, I didn't plan dinner until 3 pm on the 14th - and after hanging up all the garlands and a last minute trip to the grocery store, finally started cooking. So Valentine's Day for us was a bottle of wine, a simple meal of comfort food, candlelight, cell phones and television off, good conversation, and giving each other our undivided attention. (Plus a couple of sweet treats and a whole lot of paper hearts!) Perfect.

Sometimes Valentine's Day is just a good reminder to celebrate the one you love (both on February 14th and throughout the rest of the year). Making time for someone you love is always a good idea:

Honey Badger doesn't give a shit loves you! (Card by BANQUET Atelier & Workshop)

I told Larry that all I wanted for Valentine's Day was for him to clean out the tub so I could take a bath. He did it over the weekend, and while he watched The Walking Dead on Sunday night, I had a lovely zombie-free soak. I was also secretly hoping for some cupcakes. And look what Larry had with him when he got home from work on Tuesday:

Cupcakes from Baked & Wired - hands down, the BEST cupcakes in D.C. (Especially the strawberry ones - which Larry and I agreed are The Best Cupcakes in the Universe.)

The cupcakes were especially meaningful since Larry had to carry them all the way home on a crowded metro - the westbound trains were so packed during rush hour, that Larry actually had to hop on a train going the opposite direction and turn around and transfer to finally get to Virginia.

That wasn't the only treat in the Smoellke household, though. I made panna cotta - Larry's favorite dessert:

And Larry and I weren't the only ones celebrating. John Deere and Banjo also joined in:

Banjo was a little too excited about it...

It was one of the best evenings we've had in a while.

Oh, and the best part about getting cupcakes for Valentine's Day? Breakfast the next morning:

Cake for breakfast! (Isn't being a grown-up awesome sometimes?!)

DIY valentines

2012-02-15T14:12:00.001-05:00

Now that all the recipients have (hopefully) received them, I can share the Valentines I made last week.

This was a spur-of-the-moment project. I've been busy cleaning out my studio lately, so not a whole lot of creating art is going on right now. But I found some blank cards (leftover from making Christmas cards years ago) and had the urge to get creative, so I carved a couple of heart stamps and went to town stamping cards and envelopes. I have to admit I kind of love Valentine's Day for the excuse to go a little crazy with hearts and pink and red. I'm not typically a pink and hearts kind of girl (See: my dining room, painted black), so V-Day is a good reason to embrace some girliness once a year.

Also, Valentines are probably the most fun mail to send and receive. Who doesn't love getting something in the mailbox just to let them know they are loved? And since I never got around to sending out Christmas cards in December, this was my attempt at making amends.

I only had nine cards, so I had to pick just a few special people to send them to - a few of my closest girlfriends who I miss terribly (and who I've been very bad about keeping in touch with these past few months - sorry, Girls!), a couple of elderly great aunts, my parents, and my favorite three year old who I thought might like finding a little something in the mailbox with her name on it.

These were so simple to make, and turned out so pretty, that I can imagine popping the heart in a simple white frame and voila - instant wall art. They'd look especially cute in a little girl's room (or even in a black dining room)!

I had such fun with these, that I think I'll make sending out Valentines a yearly tradition!

P.S. I just remembered that sending out Valentines was #195 on my Life List. Check!

collections | valentines

2012-02-14T01:50:00.002-05:00

xoxoxo

crafty bits

2012-02-12T17:18:00.000-05:00

collections | on my lips

2012-02-07T05:59:00.004-05:00

When we bought our house 3 1/2 years ago, I embraced the move as an opportunity to get rid of crap and purge my possessions. One of my collections that needed simplifying? Cosmetics.

I consider myself a fairly middle-maintenance kind of girl. I want to look nice, but I don't want to put a lot of effort into it. Mascara and lip gloss? Yes. An hour of my life wasted on blow drying my hair? No!

I'm a wash-and-go kind of girl now, but in my early twenties, I was a new college graduate with an office job in a big city and I thought my unruly curls were unprofessional. I wasted hours of my life heat damaging my hair with a blow dryer and a flat iron. (And guess what, my hair still didn't behave!) I was always on the lookout for the newest potion that promised perfect skin or the glossy straight hair of a Pantene commercial. I amassed quite a collection of drug store products that did not do what they said they would. Wop wah! Sucker!

By the time we moved, I realized lipstick made me look like a clown, foundation never matched my skin tone quite right, and straightening gels/mousses/sprays/balms/conditioners/cremes/milks/serums (yes, I tried them all!) never made my hair straight. I reached for the same limited collection of cosmetics every morning while the rest dried up and expired. Plus, I didn't have time for an elaborate face-putting-on routine - I much prefer to sleep in!

The move was the perfect excuse to pitch the duds and simplify my cosmetics routine.

However, I recently found a bin full of cosmetics that did make it through the pre-move purge (and have been sitting in storage since then!) and when I gathered these up along with the products that I still use, I came to a realization...

I have a minor addiction to lip balm and lip gloss.

I blame my mother.

When I was a kid, we used to tease her for her obsession with Chapstick. Before we left the house, she would always come running after us and try to smear Chapstick on our lips.

(I really have no problem with Chapstick, I just didn't like having it forcefully applied.)

By the time I was a teenager, I couldn't go anywhere without a tube of strawberry Chapstick in my pocket. (I guess Mom's plan worked!) At the beach, I apply SPF Chapstick every ten seconds because my lips get sunburned so easily. (Is there anything more painful?)

I've since graduated from Chapstick brand lip balm, and now use homemade/organic balms that I buy on Etsy. And over the past five years, I've tried dozens of lip balms from dozens of Etsy sellers. I consider myself a lip balm expert. It must be super smooth and smell really good to win my seal of approval. Nothing waxy, nothing that smells like perfume or soap, and nothing that dries up or gets lumpy.

The absolute best balms on Etsy are mmmMango and Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry by Bathing in Luxury.

(I also like the Gooey Caramel, which I got as a freebie from LipLove. I don't actually like caramel, but I love the taste of this delicious lip balm.)

I also must have at least two Cover Girl Wetslicks glosses within arm's reach at all times. I like Wetslicks Lip Gloss* in Wine Shine and Iced Berry and Wetslicks Fruit Spritzers in Plum Splash.

* I cannot find a link for Wetslicks Lip Gloss on the Cover Girl webpage...does this mean it's been discontinued? The only lipgloss I wear? NOOOOOOOOO. (Perhaps time for a desperate trip to all my local drugstores? Let the hoarding resume!)

As for the rest of the products - the bottom two rows in the top photo are products I found in storage and are most likely obsolete. Evidently, I used to actually wear lipstick AND lip liner. (And Bonne Bell Lip Burst, which apparently degrades into a disgusting shade of urine-yellow if left packed in a box for many years. It's now in the trash. I'm fairly certain I haven't purchased a Bonne Bell product in over ten years - though I did love those Lip Smackers when I was a teenager - tell me I'm not the only one? Also, it looks like I have owned every shade and model of Cover Girl Lip Slicks since 1995.)

In conclusion, yes, I do own over 70 lip products, and the only ones I use are Etsy lip balms and Cover Girl lip gloss. Huh.

Aaaaand I can't believe I just wrote 800 words about lip gloss.

P.S. When I told Larry I thought I might be addicted to lip balm, he said "You're just now noticing this?" An hour later, he e-mailed me a link to beer-flavored lip balm.

P.P.S. After I took the photos, I found half a dozen more lip balms.

weekend happenings, etc

2012-02-06T16:26:00.001-05:00

Me playing with stickers and coloring books with a three year old during the Super Bowl, which is WAY more fun than watching the game!
(Photo by Larry)

This weekend was full of friends (both old and new!) and a feast of delicious food (none of which I had to cook myself)! Perfection!

I've been having such fun hanging out with blogger friends lately. Back in September, I first met with a group of local bloggers and since then have had brunches, cookie swaps, and trips to the theater with these girls. Last week I had lunch with Sarah (and the adorable Kate!) at Sweet Leaf in Vienna, and whenever I talk to Sarah I'm amazed at how similar our thoughts are about the struggles of having an alternative career and attempting to work/freelance from home.

On Saturday, I got to meet up with a second group of local bloggers. I'd really been looking forward to meeting Jane of The Borrowed Abode and she organized a blogger coffee date at Caffe Amouri in Vienna. Jane is the owner of Janery - an amazing Etsy shop chock full of beautiful pillows, sunglass sweaters, and dog beds, all sewn by Jane herself. She is also an animal lover and blogs about some incredible DIY/home improvement/decorating projects - what's not to love?! In addition to Jane, and Sarah and Lauren (who I already knew from previous blogger dates), I was introduced to the ladies behind some other local blogs that I didn't even know existed: Steffanie (the owner of Old Town Suds), Christina, Kimberly, Michelle, and Toya (the owner of New Family Naturals). So fun to meet so many other women who are small business owners!

Jane (seated in green), then standing left to right: Sarah, Lauren, Steffanie, me, Michelle, Kimberly, Christina. Not pictured: Toya.

(Photo via The Scrappy Housewife)

On Friday Larry stayed home with a sinus infection. Here's what we accomplished that day: a trip to Urgent Care, dinner at 5 pm, a trip to the grocery store. Next stop: the nursing home. Seriously, we are going to be awesome senior citz one day. Oh, what an exciting life we live!

We followed that up with a ridiculous amount of beer consumption on Sunday. What else is Super Bowl Sunday good for? Funny commercials, delicious food, and lots of beer! A friend of ours spends several days beforehand cooking up an incredible gourmet feast for game day. Behold - homemade guacamole (perhaps my favorite food on earth!), salsa, and chips. Potato and chicken taquitos. Lamb tacos. Brown butter brownies, macaroons, and lace cookies.

I ate approximately 30 pounds of food before exploding. So good!

Super Bowl feast.

(Photo by Larry)

In other news:

* I'm loving Vienna lately and have been there three times in the past week. (Yes, I realize Vienna is only 5 miles away from my house, but for some reason I rarely head in that direction.) In addition to blogger dates at Sweet Leaf and Caffe Amouri, Larry and I had dinner at Pure Pasty on Friday night. (If you're not familiar with a pasty, it is a savory filled pie - the British version of an empanada. And they are delicious!) My next stop in Vienna? Plush Gelato. After spending a semester in Italy, finding some comparable gelato in the U.S. has been one of my life missions. Who wants to meet me for a cup of stracciatella at Plush and compare it to the gelato of my college days in Florence?

* Watching a disturbing movie (The House of Sand and Fog) and reading an anxiety-inducing book (Unbroken) does not lead to a good night's sleep. I should clarify that I am loving Unbroken, but the atrocities of WWII (plane crashes, being lost at sea, sharks, Japanese POW camps) is stressful!

* Banjo reached into my grocery bag the other day and ever-so-gently removed a block of bleu cheese with his teeth and started making off with it. What is it with my dogs and their expensive taste? Gravy snatched a hunk of bleu cheese from a wine and cheese party we hosted a few years ago. Jerks!

* Just discovered The Hike Guy. I am especially in love with his amazing hiking journals and the fact that his Twitter profile states that he is "constantly mistaken for a bear." Awesome. I'm ready to pack up and head out into the wilderness now!

"you're under arrest!"

2012-02-02T05:03:00.002-05:00

"Do you know why I pulled you over, Ma'am?"

"Canine Humiliation. It's a very serious charge."

"What's that, Ma'am? Did you just call me a 'Sexy Beast'? I know it's hard to resist my dashing good looks, Ma'am, but it's unlawful to proposition an officer of the law. Also, no, I will not show you my 'night stick.' "

"And I'm afraid there's a hefty fine for the charge of Canine Humiliation, Ma'am."

"Also, 'the sun was in my eyes' is not an acceptable excuse."

"My partner here will inform you of the fine."

"One flank steak. Thirteen meatballs. Ten pork chops. Seven sticks of butter. A dozen donuts. A turkey neck. A loaf of zucchini bread. Twelve jars of peanut butter. Oh, and a crate full of cats."

"And a ferret."

"Just send those over to Officer Gravy and Officer Banjo. We'll take care of the rest."

"What's that, Ma'am? A dirty cop? Listen lady, don't make me book you for insubordination. Just hand over the goods."

the 30 day challenge

2012-01-31T23:59:00.001-05:00

I think it's pretty obvious from this blog that I am a big time list maker. I like to plan out goals and make To Do Lists for the day/week/month/year. Oh, and for my whole life. Yikes.

I'm good at the planning part. I suck at the executing part.

I know this, and yet I can't stop myself from listing unattainable goals for myself each year. December and January are stressful and exciting months for me as I try to figure out what I want to accomplish in the coming year. I usually scribble down a 3-5 page list and then feel overwhelmed because I know I won't be able to accomplish these things, but I know I will feel like I've failed if I take anything off the list, too.

DO ALL THE THINGS is not the most effective mantra for achieving anything.

So this year I am doing something different: The 30 Day Challenge. Times twelve.

Instead of trying to accomplish a hundred things in the next 12 months, I'm achieving long-term goals 30 days at a time. Each month a new challenge - doing something for 30 straight days (or 29 or 31, depending on the month!). It could be eliminating a bad habit, starting a good habit, or working on a project - but it has to be something that I will do every day for an entire month. And it's working!

Some of the challenges I will share here and some of them I won't. In January I read (from a book) every day and started a new skin care routine. Good for the mind and good for the body. Check and check. And while I won't put the pressure on myself to read every day after January is over, I've set myself up to continue these good habits - to read more and take better care of myself in the coming months.

I've done things like this before (I like to give up meat for Lent every year), but I'm really excited to do a new challenge each month in 2012. This format really works for me and I'm so much more successful when I have a challenge broken into smaller achievable steps. I can pretty much do anything for 30 straight days, and when I do, I really feel like I've accomplished something. (At the very least, I finished four books this month and now have smoother, healthier skin!)

And if that wasn't enough inspirational cheerleading (gag!) for you, check out Matt Cutts' TED Talk on trying something new for 30 days.

February, here I come!

life list #55: visit a winery/vineyard

2012-01-30T23:19:00.006-05:00

It's pretty awesome when you can cross an item off your Life List on your birthday (while getting drunk!). And last month, I did just that when I took a Virginia winery tour on the day I turned 33.

Now, yes I love wine, and yes, I have lived in Virginia most of my life and yes, while Virginia is no California or Washington, it is a fairly decent wine state, so you may be wondering why I've never in my 33 years been to a Virginia winery. The answer is logistics. I'm not a fan of drinking and driving and I'm not a fan of being a designated driver. So getting to a winery without mixing alcohol and automobiles is darn near impossible. We tend to stick to metro-accessible watering holes.

Getting to a winery is a whole lot easier, however, if your boyfriend rents you one of these:

Doesn't Larry have the best ideas? Being two days before Christmas, my birthday is extremely difficult to schedule around. Since childhood, I was always disappointed when no one could come to my birthday party or I had to celebrate it in January. But this year a few of my closest buddies took the day off from work to spend the day celebrating with me...and cruising around the Virginia countryside in a limo drinking wine. I'm a lucky girl to have such awesome friends!

The winery tour was amazing! We hit three wineries and a brewery, and it was one of the most fun days of my life (and definitely the best birthday)! To be honest, I really didn't think you could get that drunk from a wine tasting. We frequently go to wine tastings at local wine shops and I've never been the slightest bit tingly afterwards. But if you do three full wine tastings (usually about 8 wines each), a beer tasting, AND have a glass of wine at each winery, you will be drunk. Very very drunk. Which I suppose is an appropriate way to spend one's birthday! Thank goodness for the limo and our awesome driver, whose name I can't remember. (Probably because I was drunk.)

We started the tour at Sunset Hills Vineyard, which was just what you'd expect a winery to look like. It was located in a beautiful old red barn that was built in the 1800s, but had recently been restored by the Amish:

I typically strongly prefer red wines, but we all loved the whites at Sunset Hills. Virginia is home to some varietals I'd never tasted, and their Sunset White is a blend of Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay, and Viognier. We came home with several bottles of this wine.

After the tasting, we ordered a cheese and charcuterie basket and ate lunch (and drank more wine) on the mezzanine overlooking the winery.

The leftovers from the charcuterie basket are in my bag. "Is that a salami in your pocket...?"

Then it was back in the limo...

Thirty-three!

...and on to stop #2: Corcoran Vineyards. We arrived at an unassuming little house, and when we went inside the tasting room discovered that we were actually in a log cabin built in 1750 - low ceilings, sloped floors, fireplace - could not have been more cozy! Pouring the wines was Lori Corcoran, the winemaker herself - and she was super outgoing, friendly, hilarious, extremely knowledgeable, AND she makes great wine! Every wine at Corcoran was fantastic and I just cannot say enough good things about this place!

But Corcoran is not just a winery. They also have a brewery. This is where things start getting a little fuzzy...

They had cute little beers...

...and a cute little puppy!

"Hey lady, is that salami in your pocket...?"

Did I say things got a little fuzzy? I meant a lot fuzzy.
Exhibit A:

Step 1: Drink lots of little beers! Step 2: Get hiccups.

So we filled up our growlers and then got back in the limo...

Our final stop was Breaux Vineyards. I don't remember much of this place except I really had to pee. And the wines were good, too.

After our full day of alcohol consumption, the limo driver got us safely home (and even snapped our picture)...

...so we could consume more alcohol. Some friends who couldn't make it on the wine tour stopped by, and the celebrations continued into the evening. I'm fairly certain I drank more wine and beer, drunk dialed my mother, and then watched the boys set off various explosives.

Despite the fact that I was hungover all of Christmas Eve, the winery tour was a great time and I can't wait to do it again. I was highly impressed with the quality of Virginia wines and am now a little obsessed with visiting more local vineyards - there are over 200 in the state alone.

That should keep me busy...

that's what he said . #7

2012-01-29T15:33:00.000-05:00

As I was going through some papers as part of my decluttering effort, I found a scrap on which I had jotted a perplexing message. I finally remembered that it was something Larry had said to me in his sleep, and I wrote it down so I could confuse myself later remember it.

Larry: I bruised my fiduciary gland!

Huh?

collections | on my nightstand

2012-01-27T09:33:00.002-05:00

There is a ridiculous amount of stuff on/in my nightstand:

PHOTO #1

LEFT:

travel jewelry case by Fossil
eyeglass case and prescription glasses
mango and pomegranate body scrub by Dress Green
3 Ace Bandage clips
red puppy iPhone case by kokopenguin

MIDDLE:

Apple iPad and DIY Felt Case
tickets to Caps game and Emmy Concert
earplugs (Larry snores)
wrist brace (from when I thought I had carpal tunnel)
headbands (green one by Crafty Handmade)

RIGHT:

lip balm that looks disturbingly like Hillary Clinton
orange alarm clock from Crate & Barrel
ticket to tram ride at Hawk's Nest State Park
book light and 2 flashlights
Burt's Bees hand and cuticle creams
matchbook from Iota Club & Cafe
15 hair elastics (!!!)
Nana's silver bracelet
Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Rolling Ball Pen (I refuse to write with any other pen)
necklace from People's Pottery (a gift from Larry years ago)
brochure from New River Gorge

......................................................

PHOTO #2

LEFT:

ceramic egg crates and earrings (most of which came from various Etsy sellers)
Life Magazine: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime

MIDDLE:

mint & vanilla snow day body cream by Dress Green
bowl (that previously held all the crap in the right column!)
wine tasting menu from Corcoran Vineyards
earbuds
2 business cards from our vacation at Luminhaus
earrings and necklace
business card from a jeweler who sized my finger a few years ago

RIGHT:

ticket stub from Rachel Getting Married, which we saw in the theater 1/24/09 (and which I evidently saved for THREE years because the stub says RACHEL on it)
2 swizzle sticks from the lounge on the 95th floor of John Hancock Center in Chicago
contact lens case
travel-sized lotion pilfered from a hotel
matchbox from 2941
2 candy wrappers
rusty nail clippers
3 Philipine coins, 1 U.S. penny, and 1 Canadian dime
a paperclip, a stamp, a sticker that says SQUEEZE ME
an unidentifiable half-disintegrated pill (Pepto?)
3 Lifesavers and 1 Starlight Mint in various stages of melting
earplug case
a collection of buttons from clothes I probably no longer own
a tag cut out of a shirt
yellow zippered bag

......................................................

PHOTO #3

LEFT:

iPad pillow stand by Dog Named Banjo (Isn't that the best shop name?!)
case for an old MP3 player
To Do list written on an index card
fuzzy aloe-infused socks

MIDDLE:

tag from a hot water bottle
receipt from Old Navy from May 2011
ceramic necklace by Kim Westad
8 lip balms (1 Burt's Bees and 7 from various Etsy sellers)
4 postcards from New River Gorge
colorful notepad

RIGHT:

user's manual for my Nikon D7000
silver washi tape
sleeping mask (Never used this in my life and no idea where it came from! I think Larry got it on an international flight and it somehow migrated to my nightstand.)
tissues and modern tissue box cover by Yokomono Studio

......................................................

PHOTO #4

Doesn't everyone have 31 books on their nightstand?

Currently Reading: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

collections | an introduction

2012-01-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to introduce my new photo series: Collections. Despite my battle with clutter, I am not an intentional collector - I don't save stamps or bottle caps or souvenir spoons. But I realized that everyone has unintentional collections of things - whether it's as simple as a stash of paper clips on your desk, a stack of books next to your bed, or a pile of CDs in your glove compartment - all of these things are collections. These are the things I will explore with my new photo series.

I've been cleaning out boxes and drawers as part of my January cleaning and it's really made me think about things. What items are important to me? What's worth keeping? What do Larry and I have collections of? Why do we accumulate these things?

There are some things that we are proud to own: we have a substantial collection of books and CDs. I guess you could say that we collect recipes and spices. I'm fine with owning all these things because reading, music, and food are three things that Larry and I are passionate about.

Come to think of of it, we also collect music posters. We have eight hanging in our library (which is the room that also houses our books, CDs, and recipe binders/cookbooks). We have more rolled up in tubes that we aren't sure what to do with.

I also collect postcards. And I have an accidental coin collection that accumulated from my travels in Europe as a college student. I own a ridiculous amount of lip balm and gloss - not something I intended to collect, but something I just happen to own a lot of. I guess you could say I collect photo files, since there are probably 40,000 on this computer. That's a problem. I might be a hoarder of image files. Or more likely - just too lazy to go through them.

Then there are unintentional collections - crinkled up receipts, pennies, and pieces of melted gum that accumulate in the bottom of my purse. Balls of dog hair on the stairs (ew). And I must say, we have quite a collection of dog poop in our yard...

Anyway, these are the things I will explore in my photo series (ok, maybe not the dog poop) - collections of things, whether they are a collection because they are similar items or because they are a group of things that happen to occupy the same area (a purse, a desk, a glove compartment).

This project will explore the aesthetics of composing the items (similar to Things Organized Neatly) and will also reveal something about me since I always find it's interesting to learn what people keep in their bag, on their desk, etc. I guess it's sort of like peeking in someone's medicine cabinet - though I've never done that, and also, our bathroom doesn't have a medicine cabinet, so I can't share what's in ours!

As a bonus, I hope this little experiment will make me think about what's worth keeping and what I can get rid of. (I can already tell you that I don't need to spend money on any more lip balm for at least the next two years!)

confessions | on hoarding and decision-making and keeping it real

2012-01-25T18:47:00.003-05:00

I originally started writing this post as an introduction to a new photo series I'll be featuring on my blog: Collections. The new photo series isn't about my urge to hoard things, it's really about photographing collections of ordinary items around my house - things that I don't even realize are collections until all the items are together in one place.

While writing this post that was supposed to be about collections, I ended up getting carried away analyzing my urge to hoard things and how owning extra stuff clutters up not just my home, but my life, and my ability to make decisions and be productive.

The post below really has nothing to do with my photo series, and to be honest, it makes me seem a bit wacko. Since it wasn't relevant to my photo series, I thought about deleting it, but realized it's a subject worth addressing. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with owning too much stuff. While Larry and I joke that we're hoarders, don't worry, we don't have a stack of dead cats in our basement. (Ok, we don't have a basement. But we do have an attic, and I'm 100% certain that it is completely free of cats, dead or living.) Our house is comfortably lived in, we entertain (just ignore the collection of dog hair!), and the messes are hidden behind closed doors. (Please don't look in the guest room! No really! Don't go in there! Wait, you want to stay (gulp) overnight? Do you mind...sleeping on the couch?) Everyone has a room like that, right? (Oh yeah, don't look in our closets either. And for the love of God, DO NOT go in the attic.)

......................................................

I'm happiest and most productive when my home is organized, minimal, and clutter-free.

My home is never organized, minimal, and clutter-free.

We own a LOT of CDs. Most of them are not in their cases.

Despite my best intentions to rid my house of junk and live simply, clutter-free living is not in my nature. I am constantly battling my instinct to save, to keep, to hoard. "I might need this someday," "I paid good money for this," "But it still works," "Someday I might be skinny enough to wear this again," and so on. I didn't live through the Great Depression, so I have no societal influences to explain my urge to save that aluminum can (But I could make it into a candle holder! Or a flower pot!), that bit of rope (Wrap a present with it!), or those old stumps in the backyard (I had the best intentions of transforming them into gorgeous garden stools!).

In our mudroom, aka Mt. Trashmore.
Things to note: Paint cans left by the previous owner. Grungy towel for wiping dog paws. Overflowing recycling bins.

There are catalogs to go through, old clothes that need to be donated to charity, and don't even get me started on the scraps of paper and post-it notes, all scrawled with To Do lists, cryptic sketches, middle-of-the-night ideas, and websites I need to check out, etc.

Dishes that refuse to wash themselves. Jerks.

Papers that refuse to file themselves. Assholes.

I'm well aware of my shortcomings and am always trying to remedy them. Yes, I've read about clutter-free living, clutter-reducing boot camp, purging your possessions down to 100 things (that's just crazy talk) and yes, I know it's best to only have useful and and beautiful items occupying the space in my home. A noble cause, but that's easier said than done!

In the linen closet: a collection of beach towels.

When we bought our house and I moved out of my apartment, I used the move as the opportunity to get rid of lots of crap. And boy did I purge! But still, there were some things that I couldn't decide on, so they got packed up, and 3 1/2 years later, those items are still in boxes. Clearly, I didn't miss those things and it is unnecessary for me to keep them. But yeah, they're still in the attic.

The top of my vanity. Disgraceful.

I've found that the problem that bogs me down most in my daily life is decision making. I am the most indecisive person in the world. I can't decide what to wear, where to eat dinner, or which book to read next. When I buy something new, I spend hours researching ALL the different options and comparing prices before I make my purchase. It's a major character flaw. It's annoying - to others and to me. The internet, which makes millions of options for everything available to everyone, does not help with this problem. Information overload is not a good thing for me.

In analyzing this flaw of mine, I've found that my problem with decision-making comes down to having too many choices. When I'm on vacation and I have only 5 outfits to choose from, getting dressed in the morning is a breeze. When I'm at home and I have a whole closet full of clothes (plus a couple of laundry baskets with clothes that never got put away, plus a dryer full of clothes that haven't been folded yet), the decision of what to wear can be paralyzing. That's lame. But true.

Pile of clothes. Location: On a chair.

So in attempting to declutter and simplify my life, I am striving to reduce the number of choices I have, so that daily decision-making isn't such a challenge for me. (Don't even get me started on major life-altering decisions. Baby steps, please, baby steps!)

Do you see the catch-22 here? I need my space to be clutter-free to help me make decisions and stay motivated, yet to eliminate the clutter I have to make decisions as to what to keep/toss/donate and be motivated enough to go through it all. Oy.

Junk mail in its natural breeding ground: Our dining room table.

Our freezer (stocked with Unidentified Frozen Objects) and fridge (Hey, who wants a 3 month old rotten peach???)

For someone who has packratting in her genes (my mother can't visit without bringing me a newspaper clipping, some coupons, and some sort of trinket, while my dad's house is littered with piles of books, newspapers, and magazines), and a creative personality (all artists are messy, right?), I fear this will be a lifelong struggle for me. Some sources of clutter I've conquered over the years (Do I really need 17 kinds of hair gel when the one that works best is from the drug store? Just say no to the expensive stuff they try to sell you at the salon!) and some I just cannot beat (I try to open up the mail over the recycling bin, but still it piles up on every flat surface in the house. Damn you, junk mailers! Also, do I really have to do the dishes EVERY day?!).

CLEAN ALL THE THINGS?! (I don't wanna!)

Dog snot on the window. Easily remedied in 15 seconds with a bottle of windex. Easily messed up again in 15 seconds with a dog nose.

I've recently been going through some of those "still packed three years later" boxes as part of a goal to start the year organized. New Year's cleaning if you will. It's a gargantuan task. And some of the things I've found in those long forgotten boxes are what inspired the Collections photo series. But really they reveal a bigger issue: Larry and I are pigs. And we might need professional help.

My studio. This room should be condemned. OMG.

......................................................

(I took the pictures in this post several months ago because I had planned to do a photo post that was a confession of sorts - all the little messes in my houses artistically photographed out of focus - the piles of laundry, the dirty dishes, the shoes by the back door...all the things that show we're real people. I've seen other bloggers do the same and always think it's so refreshing to see that bloggers are real and imperfect. I think there's so much pressure for bloggers to portray their lives and homes as perfect, so here's my dirty not-so-little secret: we're messy. Oh yes, we are.)

around here: december + january

2012-01-23T10:15:00.001-05:00

My blog has been pretty lame lately. Come to think of it, so have I.

Where did the last few months go? December was a blur and now January is almost over and I'm left with a feeling of WHA HAPPEN?!?! There's been a lot of movie watching, book reading, and puppy snuggling lately, but no weekend adventures, no changes to the routine. I'm in survival mode, hunkered down and trying to make it through winter. Yes, I'm in serious need of a vacation. And make it somewhere warm, please!

I was going through some random photos from the last few months that I never shared here as a reminder that the last few weeks did indeed happen and that there were moments of downtime that occurred in between the holidays.

In December and January, we...

Improvised:

Loved twinkle lights:

Celebrated Christmas seven times:

Worked:

Played with balls:

Played with sharks:

Had a bit of snow:

Messed up my desk:

Artwork by Retro Whale. Stamp by Yellow Owl Workshop.

Hoarded stuffies:

Ate deep dish potato gratin:

Bit the mail:

Bit ice:

And yes, finally packed up Christmas:

And now time to move on. Time to break out the camera again, and the sketchbook. Time to make new things. Time to get moving, to accomplish things, to socialize.

(Time to get off my ass!)

Onward!

new year's eve

2012-01-19T23:22:00.001-05:00

New Year's Eve is usually my favorite holiday - no pressure for gifts, just a gathering of friends to celebrate new beginnings. This was our 10th year (!!!) celebrating with this group and we hosted a low key dinner party at our house.

December had me exhausted, so it was a last minute affair, but once I strung up some homemade metallic star garlands, the place felt festive.

I think my house should be decorated with star garlands year round!

Happy 2012!

five things that make me happy

2012-01-14T19:25:00.001-05:00

New cookbooks.
Homemade bread.
Saturday afternoon naps.
Handmade garlands.
Movie night with my boys.

best of 2011 | best blogging

2012-01-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

Since I've recapped the year with Larry's favorite music, our favorite experiences, my favorite books, and our favorite recipes and restaurants, I thought I'd include some blog highlights, too. (Also, it's January and I'm in a major slump. Coming up with new content is challenging right now.)

Most Popular Blog Posts of 2011:
life list #41: stay at luminhaus
DIY iPad case
poser
handmade holiday | a handmade tree
the art at luminhaus

Favorite Blog Posts of 2011:
messy hair | practice what you preach
insomnia
2:30 am: freelancing + oreos
sore throat: an illustrated tutorial
the return of supergirl
wednesday in black and white
40 cards
ten years
summer recap
you're searching for what?!
almost pantsless

......................................................

And now I'll be resuming hibernation until I get my mojo back. Or spring appears. Whichever comes first.

best of 2011 | best eats

2012-01-06T18:45:00.005-05:00

So the real reason I made those cooking collages each month was because at the end of the year I wanted to do this:

Our year, in food. 136 new recipes tried. BAM! It was a difficult task to narrow it down to just ten eleven favorites!

Best Recipes of 2011 (clearly, we're not vegetarians):

SPICY APRICOT WINGS
This was our most frequently made recipe of the year.

LAMB LOLLIPOPS WITH MUSTARD SAUCE
Technically, this was a 2010 recipe since we made it for New Year's Eve last year. But it was so good that we made it again. And again. And I thought I didn't like lamb!

KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN
OMG. These are messy. And awesome. They turned me into a gnawing-meat-off-the-bone carnivore.

CHICKEN TAGINE WITH APRICOTS AND ALMONDS
Our first international meal and first experience cooking Moroccan food. We're hooked.

PORK MEATBALL BANH MI SANDWICHES
Damn, these things are SPICY. Too spicy for Larry, but definitely one of my favorite recipes of the year.

GRILLED TURKEY BURGERS WITH CHEDDAR AND SMOKY AIOLI
This is our new favorite burger recipe. You'll never want a beef burger again.

CHIPOTLE KETCHUP
I ate this more than any other food this year. I put it on burgers, french fries, latkes, EVERYTHING. I haven't eaten Heinz in months and don't plan on ever going back to regular ketchup.

CATALAN FISH STEW WITH PIMENTON MAYONNAISE
Fish stew? Topped with mayonnaise?! Trust me, it's delish.

CHORIZO AND POTATO TACOS WITH AVOCADO AND TOMATILLO SALSA

Easy and delicious! Rick Bayless will never steer you wrong.

CHICKEN GOULASH WITH BISCUIT DUMPLINGS
Spicy, loaded with paprika, awesome.

JACQUES TORRES CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
These are ridiculous.

......................................................

Most of our food experiences are focused on cooking at home, but we do love to go out to eat, whether it's searching for the best donut, tasting wines, grabbing a bite and a beer at our favorite local dive, or having a fancy meal out for a special occasion.

Our favorites of the year:

Best Burger | Burger Tap & Shake (Washington, DC)

Best Cheese | anything from Red White & Bleu (Falls Church, VA)

Best for Fresh & Local | Falls Church Farmers Market (Falls Church, VA)

Best Restaurant Meal | Volt (Frederick, MD)

Best Scenery | Blue Mountain Brewery (Afton, VA)

Best Mac and Cheese | Cheesetique (Alexandria, VA)

Best Store Bought Cake | Wegmans Coconut Cake

Most Explosive Dessert | Celebration Cake at Central - it has a Roman Candle in it! (Washington, DC)

Best Food Festival | Truckeroo (Washington, DC)

Best Place to Stuff Your Face | The Apple House (Linden, VA)

Best Neighborhood Restaurant | Sea Pearl (Falls Church, VA)

Best Wine | Corcoran Vineyards (Waterford, VA)

Whew! I'm stuffed. Due to the aforementioned recipes and restaurants, Larry and I are each looking to lose 20+ pounds this year, so our focus in 2012 is healthy and low-cal. We're off to a good start, but I'm already missing bread and desserts...

best of 2011 | a year of reading

2012-01-03T08:38:00.003-05:00

One of my personal goals in 2011 was to read more. I even resolved to read every day and to read ten Pulitzer Prize winning novels. While I didn't end up reading every day (I knew that was a nearly impossible goal), I did keep this goal up through April - yes, I read every day for the first four months of the year. I was derailed by Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize Winning Gilead, which, while not a bad book, is definitely not a page turner. (Confession: I never finished it.) Despite my break from books in late spring, I read voraciously through the summer, and in fall continued to consume literature through listening to audio books. I read 25 books this year, more than I ever have as an adult, and consider my resolve to read more in 2011 a complete success (even though I didn't finish all the Pulitzers, I will keep reading until I do!).

It was a rather revolutionary year in terms of reading. I started reading books on my iPad and found that I read much more this way. While I mourn the loss of real books and hope that the printed word never becomes extinct, the convenience of the e-book has really changed the way I read. (Only 6 of the books I read this year were actual hard copies.) I also began listening to audio books at the end of the year. Part of me considers this cheating (it's listening, not reading, right?), but the other part of me realizes it's a lot better than not reading at all. I was so busy with my shop during the Fall months, that I really had no time to sit down with a book. Instead, I listened to audio books while I worked. The ability to digitally check e-books and audio books out from the library also really boosted my reading this year (and saved a lot of money!) and exposed me to some books I might not have ordinarily picked up, since some of the titles on my A-list weren't always available from the library. I have a full list of holds at the library and when one becomes available, that is what I read - it really helps take the decision-making process out of "What should I read next?" since I'm limited to what the library has in stock.

While Larry, himself an avid reader, always encourages me to read, he also constantly makes fun of my literary selections. He claims the books I read are "depressing" and that everything I read is about a tragic death by cancer, accident, etc. "How many people have died in this one?" he says. This is ironic considering his penchant for reading books about the apocalypse. I mean what could be more depressing than reading about the destruction of the world and the end of mankind? Here's how the apocalypse ends: EVERYBODY DIES.

And since I'm throwing Larry under the bus here, he also reads books about zombies and aliens. Dork!

That being said, he might have a point. What can I say - I like to read books where something happens, not just happy tales about rainbows and kittens. However, I prefer to describe these books as deep and challenging, rather than depressing.

Since I revealed Larry's guilty pleasure, I found that during times when I was having difficulty sticking with a book this year, I turned to Young Adult Fiction. They're typically quick reads (though not always fluff or "easy" books - many cover very adult topics and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas packs quite an emotional punch). You'll never catch me reading a vampire book, though!

Let's take a look at the numbers:

Total number of titles: 25

Number of books read: 19

Number of audio books listened to: 6

Number of fiction: 16

Number of non-fiction: 9

Number of young adult: 5

Number of books where a main character dies: 18
(Ok, maybe Larry has a point!)

Number of books about imprisonment: 9
(Yeah...he definitely has a point!)

Number of books that made me cry: 4

Number of Pulitzer Prize winners: 3

Wondering what these depressing books are that I read?

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Room by Emma Donoghue
Bossypants by Tina Fey
The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon
Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor
Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
The Autobiography of an Execution by David Dow
Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
Just Kids by Patti Smith
After by Amy Efaw
Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt
Somewhere Inside by Laura Ling & Lisa Ling
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
And Sometimes Why by Rebecca Johnson
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Run by Ann Patchett

Oh, and since I like listing my favorites of the year, here are my picks for Best of 2011* | Books:
(I wrote more about several of these in my Summer Reading review.)

Favorite Books | Empire Falls (Why did it take me almost 10 years to finally read this? So good!)
   Blood, Bones, and Butter
   The Autobiography of an Execution
   Just Kids

Favorite Audio Books | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
   Little Bee

*Only one of these books actually came out in 2011, the rest are older.

......................................................

January is always a big reading month for me - I turn towards cozy indoor activities when the weather is cold and I always resolve to read more each year. One of my resolutions this year is to spend $0 on books - between library books (over 50 on my wish list) and the unread books on our shelves (hundreds), there is plenty for me to read for free.

I'm looking forward to a 2012 full of books, books, books.

best of 2011 | best of the best

2011-12-31T20:54:00.002-05:00

It's the last day of the year and I've been thinking about the best experiences and the most memorable moments of 2011.

It's been a crazy year and it's hard to whittle the list down to the ten best moments. It was a year of sacrifices as I focused on being a small business owner, and the growth and successes of Funnelcloud Studio were certainly highlights of 2011. We got to tour the West Wing, took our annual beach trip to the Outer Banks over Memorial Day, and had a fun summer which included romping in a field of sunflowers, going to Screen on the Green, and jumping on the bed. We cooked up a storm, battened down the hatches for Hurricane Irene, and experienced an earthquake. A full year for sure.

But when it comes down to it, the following are the best of the best of 2011. The top ten best experiences, in no particular order:

SURPRISING LARRY WITH 40 BIRTHDAY CARDS. (Larry picked this as his #1 moment of the year "because it was actually 40 moments!")

A WEEKEND TRIP TO ST. MICHAELS, MARYLAND - full of crabs, beer, sitting by the water, and adding John Deere to our family.

DINNER AT VOLT. Delicious.

OUR WEEKEND AT LUMINHAUS to celebrate Larry's 40th birthday. (So many great experiences from that weekend, my favorite being our hike at Mount Pleasant.)

A VIRGINIA WINERY TOUR BY LIMO to celebrate my 33rd birthday.

GAINING A PEN PAL AND FRIEND THROUGH E-BUDDIES. I love this program (an e-mail pen pal program that pairs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with peer volunteers) and am convinced I have the best buddy in the world. We exchange e-mails every week and getting a message from my buddy always makes my day.

A WEEKEND in NEW RIVER GORGE, WEST VIRGINIA with friends and dogs.

GETTING AN iPAD. (Had to include one materialistic item on the list! I love this little gadget, and it helps me read a lot more books and is a great tool for my business.)

REUNITING WITH A GROUP OF MY DEAREST OLD HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS - all of us in one place for the first time in 16 years!

MAKING SOME GREAT CONNECTIONS through blogging and meeting a great group of new friends.

Looking forward to all that 2012 will bring! Happy last day of the year!

Cheers!

delightful december!

2011-12-31T01:19:00.001-05:00

The last cooking collage! I'm so glad to retire this series, because it was a real pain in the butt to assemble these collages every month. And I'm sure that Larry will be glad to be able to eat his food without it being photographed first! That being said, it is interesting (to me) to have documented what we cooked and ate throughout the year.

There wasn't a whole lot of cooking going on in December - I can't even remember what we ate during the first two weeks of the month, as I was so busy getting ready for two art markets. But once the holiday markets were over, it was time to indulge in ridiculous amounts of chocolate: Berger cookies (a Baltimore treat that a friend brought for my birthday), hot chocolate on a stick, Gardeners chocolates (my favorite - Larry's parents give me some every year!), and the last new recipe of the year: Mascarpone Brownies.

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house - a non-traditional and multi-holiday meal of comfort foods: Mac & Cheese, Spicy Apricot Wings, and Latkes for Hanukkah (made by my brother's girlfriend), followed by a ridiculous amount of Christmas cookies. My favorite Christmas cookie recipe of 2011: Lofthouse-Style Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies (a copycat recipe of the grocery store "pink cookies").

The other food frequently consumed in December? Alcohol. After making a wine run to Red, White, and Bleu, touring three wineries on my birthday (and bringing home 8 bottles), being gifted a case of wine for Christmas, along with several other bottles being given to us by family and friends, we discovered we were in possession of 36 bottles of wine. I'm not complaining.

What we were eating and cooking this month: cookies, chocolate, wine, and comfort foods. (What else do you need?) The diet starts January 1st or whenever the cookies are gone!

the morning after

2011-12-28T12:31:00.000-05:00

Cookies for breakfast and napping puppies...

christmas in photos

2011-12-27T19:24:00.100-05:00

Christmas Day went like this: Wake up and exchange gifts with Larry and the dogs, eat Christmas cookies for breakfast (we usually make cinnamon bun pancakes for Christmas breakfast, but were in a rush), shower, and hit the road to spend the afternoon and eat Christmas dinner with my extended family in Maryland. Then we came home, snuggled with the dogs, and crashed on the couch, exhausted.

Christmas Morning:

Predator!

Oooh Nooo! (Mr. Bill did not last long!)

I'm always amazed when I see photos of people's giant stash of gifts under the tree. We keep things small and minimal over here.

And this year, Larry and I vowed to give only handmade gifts. We were 85% successful and it felt great to support small artists and give unique and meaningful gifts. We both gave each other entirely handmade gifts and evidently were thinking along the same lines, as I gave him a screenprinted t-shirt, a monogrammed money clip, and a concrete iPhone holder and he gave me a screenprinted t-shirt, a necklace, and a iPhone case. Ha!

Christmas Afternoon:

This is my amazing 94 year old great aunt. She is an amazing knitter and she's been making teeny tiny caps for premature babies!

The only photo I have of the two of us from the entire day. Do you see me?

I'm also amazed when I hear about people getting iPhones and laptops for Christmas. In my family we give each other booze. Seriously, the whole holiday is a big ol' booze swap. A case of wine for you, a bottle of Port for you...

As my aunt said "It's a birthday party for Jesus, and YOU get wine!"

Christmas Evening:

scenes from christmas eve

2011-12-26T00:07:00.006-05:00

We had my family over for Christmas Eve/Hanukkah dinner - a non-traditional, but delicious feast of comfort foods: mac and cheese, spicy apricot wings, latkes, and an impressive assortment of Christmas cookies.

Clearly, I would be a horrible event photographer. How to people get picture-perfect photos from their holidays? Ours are a blurry mess of shredded paper, dirty dishes, and uncooperative photo subjects.

Also, Gravy looked like this the entire evening:

"Wrapping paper! My favorite! Kill it!"

There's a story behind this duck:

The week before Christmas, I was talking on the phone with my mother and she was gushing on and on about these mercury glass ducks she'd seen on the blog of "that boy from Pennsylvania." I had no idea what she was talking about, but finally realized she meant Michael of Inspired by Charm!

Michael owns an adorable inn and gift shop in St. Mary's, so I e-mailed him to see if there was a chance that he still had any of the ducks left, and if so, would he be willing to sell one and ship it to me. I thought it was a long shot, since he had blogged about the ducks way back in July. But I was in luck!

Michael was so sweet to take the time out of his busy holiday season to package up the duck and send it down to Virginia. When it arrived, I put it on my mantle for a few days before wrapping it, and have to admit, I was a bit sad to see it go. It really added a pop of color to my boring black/white/gray mantle decor. However, the duck's new owner loves it even more...

Mom was SO surprised when she opened it on Christmas Eve! "You got me the duck!" she exclaimed.

Ahh, the awesome power of the internet. Also, Michael had made a few purchases from Funnelcloud Studio earlier in the month - I just love that we both gave Christmas presents to our families from each other's shops!

And it's extra special because my grandmother used to collect duck figurines and her favorite color was green. A happy little reminder of my sweet and funny Nana who I miss so much!

Banjo approves. "Can I eat that?"

Any holiday worth celebrating deserves a lot of cheese:

"When Santa comes down the chimney, I'm going to bite him!" "We don't have a chimney, Stupidhead!"

flying by the seat of my pants since 1978

2011-12-23T12:33:00.002-05:00

It's my birthday today! I'm going to give up on the handmade holiday posts for the day, and take a much needed break.

By the time this blog post appears, I should be in a limo. And drunk.

Cheers!

handmade holiday | felt food ornaments

2011-12-23T01:33:00.000-05:00

I mentioned that my Christmas tree was non-traditional, but to be honest, it's downright eclectic.

Anyone else have an asparagus ornament on their tree?

(That was another idea that came to me as I was trying to fall asleep. Vegetables on Christmas trees! Insomniacs come up with some weird sh*t in the middle of the night!)

But Larry and I do love to cook, so it's only fitting that our tree have a few culinary adornments. What these particular ingredients make, I do not know (really gross salsa?), but what tree doesn't need a few more veggies? And fruits? And...fungi? (Not to mention if the fungi is red with white spots, I'm pretty sure it's actually a toadstool, and it's poisonous...)

PIPE CLEANER ASPARAGUS

Materials | pipe cleaners, yarn, felt, thread, embroidery floss, glue, hemp twine (for hanging cord)
Equipment | scissors, needle
Tips | Wrap the pipe cleaners with yarn, and glue at the ends.
   Create the asparagus tips by sewing a pocket with two pieces of felt.
   Insert the yarn-wrapped pipe cleaner in the open end of the asparagus tip.
   Sew around the pipe cleaner until the tip is secured to the stalk.

FELT MUSHROOM

Several years ago, I hosted a woodland-themed baby shower and created big felt mushrooms for tabletop decorations. When I saw that Alisa, the host of this year's Freshly Blended Ornament Swap, had created some adorable needle felted toadstool ornaments, I was green with envy that I wasn't on her swap list. I have no clue how to needle felt, but I remembered the technique I had used for the felt mushrooms two years ago and decided to make a miniaturized version for my tree. They're not nearly as cute as Alisa's, but they do the trick.

I had also planned to stuff the caps with poly stuffing, but my studio is such a mess, that I couldn't find any. I found that a cotton ball was the perfect substitute!

Materials | felt, thread, cotton ball, cardboard circle, baker's twine (for hanging cord)
Equipment | scissors, needle
Tips | Make the cap by sewing a loose running stitch around the perimeter of a felt circle (2 1/2" diameter).
   Pull both ends of the thread like a drawstring to create a felt purse.
   Stuff the felt purse with a cotton ball and top with the cardboard circle to create a base.
   Cinch the thread tight and tie in a knot so the mushroom cap holds it's shape.
   Create the mushroom stem by rolling up a piece of adhesive-backed white felt.
   Glue the stem to the cardboard inside the mushroom cap.
   Cut circles out of adhesive-backed white felt to create the spots on the mushroom cap.

FELT TOMATO

Materials | felt, thread, cotton balls, baker's twine (for hanging cord)
Equipment | scissors, needle
Tips | I made the tomato using the same technique as the mushroom cap (but without the cardboard circle). Use a 4" diameter (or larger) felt circle to create the tomato and stuff with 4 or 5 cotton balls. Then hand sew the leaves on top to cover the opening.

FELT AVOCADO

An homage to my favorite party dip - guacamole!

Materials | felt, thread, wired floral stem (for hanging loop)
Equipment | scissors, needle

Here's to a delicious Christmas!

P.S. Don't eat the toadstools.

love from young house love

2011-12-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the fantastic time I had as a vendor at Richmond Craft Mafia's Handmade Holiday. One of the highlights of the day was having some of my favorite bloggers stop by my booth - John and Sherry (and Clara, too) of Young House Love.

Today, they posted their own recap of the art market and featured my shop along with a slew of other awesome artists and crafters. Big thanks to YHL for buying handmade and for showing some love to local artists. I'm so honored to have one of my Virginia ornaments hanging on the Petersik Christmas tree!

Photo via Young House Love.

Also, I've had a lot of interest in the state prints and requests to do other states (Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC are currently available). I'm keeping a tally this week and hope to make prints of the most popular states in January. So, if you want to request a state, speak up...otherwise, as I'm sure you can guess, California will win! I'll keep you posted as to which states I decide to do next week.

(As for you people from less popular states, I wish I could create maps of all 50 states, but that isn't feasible right now. However, more states may be added in the future, so please check back here for updates in the coming months!)

Thanks again for the love, YHL, and for all of you who have visited my shop and stopped by my blog today!

handmade holiday | felt fish ornaments

2011-12-22T08:15:00.002-05:00

This year, I participated in two ornament swaps: The Freshly Blended Ornament Swap and The Very Berry Handmade Ornament Swap.

I needed to make 11 ornaments for the swaps - they needed to be unique, and pretty, and also simple enough to make multiples. I came up with these felt fish. While they were fairly simple, anything that involves hand sewing is time consuming for me. A good project to work on in front of the TV!

But they were totally worth it. I was a little sad to give them all away, because I just love the idea of a tree full of fish! But I also love the thought that these guys arrived in mailboxes all over the world...

(And I did make a few extras for our own tree!)

Materials | felt, sequins, embroidery thread, glue, hemp twine (for hanging cord)
Equipment | needle, paper fish template, scissors
Tips | You need three pieces of felt for each fish - a front, a back, and the middle piece which includes the fins.
Glue the twine to either side of the middle piece of felt to create a hanging cord.
While the glue dries, sew sequin eyes to the front and back pieces of felt.
Assemble the felt sandwich and use a running stitch to hand sew the three pieces of felt together.
Embroider the zigzag pattern.

Merry Fishmas!

handmade holiday | star ornaments

2011-12-21T16:00:00.004-05:00

I'm a non-traditionalist when it comes to Christmas ornaments. I think the red/green/gold combination is boring and depressing, and I don't do baby Jesus or religious themes on my tree. I like fun, bright, cheerful colors, and non-traditional shapes. However, I've been so non-traditional with my Christmas decorations lately, that I realized I've been un-Christmasing Christmas.

Enter the star - my favorite Christmas shape. It's modern, yet Christmasy at the same time. I could decorate a whole tree with stars, and many of my handmade ornaments this year are stars - whether made of felt, glass, wood, or sticks.

EMBROIDERED WOOD STARS

This idea came to me as I was trying to fall asleep one night - "I should sew on wood!" I thought. The next day I busted out my power drill and created one of my favorite ornaments this year. These were so simple to make and I love how they turned out. They look very Nordic to me, which is awesome since I am a big fan of the Scandinavian aesthetic. And they're Christmasy!

Materials | wood stars, embroidery thread (4' per star), hemp twine (for hanging cord), glue
Equipment | power drill, scissors, needle
Tips |   Drill the center hole larger than the others.
   Start and finish sewing at the center hole.
     Finish the stars by tying a knot at the center hole at each side.
   Dot each knot with a dab of glue to keep from unraveling.

STAINED GLASS STARS

I made this ornament years ago after taking a stained glass class. At the time I planned to make dozens to give as gifts, but the thought of cutting glass at home and littering my house with dangerous glass shards made me decide against it. I have since seen similar stars popping up in Etsy shops and at craft fairs.

Admittedly, this project is not the best DIY if you've never worked with glass before, but I had to share it because it is one of my favorites.

Materials | glass, copper foil, flux, solder, fishing wire (for hanging cord)
Equipment | glass cutter, soldering iron, experience with glass
Tips | Please don't cut or burn yourself!

FELT STARS #1

I made these stars last year after realizing I was never going to make more glass stars. I liked the look of the circle in the center of the glass star, so used that as inspiration for these much-simpler-to-make felt stars. I had been attempting hand sewing some much more intricate felt ornaments last year and wanted a simple shape that could be sewn quickly using my sewing machine. I machine-stitched two felt stars together (for rigidity) and then hand sewed the circles on either side.

Materials | felt, thread, silver cord (for hanging cord)
Equipment | scissors, needle, sewing machine

FELT STARS #2

I call this guy "Franken Star" - you can see my handsewing skills leave a lot to be desired. That just gives it character, right?

Materials | felt, thread, hemp twine (for hanging cord)
Equipment | scissors, needle

CINNAMON GLITTER STARS

Everyone's heard of cinnamon-applesauce ornaments (we had some on our tree growing up), yet this was my first go at making them myself.

What a mess! The dough looks like, well...there's a reason I nicknamed these Sh*t Stars. I'd give you a recipe (you mix cinnamon, applesauce, and a spoonful of glue), but the one I used was clearly off in its proportions and I had to dump a bunch of extra cinnamon in to make the stars look like stars and not mud pies.

Also, I now have a 5 pound jug of ground cinnamon and no idea what to do with it!

Anyway, I wanted to make the cinnamon ornaments with a twist and add a little sparkle, so I sprinkled glitter over the stars while they were still wet. I recently saw glitter described as "the herpes of the craft world." I tend to agree - but at Christmastime all bets are off. The sparklier the better, I say! Mine are a little rough looking (evidently you can rub them with sandpaper if you prefer a smoother look), but that's part of their rustic charm.

Surprisingly, the dogs have not *yet* eaten these "cookies" off the tree...

Materials | cinnamon, applesauce, glue, glitter, hemp twine (for hanging cord)
Equipment | bowl, rolling pin, cookie cutters

TWIGGY STAR TREE TOPPPER

Once our tree was decorated with handmade ornaments, I realized I couldn't put our usual store-bought copper star on the top (I think it came from Target), so I set about to make my own using some twigs from our backyard. It was a frustrating process as the star kept breaking apart, so I eventually got out the glue gun (as evidenced by the unsightly globs of glue at all the joints - oh well). Putting the star on top of the tree involved some swear words, and you will see my wire wrapping skills suck even more than my hand sewing skills, but hey, the tree is topped!

Materials | twigs, glue
Equipment | pruning shears, glue gun

Oh, and there was one more star ornament I made this year. I didn't like the way it turned out and hadn't planned to share it, but I should've at least photographed it first, because now it looks like this:

"That's what you get for making an ornament out of STICKS, Mom!"

handmade holiday | a handmade tree

2011-12-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things on this earth is Christmas trees - I've loved them since I was a wee tot, who pointed and exclaimed "gar! gar!" at the sight of an evergreen covered with twinkly lights. ("Gar" was my word for pretty. Who knows?) The day that we brought our perfectly-selected tree home from the lot and my dad set it up in the family room (and proceeded to take FOREVER to get the tree just right - straight in the stand, best side facing forward, lights tested and spaced equally apart, etc) was my favorite day of the year (besides Christmas Day itself)!

As a child, I wanted our tree to look the same every year. I was convinced our family Christmas tree was the most beautiful Christmas tree in the history of Christmas. It was a real tree with colored lights (with the big C7 bulbs, none of those wussy mini lights for us!) and a red and white star on top that lit up. And ornaments - lots of ornaments - we had quite a collection. During our annual beach trip each summer, we were allowed to pick out an ornament for the tree, so we had many glittery shells and starfish, along with a menagerie of land animals.

Many of these precious family ornaments are now in my personal collection and have adorned Larry's and my tree the past few years. And I love them. But I was getting a bit bored with our tree looking the same every year. I even switched things up last year and used colored lights, but it seems like just yesterday (where did this year go?) that I was decorating that tree (and undecorating it, and pulling pine needles out of the rug - ugh!). It was time for a change!

So this year I decided to leave all the family ornaments in the box and challenge myself to decorate our tree with only handmade decorations. (This went along nicely with my pledge to only buy handmade gifts this year, too!)

And I love the result! It's my favorite tree yet - colorful and cheerful and homemade. I made the ornaments, the garland, and the tree topper all with my own two hands. (I had hoped to DIY a tree skirt, but ran out of time and ended up using our old one from West Elm. Our stockings are also from West Elm.) This tree feels so much more special and unique than decorating with made-in-China ornaments from a big box store. This isn't to say that I'll never again use all the family ornaments I've collected over the past 30 years, but I think it's fun to rotate through the collection and use different ones each year instead of feeling the need to put every single ornament on the tree.

These next few days before Christmas, I'll be sharing a series of Handmade Holiday posts including the DIY ornaments I made for this year's tree. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory, so I won't write full-blown tutorials, but I will include materials lists and tips for creating them yourself. (However, if there are any questions about how to make the ornaments, please ask, and I will answer in the comments.)

Happy Handmade Holidays!

best of 2011 | larry's favorite music

2011-12-19T16:36:00.001-05:00

One of the best things that Larry has taught me throughout our 8 1/2 year relationship was to broaden my appreciation of music. I've always loved music and even come from a musical family, but before I met Larry, I had little experience with music that wasn't on the radio. Before we were dating, Larry would often stop by my desk at work to bring me a CD to listen to. It was always a band I had never heard of and it was always awesome. Through this musical courtship, Larry won my heart, and nine years later he is still introducing me to amazing music.

I often refer to Larry as my own personal Pandora. Tell him a band you like, and he will rattle off half a dozen more that you might enjoy. He's always right. He's also a musical Wikipedia - through his love of reading musical memoirs and biographies, magazines, and blogs, he knows more about music than anyone I know.

Obviously, there's no one I'd trust more to write a guest post about the best music of 2011 than Larry! I've always thought he should be a music critic/blogger, so here's his debut...

-Rachel

Larry's Favorite Music of 2011

I’ve always loved year-end ‘best of’ lists. They’re either a cheap validation of my tastes (or lack thereof) or a way to discover some things that I’ve missed over the past fast and furious 12 months. So in that spirit, here are my Favorite Albums of 2011.

10. Portugal. The Man | In the Mountain In the Cloud

A little psychedelic. A little glam. All good.

Song: Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)
Got it All by Portugal. The Man on Grooveshark

9. Ha Ha Tonka | Death of a Decade

Great straight up rock and roll.

Song: Usual Suspects

Ususal Suspect by Ha Ha Tonka on Grooveshark

8. The War on Drugs | Slave Ambient

A trip worth taking.

Song: Best Night

Best Night by The War on Drugs on Grooveshark

7. Vetiver | The Errant Charm

   I saw Vetiver earlier in the year at Iota. For one reason or many others, I can't say that I remember a
   whole lot of that experience, other than wanting to hear more. Very mellow tunes - with a a couple of
   left turns thrown in.

Song: Wonder Why

Wonder Why by Vetiver on Grooveshark

6. I'm From Barcelona | Forever Today

I'm From Barcelona should be played on continuous loop on suicide prevention hotlines. It's
impossible not to smile when this band of many is playing.

Song: Skipping a Beat

Skipping A Beat by I'm from barcelona on Grooveshark

5. Iron & Wine | Kiss Each Other Clean

   For a lot of long time Iron & Wine fans, Kiss Each Other Clean is a major fall from grace.
   Production and instrumentation are very different from Sam Beam's earliest efforts. However, all of
   the literal bells and whistles work for me.

Song: Tree By The River

Tree By The River by Iron & Wine on Grooveshark

4. Typhoon | A New Kind of House

More of an EP than a full length album, but filled with great songs. Another many-membered band.
Sweeping. Emotional. Awesome.

Song: Summer Home

Summer Home by Typhoon on Grooveshark

3. The Rural Alberta Advantage | Departing

Hate the band name, love the band. Tornado '87 is as good of a song as released anywhere this year.

Song: Tornado '87

Tornado '87 by The Rural Alberta Advantage on Grooveshark

2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit | Here We Rest

Close call between this one and #1. Jason just keeps getting stronger and stronger with each album.

Song: Codeine

Codeine by Jason Isbell on Grooveshark

1. The Decemberists | The King Is Dead

I flirted with The Decemberists in the past, but never went all the way. This one just clicked with me
and I listened to it more than anything in 2011. I love the country-ish vibe. Perfect.

   Song: Down by the Water
     Down By The Water by The Decemberists on Grooveshark

   P.S. I totally agree with Larry's choice of The Decemberists' The King Is Dead for #1 album of the
   year, however my favorite song is Rox in the Box. --RR
     Rox In The Box by The Decemberists on Grooveshark

DIY rope bowl

2011-12-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year, I spied a rope bowl in the West Elm catalog and immediately added it to my wish list. However, on a trip to West Elm, I saw the bowl in person and realized it was really shoddily made and not worth the $35 price tag.

I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to make my own - probably because I had no idea how to make a bowl shape out of rope.

The really obvious solution was revealed to me a couple weeks ago when Design Sponge posted a rope bowl how-to. (The answer: use an existing bowl as a guide. Duh!)

I was on it - after a quick trip to Home Depot to pick up an $8 package of manila rope, I had fired up my glue gun and made myself a DIY rope bowl. This project was super easy and quick. Coil the rope into a coaster to make the flat bottom of the bowl, then use an existing bowl as a guide to make the sides. I wrapped and glued a piece of hemp cord around the end of the rope to keep it from fraying. I also think it would also be fun to use a piece of embroidery floss as a colorful accent.

I love it, and feel the same way about it as I do about every successful DIY project I complete: Must make MORE! Seriously, doesn't every house need 50 rope bowls?

Also, no post is complete without a doggy photo bomb:

two dogs, one bed

2011-12-13T22:23:00.001-05:00

My dogs are not the type to snuggle with each other. They're very snuggly with humans (sit down on the floor in our house and you will likely end up as the meat in the puppy sandwich - with a dog on either side of you), but not with one another.

They're actually very much like human brothers - they tolerate each other, but they always want what the other one has - whether it be a stick, a toy, or the prime snoozing spot in front of the fireplace.

So imagine my surprise when I got out of the shower the other day to find this:

Gravy's been going through a phase where he will steal Banjo's bed and poor Banjo doesn't know what to do about it. He usually sleeps on the floor and waits for Gravy to leave. I've even told Banjo to go get in Gravy's bed, but he won't. I guess this time he decided to reclaim what was rightfully his, even if he had to share his nest with Gravy the cowbird!

I quickly snapped the pic with my iPhone, then ran downstairs to get my camera. When I came back up to photograph them, they both jumped up and ran out of the nook - I guess they didn't want their forbidden love to be documented!

And since I'm sharing cute dog pics, it might not be humanly possible to get more comfortable than this:

xoxoxo

richmond handmade holiday 2011

2011-12-12T01:07:00.002-05:00

Holiday art markets have been my entire life lately. Yesterday was my second art market of the month - Richmond Craft Mafia's Handmade Holiday - and it was just as awesome as Holiday Heap in Baltimore.

The event was held at Plant Zero in Richmond, and as soon as I walked into the space to set up, I discovered two of my favorite things - paper lanterns and twinkle lights strung up everywhere! Add to that some delicious, fresh-from-the-oven scones from the Plant Zero Cafe and I was a happy camper before the market even opened to customers.

There was a good crowd throughout the day and my Virginia ornaments and Virginia map illustrations were popular with the crowd in the state capital, though geography continued to vex the general public. The map illustrations were completely confusing to the Maryland crowd last week, and the Virginia crowd did only marginally better. I've always known that Americans suck at geography (I read somewhere that a large percentage of Americans think that Canada is one of the 50 states and that New Mexico is a foreign country), but I was shocked at how many people could not identify the shape of the very state that they live in! And while I don't expect many people outside of DC to be able to identify the DC map, I was surprised at the guesses: "Is this South Carolina?" "Is this Pennsylvania?" Pennsylvania is a rectangle, people!

A highlight of the day was when my favorite Richmond bloggers stopped by my booth - John and Sherry (and Clara, too) of Young House Love. So fun to get to meet these guys in person! I also got to meet the owners of Luminhaus (the amazing house we vacationed at this summer to celebrate Larry's 40th birthday). I had left one of my Eat More Cheese prints at Luminhaus, and Jennifer Watson came up to my booth and said "You stayed in our house!" and mentioned that she recognized the print.

A big thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth - it was great to meet so many Richmonders!

I've really been liking my new display and table set-up - it has been tough to maximize my display space using the tiny 6' table we are allotted for indoor markets, and I think going vertical was best way to showcase as many of my prints as possible. It does make it a little more difficult to interact with customers as only my head is showing above the display, and I do have to stand on my feet all day, but I will sacrifice my comfort for my art!

And here's a behind the scenes view and a dirty little secret - my entire display is supported by paint cans and duct tape. Yes, this display was engineered by a former architect and a civil engineer. Also, note how the paint cans are wearing, yes, dog bandanas. Fancy.

The other good thing about having a tall display...it hid the fact that my zipper was down during the entire show. Well, you know, except for the part where I walked around the entire market a few times WITH MY FLY OPEN checking out the other vendor's booths. NICE ONE, Rachel!

Also, WHY DOESN'T LARRY EVER NOTICE THESE THINGS AND WARN ME BEFORE I WALK AROUND IN PUBLIC?

All in all, it was a great day and I'm already looking forward to next year's holiday markets. But right now I need to catch up on Christmas... (Though I'd really rather spend the next two weeks baking, reading, and consuming copious amounts of alcohol!)

oh, christmas tree

2011-12-07T02:11:00.002-05:00

Last year, Larry and I chopped down our first Christmas tree. It was so much more fun than picking out a tree in a suburban parking lot and we vowed it would be a new family tradition.

So on Sunday, we drove out to Ticonderoga Farms in Chantilly, grabbed a measuring pole and a saw, and headed out to find the perfectly imperfect tree. We got there kind of late and the sun was already setting. Luckily, it was the first time we've been Christmas tree shopping when it wasn't bitterly cold. I was only wearing my snow boots because I haven't owned snow boots since I was about 12 and I was excited to be wearing them in all their fake fur-cuffed glory. (Know who else loves fake fur-cuffed boots? Gravy. He bit these as I was putting them on.)

Ticonderoga Farms does not look like your stereotypical Christmas tree farm with rows of perfectly shaped Fraser Firs growing on the side of the mountain. No, heading out on the Ticonderoga property is more like heading out into the wilderness. The trees are wild misshapen misfits. And that is what I love about it. Unfortunately, it makes finding a suitable tree a bit of a challenge.

I have a bit of an obsession with Charlie Brown Christmas trees, and this place has plenty of them, the problem was, none of these trees were capable of supporting lights or ornaments, and I do want to decorate my tree. I was excited about the prospect of getting a non-traditional species this year - perhaps a red cedar.

Bonus for the red cedar (which is actually a juniper) - perhaps I could use the berries to distill my own gin after Christmas is over... CHEERS!

But cedars grow skinny and tall and so they were simultaneously too narrow to fill up our living room and too tall to fit in our house without cutting a hole in the roof. They also have weak branches, so aren't particularly good for decorating. It looked like the red cedar was out. (No gin for you!)

We briefly considered chopping the top off this White Pine.

If we couldn't get a cedar, that narrowed our choices to a random bush, a dead deciduous tree, or the dreaded Scotch Pine.

One thing that Larry and I agreed on is that we'll never again get a Scotch Pine. We had one last year and it was lovely, but I firmly believe this tree came straight from the Devil's playground, as the mother f*ing needles were so sharp, that we were both nearly in tears the day we tried to dispose of it. (And by dispose of it, I mean dump it in the corner of our backyard and then a few months later, set it on fire. Yes, we did burn our Christmas tree in our own backyard. Yeehaw!) Never again will I sit on the living room floor and use pliers to pull Scotch Pine needles out of both the carpet and my ass.

At this point, it was getting dark, we had walked to the middle of the suburban wilderness, and there wasn't a suitable tree in sight:

Holy Bags Under My Eyes! Someone get me some undereye concealer, stat!

So we decided we'd have to get a pre-cut Fraser Fir from the Ticonderoga Christmas tree lot. These trees aren't even grown in this area (I think they're imported from North Carolina). So while it was kind of a bummer to not be able to cut down a local tree, it was still nice to be able to walk through nature and buy our imported tree at a farm instead of at the grocery store.

Anyway, here's Larry with the chosen tree:

By the time we left the farm, the sky looked like this:

The tree has been set up in our living room for the past two days without lights and ornaments. At this rate, maybe I'll have the time to add an ornament or two per day and have it decorated by the 25th...

miracle on 34th street

2011-12-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

One of the things on my Holiday List this year was to see the Christmas lights on 34th Street in Baltimore. Since we were in Baltimore on Saturday for Holiday Heap, I mentioned to Larry that we should check out Miracle on 34th Street after the market was over. He groaned and said "But we're going to be so tired!"

He was right. We were exhausted.

But we were too close to pass up the chance to see the display, so we agreed to just drive through. It would've been nice to get out of the car and walk around and take some photos that weren't shot through the windshield, but honestly, after being on my feet for 8 straight hours, I'm not sure that I could've put one foot in front of the other properly.

It was fun to drive through and see the lights, but after such a long day, it was even more fun to get home, change into sweatpants and order Chinese food.

The artist behind the famous hubcap Christmas tree and bike wheel snowmen even invites people into his house. Maybe we'll check that out next year.

baltimore holiday heap 2011

2011-12-05T18:13:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, my shop was a vendor at my first holiday art market - Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap (AKA the reason I've been too busy to blog lately). I can't even put into words how awesome it was.

I'll admit I was a bit intimidated when I first arrived to set up - the other vendors had AMAZING work. This was a pretty big show - 60+ vendors set up at St. John's Church in Baltimore. It was the perfect location - kind of an industrial space in an old church, all strung up with twinkle lights. As soon as the doors opened at 10 am, the market was slammed. During the first two hours of the show, I actually had people lined up at my booth to make purchases, and Larry and I were juggling swiping credit cards and bagging stuff up and restocking - thank goodness he was there to help, because I could not have handled it on my own!

Within the first hour I had sold out of the Maryland ornaments. A few minutes later, all the Maryland map illustrations and new River Rock and Cairn illustrations were gone! Holy smokes! I had no idea that Baltimore was such an artsy town, and it made me so happy to see crowds of people out to support small businesses and buy handmade from local artists. Thank you, Baltimore - you all are awesome!

And thank you to my family in Maryland who dropped by to shop and say hello and to my Virginia friends who drove up to Baltimore to surprise me. You all are awesome, too and I'm so flattered to have your support!

Not only was this my biggest market yet, and first holiday market, it was also my first indoor market and last week Larry and I built a new display system for my art. It took some jury rigging (and a bit of sweating) to get it to stand up at the market - the whole thing is held up by paint cans and...duct tape! (Thank God for duct tape!) But it ended up looking great and I was especially excited about the battery-operated light display!

It was an amazing (and exhausting) day, and now that the dust has settled, I'm feeling so pumped up and inspired for the future of Funnelcloud Studio. After the last market I sold at this Fall, I was feeling unsure about continuing to sell at markets, but after this weekend's experience, I realized I just have to be selective and only attend fairs that are the right fit for my shop. I've been researching other markets and am excited about the possibility of going bigger in 2012...

I'll be a busy bee this week, as next weekend is Richmond Craft Mafia's Handmade Holiday (Sunday, December 11th from 11-6 at Plant Zero) and I'm working like a madwoman to restock my prints. Inventory is currently low in my Etsy shop, but I am reprinting and will post updates on new work both here and on Twitter when prints are available. If there's something you've had your eye on, let me know. Thanks for your patience and thanks to all who came out on Saturday!

satisfying november!

2011-12-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Ah, November! Full of hearty comfort food. Thanksgiving. Family recipes. The time to put your diet on hold and indulge for the holidays...

And we did just that! We had a lovely Thanksgiving - highlights included my grandmother's now famous recipe for Cranberry Jell-o Mold (no Thanksgiving is complete without it), my mom's amazing pies, and my aunt's fabulous recipe for Maple Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Hazelnut Butter. (Nut Butter...almost as funny as Sticky Nuts and equally delicious!) I think this is the recipe, but I'll have to verify with my aunt. Everyone in my family agrees that the traditional recipe for sweet potatoes with marshmallows is gross - but sweet potatoes with nut butter? Awesome!

It was also a month for cake, as we celebrated another friend's 40th birthday. This called for another family recipe - carrot cake, a recipe that has been in my family for probably 30 years and is hands-down the best carrot cake on earth. It's so good that it has now become a tradition within my group of friends, too!

And it was also a month to break out the hot chocolate - something I drink nearly every morning. I've been on a quest to find the perfect hot chocolate mix - one that doesn't contain chemicals and is sinfully delicious. The hot chocolate from Penzey's is pretty good, especially if you add a handful of crushed candy canes.

What we were eating and cooking this month: Thanksgiving foods, cheese, cake, and my morning dose of hot chocolate.

thanksgiving in pictures

2011-12-03T01:30:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, I know Thanksgiving was a week and a half ago and everyone has moved on to Christmas...but I've been a little busy. Better late than never, I say!

We had Thanksgiving over at my Mom's house (and a second Thanksgiving at my Dad's on Sunday). We drank a lot of wine and made jokes at the dinner table about the "sticky nuts" that topped Mom's fabulous Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake with Candied Pecans.

I really wanted to host Thanksgiving at our house, but was just too busy this year. Next year it is happening. Though I am not going to be sticking my hand up a turkey's butt. Per the rules of our kitchen, that will be Larry's job.

I did contribute to the meal though. (Green Bean Casserole with Goat Cheese, Almonds, and Smoked Paprika and homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream were my responsibilities.)

The green beans:

The carving of the turkey:

The table:

Let's eat!

The pies. (Did I mention the sticky nuts?)

Me and Mom:

More sticky nuts!

My wacky and wonderful family:

Jaime (my brother's girlfriend), Steve (my brother), my aunt and uncle, me, Larry, my mom, and Lucy. Oh, and the somewhat creepy portrait at the left is my great great great great great great grandfather. He fell off a horse and died.

I think she's laughing about the sticky nuts...

Where's my freakin' turkey, bitchez???

The End.

Now on to Christmas...

holiday heap sneak peek

2011-12-02T17:17:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow's the big day! My shop will be at Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap in Baltimore from 10-5 at St. John's Church. I've been working hard on building a display (which is currently being supported by paint cans - hopefully I'll come up with something better for the show!) and I've got 11 new gouache illustrations that are not yet available in my Etsy shop (but you can buy them in person tomorrow!).

I'll also have these handpainted Maryland ornaments for sale at the market for all you Baltimore peeps:

Hope to see some blog readers tomorrow!

P.S. Becky of Love Everyday Life proclaimed today Funnelcloud Friday! I love that! Go and read her interview with me and find out how my shop got its name.

the third date

2011-11-28T12:27:00.000-05:00

In between stuffing my face, visiting family, and trying to be productive this weekend, I had the chance to get together with my favorite group of local bloggers to chat, sip mimosas, swap cookies, and attempt to make Christmas ornaments. I suppose this was our third date, but these girls already feel like old friends - I guess that's a benefit of blogging about your life - we all know so much about each other through our blogs!

Ashley, Sarah, me, Tessica, and newly-engaged Lauren (see her beautiful smile and beautiful ring?!)

Lauren hosted a delicious and impressive brunch at her gorgeous and cozy apartment and Tessica taught us how to make beautiful 3-D paper snowflakes. Well, some of them were beautiful - my attempt went straight in the recycling bin. I did not take photos of my "masterpiece", but I think Ashley may have documented my failure! (I later realized that I had pinned this exact project a long time ago - it's a good thing I didn't try to make it on my own!)

We also got to meet Lauren's fiance - who was such a good sport about having a group of chatty women take over the apartment to do craft projects! What a great guy! (And he kindly took the above group photo of us, too - and didn't even cut off our heads the way Larry usually does!)

Seriously, check out this impressive spread! Mmm!

I've been so busy lately, that I was stressing out about not having the time to bake cookies beforehand and not having the time to take a break from my work to socialize, but I'm so glad I did. I find whenever my schedule gets overbooked, the best thing I can do is take a break to chat with friends. I always leave feeling happier, energized, and inspired.

Thanks ladies, for a lovely afternoon! (And for all the delicious cookies we've been snacking on - Larry and the dogs ambushed me as soon as I walked in the door carrying a big bag of treats!)

happy thanksgiving

2011-11-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

Brought to you by Banjo and dogs under tables across the U.S.A.

(This looks like a tryptophan-induced nap, but the pups actually weren't invited to Thanksgiving. Again. Gravy finds this very unfair considering it is his namesake holiday!)

almost pantsless

2011-11-22T23:21:00.001-05:00

Tonight Larry and I went to Hell the mall to go jeans shopping.

There was much sighing, complaining, and perhaps some whining.

You might be surprised to know that the sighing, complaining, and whining was coming from me. I hate the mall and I hate shopping there. But I realized I was down to owning only one pair of properly fitting pants (besides yoga pants, pajama pants, or any other sort of elastic-waisted pants that shall not been seen in public). Since these jeans are my only properly fitting pair of pants, I wear them all the time. They're getting ratty and they're in that near perfect super-soft stage in their lifespan where you know it's only a matter of time before they rip. And being that they are the only pair of properly fitting pants I own - how would I go to the store to buy a replacement pair if I were pantsless? I'm pretty sure that shopping without pants is frowned upon at Tysons Corner Center.

So the dreaded trip to Hell the mall was necessary. It was down to the eleventh hour really since once Black Friday kicks off Christmas shopping season I refuse to set foot in Hell the mall. And I hated every second of it. I hate trying on pair after pair of over-priced jeans. What the heck are Demi-Curve, Bold-Curve, Chimney, and High-Riser? Hell, it didn't matter what style they were - they were all either too long, too short, too wedgie-inducing, and most-likely, too tight.

Also, why is there no booze at the Denim Bar?

Anyway, I want to slap the bitches who wear "skinny skinny" jeans. (Seriously, that's a thing. You know, in case the plain ol' skinny jeans just aren't quite skinny enough.) And why weren't skinny jeans in fashion back when I was actually skinny? (Nooo, I had to be skinny back when grunge was cool.)

Skinny jeans do not work for people who are not skinny. Like me. In fact, I think the jeans styles available today should be more appropriately named Spare Tire, Camel Toe, Muffin Top, and Butt Crack. Because seriously, when I put them on, that is what's going to be hanging out. (Perhaps I should stop eating so many donuts?)

Anyway, I tried on approximately four dozen pairs of jeans. I bought four of them. None of them really fit properly. I'll probably return a few and plan to hem some of the others. And by that, I mean, I will stuff them in the back of my closet and find them months later with the tags still on, unhemmed, still too long, and probably even tighter than they were before.

Larry tried on ONE pair of jeans. He bought them.

So I'm really no better off than I was before - perhaps worse off, since I'm now poorer. Please, old jeans, I beg you - don't rip!

Despite all these frustrations, Larry remained cheerful as he dragged me from store to store, suggesting shops to look into - even if he'd never heard of them. ("Seriously, Larry, do I look like the kind of girl who could get away with wearing something from a store called Diesel?")

He even got me to crack a smile a couple of times with a few of his comments:

At Ann Taylor Loft:

Larry: I'm the only person with testicles in this entire store!
< Looks around, spies baby of questionable gender. >
Larry: Well, perhaps there might be some little testicles over there.

Outside of Madewell:

Larry: How about this store? Madewell?
Me: They're owned by J.Crew.
Larry: So?
Me: J.Crew clothes never fit me. Haven't you ever seen the models in the catalog? Their clothes are made for flat-chested girls.
Larry: Well, maybe that's why this store is called Madewell! Because it's for chicks who are MADE WELL. MADE WITH BOOBIES!

(Note: I did end up buying a pair of Madewell jeans. I can't tell you if their tops fit any differently than J.Crew tops since luckily my boobs don't need to fit into my jeans. Also, they might be borderline skinny jeans. I'm still not sure about them, but I wanted something I could wear with boots. Tell me, People-Who-Wear-Boots-Over-Jeans, how do you keep your pants from bunching up in your boots? Is there some sort of trick to this or are you all secretly wearing stirrup pants?)

holiday list

2011-11-18T02:19:00.002-05:00

I'm one of those people who doesn't want to think about Christmas until Thanksgiving is over - one holiday at a time please! I'm also a bit of a scrooge. I loved Christmas as a kid, but sometime around my teenage years, Christmas lost its magic...and sadly, I never found it again. Sure, there are plenty of things I like about the holidays - I'm crazy for Christmas trees, twinkle lights, and cooooookies, especially. I love Christmas crafts and am always pinning new ideas. But commercialism and consumerism always seem to squash my Christmas spirit, the cold weather makes me cranky, and the holidays ultimately leave me feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, and sleep-deprived.

In my perfect world, there would be a ban on shopping malls and their fugly fake Christmas trees, inflatatable Santas, those commercials with shiny new Mercedes topped with big red bows, and Black Friday sales. Seriously, this is how America celebrates Christmas - by fighting over cheap crap made in China in a Walmart at midnight the day after Thanksgiving? Yuck.

Sometimes Christmas makes me feel like this:

Christmas = Dog Butt

That being said, owning my own business has me viewing the holidays in a different light. Business-wise, I can't deny the consumer aspect of Christmas. People do a lot of shopping this time of year and as a business owner I have to be prepared for that. And I like that my shop can provide an alternative to mass-produced gifts. Giving thoughtful handmade gifts is much more my speed and I like being part of a community that promotes this.

But being a business owner also has me planning ahead and thinking about Christmas much earlier than I'm used to. And I'm ok with that. I've been excited about it this year. Sure, I've been stressed out as I'm prepping for holiday art markets, but I'm thinking about how once the markets are over with, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the last two weeks before Christmas - snuggled with my family in front of the fire, admiring the twinkle lights, baking, and not stressing out. I'm really looking forward to it.

I recently read about the German concept of Gemütlichkeit. (Don't ask me how to pronounce that!) It can be loosely defined as coziness, the absence of anything hectic, togetherness, and the opportunity to spend comfortable, calm, quality time with friends and loved ones, often while lighting candles and enjoying good food and drink. I love this concept, and being of German ancestry makes me love it even more. I hope to spend the holiday season just like this - cozied up with the ones I love.

Gravy and Banjo have the concept of Gemütlichkeit down pat. Yup, they're both in this photo.

Amy of Just a Titch recently made a Holiday To Do List and inspired me to do the same. It's a good reminder to take some time for some fun activities amid the typical December busy-ness:

I probably won't check off half of these, but it's nice to have a list to refer to when I start feeling Scrooge-like!

hello from the studio

2011-11-16T19:05:00.000-05:00

Hello! I'm still stuck in my studio, working my tail off in preparation for the holiday art markets. I haven't let myself do much besides work. When was the last time I left the house? When was the last time I had contact with a human other than Larry? I'm basically denying myself of all pleasure so I can get this work done. (I'm a tough boss!) Overextended and overwhelmed? Yes and yes!

While I'm busy being the crazy shut-in artist, I feel like I'm missing out on just about everything. Every day I look out my studio window and think "I should go outside and photograph Fall in our yard." We have several gorgeous maple trees with bright yellow leaves, and my favorite - a burning bush hedge that turns a stunning red in Autumn. Today, I looked out the window and all the leaves were on the ground. Too late. Why is Fall such a fleeting season? Why do I now have to look at bare branches for four straight months?

However, my sacrifices are paying off - I have nearly a dozen new pieces (all gouache illustrations) completed. I'd like to do a dozen more, but I have to be realistic. I still need to build a display (there may be some adventures in woodworking this weekend - hopefully, I'll make it to Monday will all my digits intact) and package up prints, keep up with my Etsy shop, and make ornaments (for the ornament swaps and some for sale at the art markets). I'm obsessed with gouache, bright colors, and patterns lately, and can't wait to share the new stuff - but first I need to fork over the big bucks to get my paintings professionally scanned and reproduced.

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I like to keep this a personal blog and only write about my life, my art, and things that I personally have experienced. I only post my own photos. I don't typically post links to other people's stuff - there are plenty of other bloggers out there who scour the internet for beautiful and interesting things, so I prefer to leave that to others. (If you want to see what catches my eye on the internet, check out my Pinterest!)

However! Twitter has been keeping me sane while I've been shut in my studio. Thank goodness for blogging friends to keep me company while I work. Since I'm lacking the time to take and edit photos (not to mention, do interesting things to blog about!), I thought I'd share some random bits and pieces - things I've shared on Twitter, things I've found on Twitter, and other thoughts going through my head these days:

* I want to go to Sweden and stay in the Treehotel - specifically in the UFO treehouse (don't forget your E.T. costume!), although all the rooms are awesome (there's also a giant nest!). Too bad I didn't think of this for Larry's 40th!

* Did you know that author Dave Eggers is also an artist? I love all of his illustrations, but especially Being A Bear Solves Nothing, Hoping Fervently That You Stay Kosher, and Ass Kicking Is On My Mind. (At $500 to $900 each, though, they're a little out of my budget.)

* The discovery of Federal Donuts makes me want to hop on an Amtrak and stuff my face with donuts and fried chicken in Philly. Seriously, a place that sells only donuts and fried chicken - it's like it was made just for me!

* For years, I've wanted to eat at Chef Johnny Monis's Komi. For some reason or other, we haven't (Larry had even gotten us reservations there for my 30th and then changed his mind and rented a limo instead - which was awesome - cruising around town in a limo with my friends on my birthday!) Anyway, Johnny Monis has opened a new place - a tiny Thai restaurant called Little Serow. Can't wait to try it!

* Luminhaus (my favorite Virginia vacation spot and the place I did take Larry for his 40th - almost as awesome as a UFO treehouse!) has a new website and photo gallery. They've included links to my photos from our trip along with photos taken by Shauna & Stephen of Something's Hiding in Here.

* Big thanks to Becky of Love Everyday Life for including my Embrace Messy Hair print in her collection of Handmade Holiday gift ideas.

* Speaking of Handmade Holiday - Larry and I are trying to give all handmade gifts this year. I've been wanting to do this for years, and as an artist/crafty person, it's rather shameful that I haven't. I used to think that as an artist myself, I had to make all the gifts myself, too. That is not what is going to be happening. I'm happy to support other artists (and certainly don't have time to make all our gifts) and will be buying handmade items at craft markets and on Etsy to give as gifts. Either that, or everyone will be getting glittered macaroni necklaces.

* Handmade Holiday, part 2: I'm hoping to share a series on my blog in the coming weeks of handmade Christmas ornaments and decorations all made by me. Ideally, I'd like to decorate a Christmas tree with entirely handmade ornaments this year. Realistically, I have two art markets to prepare for, OMG. But I'm still taking little breaks between paintings to make ornaments, and I can't wait to share.

* What have I been the most excited about this week? Unleashed by Petco just opened up in the shopping center next to our house. A pet store within walking distance! Now we don't have to drive all over the county to find the fancy dog food we feed our pups (ahem, or make the dogs scrambled eggs when we *accidently* run out of dog food and don't want to drive 10 miles to get more. Good dog parents, we are). I live a pretty exciting life, let me tell you - excited about a pet store.

* If you exceed some of your goals for the year, does that make up for the ones you've completely failed at? I was looking over the (way too ambitious) lists of goals I set for the year, and with 2011 coming to an end there's no way I'm going to accomplish a lot of these.

* I have found the cure for insomnia! As much as I hate hate hate going off of Daylight Savings time (every time I see the moon out at 4:30, I want to punch its face!), the time change was the perfect opportunity to kill my bad sleeping habits. I've been going to bed earlier, snuggled up with a hot water bottle (I'm such an old lady) and my iPad, watching TV on HBO GO. I know you're not supposed to look at screens an hour before bed, but this is totally working for me. For a girl who didn't have cable television for the first 30 years of my life, I'm loving being able to catch up on all the HBO series that I missed out on. I watch one episode per night and I've been sleeping like a baby - the past week or two I've slept through the night for the first time in years. My bedtime routine is something I look forward to all day. And while I haven't been reading as much (now that I'm rotting my brain with television instead), I'm not going to argue with what works!

* And last, but not least, Gravy turned 5 on Monday. We celebrated with peanut butter sundaes:

Yes, Larry (the guy who swore our dogs would *never* eat people food) even topped Gravy's sundae with miniature marshmallows. Lucky beast!

bread of the month | anadama bread

2011-11-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

November is the eleventh month. And this is only my fifth Bread of the Month post. Bread of the Month is going to have to become Bread of the Week if I want to have baked 12 loaves by the end of the year. So much for that goal!

This month I baked Anadama Bread. I first heard it mentioned in a book I was reading a few months ago. One of the great things about reading e-books on my iPad is that I can do a quick google search if I read about something unfamiliar. I'd never heard of Anadama Bread and I was curious. It turned out to be a bread made from cornmeal and molasses. I particularly liked the myth that explained the origin of the name - that the bread's name came from a fisherman cursing his wife by exclaiming, "Anna, damn her!" I was intrigued by this tale and the cornmeal-molasses combination.

A New York Times recipe for Anadama Bread popped up during my search and I bookmarked it so I could try making this bread myself. I am a big fan of anything with cornmeal in it, though the molasses component had me a little nervous. Molasses kind of grosses me out. It smells like prune juice. The color of the bread dough once the molasses was added was...rather unappetizing.

But the bread turned out great. Slightly sweet - it tastes a lot like Honey-Wheat Bread. And after making buns, rolls, and flat breads, it was nice to bake an actual loaf this month. Five down, seven more to go! (And only six weeks left in the year!)

Oh, and here's a behind-the-scenes shot of what really goes on during a food photo shoot in my house. My subject matter is always being threatened:

scrumptious october!

2011-11-10T14:33:00.001-05:00

Whoah, yum! October was good. Very good. We did a lot of cooking and a lot of eating out. Basically, it was a month of stuffing our faces. Fresh ingredients (from the apple orchard and the Farmers Market), meals out (date night at Graffiato, sandwiches at Cowgirl Creamery, a bloggers' brunch at Kramerbooks) and some delicious junk (treats at The Apple House, dinner at Truckeroo). It was a food-filled month punctuated by a Halloween meal of Chicken Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings and a fist-full of Halloween candy.

In addition to baking lots of apple desserts, I also discovered The BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe. Now before I go on, I should confess something: I don't actually like chocolate chip cookies. I know, I know, that's un-American, or perhaps even un-human. And that's not to say that I dislike them enough to not eat them (they are cookies after all!), but the chocolate chip cookie is my last choice cookie. I'd choose a sugar cookie or a peanut butter cookie over a chocolate chip any day. (The exception to this is the dough - I love chocolate chip cookie dough. So much better than the actual cookie.)

So you have to believe me when I tell you that these cookies are phenomenal. To the point of me hoarding them. And considering punching someone in the face if they were to take the last cookie...

The recipe is from A Tender Crumb and is a variation of Jacques Torres' (aka Mr. Chocolate) famous chocolate chip cookie recipe. (I had bookmarked the original recipe years ago and didn't realize I was making a translation of Jacques' recipe until the cookies were already in the oven.) Anyway, these cookies are awesome. Most cookies taste best warm and straight from the oven, but these cookies actually taste even better once they've cooled down. And even better the next day - the centers are chewy and gooey with chocolate (you will end up with chocolate all over your face when eating these - no matter what your age) and the edges are delicately crisp. Perfection.

A few things to consider if you make this recipe:

The Tender Crumb recipe is actually a doubled version of Jacques' recipe. It makes a boatload of dough. The dough is very thick and it almost busted my mixer and overflowed the bowl. I suggest using a powerful mixer and a big ass bowl.
Holy chocolate, batman! This recipe uses a lot of freaking chocolate. TWO pounds to be exact. (Use broken up chocolate bars, not chips.) That will run you about $25. Yes. There is $25 worth of chocolate in this recipe. It's insane. And totally worth it.
The Tender Crumb recipe omits this step, but I suggest sifting the dry ingredients together. The dough was so thick that I feared I wasn't getting all the ingredients thoroughly incorporated without sifting first.
Yes, you do have to use both bread flour and pastry flour. Do not substitute all-purpose flour. The texture of these cookies relies on the fancy flours.
Make big cookies! Bigger is better. I used golf-ball sized balls of dough and it yielded about forty 5" cookies. (Your results may vary if your willpower to not eat the raw dough is stronger than mine!) I got perfect results when they were baked for 16 minutes.
Because of the aforementioned boatload of dough, I rolled all the dough into balls and put the extras in the freezer. (And then I put an alarm on the freezer should anyone try to steal my precious dough! It's mine! All miiiiiiiiiiine!) This way you can bake 6-8 cookies at a time and have pre-rolled balls of dough in the freezer ready to pop in the oven next time you have a cookie craving.

See you in my belly, cookies!

(Now back away from my cookies and make your own!)

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What we were eating and cooking this month: apples and cookies (what else do you need?)

*This post brought to you by a big bottle of something from the liquor store - which I am headed out to get right now since my computer crashed and deleted this post multiple times. Cheers!

holiday art markets

2011-11-04T04:58:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to announce that Funnelcloud Studio will be at two holiday art markets this December!

Mark your calendars:

December 3 - Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap (Baltimore, Maryland)
December 11 - Richmond Craft Mafia's Handmade Holiday (Richmond, Virginia)

I mentioned that I've been working around the clock in my studio lately and these shows are the reason why. Two holiday shows a week apart - oy! But I'm so excited for both of these - they're my biggest shows yet and will be a different set-up than the markets I did earlier this year, since they're indoor markets (yay - no wrestling with tents, weights, etc). On the downside, I have to figure out a way to display all my work on a single 6' table!

And yes, I realize after October's market, I had mixed feeling about doing any more this year, but that very night I applied to both of these markets (I honestly thought my chances at being accepted were slim!) and now I've got a full calendar for December!

So, if you're looking to give some handmade gifts this year, come check it out and stop by my table to say hi. (Do I have any readers in Baltimore or Richmond?) The Baltimore show is in an old church complete with stained glass and strung up with twinkle lights - I can't wait to see it!

Oh, and to further extend myself, I've signed up for two ornament swaps - The Very Berry Scrappy Ornament Swap and The Freshly Blended Holiday Ornament Swap (you can still sign up for this one through November 7th). In between all the art making and display building for the markets, I'll have to squeeze in some ornament making, too.

Ho Ho Ho, here we go!

truckeroo

2011-11-02T03:15:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, I met Larry downtown so we could eat dinner procured entirely from food trucks. It was Truckeroo 5, and it was awesome!

In the past, food trucks conjured up images of vendors on city streets selling week-old hot dogs out of a tank of dirty dishwater in the back of a truck. Or the mobile canteens that pull up outside construction sites. Perhaps, the Good Humor Truck (Larry still yells "ice cream!" whenever he hears the chimes from the Ice Cream Man). In college, we had Ziggy's Wagon - a food truck that stopped outside the dorms after the bars closed, so drunk students could get their late night fix of greasy cheese fries. Turns out Ziggy was selling something else out of the back of his truck, too: Marijuana. And cocaine. (Ziggy got busted and spent three years in jail for that one.)

But the food trucks of 2011 are not the typical roach coaches of the past - they've gone gourmet these days (with price tags to match - a lobster roll from the famous DC Red Hook Lobster Truck will run you $15).

I have a bit of an obsession with these fancy food trucks. When they became the trend in California a few years ago, I was envious. And I followed along with the Food Network show The Great Food Truck Race. Within a year or two, fancy food trucks did eventually come to DC. Problem was, by that time I was working and living in the suburbs and didn't have the opportunity to grab lunch from one of these mini-restaurants on wheels.

The solution? Truckeroo! Truckeroo is a monthly gathering of 25-30 DC food trucks. They all park at Das Bullpen (a biergarten/big open lot full of picnic tables used for tailgating before baseball games) next to Nationals Park and serve up food to hungry Washingtonians all day. I'd been wanting to check it out for a while, and for the past few months have had conflicts and wasn't able to go. But last week was the last Truckeroo of the year and I'm so glad we went. It was a fun environment and everything we ate was delicious.

DC Empanadas - these things are freaking awesome!

Poutine.

So the guys at TaKorean were decidedly not Korean. (But their tacos were delicious.)

Sadly, we couldn't try food from all the trucks, but here's what I was able to stuff in my hungry maw:

   Empanadas | DC Empanadas
   Korean Tacos | TaKorean
   Poutine | Eat Wonky
   Curry | Fojol Brothers
   Cupcakes | Sweet Bites
   Cheesecake | Sweetz/That Cheesecake Truck

Don't even ask me to pick a favorite because everything we tried was fantastic.

Korean Tacos from TaKorean (Half-eaten, whoops!)

Eat Wonky - home of the poutine-covered hot dog (aka Wonky Dog).

CUPCAKES!

Cookies & Cream Cupcake from Sweet Bites. Mmmm!

I hope they continue Truckeroo next year, because I can't wait to go back and try food from all the trucks I missed. Next time, I think we'll bring a big group of friends, claim a picnic table, and make an evening of it. (There's a beer stand, too.) Who's in?

halloween 2011

2011-11-01T02:42:00.002-04:00

This year's jack-o-lanterns: Jack Skellington (from The Nightmare Before Christmas) and Fred (from deep inside the recesses of Larry's brain):

Last year, my jack-o-lantern was Jack and Larry's was Ed. Sense a pattern here?

2010: Jack & Ed
2011: Jack Skellington & Fred
Prediction for 2012: Jack & Ned?

Gravy modeled for the second annual creepy greyhound silhouette photo:

weekend recap

2011-10-31T16:39:00.002-04:00

This weekend was full of friends, Halloween prep, delicious food, and snow. Yes, snow. In October. In Virginia.

Snow in October is one of the top reasons I vowed never again to live in the town of my alma mater after graduating. Dear Syracuse, please take your snow back, we don't want it here!

I refuse to bust out my winter parka in October, so I spent the weekend in an oh-so-fashionable get-up that consisted of a puffy vest over a fleece over a thermal shirt. Stylish.

Despite the craptastic weather (and my lack of style), I made it downtown (thanks to a ride from Karin!) to meet up for brunch with local bloggers. Spending the afternoon cozied up in Kramerbooks, eating delicious breakfast food, and chatting with Sarah, Lisa, Lauren, Karin, and Tessica was the perfect way to spend a snowy Saturday. We swapped nailpolish and photographed our food and discussed tattoos - pretty sure the waiter thought we were crazy. Though he did offer to take a group photo of us and we forgot to take him up on it.

I love that a monthly brunch with these girls seems to be becoming a tradition.

Social Saturday continued that evening when Larry and I went to hang out with old friends over a delicious dinner and some autumn ales. Tattoos were also a topic of discussion, and we decided that a friend of ours needs to get "mud flap" tattoos - that is, the silhouette of a naked woman tattooed on each butt cheek...

On Sunday, we made some eleventh hour purchases of pumpkins and Halloween candy, then went home and gathered our supplies for our second annual backyard carving party.

Supplies = two pumpkin saws (which both broke during the carving), two beers, and two pumpkin-eating pups.

Seriously, Gravy and Banjo are obsessed with eating pumpkin flesh. Larry and I sat at the picnic table working on carving our masterpieces, but we might as well have been sitting in a shark tank wearing suits made of chum. The dogs circled the table swiping chunks of pumpkin whenever they could. I almost lost a finger several times, and not because of the useless pumpkin saws...

"Hey Dad, you gonna eat that?"

(.03 seconds after this photo was taken, Banjo jumped up doing his best Cujo impersonation and I nearly lost my hand.)

"Mmmm! I found a pumpkin lid!"

(Gravy attempting to stealthily thieve the other pumpkin lid.)

They managed to get their snouts in every picture...

Me: "Ewww! Pumpkin guts!" Gravy: "Mmmm! Pumpkin guts!"

Our tradition is that we don't show each other our jack-o-lanterns until we're finished carving. Oh, the suspense...

Her view:

His view:

(Stay tuned for photos of our finished masterpieces.)

We ended the weekend with a delicious meal of, what else? G(h)oulash! (This recipe was awesome, and so spicy - thanks, Hungarian Hot Paprika - it nearly melted my face off. In a good way.)

And for dessert...Halloween candy, of course!

I hope we still have enough to hand out to the four trick-or-treaters we usually get on Halloween night...

Happy Halloween!

sequestered

2011-10-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

The photos I've been sharing recently make it seem like my life is full of galavanting in the woods, traipsing around farms with cows, and spending my fall picking apples and stuffing my face with baked goods.

How quaint.

Also, such a lie.

The truth is, I've been sequestered in my studio lately. I haven't been leaving the house or even going outside most days. I'm living a nocturnal lifestyle - locking myself in my studio until 3 in the morning, painting, drawing, trying to figure it all out. I've got a lot in the works for Funnelcloud Studio, and I'm already prepping for the holidays. I'd like to have a completely new series of prints available in November. I'm the type who gets completely stressed out in preparation for Christmas and I'm already feeling overwhelmed. Owning a small business only exacerbates the holiday stress problem. And it's only October!

I'm trying to work my butt off now so I can relax come December (ha!), but I already feel behind. My house is a disaster. I have half-finished projects and gifts that were never finished from last Christmas. I have a three-page list of things I'd like to write about. I have a pile of e-books from the library that are going to expire before I have the chance to read them. There's food rotting in the fridge. I've already cut a few projects out that I just don't have the time for. I hate that. I can't keep up with blogging or reading blogs, e-mails, phone calls, twitter, friends...

So, I'm sorry for being a jerk - especially during a season that is supposed to be all about family and friends.

I'll continue to share pictures and words when I can, but I don't see any respite in my workload until the end of the year. So ironic, considering I hated the end of the year stress when I was in the workforce and now that I'm self-employed...it's a hundred times worse! (Not really - I'd still rather be working in my home studio at 3 am than in a beige cubicle at 3 am.)

So I'm looking to January 1st as the day I'll take a big sigh of relief. Scratch that - January 2nd. I'm planning to be recovering from a hangover on New Year's Day...