angry chicken

laurel burch

A couple years ago I was out to dinner with a close friend, exactly my age, who was wearing Laurel Burch earrings. She kept them from the 80s. I had totally forgotten about Laurel Burch but when I was in middle school they were a big deal. I usually stole my mom's, but I had a few paris of my own. Her early work was really expensive and done in cloisonne, and then later her enamel work came out and was much more affordable. I have collected about 5 pairs now, including a pair of cats.

When I wear them, women my age and older always notice, which is pretty fun. These I just bought, which are duplicates of a pair I originally had when I think I was about 13. They have never been worn and I was thrilled to find them. I don't have any of my original pairs, so I have been rebuilding what I remember having. The enamel still really easy to find and pretty inexpensive on easy.

a japanese bakery

We finally made it out to Oyatsupan a bit back. It was delicious. The we went again about a week later and I thought they would have the same items, but they didn't. There were different ones available, which was thrilling. Sadie and I got our Japan fix. This reminded us so much of the bakeries we visited in Japan. The light green item is a matcha bun/fluffy scone-type thing. And there was live music on a weekday afternoon! I love homeschooling, the girls were so into it.

The girls and I are making our way through Downton Abbey. I am trying not to yell, "Thomas!" or narrate my own MSTK3000 the whole time, but it's hard. The the show is so quiet, I have to keep it together so we don't miss anything. I love series so much. We are are only on season 3. I stopped watching it years ago because I didn't want it to end, but now that I finally finished Penny Dreadful, I feel like I can do anything. I also didn't want that series to end, and I knew how it would end, and then it did actually end how I knew it would end and then I was exhausted and sad and had weird dreams for a week.

Pete made Lemon-Roasted Chicken with Arugula Salad and Dilled Orzo this week and it was so good. It was a winner for 4/5 of us.

albums and that whole thing

I have a decent to-do list going right now and I'm trying to hack away at it before adding new distracting crafts and projects. I finally finished the Japan photo album from our trip in October. It's shipping right now. I am so happy. This came together pretty easily. I had most of the photos on my phone so uploading wasn't too bad.

The key for me is to edit ruthlessly before I upload, so that I can use almost all the photos when I start to layout and don't have to stop and make decisions. This makes a huge difference. I have used Shutterfly for years now for our family albums, I make one a year. This is more of an ordeal because I collect photos from all our phones and cameras. I haven't started this year's yet. I usually finish them by now, but the Japan one took the lead.

Over the years I have made about 12 of these books, for trips, ballet performances, and yearly albums. For the trips, I add text. A whole lot, usually. I dictate on my trips (voice to text in Evernote) and then clean it up and drop it in the album later. I dictated during this trip every night, and told stories and little details I knew would be forgotten or couldn't be described and remembered with a photo. The text is such a great addition to these books. I don't do this for this yearly books because that's crazy.

The rain! It's raining here again. I know there is a lot of snow and power outages for people elsewhere, I'll take the rain. But I do wish for some sun. Just a little.

rose city yarn crawl 2017

I had a great time visiting some yarn shops last weekend during the Rose City Yarn Crawl. I only went to two shops, I usually go to about 4, but I still had fun. I spent less money this year which is good for me. I need to finish up my project from last year. I haven't been knitting much this year, I usually go through 2-3 month knitting phase, but this year I have been stitching and doing more needlework.

I took this photo at the Knitting Bee, where Yoth yarn was having a trunk show. Such elegant colors. Really lovely yarn. I also went to For Yarn's Sake and met some lovely designers (Debbi Stone and PDXKnitterati!) and picked up a cowl pattern and some yarn. I am really excited to get started on that project.

I'm almost done with The Girl That Fell From the Sky. I can't put it down. I feel like I have more to share, but I have a distracting headache right now. Unrelated, my brother is telling me I have to watch The Patriot. It's an Amazon series.

hair barrettes

On a lazy day a bit back I gathered up some stray hair barrettes and nail polish and fancied these up. They have held up pretty well. We have been wearing them for about a month. The teal one is painted with glitter nail polish and has held up the best. There is a little chipping on the others. I think next time sanding the surface lightly before painting would help. These all have about 3-5 coats of polish and then a clear coat. I glued the mini pom-poms on with E6000, which is what I use with metal. To paint them, I clipped them to a piece of waxed paper, first. Super easy.

There are ton of fun barrettes ideas here, all of which I want to try. (The comments are cracking me up) And here's a video and info on how to use bobby pins. It's pretty helpful (even though the video cuts off some of what you need to see) There is a way to use them so they lock and you don't need 100. We know bobby pin technique here in the dance/gymnastics house, but this is also good to for everyday hair.

custom birthcharts and our house is having issues

It's snowing right now. Again. We had some sun yesterday, but not now. And we had record rainfall this month. We have some flooding in our house, a broken backdoor, a wet/dry vacuum that now needs to stay in our downstairs bedroom "just in case", an overhead light fixture in the kitchen that is broken, and a leaky shower. So. It's feeling pretty college housing around here. I am procrastinating on my taxes.

We finished Stranger Things, which we loved, now I just need to get through Penny Dreadful.

I have been getting orders for custom birthcharts. They seem to come in waves. I just love making these so much. They are often baby gifts, but are lovely gifts for everyone. My favorite order was for a woman who was 78 —she ordered one for herself.

embroidered earrings

I have been stitching a lot lately. I was working on some pieces when we were in Japan and came home so inspired by I was seeing over there. Instagram has kept me going, especially ant sally who I have mentioned before as a huge inspiration to me right now.

These are stitched and finished as post earrings and I have been wearing them a lot. So much fun! And so quick. They are really satisfying to make. There is some beading in there, too, and sequins on the pair in the back.

I am watching Stranger Things, finally, I know I am very late to this. My middle daughter binge-watched it recently with a friend and is now obsessed and has watched and read everything she can find about series. She is eager to talk about it and it's killing her that Pete and I haven't finished it yet because she doesn't want to spoil it. So, I have 3 episodes left. We need to get on it, I am reminded daily.

I started reading Mothering Sunday and finished My Brilliant Friend, which I had mixed feelings about. I was moaning a lot while reading this. I loved the time, setting, and Italian-ness of it all, but was waiting for a story arc—and there was none. I have since been told that all 4 books were written as one, so the first book is not a "complete" story, and it reads that way. I want to know more about these women, but I'm not sure the story will hold me for all 4 books. We shall see, I am planning on starting the second book soon.

I am almost done sewing a leotard for one of my dancers. The outcome is still dicey. I put in a zipper in the front, (like this style) which I am now going to take out. It almost worked.

some homemade drink bases for winter colds

We can't seem to shake the winter colds since some of us got the flu a bit back. One or two of us seem to always have a sore throat, runny nose, and low energy. Not enough to be in bed, just a low-level crud we are walking around with. After trolling the internet I made these two syrups that have helped me a whole lot. The kids don't like them, but Pete and I sure do.

The big jar is 5 chopped lemons, about 2 inches of chopped ginger, and honey. All the juice from the lemons weep out and make a wonderful syrup. I add a big spoonful of this with some lemon pieces (and a pinch of cayenne pepper) to hot water and stir and then strain it into a mug. Delicious! The pepper helps feels good on my throat. This also is great cold with bubbly water, minus the pepper.

The little jar is a base for golden turmeric milk. I didn't really measure here, but it's probably about 2 teaspoons of this spice mix, with a tablespoon of turmeric and then enough honey to make a paste. I add a teaspoon to of this in hot almond milk (or whatever milk I have on hand) and it's so good, like a wonderful chai with a kick.

washi tape holder

I made this washi tape holder last week for my middle child and it was one of the most satisfying projects I have done in a long time. I found the wood square at craftware house, white-washed it with acrylic paint, and then screwed on the tiny hooks, which also came from craft warehouse. I already had the wooden dowels. She had her collection in jars and was hard to know what she had and if we had dupes. Now it's all organized and pretty. I need to make one for myself although I have only about 5 tapes right now because my children are thieves.

So, does anyone have this little fujifilm INSTAX share printer that you can use from your phone? We LOVE our INSTAX cameras, but there are so tricky to get a good photo from and these little printers print direct onto the fuji film, unlike the whole zink system, so you still get a photo that is exactly what would come out of the camera. I'm so curious if any of you have used it and what you think. I have to say right here that I am a printer weirdo and I have three printers—this would be my fourth. it's kind of a weird thing to collect. I use them all for different things and have never regretted buying one. And this one you can get a cute case for! I don't need this. Wanty!

time for toast

We went over to say goodbye to Happy Knits last week. This Portland yarn shop will be so missed. We picked up some yarn for Lydia and then went over to Oui Presse and got some toast on their homemade bread with strawberry jam. Is there anything better than toast? It was cold out and this was the perfect cozy snack.

I feel like the weather here is echoing the political state of our country—there was an ice storm friday and now snow expected tonight and we have a 3 hour drive to a gymnastics meet which starts at 6pm. What gives? On a Sunday night? In a potential snowstorm? So, I'm not sure how this is going to play out.

Today I am making soup and this One-Pot Curried Cauliflower Rice which I adore. I am still meal planning and still feel a huge difference when I skip it. It's not good—I over-shop for food and then have too much and stress about waste and things going bad before I can use them. I also get in a rut and feel like the girls just eat the same 5 things.

I am stitching up a storm for a book I am contributing to, have sewn 2 dresses, sack-like, which I suspect are not that flattering but very comfortable. I was told by a daughter, sweetly, they should be shorter and I should add a belt. I also am sewing a leotard that involves a front zipper, making a wall mounted washi tape holder, and working on the Japan photo album. So, there's stuff. What I am not doing is cleaning out the garage, which is in a terrifying state.

I have been trying to figure out how to talk to the girls about our political situation and keep them updated and found this really great explanation by John Green on the recent immigration order which was really helpful and clear. Pete has been showing them all Seth Meyers in the evenings which adds some humor to the lunacy of it all.