Gifted With Love

Delinquent

2011-03-24T12:14:00.001-07:00

Heidi just called me on not posting for a long time. Well...I may have moved to a different URL a few months ago. I also may not have told anyone. I was upset with this blog and so I up and created a new one. Not the most grown-up way of handling things but sometimes you just go with your gut. So if you came here and were looking for me. I'm here now.
Come and see me.

Project

2010-09-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Kevin snatched this photo downtown while he was crossing the street. I love it when he gets great ideas like this for me.

I don’t usually use zippers in my sewing, but I like this. Next time my mom visits I might just get her help to make one (she is my zipper guru).
She has great pants too!

Death and beauty

2010-08-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

I felt like Kevin was trying to kill me last night. He took me on a walk/jog/run since we have not exercised in about 2 months (Wow, that’s way too long)! We are like exercise newbies again, which is why we walked about half of the journey and why I would have liked to up the walking to, say, 75 percent.

I did feel great afterward, and I do love and appreciate my husband for pushing me. Getting over this initial hump is tough but I know there will be a hand offered to keep me going (though for some reason he doesn’t like pulling me the whole way).

Baby Face

2010-07-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

We have had some recent changes to our lifestyle. We’ve missed sleeping because someone needs attention all night long. We have been cleaning up potty messes on a regular basis. I’ve been using my new vacuum a lot just to clean up the daily mess.

This isn’t our change though. No babies for us yet. Two of our friends had this bundle of joy in early June. Isn’t he super cute? He is also pretty chill—at least for the few hours that we spent with him.

Our change was bringing a fully-grown kitty home. He spent the first 18 hours in our home under the cast-iron tub or the couch. Then he spent about 8 hours during each of the next two nights scrambling all over us while we slept. “Pay attention to me!” When he decided at 3 am to try to bite my Achilles’ tendon through the comforter, I decided that he should sleep in the bathroom.

Pickles

2010-07-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Familiar conversations...

Min: Read the Pickles comic from Wednesday!
Kev: Aww. Dang.
If I could get by without saying anything, you know I would… ;)

Knitting Clock!

2010-07-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

I love this concept by Siren Elise Wilhelmsen. A friend sent me an e-mail about this clock and I had to share. Sometimes I just wish they would put these concepts into production instead of just flaunting their cool ideas in my face!

All photos via designboom.com

Malt Faces

2010-07-05T19:21:00.001-07:00

Strawberry Malt

Burgers!

2010-07-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

We got back from our trip to Montana to a house with no groceries. We fed our current addiction by watching the Burger episode from How I Met Your Mother season 4. This was our second time watching this particular episode. This time, like last time, we had to get burgers afterwards.

At Kev's request we went to Fast Eddy's which he says has the best burgers. Being a vegetarian I figure most veggie burgers end up pretty much the same so I deferred to his expertise.

Kevin got the Eddy Burger and I got the veggie burger w/o onions. Somehow this didn't translate to the bun, which was topped with onions. So I had a bunless burger. Maybe it was better for me that way...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pigs are People too

2010-06-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

By the Sea

2010-06-27T13:16:00.001-07:00

We are having a great time at the ocean! This was the view yesterday when we flew in.

It cleared up by the time we got to our campground. Already we have blisters on our feet and burned ears, but we're having a great time.

We got a little lost this morning but found a gorgeous garden with these flowers growing! What beauties.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Zach Anner

2010-06-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is the sweetest video I have seen and as a bonus it's hilarious.

Zach is high-spirited and I really hope he wins Oprah's competition. Last I looked he had just over 7 million votes making him a clear leader.

This next video is his thank you video to the internet for getting two million votes.

And lastly we have John Mayer who was thanked in the last video responding to Zach.

This makes me just a little happier that we are going to see John Mayer live in August!

Wigs

2010-06-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

How cute are these wig embroideries? I was always fascinated by wigs as a child and remember when my grandmother decided to get one made to match her hairstyle. This way she could throw it on and be out the door.

Magpie Patterns has some really cute embroidery, knitting, sewing and crochet patterns.

chocolate pudding cups

2010-06-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I saw this post over at bakerella. I called up my friend Summer because I had to make them and I needed an accomplice. I made the pudding a day or two ahead of time and I might have had it for breakfast a few days in a row. Yum!

I waited to make the chocolate cups until Summer arrived. We melted our chocolate over my new and free double-boiler and blew up our multi-colored balloons for the dipping.
Balloons 1, 2, and 3 went very well. But balloon 4, he was a rebel and he popped! Right in Summer's hands.

There was chocolate everywhere—on Summer's new-to-her sweater...

...and on my favorite lounging shirt.

After a quick kitchen scrub-down, a change of clothes and a washing of face and hands we persevered.

We were nervous about popping the balloons but we had definitely not blown these suckers up too much.

You can see that they sort of deflated rather than popped.

Please do try this at home.

Dinner

2010-06-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last night I made Braised Artichokes. I was inspired by a little article about them in The New York Times. They were super delicious and I would definitely recommend trying this recipe. It only takes a little more effort than the traditional boiling method I grew up with though it produces artichokes that are infinitely better tasting.
*Plus there is no need for mayo.
Photo by Me!

Good News!

2010-06-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Head on over to Tea For Joy to see the results of the straw styling contest I entered a few weeks ago.

This morning I ate this chocolate pudding but I haven't made the chocolate cups yet. So to fancy up my breakfast I put it in a ramekin and ate it using my favorite spoon—which looks like it was embroidered.

Speaking of embroidery I have been working on a new project for our fledgling etsy shop. I made a bunch more headbands with other designs. So once we get our models together and finish our photography session I'll be posting those too.

Have a great short week!

Barbequed veggies

2010-05-18T07:06:00.001-07:00

Last night we barbequed a bunch of veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper.

It was so delicious.

Our first corn. Boy, was it sweet and a bargain at 3 ears for a $1.

Ostojics we may have borrowed Jonny's BBQ.

Grilled s'mores are delicious.

That was one veggie filled meal. I'm looking forward to more of this this summer.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Music Monday: Lenka

2010-05-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

We discovered Lenka a year or so ago when a friend mentioned that we seemed the sort of people that might like her. I do love this song and the video is quite clever too.

Home

2010-05-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Images from our trip to my parents' home for a belated wedding reception.

All images courtesy of my husband.

Summer Footware

2010-05-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's been so warm this week it feels like it's already summer. I usually wear flip flops (Zories as my husband calls them) all summer. I wore them all winter too growing up in Northern California. But the Washington weather put the kibosh on that idea with it being below freezing quite often in winter.
But this spring/summer I really want to don a pair of moccasins and never take them off. The one time I went to summer camp I made a pair of moccasins that I wore constantly from that day until they had worn out. Searching on Etsy I found some great moccasins.

via

via

via
Everything is cuter in miniature.

via
This last pair is my favorite. But I do love yellow!

Hair

2010-05-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been growing my hair out. I promised my newly wed husband that I wouldn't cut my hair for at least a year after we were married. He'd seen too many women with gorgeous long hair chop it off just days or weeks after their wedding.
I'm quite happy growing my hair out. As summer approaches it becomes harder and hotter to wear my hair down and long. When I saw this post on A Beautiful Mess, I knew I had to try achieving the messy bun hairstyle.
I followed most of these visual steps and achieved the hair below.

I don't have a lot of hair but I really love the look and it's so comfortable. I especially love how high it's worn.

Involvement

2010-05-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

I know that sometimes I can get too involved in activities to remember that I am part of a family. I take them for granted and know that they will be there when I feel like my life has slowed down enough to fit them in.

I'm attempting to take a step back from this right now and make family/friends a priority. It's not that I have been super busy with projects lately, it's just that I can always find something to put off doing anything.

Recently I've been hanging out with Kev while he plays video games/guitar/works on design projects. I'll bake (above is my first loaf of Honey Buttermilk Bread) and do laundry but mostly I'm able to sit around with this awesome person that I decided to spend my life with.

I did have one recent project that I worked on with Kev. Lynne over at Tea For Joy was having a straw styling contest. Here is the straw photo I entered. I took it a bit of a different route and cut up ~sniff~ two of these beautiful paper straws to make a some straw pipes. They do play but it's kind of faint and whimsical.

Husband

2010-05-05T23:19:00.001-07:00

My husband has been doing sweet little tasks lately that I really appreciate. He is my knight in shining foil (better than my poor brother who, when we were younger, we called a knight in shining underwear because his knight costume was made of silver spray painted long johns).

Last night I forgot my phone charger downstairs and I was already ensconced in down comforts so Kev brought up the charger. He plugged in my phone and put it in airplane mode because I sleep better when my phone doesn't buzz all night.

Today he walked the mile home, got the car and brought me slippers because my new shoes were breaking my feet in. All the while I sat cozily in the book shop reading childrens books.

To top off my day a kitty took a nap with me! That is pure cuddly joy.

2010-04-30T09:30:00.001-07:00

We're off on a weekend adventure!

We're on our way to California. Kev's dad is flying us in the little plane. It's our first flight of the season!

It's still a little cold though. Have a great weekend!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Music Monday: Edith Piaf

2010-04-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

I love those spring days that are cloudy but warm, they are what I like to call “Jazz Days.” Today was a perfect “Jazz Day.” This would be defined as any day that I would rather be at home crafting or baking than doing whatever it is I am doing.
Speaking of crafting, I just put up my very first etsy.com listing. My friend Kristi started the cutest etsy shop and I recently threw a jewelry party for her. Inspired by how excited she is to share her items with others, I decided to try it out myself with Kev as a partner. We are now: The Photographer and His Wife or photographerandwife for short. Yes, say it all smushed together like it looks.

Music Monday: Smothers Brothers

2010-04-19T21:33:00.001-07:00

Here are two of my favorite comedians. I love their original version of "Boil That Cabbage Down" but I thought they did a great job of changing it up for this later concert. You can see some of their other shows on Youtube.com. They are worth the gander even though the quality gets pretty bad on some of them.

Tulip pick-me-up

2010-04-14T23:04:00.001-07:00

Music Monday: Oasis

2010-04-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight we worked on a project for our much belated wedding receptions. While crafting with friends we began to sing a few songs.
Michael began to sing "Champagne Supernova" which I did not recognize. Apparently it was one of Oasis' big hits. Once we listened to it I definitely remembered summer evenings listening to Oasis with my brother who was my sole modern musical influence at the time.
Unfortunately they have disabled embedding for this video on youtube.com, but really the video is not worth it, head over to grooveshark.com and have a listen. It'll take you back to your childhood/teen-hood/other-age-hood when the song first hit the airwaves, when the airwaves were how we learned about new songs.

Friendly Feature

2010-04-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hey!
Deb from the Silvestrijic Adventure pounced on us and asked us to do a guest post. So head on over to her blog and see what it's all about.

Music Monday: Diane Birch

2010-04-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

This is a very fun video with a song that I really like. I tried listening to some of the artist's other music but it was not as good as this song (in my humble opinion).
As a double bonus, check out the making of the video below.
*Both videos via Sweet Tea and Sunshine.

Video: Western Spaghetti

2010-04-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a wonderful little stop-motion animation to whet your appetite.

The short is by PES. I really love the use of household items in these videos. PES is also the fellow behind the Washington State Lottery videos that some of you may have seen.

I wouldn't recommend all of his videos but some like this one and his Moth video are pretty cute and clever.

The Professor

2010-03-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

Kevin has started teaching an evening class at the local university. They needed someone to teach the second section of Graphic Design and Layout and they asked Kevin.

I decided that he needed a proper "professor's jacket." I ran down to the thrift store on my break (a great sacrifice for me). I bought a jacket, brought it home, slapped on some elbow patches, a little lapel stitching and voilà!

Great use of your Spare Time

2010-03-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

The Guardian's life and style videos are amazing. If you find yourself with some spare time definitely take a look. There is a great video about the shop John Lobb, where they made shoes for Frank Sinatra and still produce shoes today for the rich, famous, royalty, etc.

Music Monday: Lisa Mitchell

2010-03-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

It is the perfect day for this song. The wind blew my hair all over the place on my walk home. "Coin Laundry" added a bit of whimsy and calm to an otherwise blustery day.

Body Image

2010-03-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

As noted in my previous post, I have sometimes imagined myself as Audrey Hepburn. I used to try to dress like Audrey. She was so stylish. It took many years, but I finally realized that Audrey and I had opposite body types so trying to dress like her was not going to work.
This realization came to me through an e-mail my mom sent me. It was a forwarded message but I was dutiful and I read it. It was brilliant. I do not have an Audrey Hepburn body. I have a Marilyn Monroe body. (Yes, they say she was a size 12. But I've sewn vintage vogue patterns from 1950 and their size 12 is our size 8.)

The Times Online had a small link that I followed from an article I was reading. Someone has discovered photos from the filming of Some Like it Hot and is selling them through an auction.

She embraces her curves with gusto.

So that's my lesson for today. I will embrace my curves with gusto. Thank you Marilyn and the boys from Some like it Hot that embraced their curves too!

(Also if you've never watched Some Like it Hot don't wait any longer. I adore this film! If only for Jack Lemon this is the greatest film.)

(Not so) Little Shops: 2

2010-03-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about spring! These clothes from Harvey Faircloth could easily work in spring and slide into summer without effort.

I have made a pact with myself to wear more white this summer. It's so crisp and gives off this relaxed vibe.

I see myself* wearing these clothes and relaxing on a sailboat or sitting on a beach on the Oregon coast. These are not southern California, it's 115 degree's outside, clothes. They are ready for a 60 degree morning stroll on the beach where hardly a soul would dare to wear a bikini.

*Of course sometimes in these daydreams I look more like Audrey Hepburn, but who wouldn't, she was so cute on a sailboat.

Stylish

2010-03-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

I'm working on improving my abilities as a stylist. I had been searching since I graduated for just what I want to do in life and when I stumbled upon this position's description I immediately fell in love.

It's a tough field to get into. There is no major for it. I hope to see continued improvement on the photos on this blog.

Yesterday I was home ill so I drew myself a bath. But with my new career choice in mind I had to make it beautiful. By the time I was ready to get in the water had cooled quite a bit. Lesson for next time: arrange then draw the bath.

Lastly I joined a flickr group about interior styling. You can see one of the photos above at the flickr Interior Styling group. They have many members so the uploads happen multiple times a day.

Music Monday: OK Go

2010-03-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Kev and I have loved OK Go for a long time. I read recently that they decided to go independent again and I can't wait to see what they will come up with next.

I love their latest music video. It is quite well done and really fun.

Enjoy.

Happy First Day of Spring!

2010-03-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

Happy First Day of Spring! The flowers are popping up all over the place. Someone who lived in our home before us planted bunches of tulips in the back yard. What a great springy surprise for us!

It's the weekend!

2010-03-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's going to be gorgeous.

We're off to play.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

We had spinach soup!

I worked until 7:00 tonight so Kev's mom brought over some cream of spinach soup. It was very festive and delicious.

Seattle Metropolitan

2010-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love this season's cover for Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom.

4 lbs

2010-03-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

I just lost four pounds!

Which is apparently equivalent to this small dog...

...or this fake looking burger...

...or what the person wearing this must have weighed before she disappeared!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Music Monday: Pomplamoose

2010-03-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Pomplamoose is one of our favorite bands to listen to. It's an indie band. It's a boy and a girl, and sometimes guests.

Now they have t-shirts! I really want to get one for Kev. Let's see... St. Patrick's day present? Easter? Hmmm...

Little Shops: 1

2010-03-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

This sweet little shop is a father daughter operation that was inspired by their love of sending each other packages. The two live 4600 kilometers apart but they haven't let that stop them.

He is the wood-turner and she is the marketer/shopkeeper.

I definitely want to make cakes like this. I love the flags.

They sell these cloud marshmallows in the shop too. If I find a cloud cookie cutter I will be making these.

She keeps a sweet blog, forty-sixth at grace. She sometimes shares recipes, has fantastic photos, and writes cute prose. Take a look.

The Nanny and the Professor

2010-03-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

The warm weather has me thinking about spring break. I haven't yet worked a full year but already I miss spring break. A magical week of early sun, flowers, and seeds. Last year I went to my parents' house and spent a lovely week sewing and watching "The Nanny and the Professor." I absolutely adore this show.
Go ahead.
Watch a couple.

True Love

2010-03-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

You know it's true love when you think you'll use your spending money to buy a font instead of a sweater. This is Tourette. I love its long ascenders and descenders. They are fantastic.

The husband's favorite typeface is

He has wanted to buy this font since we met. He spends much of his time playing Cheese or Font and The Font Game for iPhone, which means that all this typeface-mania was bound to cross over to me. Typography nerdhood here I come!

racquetball

2010-03-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

We played racquetball with the Lees last night. Summer and I quickly grabbed our own court so we could play at our own pace (which means my pace). After a few “rounds” we decided we had played long enough and snuck off to work out on the stairmasters. Five minutes into our stairmastery, in came two boys looking quite put off, which made us girls feel sort of sheepish and so back to the courts we went for doubles racquetball (no chance of sneaking off that way).

Winter Trip

2010-02-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

We are off on a weekend adventure to Sunriver, OR.

"Dear Sir in the Ford truck,
I wish that you would pass me.
Sincerely,
Mindy"

"Dear passenger seat occupant,
Would you like to drive? I think you are a swell passenger, but I have more experience in that area.
Sincerely your wife,
Mindy"

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The United Mitten Project

2010-02-24T08:02:00.000-08:00

I saw a few images around the web of these different mittens for holding hands.

I took the idea and ran with it. I had some leftover yarn from mittens I made for Kev so I started with that. I ran out before the mittens were large enough so I took a little yarn from my next project, a bee inspire hat, which I hope to show you soon.

The one with hands bigger than mine says that these 'united mittens' are great but could be a bit roomier. So you might see a reincarnation of these a little later.

You can see that we did fulfill my goal for a walk this weekend. A little exercise is so helpful on the weekends–especially when I do so much baking.

Better Together

2010-02-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!

Good Intentions

2010-02-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

I have the best of intentions at the beginning each weekend. I make lists and lists of the things I will accomplish. Ties I will sew. Mittens I will knit. Stratas and crackers I will bake. A new weekend is upon us and here I am with a list. In an effort at either self-humiliation or support-through-pressure here is my list:

-Smitten Kitchen's Monkey Bread With Cream Cheese Glaze
-Finish curtain number two of four for our living room windows

-Finish knitting my "United Mitten Project" (If my yarn arrives)

-Smitten Kitchen's English Muffins
-Go for a walk with Kevin
-Smitten Kitchen's Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes With Mint Cream
-Clean up the kitchen (it's going to need it!)

My honey-do list:
-Finish this phase of the "Great Bathroom Project"

Banded

2010-02-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

I can’t find my wedding band. She went missing on Sunday. So, as of yet, this isn’t an all out alert. I think that she was jealous of the ring I was purchasing from my friend Kristi.

I purchased the leopard ring at her etsy shop Mischief by Loki. She has some really cute jewelry. My friend Deb purchased the Galaxy earrings and received the matching necklace as a birthday present from her husband.

Kristi has talent and puts a lot of effort into crafting jewelry that she would want to wear. Which is exactly the passion I want out of a crafts-person.

Dust Pan

2010-02-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

I am a stickler for buying things that will last. This means that I also seem to be a stickler for buying things that are expensive. Take a dustpan for instance. I could have gone to the dollar store and bought an ugly plastic dustpan. By could have, I mean it was a possibility, one that many people have taken advantage of. But because of my *cough* sickness *cough*, I could not.

Instead I bought this gorgeous dustpan from AncientIndustries.com.

A beautiful example of a sturdy, lasting, I-will-proudly-display-this dustpan. I can't wait for it to arrive! Up to this point we have been using paper towels as dustpans. Oh the levels my husband sinks to because of his wife's quirks!

Olive

2010-02-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

Sweat. Grime. The occasional breezy chill. Olives cascading onto the waiting sheet below. I can't think about olives and not remember our autumn adventures in Italy picking olives.

Now, 'Olive' the restaurant...that sounds delicious.

I had to have one of these cupcakes. So did Kev's mom, so we split one. This was a good idea, because they were true, rich, chocolatey goodness.

The apple butternut squash soup was amazing, far superior to the apple/squash soup I made once.

The Dark Side

2010-02-08T19:04:00.001-08:00

Kev and his boss exchanged Christmas gifts a little late this year. He got her a rubberband gun. She got him this:

I'm pretty sure that everything tastes better out of this mug.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Swag

2010-02-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

Swag: valuable goods.
Our friend, Summer, has been using this term quite a bit lately. Saturday night she went to an event thrown by her old high school where she won a T-shirt emblazoned with mascot pride. She also walked away this week with another sweet win, a new job at a great company. She just graduated from university in December. Congratulations Summer!
At the 80's party that was thrown for the staff at Baker Boyer Bank Kev and I both won prizes. You can see Summer, above, sitting on our new stool and holding one of our new vacuum-sealed travel mugs.
We got a bit of swag ourselves.

After Hours

2010-01-31T20:47:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning with a heart full of excitement and a head full of sleep. My head won out and I slept in until about 8:30 with a breakfast needing to be made ready and guests arriving at 10:00.
I set to work and rapidly had a batch of Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes ready and staying warm in the oven. Next was my challenge. Our friend Austin was coming over and he is a vegan. Since sour cream is not so much a vegan ingredient I whipped up a batch of 5 Minute Vegan Pancakes.
Breakfast went off without a hitch. It was lovely to hang out with friends, young and old. We're the old ones now. Austin brought a friend that is a freshman at the university. Boy, do I feel old now. Makes me wonder if I look wrinkly to her.
We spent much of our day with the Lees using our Wii and the TV that we are babysitting while some of our friends are having the adventure of a lifetime in China.

This evening we got to do something I have always thought would be fun. We got to eat dessert at the Patisserie after it was closed and all the customers had gone home. We were there to put up the artwork of our friend Rachel Blackley who is one of the adventurers on her way to China.

Rescue Rangers

2010-01-30T15:29:00.001-08:00

Today while Kev was driving us to the Lees' for lunch we saw a near accident. A little dog was sitting in the middle of the road with cars coming both directions.
We stopped and cars coming from both directions stopped. I jumped out and scooped up the pup.
We then tried calling the number on her tags, but the animal clinic was closed so we took her to the animal shelter.

She was so calm and cuddly. I hope she makes it back to a loving home.

Have any pet rescue stories?

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Changes

2010-01-19T22:59:00.001-08:00

Today we ran down to the courthouse on our work break. Kev and I got in line right behind a young couple(she wasn't yet 21, her license hadn't changed to a horizontal orientation yet) that was applying for a marriage license. I enjoyed listening to them go through the application process we had so recently done ourselves. While we were waiting I snapped a photo of the walls in the vault where we were.

The walls are completely lined with these canvas covered books full of legal documents.

We did eventually get our marriage license copies at $3 a pop. Tomorrow begins the great name changing adventure of 2010. I've been practicing my signature, but I need to work on being smoother when I try to tell people my name.

This reminds me, the young man in front of us had trouble telling the lady at the counter his father's name and spelling. Kev thought this was weird so I came up with 5 or so scenario's to explain why this might be.
Option one was that his mother had remarried and he didn't know which dad to use. Do you have any ideas?

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The daily doodle

2010-01-16T19:30:00.001-08:00

At the office we did a Christmas gift exchange. I received a Daily Doodle Calendar. It is so much fun. I've never had a daily calendar before, but this is a daily dose of joy. Each day I get to tear off yesterdays page and color a new one.

While I was gone, my coworkers colored the days for me. I love the variety of their coloring styles.
This coloring calendar leaves a lot of room for you to add the details. When I was little my favorite coloring books were always the Barbie books, they had tons of details for an intricate coloring experience. What is you favorite thing to color? Is coloring a true artform?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Let there be (very little) light

2010-01-13T21:40:00.000-08:00

We switched out the chandalier of ugliness and plastic for a more svelt looking lamp.

It's super beautiful. But with our cute 'squirrel cage' vintage style 35 watt bulb it's a bit dim. Maybe we'll light some candles too.
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Traveling home

2010-01-09T13:11:00.001-08:00

This morning we had our best breakfast yet. In scandanavia they really do breakfast up right. Today was a buffet breakfast included with our hotel stay.

Kevin and I feasted, trying to prepare ourselves for the famine that is airline food.
It has always been my dream to fix breakfast for my husband every morning. I was thinking of pancakes and waffles. But kev and I are trying to live healthier lives, so a healthier breakfast is in order. I was inspired by the simplicity of this breakfast, mostly fresh fruits and veggies, with some granola and yogurt. Yum!

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One last day

2010-01-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Kev and I spent one last day in Europe. Sadly this consisted of running to the Copenhagen airport to fly back to Bergen. We bought tickets round trip to Bergen for the wedding and so here we are again. We are staying right next to the airport in the Clarion. It's nice, but nothing can compare to the originality of the Hotel Fox where we stayed in Copenhagen.
We bought a few things to keep us occupied while we were away.

Kevin isn't really a reading kind of guy, but he is a font nerd. He liked the font used for the classics that were for sale in Copenhagen so much, that he bought both 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and 'Moby Dick.'

I always have to search out the yarn and fabric stores in the different places we visit. In CPH we found three! We confined our purchase to some gorgeous double-pointed 3.5 short ebony needles and some bright blue wool. I have finished one warm and manly mitten for my new husband and I hope to complete the second on the plane ride home.

I hope to post photos of the wedding soon. Alas I have none on my iPhone. :(
Happy Friday. We'll be home tomorrow night!

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Christmas spirit

2009-12-24T07:04:00.000-08:00

This year I am working up until the day before Christmas, also known as Christmas Eve. In my family this day is a holiday in it's own right. We have special food, usually Fondue. We get to open one present, which was picked beforehand by my mom and is usually a game. This year because someone decided to get married in Norway the rituals are changing slightly.
My parents are spending Christmas in Norway. My brother and his wife are flying on Christmas day to join my parents in Norway. Kev's parents are spending Christmas flying and in Israel. And Kev and I? Well we are spending Christmas moving into our new house/snow cave(though with no snow about it's more of a wind shelter.)

We Bought a Snow Cave

2009-12-02T22:02:00.000-08:00

And they are not as cheap as you'd think. When you're young you think their just ice and more ice but no. It's earnest money, a down-payment, closing costs. The world just seems to get more difficult.

Some things were this difficult when I was little too though. One Christmas I tried to make my own snow globe. Using a jar, some water, glycerin, glue, and some cute plastic figurines. It turned into an oozy mess with sparkling snow that globbed together instead of fluttering piece by piece.That snow globe is looking easier by the moment. If Anthropologie can make such cute ones then so can I.

(Ok, so technically we bought a house.)

White

2009-11-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

White. I love white. It might be because white is a popular color right now, or it might be because I'm getting married! Whatever the reason, I just love white.
A sample of white things that I want:

Negligence

2009-11-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

I have been terrible negligent lately. I haven't posted anything since July. I blame this on my new "job, job." But inspiration has struck recently in the form of Christmas. I'm not sure what I'm making for everyone, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

A second form of inspiration has come from this lovely blog The Summer Time Journal, by my friend Summer. She has been posting some funny stories about her captain and herself. She is adorable and the posts she has up are definitely worth a browse.

We still haven't seen Up, but we just saw the short from it and I love it. Please do watch, you won't regret it.

Firenze Gnome

2009-07-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

This was for Stephanie.
Kevin and I stole our friend Stephanie's pocket gnome and took him traveling with us through Europe a few years ago.
I think it might be time for him and us to have more adventures.

The Uniform Project

2009-07-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

I am loving The Uniform Project. This girl is so clever with all her clothing combinations.

The Uniform Project

Fourth of July Marshmallows

2009-07-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

We are going on a little Fourth of July retreat this weekend. I am thrilled, excited and giddy. To use up some of the energy that all this excitement has left me with I decided to make marshmallows. Because what is a Fourth of July celebration without S'mores?

I followed the recipe that Smitten Kitchen so kindly shared a few weeks ago.

I made these for Kevin's birthday a few weeks ago but I never got any photos.

I think they'll turn out better this time. This is partly due to using a thermometer, which makes it a lot easier. Last time I just looked it up online and found that 240 degrees Fahrenheit is the soft-ball stage for candy. Then I just waited the approximate amount of time that the recipe said it would take to get to that point (six minutes, I think) and grabbed a cup of water. When I thought it was about ready I scooped a little of the mixture out of the pan and put it in the water to see if it was in the soft-ball stage. This worked well in a pinch but if you don't have one I believe that a candy thermometer is a worthy investment.

My other advantage this time was the arsenal of cool kitchen tools my grandmother has. I needed to whip up the eggs while the gelatin and hot candy were mixing. I found this cool old whipping-thinga-ma-gadget in the cupboard and went crazy. It works very well and I love it. I am definitely going to invest in one in the future. It's pretty small to store and works quite well.
Have a happy Fourth!

Sharing

2009-07-01T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today I shared one of my bicycles. Kevin's dad is a sweetheart. A few years ago he gave kevin his lovely Schwinn bicycle. Now Ron is rideless so tonight when we all wanted to go on a ride I lent him one of my girlie bikes.

You probably can't see it from the picture but this is the Denali road bike as opposed to my more girlie, 1970's Schwinn Cruiser with basket on the front.

Cheryl, Kev's mum, and my shadows. Kev and Ron had just entered the shadows from the cluster of trees up ahead. Cheryl and I ride slower and chat while the guys ride faster and chat. They slow down for us every once in a while but I think that might make us go even slower. :)

An Accomplishment and Some Excitement

2009-07-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for Kevin and me!

Kevin attached the airplane, which I bought for him at Bright's Candy shop, to his bike. I think it looks brilliant. I'm looking forward to a dapper weekend ride into town with his airplane attached, propeller turning in the breeze.

I finally conquered this hill. I hadn't ever been able to ride a bicycle all the way to the top. It may look easy to some, but this has been my trial. I can make it up shorter steeper hills, but this one—though not too steep—just keeps going. I am thrilled that all this work already has shown some rewards.

Apricot Thinning

2009-06-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

I'm learning to be a farmer. I'm privileged enough to get to live with my grandma during my transition period between college and working life. I'm thoroughly enjoying this phase of life, I must say.
As part of my training in farm life I've learned that Apricots need to be thinned so there is one apricot about every two or three inches.

I thinned the lower branches a week ago and those apricots are starting to look great! I just found the ladder so I started working on the upper branches today. It's really quite fun. I'm alone with my thoughts, apricots, and the birds.

Unfortunately today my reverie was interrupted by the sudden screaming and scratchings of the garage cat with the Siamese cat next door. This was their second fight in 4 hours. I had already been awakened, terrified, at 4 am by the screaming I heard outside, which turned out to be the cats. Thankfully they are both fine. Hopefully they will stay away from each other, at least for a while.

Things we Like and The Daily Habit

2009-06-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

Kevin likes...

patterns...

tie tacks...

and explaining things about bicycles.

Mindy likes...

Kevin!
(and others things as well)

Visiting Dignitaries

2009-06-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

I have some very important visitors staying with me right now.

These are some of my cousins boys. This was their first encounter with mules and there was much shrieking and pointing. They were quite enthralled.

The Habit

2009-06-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Kev and I were riding our bicycles and I began to feel the burn of exercise. I told Kev that I was tired. He turned to me with a shrug and said "Why? You have a daily riding habit." Ah yes the riding habit.

This was the second day of our new riding "habit."

So far we've kept it up four days in a row and I feel it's ok to share now. This was Kev's idea for us now that we are out of school. It's great. I love to ride my bicycles and I love to look around at the ever changing scenery of the Walla Walla Valley.

Lavender Love

2009-06-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

It seems that my friend Stephanie and I both love lavender a lot. Last fall when we were visiting the San Juan Islands we made sure to stop at both Pelindaba farms and the associated store in town.
Closer to home for me is Blue Mountain Lavender farm. It is run by the French Professor at Walla Walla University. I spent a wonderful year taking French from him.

The smell of lavender wafts through the air and into your happy nostrils the moment you step from the car.

Kevin and Steph's boyfriend Tim played photographer we girls played happily amongst the lavender plants.

We cut enough lavender for us each to get one bouquet. I took mine home and split it into three loose, carefree bouquets.

My first post on this blog was about lavender muffins, I bought the culinary lavender for those muffins at this farm. It has been worth every penny.

A little orange-yellow flower for some variety.

Forget-Me-Not

2009-06-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

We visited my aunt and uncle this weekend in the Wenatchee Valley. It was a grand time and this is a little souvenir that kev picked up for me.

My uncle is quite the gardener and these are some of his forget-me-nots. Kev took a photo of them for me! He is a sweetheart.

Little Miss's Octopus

2009-06-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

I have been sitting on this post for a while now. I made this cute little guy (girl if the baby wants it that way) for my friend Becky. She was my mentor for the start of this blogging project and I wanted to do something special for her. A gift seemed just the thing.

My friend Deb came over in early April with a crocheting project she wanted to tackle (more on that later). She showed me some of the great projects people have done on Etsy and I was immediately inspired. My immediate inspiration came from avrilestrella's cute little Amigurumi Octopus.

Tonight our office threw a baby shower for Becky and I was finally able to wrap and give her the gift.

After finishing my senior project last week I'm finding myself with some happily accepted extra time. I spent this afternoon's extra time making the wrapping paper for the gift.

I had a great time drawing and thinking about baby-appropriate sketches that I could work up.

Kevin was the inspiration for this drawn wrapping paper. He recently started a blog called Grey Scale Dreams. I'm probably his biggest fan and I look forward to his posts daily. I like to try to figure out what parts of our day are in the drawings. Sometimes that's really hard. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

2009-05-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

I love the Smitten Kitchen blog. It is the blog that started me reading many other blogs. Recently Deb made cinnamon rolls that looked delectable. I decided to follow suit and make them for Kevin for breakfast.

They turned out wonderfully. I sent them to work with him and I even got a few back. He works with mostly women who were concerned about keeping their girlish figure.
One lovely coworker had one and wrote to Kevin about it. "Thank you so much for sharing that magnificent cinnamon roll. I have allotted 650 calories for its extravagant wonderfulness. And I enjoyed it all. Please tell Mindy ‘thanks’!"

This reminded me about an adventure my Mom and I used to have when I was little. On Fridays we would make sticky buns. She would make four dishes each with 9 rolls. She would wrap them in foil and we would keep one for breakfast the next day. The other three we would take with us on our adventure.
My parents would pick some friends of theirs and would drive us over to their house. Then we would sneak up to the door, place the sticky buns carefully on the mat, ring the doorbell and run frantically. We would hide within earshot so we could make sure they found the cinnamon rolls.

This was one of my favorite activities when I was little. It seemed to bring a lot of joy to our friends(sh.. most of them have no idea it was us to this day).
It is one of my happiest memories from childhood. It's probably what started me on this road of gift giving.

Breakfast for Kevin

2009-05-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

In Walla Walla we have a wonderful place called the Colville Street Patisserie. I go there as often as I can, usually for gelato or a canele. For a long time they have had "Goat Cheese and Herb Crescents." I kept thinking they would make a lovely breakfast but I always go there in the evening. Last Saturday I finally tried one and I loved it. It was simple and delicious.
I decided to try to be like Deb from Smitten Kitchen and make my own for Kevin for breakfast this week.

I decided to go the quick and easy route and purchase the crescent dough.

I did use basil and dill from my potted plants.

I added a little goat cheese and 12 minutes later I had a delicious breakfast. I tried both open face and the regular crescent style. Unfortunately I woke up too late so Kevin will have to wait until tomorrow to try his. In the future I can't wait to try these with phyllo dough. I think that will be delicious.

I Love Balloons

2009-05-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have lived in Walla Walla, Washington, for about four years now. I moved here five years ago as a freshman but I took a year off to live in Florence, Italy. The biggest event that happens every year in Walla Walla is the Balloon Stampede. To watch the balloons take off requires you to get up and to be at the field by 6 a.m. I love mornings, so I have always wanted to do this. But my friends are not morning people. Kevin is definitely not a morning person, and I'm just not the go-somewhere-alone-at-6-a.m. kind of person. Because of this, I had never been able to see this Walla Walla event in motion.

This year my friends, Kevin, and his parents made the sacrifice. They woke up at 5 a.m. and we all went to watch the sun and balloons rise together. It was such a magnificent sight.

The gift of time can be just as important as a material gift. This one was made sweeter by the sacrifice of sleep. I hope you enjoy the photos almost as much as I enjoyed this spectacular event.

These photos were taken by Kevin, check out his site if you want any info about the photos.

Here's to Moms

2009-05-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Summer told me about a little tradition she has.

When she can't be with her mom, Sandy, for Mother's Day or for her birthday she always buys a gift ahead of time. She wraps it and places it under her mom's bed awaiting the special day.

When it's time for the surprise. She calls her mom up to wish her a happy day and tells her to take a look under the bed.
Voila! An instant present.

On a different motherly note, my mom recently asked me about a dryer sheet she found in our mailbox. For years now my mother and I have been hiding dryer sheets in each others' rooms and houses. Often it takes weeks to find and is always a nice little surprise and reminder that we're thinking about each other. Because of this I also think about my mom every time I do the laundry. I only wish she was closer. My stash is growing and it looks like it's time for a visit.

Happy Mother's Day!

Two-lips

2009-05-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Two years ago when Kevin and I were living in Italy and going to school his parents and brother came over and traveled with us for our spring break. We took a trip through Northern Europe in a small camper through the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and made a quick stop in Norway.
In our travels through the Netherlands we made a quick stop at Keukenhof, a tulip wonderland.

Kevin's mom Cheryl fell in love with the gardens there and the next spring when the tulips came up in our area she kept saying that she wanted to plant tulips and "laffy daffys."
Kevin, his dad Ron, my mom Karen, and I plotted during the summer about how we could plant her dream without her knowing until spring. When the tulip and daffodil bulbs showed up at Costco last fall my mom bought a bag of each for us to plant.
We waited until Cheryl left for a women's retreat in the fall and we planted our own little version of Keukenhof.
We then had to wait and wait for spring to come to see if our hard work would come to fruition. It took until about the end of March for Cheryl to realize something was happening, and then it took about another month for her to get any of us to confess to being part of the sudden abundance of flowers.

These photos were taken by Kevin, check out his site if you want any info about the photos.

As you can see it was definitely worth the wait, and it brought Cheryl a lot of joy for the weeks that the flowers were in bloom. It made me really happy too. Mostly I was happy that I was able to keep my mouth shut that long!

Love Muffins

2009-04-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

I am a firm believer in love languages. I read the book and I found out that what I had suspected all along was indeed true, my love language is gifts. I want to share that love of gifts with others so I hope to be posting stories of things that people have done for others out of love.

Recently I made Lavender Oat Raspberry Muffins for my boyfriend Kevin to take to work. I wanted him to have something for breakfast and for him to have something to share with his co-workers. Kevin didn't know that he was getting all of this I simply told him to drop by on his way to work because I had something for him.
Kev stopped by on his way to work to pick up a mysterious package from me.
It was a box with six of the muffins inside, for him and his coworkers.
The recipe is from the Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shiply.
Here is my recipe for it, adapted with love.
The original called for Orange juice but I just love the tang of lemons.

Crumble Topping
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter(I sometime use salted and it works out just fine)
1 tsp dried culinary lavender, coarsley ground(I have seen it at World Market but I bought mine from a local lavender farmer.)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Muffins
1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp dried culinary lavender, finely ground
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup raspberries(Fresh works better but Frozen works too)

Grease the pan and preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the muffins, mix the ingredients in the order listed until you get to the raspberries. Once everything is mixed fold the raspberries into the batter gently.

For the crumble topping, make sure the butter is soft then mix everything together using a pastry blender.

Pour the Muffin batter into the prepared pan so the cup is not quite full then sprinkle with topping. Fill any extra cups with water if you run out of batter, this should help everything to bake evenly.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. When the muffins are done cool them in the pan first for about 10 minutes then take them out and let them cool 10 minutes on a wire rack before serving them or packaging them up to give away.

Enjoy.