They're Knish

I found this recipe on www.smittenkitchen.com and they're delish!

I had never even tasted a knish before I made these but Smittenkitchen's recipe looked too delicious to resist.  Carbs on carbs, who doesn't like that?  I modified the original recipe a little a added some fresh spinach.  These were hearty, yummy and a definite do over!

A Short Film to Touch your Heart

One of those songs

This is one of those songs that just hits me like a ton of bricks.  In general, I really enjoy almost every song by The Avett Brothers, but this and one other song by them resonate loudest.  I woke up early today thinking about it and had to see if there was a video.  Hope you enjoy.  The audio is for shit, but they look, well, they look like The Avett Brothers.

cooking while beautiful

oh, to be perfectly "simple" and beautiful and british, just like sophie dahl.......

Bags, Jewelry and Nuevo Bazaar

Last Saturday was my second time trying to sell my bags and my first but not last time at Nuevo Bazaar.  I managed to get 8 bags finished in a week, which was pretty good considering I didn't put a huge amount of effort into it.  Anyway, I didn't sell anything, but Maryann of Drama Queen Jewelry left up around $20 after paying for the table.  I on the other hand left in the hole $100 when all was said and done.  It felt like a trip to Vegas!  We had a really nice day meeting new people and have lots of ideas of how we'd do it differently next time.  In fact, Maryann and I are planning on setting up shop again in June at another craft fair, more details to come, but look for a much larger and much more interesting inventory!

Tags Kiera made for my stuff.

and she made these for Maryann.....

and these are the tags Kiera made for Drama Queen (I think Kiera should be peddling her stuff too!)

some of my bags

Drama Queen awesomeness

The upshot was I got this super cool bike which I've been working on restoring!  More pics to come, but so far so I've been loving learning how to work on and restore old bikes.   Perhaps, I might be selling a few of these at the next Nuevo Bazaar..........

1973 Schwinn Breeze 

This is my sewing room.  It's a disaster, I know, and I wanted to clean and organize it this week, but I think I'm going to be too busy making my "wares" for Nuevo Bazaar this weekend.  I am so super excited to actually be selling (or trying to sell) my stuff!  I never would have done it by myself, even though I ask the couple that runs it about getting a space every time they do it, but my brave friend Maryann is selling her awesomely fantastic jewelry and she's been kind enough to let me share a space with her.  I don't care if I sell a thing, in fact I might only have 3 purses made by then, I'm just proud of myself for giving it a go.  I'll post more pics of the purses and "wares" in a couple of days.

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And here's the oilcloth I'm using for some of my wares......

Shoes that measure up?

Sorry had to do.....lame, I know.  Anyway, I thought they were kind of cool and I love the lines, but at 798 pounds (again, i don't know what that is in american currency, but i think it's a lot) I'm not going to be owning these any time soon.  Besides, where would I ever wear them?!?!  

Sweetness

This made me happy.  Not sure why, but there was just something about the two of them together.  It was like....love.

My perfect boy

Somehow this beautiful little man knew just what his mom needed today.  I don't think I could love him any more if I tried.  He makes my heart warm and perfect and allows me to be me. 

Romantic Bicyces and Ideas

I want this bike, I mean I want it BAD!  I love everything about it, the color, the basket, the style, I just love it.  I have this romantic idea in my head that I will ride it everywhere this summer - to Patrick's swim team practice every morning, the local market, the library, the post office, the bank and all the while there will be beautiful countryside and wildflowers and my adoring son will be riding next to me, I will be wearing a lovely little floral dress (much like the picture) with a pretty cardigan and a fresh baguette in the basket.....ah.  But in reality it will be like 200 degrees out, we will be slathered in SPF 100, Patrick will be complaining that he's hot and tired and thirsty, I'll get a headache from the heat and generally it's just easier to drive, even if gas is $5.00+ a gallon.  Plus this bicycle is from Beg Bicycles in London and costs 875 pounds (which I don't even know is in American $$) and would probably cost a fortune to ship.  A girl can dream though, right?

A mother's love...

My great grandmother wrote this poem for my grandmother when she was a baby in the early 1920's.  It makes me cry every time I read it and has so much more meaning for me now that I am a mother myself.

A new skirt

So I couldn't afford this skirt, which I love along with just about everything at Garnet Hill.

So I made this skirt out of what I had.  Not bad, huh?!?\

Growing Carrots and Kohlrabi and Lettuce and tomato transplants

Growing carrots in Tucson isn't super easy in Tucson, in fact, this is about it for our crop this year. They were small and some were a little bitter, but we enjoyed each and every one! The white ones are actually parsnips and the small round guys are "thumbellinas", which were quite tasty!

I had never eaten kohlrabi, much less grown it, but it's good.  It's tastes like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower.  We steamed the greens and boiled the peeled root (the big ball).  Patrick loved it!

Here's some more of what we've harvested and what's on the way........

Flower Gardening

Beautiful and thought provoking.  What a lovely way to live life.

The National and John Slattery?

I can't begin to tell you how HAPPY this makes me.  I love both of these things and together they are perfect. This video ROCKS!!!

My toolbox

Doesn't exist. I have a dream that one day I will open the tool drawer in my kitchen and find just what I'm looking for. That hammer and the perfect nail, the pliers, the phillips screwdriver, they'd all be there, right where I need them when I need them. HA. That's not gonna happen with 2 boys in the house (bear in mind one of those "boys" is 42). I love tools, always have and I like to fancy myself a pretty handy gal. I can rewire a lamp and hang the perfectly centered picture with the best of them. All while wearing heels and pink lipgloss (okay maybe not heels). Anyhow, when I saw this post on Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » DIY 101: building your toolbox – saws part I I started thinking about how every attempt to have my "own" tools, including a drill, has failed miserably. Oh well, a girl can dream, right?

During the Oscars.....

I made this.  Thanks to FlamingToes.com and her lace & pearl tutorial.

this wild and precious life

Inspired by this poem and a very special friend, I made this gift for her birthday.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

And this is the pretty wrapping job, along with the "bakers twine" I made - which is super simple.  Just use the zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine and plain cotton yarn.  Love it!