The Body Electric

Sugar and spice and everything nice...

2012-02-17T22:05:00.001-08:00

Gluten-free. soy-free, corn-free, sugar cane-free, PIE CRUST

2 cups gluten free flour*

3/4 cup of butter (or half butter half shortening)

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (or 2 Tablespoons Arrowroot powder)

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup COLD water (although sometimes it takes less, today it took a little more)

Stir dry ingredients then cut in butter, sprinkle in cold water and knead till soft, split into 2 balls and blace between two peices of wax paper and toll to fit 9 inch pie pan. Fill and bake according to whatever kind of pie filling you are using.

*Gluten-free flour mix

3 cups rice flour

1 cup potato starch (STARCH, NOT flour)

1/2 cup tapioca starch OR flour

For my friends baby shower tomorrow I decided to make blueberry

Gluten Free Blueberry Pie Recipe
Pre-heat oven to 425°

The filling:
6 cups blueberries
½ cup honey
¼ cup tapioca flour
½ tsp cinnamon
1Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter (optional because I always forget this step)

Mix first five ingredients. Set aside.

I found this ^^^ at Queen of the Meadow but only used the filling recipe as her crust recipe used corn and I am allergic to corn.

I am very excited that got to use my "pie squirrel" for the first time, thought after baking the filling juice that spilled on it's face and was completely invisible before going into the oven.....came out brown and looking like the squirrel had foraged the dessert for tasty treats. Dern rodents! ;-)

other than a messy little fur face I am so happy with how it turned out!

there is something sooo delectable about that color!!!

Dress - UO

Socks - Target?

Shoes - UO

($7!!! THANKS FOR NOT FITTING INTO THEM, MICHELLE ;-/)

Belt - (cut up an old broken pair of suspenders and put a pin on it that says, "Dorothy", been my favorite belt for years)

In other news, The Mr. who usually TAKES me out shopping for a gift (usually with a set amount of money for birthdays or what have you) decided he really wanted to pick something out himself for my Valentine's gift. He said he likes me in yellow (I had no idea) and went to Urban Outfitters and thought most of what they have right now wasn't really me (he's right, it's been slim pickin's for my personal style as of late) but then he saw this!!!!! He had it all wrapped up (as seen in previous post about Valentine's Day) lovely as can be. He even got the right size!!! Man oh man, he's good!

So there you have it. Babyshowers and dresses and squirrels, that was my life today. Hope yours was equally delightful.

Lovies and licorice,

-K

All I want for my birthday is loveliness...

2012-02-17T00:31:00.000-08:00

Soooo, not to be hinty or anything, I really don't expect anyone to follow this or actually buy me presents

(what I really like best for my b'day is a dance party, consisting of 60's french pop and anything else I can happy feet to) this year is one of those years where everyone has a lot going on (including myself) and it's quite likely that nothing will happen for my b'day other than just hanging out with family...

Seriously, I don't need presents, I'm a pretty blessed bunny and I don't have any needs that aren't being met...

that being said, I will now out-pour a wish list long enough (or silly enough) to make your head spin. Why? Because it's gosh darn fun!!! In no particular order....

I ever so much would love to get my hands on a World Globe Lamp! Feel free to ogle ebay as much as you like and procure me such loveliness! (and as many of such loveliness as may possibly move you!)

I pretty much adore ANYTHING from The Black Apple but THIS painting in particular

makes my heart go pitter pat!!! I also love the Terrarium painting and the Oddsfellow's Orphanage postcards (I already have the book!) And the Recipe Cards are pretty skippy too!!! Ooo, and the Nessie Painting (judge all you want, I see Nessie's existence as a viable and real possibility! ;-)) <3<3<3

Pretty Much ANYTHING by Vivetta!!! Always such loveliness, always impossible to get my grubby little mitts on...but a girl can wish can't she???

Pretty much anything by Nadinoo as well. Eyeball candy for DAAAYS!

SEEEEEE what I mean!?!?! Gasp and delights!!!

any of these lovelies from Asos!!! I do like my little girl dresses! Is it whimsical? Then I probably like it!!!

Anywhere - A Travel Guide

I desperately want to make these part of my belongings...I tried to purchase them this last month as a Valentine's Date/Gift for The Mr. and myself but they were all sold out. I scoured the interwebsicle for it and couldn't find it anywhere, I went to save a pic and link it and found THEY ARE FOR SALE ONCE MORE!!! Take this as a hint from the birthday fairies that these are meant for ME! ;-)

Anthropologie gift card.

Silly, is it? Impersonal you say? NEVER, SAYS I!!! I cannot tell you how much fun and mileage I get out of gift cards! (Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, Target, etc. are also lovely) To be able to go into Anthropologie and find a trinket in the clearance area is ALWAYS fun!!! I can make that gift card last FOR MOOOONTHS! I bide my time till I find something truly worth it, then I acquire said treasure completely free of guilt because not I but YOU got that special thing for ME! <3 Never underestimate the power of gift cards to the right places!

Lula Magazine Subscription, or just a single Lula Magazine....so hard to get one's hands on!!! I own a solitary copy (Issue #8, coincidentally enough) due to a friend's kindness in acquiring one for me several years ago, it STILL brings me delight every time I open it!

So there you have it! I'm sure I'll think of other things later...for instance, practical things that excite me in spite of their practicality...ie: lemon zester (let's be honest, it may be for cooking but "ZESTER" just sounds like food magic!) pickling crock, Le Crueset cookware, tart tins, etc. Things like that make me all twitterpated with glee!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now,

TO BED WITH ME!!! I'm off to sail in that wooden shoe with Winken, Blinken and Nod!

Lovies and letterpresses, (OOOO, I'd also like a letterpress!!!)

-K

We OTTER make out...

2012-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

(we OTTER make out was for The Mr. ;-))

Soooooooooooo, some people are Grinch's about Christmas and some are Grinch's about Valentine's Day...

As most major holidays roll around I find myself giddy with delight, ready to vomit glitter and poop lace all over everyone and everything.

Fourth of July: AMERICA HISTORY AND FIREWORKS!?!?!!? SHINY THINGS??? CELEBRATING OUR LOVE OF FREEDOM???

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!

BIRTHDAYS: A REASON TO PARTY WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND CANDLES ON A CAKE!?!?!? SHINY THINGS!!! CELEBRATING OUR LOVE OF A SOMEONE???

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

CHRISTMAS: JESUS' BIRTHDAY AND PRESENTS FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND GLOWING CHRISTMAS TREES?!?!?!? SHINY THINGS!!!!!! CELEBRATING OUR LOVE OF JESUS AND FRIENDS AND FAMILY????

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

EASTER: JESUS RESURRECTION AND DYEING BRIGHTLY COLORED EGGS!?!?!!?? BRIGHT COLORS AND SHINY CUPS OF FOOD COLORING!?!?!?! CELEBRATING OUR LOVE OF JESUS AND HIS SACRIFICE

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Valentine's Day is no different for me, if I have a reason to remind people that I love them and make them glittered bits of paper and gluten-free, sugar cane-free, soy-free, corn-free delicacies!?!?! SHINY THINGS, TASTY THINGS, AND LOVELY LOVING LOVE!?!?! I LOVE LOVE and LOVE LOVING THINGS! Stars and garters, IT'S THE BEST! Hipsters may loving hating things and being miserable, cynics may scoff, even those that are in loving relationships may poo-poo Valentine's Day under the reasoning, "You should be loving EVERYDAY of the year, not just V-Day", and I heartily agree.....BUT

BUT..............

We should appreciate our best friend everyday but that doesn't mean I'm not going to show up to their birthday party! We should be excited about our freedom everyday, but that doesn't meant I'm not going to enjoy putting up a flag, going to a parade with my lovey-doves and lighting a sparkler with The Kidlet. Traditions are wonderful things that bring joy and connection. Hallmark, and other business may try to capitalize on such things and make some money off of it (which IS annoying and sad at times...on the flip side, at least people have jobs because of it) but WHY OH WHY should we let the things we dislike ruin the things we LOVE!!!

That being said, I entertained myself THOROUGHLY making glittered animal pun cards, winged hearts, and potato stamp cards (with The Kidlet) and dropped them off to friends and mailed to family as a surprise "Hey, you're the tops and I am so fond of you!" Yes yes, I SHOULD call or text everyone on a regular basis and I'd like to think I am pretty good at doing that with at least my mum and dad, sisters and closest friends...but WHY can't I enjoy one day a year that allows a full grown woman to scamper around, covered in glitter and decked out head-to-toe in red and pink!??!

So there is my rant of the month. I LOVE LOVE and I hope you do too! I hope your week was lovely and should you be disappointed about what you didn't get from whomever I am so sorry. I used to be in that boat too but I got fed up with being glum and jumped ship!!! I'm now careening about in a leaky little skiff where I craft to my heart's content, and I row in my glitter-waves covered in lace and instead of thinking, "what am I going to get?!?!?!" I think, "WHAT WOULD ____ LOOOOVE!?!?!" I totally forgot about presents when The Mr. handed me a box this last week and was totally taken aback by the lovely yellow lace that greeted me! It was the cherry on top of a lovely day with lovely friends. I know it stinks to be disappointed, I'm not trying to be preachy, it's just something that has helped me so much with contentedness (something I am always needing work on) but seriously, try to forget about what you might get and just enjoy the giving...sounds overly-simply and sermony but (like all GOOD sermons) it's just the truth and it's truth that sets us free.

Lovies and glittery-lace and love and loveliness,

-K

THE STRAWBERRY WINDOW!!!

2012-02-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

FINALLY!!! After all the years of hemming and hawing about starting an Etsy shop...

THE STRAWBERRY WINDOW

is FINALLY OPEN!

There are several more style listed in the shop so please feel free to peruse! For the record, after all the extras of boxes for shipping, time spent posting, time spent shipping and handling, etc. We have come to realize that the current price isn't accurate (it takes a couple hours to cut, embroider and assemble each piece, plus cost of supplies, plus cost of packaging, plus time spent in line shipping, etc.) I so wished to keep it under $20 but we are now aware of how improbable that is. So, for our shop opening we wanted to offer the price we opened with for a couple days, should there be some folks planning on purchasing. But, make a note, as of Friday the prices are going to change. Thank you for your support, your help, you encouragement and your consideration.

Have a lovely day, may your life be rose-colored, like looking through a strawberry-tinted, stained-glass window.

Lovies and lacewings,

-K

Dryads and Nyads and Fauns and Fairies

2012-02-04T23:41:00.000-08:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sooo, I'm alive! Ended up being the nastiest bout of strep I've ever had the misfortune of catching. I was in bed for a week. It was miserable. I wanted to beg someone to hit me over the head with a hammer. I hope, hope, hope you never catch strep throat as bad as that. I've had strep before, every couple years I get it and manage to knock it out in a couple of days (Colloidal silver works WONDERS with strep) but it didn't work this time and it went systemic and long story short...sick sick sicky sick. :-P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, the shop will open Monday. God willing. I could have gotten so much stuff done for the shop what with being bed ridden but my head was pounding and I didn't want to touch anything that any other human being might ever come into contact with. I felt like a leper. Soooo...Monday at noon The Strawberry Window will open on Etsy. Thank you for your support, your well wishing and for hanging in there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, here are some other pictures from a while back that Miss Josie Farrior took of my lovely friends T. and Miss LB. and myself. We went back to the one of the places she took us to for our family photos. (Also something I need to post more of) and we dressed up in slips, curtains, sheets, dresses, pipe cleaners, snail shells, Spanish moss, feathers and more... It was a perfectly lovely day and I wish we could dress like dryads all the time. Also, I'd like a real Narnia Wardrobe please...since we are wishing and my birthday is coming up. Make it so! ;-)

Lovies and forest living,

-K

Tonsillitis.

2012-01-27T16:53:00.000-08:00

*tears and whimpering*

Ugh. I can barely move, typing this is almost unbearable...I am afraid this really puts a damper on the shop opening. At this point I will have to say, it's TBA.

:-(

So many exciting things going on this weekend....and now I get to spend it groaning in bed like a zombie, curled up in a fetal position.

DOH!

Hope you all stay healthy and happy!

Lovies and languishing,

-K

2012-01-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

Sooo, it is 4am as I write this...and it's official, I have the flu or some nasty bug, my lymph nodes are the size of grapefruits (possible exaggeration) and I am fairly certain there is a hot coal of fire situated somewhere near one of my tonsils.

I am going to try my darndest to get the shop opened by noon but (ugh, this is so embarrassing) that's in 8 hours and I MUST sleep. The shame is uncomfortable as much as this bug is, but I am afraid the shop will be postponed until Saturday. :-(

THE STRAWBERRY WINDOW GIVEAWAY WINNER IS.....

2012-01-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

THE STRAWBERRY WINDOW GIVEAWAY WINNER IS....
*drum roll*

AMANDA!!!

What luck! Amanda was the winner of the Valentines I made last year!

(stay tuned, we are hoping to have another Valentine giveaway this year as well, tba)

Remember to check in tomorrow at noon for The Strawberry Window ETSY SHOP opening.

CONGRATS, Miss Amanda! Thank you for your support! Love you, little chicky, and wish we were in the same town so we could sing and craft together!

Lovies and Luck,

-K

Day late and a dollar short....

2012-01-26T10:05:00.000-08:00

Sooo, I'm afraid I am going to have to do what I really didn't want to do, and that is delay the shop opening by a day. I am soooo sorry for the inconvenience, this mostly applies to my mother, sister, and mother-in-law as I think they are the ones that actually follow this blog religiously. ;-)) If you are not family and you are disappointed by this news 1. I am so sorry. 2. I am deeply appreciative that you care!!! :-)

I will still be announcing the winner of the headband GIVEAWAY today at noon (only a couple hours left!!!) but being out of town, snowed in, up in the mountains for the last week and making it back home a day later than planned has set me back...a day! Sooooo, tomorrow at noon, the shop will be launching. I just don't want to make a shoddy attempt at the opening and want to make sure we have decent pics of products ready to go.

Today will be a flurry of activity and busy-bee-ness, trying to finish up the final details and such.

I hope that this news isn't too disappointing and yet bums you out a little bit (juuuuust a teensy, tiny bit) because then that means people besides the mom's and sister are reading this! (For the record, my dear family, your encouragement and support are precious and priceless to me! Precious in the true sense, not the condescending sense.)

Love you guys and will be back to announce the winner in a couple hours! :-D

Lovies and late-as-usual,

-K

Shaver Lake Part 1

2012-01-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Allie, formerly of The Cat and the Cow (Le sigh, how I do miss her blog!!!)

Sooooo, if you've been nosing around on LB's blog (themockingbirdmusicbox) you may have seen that we've had the opportunity to enjoy a friend's lovely home
near Shaver Lake. It's been a delightful vacation, spending time with friends and cooking and lovely walks and hot tubs and movies and cuddling! The Kidlet started coming down with something on the walk (as you can see from that sad little face) but recovered quickly, just a fever and a sad little headache and chills but it was over in about 24 hours.

Last night, LB and I put on our skippy (yes, skippy, not skimpy) bathing suits, tied up our hair and filled the jet tub and watched the newest episode of Downton Abbey on PBS. Yeah, we know how to party! Bathing suits and Masterpiece Classics! ;-)

I hope you're all having a smashing week as well! Though we are in the mountains there has been no snow (driest year, yikes!!!) but it started raining today! YEA!!! Hopefully there will be snow soon! How is it in your neck of the woods? Snow? Rain? Cold? Sunny?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today we are buckling down and working on more stuff for the shop! Don't forget, the GIVEAWAY to celebrate the opening of The Strawberry Window on Etsy on Thursday the 26th at noon Pacific Standard Time! The giveaway ends at noon, the shop opens at noon!!! :-D Be sure to get your entries in!!!! If you are making posts about the giveaway on facebook then be sure to "like" The Strawberry Window HERE and link there! :-D Or like us there for the heck of it anyway! ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stay warm, stay loving, stay gracious, stay compassionate,

Lovies and light showers,

-K

Family Photo Session with Josie Farrior

2012-01-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

We recently had the opportunity to have some pictures taken by the sweet and lovely Josie Farrior. She is not only stunningly beautiful but she is also the kindest and dearest little pixie you could ever hope to meet! She is, clearly, a talented photographer and I so appreciate her taking the afternoon to take us to beautiful fields and Elfin Forests (pictures to come....seriously, it's called the Elfin Forest!!!!) to capture some wonderful memories with our family!

Please check out her blog and encourage her to post and update it ;-) Also feel fee to contact her if you live on the central coast and are needing some pictures done!!! You will not regret working with her!

Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway coming from the soon to be opened shop, The Strawberry Window!!! (will be opening on Etsy on January 26th)

Lovies and leaps of faith,

-K

The Strawberry Window GIVEAWAY

2012-01-12T01:53:00.000-08:00

So, it's really truly happening. After years of talking about it, thinking about it, swearing it was going to happen....it is actually happening!!!

The Etsy shop, The Strawberry Window, will be opening January 26th!!! To celebrate the opening I'm giving away this moth headband!!! I'll announce the winner on the 26th so PLEASE enter and spread the word around! If you don't win this one at least there will be others available to purchase beginning that day! (Also, feel free to hint around to whomever you like just in time for Valentines Day!)

To enter the giveaway, please post about the giveaway on your blog, your facebook, tumblr, what have you. I am NOT going to stipulate that you begin following my blog (though admittedly, it would be nice) but you might consider it as there will be another giveaway for one of the other items that will be sold in the shop sometime in the next month. Once you have posted on whatever outlet you have, please post the link here in the comments with your name. (You do NOT have to include your email address, as long as I can get a hold of you when it's all over, I rethought that and figured you might not want your personal email showing on a public forum)

GOOD LUCK!

Lovies and Lilliputians,
-K

Just to clarify one more time as there has been some confusion, share THIS link about the giveaway on your outlet of choice, FB, blogspot, wordpress, tumblr, instagram, etc. Once you have posted it, put the link to YOUR post back here in the comments OR to The Strawberry Window facebook page HERE. This will officially enter you for the moth headband.

xoxo

Our Cover of The Zuton's "Confusion" (aptly named)

2012-01-08T23:55:00.000-08:00

1. We are not under the impression that we are as awesome as our mum's say...though it is awfully sweet that they think such things about us.

2. Miss L.B. is really completely serious about marrying you, Andy Samberg, if you are reading this.

3. I am also completely seriously about the scientific leaps in cloning potentially making the possibility of Clone Me marrying you, Andy, should Lauren accept Ryan Goslings proposals of marriage....I choose to use an "S" and say "proposals" as a plural as I'm sure there will be many once RG learns of who Miss L.B. is...

Undoubtedly.

Lovies and lichen,

-K

PS. The Strawberry Window loves you...even if you aren't Andy Samberg...but especially if you ARE Andy Samberg (Ryan Gosling, this also applies to you but don't feel out Lee Pace or Joseph Gordon Levitt...we don't want any of you too feel left out or wounded by our favoritism...also we love you Zooey D. but then again, who (that isn't stupid crazy) doesn't?)

I'm done. For really reals....

Gypsy Love and Sherlock Holmes

2012-01-08T00:53:00.000-08:00

So many posts in one week. Shocking, I know. I feel like my wardrobe choices have been all over the map lately, even manic...but I cant help it since I've been vibing a lot of different things lately. Baby doll dress and thigh high socks will always be my tried and true staple but after seeing Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows last night, it changed things up a bit. I couldn't help but try on a skirt I'd acquired at Ruby Rose several months ago without cinching it with a belt at the waist (it's a little large and requires a lot of folding over) and making it a completely different look..That of a Gypsy!!! I want to be HER, seriously, can I be HER please!!!!

Noomi Rapace is not only lovely but she is so cool with her horse back riding and knife throwing (not down with the tarot cards...yikesies) but she is tough and still feminine, gorgeous but not sluttified. Basically, she's pretty skippy!

Soooo, I've been listening to Beats Antique, Cocorosie, Gogol Bordello and other random gypsy violin players all day.....here is what it all has inspired...

I had a lovely embroidered vest that was quite the ticket but I felt it made the outfit more of a costume. Too bad. :-/

So there you have it, my sad, little teenage girl reason for a style change, the classic girl crush. "Oh isn't she sooooo cool!" Apparently, we don't grow out of that.

... now I just need a horse and the fighting skills (I already have the throwing knives)

Lovies and Lagoons,

-K

Prep school Days

2012-01-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

(Chestnut corduroy blazer - $3!!!)

(Thrifted Cableknit Sweater - $1)

(Thrifted rugby cardigan - $1.50)

(Thrifted J. Crew top - $1.50, Thrifted skirt, it was about 4 times too big AND down to my ankles, just sewed a straight line up the back and hemmed it - $1!!! Thrifted nordstrom tie - $1!)

(Thrifted vintage plaid garment bag - said $6 but the guy gave it to me for $5!!! Thrifted vintage carpet bag purse - $3! Yard sale vintage hat box luggage - $2.50!!!)

(Sadly, I do not have the key for this beauty, but I can buckle it and unbuckle it, thank heavens it wasn't locked!!!)

(Thrifted belt - .50 CENTS!!!)

(these shoes were the most expensive part of the outfit, originally $100 at U.O. but marked down and then additional sale made them $30 (which is still more than I usually pay for shoes...but I had Christmas money!!!!)

This post is a culmination of several things. Last night, before I went to sleep I made a list of everything I had to do today, and a list of things I wanted to post. One of those things was "thrifted items". It's been a really long time since I've done a thrift post and the main reason is....... the new town we live in has TERRIBLE thrifting. In our home town someone actually made a zine just listing and reviewing all the thrift stores available to us. Here on the central coast of California we have 4 or 5 total. It's pretty slim pickings as well as really over-priced. BUT, I've made do by getting some thrifting in whenever I go back to visit family. I made quite the haul on the last visit and whilst I am only showing a few pieces in this particular post, (a lot of it is stuff I've collected over the last few years, but the tie, belt and plaid garment bag are my recent finds) I hope to post more soon (mustard and moss green vintage Pendalton blanket??? YES PLEASE!)

The other reasons behind this post is that I wore a variation of this outfit on New Years Day and received several taunting remarks about going "back to school". ;-P THEN I wake up this morning and find a new blog by Aminta and she just so happens to be doing a Tommy Hilfiger Giveaway. All I had to do was add her on FB and post a comment on her blog with my email address but she offered us the idea of dressing up in our "best prep school look". Sooooo, I find myself with this post...it was kind of the kick in the pants I needed to actually post some of the thrifted items. Hope you enjoy it and check out her blog! Wish me luck and same to you if you enter!!! :-D

Lovies and lucky stars,

-K

Climb every mountain

2012-01-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, Dear One's!!!

I hope that everything's been dashing and dapper and lovely and enchanting for all of you!

Things here have been busy, back home to visit family a lot for Christmas and birthdays (The Kidlet is now FOUR!?!?! When did that happen???) But we are now home, safe and sound, and exploring and rifling about the nature that is so close to us.

My dearyloo, Miss. L, took us up to this lovely spot last week. (The weather is kind of ridiculous, it's about 75 degrees today...I'm torn between the loveliness of it and the fear of not enough rain for everybody's crops and just plain liking a bit o' winter from time to time) And we grabbed some lovely pics! We are still planning on launching the Etsy shop (The Strawberry Window) this month though the date is still not set. We will also be announcing a giveaway! I promise I will let you know when the time comes!!!

Have yourselves a lovely little new year and I hope you find yourselves richly blessed in all things, not just our typical idea of what "richness" is.

Lovies and lily pads,

-K

Christmas Island...

2011-12-23T03:15:00.000-08:00

Scurrying around like crazy little mice, trying to get presents finished and wrapped and what not...goodness gracious.

As a means of procrastinating we decided to learn this ditty...forgive us, we only had about 15 minutes to work on it. (Yup, 15 minutes to learn it and Ms. L figured out that harmony in that amount of time. She is too legit to quit!!!)

Merry Christmas and all that jazz!

Lovies and lyrics,

-K

The Strawberry Window

2011-12-21T01:38:00.000-08:00

The Etsy Shop name has been chosen...we are not going to be starting up till January but it's really going to happen so keep your eyes and ears open for us!

Meet the other half of The Strawberry Window, Ms. Lauren B. Very soon we will have trinkets and treasures up for your perusal and ogling!

In the mean time, enjoy this little ditty from us to you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Lovies and La dee da's,

-K

Oh little advent.

2011-12-09T20:27:00.001-08:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally! Year after year I have wanted to make an advent calendar and every year I find myself at December 24th without making it happen.

THIS year, I found myself at December 5th and thought, oh well, better a little late than never at all. Besides, The Kidlet was ok with opening up 5 on one day. ;-)

The present are filled with odds and ends...a tiny nativity scene, a spinning top for The Kidlet, pens for The Mr. (one of his favorite things) a yo-yo, pencils, tiny finger flashlights (The Kidlet ADORES flashlights.) and so on Nothing to crazy, lots of things I found in the dollar bin at Michael's Crafts, packs of pocket sized coloring books with erasers and pencils and sharpeners. I was able to divvy them up into little packages so I didn't have to spend $25 on it. I think I spent about $12, all said and done.

It has turned into quite the learning experience too. We've had to tie in the calendar, learning days of the week and counting. (I've turned into a home school mom!!! Ahahah, my mother turned EVERYTHING into an opportunity to learn, something that was helpful and at times maddening whilst growing up. ;-))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other than the advent calendar I've been working like a busy little bee, crafting away to my hearts content with one of the friends I've made since moving here to SLO. We've had loads of fun and have found we actually get a lot more done working together than alone. We've kept each other on task and have started to consider an Etsy Shop together...

I know, I know, this is something I've talked about for YEEEEEEEARS now, but we have actually gone so far as to start writing down our plan for the shop, what 3 products to start with, shop name, prices, supplies to buy, and a work space (she's moving into a new place and is setting up TWO glorious desks in her room so provide sufficient space for us...something I'm sure The Mr. will appreciate as currently our work space has our bedroom floor.)

So we shall see...mid January is the tentative plan for opening so far and we will be sure to have a giveaway!!!! I will let you know when we decide for sure!

Lovies and loyalty,

-K

A year, come and gone....

2011-12-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

So we've lived in this glorious place for a year now, I can't believe it!!! Life hasn't changed much over the last year, as far as routine. Yoga, cooking, biking (well, not much lately as someone stole my glorious darling and The Kidlet has outgrown the bike seat anyway) beaching, farmer's markets, crafts, thrifting, etc.

What has changed.....

The Kidlet is huge, his birthday is in a week and a half. We've made tons of precious and lovely friends, we've found a church we like, and it finally feels like home here. Our old home still feels like home too, but now they are interchangeable. In either place I am comfortable, social, busy as can be, loving the people I am with......and missing the people in the other place. It's saddening but at the same time I guess I should count myself blessed to have so many things in my life that I love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sooooo, the apple season is almost over and I have learned how to can my own apple sauce, make apple chips and a gluten-free, sugar cane-free apple pie. In a last ditch attempt to stock up before the season is over, we scampered out to our favorite "U-pick" orchard and loaded up. If you've never been to Slo Creek Apple Farms and you are in the area, you should head out there immediately. They don't have a lot of varieties left (make a note for next year!!!) but they are the sweetest people and you will have a lovely time. Their fresh pressed apple juice is heavenly!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope that you are finding the blessings in your life and overwhelmed with gratitude.

It's a wonderful

Life and lovies,

-K

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING, DEAREST, MR. BRADBURY!

2011-08-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, it's been a long, eventful, tough though blessed, couple of months. The new baby had some health problems, and I had to go stay with my sis for a while to help her with him. He had surgery, he's doing much better and hopefully is on the mend with no further complications, though there is a 40% chance (where do they get these numbers??) that he will continue to have some issues throughout his life. But we will continue to pray and trust and live and love.....

Many other things have happened but too much and not necessarily interesting enough to post blog pictures about...but finally I come out of my hobbity-hole because there is something we need to discuss.

RAY BRADBURY!

It's his birthday, I adore him, I wish I could meet him and hug him and kiss his cheeks and cry on his shoulders and thank him for all the loveliness that he has filled my life with over the years. Sentimental, YES, nerdy, ABSOLUTELY! But seriously, I wish I could go to comic-con (yeah, that's right, I just said it!!!) if for no other reason JUST TO MEET HIM AND THANK HIM!

If you haven't read any of his stuff I suggest you go do so, immediately. He tales of love and sorrow and terror and magic and rockets and martians and murderous skeletons and wonderful ice cream suits and electrical grandmothers and fortune-telling tattoos...and alien mushrooms and dangerous nurseries and criminal pedestrians and shoes that make you fast as a cheetah and heart-beats and tears and blood and sighs and time machines and butterfly wings and that horrible thing chasing you on the stairs............
I could go on and on and on.

I love him. I really, really do.

Dandelion Wine was the first book of his I ever read and it's been a passionate love affair ever since.

Get your mitts on one of his works...the man is 91 years old today and STILL putting out at least one book every year!

You will not be sorry.

Lovies and lovies and lovies and lovies,

-K

ps. you may notice that several of the books are duplicates...because I'm a nerd and I try to pick up extra copies just to lend to people and not have to worry about getting them back. Seriously. I love him.

Angela Hope Pierson (my cousin)

2011-05-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

This is the bedroom/studio/workspace of my cousin, Angela Hope
(sister to THIS COUSIN that got married a couple summers ago)
She is an artist, remember her name because clearly she will be quite famous one day for her wondrous ways and endearing, charming imagination.
She's like a pixie in the flesh creeping out of the woods to drop some beauty into our laps.
Feast your eyes and enjoy...plus give her credit if you copy any of the photos to your blogs or pinterest board or whatever.

THIS is some of her work, ink and water color.
Magical, is it not?

Self portrait.

The dolls, the leaves, the tree branch over her bed, the paper stars...her creativity never ends. Her room is like an Anthropologie display, times 10, plus magic. I've been wanting to blog about it for a while now and I'm so happy I finally got around to snapping some photos whilst I was visiting back at our old home...because...

My Big Sis HAD HER BABY!!! The family would like to keep their privacy so I am quite sad to say that I am not posting pics or details as far as names and such BUT I can tell you that I made it back in time to be there for the birth. It was only about 3 and 1/2 hours of labor at home in a birthing pool, it was beautiful and perfect and no complications and it was a boy. He is wonderful and darling and I want to eat him up. The new midwife was amazing and I was so happy with her care for my sis. The Kidlet's Cousin was there for the last 20-30 minutes and kept rubbing and patting her head saying, "you are having very hard work mama, you can do it, you are so strong, so brave!" And periodically said, "Deeeeep breaths". I spent most of the time bent over the edge of the pool pushing on her lower back
(Thank God it was only 3 hours ish this time, my arms were shaking by the end!!!)

Anywho, thank you all for your prayers for my sister, she was so appreciative of them and everything has come out beautifully!

Lovies and Lyrics,

-K

The Little Prince

2011-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Preciousness.

Hope Springs Eternal...

2011-04-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

This last week finds us with sunshine, flowers, extremely windy bike rides and hay-fever. :-P

There have been several more developments for loved ones in my life that are pretty big downers....
My older sis is due in 3 weeks and her midwife has become extremely ill and will not be able to do her birth after all....3 weeks to find and form a trusting relationship with a new midwife...yikes!!! Also, a bunch of financial stuff that stinks because they are really frugal and it's not due to them being frivolous or bad stewards with their money, just extenuating circumstances. Bleah.
We also have some other friends dealing with a difficult living situation and are having to scramble to find a new place to live, other friends dealing with some major financial difficulties....all around there is just so much uncertainty and worrisome situations. So much to pray about, so many people hurting, so much peace needed...what a glorious thing to know that He gives more grace, He has peace that passes understanding.
So we are praying and hoping and waiting on the Everlasting Arms.
As our dear friend reminded us a couple days ago, "I cannot be hurt more than I am loved". Somehow it will all work out, somehow things will be provided for. Even if it's hard and things must be given up or some things are lost...He will still provide for the needs.

Hope you have hope!

Lovies and Lyrics,

-K

UPDATE!!! My sis met with a new midwife today and LOVES her, my sis isn't the type to form attachments quickly, (she's the cautious planner type) especially when she feels stressed or trapped but she said it was like they already knew each other and she has total and perfect peace about it. What a massive blessing. Whew! God is good, all the time.

In My Corner.

2011-04-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Skirt: Madras for UO (clearance, $7!!!!!!)
Shoes: Target

So many blessings lately (as usual), new friends that are encouragements to me, The Mr. continuing to be a solid and faithful friend, The Kidlet's curiosity growing by leaps and bounds. My life is pretty simple, cooking, cleaning, eating, laughing, serving The Mr., being served by him, biking, "splorging" (The Kidlet's version of Exploring) hiking, etc. I know nothing lasts forever and so I know that this time in our lives will pass, we may not always live here, we may not always have the schedules and the time that we have now, things change (which terrifies me) but I am trying to learn to simply be content with what God's given me today instead of worrying about what trial might be in my future (soooo immature of me, I know)
So here I am, basking in the delicious tranquility of my life today, trying to be a blessing to my family and friends and trying to glorify my beautiful
Creator who remains beautiful even when life might get ugly.

It's been a beautiful week though quite bittersweet, several deaths (made worse by the fact that they were people who thought there was no hope and took their own lives, my heart breaks for them and the families they left behind) a little sweetheart of a child in the hospital fighting for her life, another friend of a friend losing their Wife/Mother/Grandma yesterday. So much sorrow all around us but I cannot ignore that God remains good even in these times of sorrow. How foolish would I be to abandon my faithfulness to Him simply because life gets tough. That's like turning my back on The Mr. if something were to happen to his job.

I generally tend to keep my beliefs to myself here as I know it is a touchy subject for many but I cannot keep quiet something that means so much to me, I hope that this doesn't push people away because it isn't my intent, but even if it does I cannot lie about who I am, because this really does make me who I am, not something I just kind of believe when it is convenient. All that said as a disclaimer to this....a friend sent me this yesterday when I told him it had been a sorrow-filled week...

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation , that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."
2 Corinthians 1:3-5

I hope that perhaps that might encourage and up lift you in some way today.

Lovies and Longing,
-K

Music to my eyes.

2011-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is a delightful band I've had the fortune of recently discovering since our move to the Central Coast of California. I was spoiled back home with a great local music scene and it's been pretty lacking here but finding these lovelies is hopefully leading me on the right track!

Can't find this girl on itunes but I LOVE her hair, her "buhbuhbuhbuhms" and her moves!

This video is from Eisley's old album but the new one is out and I highly recommend it as well!

Lovies and Love notes,

-K

Family Portraits with Katina Patriquin Part II

2011-03-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

So here you have it, the second (and by no means the final) round of pictures taken by the lovely and talented Katina Patriquin! She is stellar beyond words, though words like STELLAR are definitely still applicable!

THANK YOU KATINA!!!

Lovies and Neverland,

-K

Scrabble and Tea and Photography.

2011-03-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon lovelies!

It's been raining a lot lately so we've been spending time indoors,
playing Scrabble,
watching Singing In the Rain,
visiting with various friends from out of town that have crashed on our air mattress,
baking,
(not something I've ever really done, other than bread, I just cook and never bake...till now!)
reading,
(revisiting The Screwtape Letters as well as The Betsy-Tacy Books)
and The Mr. has been doing some tinkering with the camera, trying new things.
These pictures are apparently a result of that.
I still don't know what he did differently (on a technical level) but I know that he's doing something right, his eye is developing as well. Other than "lower the camera honey, you're too tall" (6'2" to my 5'3") I'm not giving him too much direction on the pictures he's been taking lately. He makes me look so much better than I do on a regular basis!!!
Lately I've been lazy when it comes to fashion, weight gain and the cold have made me quite uninspired in the clothing department and I've been "letting myself go" a bit. Ahahah! BUT NO MORE!!!! Back to bike riding (as soon as the weather lets up!!! Aaaaaaannnnddd......
YOGA!

The Mr. bought me an unlimited month of classes for my birthday at a studio a couple blocks away from our house and it's been so nice to be back to practicing with instruction. It's been a couple years since I've been able to just be a student, till we moved I was teaching at least 5 classes a week but never had the time or the means to keep attending or learning anything other than on my own. Having a trained eye watching you and correcting your alignment and bad habits makes such a difference! I'm on two days now and plan on going every single day for at least one class, trying to soak up as much as I can before my month is up. I feel a little sore but in the best ways, not beat up, not abused, not injured, just a delightful awareness of where everything is...if that makes sense. Le siggghhhh!

Anyhoo, it's been a gloriously, blustery day and we are cozy in our second floor apartment, listening to the wind buffeting the walls, drinking tea, eating home-made muffins, and puttering around the house. Hope you all are finding yourself as aware of your blessings as I am finding mine these days.

God is good in the midst of the chaos of the world. That never changes.

Lovies and leaky roofs,

-K

Family Portraits with Katina Patriquin!

2011-03-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

We recently had the opportunity to meet Ms. Katina Patriquin for a lovely photo session. I literally cried when she sent me to finished photos. I cannot say enough about how talented this woman is and how wonderful she was to work with. She made us feel so comfortable, there was no awkwardness (other than what's just normal for me because I am a huge nerd) with her. We had so much fun and really hope that if there is anyone in the San Luis Obispo area that is looking for a photographer they will get in touch with her! She is from AZ but apparently has the opportunity to come here every couple months so I strongly urge you to check her out here!

Katina, I am forever grateful for what you've done for us. Thank you so very, very much!

There will be more photos coming soon but I've already taken too long to get these up so I figure just put up what I have for now and I'll get more up soon (she sent us 310!!! It's so hard to decide what to put up!!!) just wait till you see the Peter Pan pictures!!!!

Lovies and Lazy Rain Days,

-K

My Little Sis Got Married!!!

2011-03-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This set of pictures is from the photographer (who also happens to be The Mr.'s brother check out his website here)

Ryeker1" width="640" height="427">

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was lovely! The day went off without a single hitch. My mum and sister's and The Kidlet's Cousin drove over the night before and came to our house, my older sis sewed some last minute stuff onto our dresses and my little sis painted her nails and we ate food and pretty much just hung out. Being as it was a small wedding there really wasn't anything to do. My older sis and mum and The Cousin went back to their room but my little sis stayed and watched movies with me and we made ice cream and just killed time, she was afraid she'd get back to the room and be wide awake whilst everyone else was sleeping. The ice cream helped make her sleepy.

In the morning The Mr was gone working at the Farmer's Market so we all drove over to see him and look at flowers, we found the most beautiful bouquets for the wedding quickly acquired them, took them back to the house we were getting ready in (2 blocks from the amphitheater) then went for a walk to get coffee and croissants and kill more time.

When we got back I started working on the bouquet and we lounged around some more. Seriously, it was a day full of just visiting and mostly down time. Sooooo restful and lovely!

When the bouquet was done I left and went home to get ready. The plan was to walk to the amphitheater for the wedding, small short ceremony then walk 1 block away to a lovely little restaurant on the same creek that the amphitheater was on. My little sis didn't want to worry about decorations, a cake, dancing, any of that, but just a sweet simply ceremony and time with our close family. I knew she would be ok without it but I also knew how excited she would be if I snuck some decorations into the restaurant so before I got dressed I went to an abandoned house next door to ours and filled a bunch of my canning jars with clover. The Mr. took them and several boxes of empty jars to the restaurant and got everything set up. We filled the empty jars with tea lights and put the clover everywhere.....

After I got dressed and did my hair I ran back to the house where everyone was preparing at which point The Mr.'s brother had arrived and started taking pictures. We got some lovely shots of us sisters together then the older sis and I walked ahead to the amphitheater. The wedding started a little late but turned out to be a huge blessing as the nearby mission started it's call to Mass and the bells were soooo loud it drowned everything out and we wouldn't have heard the ceremony. Plus it was a lovely way to start the wedding. My older sis, her husband, The Mr. and myself all had instruments and instead of a processional we just stood up at the front and when it was time to start we played 192 Days by Eisley
We only sang the first verse and chorus for her walking in. Then they exchanged vows, made their covenants to each other and when they were announced husband and wife we started back up on the second verse and finished the song as they left.
More pictures, then we walked over to the reception. It was lovely and perfect and simply but gorgeous. She was thrilled with the candles and clover and we put an ipod and dock behind their table and had a playlist of Eisley, Coldplay, Yann Teirsen, Sufjan Stevens, She&Him, etc. She was surprised and blissfully happy. I'm so glad we did it, I was afraid I might be stepping on toes but it ended up being perfect, it was just stuff she didn't want to have to worry about and we saved her the worry but gave her exactly what she wanted! She looked beautiful in candlelight!!!

So there you have it. I'm sure there will be more pictures later!

Lovies and Love Everlasting!

-K

Hearts & Glasses & Red heads

2011-02-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

So, I have been tardy with posts in the last week and a half but with semi-good reason. I haven't been taking many pics as I dyed my hair and it turned out terribly!!! I didn't want to do any posts until I got it fixed (my older sis bleached it before dyeing it red this time...unlike last time and viola!!! Exactly the color I wanted!)
As a result of being absent I missed posting on Valentine's Day AND my b'day (b'day pics to follow) Shame on me.

For Valentine's day The Mr. bought me this delightful cardigan from Forever 21, it KILLS me with delight! I've worn it almost every day since! The sweater made me think of these old Oliver People's frame vignette's so I thought I'd share.

Hope you had a lovely V-day and President's Day to boot!

Lovies and Lucky Coppery Pennies,

-K

PS. My b'day was this last Sat and I had high hopes of doing a giveaway in honor of it....I think I'm just going to do it anyway even if it will be uber late!!!

PPS. Oh, I know what else I was going to say, I actually won a blog giveaway myself (never happened before!!!) from The Berkley Blog of this loverly embroidery kit.

I'm quite excited as I have never won anything and they had the cutest idea for enteries, here's the poem I submitted.

Anyhoo, my computer is acting weird and underlining things for no reason and I don't know how to fix it so I bid you all adieu!

Giveaway Results!

2011-02-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

So my sis and bro-in-law and my niece (The Cousin) came over for a visit this last weekend and we had ourselves a blast. Spent a lot of time at the beach (which is where I found the rock pictured above) it was about 75 degrees all weekend, we lounged in the sun and played backgammon and mancala and played in the water!!! It was pretty perfect!

Btw, my sis picked the name for the Valentine Giveaway on Friday (we did it old school style, name's on slips of paper in a bowl) and the winner was AMANDA RODRIGUEZ!

I got the package sent out a couple days ago so Amanda m'dear, you should be getting it today or tomorrow! Hope you enjoy them!

Lovies and Lanky Limbs,

-K

Ruby Rose!!!

2011-02-03T23:58:00.000-08:00

Today I moseyed my way down to a shop I've been dying to rummage around in but never had the chance as the have precise hours. Ruby Rose was open today and was everything I dreamed!!!
Bask in the glory of these pictures (I took so many it was hard to narrow it down, their attention to detail makes every nook and cranny of this place absolutely magical!) and if you're ever in the area make sure you sneak in to check them out!!! I can't even begin to tell you how much I want that horse sweater (pictured above)

I am seriously contemplating on saving up for this puppy. (Puppy being the gargantuan flag)

Allie (from The Cat and The Cow) and I talked about going to Bingo together sometime...I never made it and now we live 2-3 hours away from each other. :-(

Now to go through my two scrabble games and figure out which pieces are missing and get them replaced...finally.

Le sigh!

My birthday is later this month...I want this...badly.

I'm a sucker for letters and numbers. Oh yeah.

I want to know these people...or in some sci-fi/quantum leap sort of way I want to BE these people in this moment that this photo was captured. Is that creepy of me? Yeah, I guess I'm a creeper, these are the things I think about.

The lovely ladies that work/own Ruby Rose were so sweet and vibrant.
(HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU GALS!)
They were gracious with The Kidlet and gave him things to occupy himself with and chatted it up and made for an even more lovely experience! Can't wait to go back!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget the giveaway entry is over by noon tomorrow (pst) so get your entries in if you're interested.

Lovies and looky-loos,

-K

Happy February 1st GIVEAWAY!!!

2011-02-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

In light of Valentine's Day barreling down upon us I figured it was high time I got off my tookas (as my Grandfather says) and finally have a Giveaway. It's something I've wanted to do for quite some time and I've started making things for just such an occasion but I always end up letting the little voice in my head convince me that the things I've made aren't good enough because they inevitably turn out less than perfect.

This time is no different and I've half a mind to not do this...that half of me is cringing with every second that brings me closer to hitting the "publish post" button.

But here's the deal...

Valentine's Day has it's share of naysayers, just like Christmas, with people that say it's nothing but commercialism and boohooeyness for those that care. I had my years of lamenting that there was no handsome fellow to exchange Valentines with (we are human and we want to be loved...it's really that simple) but my Mum always made Valentine's Day about just loving....anyone, family, whomever! Even to this day she always has a wee little gift for each of us girls.

(Mum, should you read this, this is not a ploy or hint that you'd better not forget this year.... 1. I know you won't forget. 2. You are under no obligations to continue the tradition. 3. You enjoy it just as much as we do so that brings me back to #1. ;-))

We've had years where we had a big Valentine's dinner party just for our friends because we love love and we love them and why in the name of all that is love must Valentine's Day be this day of pressure about having a boyfriend or husband or something!??!

(We weren't allowed to date growing up...The Mr. was my first boyfriend and we didn't start courting till I was 22 (first kiss was 3 months shy of my 23rd b'day) I've had my share in many a boyfriendless Valentine's Day and there were years I made myself miserable over it...more's the pity. Bitterness is so pointless and just makes one feel ugly and at times behave ugly.)

So, I beseech you, don't give in to the commercialization but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater either. Enjoy the coming 14th as a day to show love to anyone and everyone!

It doesn't mean you get to be mean the rest of the year, obviously, but dangit isn't it fun to sit down and think of a list of little notes and such that you can hand out to the people that mean something to you!?!?!? Set aside the cynicism, just as I am having to do with myself and my giveaway and just enjoy the joy.

For your consideration I have made a set of 6 Valentine's.

They are not perfect.

There was a kidlet hanging over my shoulder and bouncing (though trying so hard not to) on the bed next to me as I made these.

As a result I include the disclaimer...they look like someone was jumping on the bed while I made them. There are smudges, there are some crookedly spots, they may be a bit wonky...but doesn't that just take you back to being 5 and making Valentines (and eating paste) I know this sounds like a cop out but honestly, whilst I hate that mine turned out this way, I have to remind myself how much I personally enjoy receiving home made Valentines.

(6 Handle With Care Cards, left blank inside)
Also, I made them out of what I had and as what I had was grocery bags (I used all my brown wrapping paper for Christmas) the insides of the envelopes have Trader Joe's or New Frontier's printing on them....let's just call them re purposed (which we all know is a fancy name for, "I made do with what I had")

To enter the giveaway please post the giveaway on your blog and link it back to me in the comments for this post. Enter by Noon (PST) Friday so I can get them out before the weekend.

Lovies and Loving,

-K

UPDATE: If you would like to participate and do not have a blog you can still enter by posting the giveaway on your FB or whatever other social network you use and post the link back here into my comments. Hope that helps! :-)

Of Paper Dolls, Black Apples and other Whimsical Musings

2011-01-27T21:49:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas I found a book of paper doll making at Urban Outfitters by none other than Ms. Emily Winfield Martin. It is called

The Black Apple's Paper Doll Primer

I flipped through it briefly and decided to purchase it. I know, I know, I was Christmas shopping for others yet bought something for myself, lame....I made up for it by going back and buying a copy for my older sis the next day. Once I was home and really sat down and poured over every single page I realized I HAD to get one for her as well.

Jump ahead a month and I'm pleased to say this has not been an impulse buy that has gone on to be completely useless. Since moving to a town without a life-time's accumulation of friends, family, and community and having to downsize a lot of clutter to fit into a smaller place and being someplace more expensive where we are living on less ,I have found that I am getting soooo much more done! I have time on my hands and have actually started AND finished certain projects that I have either never started in the first place or started and never finished. I feel quite accomplished!!!

So here you have it, I cannot tell you how much fun I've had in making these little people and how much joy it's brought me to make them and actually finish them (though I have plenty more to do!!!) Many thanks to Ms. Winfield Martin, she is brilliant and I so appreciate the fact that she shared her know-how so that others of us can share in her adventures!

Top and shorts: UO (Christmas present from The Mr)
Shoes: Target

Top: UO
Bow: Myself

Top: Forever 21

In other news, my older sis (the one that lost her baby during the second trimester early last year) is pregnant again! She is due in May and is well passed the point that she lost Victory Rose so things are looking good and she is doing well, much less sick this time as well and she is happy. A little nervous but doing extremely well. She is so brave! I love her!!! I am currently working on making her, my niece and my bro-in-law paper doll selves for the baby shower invites. She's going to have a boy!!! EEEE!

Lovies and lint balls,

-K

Ohhhhh Zooey!!!

2011-01-19T09:49:00.001-08:00

She & Him - Don't Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Glorious lunch with The Kidlet and The Mr.

2011-01-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

Today was exquisite as well. I know I'm not writing much these days, but I don't know what to say other than, "I can't believe this is where I live".

I thought it might get redundant if I said that every single post. Too late. I already said it again.

Oh yes, food. I can say something about that. I made chicken cordon bleu (sp?) at least I think it was. I stuffed chicken breasts with raw cheese, wrapped them in prosciutto and covered them in a variation of a Bechamel (sp?) sauce. Tasted like the real thing to me. Regardless, dinner was delicious. I'm putting myself on what I'd like to call "The French Diet". Rich and decadent foods in small portions. I can't tell you how many times I eaten a massive quantity of something not so tasty and at the end realized I ate so much because I was waiting for it to get good. No more of that!!! From now on tasty delights, but half the size. So far I've lost nothing, but neither have I gained anything AND I don't feel so nasty stuffed all the time so that's a plus. For lunch we had prosciutto, apples, raw cheddar, and mandarins. It was lovely. Dinner was the chicken cordon bleu with gold and red beets and a spring mix salad with home made dressing that has cream in it. Oh yeah. I could write about food forever. I'm going to stop now. ;-)

Lovies and lunchables,

-K

This is my life.

2011-01-17T00:58:00.000-08:00

It's January and back at our old home it's gray and cold and foggy (which I always loved) ...this is our new home, well, 15 minutes away from our new home (the gray days are fine but this isn't too shabby either...seriously, tan in January!?!?! WHAT!?!?)

I still can't believe this is my life.

Life really is beautiful.

Exquisite.

Brilliant.

I am so blessed.

Lovies and last dances,

-K

I'm BACK! FINALLY!

2011-01-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

So I know it's been eons!!! Life has changed so much since I last posted, we have moved about 2-3 hours away from my family and The Kidlet's Cousin and my Sisters and Mum and Dad and EVERYONE! I've lived in the same town my whole life and been pretty content with that. This is a big change for us, we now live near the ocean instead of a town in a deserty valley. I have learned to love the sun in only a couple months (probably because it isn't miserably hot whenever it's shining!!!)

I have lots to get caught up on after months of internet issues even before me moved, then AT&T giving us the run around for the last 2 and a half months that we've been here. We are with a new carrier and it's been fantastic...for the 2 hours that we've had it now! AHahaha!

Anyhoo, Lots of other pics but before we get too far away from it I wanted to post pics of the presents I wrapped (using a hot glue gun instead of tape pretty much changed my gift wrapping life!!!!)

I can't wait to get back into the swing of things, blog-wise. And to see how Jasmine, Tess, and the Sara(h)'s, Meggstatus, and Stephanie, Mel, and any other blog friends I forgot to mention! I've missed you birds!

Lovies and Learning,

-K

I have been shamefull;y remiss...

2010-10-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

So much happening in the last month or so since I last posted. Forgive me for my neglectful ways!!!

We have been living on an air mattress in an empty apartment with no internet, not TV, and hardly any books and only a couple outfits. I have kept myself busy cooking bone broths, lacto-fermenting peppers after fire-roasting them, seafood chowders, spaghetti squash, apple sauce, and many other delights. (God bless the inventor of the crock pot!!!)
Things are going swimmingly even as they are not....

I think our land lady started getting an idea about how much all the remodeling is going to cost her because she said she wanted to retest the apartment again to see exactly where the mold is so she knows how many rooms to tear up...fast forward a week and a half...we hadn't seen anyone coming or going to our apartment from the testing company and we called her. She said, "yeah, guess what, there is no more mold!!!" TADA! No work was done other than some cosmetic things...and yet the mold magically cleared up??!?!?!?!

Yeah right. We asked our Dr. if this was a possibility and he said no way. Sooooo, we are going to try to diffuse a blend of oils that someone recommended that is supposed to help kill the airborne spores and cut down on chances of infection. Fingers crossed that this works!!!

So, we will be trying that and will be praying that it can at least keep us from getting reinfected for the next couple months because....

....Big news....

The Mr. is getting a promotion which will result in us moving TO THE COAST! TO THE TOWN WE GO TO ON VACATION!!!!!! Away from the horrible air, the hot weather, the dead brown grass....

We are kind of in shock and there is a lot that has to be worked out (ie: housing..it's rather expensive) but we are excited too.

I'm a little scared, I've lived in this town my entire life, all my friends and most of my family are here....it will be hard....but if it's where we are supposed to be, we will make do! (Ummm, and it's gorgeous and beautiful and bike friendly and the air is clean!!!)

Also, BIG NEWS!

My new doctor has been working wonders. I am no longer allergic to EGGS! Tomatoes! Garlic! Milk! and he is working on eventually reversing all the other allergies too.
My thyroid is functioning normally!!!
I get sleepy at 11pm!!!!
I still feel tired but the lack of motivation has disappeared. (hence all the cooking!!!) So I still want naps but I don't always take them because I want to do other things more!!!!!
The infection is pretty much cleared up for me (though The Mr. and The Kidlet have since been tested and they are both starting treatment too. Poor guys!)

So yeah. I am getting better. We might get worse when we go back into that apartment, but we don't have to live there very much longer. I cannot express how amazing it is to hear things like, "____ is functioning normally".
I'm used to being the exception to the rule but it's always in negative ways like, "We don't know how it's possible for you to have THIS many issues!!!"

Now it's turned into, "I'm amazed at how quickly you are healing! It's phenomenal how much
stronger your immune system is!!!"

My mind is boggled.

So. Moving home soon. Pictures and normal blogging to resume post haste.

Miss you lovelies!

Lovies and Lagging,

-K

I'm A Sucker For Stationary!

2010-08-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

I love stationary...adore it...hoard it...and never use it!!! It is too precious to me! Which is so silly! Earlier this week we went to Santa Cruz for the day to meet with Bruce (the Bassist, organist in the band of our dear friends Garage Voice) We walked around and ogled shops and books and music and ate and basically did nothing we wouldn't do whilst apart yet somehow it just felt richer for having been done with him. His friendship is so precious to us and he blesses us so much more than he knows. The day went by so fast and I kept feeling the urgency to "hurry up and cram things in" but the things we always wish we could do with him and the other fellows are just being together and talking and listening to music and having dinner, basically, the things we did whilst visiting them in Seattle... and we did ALL those things. The only downside was that neither Bruce nor The Mr. had all their books with them so they spend hours studying together. I think that is something that The Mr. loves most, being matched with a friend that loves learning as much as he does, and not learning to pass a test or write a paper, learning for the sheer joy of it, for the beauty of finding truth in all it's absoluteness.

This post is about stationary though...oh my goodness, so many cards and gift wrappings, and tags and embellishments and stationary sets....it PAINED me to walk away from so much loveliness, which is silly seeing as when I do buy such things I cling to them like Gollum. "MY PREEEECIOUSSSSS". My new resolution is that I AM really truly going to start using my stationary. A piece of this darling little set is going to be used to write my first letter to my new friend and fellow allergy sufferer, Jasmine.

(Sorry to give away the surprise, my dear!!! Don't worry, there will be more cuteness that you do not see here)

A letter is currently winging it's way to me from Australia thanks to her and I cannot wait to write my first note to my new Pen Pal!

The little blue book is another little curiosity I picked up and I am loving...write one tiny paragraph about whatever, each day, year long, for 5 years!!! Basically, a diary, but hopefully one I can actually stick with. I love the simplicity and the restriction of it. I can jot down a saying by The Kidlet, or some lovely happenstance I want to remember...that's the plan anyway. The point of the book is in the format, as you finish out the year and start over you do not just keep going forward you jump back to where you started and you write there, so everyday for the following years you will see exactly what you wrote the year before. I love the concept, I hope I can hold up my end of the bargain.

I also found the darling post cards at the same book shop as the book and stationary and this darling shirt on clearance at UO. I didn't realize it till I got home how everything I ended up with had such a theme. Red, Cream and Blue.

♥

Argh, this is what I get for messing with html...changed my font and now I can't figure out how to fix it. ARGH!!!

Well then I leave you with this...

May you be blessed with friends are dear and precious as our Bruce!

Lovies and Little Lovelies,

-K

PS. the bicycle pin was also from the book shop. :-)

PPS. (Weird, now it's back to normal...ish...again.) A giveaway is coming soon...it will be stationary...part of my training to learn to let go of what I am too greedy with.

Out In The Forest Again

2010-08-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

So we had ourselves another day up in the mountains, we made it up much earlier than usual and actually got some swimming, napping (which turned into multitasking as I burned whilst sleeping....good job me.) and picnicking in. On the way home we stopped and The Mr. grabbed these shots. Man, he's getting better!!!

It was a lovely day, hopefully we can get some actual camping in soon and stay overnight.

The Mr. is back to teaching (he's works as an assistant in a special ed. program for Autism)

He does not love this job, it sucks the life from his soul. He sees children with so many problems and he is powerless to help because pretty much anything constructive is prohibited due to the always looming fear of the school board that someone might sue somebody over something. So basically he is a glorified babysitter. He just hates that there are things that could be done and his hands are tied to do anything beneficial. I could talk about this for way too long and the point of this blog (generally) is for the beauty in life, not the things that drive me crazy (though clearly, I've digressed a bit lately)

Anywho, the fact that the woman he assists is a very unpleasant and unprofessional individual doesn't help matters any. He carries the work load and yet for some reason she seems to hate him for it. I don't get it. The point of all this info is that the job he got several months ago working at a RAW Organic Dairy is going to be giving him more work and as of next month he will not have to be at the school anymore!!!! He didn't want to leave the school in a bind in the first month and just up and quit on them so he told them his plan to leave in a month and in the mean time help train whomever and then "git while the gitting is good". That teacher couldn't even let him last a week. She kept telling all his fellow workers (when he wasn't around) that she might just let him go early (which is silly for her to say because she has no power to fire people) and keeps pressuring him to leave early. He was just trying to do the right thing by everyone else and she's making him pay for it. This woman...I tell ya....ARGH!

Anyway, long story short, The Mr. will be done with that despicable school district as of tomorrow!!! Money will be tight next month but our Father always provides and we are super excited! He was going to be working 16 hour days 6 days a week for the next month. But not now!!!! YIPPPEEEE! I'd rather have him than money! He is so happy!!!

In other news, our landlady had a specialist check our apartment and he seemed skeptical about there being unsafe levels of mold but did some extra tests. They came back confirming what my doctor said....mold, lots of it, and the bad kind!

Our landlady is going to have us move into our old apartment which will soon be vacated by Ms. Allie of Thecatandthecow. I am so sad to see her go but the timing of all of this has worked out pretty well considering. Also, our rent will be cut in half whilst all the remodeling is taking place (see, it's all working out for next month already! Less money but less rent so YEA!!!)

So yeah, life is complicated but it's still pretty gosh darn good!!!

YIPPEEEE!

Lovies and Awesome Landladies,

-K

Overdue Children's Book

2010-08-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Dress: Buffalo Exchange

Slip: Neighbors Yardsale

Shoes: Target

Song of the Day: Psalm 91 by Garage Voice

It's been a while since I've posted about a kids book and I'm tired of posting nonsensical, whiny, crybaby rants.

So here you have it. Another child's book character inspired by a children's book. Funny thing is, we never had the books for these characters, I only found out about the books in the last couple years when I started perusing the internet trying to track down the toys that we had as children. If you have never met them or seen them, then I am sorry to say your childhood was missing a piece a whimsy. If you know these toys as well then you know about how precious they are, how wonderful the little squeak when you put your fingers in their arms and squeeze.

My mother still has our set from when we were kidlets but my big sis and I shared the one set and she can't split it up between the two of us so she keeps it at her house for the grandkidlets to play with. I have stalked ebay and have managed to come up with the mom, the dad and the log house. Hopefully I will get my mitts on the kiddo soon. Hope they strike a chord with you as well...but please don't outbid me on EBAY!!! ;-)

I found this dress last summer when we were looking at a school in Portland for The Mr.

I couldn't believe it when I noticed The Kidlet playing with the Mommy Squirrel and realized how much the outfit looks like that dress. Btw, I totally have a hat like hers. I kid you not. Seriously. I meant to take a pic of it. Darn, too bad I forgot. ;-)

Lovies and Living,

-K

PS. been messing with the layout (meaning a computer savvy friend I call O. edited it for me because I have absolutely no idea about any of it.) got myself a flickr and am trying to figure out how to get some of the pics bigger, hope you guys like the new (ish) look. :-)

BOOOOOOOOO!!!! (I will slap you in the face you rotten food allergies.)

2010-08-11T16:19:00.001-07:00

The verdict is in.

The old allergy list has been altered....by 3!!!!

Tuna, blueberries and raspberries are now allowed back onto my place.

And I don't want to sound like an ingrate because I am indeed grateful that I can have them again....but let's be honest.....

Eggs, wheat, dairy, tomatoes.

THESE are things that are in EVERYTHING!

It would have been nice if I could eat them again.

I think my rotten attitude stems from this....

I now how 13 new allergies.

That's right.

13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The new allergies are as follows:

Eggplant, Cantaloupe, Cranberry, Lime, Malt, Perch, Pineapple

Quinoa, Tangerine,

SUGAR CANE, LIME, MUSTARD AND GARLIC

What the what!?!?!!? I've already had my precious wheat pasta and spaghetti taken away from me....now GARLIC!?!?!?!?! And I can't have ketchup and mayo anymore (eggs and tomatoes are no-no's) and now MUSTARD!!?!?!?

Also, SUGAR CANE!?!?!!? WHAT!

WHHHHHHAAAT!?!?!!?

And HOW, pray tell, is one allergic to Tangerines and Limes but not Lemons and Oranges?!?!?!?

HOW!?!?!?!?!

I am peeved. To say the least.

Sigh.

Our landlady had a specialist come out and test our apartment today. We are waiting to hear the results. At this point if they come back negative I guess we are going to move anyway, since the issue is that I am testing sensitive to the apartment, maybe it's fine levels for someone else. (I'm a mold light weight???) But then, if they come back really high then she said she'll start gutting the apartment and tearing stuff out...but then how do we live here while she's doing that? AND what if they don't get everything out. (I've heard from various home owners that it's pretty tough to get rid of once you've got it)

So...limbo continues.

The Mr. went up to the foothills today to just be alone and pray without distractions. We are praying for guidance and clarity. That's the thing we are lacking most right now.

Clarity. Not that we demand to have all the answers, but just that we would know what we should do or not do with the info we have. Some sort of direction. (again, if you're the praying kind, feel free to add that to your list, if you feel so led)

There is an apartment a couple blocks away that is available and just so happens to be next to an old friend (and former student) that is only $25 more a month for rent (no idea on utilities) and actually has a very small second bedroom. That would be a step up for us, though I am nervous about living on a ground floor. I like be up above things, it cuts down on a lot of worries. (Wow, that statement is very revealing of my biggest weakness...worry)

But it has a garage, hook ups for a washer and dryer, heating and A/C. and partial hardwood floors. That is a huge answer to a lot of things we were praying about. The location is in the neighborhood we want but is on the corner of two MAJOR streets and there is a bus stop directly in front of the apartment. I've always wondered how the tenants handle it when I drive by and see all kinds of random people hanging out on the porch of that apartment waiting for the bus. They trash it...a lot. So, that is not ideal....but again, there's a lot about it that I like. What to do. What to do.

PS. It may or may not have a murphy bed hidden behind a built in china cabinet. How ridiculously cool is that!?!?!?!

I wasn't going to include pics with this post...but now I will.

Ladies and gents.... pics of the apartment....

This looks like a murphy bed, right!?!?!

My other concern...there seems to be NO closet space. Egad.

Sigh.

Lovies and Lentils

(which I am not allergic to...but lentils without garlic??? Meh.)

-K

The Kidlet, The Mr., Me and The Lil' Sister

2010-08-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

This kid is too funny for words. He's getting to that really really goofy stage and it's cracking me up.

Taking a brief break from the plethora of my mum's b'day trip 2 weekends ago I will tell you about what we did this last weekend.

On a whim we decided to drive up to a lovely place in the mountains known as Dinky Creek (last summer I took some underwater pics there, if you recall.) It was very late in the day and too cold for me to swim though my lil' sis jumped in and froze her patoot off as a result. It was just so nice to get up out of the smog, smell pine trees, watch fish swim, and go rock hopping. We didn't have much time before sundown but it was nice just the same. On the way back home we stopped off and chatted it up with some horses. Nothing too exciting but lovely just the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow I have ANOTHER doctor's appt. with my OLD doctor (or rather current...not to be confused with the NEW doctor that thinks I have an infection in my endocrine system) to follow up on the test results we have been waiting on regarding my food allergies.

I am allergic to a bazillion (around 15) things.

Eggs, Wheat, Dairy (though raw dairy doesn't bother my as much) including butter, kidney, navy, black, and pinto beans, blueberries, raspberries, apples, tomatoes (a hard thing for an Italian that also LOVES salsa and ketchup) Tuna, Baker's AND Brewers yeast....and something else I can't remember at the moment.

She said that if I cut them all out for a long time maybe my body would calm down and I'd be able to have them again...someday....she also said it's possible to develop NEW allergies

(Please Lord, please no!)

My insurance doesn't cover this allergy test and it's quite pricey so we waited over a year and saved some money to have the test done again....

Tomorrow we find out either dreaded (nothing's changed OR I have MORE than BEFORE!!!)

or joyous (maybe I can eat some the things I've been missing again!!!) news!!!

Fingers crossed, hands clasped. Whew. We shall see what shall be.

Lovies and Lily pads,

-K

Mum's 60th B'day Part 2

2010-08-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Mr. and this random guy above were doing handstands.....so of course

The Kidlet had to try it too.

Upon perusing the pics The Mr. took I have found that I make this face a lot when I'm dancing.

:-/ Oops. I had no idea. Now that I know....it probably won't stop.

The day before my Mum arrived at the coast for her surprise b'day weekend we were already there and had the delightful opportunity to experience the San Luis Obispo Farmer's Market.

If you live within driving distance, do yourself a massive favor and get your hiney over there! It's AMAZING! So much good stuff!!! I found Gluten-free, vegan banana nut bread (Why oh why did I buy more than one tiny loaf!?!?!?!) Dairy free caramel walnut clusters, and so many flowers and jams and veggies and delights and music....sigh.

I hope to go back soon!

If only we could live in that lovely town for always. Siiiigh. SLO or Seattle, I would be quite happy in either location.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still working on processing the possibility of moving to a new apartment, the new dietary restrictions, etc. None of this is made any easier by us trying to make a decision about whether or not The Mr. should go back to teach....which we need to decide soon since the school year is starting in 2 weeks. Siiiigh, what to do? I'm not sure what to even look for because we don't know what we will be able to afford with all of The Mr.'s work stuff up in the air. How does one budget when one doesn't know what money they will have to budget with?

Hmmmm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lovies and Lethargy,

-K

My Mum's 60th B'day

2010-08-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my father got a hotel room right on the beach for my mother's 60th b'day

Without her knowing we managed to plan on all us kids and her parents to be waiting in their room when they arrived. We also managed to get it worked out for her to have a 3 day weekend from work, her bosses were in on it and she never had a clue!!!

We were all so nervous that one of us would blurt out something that would give it away but we did it...without a hitch...pulled the whole thing and and surprised the buttons out of her!!!

It was a lovely weekend and I have tons of pics, so hard to know when to stop.

Did you all have a lovely weekend as well?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a completely separate and personally pathetic note...

I found out today that my on going health issues are quite likely because of past water damage in our apartment.

It has been recommended by my doctor that we move. I have spent most of the day either crying or sleeping. I keep vacillating between despair over the loss of the home we love so much and shame for being so attached to something so unimportant in the grand scheme of things. No one has died, no one has cancer, these are things to be sorrowful over, not something inanimate, unliving, temporal. Sigh. I wallow in self pity one moment then despise myself the next for being so weak. It's just wood and nails and mold :-( What makes it our home is what we have filled it with, yes, the stuff that expresses my taste but more than that... the love, the music, the life WE live IN it, not the life IT has...because it doesn't have anything that isn't already us.

I don't know...so many things running through my head. None of this is helped by finding out I have new restrictions to my diet. (Jasmine...I know you feel my pain!!!!!!) I am being a big baby about it, and as I said, I'm quite ashamed. But I only found out this morning so give me some time and let me process it.

Also, those of you that are inclined to pray....please do so, to find an apartment that is within our price range, in this neighborhood (as a one car family I bike to work so being close to where I teach is rather a necessity) but a place new enough to not have a mold problem, with a washer and dryer and heating and AC, a garage and hard wood floors (not just for the aesthetics but because it's easier on my allergies) will be nothing short of a miracle.

We live in an older neighborhood, which we love, but with the age comes the mold. Also AC isn't as likely because of the older buildings and with it getting to 100 degrees for so much of the year, it's also kind of a necessity for someone with a thyroid problem that doesn't regulate body temperature.

It will literally take an act of God to be able to find all of these things together.

Also, please pray that this is the answer to the health issues. I admit to a certain amount of fear that we uproot ourselves, go through all the mess of moving and have it make no difference. Sigh. So many what ifs. It's really pathetic how untrusting I am, how fearful and worrisome I am. It's ugly and I hate it. But I can't seem to stop.

I don't like me very much right now.

I want to be gracious and graceful, not in a physical way (I'm too klutzy) but as in "full of grace". Patient, wise, unruffled, strong, peaceful, calm...the list could go on for days, I want to be these things, yet I seem to be the antithesis of all of them right now. Ew. Instead I'm freaking out, tail spinning, worrying, worrying, worrying. I'm a little disgusted, to be perfectly honest.

Ew. I need fixing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lovies and limeade,

-K

Bag Sale. (A continuation of yesterdays exploits)

2010-07-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

These pieces are the remainder of what I found at that magnificent Thrift store bag sale!

Bow: Handmade

Shoes: Thrifted

This dress is the epitome of K's LBD. I cannot tell you how many variations of this dress I have in my closet...but THIS is the first of this exact combo. It is all things good in my eyes.

I am a big fan of baby doll waist dresses I love slightly, but not over-done, poofy sleeves. As a girl that sweats like a boy that lives in a place that reaches over 100 degrees for months out of the year black is near and dear to my heart. Aaaaand as a short girl you know how I love that just above the knee hem. Yep. Pretty good find if I do say so myself.

Slip: Thrifted

Shoes: Thrifted

This little red shift looks as thought it's just terribly wrinkled but it is covered in embroidered red roses, with cutouts at the waist and hem. (I seriously need help with my camera and blog, I am at a loss with how things are getting smaller and smaller....argh!)

Bow: Handmade

Tank: Old Navy

Belt: Handmade

Shoes: Thrifted

This skirt. Oooooooh this pencil skirt. It is a tiny olive-coloured, wool, hounds tooth from Banana Republic. I have not only had the fortune of finding this skirt at a thrift store before but have now found it again in a size that is a little more accurate! I LOVE this skirt but have sadly only been able to wear it on rare occasions when my health is kind of ok and my tummy is happy. I haven't been able to wear it in months, no matter how much I work out or watch what I eat because my tummy problems have made me too bloated to fit into it. (also my ribs and there is nothing I can do about that....I'm just not suppose to be a size 0) I keep trying that darn skirt on and it is just a bit too small.

I cannot believe I found it, same exact skirt, one size up. I am so excited! Egad. I love it.

Thank you thrift stores!!!

Bow: Handmade

Shoes: H&M

Again, for some reason, the colour is coming across inaccurately. In actuality it's royal purple. It's divine! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

Bow: Thrifted

Belt: Thrifted

Skirt: Handmedown from old roommate

Shoes: Old Navy

You can't tell but this little blue top I bought has red bows printed all over it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still cannot believe each of the pieces I bought were .29 cents.

Best

deal

EVER!

Lovies and Lassitude,

-K

PS. Song of the day:

Avi Buffalo - What's It In For.

The new band I am quasi in had a show earlier this week, we played a show with this band. They are amazing and Avi himself is bafflingly kind and write way beyond his years. Check them out if you haven't heard them yet.

Thrift Stores and Scissors.

2010-07-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

For some reason this turned burgandy (not a favorite colour) in the photo, in actuality it's plum! Yum!

Today a thrift store in my neighborhood (Neighborhood Thrift Store...the name says it all!) had a wonderful sale that periodically pops up! The $7 bag sale. Anything you can fit into a paper grocery bag for $7. The Big Sis and I went together and managed to cram all of our stuff into one bag and split the cost. My half of the bag ended up being 6 dresses, 1 romper, 1 top, 2 skirts, for me and 2 jeans for The Kidlet. Not too shabby for $3.50!!!

When I got home I promptly went to town cutting up the things that were "almost cute other than...." I am pretty much happy with how they all turned out other than the sea foam skirt, that could stand to be shorter. Clearly I like things just above the knee. I am a short girl and long things just accentuate it.

I will post all the pieces I am leaving alone tomorrow. Seriously, I broke it down, everything came down to being .29 cents a piece. YESSSS!

I love thrifting. Seriously. I feel so bad for people that don't enjoy it.

Lovies and lucky deals,

-K

Basket boat rides and Polka dots!

2010-07-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

Bow: Thrifted

Top: H&M

Skirt:Forever 21

Socks: Target (I love their dollar ankle socks!)

Shoes: Thrifted

Currently listening to: Travis - Sing

Clearly, being pirates.

Mundane outfit post.

I don't usually wear polka dots, it's something I always feel weird in, but lately I've been a bit more open to the possibility. I also NEVER wear white in the summer. I sweat like a man. Ew. But this was one of the lovely finds at H&M when we went to Seattle last month to visit our darling friends from Garage Voice.

(We are still trying to recover those pictures, hopefully there will be a post about it soon)

I couldn't resist the top. So now I have white AND polka dots.

~~~~~~~~~

The Mr. was gone on business the last couple days and it's been lovely to have him back.

(Who knew that it was possible for absence to make the amount of fondness I have for him even more so. I didn't know we could have more fondernessest ;-) for each other.)

He and The Kidlet had themselves a lovely time playing in the laundry basket this morning.

(Dearest Mum-in-law, yes, that IS your laundry basket, as you can tell, with your names clearly written on the side, OOPS! ;-/ we will try to get that back to you ASAP)

The Kidlet said he wanted a ride in it so I tied an apron to his little broom and we made a mast and he floated on his little sea thanks to his papa.

Life is pretty darn adorable sometimes.

Hope you are all finding yourselves with as much in your life.

Lovies and Landlubbers,

-K

She and Him and Me and Them!!!!

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

This is me, hands clasped in rapture at the thought that in less than 3 hours I would be seeing ZOOEY DESCHANEL!

I was trying to think about where to start with getting back into posting, I feel so far behind that I couldn't decide on anything. Argh.

Then I decided I would wait until the day after the Bird and the Bee, She and Him, and The Swell Season concert at The Hollywood Bowl! What better event than THAT to come back with a bang.

Soooo....we are still trying to figure out our new camera (ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture, all lost on me) but we were able to get some good shots. A former student of mine, Mark, moved to the LA area and said whenever we wanted visit we were welcome. We finally took him up on his offer and decided to drive down to see the show, spend the night at his family's house, then back up the next morning. It was wonderful! Mark greeted us with a BBQ, chocolate, wine, and this gorgeous pup.....

We had a lovely time hanging out for a bit before the show and the boys were all smitten with the coolness of Mark. He is an amazing person! I'm sorry to have lost him from my class!

This is O. He is a newer acquaintance but we have spent many a summer's evening playing Boggle recently and when the opportunity came for him to buy someone else's ticket he jumped on board and we all had a blast.

The Mr. and the new camera has created a plethora of pictures of inanimate objects and me. (Seriously though, so many pictures of things like, his feet, and random objects on the floor or the sky. AHHAHA!)

Eating...I am too good at it.

This is our other friend, we call him Panda, we met him several years ago at a Summer camp that The Mr. was playing music for. He is legit and we are glad we got to be together on this trip since he lives out of town and we only see him when there is a movie coming to our IMAX which he drives up for.

Stoic...I think he was thinking about wine...

...And I was thinking about Zooey and M. Ward.

This is a picture of O. being thoroughly smitten with the awesomeness of Mark. O. wants to be him when he grows up.

Rusty Pup!

45 minutes on the bus, standing room only. Egad!

Btw, look who got a summer crop...I don't particularly care for it, but he's still a handsome gentleman.

Whilst we were waiting for the show to start we entertained ourselves with spotting regular folks that looked at least mildly, like celebrities.

(Blast, I wish I'd gotten better pics.) This guy seriously looked like Jason Mraz.

Bobby Lee! When this was stated out loud, an Asian man in front of us said, "Ooo, that's racists!" Fortunately, O was the one that said it so we pointed at him and the guy forfeited. Whew. ;-)

Taylor Momsen. AHAHAH!

Ryan Gosling, (again, wish we'd gotten better shots!!!)

Plump Vin Diesel with hair.

(We did spot one actual "celebrity" when we were walking in, didn't get a photo, but it was the guy that was dating Cuddy this last season on House. And apparently Colin Farrel was in the audience somewhere, so Marketa said)

Pondering.

The Panda, The Mr., The Me.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

This was the ridiculous expression on my face through most of the show...mixed in with crying. Pathetic.

Mark sent a bottle of wine with the dinner he packed. I don't drink but O. said it was amazing.

Yep.

Sadly, when The Bird and The Bee were playing it was too light out for good pics on the screens, then when The Swell Season played it was too dark. :-( But they literally gave us chills. The passion and power behind Glen Hansard's lyrics and vocals, the charisma, the soft charm of Marketa Irglova....I literally cried, not bawling, just quiet tears of awe....it was breath taking.

People were obnoxiously loud for the first two acts but once Glen and Marketa starting singing you could literally hear a pin drop, in a crowd of ???-thousand people, that's really saying something. They even taught the audience special ooo's and ah's to sing at certain points of songs for them to sing over the top of....it was a gorgeous glimpse of heaven, to hear that many people singing together....I am out of words.

On the bus, heading home....we were tired....

but deliriously happy.

It was a wonderful night, it will be one of my fondest memories of my life. The venue is amazing, if you ever have the chance to see a show there, GO! They let you bring in however much you can carry, food, wine, blankets, etc. And there is no smoking IN the amphitheater (though that didn't stop the guy in front of us from lighting up a joint at one point, oddly enough it was right after I was talking to Panda about how the smell of pot makes me throw up, I guess it reminded him, "oh yeah...I forgot I had that on me....LAME!") I had to run away for a while.

Well, there you have it, a wonderful evening with wonderful friends captured on a wonderful camera that is way out of my league of expertise.

I hope you are blessed and joyful!

Lovies and LA LA LAAA,

-K

PS. even though we were tired when we got back from the show we decided to go see Inception at 11:50pm. I am paying for it today! I have to say, technically that movie was pretty impressive...but other than that I am fairly indifferent to it. I was expecting to be "blown away" (that's what everyone has been saying) and I was super disappointed to find that it didn't. :-( Hopefully those of you that have seen it were able to enjoy it more than I.

Broken Computer, camera, etc.

2010-07-12T01:39:00.000-07:00

EGAD! What a crazy couple of months it's been. Amongst other things our computer bit the dust and we lost ALL our pictures. The Kidlets whole digital record of living is gone!!!! I'm trying not to think about it.

We went to Seattle and visited our darling friends from Garage Voice and took tons of pics and got home and the card seems to be corrupted...no pics. ARGH!!!!

I'm telling you....one thing after another.

BBUUUUT, WE BOUGHT A NEW CAMERA! It's a Nikon D80 AND we bought a remote!!! I'm very excited about what this might do for this blog....I'm sorry I have been remiss in posting and totally MIA but my plan is to come back with a vengeance!!

Missed you all! Seriously! I feel so out of the loop!

Lovies and light-heartedness,

-K

Brother Luke and The Comrades

2010-06-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Brother Luke

and a whole lot of Comrades.

Luke and Jonathon from Porch Yellers

That's Allie from The Cat and the Cow

(yours truly peeking from the back of a group of awesome ladies!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I haven't been able to write anything in a while. It just felt weird to say, "hey, my little niece-to-be died, now look at _____"

But that is life I guess, ups and downs, serious, joyful, painful, and on and on.

Thank you a million times over to everyone that sent their love and prayed for my family. I cannot tell you how much it was appreciated. My sister has read all of your comments and it's been comforting to her in many ways to see the support and love from those she knows and even those she doesn't. Such compassion....it's a beautiful thing in the midst of ugliness.

Thank you.

On another note, and one that actually pertains to the pictures. A dear family friend is heading to Portland to work at a mission facility for the summer. We are going to miss him! His band, Brother Luke and The Comrades
is usually made up of Luke, Eric, my dearling Allie and her husband Patrick. Since this was the kick off of Luke going on a mini tour with some replacement peeps for those that couldn't leave town for a week or two, he decided to go all out and had a plethora of friends and family on stage!
It was a blast!
It was such wonderful moment to be singing and looking around and see so many people I love standing around me, singing and playing, laughing and enjoying themselves.

It was a healing moment. So many of the people on that stage love my sister, have encouraged and prayed for her....

Yeah. It was a good evening.

Again, my apologies for being gone so much lately. I've been overwhelmed.....

But life continues.

Sincerely,

Lovies and Living,

-K

PS.

Other bands that played or had members participate with Brother Luke's project...

John and The Eternal Subterfuge
Fierce Creatures

Thanks also to the photographer Mattography I don't know him or if he has a website. But I love love love the pics he captured.

Thank you....

2010-05-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

For all of you that have been so wonderful with your love and support....THANK YOU!

It's hard, it's painful, it's not even my baby and it hurts so much, I can't even imagine what my sister is going through. Nights are worse. She wakes constantly and goes to pat her tummy and then remembers all over again that it's dead....she's started taking sleeping pills just so she only has to wake up once and remember.

Yesterday was the worst day so far I think, she was still processing learning the day before that the baby's heart had stopped and then suddenly she had to deal with getting it taken out. She isn't miscarrying, it's not passing, it's just floating away inside. I saw the ultrasound...it's the most perfect looking baby :-(

Her midwife called a ton of doctors in the area and none of them would take her to do the surgery to have it taken out. They said she was too far along and she needed to go to the experts at taking out bigger babies, Planned Parenthood.

Knowing she'd have to sit in a room waiting to have her baby taken out, surrounded by other pregnant women that more than likely were there because they didn't want theirs when she so desperately wanted hers was killing her.

We were literally on the phones (house, and both cells) for hours, calling everyone we knew that might be able to persuade someone or recommend someone.

We finally gave up and were about to walk out the door to go to her appointment at PP and a doctor in town called back herself and said she would see her, take care of her, and do the procedure herself.

It was a huge answer to prayer. As hard as it was sitting in a waiting room with other pregnant women at the Ob/gyn office, it was still a comfort to her to see the babies still growing, still wanted.

They did another ultrasound and she got to keep a picture. Seriously, the cutest profile.

Her appointment for the procedure is on Tuesday....she's doing really well considering. Having the time to process this a bit more instead of having to go in yesterday has made a huge difference, it was just so much pressure having it be rushed.

We went to Lowe's today and I bought her a tree for her birthday, we postponed her b'day because she was so sick from morning sickness. It was nice to get out of the house and get our minds off things but now we are wiped out.

Bum deal, she still has morning sickness and a sore chest. Her body doesn't know the baby isn't alive anymore. :-(

Prayers are appreciated so much. Seriously.

Thank you.

Life is beautiful...but it hurts so much,

2010-05-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

Just found out the Older Sis has lost her baby. She was 15 weeks along. It had perfect little toes and fingers and hands....they think it was a girl.

Please pray for our family.

I will be back, I just need some time.

Sorry.

Our 5th Anniversary Date.

2010-05-21T00:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah, he's pretty much super cute.

Dark wing Duck?

AAAHHAHAHAH!

Our camera does not like night time.

Oh yes, we know how to party.

Shoes from my Sis for Christmas years ago.
And the Mr.'s shoes being his anniversary present last year, if you remember the post (it was my very first post actually. Although I think I only took pictures of the brown pair I bought him at the same time.)

(I told you. Night time does not agree with my camera)
Dress: Macy's clearance
Sweater: Neighbor's yard sale
Slip: Neighbors yard sale
Pins: Various Thrift and Vintage stores

My sister took The Kidlet to her house to spend the night and The Mr. read a book whilst I got ready. I hadn't given any thought into what I was going to wear because I spent aaaaaaall day running around the house like a mad woman trying to get it set to rights after a month of letting it fall into wrongs. Very, very wrongs. (I took pics! As soon as I get pics of how good it looks now, I will show you the horror!!!) But I did it! (Almost, I didn't get all the floors mopped and there are a few dishes in the sink but compared to what it was before...a dramatically vast improvement!)

So, I suddenly found myself in a clean and eerily quiet house. No 2-year-old making messes behind me as a clean. It was weird. So, I started perusing my closet trying to figure out what to wear and came across a dress that I bought 8 years ago when I worked at Macy's. It was originally a ton of money (almost $200!!!) but is a weird bias cut and has weird pointy sections on the hem that make it an odd fit so it ended up being on clearance, on clearance, on clearance. The detailing on it was so pretty and me being the sucker I am for "it's a $200 dress for $15!!!!!" made me buy it....

....and then NEVER wear it but NEVER get rid of it. It's been stuffed in the back of my closet for 8 years. I take it out occasionally and have thought about cutting it up to make a top out of it or something. (I had the scissors out tonight, as a matter of fact)

I suddenly thought of the slip I bought off the neighbor, figured I'd try it but I had low hopes for this dress actually working....

It's an anniversary miracle!!! I'm so happy with how it turned out and how much more I love it with the added pins and earrings I put on it. There is an awesome pic I saw on someones blog that had a lot of embellishments on the collar like this (I'll find it and do another post on it to show you) and I've been wanting to try something like it ever since.

We went to Whole Foods for dinner. I have a million food allergies so though the ambiance may be lacking the fact that I don't have to harass a waiter about every little ingredient makes up for the lack of candle lighting!

After stuffing ourselves on delicious chicken and lentil salad and cave aged Gruyere we realized we were out of time to make it to Anthropologie and so instead made our way to the theater to see Iron Man 2. Super romantic, right? Hee hee! Nicholas Sparks just doesn't work for me. I'm tired of watching people die at the end of his movies. Ugh.

I was super surprised at how much I liked it. There were a couple unnecessarily cheesy lines in it but for the most part was a "fun romp". We bought a chocolate bar at Whole Foods and snuck it in, in my purse and nibbled it during the movie. When it was done we found a small photo booth with terrible quality pictures, nothing as good as the fair, but it was still fun. Then we frolicked in the kids playground area as you can see.

We finally headed home and now here we are, The Mr. is heading to bed and I have to teach in the morning so I'm heading there too.

Oh, and the evening soundtrack while we were in the car was Amelie. I walked down the aisle to her theme. It will always bring back that feeling...whenever I hear it...pure bliss.

So there you have it, 5 years down and it was an absolute breeze if I do say so myself.

I am so blessed, that man is amazing. I don't want to brag or bore you with details of all the things I love about him. The list is too long anyway.

But yes siree, I am one lucky girl.

Lovies and love stories,

-K

5th Anniversary (taking a break from the kids books)

2010-05-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today is the 5 year anniversary of our wedding.

We are heading out for a date.

The Kidlet is at The Cousin's house...

Whole Foods buffet (I have so many food allergies I hate going out to eat because I end up being every server's nightmare, Anthropologie, a movie...the world is our oyster!!!

We took a couple pics just now as we are heading out the door. I will post more tonight or tomorrow.

Lovies to you all, if you find a love story of your own that is half as lovely as the one I find myself in you will be blessed indeed!

Lovies and Lovies and Lovies,

-K

Reading Rainbow, I will always love you!

2010-05-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Books, books books.

2010-05-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

The Kidlet's Cousin.

So cute you want to bite it!

He put his flipflops on himself....clearly.

In character!

Top: H&M
Jumper:Thrift Store
Socks: Target
Shoes: UO clearance
Bowling pin that I forgot to take a close up of: Thrift Store

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, do you recognize this villainess? She was frightening and scary looking...

....but man she got those kids to pay attention and stop being so naughty.

This was another favorite from Reading Rainbow.

Any ideas?

Comin' atcha we have....

Ms. Viola Swamp from 'Miss Nelson Is Back!' (sorry, when I posted this I mentioned the other book, Miss Nelson is Missing...but it was actually Miss Nelson is Back that I remember)
Blast I should have posted a picture of the book. Google it if you don't remember.
The voices on reading rainbow...oh man.

border="0" />

I had a hard time finding decent pics and this video is not from RR. But it was all I could find. Sorry!

Lovies and Latin,

-K

In an old house in Paris

2010-05-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hat: Thrift store
Dress: UO clearance
Cardigan: Target Kids
Tie/Collar: Thrift store
Socks: Target Kids
Shoes: Thrift Store

This one should be fairly easy, hence giving you the opening line as the title.

Who doesn't love these books. So very adorable.

I love my new cardigan but I would SOOOO love to have her little capelet. Le Sigh.

Lovies and Lolcats,

-K

What Cussing Children's Book Is This!?!?!

2010-05-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

Scarf: Thrift store
Top: Thrift store
Blazer: Old Navy clearance
Pants: UO clearance
Shoes: Thrift Store

The pictures didn't turn out terribly well, my apologies. I don't know how familiar you all are with this books illustrations so I will be super impressed if you guess the book!!!
Most people know it from it's recent resurrection as a movie....one I adore.

Do you know what book it is?

Do you?

Today's hint:

There is "cussing" but no vulgarity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't know about you but the book cover below is FANTASTIC!
(coincidence? I think not)
I would very much like it as a poster for The Kidlets bedroom.

Lovies and Lickity-splits (whatever they may be)

-K

PS. 4 posts in one day??? Pigs just might be flying.