home sweet home

when i see nature trying to swallow up where we live i can't help but smile and wish it luck.

denim and dye

yes, it's true, lately i've been falling deeper and deeper in love with both denim shirts and tie dye. i realize that combo sounds like an acid driven 60s hallucination, but how can you not love them? dillon even admitted this top pic looks awesome and he is a known hater of denim shirts! i just got one at jcrew (on wicked sale, oh yeah) and i've been wearing it every possible second, which unfortunately hasn't been enough because of this mysterious summer-like fall weather. really though, i totally know that denim on denim is generally frown upon, but WHY? if you think about it our culture treats blue jeans as a neutral... but they're blue! there's no getting around it, denim is a weird enigma and if it's immune to one rule (that blue is so not a neutral) then it should be immune to all and so called "canadian tuxedos" should be totally okay.

then there's the tie dye. seriously, there are few things more awesome looking than a rad tie dye/shibori and i've stumbled upon a few good ones lately. Upstate made this rad top for of a Kind, and Baggu has a collaboration with Shabd Alexander who also does beautiful tie dying.

sign me up for some flash and sass people, blowing all my loot on denim and silk!

top pic via the Sartorialist
shirt Levi's
bottom pic via Ringo, have a banana!

lovely life

take me here! i love love love our apartment but my day dreams always float away to the woodsy home on a mountainside where you hear more birds than cars, you don't dare waste hot water and there are always wildflowers somewhere to decorate the table. i love wildflowers, they're so carefree. if you came home to see the table set like this wouldn't you just feel amazing? it makes me feel great just knowing there are places like this out there.

pic via

why?

because it's awesome.

happy fall!

pic via

outside is awesome

if this is what it's like out west sign me up. i just imagine that this is what every home is like in california which would be amazing. i realize it's totally fall right now but it's never too early to start day dreaming about the possibilities for this coming spring and summer right? i want to find a sweet apartment that has a little outdoor space so i can plant a garden, even if it's in pots on a third floor deck because to me at least that still kind of counts. i'll get two nice little outdoor chairs, a small table for beers. oh, and totally a candle, fuck light bulbs. i want to see the stars and trees, not my actual immediate surroundings (which could never be as rad as stars and trees anyways). if the top pic were my yard i wouldn't have decked over the whole thing, but i have to admit it's really, really cute anyways and i'd still spend 90% of my free time out there.

if it we possible to just buy the parts of a house that i think are important; rad porch in the back, yard just big enough for a garden, a fruit tree, two adirondack chairs and a spot for a bird house, a second floor bedroom and a pantry so i no longer have to look at all of my food all the time... i think i'd be able to swing it a whole lot sooner. damn hot water heaters, taxes, plumbing and other stupid expensive stuff jacking up the prices of porches and yards with houses attached!

second pic via

i love quilts

my family is full of incredibly talented crafty people. my aunt rose made us this quilt as our wedding gift and it's amazing. we just got it in the mail this week and when we opened it up we were just staring at the tiny details forever, it's not machine done! she hand quilted it so perfectly it's crazy!

instant love!

time for tights

such a cool picture, no idea where it's from but i bet i can guess when it's from.

ready for fall

i have the most adorable dog! just finished his new wurstwärmer and it fits perfectly, it's 90% wool so it'll be nice and warm and 10% nylon so it'll hold up better because really, when he's wearing it he's not going to care how long it took me to make. right now i want to go to colt state park for an early fall feeling romp and visit to the farm with my warm dog and his puppy dad.

knitting is weird, why is it so fun?! it takes a long time and no one else gets how amazing it is when they find out i've made something they ask about. whatever, now that this sweater is off the needles and ready to rock i can start knitting up my new colors and products for my shop! knit goods are amazing, i want to high five whoever came up with the first knit textile.

the lemon is allergic to bees!

come on now, wouldn't you have done something similar if you were handed an expired epipen?

fun with (washable PHEW!) paint!

at work, two of the tables that the kids used were painted by the class of 2003 which was so long ago! they were black and brown (i'll never understand why mixing brown is an awesome thing to a preschooler) and very very in your face. as a getting to know each other and community project i decided to have the kids paint them both so they would look nicer AND they'd have something to be proud of and see every day. i chose the colors so there would be no brown or black and they could smear and mix away without the end result being too overwhelming. they all decided that since it was blue and green and had bubbles they made out of masking tape skeleton prints that it was a waterfall! when each was done they let me know and i painted their hand to make one handprint. they loooved it! they all got wicked excited when their parents came and showed it to them it was so cute. the next day they painted the other one yellow and green so they go but are totally different and both pretty soothing. i've got to say, they were all very excited to be allowed to paint on furniture. it's funny, most people i know are like "i have to paint something? damnit!"

today we played with clay and they made zombies, a family of snowmen and there was even a fairly realistic sea turtle and asteroid. pretty impressive.

no ripples

today wasn't particularly stressful at work and this weekend on Block Island was AWESOME but man... i could totally go for a good chillin' on the side of a pool right now. this pic is so pretty and peaceful, all i can think about are summer dresses, a sunhat, shades and a book i only half pay attention to because i'm too busy listening to the world. it's weird what people can get used to, i've lived in "the big city" (haha) for almost 2 years and at first i couldn't stand how it never turned off, how there was always something crazy going on i could hear and no grass anywhere. now i just notice those things sometimes and it makes me want to get out even more! i'm afraid if we stay here any longer i'll get completely used to it and not even notice not hearing birds and quiet, not having grass and not needing to be worried about freaks when i walk outside and we'll lose the drive to get out and make the situation better.

call me old fashioned, but i'd like a slow way of life. the hustle and bustle is cool but if there's no way to turn it off it makes everyone a little crazed and they don't even know it. i'll choose a beer on a porch over tv any day.

first week of school

so, i just started a new job! i'm now a full time art teacher in a reggio emilia inspired preschool! isn't that rad? last week i set up the studio, painted the wall a nice fresh, mint green and mentally prepared for the madness of this week meeting the kids. it's going to be quite a trip going from being a covered in grease, grime and sweat bike shop girl talking about politics, conspiracy theories and bikes and drinking beers with the guys to being covered in paint and snot talking about not stealing your friend's snack and needing to be like "don't rub that paint on your sweater!"

these are the letters the kids decorated to put over their hooks, i'm painting the insides of the letters their fave colors tomorrow and they're weirdly excited about it. the other pic is a tiny portion of the aftermath of painting their tote bags... i've decided they only have motor skills when picking their noses.

so far so good, but the horror of working with acrylics (which don't wash out of clothes), 3-4 year olds and first week of school attire has got me pretty freaked out. only two casualties so far, and one was me (why did i wear brand new pants!?) haha. looks like it's going to be an interesting year!

tangerine pants

these pants are amazing. why can't i ever find anything fun when i'm shopping?! it's like the vast majority of people wear tame boring things and that's all you can find. maybe if people actually had fun things in their stores people would wear them and this whole boring dressing thing will end, people are so afraid of color. they're just pants! it's not like if you wear bright pants you're going to be struck by lightning, if anything you'll be less likely to be struck by a truck because you're not wearing black or brown or dark blue and people can SEE you.

i really need to budget sewing time into my life.

puppy sweater!

it's getting to that time of year where i can (barely) get away with dressing uzo, so of course i'm knitting him a new sweater! this time i'm knitting him one specially designed for little dachshunds like him because dachshunds have huge chests and are weird shaped in general. so far it's coming out really good, i'm loving the pattern which is "wurstwärmer" by pamela wynn.

this dog is ridiculously spoiled and he has no idea, it's adorable.