hands

i'm starting a series of my hands, because really, what haven't i gotten on them? today's little fabulousness? imitation silver leaf. apparently the act of crumbling it gets it stuck to things, things like fingers. i also have a pretty rad pic of when i was squeezing a tube of glitter paint at work and literally crushed it and it exploded in my hand and everywhere else nearby and another of the first muddy day after the kids went outside at school. i have no idea how i make such a mess of myself constantly, but today after the silver leaf incident since i'm so used to "dirty" hands i kind of just function with them if it's not something unhygienic involved, i pet uzo... and i had a fucking sparkle dog. it was so ridiculous i lost it completely. i would have take a pic of that too if i wasn't so busy laughing and petting the sparkle off him.

it was awesome. dirty hands are awesome.

2012 dirty dozen: meet db's future socks

i love how everything in knitting is considerably easier to execute than it initially looks.

so, i decided one of the dirty doz should be a pair of socks because i've never knit a pair and at this point that just seemed ridiculous. i went on a yarn buying adventure with my mom and nabbed the most insane but still man colored sock yarn i could find (which ended up being malabrigo sock in caribeno) to knit some up for db. he's so hard to make things for! all he wants are hats and now he has too many. so of course he was like "when do you even wear hand knit socks?" "whenever you want, now pick out a pattern, damnit!" and he chose harvest dew. of course. i've never knit socks before and he picks a pair with a horrifying chart and four pages of directions. well besides starting them on two circular needles which it turns out i completely hate, there's been nothing to fear so far. i finally switched over to my fancy new blue sky alpacas needles which rock so all is well.

we'll see how it goes when i get to the heel...

blackberry

yesterday i was watching a documentary about the local food movement, there were constant bird songs in the background and all the produce looked so good. it made me remember this pic i took a few years ago in my parents' backyard when i realized just how amazing a blackberry is. they are my favorite fruit hands down. i think this year i'll make some blackberry preserves, pretty much the only food incapable of tasting bad seems like a safe place to start haha.

the least lived in place to live ever.

so this place is fairly rad looking right? i love exposed ceilings and hammocks. i just have a problem with the fact that a lot of these beautiful homes are not decorated at all. this place could look so cool and instead it just looks like it was vacant and they put a hammock in and a table and chairs to fake it for the picture. i'm not saying i like clutter (although the dioramas that make up 50% of the shelves of our bookcases would suggest otherwise), but it's hard to have a spot be homey if there's no evidence of people actually living there.

february is not summer

oh february, not a good month for building gorgeous tents outside. it's really, really nice out today at least, i'm going to open the windows in this place and have an adventure with uzo. hopefully my uncontrollable daydreams of summer will be pushed off again for a bit at least.

i'm excited about this summer for a million reasons though. besides the usual it's-hands-down-the-most-awesome-season thing, not needing to wear a million layers, eating oysters by the ocean and drinking cocktails from mason jars in parks (or my parents' backyard which is even better than a park), it's also going to be the first time i really can work full time in my studio, we're moving to a place that will have a little yard and we're going on another rad adventure to celebrate our wedding being a whole year behind us, which is different than it being for our anniversary if you're wondering.

it's gonna be a good one, i just have to make it there alive.

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lava

i wonder what this sounds like.

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our valentine's day

our amazing valentine's day! my fave meal, total surprise flowers and just general raddness. i LOVE valentine's day, i wish we could decorate with hearts and make crafty corny cards for people we like more than once a year.

2012 dirty dozen: pink wool maxi skirt

this is how i spent my friday night. my dog, a few beers and an incredibly depressing documentary about plastics (which i already strongly dislike) were also involved.

seriously edward norton, i was willing to forgive almost everything about that doc until the closing line of "so let's make sure 'the big one that got away' isn't the entire planet."

really.

sunbath in the studio

i'm not the only one that loves when the sun starts making it's way back into our apartment as spring gets closer. this dog probably has more in common with me than any of my children would, he's definitely cuter than any kid i've ever seen, too.

don't mind if i do

mixing a raw wood cabin interior with crazy colors and pattern clash is just about as good as it gets. throw a tent, porch and garden in there? perfect scenario.

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cuppow!

yes. every single hipster and hipster-like person in the entire universe has ordered one of these. i don't care. i ordered it ten seconds after discovering it and it's finally here! why such the hipster hate anyways? perhaps the overly serious vimeo vid they posted? but really,if you want to stop being wasteful because you use disposable coffee cups and also use something you likely already have to serve another useful purpose what's not good about that? i'd prefer not to have my bev soaking up chemicals in a plastic water bottle all day, and the stupid paper cup has always been a fairly large deterrent for me nabbing a desperation coffee on my way to go teach 24 preschoolers at 8 am mon-fri (crack might also help). since i've had a heinous cold since getting it in the mail i've had about a gallon of tea from this thing, i love it. can i even say it cures the sick?

"what is cuppow?" you may be asking. short answer is: awesome. slightly longer one is: it's a bpa free plastic lid that fits wide mouth Ball jars to turn it into a travel mug. this is awesome. the only drawback is it being hot, and i knit this pretty unrefined little sleeve for it in less than an hour. i have bigger plans for future sleeves but this will get the job done for now.

pros:
- drinking from glass = no chemicals!
- no more wastey paper cups for desperation coffees/no desperation coffees because of wastey paper cup guilt (it happens)
- you probably have ball jars chillin' anyways, and if not they're $10 for 12 and are super useful for storing dry goods in your pantry
- pint size for hot stuff, quart sized for monster iced coffee come summer time! or... cocktails to go. don't judge.
- it's so not expensive $7.99. with all those little "you didn't waste a cup" discounts at coffee shops it'll be less than free eventually
- DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED IN THE USA BY TWO DUDES THAT ALSO LIKE BIKES (they must be cool) they also have real humans letterpress their packaging which is rad.

cons:
- non-clever people could burn themselves

wanna investigate for yourself? doo it!

my view

this is novel in the winter when i don't have to smell these fumes, but really, how is this not totally violating a million environmental laws? oh wait, it is. those are chemical fumes! that brick wall on the right are windows to residences! gross. whoever is calling the shots obviously has never smelled what that smells like. they also don't value the people that work for them because i bet it smells even worse down in there.

people can be such self centered jerks.

fruits

i do love a good illustration of plants and fruit... and anything really. looking at all of those wildlife identifying books from the 70s always just leaves me in awe at the attention to detail. i really need to start compiling my own collection since i can't just look at all of my dad's whenever i want anymore. i especially want the birds of north america and the wildflowers of north america ones.

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new glasses!

very few things can make this girl as happy as finding the perfect glasses, because it's very rare and only happens once every 5ish years. so here they are, my new beyond fabulous glasses! they're by Lee Allen Eyewear and were made by hand for me of vintage materials by Lee. i got to pick the colors and everything, a lovely ice blue fade to clear and iridescent temples. these are the only pair just like this that exist which is pretty rad, but i hope someone else gets some because they're too awesome not to be on more people. providence optical all the way.

i would have posted them looking amazing on my actual head, but i have to admit i was overly excited when i got them home and only took absolutely ridiculous pictures. kissy face pictures... yes, it happens to everyone i guess.

so not spring right now

i can't imagine ever having a bad dream in this place. it looks amazing.

i've really been missing greenery in my life, but our plant mission to ikea has helped. still though, is it spring yet? i just want to hear the birds and smell dirt and look at plants.