excuse the dust...

I haven't been here in a while. Well, that's not true. I visit occasionally; usually close to 11pm on a school night exhausted and feeling guilty about not writing. Hmm... let's not think about that since now it's summer and I have plenty of time to do, well, whatever.

While I haven't been busy here, Tim and I have found time for lots of home improvement projects. We've been hard at work on the yard planting veggies, tending citrus, weeding flower beds. We pretty much have things down to a relatively quick daily maintenance. Two sets of hands have made things so much easier. While there are many things we want to do outside, a new grill popped to the top of the list after Tim accidentally shattered the window in our ancient grill while putting out the Great Grill Fire of 2009.


The grill sat lonely and unused for over a month while we went searching for a new one. After 6-7 trips to various stores and countless hours comparing grills online, we finally bought one this past weekend. It took the entire Rays v. Mets game to put together (rain delay included.) It's really quite pretty.


We had my parents over for Father's Day and grilled pork roast, asparagus, and fresh garden tomatoes. The grill performed flawlessly, and Tim is now back to planning dinners outside -- thank goodness. With this horrible heat wave, it seems hot enough to cook outside without the benefit of a grill!


Anyhow, I have lots more projects to share and several ideas in the works for summer sewing. But first up is a refresh of the blog -- if I can figure out how to put up a new banner. Here's to free time!

happy birthday, little one!

Madeleine turns 10 today! That's right, my beagle is 70 in dog years. Here's a picture of her napping with me the day we brought her home at eight weeks old.

favorite holiday decorations

My favorite new decoration this year:


It's been so much easier to hang these cards instead of setting them up on the dining room hutch, where they would inevitably fall or get lost behind a larger card. I put four picture nails in the dining room door frame and wound wire leaf garland around it. Then I used small clothespins to hang the cards, paper clipping any letters or pictures to the inside for safe keeping. This makes me smile every time I walk into the house.


The awesome turquoise tinsel tree was a Christmas gift last year from my Mom. I placed it in my kitchen last year, but since I finally finished the Florida room this summer, I thought it looked more appropriate in there. Mercury-glass balls and silver bells are interspersed amongst the branches.


This wreath was one of several handmade by my aunt in the 1970s. My mother always put ours on the dining room table during the holidays. When my grandmother downsized into an assisted living facility, I jumped at the chance to bring hers into my home. Comprised of at least 50 small boxes individually wrapped, decorated, and then pinned (!) to a foam wreath core, this had to take forever to put together. Check out that wild wrapping paper!












When I got my grandmother's wreath, it was quite loose and barely holding together in some spots. Forty-five minutes and some hot glue later, it's solid as a rock (well, almost anyway.) It's my favorite holiday decoration because of its history and overall awesome-ness.

holiday craft overload

My Mom commissioned me to create gifts for her coworkers this year. She's worked in the same office for 24 years now, so it was like making gifts for old friends since I grew up around many of her work-mates. I made two different things: 8 sets of four holiday coaster and 12 sets of four alligator pushpins (did I mention she works at the University of Florida?)



















I've made both things before, but not in large quantities -- not to mention I've never completed everything in one day! My biggest struggle was trying to figure out how to mount the pushpins for poke-free giving. I wandered around Jo-Ann's with a semi-idea (my preferred method of decision making.) I turned down the floral aisle and there it was -- a giant sheet of one-quarter-inch styrofoam! It was a lot easier to cut than I ever imagined it would be. I just used a straight edge and a sharp craft knife and made sure to score the styrofoam to help prevent ripping before cutting all the way through it. I designed and printed out sticker gift tags to cover the styrofoam completely. I created a smaller card stock version of the gift tags for the coaster sets.

I was so happy with the results that I quickly whipped up extra sets for Tim's family. His brother is a rabid Columbus Blue Jackets fan, so I colored some bee stamps dark blue instead of yellow. I'm not really sure they look like blue jackets, but I'll let you be the judge...


I finally delivered the coaster and pushpin sets to Mom's house at 1am Thursday morning -- yawn! But I feel great having all my holiday responsibilities taken care of. Actually, I'm waiting on one more. Mom wants me to make her a purse like the one she's worn to death, but she keeps forgetting to give me her old one to use as a template. So that will likely end up being an early 2008 gift.

christmas past

I've mentioned my Rockefeller Center Tree Christmas cards a couple of times on this blog, so I thought it was time to share them. I don't know when my obsession with the tree began -- not really too far from when I started making these cards in December 2000. I have a decent-sized collection of Rockefeller Center Tree images in various mediums (record album cover, photograph, watercolor, postcard, book, even an image on a record) that are displayed in my living room throughout the year. Christmas trees evoke such a warmth and happiness that you can't help but smile when you see one. And isn't that what this holiday is all about?

2000

Inside: Wishing You A Happy Holiday Season

The first attempt at card making was quick and simple, just using Photoshop to make this already cool 1937 image very graphic. It remains one of my favorite cards.







2001

Inside: Happy Holidays -- Best Wishes for a Happy New Year

For this card I got a bit more creative. I printed out black and white images of the 1964 tree and attached each one to the card using photo corners. That was labor intensive but it has a classic look that would be fine even today.






2002

Inside: Happy Holidays! Wishing You and Yours a Wonderful New Year

This one is unique. The three images, all from the 1990 tree, are simple and elegant. Photoshop was able to help me pull out the red and gold hues which really make these pictures pop.











2003

Inside: Happy Holidays! Wishing you and your a wonderful holiday season and a New Year filled with joy.

This card, although one of my favorites, took a long, long time to make. I printed another 1990 image onto vellum paper. Then I sewed the image onto card stock. The preciseness of each sewing pattern made this tricky for me. It must have worked pretty well though, since now almost all of my handmade cards have an element of sewing involved.








2004

Inside: "Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." -- Barich Spinoza

This card went out the year the Iraq War started. Peace was a big message for me during that holiday season, so the card was a simple image of a recent tree (year unknown) during the brightness of day. This is also the year I started using quotations and sayings in my cards. This quote remains one of my favorites, and the one most friends and family have commented on.








2005

Inside: This Season ... Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Write a love letter. Encourage youth. Keep a promise. Find the time. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Think first of someone else. Be kind and gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the Earth. Wishing you and yours a magical holiday season. Happy New Year!

I love, love, love this image. So sweet, it's from a children's book about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. I cut the cover and inside separately, then sewed them together at the top. It was quick, unusual, and memorable. This is the card I've gotten the most comments about.







2006

Inside: A good conscience is a continual Christmas -- Benjamin Franklin. May 2007 bring you & yours a year of excitement, joy, & continual Christmas.

This card is my favorite, hands down. My friend Lisa brought me some awesome tree pictures from her visit to NYC in 2005. I wanted to use pieces of them in a graphic manner. I had cut up the photo into pieces already and had been playing around with them for quite a while when the idea popped into my head to use a triangle as an anchor. This card was also cut into two separate pages and attached with a small diamond brad in the top left-hand corner.







Well, those are the cards from the last seven years. I'll put this year's card up once I mail them -- nope, not one has been sent yet! I usually have these finished Thanksgiving weekend, so I am behind!!

holiday traditions

Even after the long out-of-the-way drive to get here and the recuperation time from my Freaky Friday (see previous post), I still managed to get some work done while here in Clearwater for the weekend. That's right, it's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree card time!


I spent most of Sunday folding, addressing, and note writing my annual holiday cards. This is one of my favorite yearly traditions. It's a perfect time to reflect on the year I've had and share it with family and friends. Unfortunately, I've never been good with birthday greetings, phone calls, or the like (I know, that's terrible of me and I resolve to get better every year. I am getting much better with emails though, so I guess there may be hope?) This is what keeps me connected. Even more important than the cards I send are those I receive. My favorite part of December is going to the mailbox and pulling out holiday cards and letters (I LOVE the letters!) that detail the highlights of the previous year. Babies, weddings, trips taken, photos of grandchildren -- I eat all that stuff up. And if the sender is nice enough to add a website (a Flickr page or a blog about the new baby perhaps) I not only visit the site, but usually bookmark it to return to several times a year to stay in touch -- if only virtually. What would we do without the internet?

Once I get home I'll post my previous cards and the method used for making each one. I won't show this year's cards yet and ruin the surprise, but I'll put it up eventually. It was hard to top last year's card, which is my all-time favorite, but this one is definitely unique.

beagle on the beach

My family spent Thanksgiving at the beach this year. I actually got to bring Madeleine on a trip for a change instead of leaving her in a beagle hotel. She had a little trouble adjusting to the other dogs sharing the house (both my uncles brought their dogs), but she absolutely loved the beach. Here is a video of her first experience with the water. I loved the way my aunt was trying to get her to go in!





The beach house had a gorgeous view, and that's about the nicest thing I can say about it. The house was undergoing renovations by someone who didn't really have the skills to renovate (i.e. matte & gloss paint on the walls, uneven & unfinished flooring, uneven marble counters in the kitchen, etc.) And that kitchen! Wow, was it tiny -- and really hard to keep three dogs out of while cooking Thanksgiving dinner. But when it came time to sit down and eat I was thrilled and thankful to have a large part of my family together, regardless of where we were.

After Thanksgiving, we went through the giant 20-gallon tub of photos we collected after my grandmother's funeral. Talk about a walk down memory lane! It was fun to see silly pictures of my Dad as a child, pictures of my cousin and me was she was just a little girl (gosh, we look alike!), even a picture of me coming home from the hospital that I'd never seen before. I've been thrown into the role of family archivist now, so I plan to scan a bunch of these pictures into the computer before I attempt any restoration. I promise to share some of my favorites.

puppy love

Madeleine doesn't care to pose for photographs. But does that stop me?

a complete old set

Old furniture has always spoken to me. My house is full of family pieces -- my maternal grandmother's dining room set where I grew up eating holiday dinners, her old stereo cabinet that I turned into a bar, a bright turquoise chair I remember from my paternal grandparents' guest room. Even my craft room table has a personal history -- it was my changing table when I was a baby. I love the way each piece in my home connects me to my roots or brings back special memories. So I felt blessed recently to receive one of my favorite pieces from childhood, an outdoor metal dining set from my maternal grandmother's screened porch in Jacksonville. She had a giant magnolia tree that shaded the porch, and I remember sitting at this table to eat lunch in the summers when I'd visit.

My father brought back the glass-topped rectangular table and three chairs when he went to visit, leaving one behind for unknown reasons. So I diligently went to work sanding, washing, and spray painting. I even recovered the seats. After a weekend labor of love, my new almost set was placed in its spot in the sunny Florida room. Right away I invited my friend Lauren over for dinner at the new table, and I took to eating breakfast there since the eastern morning light makes the Tiffany blue room even brighter. It was quickly becoming an integral part of my house -- Tim and I even played a game there on our very first date. But it just wasn't complete. And it bugged me. I kept meaning to go retrieve the missing chair when one day I opened my back door and there it was (thanks Mom!) Unfortunately, I was too busy to refinish the orphan chair for several weeks. But this weekend I vowed to get it done -- and here are the results. My new old set is now complete.

holiday harbinger

Look what came in the mail today! The November (read Thanksgiving) issue of Bon Appetit. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It isn't overtly religious or full of the commercialism so many other holidays have succumbed to. It is just about family and food -- two of my favorite things. Usually my parents host Thanksgiving and I cook 80% of the dishes. I love to spend hours planning the menu with a good balance of the traditional and new. I even have a Thanksgiving planner that contains previous years' menus (with recipes) along with recipe contenders for the current year's list. I put a lot of time into this, obviously. My paternal grandfather was a chef who passed his kitchen adventurousness onto his sons, which encourages unique dishes on the table whenever we gather.

This year the family rented a beach house in St. Augustine to celebrate both Thanksgiving and my grandfather's 90th birthday. My grandmother just passed in August, and this will be the first time my family has gathered since her funeral. I know it will be a bittersweet affair, since my grandmother was a woman who cherished family, food, and faith above all else. Holidays were very important to her, so I'm looking forward to planning this year's feast while helping to continue our family's traditions. I'll share some favorite recipes from Thanksgivings past when we get into the month of November, since I'm sure I'm the only person out there already planning.

festival season

Phew! It's been a busy week. I'll try to make up for not posting with some extras today and tomorrow. I've been enjoying the festival fun that comes with fall in North Florida. I love the way this community comes alive again once the consistent 90-degree days give way to 70s and 80s. Last weekend was the Thornbrooke Arts Festival. I went with my Mom on Sunday -- the first mostly dry day after four days straight of rain. There was a lot of jewelry at the show and an abundance of glass pumpkins. Mom found one we both fell in love with, but it was already sold. We were disappointed with the day after that until I found this cute print that Mom graciously bought for me:


I'm a Gainesville Area NOW board member, so it was particularly cute to me. I think I'll put it in a simple frame and hang it in my office.

Today I went to the Friends of the Library fall book sale (there's also a smaller one in the spring.) For the uninitiated, the FOL has about 300,000 books, records, CDs, DVDs, games, and more crammed in a meticulously organized fashion into a (now) small warehouse. The sale runs for five days, but if you want a chance at the best of the best you ought to be there Saturday morning. It's so celebrated that folks even camp out the night before, making sure to be one of the first through the door. It's a FOL ritual of mine to pass by the parking lot the evening before just to check out the campers (there were at least two out there yesterday at 4:30.) How do these campers know what they want? Well, that's the fun of the sale. Typically you never really know what you'll find at the sale since there is no preview day, which is different from most library sales. By the time the doors open at 9:00, the line has snaked through the parking lot several times and down the street. Being full of mostly book lovers though, the entrance into the sale is usually orderly and quick. I picked up a few old Marthas (magazines are only a quarter), a quilting magazine, and the Home Restaurant cookbook. Home, located in NYC's Greenwich Village, was the only place I ate more than once the entire summer I spent at NYU. The cookbook brings back lots of good memories.

Unfortunately, I missed the 12th annual fall plant sale at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, the Natural History Museum's ButterflyFest 2007, and several fall festivals in surrounding communities. Next weekend is the 1890s festival in McIntosh and Morningside's native plant sale. I'm hoping to get to both before the 3:30 UF/Kentucky kickoff.