Weekend Round Up

Sophy had a fantastic time with Aunt Anita and Granny. She was more than happy to share how she'd like everyone to behave for pictures. Lots of snuggles and adventures on Friday while Mommy and Daddy were at work. Lots of shopping and tasty food and just hanging out.

The willing babysitters meant we ventured out for a movie, Elysium, which Rolland loved and I found meh. We did see it at the new DFW Alamo Drafthouse and I really wanted to love the theater but it was also just meh. It was 108 out and felt like it was 98 in the theater. The food was pretty tasty though. I had a baked pretzel with hatch chile queso... yum. It was disappointing when eaten next to someone smelly. Ick.

Monday we caught up on Top Chef Masters. I've been hoarding episodes. I'm really enjoying Francis Lam as a guest. He was a favorite on Cooking Channels "Unique Eats" and "Food(ography)".  I'm also ready for Sang to get off my TV. I usually love TCM more than Top Chef just because everyone's established and plays nice. There's always somebody who's kind of an ass (Michael Chiarello) but this is usually rare. I love the camaraderie and the season with Jonathan Waxman will always be a favorite. This year feels a little more bitchy.

Finally, we're caught up on visits for a while so it's time to start the crazy "to do list". Pray for me.

Random Weekend Goodness

Sophy's new favorite item.

She demanded her new hat when we were strolling through Target on Friday night. Girls night! Daddy took us to dinner then went home to mow while we hit Target visiting all the girly sections. Mostly those that interest a toddler. I'm not sure he didn't have more fun sans his ladies. We can be a handful. I know. It's a shock.

Going for a ride in the convertible. Might play some ball while she's at it.

Cutest baby ever. Please ignore the lack of back fence.We've complained to everyone we can think of and still no fence. At least they mowed earlier this week. I'm pretty sure small children and dogs had been lost in those weeds. Ugh.

Uhm, I was wrong. This might be the cutest baby.

Wait, maybe this one. Also, my herbs have gone crazy with the rain. Nope, above is my favorite. Look at those cheeks. And eyes. And smile. SO CUTE I could die.  To paraphrase Despicable Me. I can't wait until she's ready for cartoons. She's toe dipping with Peppa Pig.

 

Miss Robin took pity on us and watched Sophy on Saturday night while we ran wild. And by wild we pre-ordered movie tickets for Red 2 and went to dinner. It was Heaven! I'm actively working on figuring out how to be Helen Mirren when I grow up. Or at least get her clothes and accent. She's amazing. Love! Rolland found it good but liked the first one better. I loved it equally as well and can't wait to do a Red marathon.

We also crossed off one of the many restaurants on my list around Dallas. The British Beverage Company. It seemed like a good casual option for Rolland's birthday dinner as he requested nothing fancy. The food was super tasty, except the mac and cheese, not so yummy. Sophy rejected it as well and that baby loves any kind of pasta covered in cheese. The fish and chips, outstanding. As was the french onion soup. Soooo good. Rolland loved his Cottage Pie and Brussels sprouts cooked in Angry Orchard Cider. Yum. We got there about 7:30 and thought it might be getting crowded but pretty empty. Crowds have much later bedtime than we do. Would highly recommend a visit.

 

Fish and Chips

French Onion Soup

Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert, and babysitting pay off. I wanted to visit the cupcake ATM but the line was nuts. Turns out, the line inside was worse but once you've squeezed in you're committed. Tasty but totally not worth it. I just don't want to turn on my oven. Starting my chant for Fall, Fall, Fall...

Back in the routine

Or at least working on it. We went on a quick trip to Seattle for an early birthday. The weather and the food were fantastic and the Chiluly experience was incredible. It may have been my favorite place on the trip. It deserves its own post for sure.

The downside was missing my little chickadee. Her grump face sums it up. She had an awesome time with Granny and Aunt Anita while Mommy missed her like crazy. I like to think she's been especially snugly.

Dedicated Seattle post soon but I do have to publicly confess to finally watching the final Twilight movie for the plane ride. Solid "not bad" with a side of "coulda been worse". Kind of perfect in flight entertainment.

Pink Isn't Always a Good Thing

My husband and I watched this documentary the other night and found it fantastic. It was really eye opening. It's easy to feel like we're doing our part when we buy all things pretty and pink. We don't have to do anything but buy stuff we normally would but just pink up the pink versions - and everyone knows how much I love myself some pink! - BUT, we don't always do the leg work to figure out if that purchase is really going where we think it is or for the amount we think it is. Does it do as much good as simply writing a check to a research organization? The example of Yoplait yogurt and sending in the pink lids which if eaten 3 times a day for the month of October actually only generates about $34.00 towards research vs how much they make from your purchasing that much yogurt. OY! Now, if you are going to purchase that yogurt in that amount anyway then why not but going out of your way to "support" the cause would be better served with a researched donation.

It was also incredible to realize how little we're really doing for prevention. It's crazy how much money has been raised and we know almost nothing more than ten years ago on the causes of breast cancer. It's insane.  

Also listening to this episode of Tell Me More on NPR about 3 women in various stages of breast cancer. Heartbreaking. As a new Mama I can't imagine having to tell Sophy I was sick, or even worse, dying when she's little and she wouldn't remember me. It's horrifying and ridiculous that we can't figure this out. 

Now, I'm just as upset about a lot of other things but this is the "month of awareness" so I'm sharing what's made me more aware. I know folks are tired of politics, tired of soap boxes, tired, tired, tired. Well, suck it. This is my blog and I'm tired too. A 7 and 3/4's baby going through sleep regression is exhausting. Again, suck it up. This might not be your issue but I bet you have one and we should all do more to support those: volunteer, write a check, even donate old clothes, coats, etc to organizations you do support. 

... and now I'm done.

Fall, Fall, Fall

image here

I'm officially calling it fall here in the Lone Star state even if it is still near 100 degrees. I'm steadfastly ignoring the thermometer and starting to plan for cooler temps. Whether they actually arrive is entirely beside the point.

We started today with what I consider to be a fall movie favorite which is You've Got Mail. It does kind of span the seasons but it starts with the famous "bouquets of sharpened pencils" which officially puts it in the fall camp for me. Next up would be the first Harry Potter and Practical Magic but I tend to wait until closer to October and Halloween decorating.

I'm dreaming of the mercury glass pumpkins at Pottery Barn but at $40 a string it's tough. Still on the debating list. They really would look fantastic on the mantle with the silver mercury glass and gold picture frames. Hmmm, maybe if I save my lunch money.

What are you dreaming of for fall?

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve has been very festive and quiet at our house. We went on the hunt for good sales at Anthropologie - sketchy this year - then braved the mall that was shockingly empty to check out The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was fantastic and I got a little snow fix with all the Swedish winter scenes. Also, I want to totally re-do the house in lots of white and grey with a little pale blue just to mix it up. I'm hoping this passes before I take any action that will get me in serious trouble with the husband. While out and about we did a little scenic tour of the fancy neighborhoods and had tasty lunch goodness before heading home with treats from the new Dunkin Donuts in McKinney and settling in with a fire and the puppies.

Now, we're watching the 24 hours of A Christmas Story which we've never ever seen before except every year for 24 hours!

A little festiveness on the square shown here.



Reindeer display that I'm stealing next year from Anthropologie



Me out and about today going a little steampunk. I'm working on desensitizing myself from pictures since it's going to be all pictures all the time with baby. Also, I feel a little bad we didn't take more in utero shots sooner but Mommy was ralphing a lot and looked like death. Frankly, I've just found my make up drawer again in the last two weeks!



I hope everyone is having a fantastic Christmas Eve!

Baking and Stuff

I've been doing a lot of this lately.



I find it incredibly relaxing to bake and have the house smell yummy. There's a reason I love Julie & Julia so much - Nora Ephron really got it right that it's such a comfort to know mixing eggs and chocolate will thicken. It really is a law of the universe. It's reassuring to know if you follow instructions, have a little patience and a really good mixing bowl that lovely baked goods will emerge. This is not always true for the rest of the outside world. I prefer to stay all hermit like in the house.

Except for last weekend. I went to the Bishop Arts District with a friend to check out what's new. We found this incredible shop (I saw it on Unique Eats on the cooking channel) that I couldn't believe was in Dallas.



I highly recommend a visit. They let you sample everything and really know their stuff. A chocolate and foodie lover's paradise.

A nice view of downtown and the Pegasus way off in the distance.



Love the Belmont Hotel perched high up on the hill. I'm dying to try Smoke right next door.



I've got big plans for some bread baking this weekend.

Cupcakes, Holiday and Oh My!

I had a baked goods request the other day so I went with the favorite cupcake which is truly just a vehicle for icing. In this case I went with the all time best chocolate cake (recipe on the back of the hershey's cocoa tin) and peanut butter cupcakes. Turns out, the only peanut butter I had was the super crunchy flax seed from Trader Joe's (seriously come to Dallas already!!!) which made them a little dense and dry but still tasty.

Pre-frosting and cool on the wire racks.



Double batch of frosting (not the one found on the back of the cocoa tin) but a double batch does have 6 sticks of butter. You know, just to keep it light.



Frosted. These are the peanut butter designated by a lone peanut on top. I wanted to pipe the icing on but all my icing bags and tips have vanished. A trip to Sur la Table is imminent since I have a coupon and have ambitions to get the piping down. Also, it cuts down on the icing looking like poo.



All packed up and ready to go. The lone cupcake was for a friend who requested no frosting. He prefers things not too sweet but the cake was super moist (hehe) and yummy.



I plan to start working through a few books. This one and this one specifically.

I'm beyond excited about the long weekend. My vacation started at 12:40 today and I immediately grabbed a chai tea, hit the bookstore and grocery store. Back home by 2:30 and watched The Time Traveler's Wife. It got mixed reviews but I loved it. I thought they did a great job translating a fairly complicated idea and feeling from the book to the big screen. Also, I covet that house they bought. Seriously, I would sell a lot of cupcakes for that! Ready to rest up, bake and play in the studio.

Happy Friday!

Summer so far...

Has been pretty busy but at least it's enjoyable busy. I've been hanging out with girlfriends and the hubby. The last couple of weeks have been movie heavy but this weekend we worked in a movie and a house project. We went to see the Last Airbender at the fancy theater in Allen. The theater was awesome but the movie wasn't. It was actually fairly horrible. The sliders and reclining seat made up for most of it.

The house project has been painting the entry way and rehanging our bookshelves we have tucked into the entry arch. They were starting to become slightly precarious but after Rolland did some serious planning and a lot of prep in the garage for most of the day they are back in place and sturdy enough to handle the heavy duty paperbacks. The benefit of a Texas summer is the new coat of paint dried in about 5 minutes!

My fabulous new find of the summer has been The Fabulous Beekman Boys


Josh and Brent are in fact the owners of Beekman farm which is a gorgeous farm in New York. The scenery and house are lovely but I'm not sure that the animals and Farmer John aren't my favorites.

Any new summer loves that you've found?

New Favorite

Lately I've been really loving the pottery from the 40's & 50's and been adding a few favorites to the collection.

This one was an etsy find and it's even more awesome in person.



This one I couldn't resist for reasons that I can't quite explain to the husband's satisfaction.



Mom and I picked up this guy at Canton. Seeing as how I'm an Aries and the living room has just gone pretty neutral he was a must have. I had been pricing him on ebay and etsy but picked him up for a few bucks plus shipping costs less. He's happily ensconced in the new bookcases in the living room.


Tonight I've been packing for another trip to NY and I'm trying a new approach of not over packing and not doing any serious shopping in the city. So far so good on the packing. I'll let you know how it goes on the shopping front when I get back on Weds!
Hubby and I did manage to get in a quick date night before I head out tomorrow. Iron Man 2 which totally rocked followed by sandwiches at home. Saturday greatness!

Vacation Necklace 1

Rolland took this a while ago but it definitely captures the last few days. It's amazing how much time I can spend in the studio when I don't have to worry about getting everything done in a weekend before I have to go back to work on Monday. I made this one yesterday and another one is await


I made this one yesterday and another one is almost finished except for some pesky wire wrapping. Tomorrow, some collage and backgrounds for some soldered pieces I want to get started on for this week as well.


We've also got more movie plans. Did you hear about the Morgans? was great and very sweet. Invictus (also my husband's favorite poem) in the next couple of days with Sherlock Holmes and tamales on Christmas. Yes, I know those two are not especially related.

Vacation in sight!

I can't believe how close to Christmas it is. I've got almost nothing done that I wanted to but am incredibly excited that tomorrow is Friday and I get an entire week off. I have huge, huge plans to play in the studio and the kitchen. We're also planning a date night for Did you Hear About the Morgans Cowboy Chow and Christmas lights. I've also ordered some urban fantasy that looks awesome so when I'm not playing I can do some fun mindless reading. Seriously, there's no way this vacation live up to these huge expectations but I'm going to risk.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend planned.

Soldering Skills Come in Handy

Turns out, my being able to solder is super handy. We saw a mirror set at IKEA that I loved. Mostly, I loved the hand mirror and the large mirror hanging with pretty pink velvet and chain but for $30 I could definitely figure something else out. I bought a set of rectangular mirrors instead ($5 for the pack of 4) and decided to DIY it at home. My first attempted involved epoxy and hangers... this did not go well although I discovered the epoxy failure prior to it hitting the ground. Up next, a round of soldering. This turned out to not be the pain in the butt I was expecting. I added a patina finish and am really happy with how it turned out with my pink ribbon and vintage chain added. Now I can check out the jewelry choices without running back into the bathroom to review. You would be amazed how many runs this can be in the am. :)



I decided to continue on with the super crafty DIY skills and fixed these vintage ornaments we got a few weeks ago. There were 6 in the set but two had lost their metal hangings so a little foil, flux and solder and these are back in business!


This weekend has been awesome. Incredibly relaxing with lots of movies (Blind Side, Purple Violets, Bottle Shock), tv catch up (have you seen White Collar yet? It's greatness!)and playing in the studio. We did get some Christmas shopping done but still need to get a few more things ordered.

Hope you had a terrific weekend.

Marie Pages

This the Marie page I mailed last week and several bits and bobs are drying on the new one I'm hoping to mail out tomorrow. Of course, there had to be a "Let Them Eat Cake" pic and I was obsessed with the idea of a Marie cake so this seemed like the perfect fit. It also cemented my love of Copic markers and want to use them on absolutely everything. I also have bathroom pics to update but that will have to wait until the morning. Strangely, there's not that much progress to share. Go figure.

Watched the 2nd Harry Potter with my friend Suzanne since we're on a marathon to be caught up for the premier of the latest on the 15th. I think we'll make it since we're getting in two this week! Even the hubby has enjoyed re-watching. Tomorrow we'll need to play some catch up on the tivo, which is taping the latest Doctor Who as I type (YAY!), or next week won't be pretty.

p.s. Maya is back home and seems to be doing fine. The neurologist couldn't find anything so she's guessing she's one of the rare puppies that decides to start having seizures at 9. Should've known. But she's adorable and sweet so all's forgiven.

Royalty Necklace for Round Robin

This is the piece I made for my Charmsters group round robin. I quickly decided on royalty as the theme but had been puzzling over what to do with the actual piece for a long time. Finally I just sat down and knocked it out. I was required to do a little re-thinking once I ran out of gunmetal rondelles. Turns out, this is not something you can quickly pick up at your local Michael's! I was also extremely disappointed to find out my favorite bead store is no longer open on Sunday. Luckily I was saved by pack rat ways and I added an extra lenght of chain - I know love the addition of a new metal to change it up.

After my burst of creative energy in the last few weeks, I've been hit with a miserable cold. Here are a few recommendations if you find yourself trapped on the couch or in bed. Keeping Mum is an awesome British black comedy for viewing pleasure. If you're like me and want to soak in the bath for achiness then these books will help pass the time. This is the latest in the series and I loved it! They just get better and better.

Studio Cheer

I've got the studio trees up and I love them! Every year I put the trees up and then like how they look so much I don't want to take them down until Easter! This year I added the china doll parts which my husband says makes them extra creepy. I'm ignoring him and adding them anyway. The smaller tree is also dressed in all vintage ornaments which I find super cute.

We have managed to get in a movie so far for the holiday break. We saw the new James Bond. The movie was decent and heavy on the M so even better. Judi Dench rocks. The new theme song - fairly awful. I usually love the opening sequence but I kind of hated this one. There weren't any especially good previews either so if you get down to the wire you're aren't missing anything here.

Now I'm off to watch some TV before heading to bed early.

Last Minute

I finished up my swaps and got all the goodies in the mail. All the clothes and shoes I need to pack up are being piled up over anything that doesn't move - Abby shouldn't lie so still - and after a good night's sleep we'll be on the road heading West. This is our first seriously long road trip so I'm excited and on the verge of seriously over packing but I refuse to acknowledge that this might be the case. Although truthfully, it's slightly Best in Show with the tank tops right now. My husband is frightened that I understand why 7 kimonos could be reasonable.

Loooong Week

I'm really looking forward to the weekend. This has been a rough week. It's been fun after work, catching up with people but it really makes itself felt when you're only getting a few hours a night. Last night we went to a screening of X-men 3, it was great, but my husband likes to point out that I'm a huge geek... it's mostly true. Tonight, we met friends for dinner and then went to see Kinky Boots. I can't recommend this enough! It was fabulous and I can't wait to get the soundtrack!

This weekend I'm using it for inspiration to make a b-day present for a friend of mine, he'll love it! I also want to make a collage piece using milagros and Mexican ephemera mixed with clay tiles, as he is Mexican-American, and I think he would really appreciate an homage to his roots.

I'll keep you posted. Have a great Friday and a safe weekend!