4th of July Weekend

In addition to having such a great time with everyone at the cottage in Wisconsin, we were lucky enough to have a real-life-professional-photographer in our midst. There are so many good pictures of the weekend. Thanks Ben!

This picture reminds me that life has been stressing me out lately and how good it feels to get out with good friends and laugh. Lots and lots.

I really like this shot because I think it brings out the natural athlete in me. And it is flattering besides.

Look how tough Z looks.

And here's Zander's BFF. His wife is a bit camera shy, but you can find pictures on her blog.

1. We had an amazing holiday weekend, and as soon as I can find my camera charger, I'll post some pictures.

2. I sold my first print on Etsy!

I love hollyhocks. The bugs nibble at them, their petals are ruffled and transparent, the birds land on them only to weigh them down and poop on their leaves, and despite the fact that they're an annual, they just keep coming back. A little bit fragile, a little bit hearty. A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. Oh hollyhock, I can relate to you on so many levels.

Sorry for the crap picture, I'm not sure what happened and no amount of photoshopping is going to fix this one up. Anyway, here's some recent thrifty-action. I already have one good pitcher, but this one is so perfect I couldn't resist.
More thrifting here... This dress is organic silk IN MY SIZE for under $5. And yes, it will look oh so cute with a little something red and frilly sticking out from the hem.
Today, I'll be:
1. Thinking about what a sweet movie WALL-E was. It might be the best Pixar yet.
2. Picking up our third load of veggies from the CSA. Lots of lettuce so far.
3. Getting ready to head up to our friends' cabin for a few days. I'm so excited for a bit of reading on the dock, hiking, playing board games and swimming!
4. Fret about having to wear a swimming suit in front of these friends.
5. Check out a couple of things at the library.
6. Bake some bread from that 5 minute book.
7. Listening to Jason Mraz and The Weepies. Maybe a little bit of Sia thrown in there.
8. Running late for my noon appointment because I'm killing time on the web.

Just Perfect

This is just one example of the quality blogging that goes on around here. Zander hasn't seen this fine sample of my dabbling in the digital arts yet, but I have a feeling he'll think it's just perfect.

Build your own Blingee

Eight

How many legs does an octopus have? Eight. How many maids a milking? Eight. How many days a week? Eight. (According to the Beatles) What number are we on THE LIST? As of this evening... Eight.

Summer is lovely when you live in Minnesota, but especially when you live in Minnesota and get summers off, and especially when you live in Minnesota, get the summers off, and love to dork around in the garden. These poppies are so ugly when they're not in bloom that when they are blooming, I take about a thousand pictures of them.

And here's some more of our funky honeysuckle vine that I thought was a trumpet vine.

Today I'm going to...

Go back to school (boo) and find some artwork that one of my students left behind and now wants to show off at his graduation party tomorrow. Cross your figures that I wasn't in a "pitch everything" mood the last time I ran across it.

Go pick up our first CSA veggies. I'm pretty excited about this, and can't wait to see what we get!

Go pick up some rocks with one of my girlfriends... Might sound boring to you, but I love this girlfriend, and I seriously really like picking out rocks for the yard. They'll each be about as big as a loaf of bread, maybe that makes them stones.

Find a clothesline that'll suck back into itself like a tape measure, so I can hang some wet laundry out on the deck.

Check the Korea forum approximately 100 times today and see if there are any referrals that will bring us further (farther?) down the list. We're still chillin' at #9. And chillin' really means not at all chilled out but instead slightly to moderately agitated at all times.

frilly under-things

I thrifted this slip about three years ago, and I love it so much because it transforms my somewhat boring teacher clothes into something that my inner saloon girl would wear. My sister-in-law always has a perfect bit of sparkle, and another friend wears v-neck t-shirts and adorable shorts too short for my stubbs. And they both rock that look. While my gardening overalls are so comfy, maybe I need to leave them in the garden more often. As I write this entry, I can just feel Eckhart Tolle reminding me (in his very soothing books-on-tape-voice) that clothes don't define me. Hello, duh, but still going to remember to get out my saloon slip a bit more often.

Big Bike Bec

My dear friend Rebecca is saying her final** goodbye to the MS ride, and any little donation helps the cause. It's easy to donate and to read about the why, how, what and who, just click here.

**I'd never actually come out and say that she's gone into retirement before, but final just sounds so final.

"Letting go, of course, is a scary enterprise for those of us who believe that the world revolves only because it has a handle on the top of it which we personally turn, and that if we were to drop this handle for even a moment, well-that would be the end of the universe. But try dropping it...Sit quietly for now and cease your relentless participation. Watch what happens." Eat, Pray, Love

Easier said than done is what I say, but worth thinking about.

Zander is out of town, and this is usually my time to rip up stuff around the house... Maybe rip out a floor, or knock down a shower, or I don't know, rip out a little more floor. I must be getting mellow in my mid-30's, but in the 5 days he has been gone, the only major thing I've done is work on this old stereo cabinet. (Which I found in the trash at my school)
Before

After

On a side note, I started reading Eat, Pray, Love today. I really like it so far. I'm working my way through the eating section of the book right now, which is causing me to eat myself through the house too.

Joey's Turn

Joey is about 2 1/2 now, and he's so fun to be with. One of my favorite things that he says about 1000 times a day is "Joey's turn." Everything is Joey's turn. I hear a lot about how it's Joey's turn to open up the rain barrel and lick the water off the cement. Seriously, gross. And how it's Joey's turn to stack chairs on top of chairs and turn the lights on and off. This is such a cute age. PS: Stop trying to look up my cat's butt.

School is OUT for the summer!

Schools is out, and man-oh-man, it couldn't have come a second too soon. I'm so ready for a little free time in my life. I'm also excited for my seniors to get their lives started, while of course remembering all the wonderful lessons taught to them by their favorite art teacher!

Lucky #13

Have I mentioned lately that we are lucky #13 on the waiting list for our adoption? Things are moving so slowly that it makes my bones hurt, but nonetheless, they are moving.

The cute little onesie was found here via mighty junior. Isn't it adorable?

Here's a touching post on adoption that I read today.

I LOVE these beaded creatures. Especially the lion. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to paste a picture here, so here' a link.

I also really, really like this painting. It's a bit too rich for my blood, but I keep hoping a print will pop up on Etsy one of these days.
Here's the shop!

Something Else to Worry About?

I don't wear a lot of makeup at one time, but I do wear some and I wear a moisturizer everyday. When I saw this list of chemicals in makeup that should be avoided, it freaked me out a little. What do you think? If you do worry about this kind of thing, do you have any products that you recommend? I checked the Aveda website and they proudly claim the nice sounding ingredients in their products, but I hardly doubt that their soaps only contain grapefruit and fairtrade love.

Weekend Gratitude

1. a very sweet and long-overdue phone conversation that banked in at just under two hours.
2. sleeping in every single morning of this three day weekend.
3. having the scooter all fixed up and cruising around town.
4. a big bunch of strawberries all cut up and calling to me from the fridge.
5. cutting out weekday coffee and really, really enjoying it on the weekend.
6. signing up for a CSA for the summer.
7. lots of down time with my sweetie pie.
8. tearing up our yard and re-dreaming what it'll look like.
9. sleeping with the windows open.
10. not doing one little bit of the cleaning I should have done.
11. lots of reading.
12. catching up on all my internet reading, too.
13. catching up with friends bearing bananas.
14. coughing out more phlegm that I knew could possibly exist. (Strangely satisfying)
15. lilacs blooming by the garage and covering up kitty litter smells from our garbage cans.
16. not thinking one little bit about going back to work until this very second.

Boring Alert!

This one right here is my very favorite kitchen gadget. Now if only I could find something to peel the freaking garlic for me, then I'd really go to town with all the herbs in my little garden...

Latest Self Portrait

Weekend Goodness

This weekend was the perfect dose of fun, relaxing, working in the garden with the perfect amount of sun, and just bought a new hat and wore it all weekend long goodness. Here's a little of what's been going on in the garden...

This guy protects my new herbs from the giant bunnies that rule our neighborhood after dark.

I don't know which is worse: our view of the alley, or the alley's view of us? These tires and trumpet vines are my attempt get us a bit more out of sight.

Here's Z planting our tree the day after Mother's Day. It will be kinda cool if this tree can be planted in the same year our little babe arrives.

We have the saddest, most sprout-up-where-ever-it-will-look-the-stupidest-and-be-the-most-inconvenient tulips I have ever seen. This one would stick its tongue out at me if it could.

Prom this year was lovely, and a large part of the loveliness is that it's finally over. I get a small stipend for doing it, but man-oh-man, it's hard work... Over 500 guests, party favors, a DJ, really bad tasting punch, sweaty teenagers, and lots of breath-a-lizing. I took the day off yesterday, and spent my time in the sun trying to get our yard back into shape. My biggest accomplishment was prying out the broke-down arbor that my climbing roses were consuming and replacing it with the springs from a bed I found in the alley.

Speaking of mindless tasks, I've been embroidering scenes from Jen Hart's Spaced Out pattern onto an old denim shirt the last couple of nights. It has the same mind-numbing effect as coloring in a coloring book, except when it's done I'll wear it instead of hanging it on the fridge.

Charming

I miss feeling so bored that I start to play with the things that I'm zoning out at. Diem Chau's stuff looks like beautiful playtime to me.

The Dealership

Do you suppose that the general manager at The Dealership would be a lot nicer if I wanted to buy a brand-spanking-NEW car? Do you think he'd be nicer if I didn't schedule an inspection for the not-so-spanking-new-car? How about if I didn't try and talk him down a thousand because the head gasket was leaking fluids? What if I was wearing something a little low cut and didn't have my hair in sweaty-gym-pigtails? Or black ink under my fingernails? And a Frida ring on my middle finger?

Dear Dealer Guy,

Don't wear your pleated khakis so tight. Your face looks like red blotchy indigestion. And you should probably try not to wear that high school hockey = golden days look on your face all the time. It is embarassing. Also, don't come right out and imply that people who race around in their Subaru wagons are dorks. There are lots of us, and we don't need to go muddin' on the way to work, but we might see some cool free stuff in someone's garbage on the side of the road. Oh, and please don't make it so obvious that you're not taking down my number when I tell you to call me when you can come down a thousand. I know you're pissed, but your job is to make that feeling shiny and cold and have a new car smell. Oh, and if you don't mind, you should try and NOT seem like the exact kind of guy that would measure my ass and assess my worth if I'd dare turn around in front of you. While these few tips won't help you make my sale, I they might help you be more successful in the future. Not that I care. I know this sounds really bitter and all, it's not really that I am, but I'm kind of out of things to write about on my blog, and I really kind of think this might make for a good story. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Cheap Skate/Probably a Lesbian Anyway

Crocheted Marilyn

Oh my word, how freaking awesome is this??? I'm still a beginner at crochet, and I need a person-to-person tutorial on changing colors, but this would be such a cool project. For someone to make for me.
This came from Craftster.

49 Sensational Skirts

I've got a lot of skirts in my closet. Skirts for every season. Skirts for almost any mood. Unfortunately, I don't have a skirt for the PROM this year. Yes, I'm still a prom adviser for my high school, and yes, it matters what I wear. I'd wear the off the shoulder peach number that my mom loving sewed for me 18 years ago, but I think she got sick of storing it in her house and donated it to the good will. Anyway, I picked up 49 Sensational Skirts the other day, and the book is fantastically inspiring. This book is not about learning to sew a skirt. Although that is one possibility offered, the book is mostly about taking a skirt you already have and embellishing it. Not with your be-dazzler, but with other cool stuff.
This first skirt is embellished with cordouroy loops, and I think it looks like a muppet. I've got some silk from Thailand that I could cut up to make the loops. I like the idea of the edges fraying a little bit.

This second skirt needs to be a couple sizes too big before you start because this plume will take in about 1 1/2 inches all the way around when it's done. I'd need to go to the the thrift store (if I must) to find the perfect skirt for this one.


I can't decide which one to do...

March Retail Therapy

Oh man, I love this print. Found at anh-minh.

Frida Vans

Z had these painted for my birthday. I absolutely love, love, love them, in the kind of way that makes me not want to wear them, but instead cherish them safely in a box. I broke down and wore them out today, stepping carefully around puddles and other such harm. It's a longish story, but I've got a really-almost-exactly-the-same-extra-pair in a men's size 6 (women's 8?) that are up for grabs, too. If you know someone that might be interested send them my way, I'd be up for making a super deal. Matt Kriske is the talented young artist and he's done a bunch of other pairs too. The x-files pair is lovely and he takes commissions.

Happy Easter!

Today my sister brought over our little nephew Joey at like six in the morning. The coffee was barely even brewing and we still had sheet marks on our faces, but he was awake and excited and ready to play. He spent a lot of the day with us and man-oh-man, he's got us charmed.
Here he is so sacked out that he can't take one more turn around on the sit and spin without a quick little nap.


And here he is wrestling with Zander.

PS: I'm officially on ALL candy detox. The amounts of Easter candy that I've eaten this year is insane. Robin Eggs. YES. Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs. YES. M & M's. OH YES.

Spring Break

We're back from our little spring break in Mexico. It was wonderful. I'm peeling. I'm reeling at all this snow today. Barf. I'm also wasting tons of time today. I'm alternating going downstairs to get another handful of speckled robin egg whoppers with surfing around on the internet. Oh spring break, how I love you so.

Just when you'd stopped checking in...

It's been a long time, hasn't it? Wowza. When times get especially tough for me I hunker down and do the essentials. I shy away from friends a little bit, I get sloppy about returning emails, I neglect calling my grandma, I certainly don't update this thing, I under-water the plants, and I over-feed the cats. I'm not trying to make excuses, just realizing some patterns, and really just wanting to STOP THE NONSENSE. I remember back to waiting tables, when I was on the verge of so-freaking-busy-induced-freaking out, I'd get totally silent and do my job. All other systems would shut down so my machinery could just hum along at top speed until I could collapse in the break room. That system sucked. I still have nightmares about waiting tables, and in my dreams I usually spill water on some fat guy at the Pannekoeken. This all sounds dire, I know, but in the whole scheme of things, I'm doing just fine. Is my marriage falling apart? No. Is my house flooded with sewage? Not yet. Did I start using drugs that make all my teeth fall out? No. Is my health failing me? No. BUT, our adoption plan for Colombia fell through. All those eggs that I put in one basket got scrambled and so did I. SO... We dropped our adoption agency and started over. We've started working with another agency (Children's Home Society) and things are working much differently. Colombia is out and Korea is in... For now, and hopefully for the next 10 months or so! Tomorrow our social worker is conducting part II of our home study at our house. Everything is clean--even the knobs on the stove that never get any attention. We're attempting to appear normal by stashing the Vicodin away and keeping the wine on the counter. And Ben, if you've found this blog, that was a lame attempt at pre-home study humor. Anyway, despite my over-use of cliches in this entry, I'm feeling good and especially hopeful, and even a tiny bit peaceful. I'm ready to start watering the plants again! Speaking of plants, I just got this notice about $25 trees! I guess they go really fast, so I ordered mine a few minutes ago.

In other news, my copy of Rhett Butler's People is in at the library. Too bad it's a hard cover because it is coming with me to Mexico for spring break. I hope the library folks don't mind it coming back smelling like suntan lotion and margaritas. Oh Rhett...

This will be a quick post. We're heading out to a friend's birthday celebration at Buca tonight. I haven't been there in forever, so I'm thinking of a dinner made of mashed potatoes and chianti. Yum.

Here's our little tree this year. I love it. I can smell it when I walk in the door. We have so many sweet decorations for it that friends and family have given us, and it just makes me smile.

Here's a project that I started a little while back. Willy Nelson was awfully important throughout my Nebraska youth. This is my linoleum tribute to him, and one of my first tries at printing with oil-based inks.

When the time changed this fall, and everything got so dark so fast, the only thing I've wanted to do is curl up on the couch and watch a movie with my sweetie pie. I'll watch anything, even if it's not that interesting... Which has been making me feel very not-that-interesting. So, we're turning it off throughout the week for a month, and maybe catching up on a Netflix on the weekends. Who knows if this will extend past this month, but I think it'll be interesting to see how we fill up our time. Today was day 1 of the experiment and I made 2 draft snakes for the kitchen and a gnome hat. I also have surfed the web, talked with my hubbie, made a real dinner, done some reading, and now I'm off to take a bath. It feels like the weekend when I have time for all the stuff I love to do AND it's only a Monday.


PS: I love Jan Von Holleben's photos.

I got a new haircut last weekend, and life was a little more simple when I could just slap my dirty hair back into a ponytail. Now: day 1 hair looks ok, but not quite right, day 2 hair is the perfect amount of dirty and clean so it looks good, and day 3 tries to ride out the same look but it feels a little bit over-polluted with pomade.

Here's my newest and most favorite thrifty find. Someone spent a lot of time latching this rug and I'm going to enjoy it in the kitchen every time I wash the dishes.

Wow, all of you computer nerds out there will be officially not impressed, but really I'm excited to play around with this Vector Magic site (via Boing Boing). I didn't take the time (obviously) to play around with the colors, but changing this picture of our niece took all of about 2 minutes to do.

Smile

Staff pictures are going to be taken at 7 AM tomorrow, and I'm thinking about how I usually look like a crazy woman when I'm posing. Right this second, I'm searching for tips on looking more natural in photos. This is a really interesting test by the BBC on interpreting fake vs genuine smiles.

It's buy one get one free at John Golden's Etsy shop and I'm having a really hard time picking just two.

Have you seen Amy Sedaris' Manhattan house over at Design Sponge? It makes me drool a happy smile.

Now, for a few side-notes:



1. We made it out to the Frida show on Friday night. It was wonderful. I'm almost done with her biography and I think that made the show especially the best thing I've ever seen in my whole entire life.

2. In my early 20's I was at my Grandma's house and I said something about how baseball hats never fit my head because it's too big. At that point I saw my Mom and Grandma exchange knowing looks. This obviously convinced me that they knew about a head swelling disease that I had but they refused to tell me about because they knew I'd freak out. Now that I'm in my 30's, I have the internet to tell me what disease I might have, and the head swelling one is not looking very likely. Nevertheless, I do have a very large head, and I'm working on sewing a hat for it. I've got it all cut out and ready to go but I'm dragging my feet because I doubt it'll fit. Yes, I measured and it says that it'll fit, but those pesky measurements on the pattern backs are more often bullshit than not. I'm using an old wool skirt for the outer fabric and a cotton printed with mallards for the lining.

Happy Halloween!

I don't normally smile with my jaw unhinged, but we were saying "Raaa" for the camera.

Joey's favorite question by far is, "Where'd the kitty go?"

We had such a fun time with family in town! And we just loved getting to know Campbell. I think she might be the cutest ladybug of all time.

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!

Happy, happy (and just a day late) birthday to the sweetest man I never even knew could be out there. You make me smile every single day.

This website is "funny".

I am Blue (and Barb)

Your dominant hue is blue, making you a good friend who people love and trust. You're good in social situations and want to fit in. Just be careful not to compromise who you are to make them happy.

Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.
spacefem.com/quizzes/colors
(well thank you internet, this is certainly very flattering, if not-so very accurate)
Are you a Big Love fan? If you're not, I'm thinking you haven't watched it yet. I think it is television at its absolute finest. Apparently I'd be Barb if I were a sister-wife.

I'm NEVER going to donate anything to Savers ever again...

There's a woman at the Columbia Heights Savers that has always been cranky. I think she aims to steal my thrifting bliss by either shouting at someone about something, or at the very least shouting about how stupid the whole wide world is because they take more than three garments into the fitting room at a time. I try and make her happy by following the three garment rule even when there's no one else around who wants to try anything on. In the middle of my trying to make her happy, she has pounded on the door wanting to know exactly how many items I've got and if it is my stupid cart that is so purposefully blocking her from doing the work that she doesn't get paid enough to do. I usually take it in stride. Today I pulled up wanting to donate. I think that would make her happy because I want to give them stuff to sell... Almost no strings attached, except that whomever I unload my crap to should at the very least be mildly courteous. No dice. She was rude. She did everything except spell out and perform an interpretive dance on exactly how stupid she thinks I am because I have never donated items at the back door. Only idiots drive up and want to give away their free stuff at the front door. Duh. So, I drove to Arc Value Village, which is was just a little bit out of my way, and I donated there. I bit my lip at Savers because I didn't want to be mean, which I regret. I basically missed my
chance to tell her how much she sucks. Here's my letter to her.


Dear Savers Lady,

I wish I would have told you that I think you're a pain in the ass, and that because of you I have left your store several times without buying anything because I can't stand listening to all of your bitterness.
I wish I would have told you that even though you were wearing bunny ears and whiskers to work today that you are not the teeniest bit cute or cuddly. The opposite in fact. I bet your grandchildren don't even like you.
I wish I would have told you that Savers has been over-pricing their jeans for about the last year or so. And it's probably all your fault. Just because something has a JJill tag on it, does not mean that it should automatically cost $9.99.
I wish I would have told you that you have bad breath.
I wish I would have told you that are not the boss of me.
I wish I would have told you to take your secret back door donation spot and stuff it down your ankle length tapered jeans.

THE END (of our relationship)

Sincerely,

Julie

Here was my stab at one of the Built by Wendy dresses. I LOVE the fabric, but HATE how I look in this shift-like dress. Maybe it'll work if I take in the sleeve at the elbow. But maybe, shapeless dresses just won't look good on my almost 5'2 and somewhat curvy frame. SHITBALLS. This cool Polaroid montage is done using the Hockneyizer.

Geez, just call me blog-slacker. I don't even have something in mind that I want to write about tonight, I just wanted to get something written, and then hopefully I'll feel more inspired to write throughout the week. I had Thursday and Friday off for MEA weekend, and it just flew by. I spent some quality time at the fabric store. I want to make some bibs and I need velcro for the closure. I made this one out of an old orange towel for the back and then the front panel off of a denim skirt that I don't wear any more. I've only made one and it's big enough for me to wear, but cute. I wish this bib-making was my secret code for a very quick adoption about to occur. I think it's going to take a while, so our babe might just have about a thousand bibs when the time comes. On Thursday night we took my mom and step-dad over to see the Soapfactory's Haunted Basement. I might just be a big fat baby, but I thought it was super freaking scary. Go. I dare you. In other news, I rode my little scooter over to Open Book to show support for who I affectionately call the freaks that like to stay up all night and draw comics. They amaze me. I just couldn't do it. I would have a melt down in front of all those people because I need and love sleep. On the way home I stopped into Surdyk's for a couple of bottles of wine, and had to fight my way through the crowd. I forgot they were having a sale, so I was a little bummed to spend that much time and only be able to take what I could hold on the scooter. I wonder if the sale is over now? The last little tidbit I've got is about microwave popcorn. Recognize us?

My pilates teacher just called to say that class is canceled this morning. As much as I LOVE the class, specifically her class, it just means more coffee for me this morning. And not even in a travel mug. Mmmmm. Zander is going to be busy with fall con for the whole weekend, which is kind of a bummer, but mostly lots of fun for him. You see, I don't really know how to talk about comic books. Me: "So is it funny to you, because I don't really think it's all that funny?" Me: "Cool, I like how the colors look, but why are all the boobs so ginormous?" Anyway, no class and Zander working means lots of putzing time for me. I thrive on putzing. It recharges me. Putzing today makes me want to party tonight. So, I might bake some cookies. (Ginger spice with chocolate chips) I might trade out my dresser for the dresser in the baby room. (And then paint it and add new pulls) I might sew up some cats. (Pictures to come) I might take the necklace that I wear almost every day and have it cleaned properly. (The years of tarnish leaves soot on my neck/shirts) I might throw away my dead outdoor plants. (Super dead) I might-probably-for-sure go to Value Village. (Looking for vest lining or corduroy) I am going to get my hair cut and colored. (3 inches shorter and minus the gray stripe down the middle of my head)

By the way, October is apparently choose to re-use month. Here are some great deals found on Girl Friday.