Married to a writer (with silver screen aspirations) means we watch a lot of movies. Well technically, m watches a lot of movies and sometimes I sit still long enough or get pulled away from the computer to watch one too. There are a lot of movies and older t.v. shows being screened here at c+potion and many different kinds of them too.
Lately m has been watching a little known (to my ignorant knowledge anyways) t.v. show called Undeclared. It's part of the Judd Apatow study he's been conducting. I believe Freaks and Geeks is next on tap. (PS. Have you seen Knocked Up? Hilarious. Please go see it. Hella funny, even. Also, loved, loved, loved The 40 Year Old Virgin which we revisited during the aforementioned Crash Course in J.A. Filmography.)
Have you ever heard of Undeclared? It's not terribly good in terms of acting or writing, necessarily. But I find myself drawn to the little scenarios. We watch the commentaries too to see if there is anything to be learned from them. I'm finding that even though I initially sort of dismissed this little show as not being very good, I keep thinking about it. Or at least the characters. Or maybe their environment. Dear me, have I become one of those folks who just can't let go of those glory days?
Granted these kids' college lives bear little resemblance to our golden days of College 8. But I think it's their innocence (and gobs of free time) that make me feel a little nostalgic. Ahh...the good old days...
Tomorrow is a half day Friday at my work Wheeeee! M prolly won't get out as early as me, but that just means that I have a little more time to swing by the thrift store I just discovered around the corner from my office before I report in for lunch. All my thrift store cruisings have been a bust lately. Perhaps St. Vincent of Thrift will have something good for me tomorrow in the way of milk-glass vintage pyrex. A girl can hope, right?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
camping photos
How come my camping photos never looked this good?
Maybe because I never bothered packing a lamp and pretty linens. Oh, and I never got to go camping in a yurt. I'll have to remember that for the next trip.
Maybe because I never bothered packing a lamp and pretty linens. Oh, and I never got to go camping in a yurt. I'll have to remember that for the next trip.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
the weekend so far
So I didn't work on the quilt at all last week. I didn't work on much of anything because of the blasted heat. I have been crafting very little lately which makes me a little sad. I've also developped a bit of crafting ADD where I have lists upon lists of ideas and projects, but haven't been able to start any of them. I feel guilty because I already have about half a dozen in mid-progress. I think I need to think about completion and then tackle the new stuff.
Anyways, tomorrow I'll be doing something fun and craft related. I'm going to Felt Club Summer XL!
I can't remember how I heard about this event, but I checked out their site and it looks like a good time to me. So I'm dragging my buddy Stacey, slathering on a lot of sunscreen and heading out to the Ukrainian Cultural Center for some crafty shoppin' and learnin'. I think I'm going to take their needle felting class because it's something I've always wanted to try.
Last week was pretty good. First week back to work after the surgery. Not terribly busy, but enough stuff going on to keep me interested. I've been at my new job location for one month now and it's been going well. My staff are warming up to me (Incidentally I find it a little hysterical how some of them seem a little nervous around me. If they only knew what a pushover I can be. Really, I save my scary side for the ones I love (wink).) our staff meeting on Friday was more hangin' out and eating lunch than a serious discussion of work-related issues.
Today was a good day. (Even though I was unable to attend the 2nd ever Lord of the Rings marathon screening at Cinema Laredo. I'm still a little bummed out over missing that.) M was feeling restless and wanted to go out and be in nature. It was going to be too hot to hike so we headed out to the beach instead. I bargained for some browse-time in the thrift stores that are on the way to the beach. Not much in the way of thrifting scores (though I managed to snag a cute apron and a sleeve iron in stores closer to home. Yay! And I had to struggle really hard not to buy two more hand-painted stoneware plates. Ooh, but they were so pretty! And they coordinated with my current collection!! But really, we just don't need anymore plates chez c+potion, we really don't. I think mostly I was trying to console myself over the lack of any pyrex goods at the thrift stores. But I must be patient.).
The beach was great! The water felt awesome and we got a nice walk in up and down The Strand watching the beach volley ball players. We had lunch up the street and ice cream bars on the way back to the car to feed the meter. Just an all around relaxing and fun day.
The tip of the day is that you should re-up your sunscreen in a timely manner and thoroughly at that. Otherwise you risk getting dumb looking sunburns in odd patches on your neck. Trust me on this one.
Anyways, tomorrow I'll be doing something fun and craft related. I'm going to Felt Club Summer XL!
I can't remember how I heard about this event, but I checked out their site and it looks like a good time to me. So I'm dragging my buddy Stacey, slathering on a lot of sunscreen and heading out to the Ukrainian Cultural Center for some crafty shoppin' and learnin'. I think I'm going to take their needle felting class because it's something I've always wanted to try.
Last week was pretty good. First week back to work after the surgery. Not terribly busy, but enough stuff going on to keep me interested. I've been at my new job location for one month now and it's been going well. My staff are warming up to me (Incidentally I find it a little hysterical how some of them seem a little nervous around me. If they only knew what a pushover I can be. Really, I save my scary side for the ones I love (wink).) our staff meeting on Friday was more hangin' out and eating lunch than a serious discussion of work-related issues.
Today was a good day. (Even though I was unable to attend the 2nd ever Lord of the Rings marathon screening at Cinema Laredo. I'm still a little bummed out over missing that.) M was feeling restless and wanted to go out and be in nature. It was going to be too hot to hike so we headed out to the beach instead. I bargained for some browse-time in the thrift stores that are on the way to the beach. Not much in the way of thrifting scores (though I managed to snag a cute apron and a sleeve iron in stores closer to home. Yay! And I had to struggle really hard not to buy two more hand-painted stoneware plates. Ooh, but they were so pretty! And they coordinated with my current collection!! But really, we just don't need anymore plates chez c+potion, we really don't. I think mostly I was trying to console myself over the lack of any pyrex goods at the thrift stores. But I must be patient.).
The beach was great! The water felt awesome and we got a nice walk in up and down The Strand watching the beach volley ball players. We had lunch up the street and ice cream bars on the way back to the car to feed the meter. Just an all around relaxing and fun day.
The tip of the day is that you should re-up your sunscreen in a timely manner and thoroughly at that. Otherwise you risk getting dumb looking sunburns in odd patches on your neck. Trust me on this one.
Friday, July 6, 2007
poll
So I need your input, peeps. I'm working on a quilt for us chez c+potion. It's been trickier than I thought because much like the wedding quilt for jenn and NIL, I have to strike the right balance between pretty for me, but not too girly for m. I may be dancing on that border with this.
My inspiration came from this Denyse Schmidt quilt:
Kinda sporty. Simple. I like the pop of the lime against the burgundy and cream.
So I shopped around for some fabric and decided on a red+mustard combo. The red print is a little japanese-y I think which I like:
The quilt looks a little simpler than I thought. Not sure if I like that. Don't know why since, duh, I was attracted to the Denyse Schmidt quilt for that reason: it is simple. Well anyways, I thought that maybe if I put in some quilting stitches in red, that would punch it up a little. Still too simple? Here's the detail:
Then as I was trying to fall asleep the other night, I had a light bulb moment and decided that I would do some sort of freestyle stitching instead of the straight lines. The freestyle stitching would be a bird/leaf/vine motif like so:
Detail of bird stitching:
I don't know. Am I overthinking it? Are the birds too darned cute? Should I just finish the damned thing and move on?
Oh and in other news, I got a new sewing machine. Last weekend. Another Kenmore for a Very reasonable price. I was feeling week and wanty and I really missed my machine. I have so many craft projects that are a no-go until I get a machine in my grubby little paws.
I gave up on my old machine that I'd shoved off to my co-worker for repairs. Since he was doing me a favor and all, I felt awkward pressuring him with status reports. I don't think he's had time. And truthfully, I'd pretty much written off ever seeing that machine running again. I'll have to ask him for it back so that I can at least re-use all the accessories. And dudes, can I just say that I am So stoked over Kenmore II? It seems that the mighty folks at Sears/Kenmore have made some improvements that I don't recall being a part of the previous model. There is a feed dog release, more stitch options (though that's not always a bonus) a SELF-THREADER?? Shazam! Time to put this puppy to work. Which is what I've been doing this week.
And that's why I need your input. Birds? Just straight stitches? Whaddaya think?
Oh, and on a personal note: I am recovering fine from my sinus surgery. Mostly fine. I am still congested but my surgeon says that this is to be expected. The worst part is that I can't sleep because I have to keep my head inclined. That's been tough. And tiring. My energy levels have been up and down (spent crafting when I'm feeling up - tee hee). But I took the week off of work to deal with it. It's just a waiting game from here on out. And a follow up appointment of course with the nice surgeon in a week and a half. In a few weeks, I may be writing a post to say goodbye to team snot-rag.
Now it's time for bed for this sicko.
My inspiration came from this Denyse Schmidt quilt:
Kinda sporty. Simple. I like the pop of the lime against the burgundy and cream.
So I shopped around for some fabric and decided on a red+mustard combo. The red print is a little japanese-y I think which I like:
The quilt looks a little simpler than I thought. Not sure if I like that. Don't know why since, duh, I was attracted to the Denyse Schmidt quilt for that reason: it is simple. Well anyways, I thought that maybe if I put in some quilting stitches in red, that would punch it up a little. Still too simple? Here's the detail:
Then as I was trying to fall asleep the other night, I had a light bulb moment and decided that I would do some sort of freestyle stitching instead of the straight lines. The freestyle stitching would be a bird/leaf/vine motif like so:
Detail of bird stitching:
I don't know. Am I overthinking it? Are the birds too darned cute? Should I just finish the damned thing and move on?
Oh and in other news, I got a new sewing machine. Last weekend. Another Kenmore for a Very reasonable price. I was feeling week and wanty and I really missed my machine. I have so many craft projects that are a no-go until I get a machine in my grubby little paws.
I gave up on my old machine that I'd shoved off to my co-worker for repairs. Since he was doing me a favor and all, I felt awkward pressuring him with status reports. I don't think he's had time. And truthfully, I'd pretty much written off ever seeing that machine running again. I'll have to ask him for it back so that I can at least re-use all the accessories. And dudes, can I just say that I am So stoked over Kenmore II? It seems that the mighty folks at Sears/Kenmore have made some improvements that I don't recall being a part of the previous model. There is a feed dog release, more stitch options (though that's not always a bonus) a SELF-THREADER?? Shazam! Time to put this puppy to work. Which is what I've been doing this week.
And that's why I need your input. Birds? Just straight stitches? Whaddaya think?
Oh, and on a personal note: I am recovering fine from my sinus surgery. Mostly fine. I am still congested but my surgeon says that this is to be expected. The worst part is that I can't sleep because I have to keep my head inclined. That's been tough. And tiring. My energy levels have been up and down (spent crafting when I'm feeling up - tee hee). But I took the week off of work to deal with it. It's just a waiting game from here on out. And a follow up appointment of course with the nice surgeon in a week and a half. In a few weeks, I may be writing a post to say goodbye to team snot-rag.
Now it's time for bed for this sicko.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
a little late to the party?
What was I doing in 2004 or ought 5? Seems like every crafter and her sister was out starting craft blogs and now are cashing in on their book deals. Sorry, I don't mean to sound cranky or crass about it. I'm really thrilled over all the fun reading material there is out there for me on days like today (sick at home, recovering from a minor little procedure {sinus surgery, really no big deal, shit, I screwed up and just announced it on the blog, didn't I? Sorry. I am breaking all my rules. Really, it was no big deal and I am feeling fine. A little tired, but fine...anyways, back to the blog}, got a lot of down time that I should be spending on my mending pile {I would have a whole nother wardrobe if I would just go and fix all the stuff in my mending pile.} Anyways...where was I?)
So when I have a lot of down time or just feel like moping in front of the computer, I check out all the amazing craft blogs out there and read their archives. Seriously, I read each and every entry for each craft blog that I find (and there are many, I assure you) and I read them back from their very first hello-are-you-out-there?-let's-give-this-a-try post. I'm a little anal like that.
There are some really great ones. I love to read about these gals' lives (voyeur that I am) and I LOVE to see the pretty eye candy that is a big part of their posts. Stuff they made, stuff they covet, stuff they shop for. I have a bunch of images files that I've set up on my computer where I collect all the best of the pretty things I see. It's an inspiration file of sorts. Who knows what I'll do with the pics, but for now they make me happy. I can go through them when I am bored and just want some pretty things to look at.
So today I am back in September of 2006 reading a blog called SouleMama. She just shared about her baby's 1st birthday and the gift she made with her two older kids. Too freaking cute for words! Just check it out, wouldya?
So when I have a lot of down time or just feel like moping in front of the computer, I check out all the amazing craft blogs out there and read their archives. Seriously, I read each and every entry for each craft blog that I find (and there are many, I assure you) and I read them back from their very first hello-are-you-out-there?-let's-give-this-a-try post. I'm a little anal like that.
There are some really great ones. I love to read about these gals' lives (voyeur that I am) and I LOVE to see the pretty eye candy that is a big part of their posts. Stuff they made, stuff they covet, stuff they shop for. I have a bunch of images files that I've set up on my computer where I collect all the best of the pretty things I see. It's an inspiration file of sorts. Who knows what I'll do with the pics, but for now they make me happy. I can go through them when I am bored and just want some pretty things to look at.
So today I am back in September of 2006 reading a blog called SouleMama. She just shared about her baby's 1st birthday and the gift she made with her two older kids. Too freaking cute for words! Just check it out, wouldya?
more pranks
(Image via Apartment Therapy New York)
I forgot to post about this one the following day...gosh, how long since my last post? Anyways, looking at this photo just takes me back to my freshman year of college. We had SO much free time back then!
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