I need this stuff :)

the storm is passing over

rainbow!

How cool is this?

 Here's the blurb from the website:

Rainbow: designed by Heiko Hillig. This is one of the bestselling Naef toys! Experience the calming and relaxing power of interaction with this beautiful rainbow. Wooden arches symbolise the rainbow. Both an educational diversion and tuning fork at the same time. High-grade, processed plywood in brilliant colors, make Rainbow an object of both artistry and fun with an ascetic quality. Trust your feelings and find the balance point like a virtuoso. The Rainbow offers endless combinations of colors and sounds.


So cool.

more yellow

Here's my latest Color Me Mine adventure. I think I like it. And it goes with my kitchen :)

wall art

I moved my art from the living room to up the stairway wall. I think I like it.

new shelf

I finally found a shelf the right shape and size to fit in the living room, aka, voice/piano studio. I've been wanting to keep the instruments accessible, and also they're pretty.

The cat was, as usual, being very helpful.



margarita cake

I made a cake to take to a party, a margarita cake, to be exact. I was so excited to use the bundt pan. I mean, wouldn't you be? I used this recipe, except I used lemon pudding instead of vanilla and lime juice instead of lemon juice.

Unfortunately, I used Pam instead of the grease and flour, and disaster ensued. The cake came out of the pan in more pieces than it should have. (One piece would have been good.) I considered making another one, but then I decided to squoosh it into a Tupperware bowl (gah! don't you love vintage Tupperware!?), add the glaze and serve it with a spoon.

It would be cool to chop it up in chunks and put in in a huge margarita glass for serving. I don't actually have one of those, but maybe next time. Also, I think if I made it again I think I would use Cointreau instead of triple sec - better flavor. I could also see using Chambord in the glaze and making it a raspberry margarita.

new shows

Castle was a rerun, so I watched Harry's Law. Seems like it might be fun. I absolutely love Kathy Bates. She was so much fun in Six Feet Under. I don't often get excited about law shows, but we'll see.

I want to watch The Cape, mostly because I looooooove Summer Glau. I saw the second episode this week, but I missed the 2-hour premiere, so I was pretty much lost.

As of late, I just wait until shows are on Netflix before I watch them. But I might make an exception if one of these continues to be interesting.

hooks

These were a Christmas gift a few years ago, and I just recently found them while sorting stuff before painting the living room. These are vintage silverware bent into pretty hooks. I have them hanging between the kitchen and living room. I just think they're so cute.

valentines

Got lots of fun paper at the craft store and have been entertaining myself making cards.

So, anyone need any Valentines?

scarves!

My friend made these awesome scarves. How adorable are these?

more fruit

When you have no blog topic, you blog dinner. So, this is fresh pear, orange, pineapple and mango. Yay!

The accompanying soup, which I do not have a photo of, was leftover chicken (which was just white meat chicken tenders baked under a layer of sweet salsa, which I do have a photo of), broth, sweet corn, black beans, and a bit of chili powder. I would have added cumin, except apparently I don't have any. How is that possible?  

And now I have to go watch some TV so I have something to blog about.

juice!

3 oranges, 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 mango, a handful of cranberries, a little white grape juice and ice

hit the "whole juice" setting on the super blender

juice!

desperate housewives

Well, who knew? I'm in the middle of season 2, and it's pretty entertaining. I mean, it's not Buffy, obviously, but the characters are fun, everyone is pretty, and it's like an escape to another very foreign world. Mostly I think I just enjoy watching a show of any decent quality when I can watch lots and lots of episodes in a row. It's like one big loooooong movie.

buttons!

Just made these - custom order for a friend of a friend. They're 1 inch square and kind of hefty and thick. I'm happy with them. Apparently they're going on a hand-sewn coat, which is tres cool.

all buffy all the time

Yes, Christmas is over, but it took me this long to take photos of my Buffy swap ornaments.

There were 7 of us in the swap group, and I received 6 ornaments. Why is there always a delinquent? Hehe, whatever. It was still fun. Behold my lovely shrinky dinks, Xander nutcracker, Buffy's punching bag, grrr argh, and - my favorite - Buffy paper doll!

 

Here's the Spike ornament book I made for the swap.

I've been avoiding the craft store

I don't allow myself to enter the craft store very often, because, you know, I have no willpower to not buy everything. Anyway, AC Moore has supercrazy sales going on right now. I got a bunch of dollar stamps, ribbon and stickers. That was exciting. The cashier was awesome and gave me one of those 50% off one item coupons, which made the birthday present I got for Kim a whole bunch cheaper, 50% cheaper to be exact.

I decided against purchasing the stamp that read "lot's of love." *rolls eyes* Punctuation (or lack thereof) is important, people.

new coat!

Got this new coat at Catherine's this weekend. I've been wanting a short-ish coat, since right now I've got big long bright orange wool deal or sweater and really nothing in between. So now I've got bright yellow in between-ness.

I love lime

Yes, I really do love lime anything. All citrus things, really, but especially lime. This stuff is seriously awesome.

Today I put this in mango juice. Oh hey, Juicy Juice makes mango juice now! Life is good.

choir starts

Cumberland Singers starts this coming week. Yay! How adorable is this group?!

vintage is trendy

I admit it. I'm starting to be interested in vintage stuff. I was apathetic about this particular trend, but there's some awfully cool stuff. I want pretty much everything in the JollyPollyPickins shop, especially this:

Also, I love the way her items are photographed. I like bright colors - who knew?

tv update

Mad Men - finished season 2. Wow, this show is good. It's so different from anything else that's on. I love the colors, the clothes, the decor, all that stuff. I'm starting to feel a small amount of sympathy for a few of the characters, though they are all completely appalling. The character I like the most is Don, which I think just makes me a horrible person, so don't tell anyone.

Lost - finally watching season 6. It's starting to make a bit of sense, but I think I may be making things up between the lines. Still love love love Sawyer, Jack and Sayeed.

Angel - rewatch number, oh, you know, 103 or so. It's official - Connor is the only buffyverse character I still do not like. I even finally starting liking Dawn after watching 407 times.

my cat is bad

I know, I know, isn't he just adorable all cuddled up inside a blanket? Don't let him fool you. He's bad.

Side note: all the living room furniture in the kitchen was superfun.

Other side note: Look how well the new pillows match the couch!

lists

Things I'm itching to do:

• plan a party
• work on my tarot art
• sing sing sing
• take a vacation
• read my book
• write some music
• go to the fondue place
• buy things on etsy

Things I gotta do:

• clean the basement
• clean the garage
• clean the office
• find some basses
• figure out the mess that is this year's sales/receipts
• plan plan plan

birds

I looked out an upstairs window to see all these birds, and they were just so lovely, so I got my camera just in time to

 capture them flying away en masse, like they for sure had somewhere important to be,

 and then the trees were empty again.

new living room!

New carpet. Isn't it lovely? ;)

 Newly painted living room - red and cream.

 No more hideous buffgraybrowngross trim color!

 Finally painted the whole way up the stairs. That's what dads are for, right?

Add adorable lighting from Tarjay.

New setup for teaching. No more leaning on the wall, peeps :)

 

The best spot to stand - you can see all the bright colors at once :)