Represent

Well it's Holiday Craft Show season again, and I'll be selling my cards in Seattle, Providence, and San Francisco. If you live in the Seattle area, please come see me this weekend (the 1st and 2nd) at Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. The show will run from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm both days, and I'll be sharing a booth with the very talented Shawn Parks.


If you live in the Providence area, you should make a beeline to Craftland, which is opening December 1st and will run until the 22nd. The hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Thursdays until 8:00 pm! There will be over a hundred amazing craftspeople represented, and it's a great place to shop for your holiday needs. Craftland is a non-profit organization that will give a portion of the proceeds to The Steel Yard this year. This year the show will be located in the old Lupo's building at 235 Westminster.


Finally, for all you Bay Area folks, I'll be at Bazaar Bizarre SF on Sunday the 15th, so please come by and say hello! I'm thrilled to be amongst so many amazing SF artists this year. The show will be at the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park, and we'll be there from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures from last night's dinner. We had a wonderful evening with our family and friends, and all our guests went home with a jar of cranberry sauce and a box of pistachio brittle.

Thanksgiving Flowers

I'm going to have to try and get better pictures of these arrangements- I think the colors are so beautiful, but you can't really see them here.

Turkey Day...

I thought I'd post some of my Thanksgiving recipes on the recipe blog in case anybody is looking for something to try next week. Of course, I won't have any pictures to post until I make the food myself, but I promise that all the recipes are tried and true. Just click on "Thanksgiving" in the category list on the right-hand side, and you'll find all sorts of recipes to try with your family.

Autumn Bounty

Look what I bought at the market today for just $30!


Clockwise from top left: Yukon Gold potatoes, purple potatoes, garnet yams, Satsuma yams, carrots, ruby turnips, leeks, fennel, garlic, parsnips, onions, ginger, Arkansas Black apples, butternut squash.

Gettin' It Done

We had very a productive weekend. I fixed the extending leaf on our coffee table.


And I finally reupholstered the dining room chairs with my Thomas O'Brien for Target sheets! I think they came out nicely, but I'm still looking for the perfect red fabric.

We went to see Witchcraft on Saturday night, and I made Guinness and Dr. Pepper cupcakes (recipes on my food blog) with friends. We bought a chest freezer for the garage, to hold all the produce I put up this summer. We started getting the kitchen organized (as much as possible until it gets painted).


And then we went to see "Wristcutters," which was really cute. I definitely recommend it. Hurray for crossing things off lists!

Bluebirds of Happiness

Look at this beautiful tablecloth I found on Ebay! I so don't need it, but I had to share.


*The auction's almost over, but there are no bids, so it might be relisted!

Lipstick Traces

Here are some flowers I picked out today. I love the strawberry-pink "Lipstick Pods" and the bright red chilis!

Olive Love

This summer we made our annual trip to The Olive Pit in Corning, on our way up to Oregon, and discovered that they had fresh olives for sale. At the time I felt silly buying a five pound bag of inedible fruit with absolutely no knowledge of how to process it, but as time went by I started to regret not making the purchase. Lucky for me, our local market had a small box of olives last week, and I snatched them up! As it turned out, our kitchen remodel (specifically the lack of a sink) held up my experiment for a few days, but this afternoon I was finally able to begin the brining process.


Having done a bit of research, it's really quite easy to pickle your own olives. All you need to do is let them ferment in a salt solution for three to six months. The recipe I am following requires me to change the brine every day for 20 days, and then once a month for 3 months before the olives are ready to eat. According to the friendly farmers at Milkwood, who have a fantastic instructional video available here, the more often the brine is changed, the faster the olives will ferment, so I like that this recipe calls for so much changing. The Milkwood recipe only asks you to change the brine once a month, but it also allows up to 9 months for fermentation, and I am just not that patient! At the rate I am going, my olives will be ready to eat in March, and I can't wait!

Juiced

A while back, I bought this Fiestaware juicer on Ebay. Now Martha has one in her Macy's collection that is nearly identical!

Hibernation

I love this cozy print from Pottery Barn.

Kitchen Remodel: Day Seventeen or So

I've lost track of the days... But here is the floor that was installed this morning!

More Pictures from the Coast

By request, here are some more pics of Seymour at the beach with his friend Chip. I wish I had captured the moment he got pulled under by his first big wave! He was very brave and very cute.

This is Where We Live

This weekend we took a quick trip up the coast to Sea Ranch. Driving up Highway 1 always makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world to be able to live here. From the shady pockets of lush redwood forest and the sandy coves and beaches along the ocean, to the rolling farms and fields peppered with happily grazing dairy cows (yes, the commercials are true!) and the rustic towns full of weathered cabins and dusty antique shops... And considering that we are also only a short drive away from colorful, arid deserts, craggy mountains with snowy peaks, clear glacial lakes, hilly vineyards, plunging waterfalls, and generally any other bit of nature you might crave... I hate to agree with Governor Schwartzenegger, but I am proud to be a Californian.










*PS: the green stones are Serpentine, a type of jade that is California's state stone.

Cranberry Sauce!

Yesterday the mailman delivered 10 pounds of beautiful, organic cranberries, which I had ordered directly from Cranberry Hill, one of the few organic cranberry farms in the country. Naturally, some sauce making was in order. My friend Kara and I used about 5 pounds for this purpose, and canned it in pint-sized jars to give as holiday gifts. I plan on freezing about half the remaining berries for use in Martha Stewart's delicious Cranberry Meringue Pie, which was very popular at last year's family Thanksgiving, and I might use what's left for just a little more sauce...

*For my cranberry sauce recipe, click here!

Kitchen Color

We're trying to pick a paint color for the kitchen. Here are some of the turquoise items we use in the room, notably one of the drawer pulls, which will be on every drawer and cabinet. We're using Dunn Edwards paint, recommended by our painter, and these are the colors that seem to be the closest to what we want.

Kitchen Remodel: Day Fourteen

Alright, imagine all this with the cabinets painted white, and the walls painted blue! The flooring goes in on Tuesday, and then we'll be all done until Thanksgiving, when Eric's brother-in-law is coming down to help us paint. Then I'll finally have some "after" pictures! I can't wait.


I think the lamp is gorgeous! It totally makes the room. And here's one of our milk glass pulls (again, imagine it against white).

I'm Ready for my Close-Up

So, after one failed Pottery Barn attempt, we've chosen this lamp from Restoration Hardware. I'm not the biggest fan of fluoresecents, but hey, they're energy efficient, and there is really NOTHING else out there that would work over our medicine cabinet. Still, I think this fixture is nice and subtle, and it has some pretty chrome detailing on the ends, which will go with the rest of our fixtures. It's on backorder until December, but once we get it up, I'll take pictures.

Pillow Fight

Pam over at Housemartin just posted about the furniture available at Maine Cottage, where I discovered these beautiful throw pillows. I don't know about you, but I love throw pillows, and I think they cozy up a room when used in moderation. Unfortunately, I am also very picky about them, and so even though I would be happy to have four or six scattered about my living room, I only have two. Right now I am imagining these lovelies accompanying them, and I'm very tempted....