Friday, March 30, 2007

too much html !

As you've probably gathered from my absence this week, I've been busy. Had my nose in my laptop the past few days finishing a total site revamp. It's up live now - so feel free to check it out - but pay no attention to any goofs and bumbles. Tomorrow (Saturday) is my quality control day. But, as promised (to myself and you), all the new bibs and booties are up. I even have a cute little logo indicating that these are:

as seen on the Martha Stewart Show

If you live in the San Diego County area, look for me in Sunday's North County Times. No, that's not the New York Times I said, North County Times. (something I've actually had to say to someone - ha ha - I wish!) My big appearance is just around the bend now. Next week folks! Some of the family is insisting that we all meet at a sports bar for the show. I don't know about that - besides, how we going to get the bartender to change the channel to the Martha Stewart Show? Nah, I think I'll watch it quietly at home where I can hide my blushing face behind a pillow.

Now, this house requires some major attention. Toys (mine and the kid's) everywhere! It'll be a morning of spring cleaning. After that, I'd love an afternoon of some sewing. My brain is screaming from days of sitting in front of this computer. It's hard for me to imagine how I used to manage 40-hour work weeks sitting in front of a computer. It's pretty sad when your wrist hurts because it's been perched over the mouse too long! After too much time with the mouse, I seriously begin to imagine that I can scroll my way through anything. Kid having a temper tantrum? Let's just scroll down to the bottom of the page where it all ends and he's laughing about it all. It's dinner time and the chicken breast is still frozen? Scroll it into a high speed defrost. (speaking of which, I better take that chicken out of the freezer now - Almond Chicken tonight...I'll have to share this recipe with you this weekend)

Happy Friday everyone!
Sorry for the absence!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

a lovely flour bouquet

The other day, after posting pictures of flowers, it occurred to me how much I loved the scene in Stranger Than Fiction where Will Ferrell's character gave Maggie Gyllenhaal's character some flours (a box filled with different bags of flour, because she's a baker).

Reminds me of the time my husband gave me a cotton candy machinefor our second wedding anniversary. (second anniversary = cotton)

I loved the whole movie, actually. Loved all the graphics. Wish I could live my life with corresponding symbols, graphs and charts like that.

Got to get the bibs updated on the site.
Got to get the bibs updated on the site.
Got to get the bibs updated on the site.

Do you think it will happen now?

Click my heals three times
and all my
hopes and desires

will

come

true.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

flowers

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Blank.

My mind is blank today.

So how about pictures instead?

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Saturday, March 17, 2007

Friday, March 16, 2007

bad mommy

A little collage here of the morning's activities. First off, look at that fog! I love it - as long as I don't have to drive in it. Next up - cookies for St. Patrick's Day. Well - St. Patrick's Day cookies that will be given to my father-in-law, that is. It's his birthday today, and when I saw this funny monkey at Target yesterday, I had to get it. It was a morning of fog and baking. Not a bad start to a Friday. Next up - boring stuff like laundry and dishes and toy round up.
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I don't usually spend too much time writing about TV because I'm always a few days behind - thank god for Tivo. So, yesterday I watched an episode of Martha from a few days ago and she had a crafter on from Seattle, Cassie, who makes roses from coffee filters. Martha explained that Cassie has a 2 month old baby she brought with her and then there was all this chatter about "oh you can't leave a 2 month old" and "I also couldn't not come so I brought the baby". So now I feel like a terrible terrible mother because I did leave my baby - but only because I couldn't very well take a 2-1/2 week old on a plane into a snowstorm. But now my segment will air after this one and I'll be the bad mommy who was on Martha. Truth is, though, the baby didn't know I was gone. He had his daddy to hold him and love him. I, on the other hand, was a complete mess leaving him. Maybe that's why the whole trip is such a blur to me now. Oh well - what's done is done. But you know I'll be cringing when we come to the part in my segment where I talk about my newborn. *shrinks away*

Thursday, March 15, 2007

work in progress - bibs

Bibs - my project for the day. Need to get these prototypes sewed up, photographed and added to the website. These are the styles I showed on Martha, so it would be appropriate for them to have their place on the site.
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I have this little box I use for holding my current projects. This makes for easy transferring of projects from room to room, to the park or in front of the TV. I've been toting this little box around with these little bibs for nearly a week now.
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I swear I don't know where time goes. Although, I have been consumed with trying introduce some amount of organization back into the house. Maybe it's the weather - we've been in the high 80s here in San Diego county. I think warm weather after the cool of winter always makes me feel like clearing out the cobwebs. Although, the weather here seems to have skipped Spring altogether and jumped right into the heart of August! But now that I've said that, I'm sure it's going to start cooling off again.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

i was destined to eat cookies this week

I promised myself I'd post more often. How have two whole days gone by already? Two years ago when I started this little online journal I saw it as a chance to hold myself accountable for my time. You see, back then I was a fresh new mama still getting used to the idea of not showing up at the office everyday. In fact, I'd wake up panicked thinking I'd missed my alarm and would be late for my train. The idea of not working was so foreign to me. So, to make up for it, I thought a little blog might encourage me to have something to show for my time. (I know, I know, the real reason I was home was to take care of the baby - but, I still felt like I should have something else to show for my days at home) It helped. Made me feel a little more worthy.


And here it is, two days after my last post, already after 5 0'clock - so what have I been up to? Organizing. Trying to stick to my diet. Thinking about my website update. (action soon to follow) See these jars? Why does it feel wrong to throw perfectly good glass jars into the recylcle bin? I've got So Much junk everywhere - wouldn't jars like these put everything in their place? And, if I spray painted the lids, wouldn't they look super cool?

So, the big problem with organizing is that you come across things you'd forgotten you even had. All week I've been avoiding those cookie-toting Girl Scouts like the plague. (I SWEAR, I always manage to start a diet the very day those gosh darn thin mints hit the streets) What do you think I found in my basket of yarn? A box of Kauai Kookies that I bought on our last trip to the islands - I box I'd intended to give to a friend but forgot about (sorry Josie, those were yours). So what do you think happened?

Yes. I've helped myself to 3 or 4 cookies. And now that the box is open (oh it's a big ol' can o' worms), I'm sure I'll be subject to falling off the diet wagon for a couple days now. BUT, at least my sewing supplies now look pretty in all their matching glass jars, right?

Saturday, March 10, 2007

my daily double wager

I'd been thinking about trying to make containers from felt. Each time I stitch up a bootie I'm amazed at the structural stability of these little shoes - so I finally gave it a try and it worked like I thought it would. I made this small little basket with no real intention for purpose. Then it occurred to me that this clover I picked up the other day would fit inside perfectly! Nice when things work out like that, isn't it? It's also nice to take a break from the regular projects and try out something new for a change. As I've mentioned before, I'd love to get myself in a groove where I'm trying to create something new each day. I admire the dedication of artists who pick up their sketch book each day or writers who write something every day. Well, since I'm all over the place in terms of what it is I do, why shouldn't I dedicate myself to accomplishing one small new thing a day? Maybe I need to make it more interesting ...bet myself ...or put some kind of wager on it. Tall order - maybe I should scale back to one every other day - one day to think about it and one day to execute. Hmmm ...I'm seriously going to consider how I might put something like this in play to jump start my motivation.

The husband and I are going out on a date tonight! The boys go to grandma and grandpa's so we can have a real dinner out. I'm looking forward to some wonderful thai food from a little restaurant in Encinitas we went to years ago. We miss our favorite thai restaurant in San Diego, Saffron. Chef Su-Mei Yu has a photo of her with Martha Stewart in the restaurant. I always used to think - oh wow! She worked with Martha! Hee hee hee ...now I'll have my own photo to put up in my space ...giggle giggle! After dinner, we may even enjoy an after dinner drink at a bar down the street called the Daley Double Saloon. We've always thought that was such a great name for a bar. Gosh - a real night out! What a treat! Happy Saturday!

Friday, March 09, 2007

smelling kind of fishy

Made some fish tacos for dinner the other night. You know all this fuss they're making - about how you should eat more fish - something about it being good for you or something silly like that. Well, the husband and I - not so much fish eaters. We're trying to incorporate it into our diet in a way that is not battered, fried and served up with chips. I think the taco attempt was pretty successful. Marinated some sea bass in a little tequila, lime juice, green onions, garlic and salt + pepper. Then grilled it up and loaded up some tortillas with the fish, cheese and sprouts. Although, as photo #2 indicates, one of us is, sadly, dairy-free. As I feared, the baby spit up is multiplied when I consume dairy. So, for me it was good ol' tofu cheese. (this KILLS me) Our goal is to have fish once a week. Maybe we'll start to develop a taste for it and can up the ante. But for now, once a week in a variety of creative dishes.

This is not very interesting at all I'm afraid.

In other news, I've added a place to sign-up on my mailing list on my website. I've always wanted to start sending out e-mail newsletters - so now's as good a time as any to start doing that. Jump on over to the site to sign up if you're interested. (this will also give me a chance to work out any kinks - so I'd really appreciate your help)



P.S. If you've got any good recipes for fish - I'd love to try them out.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

pinch me i'm dreaming

Some might think I wanted another baby so I'd have my very own bootie model here at my disposal. Yes, it's convenient - but I can't believe he's already outgrown my newborn size! I guess when I say "newborn," I mean NEWBORN! Maybe this size could use some tweaking to get a couple more weeks out of 'em. Something that those with an eye for detail might notice in the photo above is the adorable outfit my little guy is wearing. Yes, those are sushi shorts and a matching sushi screened top! It's a sweet little outfit by Icky Baby.

Somehow, some way, I woke up in a really good mood today. Surprising, because yesterday was day one of diet back ON. (imagine one of those little magnetic signs you pick up at the arts-n-crafts fair down in the lobby of your building before christmas - the one that you turn to read "Diet On" when you're dieting and flip to "Diet Off" when not) So part of me is wondering if all the good eating had its effect on my mood - the whole chemical balance or whatever it is that goes on inside there (remind me to ask Tom Cruise about that). I also consumed like a gallon of green tea (really, like 4 cups) - so maybe that helped to cleanse me of all those toxic bad mood bugs. Or maybe it's just a huge coincidence. Let me just say that I love it when I'm humming a tune and playing with my son without even stressing over the pile of laundry waiting for me this afternoon. Whatever! (see? pretty darn good mood) I wish you could see and appreciate the magnificent train track we set up on the floor! Also, today is the second time we've ever watched "Blue's Clues" and for some reason, I'm finding it very calming. Something about this guy's voice, the way he talks and the way he makes me feel so gosh darn smart for finding Blue's clue. I'm digging it. (yeah, a shining good mood)

So, the clock is ticking and I still have major website updates I want to accomplish before Martha airs. Which reminds me, I had a dream about Martha last night! We were like best friends or something. Whenever I tell people about my little Martha adventure, they remark on how it must have been so great for me to meet this woman who I've been following all these years (all those magazines, all those books, all those christmas specials and that Martha paint and the recipes the projects the organizing tips ...) - and the truth is, now that I think about it, NOW, it occurs to me that, yes, she was probably the person I'd name when asked, "If you could meet anybody, who would it be?" (Dead or alive, it would be John Lennon - but in a realistic scenario, yes, it would have been Martha) But I'm glad this didn't occur to me until now. Otherwise I might have been completely nervous and goofy in front of her. On the other hand, now it seems like I slept through the whole experience because now it all seems like a fuzzy dream. My dream last night actually seems more real. Maybe it was all just a dream. Maybe this good mood is just a dream. Do you ever have dreams where you tell yourself this is a dream but then can't wake up and so come to terms with the fact that it's not a dream? (and then you do, in fact, wake up) I sure do. Maybe I should do something wild and crazy today because this could just be one great big dream. Why not?

Friday, March 02, 2007

thanks to a three year old

Thank You for never allowing me to throw an empty box away - it is recyclable afterall...hours and hours of play are to be had with all those empty toy boxes. God forbid I should throw them away - or, even worse, ACTUALLY recycle them! Oh the tears to be had! Besides, they look great on the dining table!

Thank You for showing me that the precious plate I serve your breakfast on each morning is just plain silly. Food can just as easily sit on the table without this bothersome plate in the way.

Thank You, oh Thank You, for bringing the outdoors inside!

Thank You for the reorganizing you do to the living room each and every time I "clean up". Yes, I am Bad Mommy for putting Thomas in the canvas bins - which I insist on organizing all the gosh darn time. (wood trains in the red, plastic trains in the blue and metal trains in the yellow)

AND, a super BIG Thank You for pulling off all the labels from your dresser and sticking them on the floor (where they rightfully belong, of course!) so that I may have the chance to use my new label maker AGAIN! Joy, oh joy!

Final Picture: the little dear himself. Thank You.

Seriously? The biggest "thank you" is for all the screaming and shouting done while baby brother was in utero. We now have a baby who can sleep through ANYTHING!!! Thank God!
(KNOCK ON WOOD! I said it in time, right?!? Knock on Wood!!!)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

not a lot to show for the day

I wish I could face each sunset knowing that I've accomplished something new to show for the day. Making this pouch should have taken me twenty minutes. But with all the interruptions it took nearly all day. What are you gonna do? You do what you can. At least I finished one pouch. Since it's "Must See TV" tonight (Scrubs, Office, Earl), maybe, just maybe, I'll get a little stitching done while mindlessly watching the tube. Touching a little on what I was writing yesterday - I think the thing that takes me the longest with most of my projects is deciding on color. Now that I'm looking at these photographs, I wish there were a splash of coral pink/red in there. It needs it, doesn't it? Well, next one. Next one shall have some bright contrast.
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And now it's time to fix dinner. I'm thinking spaghetti. And, now that I have a whole jar of my very favorite salad dressing in the world (had my husband pick up dinner last night and to my delight while looking at the menu online, I discovered that Sammy's sells jars of their freshly made salad dressing), we'll have a side salad too. With my fresh basil viniagrette, I'm sure to get my daily serving of greens now!