Thoughts on Valentine's Day

When I was younger, I never recognized Valentine's Day as anything special.  As a child, something tragic happened to a friend of mine on this day, and for years, it seemed almost wrong to celebrate this day.

As I grew up, I never had anyone special on Valentine's Day, so it seemed fitting for rebellious me to shrug this day off as "something-corporations-created-to-get-us to-buy-things-so-soon-after- Christmas" type of thing.  I was such a romantic as an undergrad.

Yet again, my idea of Valentine's Day has changed.  After spending this time with my partner D, I've come to see Valentine's Day as something new.  There is still a part of me that regrets what happened to my friend all those years ago.  And there is still a part of me that thinks buying stuff is not the best way to show someone you care.  I believe that Valentine's Day can be a good reminder to show the person you love that you value them.  Yes, we should do this everyday, but sometimes life gets in the way.  D knows I love him all the time, but if there are a few days a year, that I can take the time and do something special for D, then that can't be a bad day in my books.  It can be a day of complex feelings, and it is.

I chose the above quote, because at this point in my life, I feel that my reality is better than I dreamed.  I have a career I love, a partner I adore and a home with him.  Who could ask for anything more?

As I was ruminating on my feelings about Valentine's Day, I did a little crochet.  These little hearts.

Aren't they so cute?

Would you like to make some?  I should warn you, they are so fast and cute they are a little addictive.

Tiny Cute Hearts

Gauge doesn't matter, just use an appropriate size hook for the yarn.  I used an E hook with light worsted weight yarn.

(The whole heart is one round)

Make a magic circle (crochet all stitches into the circle)
Chain 3
3 treble crochet
3 doubles crochet
chain 1
1 treble crochet
chain 1
3 double crochet
3 treble crochet
chain 2
slip stitch into circle and fasten off.

I also made the three dimensional ones in the top pic.  That pattern is here (link).

For D's present, I didn't make it.  But I did make the wrapping paper:

He's a writer, so I thought punctuation would be cute.  I stamped all over some white paper, and made a little card.

D knows me so well, he got me a handmade gift from my favorite store, White Elephant!

Isn't it sweet?  It was made by Maudstitch (link).  I can't wait to wear it on my cardigan tomorrow!

And we made sure that everyone in this house got a little love today:

There's nothing Shiloh loves better than a good neck scratch.

Hope your Valentine's Day was happy!

Sick Day

Somedays feel like a grilled cheese and tomato soup kind of day.  Today, I was sick, and so I had a day of comfort cravings.  When I'm sick, I crave the things that I had when I was younger, and this was a lunch that we had a lot.  There is not a lot of things that I want to do when I'm sick.  But what I do like to do is:

Watch TV.  I love that Netflix has television shows in its listings.  We don't have cable, so we don't watch a lot of TV.  But I have a special weakness for British television.  My new show of choice is Camelot.  Its terribly melodramatic and over-acted, but I love it.  I'm cuddled up on the couch in a woolen blanket nest watching episode, after episode.

I need tea in my very favorite mug.  I call this my "Teacher Mug" because this is pretty much my motto in the classroom.  I always like to stay calm, especially if something is going down to rile the kiddies up. When I feel sick, this mug makes me smile.  My mom bought this mug for me on a whim when we were shopping in Buffalo.  I've used it every day since.

What I am saddest about this sick day is how beautiful the weather is outside.  Its sunny and there's snow on the ground.  It would have been a great day for a walk.  Sigh.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as nice-- for Valentine's Day.

Pretty Little Things

I had a little date with myself on Friday.  After work, I decided to go to one of my favorite places (James North) and wonder around!  James North is a street where there are  lots of neat little art places, and shops.  I took in a show by artist Stephanie Seagram (link) (which was great) and then bought myself two pretty little things.  The first thing is very practical as it is very pretty: a tea wallet!

Isn't it cute?  I take tea with me to school and rehearsal, so it made sense that I take it in something other than a plastic baggie.   Its so sweet.  It was made by Sweet Stitch (link), so if you want one, go on to the link already.  I got it at one of my fave stores on James North, White Elephant (link).  This is why it is one of my favorite spots:

Photo from www.whiteelephantshop.ca

Look how beautiful it is in there!  And there are always at least 100 things I want to buy.  I have to settle on one thing at a time or I will break the bank!  There are so many handmade goodies in here, I always walk out with a little something, and a little inspiration.

I stopped in at another favorite spot, my local art shop Mixed Media (link) and bought a great pen.  I've always wanted to try writing with pen and ink.  I love the look of it, and hey, I love learning new things, so I went an bought a pretty little pen to do it with.  I get most of my art supplies from Mixed Media because aside from Dave knowing so darn much, this space is beautiful too!

Photos by Dave Kuruc at Mixed Media, from http://www.mixedmediahamilton.com/

I got to spend a little time with myself, see a great art exhibit, and pick up 2 little gifts for myself.  I didn't forget D!  While he was working away, I picked him up his favorite treat, some Portuguese custard tarts.  He was a happy dude too.

Crepes for Dinner

Being a grown-up means that you can choose to have whatever you want for dinner.  So D and I had crepes!  We had savory crepes first, then dessert crepes.  I ate the dinner ones so fast, I forgot to take pictures of the first ones.  But these are the dessert crepes with my favorite sweet filling.  Here's the recipe:

Easy Crepe Recipe (that I use for any crepe craving)
Makes 4 crepes (or 2 huge crepes)

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 lukewarm water
2 large eggs
1/8 cup melted butter
1/8 tsp of salt
for dessert crepes add 1 tbsp of sugar

Mix all ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Let sit for 30 mins to get rid of bubbles. (I have used the batter right after mixing, and the crepes turned out fine).  Heat a non-stick frying pan.  Lift the pan off the heat, and pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan thinly (about a 1/4 cup of batter) and rotate the pan so that the batter covers the whole pan.  Put back on the heat and cook until set, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Flip using a spatula or finger tips, cook for a minute on the other side.  Done!  And fill!  Store between wax paper in an airtight container in the fridge.

My favorite fillings:

Dinner crepe: Baby spinach; brie; sliced turkey; cranberry sauce or honey mustard

Dessert crepe: bananas; Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread); peanut butter; pecans

But you can fill them with almost anything.  Please share if you have any amazing fillings.

Relaxed

After a tough day I like to...

Do a little of this;

cuddle up under this;

and play with this guy.  And then the day seems better.

What do you do to relax?

What is your bag?:

This is my bag!  Its a good one, not too big, and virtually indestructible.  The best part is that I can put buttons on it!  Why am I showing you my purse?   Amanda at Apple Blue did this cool post where she photographed what was in her bag.  The voyeur in me loved this idea, so here is what's in my bag:

 1. Keys with my I love New York lanyard that my friend just brought back from New York (duh) because I couldn't go with them.  I had to work.

2.  My purple leather wallet from Danier Leather (link here.)

3. My day planner.  I love the size and layout.  And the owls.  I love owls.

4. Writing tools.  For ideas, and because I can never find a pen when I need it.

5. My reading glasses.  Read about how I got them here (link).

6.  My inhaler.  I have asthma.

7.  The best lip balm in the world.  BalmWorks Crazy Rumors Spiced Chai Tea.  Get some (link)

8. Pill box with pills and antacids.  You know, the necessities.

9. Mints.  Got to have something to chew on.

10. Camera in case there is blog inspiration on the go.

11.  Smartphone.  Its been on the fritz lately, so I am unimpressed with it.

12. My elephant make up bag.  I don't wear a lot of make so I don't carry a lot around, so a little bag does me.

So there it is!  What I carry with me everyday!  I try to keep it to just the essentials otherwise I would be carrying around everything but the kitchen sink.  And maybe even the sink too.  Now off to knit a little before dinner!

Made: Ripple Stitch Afghan

This blanket has been 2 years in the making.  Usually, I lose interest in a project this big a long time before I can finish it.  But this blanket was fun to crochet.  It was meditative to do.  And it used all my half balls of yarn.

Doesn't it look so pretty on my bed?  I love it there.  But now, its on the back of the couch ready to keep my feet warm this lazy Sunday afternoon.  The pattern was very easy and you can find a version of it here.  It was super easy to memorize, and once I got into the flow of it I didn't even need to count or look at the afghan.  I did a lot of this blanket watching movies.

The colors I chose had more to do with what I had on hand, rather than what I wanted.  For most of the yarn,  could tell exactly which project that color came from.  Its a pretty cool timeline of my knitting and crochet history!  I know that people sometime use a random color generator but decided to just crochet at will and see what happens.  It was kind of exciting really because I had no idea what the blanket would look like when I was finished.

All the stripes and the gentle ripples make me really happy.  Hope your Sunday is relaxing!

I love a busy day.

Today the weather was great, so it was a great day to get some errands done!  I love a busy day like I love a list; its so satisfying to get things done and cross them off the list.

1.  On the go breakfast from McDonald's.  I know a lot of people talk about hating McDonald's, but I love their breakfast sandwiches.  If loving them is wrong, I don't want to be right.

2. I needed to look for some teaching tools, so we went to a new educational toy store.  I seriously considered buying the giant piano mat (like from the movie "Big"!)

3.  Needed caffeine.  Got coffee.

4. D needed a haircut.  I got to sit and make fun of him.

5. Groceries.  I actually like grocery shopping.

6. Top it off with photo shoot for the show at the studio.  More to come on that.

There were a few places that I forgot to take pics at:  we got more yarn for a baby sweater I'm knitting, and we went to a music store to get me some new guitar strings.  Now its 11:00 pm and I feel accomplished enough to go to bed.  Good night!

Upcycled hankies

Lovely hand-stitched goodies.

My friend Julie read about a jewelry sale in the newspaper.  A group of women in a church group were selling their old jewelry!  For a crafty gal like me, I couldn't just not go. We went and the sale was small, but there was some fun stuff.  Some costumey stuff that I didn't have many ideas for. What caught my eye were the hand-embroidered hankies and napkins.

There were lots of napkins and hankies that had lost their set, and they were so cheap.  I bought this one for 10 cents.  I loved him!  He's such a cheerful little dude.

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

...So I up-cycled it into some embroidery art for my cross stitch wall!  He's chilling below my Dia de los Muertos cross stitch, and my position on children.  This hankie even inspired to do another cross stitch. 

Recipe: My Favorite Potatoes

 

We're trying to eat healthy in our house.  Trying very hard. But every now and then, I crave french fries.  I need them.  They become the monkey on my back.  But they are so very unhealthy for us, but so tasty that we usually eat more than the surgeon general would recommend.  So I made up a new way of satisfying my french fry crave.  They're baked, so they aren't as bad (so I'm told) but they are still oh so good.

Stephanie's Fake Fried Fries

Ingredients:

4 medium to large potatoes, scrubbed with the skin on

2-3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut the potatoes into french fry shapes.  I like the long wedges myself.  In a bowl, toss the potatoes with the EVOO, Lemon juice, Salt and Pepper.

Lay out the fries on a baking sheet in one layer.  Bake on the middle rack for 25 mins.  Flip the potatoes over and bake for another 15-20mins until they are the desired crispness.  I like crunchy fries, so mine took 40 mins.

Eat with ketchup, if you must.