A Nice Pair of Hooters

I'm such a blog slacker. I spend so much time reading my favorites- Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge, Bakerella, Posie Gets Cozy- if I took a tenth of the time I spent READING blogs to update my own, I'd have several posts per day. Now, I don't feel that that is necessary- but I am going to pledge to write one post per day for the foreseeable future, and see where it takes me.

I'm planning a little wine party at my house on Wednesday for a lot of friends from work, none of whom have seen my new place. I'm nervous, because I don't feel like the place is ready- but I have added three little design pieces to the mix that I am excited to share with you here.


I've sort of got a woodland theme going at my place. Well, I like to call it "Fantasy Woodland: Geek". By fantasy, I mean more gnomes than fairies. I decorated with fairies sophomore year of college- but I think I'm over that now.

Anyways! Back to the photo. I love owls. Besides being unbearably cute when represented as a softie or illustration, they are so MAJESTIC in real life. My mother always collected owls- I have been eyeing her collection for years, just waiting for her to get sick of them. She offered them to me recently, but I feel too guilty to just TAKE them from her. Anyways. The owl on the right is a candle I bought last weekend at Urban Outfitters. Love the way it appears to be an owl carved out of wood- but in reality is, obviously, made of wax.

The owl on the LEFT, I made myself- my second amigurumi, from Ana Paula Rimoli's fantastic book, Amigurumi World. Here's a close up:


Of course, true to form, Yoshi managed to grab him off the high counter-top within twelve hours of my finishing him- I came into the living room from taking a shower, and Yoshi just has that look in his eye- like, how long before she realizes what I've done, and can I make it under the bed before then?? And sure enough- there was the owl, covered in Yoshi fur (he has been shedding like a BEAST the past few weeks) and missing an eye. The eyes are the kind that you have to snap together BEFORE you stuff the thing, so, I did my best to secure it- but it's a little loose. :( Super cute though!! I'll just have to keep it away from babies. (And Shibas).

The third item I've acquired are my adorable mushroom salt and pepper shakers from Anthropologie. The most inexpensive things I think I've ever seen there, actually, haha!

So, we are just hanging out here in my apartment tonight, watching the Braves lose (but only by one run and there are still three innings to go!!) Trying to muster up the energy to clean in preparation for Wednesday night wine party......

Springtime Apple Pie

So, I have been in a bakey-place lately, although when I start to get the energy to actually act on it, the tools and ingredients and time requirements usually exhaust me mentally just THINKING about getting started...and then I walk a block over to the Atlanta Cupcake Factory and buy one of their delicious confections instead. :)

But, Glenn's sixth-quarter panel is today (yay, the end of the quarter is finally here!!), and he got some fantastic career-related news last week, so to celebrate I told him I would make him (or attempt to make him) any dessert he wanted. And he wanted Apple Pie. He loves my apple pies, and I never got the chance to make one last fall, so, although I normally don't have a taste for it this time of year, it seemed like the thing to do.

So, I made one. A new recipe I have never used before- and my first ever lattice-crust- and I think it turned out pretty well.
Here it is right out of the oven.
A top shot. Not a perfect lattice- but I think it's okay for my first try. And it looks so crisp!
Yum, gooey mounds of apply goodness....we will definitely enjoy cutting into this guy after panel this evening.

RAWR!!!!!

So, I was in a very productive place last week. I ALMOST finished unpacking (just about 5 boxes of stuff to go- stuff I'm not sure where to place...), I finished the painting for my Godson, and I finished my first ever Amigurumi!
Amigurumi is Japanese for knitted stuffed toy, although more often than not, they are actually crocheted. I bought a book called Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet, and after getting back into the swing of crochet with a few easier projects, some scarves and gloves and things, I decided to give it a shot. I started out with a lion.


I'm really happy with him!! His little crooked mouth, and cute little tail...Yoshi has been eyeing him with a look of desperation since I finished him. I've been keeping him on my high kitchen counters- but then this morning, while I was getting ready, Yoshi climbed on up there and got him. Luckily, I rescued him in time, but there are a couple of loose theads that I need to repair. :(

This will be another gift for my godson- next I want to make an owl. And I am going to keep that one. :)

This took a ridiculous amount of time to complete

So, I started the project below about a week before my boyfriend's sister had her first baby, my godson, Hannon. I just finished last week, about a year and a HALF later. If I were selling paintings, I would have to sell it for about $5,000 to see any type of return on the time investment, haha! But I think it turned out pretty cute- I can't wait to get it framed and see how it looks up against Hannon's blue walls...


It's acrylic paint on canvas, and I will post a much better photo once I get a frame and some decent lighting. I was a little concerned while working on it that the pinkish-purple undertones in some of the squares might be too feminine for a little boy, but we have since learned that there will be a little girl joining the family very soon, and for a while at least, she will be sharing a room with Hannon, so I think the colors will be fine. I have so many ideas for what to create for the little girl...I can't wait to get started.

Snowy Day

So, we had a somewhat unexpected snowstorm here in Atlanta a couple of weekends ago (in true Atlanta fashion, the very next weekend we had 77 degree weather, go figure), and I snapped a photo of Yoshi staring at the snowfall that I wanted to share.


It was so funny watching him jump into the air on our walk trying to catch the flakes in his mouth. He is so much like a cat sometimes.

Mini-Project

I have been struggling with finding a way to organize and store my jewelry. During my move, I ended up throwing away several hopelessly tangled necklaces (don't worry- I salvaged as many beads as I could), and am constantly frustrated at the annoyance of trying to find matching earrings in my hodge-podge of a jewelry box.

Looking back through my old Blueprint mags, I came across this idea in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue:

I love tree branches anyway, and this is so rustic AND elegant at the same time. I really do plan to get this system worked out for my own jewelry (although- realistically- how many pieces of jewelry could you fit on that branch? And I know I don't have space for multiple jars with branches in them throughout my apartment).

In the meantime, I finally got fed up on Sunday, and put together a make-shift organization system on the back of my bedroom closet door:

It's not the most beautiful/stylish display right now- but I plan to maybe put an empty frame around the space, replace the standard push pins with some decorative ones, and try to make the display a little more symmetrical. Honestly, I am just glad to be able to open the closet door and find a matching pair of earrings right off the bat!

Has anyone else come across an ingenious way to store and organize your jewelry?

My new digs

SOOO, it's been awhile! I have a reason- besides the fact that work has been a particularly debilitating nightmare the past three weeks (like- 20 Excel spreadsheets open at a TIME nightmare-), I moved!

The move itself was soo much harder than I anticipated. I'd been holed up in my last place for almost four years, and it's amazing how much stuff you can amass when you have that much time and way too much space.

Just to interject a short story about the move- at 2:45 am on the last night I was legally allowed to be in my apartment- and only about an hour after Glenn and I hoisted my one-cushioned loveseat that would never find a home onto his Xterra and stealthily drove it to the dumpster and crammed it in there (feigning ignorance of the giant sign that says "Please Do NOT dispose of furniture at this recepticle)- we stood in the mostly empty apartment, feeling sentimental. It was the place I've lived for more years than any other, save my childhood house in Jonesboro. Then, we turned to leave. And promptly knocked over the 80% full can of white primer. With the top on loosely. And it went EVERYWHERE. I thought Glenn was going to throw up (he doesn't handle stress the best...) I ran out to my car, grabbed my fabric shower curtain liner (which I had PLANNED to use again- it was still pretty new), and while Glenn cut it into strips, I frantically tried to wipe the primer from the floor. Thank God it happened in the foyer, where there is this fake-wood linoleum. Somehow, 45 minutes later, we had managed to get it all up. But I could see our perfectly-preserved (to that point) security deposit just SLIPPING away as that primer spread across the floor.

So, anyways, I am in the new place. And it's great!! Right in the heart of town, in the Highlands- I can walk places! That I want to walk to!!
I wanted to post some photos here for you to see. And mention some projects I have in mind.
This is the house my apartment is in. I have the bottom left. The porch is ALL MINE!!!
One of my first projects will be to recover all the couch cushions. I love this couch, but the fabric has seen better days... I also need to figure out how to fill all the wall space- the ceilings are 12 feet. Hmmm, I also need to learn how to take better photos, lol.
This is a pretty good shot of the kitchen. I'm not crazy about the plum color of some of the wall areas- but I am still wiped from priming my last place. Painting is not very high on my list of must-do projects right now...

I just really like this door and window layout- and that's how I access my porch!! (yes, I still have random boxes laying around).
The bedroom- smaller than my last, but I like it! I have finally decided that I am old enough to have a headboard. So I am going to make one. I like this one:

And the doggy. :) But I have enough of those...

Speaking of which! Here is a gratuitous Yoshi-shot. He is chewing his new bone. Just being adorable.
He is afraid of the hardwood floors- keeps slipping on them- and he also thinks that the air vents are somehow to blame- he is REALLY wary of those...so he spends a lot of time on the rug in the living room.

So, to recap- got a new place. Lots to do, including recovering my couch cushions, creating a new headboard, and trying my hand at planting some flowers on the porch. I'll keep you updated! Now time for dinner...spaghetti with day-old breadcrumbs and anchovies....yum...