Kitty Genius

Tis the season!

 

I'm a consumer and a sucker and I LOVE those red cups!

Drinks taste better in them.

True story: My good friend Danni just happens to be as crazy as me and we made plans to go to Starbucks November 1st together for drinks in the red cups. Alas, they did not have them that day but a few more days of adventuring with her and her baby girl Edie and we accomplished both antiqueing and festive cups.

It doesn't take much to make me very happy.

Please tell me you have these strange holiday quirks that just get you in the mood.

Together Forever

The trumpeter swan, a symbol of love, mates for life.

A brand new print available in the shop now!

I wanted to create a piece with darker, richer colors and this has hit the spot for me.

I love animal symbolism and behavior, when they possess a trait we value so highly. Who doesn't love seeing a duck couple at a pond? Or a mother lion being so tender with her cubs, or even your household cat letting her instinct rule?

I certainly want to explore this more in my work…

In other news… HALLOWEEN!! It's so close! This is the first time we will be in an actual house where there might be trick-or-treaters. I have to go get candy ASAP!

Tomorrow, I think we will be pumpkin carving! Does it get any better?

Weekending

This weekend was the antique expo in Portland and it is so so very large. I couldn't take a ton of photos, but here are some of the ones I snapped.

This dollhouse was so rickety and magical.

lovely book

booth after booth of ephemera

a chandelier that had a hunter whose legs turned into antlers. Wow.

cuckoo clock crazy

one of my favorites. What Drew called the tenement dollhouse. This was made from an old crate and hand-painted. Truly a piece of art.

After that Drew and I headed to a late lunch/early dinner and home for a nap!

Today I went highchair hunting with a friend and to a little french bakery that is so good and even cuter than it is tasty.

(iPhone pics on the way out) Next time i will get some of the interior.

Now, it is easing into a chilly, drizzly Sunday night. I'll take it! I hope your weekend was great!

Pumpkin patching again

Wow. Was I gone long enough? October just begs for time spent outside, apples, reading, snuggling up and watching dvd marathons.

I was saying I wish all the holidays could be pushed back a month. Halloween at the end of November. Than there are two wonderful fall months leading up to it instead of just one. Thanksgiving the end of December when here it is just starting to snow and then the holidays the end of January where it is SO bitterly cold and wintery. Because let's face it, January to March can usually be a looooong dismal stretch of waiting for spring.

And maybe it's really just as you get older time goes so much faster...sad. It took FOREVER to get to September to December when you're a kid.

So, my lesson to myself for the month is really to get the most out of this month, even if there is just a wee bit left.

Yesterday Drew and I went with our pumpkin patch buddies to pick out the oh so perfect pumpkins.

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the afternoon with soup and coffee at a almost completely empty restaurant. Day. Well. Spent.

My first pumpkin patch...but it won't be my last

That's right, Drew, our friend Danni, her baby Edie, and I all went to Roloff Farms. I have to say I am a fan of the show Little People Big World and I am even a bigger fan of the land they live on so I wanted to see it in person. There were some beautiful views. 

And in total dorky news they were filming for the show. We saw a scene with Matt (the dad) being shot and Jeremy (one of their twin boys) drove out tracker tour. Oh...my...my...my the silliness.

 

Drew in the BIG chair

 

Drew and me on top of haystack mountain

And the most ridiculous picture ever! Edie in a sea of pumpkins, laughing at her mom. And that knit outfit? Come on : )

I hope your pumpkin season is off to a great start of kettle corn and spiced apple cider

It is OFFICIALLY my favorite time of year!

A little sprucing up goes a long way

The corner of my dining room has been majorly spruced up and decluttered. I painted the ugly closet door with chalkboard paint (for menus or to draw a christmas tree on, perhaps? or honestly, to leave blank). It's a really great color and texture all on its own.

I haven't color coordinated my books for some time. So, I was happy to tackle that beast at last. It takes me sooo long for some reason.

Now what to do with the mess that has been left behind… I have to find new homes around the house.

Drew's birthday cake

So, September 5 was Drew's birthday and I am just now getting to posting what I thought was his pretty awesome cake.

A giant burger (white and chocolate cake, complete with sesame seeds on top), fries (white cake), and ketchup (icing)! Silly cake… I wish I could say I made it but alas it was a Fred Meyer cake.

We had a quiet birthday—just the two of us, and that is actually a first ever on Drew's birthday. But it was nice and we went to The Observatory, which is right by our house. The food was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I highly recommend it if you're in this neck of the woods. Great soup and salads too.

Here is something some of you may or may not know about. I Twittered about it a while ago.

Restaurant.com offers discounted gift certificates for local restaurants (put in your ZIP code or city). Normally they have a $25 one that you can buy for $10 or a $50 one you can buy for $20. Sometimes they have crazy discounts of 50% to 90% off. Enter the correct promo code. When they had the 90% deal I bought a $50 gift certificate and three $25 ones for a grand total of $5. Now—with your $25 gift certificate you will have to spend often times a minimum of $35, but that still means you're only paying $10. So just wanted to let you guys know. Read the restrictions, but it's still worth it and they are good for a year. : )

Right now until September 27 you can get 70% off. Just enter promo code TREAT. You just print out the gift certificate on your printer.

They didn't have restaurants I normally go to, but they had some I want to try… so fair enough!

I may have just bought someone a Halloween costume

Am I horrible?

I was having a rough day last week and I came across this tutu at Petco...and well, what could I possibly do?

I did not get her the Indiana Jones hat. That was obviously for a boy and therefore obviously ridiculous...but man I have been laughing and laughing and laughing at this ever since.  Really, they have some hilarious costumes for all types of cats and dogs and this one was like $6.99

For years I have wanted to knit four pink legwarmers for her for Halloween and this may be as close as I get.

Forgive me Isadorra...

Improvementttttttttts!!!

Remember when I was beginning my ceiling tile project?

Well… it is now complete!!

Here are the befores:

And the afters:

I need to get a chandelier still, and after putting it up I think I need to put up some molding, but still—SUCH an improvement and I love it so much.

I finally got a rug for beneath the dining room table.

Is it my drrrrrrrrream rug? No, but it turns out the chevron stripe rug of my dreams is like, oh you know, $4000… so I will see how this one holds up. So far I really like it, especially with the colors of the chair cushions.

That's all I know for today. We have been in this house about 9 months and I feel like I am finally coming to grips with the style I want versus the style this house dictates (as we all know all spaces do).

Little Ones Print Set

Hooray! A new print set is in the shop.

I've had these two little ones drawn for some time but I had to live with them for a while before I could figure out what colors would suit them best. I imagine them in a little one's room (hence the title) but I wanted it to feel like either a boy's or girl's room would suit them.

I have to say I am a bit disappointed in fall's regression. It was chilly there for a second and now it is back to warmish days. That's OK—I'll fake it until we make it. I am going to bake some cookies that I promised my mom. I hope your week is off to a great start!