Curious Bird

crash boom bang

A couple of days ago I came home to a very peculiar error message on my laptop. After trying to figure out what the problem was  for what felt like several hours, I gave up and called someone a little more savvy. The sad news that my computer is a goner -- the motherboard has major problems -- was delivered yesterday. I had backed up most, not all, but most of my photos and documents, so its not too disastrous, although I probably lost a few things I'm not remembering at the moment.

I'll be computer-less for a while...hopefully not too long. 

In the meantime, I'm going to spend lots of time with my family having a lovely holiday.
I'm hoping to eat way too many cookies, take lots of naps, tackle a few recipes I've been meaning to try and hopefully get lots of reading done.

Happy Holidays!

at least someone has the time to sleep in...

talk about lazy...Mortimer takes the cake lately.

With only a few days of pre-holiday crafting time left, I've tried to be a busy bee. I managed to get several sewing projects completed even with a big scare of what seemed like my sewing machine going on the fritz. Luckily I was able to clean it up a bit, which appears to have done the trick since its now back to making the old purrrr I'm used to.

I wanted to say thanks to each of you who commented so kindly about my hand-printed holiday cards. It feels good to have made a big check beside that item on my list. I'm definitely not opposed to purchasing holiday cards {there are some really great ones out there} but I had decided a while back that I wanted to create my own and sometimes I tend to be a little stubborn. I'm an Aries, ya know.
Speaking of great cards, I just received an order from Blue Snail Papers and I'm in love. One of the cards I ordered is so amazing, I couldn't resist putting it in a frame. Thanks Joy for guiding me to this wonderful Etsy store.

Be well,
Leya

gratitude

This weekend my boy made me a lovely breakfast. He did a very creative twist on a french toast recipe from epicurious by omitting the milk and sugar that was called for and instead he added egg nog. {good thing because there was no way I was drinking any more of the nog we had. that stuff is serious} I think the recipe switch was a brilliant idea based on how good the sweet, but not too sweet french toast turned out. 

After having a pretty sad week thinking about life and loved ones and just how impermanent every thing really is, I couldn't have asked for a better treat. Although the french toast and strong coffee was super tasty, I think sitting in the chilly morning sunshine quietly sharing space with someone I love was the thing that I needed most.

stay warm,
l.

we made lemonade

Mortimer catching a little shut-eye in the sunny laundry room --  from the archives.

Hello there, and Happy Summer. What a kick, Dustin and I took a long walk last night taking full advantage of it still being light out at 9:30. I love long summer days ... It reminds me of all the summers spent at my grandparent's farm. I would play outside all day (they had the best garden for hide and seek) until there was barely enough light to find my way back inside...
Welcome Summer.

Want to hear some interesting news?? We had to push our move back a week! I know, it keeps getting nuttier. It's a long story, and caused for some serious scrambling on our part (rescheduling of the U-haul, asking nice landlords for a week more, etc).  Two great things come from all of this crazy moving drama ...The cats don't have to be boarded (I was having some real stress about that) and D and I are going to just use the extra week to take a much needed canoe/camping trip. I'm psyched, which is much better than I was feeling when life gave us lemons a few days ago. 

Cheerio,
L.

brown fleur

Sweet vintage fabric gifted from Sabine  is my brown tuesday submission. There are some lovely Color Week photos out in the blogsphere. Here are a few of my favorites for today:

• AuntyCookie
• Girl in Green
• Abby trys again
• Camilla Engman
                  
  I'm going to be taking some blog rest on and off this week. I tweaked my neck somehow (still don't know) a few days ago and it has been a real bummer in terms of keeping my mood in a positive space. Lots of arnica has helped the situation, as well as tons of Motrin and the purchase of a new pillow, however, being a little off physically is really not working for me and I need to rest up if I expect to pack everything I own and head North in a few weeks. Ugh. (see I told you my mood is volatile).
  
  I'll be back soon. Have a good day.
  

Hi there.

Taffy Tree Collage in 5x7 shadowbox frame

The collage above is a product of a fairly productive weekend. The spurts of creativity have been ebbing and flowing around here, but I'm still feeling mostly good about things. I'm admitting to the world (in hopes that it will help) that I need to stay away from the computer (but here I am)  because although I get inspired by the vast of amounts of amazing art and handmade goodness out there, I also get sucked in to a time warp that can be very dangerous for a girl who needs to be sewing. This is an ongoing struggle for me, however, it seems to peak when I really need to be working, which must make me somewhat of a procrastinator. I've never thought of myself as a procrastinator before...

 
Here are some of the cards I've been working on. Those mushrooms, although nice, have been such a pain, but I won't go into that right now. More cards are in the works, but yet again I've run out of supplies and am awaiting another order.  I'm starting to think someone has taken my Tall Poppy supply order hostage. My postman is probably just pissed about all the stuff he has to cart up the 15 or so stairs to my porch. I hope he decides he's being silly about the whole thing soon.

*the following message is for people who live in Philadelphia:
if I were to find a place in Philly for August 1st, when would you suggest I start looking? I'm starting to get really confused by Craigslist mainly because I'm seeing listings now for July. Does that mean I need to be looking in June for August rentals??  Any information of this would be really helpful.

This move, like all of them before is going to be somewhat hectic. I just keep telling myself that we could be moving back to the west coast instead of only 10 hours north.  Dustin and I say this all the time. "we could be moving to Berkeley or Eugene, right?"
If you only knew what our move from SF to here was like, you would understand why we're a little freaky when it comes to relocating.

More soon.
L.

my legs can now draw a perfect ellipse

So I spent the last hour attempting to feel comfortable on an elliptical machine at my new favorite hangout, the Y. Yeah, I Y now.  After being on the elliptical machine for 13 minutes, which was a serious feat in my opinion, I looked over only to notice the girl beside me had been on for 44 minutes and she wasn't even sweating! I powered on and managed to do 20 minutes total before stepping off with legs that no longer worked properly --they sorta kept climbing as I walked away. The girl beside me must have been an android...

After exercising and drinking too much tea,  I now can't seem to keep my brain calm enough to write an intelligible post. How about a photo of something I recently finished?
This is a shadowbox from the "life without iron" series.

ink drawing on collage background (fabric covered mat) 4x16

Have a great Spring day.

curious as always.

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about inspiration. Where I get it from and how I use it. Above is a portion of my inspiration board that hangs just above my computer and workspace. It's just a regular bulletin board with various photographs, clippings, cards, drawings and widgets that inspire me on a daily basis -- things that have come to me in many different ways which I've decided to hang on to. special things.
Another daily source of inspiration for me are all the wonderful blogs I read. I have discovered so many fantastic people doing such amazing things and writing about it all through these blogs. One good blog most certainly always leads to another.  Truly inspiring. Who knew, right?
I'm curious, how many blogs do you read ? On average, how many blogs do you look at daily and never skip reading? Never. You know, you're religious reads. How long have you been reading blogs?
Like I said, just curious.

It's spring, officially. Have a good day.

I just decided that it isn't fair to ask and not tell, so here it goes.
I started reading blogs (craft blogs, food blogs, design blogs, the list goes on forever) about two years ago. I was working an office job in San Francisco and the computer time was pretty endless. I really can't remember who I discovered first, but I can remember being immediately hooked. I've always been into sewing and crafting, but considered myself a huge dork because it seemed like everyone else either painted or did some other form of visual art and therefore I was the sewing granny. Upon finding blogs where people were doing similar things as me, I was blown away, and still am.
I read about 15 blogs religiously (and seem to be adding to that number daily). I've met some amazing people and done some great swaps because of the blogosphere. I can't wait to see what develops next...

drive.walk.look.

Yesterday was a such beautiful sunday here in North Carolina. So beautiful that Dustin and I, after eating a huge breakfast complete with potatoes, decided we should soak up some sunshine (and get some exercise). After debating where to go, we decided the sunshine in an adjacent county would be best, so
we drove up to Pilot Mountain State Park for a hike and a nice overlook complete with circling birds and a yellow butterfly that was very insistent on making friends with us.

Our destination, Pilot Mountain.

Follow the aqua dots.

A few of my favorite colors sitting on a rock. I love mossy green.


The view of the Pilot Mountain Summit from the lookout at Little Pinnacle. Those tiny black dots are the circling birds of prey mentioned early.

Have a lovely Monday.

As Seen On TV.

I might be alone here, but I'm okay admitting I have a pretty huge obsession with mail. I don't remember when my 'mail thing' started, but I'm completely and totally obsessed. It isn't about simply getting mail either, although that's excellent, it's about checking the mail, putting the mail out for pickup, having nice stamps on hand (for mailing things), etcetera. I'm not too embarrassed because I figure as far as obsessions go, this one is totally harmless. I don't see it escalating into any thing remotely serious, at least I can't think of what that might be just yet.
All of that being explained, I had a real whopper of a mail day yesterday. I heard the postal person come and I even heard the mailbox being opened and mail being, well, delivered. FYI: my office is right near the front porch -- I don't have supersonic mail ears.
After the obligatory waiting time, I went out to see what new and exciting mail I had in store. Get this, all I had was a flippin' Bed Bath and Beyond flier. How sad is that? I don't really love BB&B, it has its uses, but honestly, I'm not bonkers over the place. As you can imagine, I had every ounce of excitement of it being an "awesome mail day" quickly zapped from my body. This could possibly have been the worst mail day in recent history -- honestly, it was.
I tried to make the best of things, so I took a look at the flier, which only made it worse because I had the displeasure of seeing the item below. why on earth? and if you own this gadget, please forgive my judgment. However, I heard the Oral B. Whitening Pen works quite well and you wouldn't have to were a giant light-up pacifier. I wonder what Dustin would do if all of a sudden I started sporting one of these?


Sorry about the long rant. I'm back on track now, I promise. As proof, here are some photos from a walk Dustin and I took the other day. Although trees with blossoms are very lovely, I think I'm more drawn to big, leafless trees just as much.



is it me, or does the telephone pole seem to be leaning in to say something to the pretty tree?

have a nutty day. hope you have great mail.