more birthday fun

about 150,000 people greeted the christmas season friday night at the annual lighting of the 55-foot christmas tree at alamo plaza and the hourlong, illuminated river parade with 122,000 lights….. and we were there.....

las canarias
lighting of the river

roasted asparagus soup
granny smith apple, curry and toasted pecans

organic field greens with pear tomatoes, smoked bacon,
garlic nut crunch, lemon basil dressing

grilled filet mignon
spanish mencia wine-marinated pear in puff pastry
and castilla y leon cheese crisp

chocolate diplomat
champagne sabayon and fresh raspberries

oh happy day

as i celebrate my 35^th birthday (i am now half way to 70 anthony reminds me) i am reminded of how lucky i am to be surrounded by loving friends, family, neighbors and all of my new friends at my new job.

i plan to spend the day catching up on my knitting and laying about the house with the boys. unfortunately only a week to go before my debut at the craft fair. i must get hopping. but for now i want to share my new treasures starting with my new love.

i know i am not there yet but i would someday like to equate my love of handbags to sjp’s character in sex in the city’s love of shoes.

in addition to the worlds most fantastic hand bag i now have the audrey hepburns way of life- and to quote her

“success is like reaching an important birthday and finding out you’re exactly the same. all i feel is responsibility to live up to it. and even, with luck, survive it.”

amy sedaris' new book "i like you"

is perfect for me & those of us who need the helpful advice of- if you know you are going to be drinking, make sure to first organize your wallet so you don’t accidentally pay the cabbie too much money-

combined with such great recipes as “the heaviest cheese ball”

i like you too amy.

the impatient patchworker is a fantastic book which only features fabric from my favorite designer rowan’s kaffe fassett. bold, beautiful fabric combined to make quick projects for those of us who need to have instant gratification. i plan on making most if not all of the 20 projects in the book. it comes complete with patterns and where to find the resources used through out the book.

butterflies

so other than falling trees this november bring more butterflies to our yard.

yes- november…..

rowan studio

how wonderfully irresistible. i ordered it and had it delivered to my uk family to insure i got a hold of it asap. really could tweed look any better? i cant wait to get working on one…

thanksgiving week

i have been out of touch for a while. with a new job which demands all of the fantastic free time i had- i am lucky to spend time relaxing at home. this upcoming week is when i will catch up on all my afternoon naps, knitting and time with the boys.

first of all happy thanksgiving to all my friends and family! we have notice a change in the weather here at last and the evenings cool down to the 30-40’s and the day time temperatures reach a comfortable 75 degrees.

last week we had an unusual wind storm that took down one of the larger trees we have in our yard. we were lucky it did not hit our neighbor’s property or anything of value but once again home ownership hits home and the blues set in. this weekend the chainsaw hit the tree and what we have left is great firewood and piles of small branches.

today is dad's birthday!

happy birthday dad!

we are lucky enough to have him here with us. for breakfast i made him birthday pumpkin muffins. (thank you store williams sonoma for your pumpkin muffin tin- i am in love with you) tonight is my first day of work so our good neighbors have invited my father and anthony over for a dinner.

other than that we have just spent the day doing chores. but we did have time to stop and admire our dragon looking friend in our tree. one minute he was brown then my flash scared him down the tree a bit on to a leaf where here went green in seconds. soon after he had enough of us and jumped 3 feet to the ivy covered ground where he was rid of us (for now).

boo!- we have been hit by the neighborhood phantom

boo!

since this is the time for goblins and bats
halloween spirits and ghosts and cats
weird happendings and witches brew
these are the things i wish for you.

may the only spirits you cance to meet
be the spirits of happiness and friends so neat
may the only goblim that comes your way
be this phunny phanotom, you’ll want to give away.

so by tomorrow pick three friends sweet
and give them each a halloween treat.
you only have one day so hurry!
leave that treat at their door and flee in a flurry.

here are the things that you need to do:
1. make three copies of this letter and a copy of the phantom for each
2. post the phantom on your door or desk ‘til halloween. this will ward off any future visits from the phantom haunting you again.
3. then take a letter, a phantom and a treat, and deliver them to three neighbors that do not have a phantom poster.

‘tis better giving than receiving,
we all know this is true
so show your spirit and friendship, and remember
the phantom is now you!

legwarmers

more yummy yarn. believe me i was so excited when my sister contacted me to ask if i would make her a pair of legwarmers to get her through the new york winter. over enthusiastic i jumped at the chance and as i headed down stairs to my book case (devoted only to knitting and other craft)- then it hit me. everything i own for the most part has been packed away and shipped off to a storage warehouse until all maintenance has been finished and the replacement of our downstairs floors has finished.


hummm. now what? in order to get inspired i went to the only true yarn store in san antonio with over 8,000 on their mailer list and one great gal who has a son back in boston who keeps me up to date on her visits there: the yarn barn


i was torn away only because my father was in town and hoping to meet up. thank goodness as there were so many nice yarns that were calling my name. I left with only 4 balls of berroco foliage for the legwarmers and 4 balls of ryc cashsoft dk for a tbd project... now at home- stuck upstairs in our makeshift tent in order to keep construction dust and debris out of our living area i will start my new project.

thank you sarah for keeping my mind off things!

working towards a new book

i am at the beginning stages of learning to make and design my own patterns. so many things inspire me and while i have the ideas, it is hard for me to take it through to something professional looking. there is a pattern making textbook i am interested in, with a little luck when my birthday rolls around…
in the meantime i saw a small handbag with patchwork in some magazine. i have seen a lot of fall fashion runway pictures with patchwork. so this is my finished version of a patchwork bag.

before & after

today's results are in! demolition day 1.
living/dining room before & after













bathroom before & after

marketing

it is october already and i am looking forward to my december craft fair. as of right now i have some business cards made, my cute logo top i will wear & care and instructions labels all finished. i bought the shopping bags (just brown kraft paper handle bags) and i plan on adding a circular stick-on logo to it as well.

right now i am trying my hand at knitted handbags in cute bright colors. i saw a picture in a magazine and am working without a pattern so i am not sure what it will come out looking like. it is a beautiful 57 degrees at the moment so it is great knitting weather.

downstairs they are finishing packing our possessions and removing the furniture. they have already begun to remove the flooring out.

when bad things happen

on saturday we arrived home from a wonderful dinner to find the first floor of our house under water. the water softener stop valve had broken and the flood started in the kitchen where it deposited 2 inches of water & went through the living room, dinning room and all the way to the front door. we believe the wood floors will all need replacing as well as possibly the kitchen cabinets. with our neighbors help we vacuumed and bucketed up the water and had a company come in with fans and dehumidifiers. we also called out a plumber to disconnect the softener tank so that we could turn the water mains back on.

we were lucky because our dogs were safe, and as someone very close to me put it- “when bad things happen some can not be fixed and in your case they can.” everything can be replaced, no one was harmed and as it turns out pepper has never enjoyed himself more than he has the last couple of days laying in the center of the living room with multiple fans blowing his way.

yeah yeah yeahs @ stubbs

oh gosh i wish i had pictures to post from this show. of course, they are known for their outrageous performances. karen- with such awesome clothing. honestly one of the best rock groups around. alas all i have to show for the experience is my husbands t-shirt. but i hear that youtube has a pretty good amateur video of the show. worth a look see.

autumn

i love this time of the year. we have already noticed the change in the sunlight and some mornings we have fog. we are looking forward to seeing what a southern texas fall is going to be like. my most favorite part is the turning of the weather- still our days are in the 90’s but i am looking forward to a crisp morning or a night chill enough to really get back into knitting.

but to get me in the mood i have myself a pumpkin and i am already craving the fall squash soup anthony makes. we have been told about an outdoor cornfield maze which i think could be fun.

we have a few flowering additions to our yard that have appeared this late in the year. the first one i was sure was a type of hydrangea that was not getting enough food to bloom until it flowered. the other red beauty just popped up last night.

fab mail day- thank you postman!

i just want to make one thing clear. leigh- whatever you like i would be more than happy to make-boy or girl. be it my congratulations for being a godmother present! and thank you for the letter- what a day brightener.

ahh but it does not end there. for all those whose soil is 1in thick and their house sits on a rock- you know about hard water. the baggie of goodies i got to save my coffee pot, kettle, iron and dishwasher is amazing! they are some cleaver english people i am related too! amazing still was another package with loads of chocolate goodies including cadbury’s dairy milk turkish delight. and get this- a newspaper article about a new clothes dryer which eliminates the need to iron. a machine that dries your clothes and presses them too? what next you brits?! the machine is said to look like a refrigerator and on the inside like a wardrobe- price tag.. a mere 1,500 britsh pounds.



still more…. i have a new pack for rowan dunegal lambswool
tweed in pickle. enough to make “joy” from vintage style.

meet mister rabbit(s)

meet the rabbits. three boys and one girl. the pattern came from childhood treasures by caroline zoob. her book is full of wonderful things mostly aimed at creating a childhood atmosphere around your child’s personal spaces. the book has lots of beautiful inspirational pictures with a few patterns. i chose mister rabbit. if there had been a difficulty rating from one to ten (ten being the hardest) i would give it a two. if there was a fiddly time consuming rating i would have to give it the full ten. mister rabbit comes complete

with jodhpurs, laced boots, button up waist coat, coat (with pocket) and cravat. i thought we needed a lady rabbit (esp since my good friend rides) so i gave her a special pink coat, eyelashes and pearls. in for a penny, in for a pound.

austin city limits

i have been a bad blogger. i took a mental vacation from things i guess. the worst part is i have so much to share. starting off with austin city limits. what could have been more fun? to give you the low down of what we did:
(poor guy waiting for the shins to come on…)






friday:
post show concert by the shins @ stubbs



saturday:
secreat machines
shins
the raconteurs









sunday:
the flaming lips
experience: could not have been better. beer:good, food:local, shopping:great stuff, bands:awesome