What Motivates You?

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.

Winter Blues have got me down but not completely! I'm cooking up new goals and am motivated since Spring is on the horizon. The days can only get longer and warmer from here on out, People!

A Few of My Big Motivators:
*Family
*Friends
*Money
*Results
*Connections/Collaboration
*Beauty/Nature
*Fear (working on making this not true)
*Freedom (working on making this more true)
*Quiet time, a bit o' solitude now and then
*Artists of all kinds
*Music (preferably with a booty shaking beat)
*A good THEME (ok, doesn't even have to be a good one, I'll pretty much go with it)

Now: with imminent snow apparently on the way in oh...about 4 hours, my plan is to stay home and stay warm! I'm actually really looking forward to being cooped up...I have so many projects! Snow Weekend Agenda: sleep, craft, clean, snuggle, catch up, call some peeps, tivo, pretend to watch the superbowl but really read blogs on my laptop.

I wanna know: what are your big motivators, and what are your weekend plans?

Hot Manse: Shannon-Kavanaugh House

GAH! One of The Painted Ladies houses from the intro of that one show, is on the market for $4 million. This puppy is LAH-hoaded with architectural details. I would buy it for just the chandeliers alone. HOT! {check out the entire slideshow for more pics on CasaSugar}

Interior Home images I die for - Part I

You guys, I really want to adopt this whole Scandinavian aesthetic thing. Basically you paint everything white, and add pops of color, amiright? Looks so clean and cute. Probs impossible to keep up though.

Found these pics of Annika Borg's home via CasaSugar - more photos on Skona Hem, if you can read Swedish, or Google translate it!

Love the rainbow chandelier, pink rug and that soft lavender wall color. The cohab would put up with lavender walls & pink carpet....right?

How come when I put flowers in my windowsill it doesn't look nearly this charming?

Things I'd Like to Make....Part 1,000

They're predicting **Y2Snowpocolypse** in DC this weekend, and I'm thinking it'll be the perfect time to try some of the awesome-looking comfort foods/craft ideas I've been saving...

Check out this lusciousness:
Cinnamon Swirl Bread made by Katy Elliott - YUM.

A Breakfast Braid by Elizabeth's Edible - I am a huge fan of anything *savory + breakfast*.

A beautiful Leek & Goat Cheese Galette by the Arugula Files - foreals people: I have to make.


Itchin' to craft sumpin': {all via CRAFTzine}
Now that I've invested in a heart paper punch, I'm thinking of a million ways to use it!

For sure I've got more of Gram's Publisher's Clearing House jewelry lying around - love these clip-on earrings-turned fabulous necklace from Doe-C-Doe.

You guys know I really like dioramas. Toilet Tube Still Life, anyone? :)

Wednesday.

Reason #1 Bajillion that I love my parents: they care that I vote, enough to hold my hand and send me a pre-stamped envelope. I sent in my ballot this morning, Mom! :)

Also: Farewell, dear Butterstick, I hope you enjoyed your celebration cake. Have fun gettin' busy in China! {more from Smithsonian's flickr}

Art of the Day

You guys know I dig a charming illustration. Lotta Nieminen. {via SSC}

I bet this deli is good. Photo by Javier Molina. {via SSC}

Another cute one by Katie Kirk. {via SSC}

"The Most Relevant Design Work of the Decade" - good AND bad. {via Drawn!} (I particularly liked the commentary on how successful the Obama campaign logo was because of it's versatility)

GPS Painting with the Runkeeper Training App - "draw while you jog". I want to write my name! {via Drawn!}

This again

Also when I finally came back to life on Saturday and peeked outside, this had happened:

I know it's pretty but it's also treacherous and responsible for the dent on my laptop so I am not a fan.

When Life Gives You Venison, Pt. II, and weekend re-cap

I call this, "A trip to Deutchland" - ! It's not 100% German, but we did have the kraut, and the cabbage, and the venison dogs, so it's pretty close.

How was y'allz weekend? From the comments on Friday it sounded like you guys had some awesome times lined up. Me, I'm still detoxing from all the pita pizzas I made (what's wrong with me!?!?) and my liquor "tastings" (as I'm calling it). Yeah, stayed out till 2am Friday which is DEFINITELY on my Murtaugh List. I had to sleep twelve hours, watch many episodes of Teen Mom and stay in my snuggie all day in order to recover.

Now it's Monday, a fresh start, and I haven't lost any points...yet. And we're off!

Science & Comment Friday

That's right, I said "science" on this blog. So there's a full moon this weekend and it's making me feel all creeped out and this week is super twilight-zone-ey. Science, or superstition?

You guys, I have to tell you I got really excited when I read this article yesterday - they have discovered evidence that some dinosaurs were....ORANGE. And also that they might've had feathers! I don't know why but since forever I've always wondered how they knew what color dinosaurs were, and turns out they were just guessing until now! Fascinatin'.

Also have you seen these new pictures from Mars? They are RAD:


{more on HuffPost, via Insp.DC}

No mindblowing List & Comm today other than: what are your weekend plans? I have a work hh, a party, and hopefully the ushe: laundry/tv/crafts/groceries. Tell me what y'all are up to!

Full Moon Weird Week

Y'all, when did I get busy? Weird. I actually have more than one social engagement planned this week...like, 4. What's up with that? I guess it's like they say, when you stop looking, all that stuff sorta just comes along! So yeah the blog has suffered. But I hope to be able to work on some superawesome blogworthy crafts this weekend while catching up on tivo, y'know, like old times.

Just a medley of things I've found interesting on THE WEB lately:

What a charming party this woman planned for her Grandmother's 90th Birthday. I'm a sucker for garlands and old timey photos. {from Inchmark}

Love the vulgar positivity of this print by Pen. {via Melissa Loves}

Ummm...I totally want a custom $1,895 LED coffee table made by Because We Can. {via Shelterrific}

They might as well call this series "Brooke's Fantasy" instead of "Craft Spaces". In love with the idea of having a tiny gingerbread-like cottage to do crafts in. {via Craftzine}

When Life Gives You Venison...

Make Venison Reubens!

So I guess the cohab and our landlord were chattin' it up about, y'know...huntin', one day...and...on Sunday our landlord brought us some of his awesome HAUL of good ole Pennsylvania venison. WTF. It was totally random and really cool. Check this out:

Let me explain this spread:
You have your venison hot dogs, summer sausage, summer cheese sausage, tenderloin, breakfast sausage, ground venison, ham-like cured venison, corned-beef-like cured venison, and last but not least, jerky. And the jerky is awesome, in case you were wondering. Don't you want a venison reuben right now?! Well you should come over because we have got a lot of this stuff.

Our landlord RULES! Stay tuned for the venison tenderloin post. We're trying to narrow down what recipe we want to make, it's gun be good!

Weekend Re-Cap: Awesome

StirFriday!

My Wal-mart organizational materials got here - so I cleaned out my closet. If you know me, you realize this is pretty much my favorite thing ever. I couldn't stop staring at how great my closet looked afterwards (wish I'd taken a "before" pic). Thanks to sterilite now my off-season shoes won't get all dustified and it looks so much neater! I got those wicker baskets to hold my scarves and hats. I was completley tired of rifling through my shelf to find stuff. How good does this closet look?!?! Ahhhh...love organizing.

Saturday I watched a lot of bad tv and drank a bunch of Stumptown (so great - thanks, cohab!). Then I went up to Baltiscratch with Drew to be her moral bridesmaid shopping support as we braved Devil's Bridal (that place is hell). We had to recover from the barrage of non-natural fabrics and eyeball-assaulting tulle so we hit up AC Moore Crafts, Michael's and TGIFridays. Just another day in Maryland! It was so much fun, we got a lot of fabulous craft loot, I am so stoked to make my valentine's earrings!

Today my Dad was in town on business, and he was able to come over and take us to Soviet UnSafeway so we could stock up on "heavy stuff" as long as he had a car. Score! Then we went to Old Ebbitt Grill and had awesome dinner. We each got dessert and they were all so yum. Cappuccino brownie, chocolate chip bread pudding, and pear crumble. YEAH.

I am wrapping up this weekend sitting here in my new UW snuggie (we ended up with a surplus after xmas). Keene and I have matching ones now. I'm thinking these will be our new tailgate attire next Fall. JEALOUS?!?!?!

Snuggie Time! Hope you guys had a great weekend, too :)

List/Comment Friday: Beat the Winter Blues

I've been whining about it forever...it's the ole familiar Winter "slump" I get. Do y'all get this way too? Ok probs not if you live somewhere without seasons (Luh-key!). But every January I start to fantasize about what it feels like to have sun on my face again and go out without a jacket (ok in Seattle: go out with a "light jacket").


photo by Nicole Herriott via Epicute.

A few ways I get through January/February/March:
1. Hot chocolate, lattes, coffee, irish coffee, peppermint schnapps (that went from wholesome to not-so-much)
2. TV. It's true, gotta have the tivo this time of year. I'm starting to miss my Netflix subscription too.
3. Over dressing to stay warm. I just hate being cold so I've been overbundlin' to avoid hearing myself complain about the weather.
4. Sleep a lot, sleep in, try and sleep away all these dark winter hours.
5. Concentrate on the owl who "hoot"s in our neighborhood. He's back, he's hootin' every morning and it makes waking up to no sun a little easier.
6. Shop and buy things. Need I say more?
7. Read. I have so many books to get through!

Ok now I'm stumped. Do you guys have any good ideas? How do you get through this yucky Winter time?

AOTD: Micah Max

HAPPY THURSDAY, YOU GUYS!

I thought we all might be needing a little...

and...

{via Swissmiss by artist Micah Max}

Stuff I want to make: Wednesday installment

GARLANDS. Heart ones.

This would be cute in my window. {via CRAFT from Oh So Crafty}


This would be cute at a bridal shower and/or weddin'. {via Poppytalk from CoriKindred}

Weekday Dinners

I haven't been posting many recipes lately but I swear we've been cooking! It's just that now that we both have work/school we've scaled our dinners back to more basic, less time-consuming stuff. I think we've still managed to eat awesome though :)

Just recently we've started to add "StirFriday" to our week (in addition to Taco Tuesday). Stir-fry is an old stand-by. I know there isn't really a whole lot earth-shattering about this recipe but this one has a bit of a twist in that it calls for orange juice and ginger to fancy things up. I really liked it, and would probably do it again adding a few more veggies. {directions on RecipeMogul}


Add this to the list of bajilion reasons why I am such a lucky girl: my man made this awesome pineapple curry chicken for us! It was really good, and thinking about it is totally making me want it again. If the cohab keeps making all these awesome dinners he's going to get stuck doing all the cooking! {similar to this recipe but sans peppers but added cabbage and sour cream}



One last stand-by that I pretty much make ALL the time: spaghetti/bolognese sauce. I don't really have a recipe for this since I start with this bolognese recipe and then add/subtract depending on how I want the sauce. I pretty much just add things until I think it tastes/looks right. I make A TON (obvs) and then freeze the rest for later and it's super handy on nights we don't want to cook. Danget, I've loved spag since I was like...8. It was my favorite thing to order. It's still awesome.

PS. Can you tell which pic was taken with the new nikon? Yeah, so much fancier.

AOTD: been a while

It's been too long since I did some Art of the Day. So if you're at work today, I thought I'd cheer you up with a few fabulous works by cool people. (I don't think I've EVER had mlk day off, what's up with that?)

Cool birch forests...Lisa Congdon. {via Poppytalk}


For the typography nerds...Little Factory. {via SSC}


Wood carving, a pretty rad medium...Ben Turnbull. {via SSC}


I love me some paper art...Jen Collins. {via SSC}


"Large-scale fiber works" made of painted galvanized steel and recyclable high-tenacity polyester braided twine netting...Janet Echelman. {via CRAFT} (I LOVE these)

List & Comment Friday: House Hunters

As I was saying, watching shows where people look for homes and then "hating" on them is one of our favorite pass times. CLEARLY it is just jealously but still, the cohab and I are really convinced we are smarter than the average buyer, even though we have no experience with real estate and have never owned a home. STILL! These dumb dumbs that go house shopping...yikes. I thought I'd compile a list of the top mistakes I think these people make when they're "house hunting" and that I would (of course) have the logical mind to never do (ha, I know I'll be laughing at this post later in life).

1. Shopping out of their price range (and inevitably falling in love with their "dream home" that they don't need) and then selling their souls to get that home.

2. Being turned off by carpet, paint, clutter, decorations. DUH! This is the #1 rule of house hunting! Don't let minor cosmetic changes mask what might really be there! Add the cost of the improvements onto the price tag. I would expect with a first home that you may have a little work ahead of you (not a lot, but some, imo).

3. Thinking they need their first home to be their dream home. Granted, I want my starter home to be one that I love, but I don't expect it to be my dream home right out the gate.

4. Compromising on pretty much everything to get MORE SPACE. What. Is. Up. With. That. I mean, we live in about 8-900 glorious square feet, and I want a walk-in closet more than anyone. BUT - why do people always sacrifice everything they want once they get a taste of a giant bathroom?

5. Compromising on the location. Same thing. It seems like a mistake to move further away from public transportation just to "get more for your money". I see how that seems logical, getting more square feet per dollar, but your property is instantly less desirable if it's in the boonies! (maybe that's just me though).

I admit that when the day comes that we are ready to house hunt, we'll have a budget and that budget is going to dictate most of our decisions, and I'm sure compromising on this and that to not live in a run-down shack is going to make total sense. But more often than not we're just yelling at the TV watching people get all excited over GRANITE and turned off by a 70's light fixture. Drives me crazy!

What mistakes have YOU made, or do you think other people make when they buy?

Things I Want To Make

I love this "stacked wood fireplace" idea. I think a lot of apartments would be supercute if they just had a fireplace! The expense here would be mostly supplies, and you'd need a saw and handy-person around to help out. Other than that it looks sortof attainable!
{from Small Notebook}

A fabulous idea for 2010: felt re-usable wrapping "envelopes". These would be easy/cheap to make and you can create a variety of sizes for books, dvs, cds and use them year after year. Or give them as part of your cool gift! {from Heart of Light}

I totally want to turn one of my ugly sweaters into a fancy "caplet" like this chick did. How cute and easy/cheap is that? I love that you could also wear it as a scarf or hood, because that would be super handy. {from My Mama Made It via Craft}

I was watching House Hunters and getting all pissy at it (a favorite pass time in our home is hating on HH) because this lady was all, "this loft isn't big enough for my studio" and I was all, "OMG shut up that would be an AWESOME craft room". Some day. Things will be orderly and color-categorized. {Organized Craft Room via AT}

Yeah, I totally want to make some "Faux Fur Leg Muffs" - I would wear them! Seriously! {LegVogue's Etsy Shop}