Monthly Archives: January 2012

Sully

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I’m about to blow your mind here, so brace yourself. My mom’s sister married my dad’s brother, which means that not only do I share the same last name with that set of cousins, but we have all of the same relatives. It’s weird, but it’s not incest. (Trust me, I’ve Googled it.) So when my cousin recently had a baby, I pretty much had to represent, right? Visual:

Our parents all grew up in Chicago, so the blue and red is a subtle shout-out to the Cubs. I don’t actually know if they’re Cubs fans or not, but as long as these items can be machine washed and dried after their baby spit up all kinds of fun stuff on them, I suppose it really doesn’t matter. Cubs, White Sox, Mariners…in the end you still have a bunch of gross crap on a burp cloth. amIrightoramIright?

He-Man

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I recently came across a huge variety of 80′s fabric, and talk about a jackpot. I think they’re what sheets and pillowcases would have been made from, but the fabric I found was definitely never before used panels. Each piece isn’t big enough to do a whole lot with, so I figured I’d start by making some burp cloths. I decided to go with the He-Man fabric first, but I still have Smurfs, Batman, Cabbage Patch, Mickey & Minnie, Sesame Street, and a few others to choose from next. The sky’s the limit you guys.

One side is 100% cotton sheeting, and the other side is 100% cotton terry cloth. Machine wash warm, tumble dry low.

You can see two sets of 4 burp cloths for sale on Etsy here and here.

Winter Wonderland

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We have snow! In Seattle! And not only has it been snowing over the last few days, but we had freezing rain and then more snow. Visual:

This might not seem like that big of a deal, but when there are like 6 snow plows for the entire Western Washington area, that means the roads are really dangerous. We just don’t have the man power to create a safe driving environment when it snows here. Which is fine if you’re aware of that, but there are people who try to be the hero and drive anyway, usually without chains or 4WD (There were over 500 accidents in a 24 hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday.), or those who opt for the bus (Steve’s bus hit a parked car yesterday morning. Nobody was hurt, but I’m just trying to prove a point here.) If at all possible, you work from home. And when cabin fever sets in, you take a break and walk to Joann Fabrics to buy yarn for a blanket you’ll be starting soon. (I got there at 12:45 pm yesterday and they announced at 12:48 that they would be closing at 1pm due to weather conditions. Phew. I barely. Made it.)

Steve and I have been going on snowy walks the past few nights since it probably won’t snow again until 2013. (It’s legit to carry a hot toddy around in a tumbler when it’s snowing, right?) Here are some photos I took in Ballard.

Here are a few related videos (80% true by the way. Except for everything I just mentioned in the above post – he pretty much covers 100% of that.).

Fashion Inspiration

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I got this book as a Christmas gift. Visual:

I love it because it’s not very big, but is packed with 450 images dating back to 1865. There’s no text wasting any space – it’s just a photo and a caption on each page. I really like looking at vintage photos for current inspiration, and I know I’ll go back to this one over and over. Here are a few of my favorites at the moment…

The leather satchel, flower bag and crocheted shawl on the left – love. it. The guys on the right look seriously fashion-forward for being from 1874. I mean do you see those skinny pants?

The model on the left must have felt so stupid in that outfit. But the swimsuit on the right is amazing. Can I have that as a dress please?  

Houndstooth! Plaid! Riding boots! Wool hat! (Camel toe!)

The hats on the left are pretty great and I guarantee no woman in the last 10 years has looked that good playing golf. 

I saw a spread like the photo on the left in a recent Vogue and I thought, “How creative and innovative!”. Not the case apparently since this photo was taken in 1966. It still made a great spread though. And OH the colors of the dress on the right. Love.

Knife pleats are my favorite.

That jumpsuit on the left is amazing. It’s too bad only 2% of the population have the body shape for it. 

The perfection of the way the plaid lines up on the jacket on the right gets me all excited. (It’s really difficult to do it that well.) The photo on the left is annoying me.

Those paper bag waist rolled hem pants on the left are sort of incredible. Zoot Suits, man. It’s where it’s at. And on the right: Brigitte Bardot. Enough said.  

 

Dye party

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A few of my friends had recently been asking questions about how to dye certain things or what kind of dye to buy, so I had the genius thought, “Let’s add wine to the mix and do it at my apartment!” (Tip to future landlords out there: Don’t make the $300 damage deposit nonrefundable. I guarantee your tenants will be far less concerned about carrying buckets of dye around. And you can bet your bippy my brother’s alphabet prints are lining the wall with 52 thumb tacks. Have fun filling those holes in before you paint, sucka’!)*

I forgot to take a before photo of Whitney’s dress, but it started out as ivory. Here are the during and after shots:

It turned out so pretty. The slight problem was that it shrunk. I believe it was a dry clean only modal item that we decided to take a risk on. In this case, the risk did not pay off. Unless of course Whitney gives the dress to me, which would make it an awesome move on our part. ;)

Erin’s boots on the other hand turned out fantastic, with no issues that I know of. They were so worn out before she started that she almost threw them away at one point. But after dying them black, I would go as far as to say they looked brand spanking new.

* I’m totally kidding you guys. Well sort of. But what I should point out is that no dye spilled or stained anything other than what it was supposed to. Success! (The holes are still in the wall though, and that is one doodle that can’t be undid.)

Book Club: #20 & #21

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I’ve read a few books since December 16th. It’s what I do, okay? (You would too if you were on a bus 10 hours a week without an iPhone.) I’m going to kill two birds with one post and write a bit about two of the books here.

#20: The Catcher in the Rye

I found the main character, Holden Caulfield, to be fascinating. I really want to be friends with him, punch him, and ignore him completely all at the same time. His wandering train of thought though…so spot-on. If you’re in my boat and somehow missed this one as required High School reading, I would highly recommend it.

#21: Freedom

Jonathan Franzen. Woo-eee, talk about a story teller. His characters are so complex while at the same time being so real, it sort of blows my mind. We’re talking really smart fiction here people. It’s been a while since I read The Corrections (another book by Mr. Franzen), but if memory serves me right, I liked that one better. They’re both fantastic reads and I would recommend them equally, but I personally found the characters in The Corrections a bit more relatable. To each his own though, eh? I’m not going to go into details of Freedom, because it really wouldn’t make sense anyway. I will tell you that I now have a solid argument on why cats should stay indoors. OH the suspense, right?

Wanna be a baller

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Where the heck have you been, right? I wish I could tell you something  awesome like I got a puppy and a kitten and don’t have enough time to write, work or even shower because they’re SO much fun. Or maybe that I got a huge promotion and have been busy swimming in my gold coins, a la Scrooge McDuck. But no. Life just happened, man. I got in a car accident right before Christmas. It could have been a lot worse and thankfully it wasn’t my fault, but ohmygawdsuchapainintheass. Three insurance agents, a claims adjuster, a chiropractor, a doctor and a massage therapist later…I feel like writing again. Granted, I’m laying with an ice pack on my neck and back as I type, but how would you ever know that, right? We have our car back too, which is awesome. But I’m not going to lie, I really do miss the volume and radio station controls on the steering wheel of the rental car. And the remote control trunk opener. OH, I miss that part. I put stuff in the trunk even when I didn’t need to because that remote was just so darn convenient. The car as a whole wasn’t my favorite, being a Chevy Impala and all. Mostly because of the blind spots in the back and side window area, but also because I had this song in my head every time I drove it.

Did you click play? Is it in your head now? I’m not sorry. (Because that song is awesome, obviously.)

I had an awesome Christmas by the way. The two photos below are pretty much the long weekend in a nutshell: Settlers of Catan & my mom’s new kitten Walter.