I'm going to be an organic farmer!

Our thumbs are getting greener and our radishes and lettuce are outgrowing our garbage can planters so Jeff and I need a new system. We've been wanting to do raised garden beds in the backyard for several reasons. 1) We have the space and great direct sunlight in the backyard, 2) the soil in Long Beach is typically pretty crappy (clay and oily), 3) our salads and stir-frys are becoming more advanced and we need more options and 4) I'm totally OCD and like to have my plants neatly spaced and in rows with markers clearly labeling what goes where. Jeff is more of the "sprinkle whatever seeds are left in all of Liv's packets wherever there is soil" type of gardener.

So when I got an email blast from Daily Candy this morning about a cool design company called Scout Regalia that just developed a raised garden box system, I checked it out. It's a really neat system, because they provide the metal corner and side brackets and you provide the lumber from salvaged wood or reclaimed material and you put it together, really decreasing the cost of the unit and of shipping (although they're located in Echo Park so we could just go and pick it up). Their motto is to "minimize waste and maximize (food) production". Pretty neat. Another cool feature is that the system comes with garden tags and a white wax pencil, but the tags were punched out of the brakets for the box, again minimizing waste. Mandy and Seth just went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore Discount Home Improvement Center here in Santa Ana, and I'm sure they'll have reclaimed lumber we can use for this project. My mom is coming to visit us on Friday and she'll be staying until Wednesday night so I'll have her put it together for us.

Next up, chickens. I'm totally serious.

dance dance dance

I have a feeling my dad will like this. He likes talking animals.

Want it.

I love this lithograph by Donald Brun. "Brun was one of the leading poster artists in Basel, Switzerland who helped to forge a simple, cartoon-like style in the '50s. His series for Zwicky is one of the classics of the decade, and anticipates other cool felines like the TV character Top Cat."

Zwicky I think was a Swiss yarn company and this was a poster he did to advertise it. Super pricey so it goes on my list of "things to buy if we win the lottery"...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Gorgeous weather down here, but rain is on the way we hear. Lily Mae's enjoying the sun and fresh air while she can.

Birdie the Cat

I made this on Sunday with some of my new felt and gingham fabric from IKEA. It's a free pattern from Amy Butler, she has a ton of them on her website- both sewing patterns and craft patterns. I used her fabric leaves idea to make all of those fabric scrap flowers for our wedding. You can check out the patterns on her website: www.amybutlerdesign.com

I wasn't too thrilled with how it turned out (which is why I have sewn up that leg yet- might still pull out the bamboo stuffing and use it for another), not because of the pattern but because of my fabric choices. I think I should have done the light blue flannel for the back of the kitty and the gingham for the front. I think the face would stick out better that way. Ah well, lesson learned.

Karaku

My mizuhiki came!

Of course, in a beautiful package. The Japanese value presentation.



"MIZUHIKI is an extremely thin (1 mm) and strong paper cord. It can be used singly or in combination with other colors. MIZUHIKI is traditionally used to make knotted shapes of animals and plants. Or, it's possible to make 'KANZASHI' hair ornaments."

Here's an example of what you can make with them:


I bought mine from Karaku on Etsy, they have a bunch of beautiful Japanese fabrics and crafty goodness.

Fun in Fallbrook!

Jeff and I spent Saturday and a good chunk of Sunday down south visiting some of our favorite friends, Matt and Joie and their super cute munchkin Gillian. We started this playdate of Movie Marathons a little while back but it's been scaled back to a Movie Double Feature because we're old and get tired early. They have the most incredible movie set-up at their place. A HUGE plasma, surround sound, and blu-ray make for a very nice showing of Casino Royale. Before the movies we played in their orchard, picking oranges to make tequila sunrises with, and then chucking the rotten oranges at distant trees making them explode. We got sticky but it was a lot of fun.

Also a lot of fun was touching their two shaved kitties. Poor Cleo and Leah get mats in their long fur so once in awhile they have to go in to the vet to get shaved. They were soooo soft and adorable, it made me consider rolling Lily Mae in tree sap so I'd have to take her in to get shaved too. She wouldn't rock the lion mane though so the cuteness factor would go down. Lucky for her.

Calzonies

On Friday night, Jeff and I had a calzone dinner party. Brian, Gina, Bill, Tom, Carter, Mandy and Seth all came over and we feasted on the deliciousness that is The Calzone. I found a recipe for them in the latest issue of my Gourmet magazine, and the filling was roasted red peppers, spinach, onion, and smoked mozzarella. I wasn't sure if everyone would like that combo so we did the other half with artichoke hearts, spinach, and pesto. They were a bitch to make (Jeff swore and threw down the dough in a fit of rage. RAGE.) but they tasted fantastic! I also pulled a recipe for an avocado coconut ice cream that Jeff made while I was at work. That was another big hit but I wasn't too fond of it. Tasted too condensed milky I thought. Pretty though!

I forgot to take pictures. It's better though because our calzones did NOT turn out this attractive.

This couldn't have excited me more, unless it came with Cadbury Eggs

My felt came! Sue from Giant Dwarf sent it out lickety-split and it came within the week. It was wrapped up so nicely, in tissue and a ribbon, making it look even more special. Why doesn't everyone wrap things like this?? My wedding dress (which I bought new with tags on eBay) came folded up and shoved in a priority mail envelope. Nice.

Anyways, look at the gorgeousness!

IKEA fabric

IKEA (ee-kay-ah!) is so hit and miss with its fabrics. Did you know that they sell fabric by the yard? They have upholstery weight and light cotton, and it's usually a good quality cotton and not a polyester crappy blend. Plus they're 72" wide so they're a great deal. The quality is usually good but the patterns can be iffy. Sometimes they have bolts of super-bright and weird duds, and other times you get graphic Scandinavian gold. I went this week after work to avoid the rush-hour traffic and to get an ice cream cone, and found these gems. The birds fabric is so rad! And only $2.99 a yard! The ginghams were also great finds. Nice and heavy cotton in red and navy and only $7.99 yard which for being 72" wide is cheap. Great fabric finds and an ice cream cone = Liv's a happy camper. Love you EE-KAY-AH!

Goodies!

Oh my goodness I'm excited. I just bought 36 rectangles of beautiful wool felt (not the icky polyester felt you usually find) from a seller on Etsy called Giant Dwarf. She makes these rad felt rosette fascinators that sell at Anthropologie! It was such a score. They came in 45 different colors and I got to choose any color my heart so desires. They're 9"x12" rectangles so that's a craftload of felt! My mom is gonna be jeeeeaaaalloussss! I have no idea what I'm going to make with them, but I trust inspiration will strike when they arrive in the mail and I get to bask in their beauty. Is it weird to get so jazzed over felt? Didn't think so either.

I'm going to dress Lily Mae up when I get home.

I'm loving this new trend of anthropomorphic art. I found Ryan Berkley of Berkley Illustration through Etsy a few years ago and bought a ton of his little prints because they cracked me up. How can you not love these??




Then when reading Grace's blog, I saw the work of Mark Weaver. So weird and awesome. I think Jeff would like his stuff.





He also does beautiful photography, and has an Etsy site as well.

Who doesn't love fresh paint fumes in the morning?

This weekend was probably the third most productive weekend in my life. On Friday Jeff and I went to see a house that is for sale on 8th street, just around the corner from us, mostly out of curiosity. It was really nice looking on the outside (a craftsman) with beautiful landscaping, a one bedroom unit in the back, and super cheap! It was listed for 320K which is pretty good for a 2000 square foot home. We weren't too jazzed after taking the tour, even though it was nice inside we kept saying to ourselves how much better our house was for us. This is a picture of the house:


So when we got back home, we felt pretty lucky to be living in such an awesome house and had a renewed spirit for making it the best it can be. We bought Jeffy a push lawnmower called the Task Force and he went to town on the lawn (we decided to let our gardener Alberto go so we could use the money to buy iPhones! So spoiled...). I planted a few more succulents and tended to the garden but when I went inside the house, I had the overwhelming urge to paint the kitchen. My parents know, and Jeff is learning, that when I get an idea in my head of something I want to do, it kind of has to be done right then and there. So after fake crying and complaining to Jeff about how the kitchen was dark and bummed me out, I tricked him into saying he'd help me repaint it. After a call to Gina and Brian for their painting blessings, I was off to Lowe's!

This is what our dining room looked like after I emptied the cabinets. We have a LOT of stuff. :)

This is a "before" picture. I sewed new curtains for the kitchen cupboards and then realized they did not go with the green cabinets at all. The solution? Paint the cabinets! It was a lot of prep work. We had to sand everything, take off hinges and hardware, clean and scrub the cabinets, move appliances, sheesh! Quite the undertaking, and a good workout!

This was after the first coat of Linen White. We decided to go with the same color as all of the trim and doors in the house because it would make it easier to touch things up, plus it's a really creamy and pretty white.

While Jeff taught his weekend classes, I did most of the painting. My right hand is sooo sore from that stupid little roller. I want a paint sprayer gun for my birthday. Jeff- take note.

And the finished product! The kitchen is so shiny and new now, and looks a lot bigger we think. When I came downstairs this morning and the sun was shining into the kitchen, it was so happy and cheerful and fresh. A job well done we thinkest.


Next up- the upstairs bathroom! Jeff picked the color, a light minty aqua and I'm going to find some mounted staghorn ferns to hang on the walls. If we can swing buying the joint, Jeff's projects include Geoff McFetridge's Yeti wallpaper for the downstairs bathroom and a window in the wall between the stairwell and den closet. Because who doesn't want a window in a closet?

Abbott Kinney and the UCC

Erika got a new job! Yay!! She will be the President of KTLA, or some similar title, I sort of forget. All I remember is that she will likely get her own parking spot with her name on it!! Totally important. She starts this week so we looked at a few apartments for her on Sunday. We didn't find any winners but there were a ton of For Rent signs out there so I know she'll find something fabulous. Good luck friend!

After apartment hunting in Los Feliz, we did a little shopping in the area and went to Reform School and Kelly Green in Silverlake. I got the coolest planters at Kelly Green. They're made of bamboo but feel like plastic and come in great colors. After a few years, the planters will crack and start to fall apart, and you just bury the entire planter and plant in the ground and it biodegrades. Neat! They're super cheap too. The biggest one was only like $8 I think. Here's my lot: 

After that Erika took me to Abbott Kinney in Venice because I've never been. It was the cutest strip of boutiques and fun house stores, loved it! The whole street has beautiful landscaping too, these succulents were my favorites:

THEN after that, we went to Santa Monica to go check out the Urban Craft Center, a.k.a. coolest place on Earth! It's a studio space where you can have a monthly membership or even pay hourly to use their space and equipment. They have sewing machines, easels, screen printing stuff, you name it. They also have a giant circular sofa to lounge on and a store attached to the studio full of goodies. It made my heart squeal. If I am to ever leave the world of science, it would be to do something like this. I'm not creative enough to be a full-time artist, but running a creative business is something I could see myself doing. Something to combine what Jeff does (art gallery, illustration instruction, painting) with something I enjoy too somewhere great in downtown Long Beach would be such a dream. Walk or ride a bike to work, be surrounded by pretty fabrics and fun supplies, and to get to craft to my heart's content would be such a dream. Ahhh....

I couldn't leave without buying fabric. I picked up a yard of this Kokka fabric, it's a beautiful purple heavy-weight cotton with hippos and hippo butts on it. Awesome!
This is the storefront. If you're in the area you MUST check it out. 2433 Main Street in Santa Monica. I'm going to take my mom when she comes to visit and hopefully take one of their classes. 

Dinner party!

This past Saturday while the boys were at a BBQ/Nike sponsored drinking fest, Mandy and Erika came over and we got our craft on. Erika made a pair of lobster imprinted peejay bottoms with Mandy's help, I made a bunch of little jewelry/gift bags out of fabric scraps, and Lily Mae made friends! She licked Erika's pants and shocked Mandy by letting her pet her. Progress is being made all over the place.

These patterns are so ridiculous. Erika is supermodel tall (like 5'10" I think) and look how long the pants are!! The waist was crazy big too so she had to take them in there also. She used the size 'small' pattern which means that if I ever want to make clothes for myself I'll have to shop in the little people department. 

These are my little bags, made out of leftover wedding ribbon and remnants from the curtains, a tote bag I made, and the new kitchen cabinet "doors". Picture of that coming soon...

This was a little baby quilt I made for Karen's baby shower gift. Mark and Karen are keeping the sex a surprise so I thought horses and denim were pretty gender neutral. The wood hippo is a teething toy made of a super-sanded wood and organic flax seed oil. I bought it from Little Alouette on Etsy.  

Then on Saturday night, Erika spearheaded our latest dinner party and bought the ingredients and brought the recipes for a cashew kung pao shrimp stir-fry and veggie and tofu spring rolls. We found out that an extra 2 boys were joining us so we whipped up a fried rice with the spring roll guts leftovers and had just enough food. Dessert was a delish mango sorbet from Trader Joe's. It was one of the best, thanks Erika and Mandy!!

My first spring roll attempt looked like a water willy and Erika wanted to banish it to the reject plate. After she saw Pete's spring roll attempts mine made the final cut! 
Jerod came just in time to help with the fried rice. It was a team effort. The girls did most of the food work, but Jeff went to town on the dirty dishes so he gets bonus points for that. 
This was the group! Mandy and Seth, Erika, Jeffy, Jerod and Kurtis, Pete and my bro Jan.
It was too much excitement for poor Jan. The Karaoke Casio wiped him out.