confessions of a blueberry bandit

Winter Detour

First of all, my apologies for not following through with the pouches (and every other crafty item) I have been promising for so long! My sewing machine is having issues, so most-things-stitched are on hold for the time being.  I hate to admit it, but a tiny part of me is relieved to be off the hook.  I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with sewing.  I think anyone who sews can probably relate here... the end result is so satisfying, but the process itself can be so physically exhausting and frustrating that I almost want to rip my hair out.  This is not to say that I am giving up sewing... just taking an Official Break while I assess technical difficulties.  (Now if I could just arrange an Official Break from that life sucker known as The Internet... then life would be grand!)

The past several weeks have revolved around taking care of all sorts of un-fun business... like putting a new roof on the house, having weird moles biopsied, and visiting the dentist for the first time since...wince... Last Century.  Yikes.  I've also embarked on a little journey that I'm hoping will prove to be fun and worthwhile in the long run... Doggy Obedience Training.  If all goes well, this one will be a life saver! 

As always, I wish that I had more time and more crafty progress to share.  Somehow I've gotten lost on a very lengthy and unplanned detour, but I'm slowly finding my way back.  In the mean time, I will leave you with a few more pictures of our recent dusting of snow...

 

And a super-nerdy picture of Shorty (recently & aptly nicknamed Shortal Combat) and yours truly...

♥

Birdie with a yellow bill...

All the sniffles and coughs in the world couldn't dampen my spirit after spying this through my window!

 

xoxo!

My fairy tale cottage...

After two-and-a-half years, two visits from Andy's parents, and countless, countless hours of hard work, it's finally coming together... I'm very pleased to share the fruits of all our labor!

I don't think I've ever worked so hard in all my life...  We spent a whole week scraping brick, painting trim and repainting every single surface on our porch, etc, etc, etc...  I pretty much owe Andy's parents (Rex & Leslie) my soul by now!  I don't know how I will ever manage to express my gratitude...

The Evolution of Our House:





I was so happy to see that electric blue trim go... and the ugly red shutters.  I finally the right shade of green paint, too.

I have always wanted heart shutters, so I doodled a little design, and Andy's stepfather Rex made it happen!   Rex & Andy did a fantastic job building the shutters, and Leslie & I did a fantastic job of painting them, if I do say so myself!

Rex came up with this ingeniously cute solution to our squirrel problem... I'd like to see the squirrel who can chew through this!

We also added some lovely cat-proof screen doors...

And Rex repaired the birdhouse he made for us as a Christmas gift (which was badly mangled by the USPS).  We placed it just outside the kitchen window...

I still have to add some finishing touches (including a new roof later this month), but for now I'm catching up at work and fighting off a pesky cold.  I'll be back soon!

Have a lovely weekend!

♥

Dusting off the cobwebs...

Greetings on this hopefully rainy Tuesday!

I am stealing a quick moment to relax and catch up with the ol' blog.  I spent the weekend doing very un-fun things like pulling weeds, spreading mulch, cleaning the whole house top to bottom and actually organizing my studio!  (Throw in a birthday party and catching up with an old friend, and that makes for a very busy weekend...)  These are all things that have needed to be done for a long time, and I FINALLY found proper motivation to take care of business.  Motivation being a visit from my BFF Kasia!  She is arriving tonight and is planning to spend an entire week with Andy & me.  I don't have to tell you that I am excited.

Isn't nice to have a reward for hard work?  Of course, a clean studio is a reward in itself.  I am absolutely dying to go in there and sit at my craft table and make things!!!  (There is actually space to sit down and work.  Amazing...)  I keep standing in the doorway and marveling at the clean state of the room.  Sadly craftiness will have to wait a couple of weeks.  I'll be working my day job the whole time Kasia is here and, therefore, devoting every spare moment to having fun and discussing a joint writing project.  And attending my niece's 7th birthday party... and journeying to Hotlanta to celebrate Kasia's birthday as well!  
Then I'll be packing my suitcase... and flying to Denver for a girls' weekend in the mountains with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law!  We're going to spend a few days relaxing under the trees, having lovely conversation around the fire, and then we're going to attempt to climb a mountain.  An actual mountain.  I just learned the term "fourteener" in preparation for this trip... I can't promise to make it all the way to the top, but I am sure it's going to be a fantastic experience.  And a much-needed break from civilization!

Well it's back to work for me.  I wish everyone in the vast blogosphere a splendid week!  I'll leave you with a few customary pictures of my sweet Junebug.  She worked hard this weekend, too...

The Country Life

The Country Life, acrylic on canvas.  Currently in my shop!

I've been trudging my way through this painting for the last few days...  I think it's finished. Or at least to the point where any more meddling will only make it worse.

Andy & I have been prowling the night on midnight-moonlit walks lately.  Actually, we're training ourselves to run under the cover of darkness, when no one is awake to see our slow and rather floppy progress.  Because of Andy's job, we have both become nocturnal creatures.  I'm not crazy about this lifestyle, but oh, how I love our walks!  It's as if we own the world, or at least our neighborhood.  Afterward we sit on our little porch or lie on the driveway and stare up at the stars (remember the stars?).  I have become absolutely addicted to this tiny morsel of absolute peace.  Sometimes makes me wish we lived in the country, where you can actually see the stars... 

Well, this week will be an extra busy one... preparing for our show and our trip, catching up on work, spending every second I can with my sweet Junebug.  I am hoping to complete another painting before I leave, but we will see.

I hope everyone out in blog-land will remember to look at the stars tonight, or tomorrow...  Have a lovely Monday!

The Year of Blogging Dangerously (a.k.a. Happy Blogiversary!!!)

Oh, my goodness!   It has officially been one year since I begrudgingly wrote my first blog!  And what a year it has been.  I was determined not to let this momentous occasion pass unnoticed, as the anniversary of my Etsy shop did a few weeks ago...  Though we have been a bit estranged lately, the ol' blog is still very near and dear to my heart, as are all of my friends in the blogosphere!  I have not quite lived up to my expectations with the blog or the shop, but I am pretty damn impressed with myself for trying!  I suppose I should say hooray for my half-assiversary!!! 

I have been so busy in my long absence!  Let's see, there was the rock'n roll tour (which was not so great) and the subsequent struggle to catch up on both rest and work .  (Sadly, I am still lagging far behind in both categories.)  Then there was a lovely visit from my cousins Kristina & Bradlee (all the way from Paris and New Haven)--my very first house guests!  And another equally lovely visit from Andy's family.  They traveled all the way from Denver to (finally) meet my family and help us build this:

My first porch!!!  Building a porch was incredibly hard work, but it was so worth it!  (Andy's parents deserve at least 99% of the credit...) Now we just have to get rid of the horrendous blue trim...  It's funny, I hated--no, abhorred--that blue paint when we bought the house, but now I've grown a bit attached to it.  I still haven't made up my mind about the green color we chose for the porch.  Paint is so deceptive!  I'm trying not to agonize too much over the decision, but I just don't want to be that one house on the street that makes people stop and wonder, "What on earth were they thinking?"   

I have spent the last few days nursing poor Junebug, who got into a pretty nasty fight over the weekend.  She was a mess, with ears practically torn to pieces and one eye swollen shut... I had already accepted her future as a black patch-clad one-eyed cat, but the vet tells me she will be just fine.  (Have you ever tried to put antibiotic ointment directly in a cat's eye?)  I feel pretty certain the she was the instigator, and I cringe to think of what the other cat must look like!  She seems to be recovering quite nicely and milking me for all the attention she can get...

One of the nice things about  busy life is that there are generally plenty of things to look forward to... Such as my trip to New York in a couple of weeks to see The Color Purple on Broadway.  This will be part of a whirlwind girl's weekend out courtesy of my (truly wonderful) mother-in-law.  It is a life-long dream of hers, and I feel tremendously honored to be included!  There is also talk of a work-sponsored trip to Paris in the somewhat near future, though nothing is definite yet.  It would be a business trip, but still...I am keeping my fingers crossed!

And something else I am looking forward to... I managed to purchase one of Ashley G's bearded men from her upcoming show at Gallery Revisited.    My absolute favorite was already sold out, but I am very much in love with this one, too:

Sigh... One of the worst side-effects of infrequent blogging is that I have too many things to say and so little time.  I am hoping (rather desperately) that life will finally calm down after the summer so I can resume the creative life.  For now my blog and I will have to settle with fair-weather friendship...   I hope all the lovelies out there will stick with me as I try to make my way through another year of blogging!!!  Happy Weekend!

- - -

p.s.  The adorable cupcake bowls were a recent acquisition from Rose and Radish...

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon...

Hello?  Are you still there?

I am terribly sorry for my sudden disappearance!  My crazy 60-hour week unexpectedly turned into three 60-hour weeks (which I am still enduring)!  I have been so busy I could just cry, but it's all for good reason.  I was offered a full-time position at my new transatlantic photography job, and I have officially (and rather emotionally) said my goodbyes to autism.  I have pretty much been working around the clock, and I am so ready for a day off...

Which brings me to this Friday.  Tomorrow.  My first day off in three-and-a-half weeks. And... (gulp) My Thirtieth Birthday!!!!   In less than twenty-four hours, I will be a thirty year-old girl woman.  I'm ready for it.  Really.  At least I think I am...  I have been secretly celebrating and indulging all week long with little presents to myself.  Normally I would be overwhelmed with guilt, but dammit, I have been working so hard!

Here are just a few of my little surprises...

These, to which I have dedicated most of my (ridiculously scarce) free time:

These, from Anthropologie for my laundry-room doors, and this for my kitchen...

This pair and that pair for my poor feet, which have not seen new shoes in about two years... I have lived most of my life in Mary-Janes, but I found myself quite Mary-Janeless for a long time. My shoe tastes are simple, yet incredibly picky, and can be summed up as functional and little-girly...

I cheated yesterday and opened a birthday present from my Aunt Dana that arrived early in the mail (shhhh... don't tell!)... Inside the sweetly-wrapped package was this fantastic little Julie Arkell monograph (sorry, I couldn't find it on Amazon). I was not familiar with her work, but I was instantly smitten. It is so tactile and heart-breaking...

Isn't this birdie ribbon the greatest?

And this special birthday crown, which I intend to wear all day tomorrow...

There are few other very special surprises, but I will post about them soon.  I feel a bit like a ragged queen... Despite all the intense stress, there have been so many wonderful things happening (and not all in the form of material objects)! Since acquiring my little house and my little yard, I have noticed a very strange, almost uncomfortable sensation lurking about. I believe it's called happiness? Peace? Who knew it would be so amazing to sit in the yard with Junebug and spy a bright-eyed woodpecker in a tree? I have very timidly begun to "own" my tiny corner of the world, and I am feeling so incredibly grateful...  I am not accustomed to all of this goodness.

Sadly, creative endeavors are still a bit on hold, though I am hoping to resume next week.  That is, Once I Am Thirty!  I am not much of a party gal, so tonight Andy & I are planning to have dinner & drinks with Emily #1, and tomorrow a big journey to Hotlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium with Emily #2 and her beloved... (**Note: I love both of the Emilys equally... they are both #1 in my heart!)  (***Note: I hope you know I am being totally facetious when I say "Hotlanta...")  This weekend I will spend time with my much-neglected family and my garden. 

I will return a much, much older girl woman with lots of pictures!  I promise!  Have a lovely weekend!

- - - -

p.s. I woke up in love this morning...

I Want...Cookies

Portrait With a Cookie...

Once upon a time when I worked in the hospital ICU, I was instructed to check on a little lady who had been buzzing desperately for help all afternoon.  Thinking something must be dreadfully wrong, I raced in and was told in a tiny, sweet voice, "I want... cookies."  Sadly, she couldn't have any cookies, and I had to be the one to break her heart with the news.  Fortunately for this bunny there were no unrequited cookies!  He still seems to be sad, though, as he is all alone in my shop! 

As you can see, I did manage one step in the direction of Progress, though I have to admit that the studio is still unusable.  Sigh... I think I will miss the ache of hours spent slumped on the couch with a project in my lap!  Said projects will have to wait, as I felt a strange need to martyr myself to the cause of a 6o-hour work week.  Sigh (again)...  Not only am I unable to say NO, but I readily volunteer myself with no prompting.  What is wrong with me?

Thanks to unusually blustery winds, I lost electricity for most of the day and have to make up some of my endless work hours tonight.  But I will be back soon!   Have a delightful week!

p.s.

Burst My Bubble...

Yesterday I was enjoying the peaceful serenity of a shower in my new bathroom, when suddenly I both heard and felt a deafening, dreadful rumble that could only be a tornado...  My heart pounded in my chest as I frantically jumped out of the shower, only to realize that it was just Andy testing out his beloved new surround sound!  I really could have killed him.  Really. 

Until very recently, Andy & I lived a simple life free of all the ridiculous, expensive shackles that the rest of society seemed to need so desperately... Now we have cell-phones and high-speed internet and surround sound and fancy speakers everywhere you look and... a sub-woofer.  (Can someone please tell me what the hell a sub-woofer actually is?)  I'm sure it will be fun to watch that opening scene of Lord of the Rings eight-hundred times, but do we really have to destroy the loveliness of the place where ceiling meets wall?  And will I ever get over that strange, disorienting feeling that the sound just isn't coming from the TV?  Sigh...  The whole issue has been such a point of contention that I finally just had to give in.  And now this is what I gaze at, terrible hateful thing!

An old friend of mine had this theory of life that basically said each person inhabits their own personal bubble that grows and grows (and weakens in strength) depending on the number of things and responsibilities taken on.  Well, I'd say our little bubble is nearly to bursting point!  But I'll get over it.  I'll probably be a surround-sound addict before long.  And besides, Andy is just so darned proud...  Is it just a guy thing?

On a more positive note, I do have some promised pictures, little glimpses of my new world:

Previously-mentioned bathroom that I love almost as much as Junebug!  I should mention that my last bathroom had wood paneling and exposed pipes and rusty water and an unusable bathtub...  (Note the curved shower rod... I thought Andy was crazy, but oh, how it has improved our quality of life!)

And some items recently-acquired for my new kitchen, also a vast improvement over the old one ( wood-paneling and midget-level counter-tops, among other things).  I have always wanted a mortar and pestle, which I will rarely use, but still.  I found this one at IKEA for five dollars.  The pretty Squircle plates and my new favorite mug courtesy of Urban Outfitters.  Andy just had to have the magnetic spice-rack from Target!  (Does he even use spices?)

My new kitchen sink is not encrusted with rust and stains.  Can you believe it?  Oh, and the oven actually works... hence my very first-ever cookies made from scratch.  Oatmeal cookies for everyone!  Every day!

And, oh the tremendous amount of sunlight!!!  My last two or three homes were terrible, dark, dank caves.  We have an overabundance of windows and so much light in the bedroom that we had to buy these flocked curtains from IKEA so Andy will be able to sleep in the daytime.  I'm not sure about them in the context of our bedroom, but they are pretty special.

The studio is still a terrible mess, but we have taken steps toward making it functional (a.k.a. spending lots of money at IKEA...)  We found a computer desk on super clearance, these cute rolly-chairs, and these little boxes which, in true IKEA fashion, had to be assembled, screws and all!

Who is a decision-maker?  I am!  Well, at least I decided where to hang this portrait of Andy & me (painted by  a very good egg for my second wedding anniversary...) and this ice-cream lamp from some other good eggs...

As if I wasn't busy enough, I am also trying very hard to nurture my (inept) love of gardening. Again, the inability to make decisions tends to interfere, but I have been doing what I can. The recent cold-snap pretty much destroyed all the lovely things my mom and I planted in the yard, so pictures will have to come later!   (Just imagine pink hydrangeas, gerbera daisies, and lavender...)

All the recent spending has begun to make me physically ill, so now it's time to relax a bit (though we are still searching for our soul-mate in the form of a sofa...).   Also time to focus on the studio and getting back into productive mode, which means I need to end this endless blog-post!!!  I will continue sharing pictures of my bulging bubble... and hopefully it will remain intact! 

Have a simply lovely weekend!

p.s.

Lost and Found...

(...muffled sounds from within a cardboard box...)

Oh, hello, faithful readers! 

I have been a bit consumed and overwhelmed by unpacking, gardening , spending loads of money, arranging and rearranging, making painful decisions, and trying to recover from the last several weeks of exhaustion!  (Not to mention the two jobs and an upcoming M Coast show this weekend...)  Whew!

I am very excited to (finally) be able to have a bit of studio space, though I will have to share it with guitars and keyboards...  I purchased a huge, study table from Lowe's, my current home-away-from-home.  I'm still in the process of organizing, but I hope to be back in business in the next few days!  I'm banking on adequate workspace being the kick in the pants that I so desperately need...

The house is coming along nicely, though I have a hard time with the aforementioned painful decisions about where things should go and such.  Andy has found me curled up in a fetal position several times...  We're still searching for the perfect couch and other assorted necessities.  (This is my favorite excuse of the day!)  We have made a date with Emily and her mini-van to do some serious shopping in the big city next week.

I managed to misplace my digital camera and only found it this morning, so I have no pictures at the moment.   I will share some of my chaos and progress very soon!  Really, I will!

I have to rush off to rock 'n roll practice now.  Thanks for all the lovely comments, by the way!  Oh, and a few people asked about my paint brand... both colors are Valspar from Lowe's.   It is a bit pricey (I think?) at around $30 a gallon, but so worth it!

A lovely weekend to all!

- - - -

p.s. I find far too much delight in an error-free spell-check... I am a sick, sick person!