Mackenzie & Tyler's Blah Blah Blog

Lenny: I will always love you

2010-01-10T18:26:00.004-05:00

In 1982, a toy manufacturer called Coleco began to produce Cabbage Patch Kids. Thank you, Coleco. You brought me Lenny, my curly-haired boy doll.
This is the Christmas day that Santa brought me Lenny. Look how stoked I am. After all, Lenny did have a teddy bear embroidered on his overalls.
Here I am shamelessly kickin' it on my grandma's lap with my doll. Lenny even had his own seat in the van for our California road trip. He had as much space as my older siblings in the back.

When I first told her, Mackenzie didn't believe me that I had a doll as a kid. And she laughed hard when I told him I had named him Lenny (which rhymes with my older sister's CPK "Jenny"). I think she had to see these pics to believe how much I loved him. Even boys need a good doll to love. To be honest, I always wanted a "My Buddy," probably because of their awesome jingle.

Hello!

2009-12-28T15:15:00.003-05:00

Hi. I haven't been as good at writing at this blog. I have been writing more at my other blog so if you aren't subscribed to that one, hop on over. I will still probably write on this blog, and Tyler too, but I am focusing more on writing more regularly on the other one. Thanks!

thanksgiving

2009-12-02T13:40:00.002-05:00

This last week has been filled with great moments. We drove up to Connecticut to see Adrian and Wendy, and their beautiful baby scarlett. We had so much fun spending thanksgiving with them. We went bowling on thanksgiving per sasser tradition, and tyler had tons of fun dancing with scarlett. That girl can move! We love being able to meet up with our friends.

We ended up in Rochester for the Second Storie indie Market which I was in again. That was also awesome. Here is my post about that, and Abby, one of my new friends I met there also posted a great post with her amazing photography.

weekend roadtrip

2009-11-10T11:51:00.002-05:00

This weekend we had an impromptu opportunity to take a road trip and see friends had we hadn't seen in a while. Our neighbor and Tyler's favorite sports watching buddy from buffalo Adrian called and said he had two extra tickets to the Michigan game and that gave us a great opportunity to see them, see a fun football game and our long lost besties in Ann Arbor, Cree and Amanda. So we packed up and headed out! We had a great weekend full of beautiful weather, Ann Arbor goodness, and of course great food. Nothing is better than old friends catching up! And finding danish furniture on Craigslist to take home with you.

gingersnap

2009-10-24T17:13:00.002-04:00

her favorite place to be.

Last Sunday we went to look at dogs at a couple shelters nearby. We found an older chihuahua and her puppy. I thought I would want the younger dog, but something just drew me to the mom, named coco. After meeting her for 20 minutes, we decided that we wanted her. We have waited all week, and last night we were able to get her. She is an 11 year old long haired chihuahua that could be a mix. She is really mellow. When we got her she wouldn't stop shivering. She has been great, she's already trained, and she just follows us around and doesn't cause trouble. Her fur is super soft, Tyler even loves to pet her. I have wanted to find a dog to rescue for so long, and it all happened really fast, but I am really happy.

We had decided to call her Winnipeg, but when we were walking out with her, Tyler said gingersnap, and for some reason, it just clicked. I think ginger fits for a grandma like her. She's my new daytime companion!

snow!

2009-10-16T08:01:00.004-04:00

After the earliest snow fall in State College history yesterday started on my walk to work at 11am, it has been snowing ever since. Over 6 inches of wet snow has fallen, and overnight it got really cold and took down some trees. They were falling during the night and this morning we woke up to a crash. Our house is covered by huge trees all around, so it's a minefield!

a magic tree branch suspended by our power lines

shard of deadly tree branch.

Our lovely deck that just got completed!

one in our driveway

yep there's a car under there. Not ours!

the big tree

While we were taking pictures, a huge tree branch fell next door. It's dangerous outside! I thought we were done with crazy snow once we moved from buffalo. Luckily we still have power.

coming back from death.

2009-10-07T23:02:00.002-04:00

it's been a while. whoops. I will say it's not my fault, but it is. I have become a victim of the flu season, a battle that started over two weeks ago. It all started with a terrible sore throat, and high fever. I went to the doctor, who swore I had strep, because I had classic strep symptoms and my throat looked terrible. After the swab test that triggered my sensitive gag reflex, it came back negative. Went home with some anti-biotics anyways, and started to get better after a few days. Then I started getting cold symptoms, and was hit with the worst cold I have ever had in my life. I looked and sounded terrible, and people at work were disinfecting all over the place. I tried everything, and I started to feel a little better after a week of misery. Then two days ago I get hit with fatigue, and I get another fever. Back to the doctor, who can't believe that I have still been sick. I was tested for the flu, (which is the worst test ever, q-tips swabbed my brain. twice), but the doctor was concerned and wanted to do a full blood work up. After going to the lab where I knew a needle was in my future, I was visibly terrified. But a couple vials later, I survived and went out to the waiting room with my mask to await my diagosis. I was so tired I laid down on the bench. When they called my name, I got up but had a hard time with the actual walking bit. After swaying around the nurse grabbed me by the shoulders, took me too my doctor, where nervous looks were exchanged. They brought in a machine to measure my vitals, and took my temperature, where I now had a 102 temp. After sitting down, the doctor went over my results. surprise! Negative for flu, negative for mono. But my levels pointed to a viral infection, so I got my tamiflu brought to me because they thought I would faint. I am now on the flu regimine, isolated, and with a nurse contacting me everyday to monitor my health and make sure I don't infect the masses. Oh and I had contact with a pregnant person! I had to fill out a whole form about that. All in all I am still sick, and I have to report to the nurse tomorrow that I have a temperature so I have at least one more day of isolation. I have hardly eaten in two weeks, and Tyler has gotten an intense training on how to live up to my standards of care (toast cut into fourths please).

be careful out there!

2009-09-06T19:40:00.004-04:00

We're now living in our second "Happy Valley." Among other things, a striking similarity between Provo and State College is the die-hard football contingent. A major difference is the capacity of the two football stadiums: Lavell Edwards Stadium maxes out at 64,045, while Beaver Stadium can seat up to 107,282 (although 110, 753 is the largest reported attendance). On Friday night, Mackenzie and I were cruising the town (yeah, you know how we roll) and we dropped into Football Eve 2009. Do you remember high school pep rallies? Well, this was an awfully bedazzled pep rally, with probably about 30,000 students and locals who, unlike high school kids, wanted to be there and showed this by wholeheartedly singing and shouting through about 50 band- and cheerleader-guided songs and cheers. The crowd was vast. My favorite cheer was when the crowd repeated "Joe-Pa-Ter-No. Joe-Pa-Ter-No." I mean, where Lavell Edwards is the prophet of BYU football, Joe Paterno is the God of Penn State football. He has his own cheer--just for him. He is beloved. He is honored. Mackenzie and I saw Joe Pa driving across campus last week in a sweet Mercedes SUV and it was a celebrity moment (as far as State College goes). I'm inserting the video of Joe Pa's speech fully understanding that it will never be as good on video as it was in the moment. In fact, the best part about the speech was that between the croud noise, a bad sound system, and Joe Pa's slurred speech and accent, Mackenzie and I could hardly understand him. People here must be apt at interpreting his words because they kept laughing and cheering while Mackenzie and I would turn to each other with confused looks. One part that I could make out and was quite inspired by is around the 3-minute mark in the video. Joe Pa says, while pounding his chest for effect, "And when we say, 'We are Penn State,' by God it's just not a slogan. It's our heart." Admittedly, I was pretty riled up when he said that, and I'm not even fully won over to Penn State yet. Penn State nation was going wild. All in all, it was fun to see Joe Pa and take in the enormity of Beaver Stadium on a night when we didn't even have to pay for it.
As for the picture above, that's me sitting a just a few feet from the TV, nervously watching the BYU-Oklahoma game by myself. I love watching important games alone because, as anyone who's watched BYU games with me knows, I need plenty of room to stretch my wings when good or bad things happen. I have fallen to my knees, writhing in agony and run all the rooms of the house in uninhibited joy.

dresser done!

2009-09-04T10:15:00.005-04:00

Tyler has worked so hard to refinish a lot of our furniture. He got done with the dresser this week, and it looks great! It was really dull and scratched up, he sanded down everything and stained it and then finished it with tung oil. It really glows. He did a great job! One more down!

before

after!

RIP 86' Accord

2009-08-23T17:54:00.005-04:00

After the rough ride that has been the Honda since we moved to Buffalo (i.e., we used all of our free AAA tows (4) for 2009 before summer arrived), we have been dreaming of a new car. We decided that once we got settled in State College we would try and find one. Tyler had taken over this job completely. Just like with our furniture hunting in Buffalo, he became obsessed at looking for cars online. Being in a small town, and knowing exactly what we wanted, we had to look far and wide to find a car that fit our needs. No stone in Pennsylvania went unturned (not to mention looking in Idaho and Utah). Tyler stayed up until 3 AM multiple times poring over dealer websites. He found a deal two weeks ago, haggled over the phone, and without even seeing the car, we got all the details (i.e., financing, insurance, registration) together and drove 3 hours to Philly yesterday. It took forever, with cash for clunkers going on, we waited for 6 hours in the dealership, just to sign the paperwork. We finally got our car, said goodbye to the honda, and drove to the nearest chipotle.

We love the car, it is a 2005 forester, it drives like a real car! After driving the honda for several thousands of miles, that really was our only qualification. The honda had some rough days lately, it had a distinctive "purr" to the engine, our car literally felt like it was going to shake the tires off. And the power steering went out a few months ago. Which made 3-point-turns=6-point-turns. But it's been a good car to us, and we will miss it.

The forester has already come in very handy. We went right to ikea that night to pick up some things, and one of those things was an over 6+ foot long countertop that was on sale for super cheap. Then tonight we went for a drive and picked up another 6 foot tall book shelf that was on the street. It's the car of our dreams!

new job!

2009-08-18T11:35:00.002-04:00

stuckeman building

Coming here, there wasn't too many job prospects for me. There isn't a large art community, and not a lot of design going on, other than at the university. I found one job online that I qualified for, and that was a job in the architecture and landscape architecture library. I applied and was shocked when I got an interview and then I got the job! Its branch of the library is housed in the building where the architecture department is. It's a new building, that is Penn State's first gold LEED rated building. It's really amazing, and I love the recycled copper on the outside. It seems perfect for me because I really loved working at the BYU library, and this job is only part time. I mostly work nights, which is okay because I really love having my days to do things. And tyler will be able to study while I work. I was really hoping to get a job at the university, and now I have my own ID card and a parking permit.

high school memories.

2009-08-14T11:41:00.003-04:00

Today I was running by the high school and I saw a familiar sight. Rows and rows of kids, lined up on a parking lot. It's marching band season! I couldn't help smiling as I watched them. Smiled even more when I heard them playing "Thriller" with half the brass section doing the thriller dance. It brought back a flood of memories.

Those who know me fairly well know I play the flute. I remember in 6th grade after deeming the clarinet was not duet-worthy with my twin's violin talent, starting to learn the flute. I picked it up quite quickly, I had a natural talent partly due to the fact I have freakishly long fingers and could reach all the keys easily. I really loved playing the flute. In junior high, band was still pretty cool to be in, and I was the top dog, the 1st flute. I played all the solos, I was the shiz. Our only marching experience was walking in a long straight line in the holiday parade, which we practiced doing for weeks. Our band uniform for parades was a maroon v-neck cardigan sweater (old man style that is cool now, but it was not cool back then.) that was always huge, with an embroidered logo on the back that we wore with a white turtleneck, white pants and white shoes. Even in back in 1997 that was not cool.

Anyways, playing the flute did bring me great things in life. I met one of my best friends because we had the same flute teacher in 8th grade. Becky, who would say things like beaut-i-mous! and brain fart! while we played in her room dedicated to her obsession to cats.

On to high school. I knew what was coming. Band was not cool in high school. I considered myself lucky because a)my flute could stealthily fit in my back pack b)I played volleyball (very cool) so I didn't have to be in marching band. I still loved playing the flute. I was in a flute choir taught by the flute professor at BSU, and I was in all the honor orchestras, which I loved. I love orchestra. The flutes play an important role. There only needs to be a few to carry over all those violins, and we were special in my mind. In band, it was all marches and brass-heavy stuff. flutes were like the magician's assistant, playing a pretty side role and slight of hand to the trumpets. I also did not escape pep band, which was the worst of all. We had to wear polo shirts and play at basketball and football games. I just wanted to sit with my friends. I would wear a hoodie over my polo, in our not air conditioned gym, and just sweat and sweat rather than let people see that I was the one who played "iron man" during the time out. After my sophomore year, I decided to quit band. I had to give up everything else, but I really didn't mind. Playing constant duets with my virtuoso sis kept up my skills.

I still have a place in my heart for bands. Tyler was a jock in high school and I taught him what a trombone was. In college I realized that playing "iron man" at parties was a big hit.

wednesdays.

2009-08-12T21:41:00.003-04:00

next in line.

Today Tyler and I woke up discouraged. I have been working on painting our bedroom this week, while Tyler has been refinishing furniture. The painting ending up taking a lot longer than expected, and when I took off the painters tape around the trim it turned into another 2 hour fixing step today. Tyler has worked so hard and ran into a couple roadblocks that were discouraging. We both had outcomes that seemed bleak, and we were depressed. Also we were trying to plan somewhere fun for us to go this weekend, because Tyler's school will start on the 24th and we haven't gotten a true summer vacation this summer. But we realized being responsible adults was more important right now. I dream of taking a cheap weekend cruise to somewhere warm with a beach.

But we got positive (and a hot dog), things turned out better, the bedroom is finally finished, and with advice and a good talking to his mom and family, tyler was re-energized to tackle the furniture. Sometimes we just have those moments! But we have been so blessed in so many ways we realized we didn't need to be pitying ourselves.

While we were saying "why us?" this morning, Tyler casually mentions, "I really think we could refinish this dining table."

I think we do it to ourselves.

Safety goggles

2009-08-07T22:50:00.002-04:00

I've spent the last few evenings in the basement working on refinishing projects. To remove the old stain from two of our coffee tables, we've chosen to use KS-3 Stripper so as not to wreck any veneer portions. The first few steps on the KS-3 can tell you to wear chemical-resistant gloves and goggles and to pour the KS-3 into a metal container and shake it well before using. There's also a warning to remove the lid of the container slowly, to allow gases to release. As you can see from the photo, we bought the gloves but I've just worn my glasses to protect my eyes. Earlier, after applying and removing several coats of KS-3, I felt I'd gotten the hang of it. I'd closed the lid on the KS-3 securely, thinking I was done using it for the night. But before I called it a day I decided to use the KS-3 one more time on the underside of one of the tables. The can was on the ground and, with the lid still tightly in place, I bent over and began to shake the contents. I sat the can down to pry it open with a flathead screwdriver. At this point, I was bending over casually, with my face directly above the can. When I pried up the lid, there was a loud "POP!" The lid shot off and the gooey contents erupted out. My glasses were splattered all over with KS-3. I threw them off and ran upstairs to wash the stingy goo off my arms, legs, and face, thinking that somehow I must have been maimed. But due to my trusty Ray-Bans, I can still see. For a second, I thought I was becoming "handy around the house." I guess I'm a fraud. At least I didn't saw off my fingers or anything.

one thing you can always count on...

2009-08-02T17:04:00.003-04:00

being able to go to a baseball game.
We went to see the spikes play a minor league team. They aren't that good. If you don't know baseball there are 5 levels of minor leagues. AAA, AA, A, short season, and rookie. We came from a AAA team in buffalo, the spikes are a short season team meaning that they are mostly new drafts from college teams so the season goes from june to September. The boise hawks are also at this level. So the game was pretty boring, both teams were terrible hitters, and finally in the last inning we scored a home run. But we smuggled in some peanuts and the weather was great. We went to five guys before, which was awesome. They have a good hot dog. not at a ted's level, but good. I would suggest mustard and BBQ sauce, you won't be disapointed!

Tyler is planning our next major league trip. Since we are around 4 possibilities, Pittsburgh, Philly, DC, and New York, he will figure out where he can watch his cubbies.

there was a big group of roosters in the street and of course I chased them down. I inherited my mother's love of fat chickens.

We are quickly becoming used to living in a farm town. We get our milk in glass bottles from the dairy down the street, where the cows live and graze on grass and are not injected with growth hormones. We go to the farmers market where the farmers bring their freshly picked produce from that morning, and tyler is enticed by the amish selling their pastries. It was my first up close amish encounter, I have seen mennonites and polygymists, but these guys are the real deal! They all have beards tyler dreams of. We would catch the smells of the next door pigfarm at the baseball game when the wind would shift. It is so peaceful here and so beautiful. I can't wait to see what it is like in the fall.

add a blog

2009-07-31T10:43:00.003-04:00

Since I am focusing on my online shop now, I have been starting another blog secretpockethandmade. Up until now it has had similar posts, but I am separating my artist life from my personal life now. This blog will have more stuff to do with us, and the other blog will be my projects and designs and things. I will be updating my shop with lots of things, I am finally a little more settled here to work on it. Thanks!

Fun finds

2009-07-30T13:09:00.004-04:00

Here are some more various vintage things we found in buffalo.

These yearbooks from 1948 and 1952 from a college for teachers. I love the covers, and the layouts inside.

I love this buffalo china platter, found at a thrift store.

We found this box of old stamps in a basement, mr Purington's basement.

this old globe still has tibet and ussr on it.

B-Town pride

2009-07-28T12:32:00.001-04:00

Check out design sponge for a great Boise page!

future party spot.

2009-07-28T09:33:00.002-04:00

I ventured out onto our deck yesterday to take some photos. It isn't completed yet, the owner is still working on it, should be done this week. It's a really great spot, and I can't wait to use it! I love how much sunlight we get, and all the different textures of our house. I am glad to have spaces to take photos of things, I have to rely on excellent lighting since I am still shooting everything with a point and shoot. Sadly a fancy camera is not number one on our priority list. I feel like I can make do without manual focus for now, but it's starting to drive me crazy!

another gem in buffalo

2009-07-24T13:42:00.003-04:00

You could say that I'm pretty much become an expert at estate sales. If you had to bring someone in to find the goods, I would take me. One thing I have learned that when we are driving to an estate sale, the neighborhood it is in is a key factor to telling what will be in the house. There have been some pictures that entice me, but then we go to the house and I can tell it will be a lot of junk. When they advertise "contemporary and modern furniture" that means ethan allen from the 90s. But there are some places that I know will be great. Same with craigslist stuff, we drive up to a potential find and it's a house that well doesn't have any character, it usually is a dud. But to my glee we drove up to this place last week, through wooded trees in a small town outside buffalo. And I knew it would be love at first sight.

A man greeted us, and told us that is was his parent's house, that his father built himself in the 70s. We see tons and tons of danish furniture in the garage, stuff he doesn't know is worth that much. That is where we bought our secretary desk and we also ended up buying the bedroom set. He gave us a tour of the place and when we went back the next day to pick it up, I just had to bring my camera. There are lots of places like this in buffalo, they really picked up on the ranch style since FLW went through there and built some amazing stuff.

This is truly what I will miss about buffalo. And if we have to get some more furniture, I am driving right back up there to get it!

peek so far

2009-07-23T13:46:00.004-04:00

I feel like we are starting to settle into state college. The first night we got here, I was very overwhelmed. But the town here is not intimidating like Buffalo was at first. I haven't even had to use the gps yet! We live on the main road and campus and wegmans are off that road, so I don't really have to venture far. We went to the library last night and checked out a bunch of documentaries. It has a great downtown area. It's weird to be back in a college town, students around all the time. It has a great energy to it.

We have gotten the living area somewhat arranged. That is the only place in the house really fully arranged. We haven't figured out all our knick-knacks and artwork. That will come soon. But we are really happy with it. It feels like home.

sunk in

2009-07-22T11:01:00.003-04:00

Since we moved in, it's been great to use all the furniture that we bought. The couches we bought a couple months ago from craigslist, and I never even saw them in person before we bought them. The selling point is that it came with a chair and an ottoman, which is what we wanted. The ottoman and a few pillows have an ugly pattern on them, so I remedy that with draping it with my mom's work of art.

They are really comfy, and are both prime for naps. This is how I've found Tyler the last couple of days.

echo quilting

2009-07-21T11:35:00.003-04:00

The newest MSL came out yesterday, and I was super excited to see the story. It was one of the projects that I got to see a lot of the creative process from beginning to end, and I got to help with the projects. Nicholas Andersen was the editor that was in charge, and he is from Hawaii so he brought back a true Hawaiian quilt from one of his trips to be in the photoshoot. I love Hawaiian quilting, and the project I worked the most on was the quilted pillow. Me and the other intern Emily spent probably 50 hours on that one pillow. By the end I spend about a week where all I would do in come into work, and hand quilt. It was really fun though, and it inpired me to want to someday hand quilt a quilt. I wasn't able to be at the photoshoot–sadly it was on location upstate.

I miss my days in NYC at Martha, it was amazing!

moved!

2009-07-19T22:28:00.006-04:00

We are now in State College PA. We unloaded the truck last night and got everything inside. We still have lots to unpack so everything is pretty much a "before" picture. I can't wait to see what everything looks like when it's all put together. We have lots of refinishing projects, so we are going to tackle those one by one. This house has every room painted, a lot of those colors will probably change. We realized that houses here don't have ceiling lights, so come night time our bedrooms and living area have no light because we don't have any lamps!

We are enjoying it here, it seems odd to be somewhere new again. It's a small town that doesn't seem too small, it is beautiful here. We went to wegmans, it was comforting to be somewhere so familiar.
Compared to Buffalo, everything is so clean! The weather is great, it gets cold at night. We have huge trees covering our house, it almost feels like a cabin for some reason.

our half of the house + the roof deck still being completed

farm views about 15 minutes from our house. It is so green!

an awesome barn

our little kitchen. I think that green will be the first to go.

3rd bedroom/office + our card catalog, and like 10 boxes of my art supplies

dining area. The shell chairs are going to find a home somewhere. I'm not really sure where yet.

The day before we left, I found my dream desk. A modern danish secretary desk. This will be my downstairs work area.

our Barcelona chair.

also at the same place we bought the desk, we bought this bedroom set. We love it, it will look amazing refinished.

general downstairs. We found a place for the kennedys right away. The wall color reminds me too much of a flesh tone, but I can live with it for now.

other half of living room. That is NOT our tv. The previous residents have their stuff here until they can move it out in a couple weeks.

Happy Birthday!

2009-07-17T14:47:00.006-04:00

Tyler turned the big 2-7 today. It has been three years since I have been able to see him on his birthday and throw him any kind of party, so I kinda went crazy this year. Which means I bought balloons. That's right. I was standing in line at the store and it dawned on me, is this odd? Oh well.

It was also a going away party because we are leaving Buffalo tomorrow. Sad!

we will miss our good friends and neighbors the daytons.

Tyler co-workers got him Kan-Jam for his birthday, a frisbee game that Buffalo invented. Tyler loves it.

We had his favorite, pumpkin pie, and his new favorite, strawberry pie. I also made 5 different kinds of ice cream.

I made extra ice cream as favors for everyone. Tyler drew his face on all of them. I used my two favorite flavors, salty caramel and dark chocolate.

happy birthday to jon too! It is too weird that my twin and I married guys with the same birthday. And happy birthday to our niece Kayli.

After!

2009-07-14T14:05:00.010-04:00

This last weekend we went to work on the chairs. Sitting outside for who knows how long, they had absolutely no finish left on them, which meant it was bare fiberglass. So I had never even sat in them because they were itchy. They had embedded dirt, and splatters of paint and stains from water in the seats. After a surface washing, this is what they looked like.

We worked on sanding them (wet sanding so we don't get fiberglass dust in our lungs), getting the fiberglass smooth, and it also took away a lot of the stains, dirt and paint.

They looked so much better after sanding them! They have some permanent stains but they are so much better!

Tyler worked on the sealing. We used Penetrol, which restores color and conditions fiberglass. We thought that the chairs were white, but actually they are a creamy off-white, a color we never really saw. They were white after sanding, but would be a pinkish when wet. Because of sun bleaching and water stains, the color is not completely even, but they look so much better! (and they are safe to touch)

I would love to someday get them painted different colors that would make them look brand new! We still have to seal the backs, but they are almost finished.

behold the power of gumption

2009-07-10T10:21:00.005-04:00

Right by our house, and by the school, we always drove by the same houses. They were old and generally cute. A few weeks ago we drove by and I was just looking at the houses when I thought my eyes had deceived me. All I could think was EAMES! EAMES! I made tyler drive back and I spotted it. What looked like 3 eames/herman miller shell chairs sitting on a balcony. I was thinking, if only the owners knew what they had! We drove by every day, and I would look at them. We realized that they were all connected to each other, like lobby chairs. We always talked about going to that house and asking if we could buy them.

Then, last week, Tyler decided to do it. Nothing to lose! He found the owner, which was a young guy, who bought the house and the chairs were in it. Tyler got a closer look and realized that they were not Herman Miller, but Kruger, which was a company that in the 60's made chairs to compete with Herman Miller. They have a slightly different shape, but they are still made of fiberglass. We offered him a price, and he accepted! They had been sitting outside for decades, so they are in rough shape but we got them for a super cheap price. We are going to refinish them, hopefully bring them back.

vintage dishes

2009-07-08T08:13:00.000-04:00

We are trying to find vintage dishes because we don't have any since we moved cross country. We love buffalo china, which is a restaurant ware. It's think and heavy and was used in diners. We found about a dozen white mugs, but we just picked up these bowls and a plate. We are hopeful that someday we will have a whole set. It will always remind me of our time in buffalo.

Other than the white mugs I have, these are the other colors and shapes I have found.

Since I don't know when we will get a complete set, I spotted this set of 12 plates that I love. It's a J&G Meakin from england. They have a great heavy enamel feel. I can't wait to use these as our everyday dishes.

4th of July 2009 Philly

2009-07-07T15:16:00.010-04:00

We were lucky enough to go to philly this weekend to reconnect with our dear friends Cree and Amanda. It was a fun time, talking, reminiscing, and making new memories. Since we set them up last summer, we haven't been able to spend any quality time with them. Now they are newlyweds, and we can finally hang out! Happy birthday America! Check out Amanda's polaroids.

Tyler loved riding Amanda's bike around the dorm halls.

steal of a deal

2009-07-03T08:44:00.000-04:00

Tyler and I found this thrift store by chance a few months ago. It's a great one, large, and cheap. They have two different colors that are 50% off every day, compared to the one color that is 20% off at the other stores here.

Now this caught my eye immediately. I've been wanting a low dresser/credenza and this one I don't even have to refinish to have it look presentable! Now the price. it's green so it's 50% off, only 25 dollars! score.

At this store we have seen a lot of 50's dining tables. I like them but usually they are too broken down, or the color isn't right. This one needs a little tlc, but I love the gray-blue color.

And it looks like graph paper? Sold. 50% off? 10 dollars.

I've never found dresses here, but tyler always finds an abundance of great vintage shirts. What a model. Gingham is his new fav. We added two more to his collection.

I am going to miss buffalo!

beautiful berries

2009-07-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last week I went with some friends and their cuties to pick some strawberries. It was a really hot and humid day here, probably the hottest so far this summer. It was fun, I took way too long to try and pick out all the perfect berries, but I knew what they were for! I was finally going to try and make a tart. It turned out really good. we didn't have a tart pan so I used a springform pan, but it worked well. I can't wait to try other tarts, lemon curd, pastry cream, yum.

When I was picking berries it made me really miss my mom, it's something I know she loves. And it's sad that my family is all meeting up in Portland this week to pick raspberries. Living on an opposite coast has made me realize the fact that I will be left out of some of the family fun for at least the next 5 years. I'm also missing summer huckleberry picking. booo. I know they don't wish for us to be so far away, but that's how it goes in life I guess.

part 2 of awesome estate sale

2009-07-01T11:06:00.001-04:00

these I don't know what I'm going to do with these for sure, but I know something awesome will come up someday.

This bedspread will make an amazing quilt back.

boxes for film or slides

I have yet to pass on a bottle of vintage glitter. This is in an old vitamin bottle.

cake cases. Never heard that before! I love the type and the blue color.

All in a day's work part 1.

2009-06-30T10:41:00.000-04:00

Lately it feels like my full time job is checking craigslist and getting stuff for our new apartment. Over the last year, I have honed my skills for the estate sale scour. I routinely find things hidden in basements, and I have found some of my greatest finds where the normal browser would overlook. This weekend, I spend about 3 hours at an estate sale that wasn't really big, but it was packed. It was the home of a couple that had no family and they saved everything I mean everything. She was a crafter that did everything from sewing, macrame, embroidery, tatting, quilling, loom beading, etc... etc...(I think it painted me a picture of my future). He was a phone repairman and his hobby was photography. And they put everything into hundreds of tiny boxes and drawers and put a label on it. And I went through almost all of them.

Lately I expressed to Tyler how I waned to learn calligraphy. These were in a cigar box in a closet. 50 cents.

Whenever I enter the home of an avid embroiderer, I always try to find these. My first oval one.

I got 3 of these to help organize my crazy thread collection.

I found a bunch of these under a table and behind boxes. These are not all of them, I bought about 15.

thrift finds

2009-06-29T13:54:00.003-04:00

We found these pieces at a thrift store this weekend. We had our hopes on a table at an estate sale, but we didn't get it. These were a good consolation with a tiny price tag. I hope to paint these, and maybe try out some different techniques. We have been searching for similar 1960s style dining sets and buffets. We still have some things to find, but we have a few weeks left. I expect that this summer I will have a lot of work to do. But I am so excited to furnish and really make our new space our own.

craigslist finds

2009-06-24T17:35:00.003-04:00

This is a ceramic light fixture. I'm not really sure how it is going to work, it's kinda heavy. but I will figure it out. It is definitely going to be a focal point.

These are the only dishes we have so far. Perfect for our tendency to sometimes eat in front of the tv. I love them! These old school trays made me think being back in school, I could pick 4 days a month to eat hot lunch. I loved the self serve baked potato bar (all you can eat melted non-cheese cheese!), henny pennys (chicken sandwich), and the self serve chicken and mashed potatoes, which meant that you could fill 3 different spots with potatoes if the lunch ladies didn't catch you. I loved hot lunch days. Do they use trays like this anymore? If not then that is really sad.

moving out

2009-06-23T09:51:00.008-04:00

We moved out of the house yesterday. We were crazy busy the last few days packing and cleaning getting ready for the owners to come back. We finally made it out, but had to rush out to a nearby farm town to get a crazy weird and orange light fixture. We finally got back to town around 3, and someone was hungry. Tyler gets desperate and sad when he's that hungry. It's funny and a little frustrating when I'm trying to talk to him about something, and he gives me a blank stare and says "I'm hungry, I can't think, or talk right now." So we waited for the deep conversation after his western cheeseburger came.

we love the lake effect diner, it's imported from PA. We are coming here late at night before we leave so I can get an amazing pancake just because you can.

so sad.

I hadn't taken pictures of the house really before, I took some as we were leaving. They are grainy, I was trying to take them too fast and I didn't realize that there was a wrong setting on. grr point and shoot! Anyways. This family, they got married in probably the 60's and made some amazing furniture purchases and moved into this house. And never moved or replaced anything since.

huge George Nelson bubble lamp.

yep it's old.

Some Barcelona chairs by Mies Van der Rohe, and a table that lights up at the base.

The couch and chair they have are awesome. It's hard to tell though because the upholstery is completely ratted and taped up and covered with a blanket. I would love to get these. And the shag rug is also pretty cool, it's worn down to the very base except underneath the coffee table, where it is brand new because it has never moved for 30 years. Also there are a few of the plants I was trying to keep alive.

ahh, the kitchen. After moving from a functional but tiny kitchen to this... I was in heaven. I don't know if I'll ever have a huge sub-zero fridge again, but I loved it! We moved in right at christmas and I made marshmallows, shortbread, cookies, and pies, all within 3 days of moving.

We were so lucky to have the opportunity to live in this house, rent free for 6 months. It came at a time when we really needed it. We are now staying across the street for a few days at our friends, the daytons, and then we are going to stay/housesit at another friends for a couple weeks until we can finally move into our apartment in state college PA. We are so grateful for everything and everyone that has helped us out!

We are keeping busy trying to find things to furnish our new place. Everything we have gotten is vintage/craigslist. Here in Buffalo there is a wealth of amazing things. Lately we picked up a black barcelona chair, an old card catalog, chalkboard, old elementary school trays, weird shelves, and a funny orange ceramic pendant light that is really heavy. I am going to mourn the estate sales here. It was the best thing that has come into my life. But I will be back to visit, our friends don't have to worry. Everything is packed, so I can't post pictures right now. But eventually you will see all our treasures. Hopefully it all works together.

The great Japanese candy trial no. 1

2009-06-19T10:22:00.004-04:00

For my birthday, Malorie got me some amazing fabric, but she also knew what I would love, Japanese stuff! I love trying new things, when I visited her in Portland we had fun just walking around the Japanese superstore, trying drinks, candy, and seeing everything they sell. It sometimes drives Tyler crazy, but I love to look at stores and see all the different things, the import aisles at wegmens are awesome! He's so nice to let me look at things like the british imports and we'll pick out a new treat to try. So I was happy to get a couple treats to try. It's been a couple months, but I finally sat down and decided to investigate.
I got a bag of chocolates and some sour lemon candy.

First the lemon candy. The packaging was fun, it had a diagram that had an outler layer of "lemon taste powder" and then mild lemon candy and then the super lemon candy.

It was definitely sour on the outside! But I never found any super lemon inside, the whole thing was like a lemon head. But good!
Now the crazy part, the chocolates.

The first one made me think it had something to do with red bean paste, but it looks like a peanut with an egg yolk. The one on the right says milk on it. Milk chocolate?

must be cookie inside! these seemed promising.

This one was the best packaging, it made me think of dark chocolate or something.

Surprise! I thought it would just be milk chocolate and there was a white inside. It was pretty good, the choclate is not the best tasting chocolate, but not bad.

Almond, there was an almond inside.

White and Cookies, was what I thought. It was good.

Cookie inside, it was like a poky. So I liked this one a lot.

From looking at it, I could not tell what this one would be like. White chocolate? It was more yellow though.

Once I bit it, I felt a gummy center. Not good. Must be a red bean flavoring? That one I had to spit out. Yuck.
The one I hoped to be the best, I bit into it and felt a texture like firm caramel. I love caramel, so I thought it was pretty good. Then after about 2 minutes I started to get a very strong flavor, like coffee, but even stronger and maybe bitter? It wasn't good, the taste it left in my mouth was bad.

So all in all it was fun. Other than saying yuck out loud to myself a couple times, they were good. Mal I wish you were here to have fun with me! Ayumi, please tell me what I just ate!

We are spending the last few days in our house, trying to pack. Our car broke down again on Monday, it started doing weird things again. Our engine was struggling like it was in 1st or second gear when you were going 30 or 40 mph. not good. and then it overheated again. We used our last free tow from AAA. We still don't know what's wrong, but I have a feeling like it's danced its last dance. so sad, and so not good timing. We might have to get a new car, which is so odd. Luckily we have great friends who have helped us out so far.

Parents. I am not one.

2009-06-17T22:35:00.002-04:00

tiny proof of my first published work and contest win. yay! My adorable little niece.

weekend adventure

2009-06-15T19:01:00.006-04:00

tyler's great chalkboard handwriting, and a stunning picture stopped the crowds.

booths across the way. fake flowers, bottle art, name plates, lots of ugly.

I sewed the banner the night before using fabric I found last weekend, and I finally found a use for some of my 25+packages of flex-lace hem trim that I had to get when I bought some some buttons.

i got that little green money box months ago and it was fun to actually use it, and the baby scale!

our booth was definitely not the most complex, but we were different in a good way.

Doing the Allentown festival was an adventure. We were a part of a larger festival, vendors from all over and tens of thousands of people come to see everything. We showed up early Saturday and looked around us. We were practically at the end and to the right of us was basket purses, and to the left, obama shirts (one of my favs: obama's head on a boxer that had knocked out a McCain). Let's just say that it wasn't the normal shows I'm used to.

There was a booth across from me that a girl made clothing from re purposed materials, she was amazing and super nice! She ran into the same problems I did, that the festival brought out all types of people, and I think this year there were a lot of lookers, not buyers. And they had a different asthetic from her booth and mine. Which included flattened liquor bottles, purses made out of bras, tie dye, fake flowers etc. There were a couple vendors with nice things, but mostly was a little crazy. We did get to meet some great people and there were some that were so grateful that we were there, it was refreshing for a lot of people.

Laney and henry came on saturday to keep me company. Mostly because I get really shy talking to people, and it was nice to have her around to distract me. Tyler liked it when we would leave and he could man the booth himself. He is a great seller, and there were tons of times that him talking to people probably made a sale that I wouldn't have. We had some fun conversations, buffalo has some really great people. We also saw a fight where an African couple was literally trying to take their son away from each other. Very tense and kinda sad. I saw a dog with shoes, men in camo kilts, snakes, parrots, and all the types of people that come out of the woodwork at these events.

All in all, it was fun, I learned alot and we did reach a lot of people. It was fun to see friends come to visit, and meet new friends. Right now I don't think I am going to do any more shows this summer. I will focus on my etsy store and get ready for the fall, hopefully second storie again.

whew!

2009-06-11T16:38:00.007-04:00

Yesterday and today we were working on getting my postcards printed on the gocco. We printed a postcard back on all the cards and then today we worked on a couple designs. I had two disasters at the beginning and two precious bulbs were lost, so I had to cut one design out of my plans. But tyler came home for lunch and he was my lucky charm and things started to click.

inking the heart

printing, what an amazing machine!

heart waiting for the rest...

finished! This design although not ground-breaking was from a sketch from a design on a dress that ginger rogers wears in a movie I was watching on TCM. I loved it. Huge heart on her shoulder and arrows all over.

faux cross-stitch. Tyler had the great idea to layer the peach with the blue.

In the end it all worked out and we still have some more to do but the worst is over. We will be selling these this weekend. I am running around doing a million things, but I'm not too stressed.

Also yesterday the july issue of Parents magazine came out with my winning design inside! It's really fun to see your work inside a magazine. Check it out on the newstands.

goings on

2009-06-09T11:21:00.003-04:00

The weather here has been great, in the lower 70's which is amazing. I was thinking about exactly a year ago I moved to NYC and the first weekend there was close to 100 and super humid, bleh! I don't like warm weather tons and I love the cool breezes here.

For the last month Tyler and I have been working on preparing for the Allentown art festival this weekend. I have a booth and will be selling some fun things, I'm really excited about it! If you are in buffalo come and say hi! I'm on Wadsworth off Allen street. The art festival is huge, it should be really fun. We really enjoy making things together and Tyler is a huge help. We have made around 500 magnets so far, I broke into my cherished vintage fabric stash and used that, and found some amazing handmade doilies at estate sales. This is a great excuse to get a inventory so I'll actually get my etsy store stocked afterwards for those who can't come this weekend.

We have one month left in Buffalo! I can't believe it. I am really going to miss it here, and I never thought I would be thinking that. But we are happy to be moving to another state close by and start another crazy chapter in our lives.

potential peony puffs

2009-06-01T22:42:00.008-04:00

Going out to play with stanley, I had time to look at all the flowers that have bloomed in the backyard. I am thrilled that they have a half dozen peony bushes, they are my favorite! I also spotted a beautiful coral poppy with a plum center. My two favorite colors of the moment. When we move finally I will be able to have my own backyard garden and I want to plant as many peonies as possible.

Bizonz

2009-05-28T21:58:00.002-04:00

Because we just passed our anniversary, it's fitting to post about going to a baseball game. Mackenzie has been wonderful enough to allow us to attend MLB games in nearly every big city we've visited together (i.e., Seattle, NYC x2, San Diego, D.C.). Although Buffalo doesn't have an MLB team, it does have a AAA team, the Bisons (pronounced locally as Bizonz).

So, together with some friends from work, we watched the Mets' AAA affiliate a few weeks ago. The great thing about watching games at Coca-Cola field is that you can pretty much sit wherever you want. Thus, upon arriving, we moved directly to the seats right behind the 3rd base dugout.

These seats set me up perfectly to achieve a lifelong dream: to catch a foulball, on the fly, with my bare hands.

Unfortunately, despite willing the universe with all my soul, the nearest foul ball landed about 15 feet away on top of the dugout. However, at then end of the 2nd inning I was able to get the 1st baseman's attention as he was returning to the dugout holding a ball. I stood up, waved my arms wildly, and shouted, "Right here! Throw me the ball." He looked right at me but immediately tried to find a kid in the crowd to whom he could throw the ball. But, because the crowd was still filing in, no one else was calling for the ball. Happily I excepted his toss and lovingly carressed the ball for the rest of the game.

We're hoping to make it back to another Bisons game before we leave Buffalo (and hope to catch MLB games in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia soon).

4 years ago...

2009-05-27T09:12:00.002-04:00

You're my best friend, we're MFEO. Happy Anniversary.

babysitting+dogsitting+housesitting

2009-05-25T13:40:00.005-04:00

We were watching Henry while we are watching Stanley, and Henry was fascinated by him. He just followed him around everywhere, and wasn't even phased by his size. Stanley is a pretty mellow dog, it's been fun to have him around.

town and country indeed!

2009-05-22T08:36:00.008-04:00

For our anniversary coming up this week (4 years!) we decided to get bikes, we've always wanted ones, but haven't found them yet. and we coincidentally found both within a few days of each other. Tyler's at a yard sale, and mine on craigslist from a small town 30 minutes away. Tyler wanted something speedy and bright colored, and I wanted something that I could never fall over on, and use to carry around my future cute little dog.

I love the trike to death. We have spent a little time cleaning it up, getting rid of some of the rust. It needs a little adjustment, but it rides pretty good! I love it because I can talk on my cell phone, it has pedal brakes, it turns on a dime (maybe a quarter), stows supplies for an impromptu picnic, helps me accomplish my goal of finally riding without both hands, and I get attention from older women chasing me down in their cars wanting to know how they can get one for their feeble mothers.

made in the 80s

2009-05-14T16:52:00.004-04:00

if only this picture was unusual. poor car, he tries so hard.

Tuesday was a stressful day. Starting with my computer was doing something odd, the screen wasn't working right. I decided to take it to get repaired, so later that day I went to drop it off, which was 20 minutes away. On the way there I realized that the engine temp gauge was creeping up to H.
I dropped my computer off and got back in the car to go pick Tyler up from work. The gauge almost immediately jumped to the H, and I was worried. I called Tyler, and my phone was almost out of battery too. It creeps past the H, past the red, and even farther! I was freaking out and I called tyler and he told me to pull over and he would find me. I decide to pull over when I can, but I exit only to another freeway, and then another. I am telling tyler where I am and my phone dies.
I pull into a construction area in the middle of an on ramp. I turn the car off and smoke comes out of the vents. I get out of the car and no one is around. I just stand there, and pretty much burst into tears. I didn't think tyler knew where I was, I hardly knew where I was. I waited and composed myself and a truck dropped off some construction workers and I was able to use his clay covered cell. I tried to explain to tyler where I was, the man tried to explain where I was, he left and luckily Tyler found me. We decided to try and get the car as far as we could which was the first exit off and then we had to have AAA tow it. Luckily it wasn't that bad. Our car lives to drive another day.

Tyler made me some pudding to make me feel better.

$12 has never been better spent

2009-05-09T02:15:00.005-04:00

breakfast revisited.

2009-05-07T15:55:00.009-04:00

Coming back from McCall last week, we were getting ready to leave and all was great. Lindsay put Reese in a super cute outfit and she was happy as a clam.

Telling her tales of deep sea fishing...

And showing off her great dimples.

On the way home I was reminiscing about the windy mountain drive, and all the times I got carsick. We finally got out of the mountains and we were talking about how we were out of danger when...

Reese started to throw up (sorry for the vomit pictures, but it's a baby so it's cute... right?) a lot. Over and over again! Instantly Lindsay went into professional mom mode and literally caught the vomit in her hands, and all over herself. Malorie went into panic mode and got as far away as she could, pressed into the window. We finally found a place to pull over and we spent some time cleaning up the situation, and Tyler squealing and trying not to touch anything.

after it all happened, Reese just toddled around, not even realizing the chaos that she created.

at least it was scenic. Reese will be told this story for the rest of her life.

Scary bunny

2009-04-27T23:36:00.003-04:00

We're currently in McCall, Idaho with Mackenzie's family. Last night, I watched the movie "1408," a horror movie starring John Cusack. To be honest, although I'm a huge sissy when it comes to scary movies, I hardly batted an eye watching this "1408." And it when it came time to go to bed, I fell asleep without even once thinking someone was scratching on my window or crawling out from underneath the bed. That said, I must point your attention to the picture above. A few days ago, while we were still in Buffalo, I was getting a drink of water in the kitchen when I looked out my window and saw a creepy little bunny, staring right at me. It was rainy out and I'm convinced the bunny was contemplating an attack on our warm, dry home. I'm afraid that someday soon this little guy is going to rip through my walls with a chainsaw and hockeymask. Pray for me.

amanda+cree=husband and wife!

2009-04-26T11:18:00.009-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our day yesterday (we didn't take very many, hopefully we can post the really amazing ones someday). We flew to Boise on Thursday and then drove to Salt Lake City on Friday. Cree and Amanda's wedding was beautiful, they were so happy, and everything was wonderful. Amanda looked radiant in her grandmother's dress from 1953 and all the bridesmaids were wearing vintage dresses. The wedding was so moving, I've never cried of happiness at a wedding before, not even my own!

The luncheon was great, it was a fun day (we had to tell the story of getting them together, and we were nervous but we did okay). We were truly so happy for them. To come full circle from being our friends, us setting them up, then dating and then getting married, it's hard to describe how that feels. Maybe like a parent seeing their child get married–but I don't even know how that feels. Tyler and I agreed that we have never been to a better wedding, even our own! (for me it was too overwhelming to truly enjoy). Seeing them together reminded me why I got married to Tyler. Congrats, we love you!

picture would have been great if I looked at the camera

I got my hair done, by an awesome girl who also fixed my choppy new haircut.

tyler thought that cree stepped out of the great gatsby–very dapper.

us bridesmaids, i was hoping my flowers would keep me warm (rununculus-my second favorite flower!)

Amanda designed (and letterpressed herself) the invitations and everything else. They had a classic black and white sillouette theme. She is amazing.

to the west!

2009-04-21T16:47:00.006-04:00

I got some metal trays from a couple estate sales recently. Lots of old homes have these trays on their walls, these were found in a home with a lot of US and presidential collectibles. They were in the house for decades. Haven't decided what I'm going to do with these, as with most of the stuff I buy. It will be interesting how much of my estate sale purchases will incorporated into the decor of our next (and hopefully long-term) place.

our next state of residence!

I liked the flowers on this one. I thought they were a dark brown, but it cleaned up nice!

there are always skiiers on idaho and utah, some sort of cowboy.

this one is my favorite! Tyler got the guy to give it to us for cheap!

Tyler and I are heading out to boise on thursday. It's going to be quite the trip! Spend 12 hours flying to boise on thursday, sleep and then the next day drive to SLC for amanda and cree's weddin' (YAY!), drive back the next day, sunday pick up mal from the airport and drive to McCall. Throw in one more trip to the reception in Burley, and that's about 24 hours of driving after getting to boise! But we are so excited! We get to see the wedding, friends, family, ruby, and all the thrift stores in the greater boise area.

birthday surprise!

2009-04-20T13:43:00.004-04:00

After the big saturday, I thought that my sunday would be low-key, tyler said he didn't have anything planned, and that we would just hang out.

I opened presents, a couple books, including the new MS craft book!

I got some weck jars, and my buttons are already sorts and arranged in these beautiful jars!

Tyler also got me some gocco supplies, which was super exciting! Tyler got me all the things I wanted, he was amazing!

A quick usual dessert run across the street turned into a surprise party! I was super surprised, tyler totally fooled me! It was a fun end to a great weekend!

Birthday eve

2009-04-19T18:34:00.010-04:00

Yesterday we had a big birthday day planned, doing all the things I wanted to do and eat all in one day!

Started at Paula's Donuts, the best in buffalo!

the smell was amazing. We didn't eat all these, we got them for our treat for our sunday school class.

Walked down hertel and went vintage/antique shopping.

of course we needed to eat my favorite food- hot dogs!

afternoon movie: coraline (totally spooky)

birthday bunny in our backyard

birthday anderson's custard with sprinkles

It was so much fun! We also went out to dinner to a great thai restaurant. Tyler surprised me with some special guests, and I thought the birthday festivities were over for the weekend...

vintage handmade

2009-04-14T13:17:00.003-04:00

When at estate sales, I usually just glance at the usual pile of christmas ornaments, just see if there is anything interesting. I look for cool homemade ornaments like the ones I have been inspired by: Styrofoam balls stuck with pins and beads and hundreds of sequins. This one is similar to it, using velvet ribbon, other trims and pearl pins. I have made some of my own, one time taking the entire BYU vs Utah football game to make one with hundreds of pins and sequins because it took my mind off being nervous.

Just another Saturday

2009-04-05T11:57:00.003-04:00

After filing our taxes yesterday morning, Mackenzie and I dropped by an estate sale. Immediately after entering the front door we were confronted by this gorgeous portrait of JFK and Jackie. Without hesitating I took it off the wall and bought it. It has a place in my life.

zootique

2009-04-04T21:43:00.015-04:00

I went with Laney this week to the Buffalo zoo. It was really warm, and a lovely day. The zoo here is really old, and I felt right at home, because it was very similar to the Boise zoo. Depressing, kinda bland in color and small, but fun too. I think zoos are confusing emotionally.
I was fastinated by the habitats that the animals were given, trying to recreate where they would live with concrete and carefully placed ponds.

even the icebergs are melting here for the polar bear.

lil henry and laney they look so alike!

at the moment of this picture the zebra got skittish and jumped, it scared me.

this alligator got prime digs.

these tigers look like they live on a college campus

the gorillas were crazy to watch!

cockroaches? disgusting.

mountain goats have a playground of a fake mountain.

oh henry!

last but not least, a fluffy chicken.

shakin'

2009-03-31T18:01:00.002-04:00

oh, the finesse.

We have discovered popcorn again. We don't have a popper, we get it done old school. We decided to have a popcorn flavor battle and make our own. Tyler's cocktail was fresh parmesan cheese and lots and lots of black pepper. Not bad, not bad. Mine was predictable. A little tiny bit of melted butter with lots of cinnamon mixed in. Shake it in a brown bag, and then sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar and shake it up again. Yum! They were both great, but mine won. I kept catching tyler grabbing handfuls of mine.

jealous.

2009-03-30T10:08:00.000-04:00

hey lil' idaho license plate peeking out from the back. Good old 1A, miss you!

I love old typewriters. This one was hiding in a closet, and I just had to have it. The color is dreamy, and it has my favorite part about old typewriters, a really large period key. It's tiny, and it works great. It just need a new ribbon. Which I don't really know if I can get, but if not, then it will be a great shelf companion to our Christmas present baby blue typewriter from my brother. I've just been typing on it, and kinda driving tyler crazy when he's trying to watch tv. After producing a paragraph of faint text, I was hooked! I love typing on old typewriters and hearing the ding at the end of the line.

I don't know what year it's from, but most of the stuff in this house was from the 60's or so, I think it must be around that time maybe.

gay-tees?

2009-03-29T10:00:00.001-04:00

The estate sale that I went to twice this week had some really great vintage stuff. They had the stock of a shoe store that started in the 1950s. There were some amazing keds, amazing! but they were a size 7, too small. But we did get this old display after Tyler talked an old lady down. I love the color and the type, and especially right below the sign there are about 4 clips that you can hang stuff from. It's wood and metal. I also couldn't resist all these old shoelaces. I am determined to have the most random collection of stuff ever. I am going to miss these estate sales! At least my friends here will know they will see us again, I know I will be back.

What's that other things on the shelf you see? Well just wait for the closer look!

Spring is sprunging

2009-03-28T14:46:00.002-04:00

The owner of the house is a botanist, so I knew that there would be some flowers and things in the yard. This week these guys just popped out of the ground, along with some much needed warmer weather. They are closed up real tight in the morning, and then with the sun they open up. I have heard we are in the 5th season of buffalo, the mud season, but it's not too bad, just there are some parts of the grass that are constantly soggy from the huge amount of snow that rested there for months. Tyler even raked and cleaned up the yard, which turned out to be a huge job that filled 5 trash bags. Lots of debris and branches had been blown around from the winter storms. It's nice to have the place cleaned and ready for spring.

I found this in a basement and couldn't help but put it on

2009-03-23T21:18:00.001-04:00

Spring blossoms

2009-03-23T16:09:00.004-04:00

Well I do wish that japanese paper tape grew on trees, sadly they do not. We have been enjoying some sunny weather, and hopefully it will be getting warm this week. Here is one of my many rolls of paper tape, which I love to death. I have about 12+ rolls. Most are beautiful solid colors, but I found some patterned ones this christmas so I grabbed those! After I collected all my tapes together, I realized that I have two of the same color! But I can never have too much gray-blue.

My mind is crazy busy trying to think of my next move and the next thing to create, I'm not sure what exactly i'm going to, but my fingers are dyed a blue-green from an afternoon project today.

I'll post my latest estate sale finds soon. Saturday I was on a treasure-hunt high!

Flossing

2009-03-22T22:31:00.004-04:00

So, I began flossing again. I've flossed two more times in the last week than I did in the previous 4 years of our marriage. This emerging desire to floss spawns from a conversation I had with a new acquaintance of mine, an orthodontics resident. I revealed to him my dream of getting my teeth extracted (sorry mom) and replacing them with dentures in order to eliminate the daily guilt I feel for not flossing. My teeth have always been a money pit (thanks mom). The car ride to the dentist for me is a dead-man-walking. And each night when I brush my teeth (oh, I also brush at other times of the day), this haunting thought passes through my mind that brushing is only half of the job and that something wild is growing between my teeth, especially those hard to reach teeth, and that brushing is just moving crud from the surface to the cracks. To my surprise, my friend said that his patients with dentures rather like the experience. But then we got to talking about how I had a spacer and braces to adjust and straighten my teeth when I was kid. And I told him about my permanent retainer(s; one of which I pulled out in the Philippines a few years ago). And then I thought about how my mom compliments my teeth and smile. And about how I like how huge my two front teeth are, or how my friends called my teeth "tiger teeth," or how I like that one of my lower front teeth is starting to turn. And, you know, I decided that I like my teeth, even though they're undergoing some slight discoloration, and I want to keep them. Thus, I'm going to floss--I swear.

On a less intimate note (after all, what's more intimate than dental care decisions), Mackenzie and I had success this weekend buying dead people's stuff (at an estate sale). A perk of driving to distant, unfamiliar parts of Buffalo for estate sales, though, was that we discovered a new thrift store (A+ Thrift) when we went to South Buffalo. Here are two of my very old finds, one for Kenz, which I love, and the other for me:

Bowl-a-rama

2009-03-20T10:57:00.000-04:00

this bowling bag has decades of dirt and scuffs on it. Big enough for two balls though!

it came with bowling shoes and a bunch of printouts and old score sheets

after a little TLC

I picked up this old bowling bag, in a basement and kinda in rough shape, really dirty. It had a patina of dirt all over. It's zipper is broken, but I loved the shape of it, perfect carry-all size. After a good horse hair brush and some saddle soap, it cleaned up really nice. I'm throwing away the shoes though.

Doesn't it seem like everyone has a grandma who was a bowler? I know I did.

making take out

2009-03-14T21:54:00.004-04:00

This weekend we made some fun meals, on Friday we set out to recreate the chicken caesar wrap from our cougar-eat days. Not that complicated, basically caesar salad on a spinach tortilla, but it needed to be just right. With chicken, crutons, dressing, tomatoes, and my favorite, grated carrot. It tasted amazing, and transported us to the days when we would go and get a wrap for fun because we loved them so much.

Tonight we made pizzas, and they also turned out really amazing! The dough got really crisp all the way through the pizza. Mine was marinara, ricotta cheese, onion, fresh parmesan, tomato, and presciutto. Tyler's was BBQ sauce, chicken, cheese, tomato, onion, then more cheese then more BBQ sauce.

We also went to Wegman's and picked out a special dark chocolate bar to ration out through the week, and we couldn't resist the pick your own jelly bellies. My perfect mix: grapefruit, red apple, orange juice, peach, pear, and lemon lime.

bins of happiness.

2009-03-13T00:04:00.002-04:00

Check out a new blog by the Craft department at Martha Stewart. I was so privileged to work with all these amazing artists, and seeing this blog is bittersweet, it makes me really miss the days when my job everyday was to work with them. They were so inspiring, and it helped me to make the leap to try and be an artist of my own.

rice disaster!

2009-03-12T14:31:00.006-04:00

First of all, I don't know how many of my fellow boiseans saw this today on oprah, but I was horrified! I know Idaho is a strange and mystical state, but at least look at a map and put the capital in the right place. Anyways...

After making brown rice this week and ruining it, I was determined to figure it out. I tried to cook 3 cups the normal way, which I guess is suicide, meaning the rice was way mushy. We resorted to soba noodles for our stir fry that night, (which turned out really good) but tyler tried to make fried rice out of mush for two days. I finally tried this method, and it worked great! And now I have 12 cups of rice in the freezer for Tyler to make all the fried rice his little heart desires.

Also I made a new version of the bran muffins that tyler loves, so far all the additions/substitutions: honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, applesauce, vanilla, whole wheat flour. I think this recipe would even stand up to malorie's low fat/low everything standard!

pps 14 degrees today. I thought it was going to get warmer, not colder.

Orca and goings-on

2009-03-11T22:26:00.003-04:00

I [Tyler] recently made this ocra for Kiely's daughter Ruby. Hopefully she enjoys biting and pulling on its fins. Maybe she'll even sleep with it. Making these whales has become much easier with practice.

It's been a while since I've given an update. Much of the last few months has been occupied by work and the grad school application process (interviews, decision-making). I'm still working on research with kids with ADHD here in Buffalo. Today I was in a school modeling for a teacher how to appropriately interact with one of our very disruptive (8 year-old) study participants in her classroom. Tomorrow I'm giving a presentation to prevention specialists at Buffalo Boys and Girls' Clubs on how to use time-out when working with disruptive children. When I write about this stuff to folks outside my profession I feel like a real geek. I'll continue researching similar interventions and geeky stuff at Penn State.

Mackenzie and I are excited to move to State College, PA. In the meantime, we've scheduled a trip home (to Idaho/Utah) for late April, early May. I'm looking forward to getting some rest and seeing my parents and other family members. Other than that, we'll be in Buffalo until the middle of the summer. The sun is showing its face more and more. However, as Kenzie mentioned earlier, even when the sun is around, the wind can make Buffalo very unpleasant.

howling

2009-03-11T15:20:00.002-04:00

Tyler and I started running again. So yesterday I ran, but it was raining and cold. And today it was sunny but there was 40 mph winds, which blew the tears out of my eyes, and made a balmy 35 degrees 20 degrees. As I watched neighbors chase garbage cans down the street I thought, it can't get any worse than this I guess? If it's snowing tomorrow I'm staying inside.
Today I got a fun surprise, I was featured on a treasury on etsy, which are listed that are curated to feature certain items that are favorites with people. I've always wanted to be featured on one, and I was also with my friend and etsy superstar betsy from foundling.

Bicycles with wings

2009-03-07T10:08:00.000-05:00

I got some fabric this weekend. I love the illustrations with flourishes (from the 50s or 60s?) and the way it is screenprinted. The one fabric is more of a true gray than the picture shows, but both of the reds match perfectly, and I think that this would make a great quilt, just using these two fabrics.

buttons and notions

2009-03-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

Pins and paper clips that are circle shaped(!): the packaging got me on these.

Old shell buttons

metal button/clasps-I've never seen these before!

old wooden buttons

The sewing and notions section of estate sales are my favorite, you can find some really fun things. I got lots of buttons, and these are a couple of my favorites. I have gotten so many buttons now that I am halfway through a second jar! I love to buy ziploc bags full of buttons, and find some real unique in there. I have been able to get tons of real mother of pearl buttons, I love how heavy they feel.

drumroll please...

2009-03-05T18:21:00.002-05:00

we're headed to penn state!

ledger

2009-03-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

At last week's estate sale, I saw these ledgers in the basement on a shelf of old tools. The man of the house was a salesman for coca cola at some point, and I am in love with anything graph paper. The different soda was coca-cola, dr. pepper, sprite, tab, orange, grape, and root beer. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this, but I had to have it. It reminded me of my college freshman days when we would get tab and go to a cabin in sundance. We thought we were being sooo crazy. Like Tab was dr. pepper's evil and slightly more caffinated cousin.

4th time's a charm

2009-03-04T15:07:00.003-05:00

I finally got the last lamb done yesterday. Instead of using a heavier weight fabric like I did for the last two, I used a vintage cotton, maybe it was even at one time a sheet, I'm not sure. But I love the fabric and this one turned out good, no major mistakes. I might be sending her off to a new home...so I probably ruined the surprise, but oh well.

Nittny town

2009-03-02T20:30:00.004-05:00

We went to Pennsylvania this weekend, which was really great. We were checking out state college, home of Penn State and Joe Pa. I love the drive through all the tiny towns, and I loved watching for crumbling old barns and buildings. Also we rented a Prius, which needed a tutorial on just how to start the car. But getting 45 miles a gallon was great. Sorry 86' accord, you have lost our trust.

purples

2009-02-25T16:26:00.003-05:00

I have been on a purple kick for awhile now. I ordered some wool felt because tyler wanted to make some more orcas. And I just can't buy that fake felt stuff, 100% wool just has a richer texture and color.

the lamb without a face

2009-02-19T08:50:00.003-05:00

AHHHH!

So lamb 2.0 was enlarged to close to the final size ( i thought). He still turned out a little tiny, but better. I used some fun heavier weight fabric that I got at an estate sale. The instructions are unclear on sewing the head part, and this time I sewed the headpiece to far forward... so the lil guy doesn't really have a face. But that's why I was planning on doing it at least 2 times.

the crafty ladies matchmaker club

2009-02-13T17:27:00.005-05:00

I'm modeling some awesome unfrosted sugar cookies. I am keeping with the tradition of making sugar cookies every holiday. Except I wish I had my mom's she would make really huge ones and then stack cookies decreasing in size for our special valentine's day treat. Me and love had a decent track record this year. I matched my best friend with tyler's best friend, and they are getting married in April. 3rd time's a charm for me with cree! My sis also had good luck with matching, maybe we need to enter a business together?

tiny guy

2009-02-10T15:03:00.004-05:00

while tyler has been going from penn state to alabama this weekend, I've been trying to keep busy. I made a little tester of a lamb stuffed animal, to test out how it works. I did it the size of the template without enlarging it, so I got a little mini lamb in the process. It is incredibly hard to turn right side out those little legs. I messed up on the ears, so it looks more like a llama. And look at those gams! So it is a little wonky, but that's what happens when you work 200% smaller than you should. I'll probably make it two more times (at real size) before I am expected to teach others how to do it. it seems fitting that I made it with some fabric that I got from the Martha Stewart craft cast-off-bin this summer.

It's gotten warm here, like 50 degrees! So it's nice to go outside walk on actual dry pavement, but I kinda miss the snow. I hate gray winters. Give me snow all the time, I love it. We have gotten 90 inches of snow so far this winter. I never walked through it, or played in it, but I have enjoyed watching all the wild bunnies jump around on it. My mom would be jealous! they make great little tracks.

treasure hunting

2009-02-06T20:07:00.003-05:00

one of my button finds

Today I was able to go to an estate sale, which I haven't been in a while. It was heaven. I love to look at people's old stuff. I spend a lot of time and look through everything. That's when you find the good stuff. I found a couple jars, a doily, an antique metal embroidery hoop, a soldering iron,
and a classic find, a weird plastic container with extra buttons. That's when you find odd things inside, and where they put real shell buttons and metal buttons. This one had some old military brass buttons.
I love to look in the basement where the estate sale people maybe haven't even found everything to be sold. One house I found 5 old baby food jars full of buttons way back on the ground. They were all full of hand carved mother of pearl buttons. One dollar! It was cool to find a soldering iron because we don't know where ours is, and tyler can now make stained glass stuff. And it was only 2 dollars.
Tomorrow I'm going to go to another one and hit it around the 50% off time. sweet!

sorry for the lame picture. Tyler has the camera so I did it photo booth style.

I caved.

2009-02-02T23:58:00.002-05:00

So maybe I'm over at our friends/neighbor's house tonight. It's not my fault that we watched 24 and heroes. And I really slept terrible last night. I really need a dog.

i survived!

2009-02-02T15:09:00.002-05:00

Tyler left yesterday for an interview, and so I'm here alone for a couple nights. And I am experienced in living alone, we have lived apart for a total of 5 months. But I've always had a tiny apartment so I felt like I was pretty safe. Here in this house it's so big and dark and there aren't many window coverings, so it was a different experience. I can freak myself out so I stayed up watching tv on the internet and only woke up with a start a few times in the middle of the night. I just need a dog.

winter food

2009-01-31T13:27:00.003-05:00

Since I was mostly just staying inside away from the constant snow this week, I made some new things. I made a soba noodle soup, which even got the thumbs up from Tyler. I also made homemade applesauce (with lots of cinnamon). Which I of course ate from shot glass, which would make sense to probably only Malorie.

Happy news!

2009-01-28T14:49:00.006-05:00

Last spring I heard about a contest for Parents magazine for handmade baby announcements. I had just made one for my dear brother and sister-in-law's sweet baby Reese, and my good friend Amanda had helped me take pictures for my portfolio to send to Martha Stewart. All I had to do was email a picture, so I did it in like 2 minutes and didn't really think about it. Later I was notified that they wanted a hard copy because it was a finalist, and today I found out that I won! I won a little cash prize and the story will be published in July. I am so happy that my lil' Reese will be immortalized forever and it feels good when people tell you that they like something you create.

little advice

2009-01-26T19:42:00.002-05:00

I finally got the internet today! After the verizon nightmare, and hassles with current accounts of the owners of the house we are staying in, we decided to get a USB thing from AT&T. I went to the store to speak to a face for once, and decided it was the best option considering our temporary situation, and that we can take it wherever we go. Guy at the store was super nice, and then when I got home and I went to install it, I had some problems, and I had to call customer service, which I was dreading. But the guy I spoke to was super nice, and within 5 minutes my internet was working and he was chatting about his weather in Oklahoma, USA! I was so happy I could have hugged him. At&t has definitely earned me as a customer for life! which leads me to the last (hopefully) chapter in the nightmares of customer service with verizon.

Today we got a bill for a lot of money, which seemed odd, and esp. because we canceled our service with them a couple weeks ago. Come to find out that was just a trick! Tyler spent an hour on the phone again trying to convince someone that we shouldn't be charged cancellation fees because they installed internet at the wrong address, and that we did not have service anymore. The extra money on our bill? I guess they had added a security service for PC on our account for 3 PCs! And we had been paying for it for 2 months without knowing it. It sounds like something common for them for do. So if you have internet from Verizon, check your bill and call about any charge that you aren't familiar with. Or never use Verizon. ever.

coming back

2009-01-24T13:32:00.005-05:00

vegas.

bubble tea.

wall of any kind of fiber gets me every time.

I'm in Vegas right now. My portland trip came to a close. I really don't like vegas. I have a 3 and a half hour layover here, so I have some time to kill, and they do have free wi-fi. But they seem to have zero outlets around except for at these awkward recharge stations by the bathrooms. So I will have to migrate over there but for right now I am happy to be on the internet. And have enough time to watch the new episode of lost. And I moved away from the slot machines so I just hear wheel of fortune a little fainter. But you can't avoid it.

My trip was really fun, and it was good to spend some quality twin time. we went around to lots of places, and tried some new things. I got my Japanese fill, got a new book and some mochi ice cream. and ate indian food, which I really only do with mal and jon. I finally got my christmas present from mal, which is coming in handy on the trip back. I miss my sister already, but hopefully it won't be too long until we can see each other again.

secret pocket

2009-01-20T21:20:00.003-05:00

I have added more items to my shop recently, I have still been kinda slow about it, I will be adding more as I photograph them. Right now I just have magnets, I will be posting my books as well. Thanks for looking!

Reunion!

2009-01-19T19:59:00.009-05:00

It was fun to have everyone together for the first time in 9 months, we had tons of fun looking for parking downtown, and doing fun things in between. We sent off Jake Lindsay and Reese today, and tomorrow I say goodbye to tyler for the rest of the week, while me and mal explore.

Everyone together!

Voodoo Donuts, Maple bar with bacon

Jake is thinking about the many layered taste of bacon and maple, while enjoying his oreo and maple

Reese doing spoon tricks

Reese was all smiles

biggest pom-pom hat ever.

hello?

2009-01-17T10:34:00.003-05:00

Hey out there, sorry for the long break. We moved to our new place, but we don't have internet and I have spent 3 weeks trying to get our internet installed, and finally after about 6 total hours on the phone with customer service, we just cancelled and now we have to figure it out again. I would think twice about going with any verizon services, the customer service is horrid.

Anyways, we are in Portland right now! We are here to visit Mal and Jon, and as a special treat Jake, Lindsay and Reese are going to come today for a couple days. Then it will just be me, staying for the rest of the week, just chillin with mal. It was great to leave -25 degree weather, to 40 degrees. It's like we are in a tropical island.

encore!

2008-12-30T00:06:00.004-05:00

Herbert did a solo that man can move!

Posted the rest of my photos on my flickr page.

Christmas break time

2008-12-29T21:23:00.015-05:00

Kiely and Rich came Christmas eve, daring a terrifying flight to land in a windstorm. We had a great Christmas, I baked a ton, and made crazy things like homemade marshmallows. We rented a car and headed to Rochester and NYC for Kiely to look back on her time at school. The weather here was 65 the first day we were here, cooled to 40 degrees today, but Kiely was super warm the whole time, and never wore a coat. Pregnant women really have a different temperature. Here is a picture narrative of today.

Chillin on the subway with Kiely and Rich

Tyler getting his beloved pinkberry, twice.

Cupcakes! Flash on paleness!

A very close random encounter with camels

we got our two-second blip on tv on the today show.

And we got to see this with Herbert the big piano guy:

First Buffalo Storm

2008-12-22T12:02:00.004-05:00

Tons of things have been happening lately, mostly affected by snow. Thursday night our air mattress sprung a leak, and that was the same day as the people that we are house sitting for left, so we had one last night sleeping on the ground. Then friday it snowed. and snowed. and snowed! I had to dig my car out, and driving on the roads was terrifying. There were cars struck everywhere, and our little car struggled a few times, but it turned out okay. We brought over just what we needed to our "new" house and for the show the next day. Tyler learned how to use a snowblower because there was like 2 feet of snow we had to clear before we could drive our car in the driveway.

Saturday we made it to the show, but it was really slow because of the terrible storm, which was expected. That night we brought over some more stuff, and woke up sunday to another huge storm. This snow is different than Utah snowstorms because it is combined with 40 mile a hour winds, and the snow just blows. There was lightning and thunder also, which I have never heard during a storm. So we called sunday a snow day and had hot chocolate and made snowflakes and watched movies. But our apartment is calling, we want to be moved out by tomorrow. That's where I'm at right now, trying to pack. It just doesn't help that now with the roads it takes about 45 minutes to drive back and forth.

So I am really excited for Christmas, and will update soon, hopefully it doesn't take too long to get our internet at our new place. Our weather just knew that Kiely was coming and needed a big snow to give her a white christmas.

our new house

right across the street our friends the Daytons. The storm was so crazy everything was white you can't even see!

Tyler came in the house with straight up ice in his beard.

Tyler plowing the driveway . He got pretty good at this.

come say hi!

2008-12-17T15:38:00.000-05:00

For those around Buffalo find me this weekend at:

Last minute gift buying panic marketplace

at Western New York Book Arts Center
468 Washington St at Mohawk in Downtown Buffalo
December 20th
11am - 4pm.
Free admission and open to the public
Artists, craftspeople, printers, & other handmade/self published/locally produced items. Perfect gifts for giving or hoarding.

3rd annual handmade christmas

2008-12-17T14:54:00.003-05:00

As our family members know, Tyler and I always give everyone handmade gifts for christmas. I have a unique husband in that he helps make them with me, or one year he made all of them and I was his helper. I have realized how lucky I am to have an artistic husband. It's been really fun, and I always obsess about the packaging of these gifts just as much as the gift. This year I was lucky enough to score some world famous tags from hello handmade (as seen on all the big blogs), and I painted/stamped on craft paper for the wrapping paper. I'm getting ready the last of my presents to send off! It's been different this year having to mail everything, I've never had to do that before!

help needed.

2008-12-16T16:09:00.002-05:00

I love the winter and the cold and drinking warm drinks. I love them all, hot chocolate (today, doctored with cinnamon, cayenne pepper and cloves), cider, steamed milk, etc. I don't drink coffee, or black tea, but I have been on a quest. The quest to find a good herbal tea. I want to find something else I like, but I will buy tea and then I just don't like it. I don't know if it's just because I'm not used to it, the watery thing or something. I tried the zinger teas, and I just bought some tazo tea called warm cinnamon spice. Sounds good right? Well I didn't like it, it seemed like it had too much licorice flavors rather than cinnamon, and I'm not a big star anise fan. I love citrus flavors, and I was wondering if anyone has any favorites, I am willing to try anything. I liked the tazo tea because it has great packaging, but I go on looks more than anything. Also, what do you do to it? I put in some sugar, and honey, whatever. I really want to like it but I'm afraid it's just a lost cause. Or if you have another fun drink recipe.

gocco!

2008-12-15T13:19:00.002-05:00

This weekend was a creative weekend for Tyler and I. Friday I tried out the gocco printer, which worked great and was pretty easy. Everything went well but I think that the ink that I used bled a little bit, because I don't know how old the ink is. Some that I got is too old and is probably 15 years old, and this ink was alright, but I think I'm going to try some of my block printing ink. I just tried a pattern that I put into illustrator, but I'm excited to try some other things. I'm just busy getting ready for my other sale this weekend, and hopefully this weekend we may be moving into the house.

twinlight zone

2008-12-12T09:31:00.002-05:00

I had an odd experience today. I was listening to my voice mail, and I had a message like one of those forgotten calls, where people are just talking. And I was like that sounds like Malorie! When did she call me? I can recognize my sister's voice anywhere. I was trying to figure out the conversation, and then it hit me. My friend Laney came to pick me up, and had called me to tell me she was here, but I didn't pick up, so by the time her phone got to her voice mail I was in the car and talking to her, so I left a message of myself talking on my phone. It was very weird. And it made me realize that when me and mal would trick our husbands by answering each other's phones, that it is impossible to tell our voices apart. And probably why my parents call me Malorie when I call sometimes. I can't even tell when it is my voice!

Christmas trees and Japanese

2008-12-10T12:37:00.007-05:00

Those two things I happily received the in mail yesterday. We don't have any decorations for Christmas, and it doesn't seem timely to buy some, but we knew Kiely wouldn't stand for it! So she sent us a tree as a surprise. Tyler was super excited, and kept up with the tradition he always loved to do with Kiely and sleep under the tree after it is set up. In our case the tree was by us, and was lit all night, but since it's pretty small I didn't even notice! And I now have a place to put the ornaments I am getting from my swap! They are the only ones I have here. 6 More to come!

Also came yesterday was our gocco printer, the PG-10. I have been wanting one for so long, and anything Japanese I love, so I read everything looking at the pictures. It also came with a VHS tape, that I would love to watch, maybe the house we are moving to has a VCR.

Also our car wouldn't start at Tyler's work yesterday, which was a bummer, we were going to a party and luckily our friends came to pick us up. It was raining all day which seems to cause problems with our car. No idea why but it was sitting in the rain all day. We left it there and Tyler got to work today and it started. So crisis averted, but it's really odd because it will run and start fantastic, and then all of a sudden do something weird like this.

swappy!

2008-12-08T00:23:00.005-05:00

I've been working on sending out my ornaments for the swap that I signed up for. I have gotten 4 already, and it's been really fun to get packages in the mail! I have 10 to send out by the 10th, but I don't want to walk to the post office tomorrow, it has been really cold here. The high is around 20 and then with windchill it is -6. With wind. Blowing snow. Brr!