Seasonal Crafting

I mentioned in the last post that I had been attempting to squeeze in some holiday crafting, one of my great joys of the season, and I thought I ought to share them! Sometimes I can save a little moola by making my own gifts or decor, and sometimes I end up spending too much--it's the fun and inspiration that's indispensable.

First off, there were Christmas cards to be sent. It was a very limited run this year--very sorry if you didn't receive one in your mailbox! (New Year cards are in the works for those left off the list, so send me a message if you need a handmade card!) I was inspired by the new Peacock color at PS--it adds a fun punch of color to the holidays and complements nicely with so many colors. I layered snowflake scrapbooking paper, small paper bag business cards, and die-cut snowflakes with a little faux aging. A shiny snap holds them together.

Some of the ladies at the shop put these cute paper snowflakes together one afternoon, and it became the crux of my imaginary-Martha-Stewart-holiday-fantasy! In my head I made oodles and strung them together in garlands to hang from doorways and the mantle. In actuality I only got around to making these three one afternoon...sigh. I cut text weight shimmery paper into 1/2" strips, created loops, and double-stick taped them together. Easy! They'd be even lovelier with quilled details for intricacy.

Lastly, I knew I wanted a wreath on our front door. The front door is a very important place for me as a designer and a domestic person. Unfortunately, wreaths are quite expensive! Have you noticed? There were all sorts of tutorials for various holiday wreaths online--real and fake greenery, fabric, pompom, paper. I ended up finding a basic metal wreath form at Ben Franklin for $3 and the bundle of boxwood branches at Home Depot was $6.

My advice....if you're too impatient to wait and pick up the floral tape and wire at the store tomorrow (like me)--don't be. The right supplies would have made this so much easier and more fun, but instead I used thread to wrap/tack on each branch. Bah. However, in the end I am so happy with how it turned out.

I'm glad I didn't make excuses and let this one go by the wayside as I often do when it gets busy around the holidays. Some people may never understand why the effort is worthwhile...but this makes me happy when I walk up to my door.

I hope your 2011 is full of creative pleasures--I'm planning mine!

December in Pictures

That came and went in a flash! Strange as it sounds, I feel like I was saturated in Christmas yet nearly missed it altogether. Something about working in retail, I guess... Anyway, Christmas stressed me out this year. December was a busy month and the few extra challenges that come with making your own holiday cheer put me under. I caught cold for a few days a week before Christmas; it passed quickly but made me slow down and calm down a bit.

It wasn't all bad though. In fact, there were a lot of highlights. As I mentioned in the last post, I started going to my friend's gym as a guest, and I've decided to keep going. It will be a change of pace, but I think it will be worthwhile. I tried as much as I could this month to work on holiday traditions and festivities...baking, making cards, holiday crafts. A couple weeks ago, thanks to Mom and Dad, we attended The Nutcracker ballet. It was beautiful, all of it--the opera house, the music, the dancers, the sweet children, and having Nathan there for the first time.

Our Christmas itself was relaxing and cozy. I worked until early evening Christmas Eve, and at home we made spinach lasagna and chex mix then settled in for a movie. Christmas morning we slept in, had cinnamon rolls and coffee, and opened our stockings and packages (thank you, all!) We bummed around the house the rest of the day until we met up with Christie and Kevin for Chinese food and cinema (True Grit, thumbs up).

Phew! That brings us to now, the day after Christmas: I worked today but was sent home early because we're having a blizzard--perhaps a foot of snow! So here we are, warm in our house, enjoying leftovers and playing with new toys--for me, a new MacBook (xo Nathan) and for Nathan, an Xbox 360 from yours truly. And what did Nathan bring home this morning before the storm hit? A television. We were good to each other this year.

I hope you were good to each other and yourselves this year, too! Love from New England.

xo

first cookies of the season: mini hazelnut sandwiches

Night out to The Nutcracker ballet

Our first big snow and the twinkling lights on Lewis Road

O Little Tanenbaum

Our cozy Christmas Eve at home

The annual spinach lasagna tradition continues at our house...delicious

Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, hot from the oven

Bacon Spread, a salty stocking stuffer from Seattle!

I love my new MacBook Air! Thanks Santa....uh, Nathan!

Blizzarding in New England, the day after Christmas

December

Well, we've made it full circle! Does anyone else get that feeling about December? The last month of the year, a month of festivity, the month we are all shocked that we've arrived at yet again?

I like December. I like the plans, the busy fingers, the cozy nesting, the nostalgic ache, the small lights in the dark. December is a reflective month. You can't help but think about what you were doing a year ago and what you've been doing since. I think this brings about rotating feelings of peace and anxiety. Oh, the holidays!

And if it weren't simply enough to let December usher in these magnitudes of time--my niece and nephew turned 18 yesterday! Criminy! My family is growing up. Lots of change.

In other non-related news, I am working out again. I'm not sure I can fairly say this yet because I just started on Sunday. My friend shared a monthly guest pass to her really nice, pricey fitness center, so I'm going to give it a fighting chance this month. Unfortunately I don't know what I'm doing...

Though athletically inclined in my school days, I never really learned about fitness, just sport. I know how to play for a team, but aside from jogging (which I do not love to do), I never learned what I could do on my own to stay healthy. She and I have been going to some classes, but hopefully I can also get some instruction on the self-service gym stuff. I am certainly weak, but I will thank my body for being so forgiving. It seems like after just a couple sessions that firm heart-shaped bulk in my calves is already returning (thanks Dad). Or maybe I'm just sore and want to believe!

Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? Do you know how to navigate yourself through a gym?

Happy December, all.

FIVE!

seal wrestling at the Seattle Aquarium

A great big Happy Birthday to our favorite little dude!
Christopher turns the big 5 today!
We hope you have a day filled with fun.
xoxo
love, Uncle Nathan & Callie

Happy (day after) Thanksgiving

I hope you were all well fed and in good company for Thanksgiving. We had a couple friends over to spend the day preparing and eating the big meal. We got started early; shopping over the week, preparing dessert on Tuesday, making snacks and mushroom gravy Wednesday. We cooked all Thursday, got in a few card games, and settled our full bellies with a little dessert and a showing of Tron. All in all, a very good holiday.

In the past I've given Thanksgiving the backseat to Halloween and Christmas, but it may easily become my favorite holiday. It may be the most relaxed and genuinely holiday of holidays. A feast to celebrate union and gratitude. A day of delicious eats leading into a 4-day weekend.

Nathan and I have been blessed this year. We are very much living the lives we together hoped for, though here and there the vision has changed. It can be easy to take these blessings for granted, yet I still look around with amazement on a near daily basis and wonder how I got here.

I am recently thankful:
-for Nathan's job that brought us to Boston.
-that Nathan likes this job and does it so well.
-that my job secured me work in this new city, a built in support system, and fast new friends.
-for the love and support of family and friends, new and old.
-that we live in an age where moving away doesn't mean leaving people behind.
-for the delicious meal we shared and the reasonable metabolism to enjoy it.
-for puppies, and the hope we'll have one soon.
-for you!

Have a wonderful long weekend.

The feast laid out in our dining room:

turkey, tofurkey, herbed corn, mushroom gravy, rolls, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes

Nathan's Birthday Weekend

Nathan turned 24 this past Thursday! His mama flew in late Wednesday evening to celebrate with us. Thursday was a beautiful, sunny New England day, so we headed down to the waterfront and finally checked the Aquarium off our to-see list. We took Nathan out to birthday tepanyaki for dinner, and they even surprised him with a birthday gong! I worked through the weekend, but I hear they had a good time traipsing through the city and checking out Boston together. Of course, I only remembered to take photos at the aquarium.

Thanks for celebrating with us, Melinda! Happy 24 years, and a good 25th year, Nathan!

Of the Spinach Lasagnas

Dear Mom,

Although you already make a mean spinach lasagna (there's a reason we have it for Christmas Eve), if you ever feel like switching things up a bit, I recommend this one. Same spinachy idea, sans sauce.

love, Cats

Funny story...After what felt like an already busy day, I decided I should put a hot meal on the table, hence the lasagna. Only later did I realize Nathan would be at a kickball game tonight and would miss out on fresh-out-of-the-oven lasagna. So that gigantic piece that is missing? Yep, I ate that. By myself. Bam.*

Also, sorry for the pathetic lack of blogging. Stuff has been going on, I just haven't been writing. My bad.

*In my defense, that dish isn't quite as big as it looks, not a standard 9x13...if it matters.

Staycation

I'm so excited because my parents are going to be here to visit tomorrow night! :) They packed up the van with some furniture to bring us and are driving through. Today they were in Montreal, tonight they are in Vermont, and tomorrow night they'll be with us. I'm still deciding what fun things we will do. I took 3 days off work next week for their visit, and in addition my boss gave me the whole weekend off just to be nice! It's like I'm on vacation!

Today Nathan and I got a zipcar and went to Home Depot. I have been wanting to do some gardening and this full weekend seemed like the right opportunity. I loaded up on tools, bulbs and pots of mums....and tonight I'm reading up on what the heck I'm supposed to do with those!

Yesterday it rained and rained, drizzle then downpour. Fortunately we're not flooding like much of the East Coast, but it sure made things soggy. Nevertheless, we braved the rains to go out last night and see Portico Quartet in Cambridge--so worth it! I have followed up here and there on this band ever since I saw them playing outside the Pompidou in Paris in 2006. When I saw their name in this week's concert listings I knew we had to go. The sound in the intimate venue was great.

Nathan's heard me say it enough, but if you're British, play unique jazz and travel the world with your buddies, can you really get any cooler? I think not. You can hear "Clipper" below....definitely worth a listen.

Secret Agent Woman

My good buddy out in Seattle has gone back to school for a graduate degree in Criminology. I decided this merited some special encouragement and sent her a package with a few helpful "secret agent" tools. It was really fun making this little themed package. I love how mail can make people so happy.

I typed up a mini document and put it in a mini file folder (with photo of her partner in crime-fighting, Paddington). Stuffed into a padded envelope were: this totally awesome vintage kids book about the secret service; red string for blood spatter analysis (Dexter fans?); a trail mix bar; a small notepad and pen; glassine bags for evidence; a mini magnifying glass; and a secret agent id.

The Return of Autumn

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Summer is struggling to hang on, reaching into 80 degrees today, but for the most part it feels like Fall is here to stay. The trees are turning, the light is becoming softer and more golden, and I could smell burning leaves this afternoon. The true mark of Autumn is that feeling I get, as though my heart becomes a little more tender. I think it corresponds to said golden light and the chill in the air. Is it just me, or is that perhaps what truly calls us to Fall?

And of course, a couple photos:
Nathan's mama sent a box of goodies, and we didn't wait long to whip up some peanut clusters. It hasn't taken long for them to disappear from the freezer, either. Thanks, Melinda. :)

Nathan has expert skills in peanut clustering.

I was excited to hang out in the bleachers and be the albeit silent cheering section at Nathan's kickball game this week. It was darn cold, but I was glad to watch The Wet Bandits kick the opposition to the curb.

There are some great things happening in the sky tonight...the Autumnal Equinox occurs overnight, which means it is the Harvest Moon. Sure enough, the moon is bright and clear, and you can even see Jupiter.

Welcome, welcome Fall.

Antiquery

I'm sitting here at the end of this rainy Monday with a bowl of hot, homemade soup...that's right, we've made it back to soup season, sooner than I had even imagined. I anticipate a few more hot days, and hopefully some crisp yet sunny Fall days, but for now it's back to socks, sweaters, jackets, hot coffee and pots of soup. Not that I'm complaining. :)

While I get cozy, my geek is getting in touch with his rugged side at his first kickball game! Work has kept him busy the last several weeks, so I'm hoping a little athletic time in the fresh air will be a nice change of pace. I can't wait to go out and cheer him on....next time, when it's sunny. Hang tough, Nate.

This weekend was pretty low-key; I worked Saturday while Nathan relaxed at home after a long week. After work Nathan met up with our friend Erin and me for dinner out at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Sunday, we picked up a zipcar and with our friend/birthday-girl Ashley in tow drove out to Brimfield, Massachusetts. Three times a year, Brimfield hosts the largest outdoor antique market in the country, and we made it for the last day. The fair sprawls out for a mile, tent after tent full of the weird and wonderful. We mostly enjoyed perusing and eating, but I did bring home one thing. It's a wooden printing block from Pakistan. Of course I forgot to take photos there, but here is a picture of my block.

Did you have a good weekend?

Home Updates

Now that we have lived here for a month and settled in a little more, I thought I ought to share some newer photos of our home. It's still exciting to be living here, and with the fresh coat of paint it looks even better. A few rooms got quite a face lift--just compare the old orange kitchen and bathroom to the new pics below!

The counters and flooring have a definite yellow tone, but that orange paint made them unbearably so. I wasn't sure about this ivory at first, but it really neutralizes the yellow. The color also looks deeper in the photo than in person.

There is space for a small table or island in front of the windows, so I'll keep my eyes open. We also would like to rig up or buy some kind of pot rack next to the stove.

The bedroom (well, the whole apartment) is still a work in progress, but we did get a bed! It's the Malm from Ikea. We got awesome new sheets from Garnet Hill, but we have yet to replace the comforter. The walls were repainted the same color.

The bath went from rouge to gray-blue. The light quality feels much better.

The living room, with furniture (thanks to Nomes and Howard). This rug is really beautiful and colorful. We spend most of our home time in here now. It makes me excited to get furniture into the other rooms to begin using the whole house. :)

That's all for now...my gears are going, imagining what else I will do with the space. I finally got some graph paper to do some layouts. We're excited to visit Brimfield this weekend and hopefully bring home a few special finds. More on that next week.

Happy September, all.

Another Year Golden

cute cake and photo by kiki la ru

Here's wishing my mother a beautiful birthday!
We are enjoying gorgeous weather this weekend in your honor.
Sending my love.

Late Summer

Pardon me again for the lack of posts. When things get a little busy I also seem to become lost for words. Last I left you, we had spent a lovely summer day exploring the city and were awaiting furniture. Well, it's here!...Alas, I have no photos yet to share (a boring text blog...again, sorry).

I know, I should have thought to get a photo before the painter came in and everything got covered in dust and tarps, but I think it leads to a better reveal this way. Besides, we weren't inclined to clean things up until he needed to get to the walls. You see, we ended up with a lot more stuff than we had originally realized and it all had to go somewhere.

The day the moving truck came up, I had a lovely time getting to know Naomi's Pop and was glad to have someone to direct the movers. They rolled out two lovely carpets and brought in seating for the whole living room! Woot! They also brought in a LOT of books (Nome's pop is a smart guy!) We stocked up a bookshelf with as many impressive looking books ;) as it would hold and the rest had to be moved to the basement. Perhaps once we get through all the Einstein and Bertrand Russell and engineering textbooks we'll swap some out.

What else is new....

Nathan signed up for zipcar, and we exercised our new vehicular freedom by going to Ikea! After much deliberation, we settled on the Malm bedframe in a medium brown, and so far it seems like a great fit in our bedroom. (Again, photos to follow.) We resisted the urge to furnish our apartment in Ikea, and I will instead painstakingly choose solid pieces from shops, craigslist and antique markets over time. Oy vey.

Nathan and the rest of the crew are working toward an approaching milestone, which means lots of long days. So far there have been ups and downs it seems. Stress is high, but I know he'll get it done.

We ho-hummed about paint colors for a while but decided on mostly off-whites. We are keeping the cool blue and blue-violet tones in the bedrooms, the bath is going from hot pink to blue-grey, and the sunroom/craftroom is going green. The kitchen went from yellow-orange to a creamy off white. A fresh coat of paint really spiffs things up!

The temperature dropped into the 60s this week and it rained for 3 days. We quickly swapped out tanktops for sweaters, and everyone's complaining about shoes that won't dry. Students are showing up around the universities, and coworkers are talking about taking weekend trips to the country. It was feeling like Fall, and then a few more 90-some degree days snuck up on us. blegh. I think Hurricane Earl may be greeting us this weekend, which could be interesting. Remember when I said I needed galoshes? It's true!

I hope all's been well in your world. Goodbye August, Hello September.

xo

The Freedom Trail

Yesterday on our mutual day off, Nathan and I found ourselves without much of a plan. Of course immediate thoughts of spare time turn towards the house. We originally thought Sunday might be reserved for an Ikea trip, but we're still waiting for our zipcar registration to go through. Also, as luck would have it, we found out Naomi's dad has a storage unit in Rhode Island that he needs to liquidate. To our mutual benefit, he is sending us a truck full of furniture! I know, unbelievable good fortune.

So, as we await the truck next week, house arrangements are somewhat on hold. With this absolutely free and sunshiney day, we decided to finally take to the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is quite literally a red line running through the city which passes revolutionary history landmarks. It begins at the State House and ends at the USS Constitution. We agreed that whether or not one takes in the historical sites, it's a great way to see a little bit of the whole city.

This actually wasn't part of the trail, but the facade of the Baptist Temple downtown has caught my eye more than once.

Statue of Ben Franklin in front of the Old City Hall, notable as the first honorary statue dressed in clothing concurrent to the period. This building is also hailed for its reuse, now no longer used for city hall.

We had never explored the North End, Boston's Italian district, and were excited to walk through during one of their festivals. Every weekend of July and August they celebrate the Madonna with a parade and tons of food. You can see that people have pinned dollar bills to the Madonna icon.

At this point, we stopped for a lunch break at one of the many Italian restaurants in the district. It was amazing. We think we'll be going back to the North End for dinner, and hopefully soon.

Towards the end of the Trail you enter Charlestown and see the imposing obelisk of the Bunker Hill Monument.

The view from the top is wonderful (despite the construction).

But the climb up is a challenge. 275 steps is no small feat. Perhaps it's more than coincidence that this is near the end of the trail because going up and down is fairly exhausting. It made me at least less concerned about the large Italian pasta lunch.

We finished up at the USS Constitution, aka Old Ironsides. We didn't stay for the full 1/2 hour tour but wandered around the deck a while. To imagine that huge ship at sea...

It was a full, well spent day. In fact, there's little more I like than just wandering around the city with this fellow. We finished off the day with rootbeer floats at Brigham's (did I tell you we have an ice cream joint just down the street?) and a few episodes of House and a good sleep.

Sharing a tired, quiet moment over lunch, I thought about all the anxieties I've been fixated on lately. We spent so much time thinking about this move, trying to find the 'right' place to live, attempting to put together a semblance of a complete life. Even then at lunch I wondered if we'd gotten to know the city well enough before choosing our spot. Though all in all, those things are not so much a worry. It makes sense on days like this when I find myself in some corner of the world, sitting across a table from Nathan. I think it takes a lot to make me happy, but it doesn't take too much.

The State of Things

the day after.

Well, here we are, a week later. I must report, we are as happy as clams.

Moving day was about as easy as can be, what with all of the pre-packed boxes, no furniture and a little extra woman power (thanks for bringing the big guns, Nomes). I got to the new apartment early to meet up with our mattress delivery. The rest of the morning/early afternoon was spent with my friend Naomi visiting from Seattle and her mama. Since Naomi had enlisted my help in her move (remember?) she was obliged (persuaded) to help us with ours. Nathan picked up a Uhaul van that fit all our possessions and we swiftly made it to the new house where friend Jason also helped us unload. Whilst Naomi and I fulfilled the requisite relocation Target trip, our friend/Jason's wife Erin arrived. We all later celebrated the new house with Chinese for dinner.



Since then, we've been unpacking what we can bit by bit and trying to settle in. It already feels like home, but there is much to do. It's funny to open boxes to rediscover all the little things that made up our home in Washington. It wasn't so long ago that we switched coasts, but it feels like that time is gone. Where will they go in the new house? Do they make sense here?

here, my brother's 15+ year old nfl comforter acts as privacy curtain.

Our to-do and to-buy lists are ever growing. Thus far the work commute has been fine, but we are getting Zipcar for special trips like Ikea and Home Depot and fun excursions. As you can see above and below, next on our list are a bed frame and dining table...the sag in that box tells me we better hop to it. :)