Party Inspiration

The baby shower I'm hosting is this Saturday. The time! It slips away!

Coincidentally, this Saturday is also the first official day of Spring. The perfect day for a baby shower if you ask me.

As I mentioned, my friend and party planner extraordinaire, Sarah, is helping me with the details and graciously having the party at her house. I'm having so much fun planning with her and have already learned so much! For example, I had never perused the Amy Atlas site until Sarah suggested it. What the what? How could I have not known about this amazing conglomeration of eye candy? Literally, there is a label called eye candy on the site. If I didn't have kids and parents expecting me to be at their homes at an appointed time to do the job for which I am paid, I would spend all day at my computer drooling over this stuff.

{image via Design*Sponge}

A quick search through my reader revealed that I should have known about her all along. Plenty of you have been linking to her amazing party pics, and showing off your own creations using her designs as inspiration. *Sigh* I love the internet.

Also. Bake it Pretty has been getting about a gazillion hits from me lately. I can't wait for the stuff I ordered from them to get here.

The rest of my week will be spent getting ready for the party. And, you know, going to work and feeding Z-cakes and stuff. I still haven't finalized the menu and I have some experimental baking to do. Which incidentally is not something I ever thought I would enjoy doing. I can't believe I used to hate baking.

Happy Monday everybody! What are you up to this week?

Giveaway: Ankle Biters

There is snow on the ground right now.
But Z-cakes has spring fever.
And she wants to wear a skirt.
Dilemma? Nah.
I just throw on a pair of my most adorable Ankle Biters courtesy of Miss Serin!
And then I put a pair on my arms so that I can wear a T-shirt instead of ANOTHER HOODIE.

Want to win a pair of your own Ankle Biters?
They're all the rage on the playground these days, you know? Even Z-cakes' little boyfriends are sporting them!

Giving away: Two, yes TWO pairs of Serendipity's Ankle Biters.
Please leave a comment on this post. What do you do when you have spring fever? Comments will remain open until Sunday, March 7, at 10:00 PM MST. One winner will be announced the following Monday morning. One entry per person, please. Anonymous comments will be ignored.

Special Discount: Anyone who orders a pair of Ankle Biters this month can mention this blog and get 10% off! A sweet discount on an already fantastic price!

...Thank you Miss Serin, for keeping us warm in handmade...

Good luck and happy Monday everyone!

This and That :: February

AKA: Talking Shop

I'm already having trouble naming this post, which is never a good sign.

:: Am sitting in my basement (the space in our house that fills me with fear of becoming a hoarder), space heater blasting on my ankles, a ramekin full of dark chocolate m&m's by my side. The setting feels very...bloggy.

:: Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you and merci for the kind comments about our play kitchen. It's so nice to reveal something to blogland and have it be received with so much enthusiasm. You are all so very very nice. I'm almost jazzed enough to make another, but I think we'll enjoy the open floorspace in our basement a bit longer.

:: I spent a little time this weekend doing what I call in my head "blog administrative tasks." Most of the tweaks are minor, and you may not even notice them. But every little change I make helps me feel more at home on my blog. I like making things a little more me, a little more my style. Whatever that may be. I've been tackling the tedious task of assigning appropriate labels to all of my posts since I foolishly didn't realize how much merit they had when I first started le blahg. Also, I want to point out the new formspring link on my sidebar. I heard about formspring a month ago from another blogger and considered adding it to my blog then, but for some reason I because inexplicably terrified of it. Then I forgot about it, or washed the haunting thought of it from my brain. Then this weekend, I saw that a couple of my fav bloggers Marta and Hannah had signed up for it. Hmmm....I'm in. I've already made it clear that I don't do well with peer pressure. Especially when it comes to blogland. No taking advantage now that you know my weakness. ANYWAY, formspring provides a space for anonymous q & a, and following if that suits your fancy. I decided this would be much easier than compiling that FAQ page that I've been thinking about. Who knows when that would have actually happened. So if there is something you'd like to ask me, and don't feel like trying to find my email address, this is your money link. Have at it. Ask away.

:: If you have clementines hanging out in your house you need to make this pie. No, seriously. Make it and then thank Rachel for posting the blessed recipe. Then come back and thank me for sending it to you.

:: I finally posted a page of favorite links/blogs. I think I said I would do that what, like, a month ago? It is over there in the sidebar. This ended up causing me a great deal of stress. I already read way to many blogs and there was no way I was going to list them all here but how to choose(!)? I finally put together a list of blogs that I seem to get most excited about when they have posted. The ones full of inspiration, beautiful writing, eye candy, and tutorials. Blessed tutorials. I also included a list of close friends who update their blogs regularly. I know I probably forgot people. Dangit I hate doing that. This list may or may not stick around depending on the amount of times I wake up in the night overcome with guilt.

:: I really love the new Vampire Weekend album. I know you've all already heard of them. Like, two years ago. But I still want to mention it for those just crawling out from under rocks (welcome back, by the way). Also for mom. You would like the song Run. It reminds me of Paul Simon in Graceland.

:: N8tr0n has taken to making dinner on Sundays to give me a break. Oh my lands, this is a ritual I can get behind. Tonight he made pork tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes and edamame. Word.

:: Finally. I made myself one of the hair bows that I absolutely freaking adore whenever I see Elsie sporting one on her blog. Thanks for providing a catalyst, Emily. But now for some reason I'm not convinced I can pull off the look. Am timid. Please advise. (Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings. :)

:: Happy Monday everyone.

This and That: November

:: This is possibly the best pumpkin pie I've ever made. Labor intensive (shocking since it's America's Test Kitchen right?) but so worth it. It is still the classic pumpkin pie taste which is exactly what I was after. Am a traditionalist when it comes to pumpkin pie. Am going to hold off on making another until Thanksgiving.

:: Last week I had a pie crust tutorial with my favorite baker, Charlotte. Very informative...just what I needed. Notice the crimped edges in the photo above? That means that I did not 1) buy the pie crust and 2) haphazardly roll it out until I was about to throw it across the kitchen and instead throw it into the pie tin sans crimped edges. Hooray! I even caught a little of Charlotte in action with my flip so that I can watch her masterful hands roll out crust after crust, over and over. Now all I need to do is make a million pie crusts until I can do it as easily as Charlotte can. As she always says, "(pie crust, bread, cakes, everything I could possibly want to do) is a skill born of experience."

:: So, you've all been watching Glee right? Oh good. Well while you're waiting for the new episode to air you should check out Rachel's new hugely popular blog: Emma Pillsbury's Box of Baubles. Here she chronicles all of the swoon-worthy adornments that the character Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) wears on the show. Trust me...ultimate jewelry inspiration is just one click away.

:: As usual, November has me thinking of what I'm thankful for. Am glad that I have Marta's Project Thankful available for periodic posting of thankfulness. Marta has kindly offered her blog as a place for ongoing comments about being thankful. She describes it as her "version of twitter!" Be sure to check it out and include what you're thankful for!

:: This post from House on Hill Road from last month has been on my mind for a while. The Pyrex dish in the last picture is making me crave some thrift store shopping. Anyone care to join me?

:: Am planning on running the Turkey Trot this year on Thanksgiving day. So far, the only thought that comes to my mind when I think about running a race at 8:00 AM in Idaho in late November is...Burrr-zies.

:: Friends, I am sad, embarrassed, and very frustrated to say that I think my depression is back for real. Though this time is not as severe as previous bouts, it has certainly been difficult to pull myself out from under the blanket, put down the knitting, and quit being cranky. Am working on deciding on a favorite mantra to get me through my day (great advice my dad once gave me). Am also very thankful for N8tr0n whose patience and support never seems to cease. I don't plan on going into a lot of depth about it on this space...I just wanted to put it out there. For reasons I don't understand. Blogland seems to have that effect on me.

:: My red ruffly scarf is almost finished! I bought some Addi Turbo needles for the middle portion that is worked with a smaller sized needle. Oh my lands those are some glorious needles! I have to admit that I scoffed when I read the words "the perfect needle" on the package but I stand corrected. Those are some magical knitting needles. Now if only they were magically cheaper.

:: Week one of Project: Take control of household chores is complete, and I can soundly say that things are coming along. Am starting to feel like our house is more put together. I actually did all of the dishes before bed every night this week. I'm not sure that's happened (for so many consecutive days) in the five years that N8tr0n and I have been married. I KNOW. Am turning over a new leaf. Have learned that it is not fun to do dishes at 11:00 PM. I've had to get all 'mom' on myself and have to be all like, "well, I'm sorry that you're tired and that you have things to do tomorrow, but you're the one who chose to knit for two hours instead of doing the dishes and this is where it got you." Seriously, am such a mean mom. It's like sometimes I'm trying to ruin my life.

:: I'm pretty sure that I could go on like this for quite some time so I'm going to cut it off here. Happy Monday everyone.

Happy Monday

Home again, home again, in lovely Colorado. We had a wonderful time in Seattle and can't wait to return in December. Here are a few of my favorite photos that I took on the trip. I had planned on playing around with them in PSE a bit more but after what feels like hours of tinkering around to do ONE STUPID THING I don't have the patience for it anymore. You'll have to enjoy these photos without the photoshop nips and tucks...just a little light and color adjustment with Aurora.

From the ferry

Strolling through Pioneer Square







Unicorn Crepes


Waiting at the ferry terminal


Zach and Elias' Dahlias


Prosciutto pizza, shortly before devouring at Delancy

Happy Monday everyone.

Happy Monday Everyone!

As you can see...Z-cakes has assumed the "vacationing at Grandma's" position.