stella says "NO" to the washing of the pillow cases.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
dinner party
first up: baking with farrah sarah
i was invited to dinner on friday night, and to show my gratitude i made my famous* dessert bars. there are many variations but for this batch i chose chocolate, toffee, and coconut. i don't have an after picture but here are some chocolate chips. big ones.
*might be an exaggeration
the bars turned out great and i packed em to go. i also don't have a picture of that. here is some other stuff though.
dinner was AMAZING. witness:
there was chicken pie, whitefish tagine, beef skewers (i think they were beef), orange/arugula/mint/feta salad, couscous, eggplant, and pita and yummy dip.
terrible picture of the delicious whitefish tagine. i didn't even know it existed. i'm glad it does. i want to make it. inspired.
not pictured was an amazing almond paste pastry-cake. a snake-cake. so good.
kristin had this adorable beer that she bought the liquor store out of because they will no longer import it due to potential radiation contamination.
no moroccan-themed feast is complete without shisha.
awesome people, amazing food, and wine to spare. perfect way to start a weekend. thanks friends!
i was invited to dinner on friday night, and to show my gratitude i made my famous* dessert bars. there are many variations but for this batch i chose chocolate, toffee, and coconut. i don't have an after picture but here are some chocolate chips. big ones.
*might be an exaggeration
the bars turned out great and i packed em to go. i also don't have a picture of that. here is some other stuff though.
dinner was AMAZING. witness:
there was chicken pie, whitefish tagine, beef skewers (i think they were beef), orange/arugula/mint/feta salad, couscous, eggplant, and pita and yummy dip.
terrible picture of the delicious whitefish tagine. i didn't even know it existed. i'm glad it does. i want to make it. inspired.
not pictured was an amazing almond paste pastry-cake. a snake-cake. so good.
kristin had this adorable beer that she bought the liquor store out of because they will no longer import it due to potential radiation contamination.
no moroccan-themed feast is complete without shisha.
awesome people, amazing food, and wine to spare. perfect way to start a weekend. thanks friends!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
the lights turned on and the curtain fell down
this is where i'm going to be spending most of my time if it ever stops raining (again). there is squishy foam under that carpet for maximum comfort while lazily lying down and staring at the sky.
this is what my kitchen usually looks like.
this is what my dinner plate often looks like. keep it simple, feel better.
this was bought on a booze-hoarding whim on the day before victoria day. i grabbed it while in line. it went down in approx. 3 gulps. it's like juice.
stella tummy time is the best time. best part of my day. is that weird? probably.
finished product. apparently everything is grey.
this is what my kitchen usually looks like.
this is what my dinner plate often looks like. keep it simple, feel better.
this was bought on a booze-hoarding whim on the day before victoria day. i grabbed it while in line. it went down in approx. 3 gulps. it's like juice.
stella tummy time is the best time. best part of my day. is that weird? probably.
finished product. apparently everything is grey.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
do it yourself
since painting our living room, our ottoman no longer matched...anything. i wanted to recover it but also have no money in the budget for those kinds of things. so i opted to do it myself. i bought $60 worth of tweed-like fabric, a $30 staple gun, staples, and furniture nails. i will hopefully have enough fabric leftover to also do the dining table chairs. that's the plan, anyway.
BEFORE:
first i stripped off all the trim, and took the fabric off the top part by slicing around the perimeter with a boxcutter. underneath was foam padding, with holes where the buttons were. stuffed those with pillow stuffing, from a pillow that just came back from a three week trip around the states in a van with a metal band. it was a good death for it.
cut a circle of the fabric, stapled it on opposite sides, then opposite sides again, then stapled the pleats down. tried to make it taught but not too tight. i had to let go of perfection a bit here, which of course drove me crazy and i broke out into a cold sweat instantly. i tried. there was a rhyme and reason to the folds-mostly just to make sure they're even but above all they are where they needed to be.
oscar enjoys the unfinished product. oscar does not care about details.
so i kicked him off to start the second part, but he is persistent. basically i just used the furniture nails to secure a panel underneath the pillow part.
all the way around.
after this part was finished i just stapled the hem to the underside. DONE. i definitely could have gotten more complicated, but wanted to not make myself insane. i didn't take a full pic of the finished thing because i'm a terrible blogger. no AFTER pic for you. just come over.
it is soft and comfy and perfect for resting your feet/entire cat body on. and it matches the couch almost perfectly. i didn't need it to match, i wanted a bit of a thicker tweed that would look similar from afar.
GO ME! a special thanks to housemate for providing advice, resistance while stapling, and volunteering his pillow. no thanks to oscar the cat, who lounged upon everything i needed to use, danced in the fabric while i tried to measure and cut it, and attacked anything remotely string-like.
BEFORE:
first i stripped off all the trim, and took the fabric off the top part by slicing around the perimeter with a boxcutter. underneath was foam padding, with holes where the buttons were. stuffed those with pillow stuffing, from a pillow that just came back from a three week trip around the states in a van with a metal band. it was a good death for it.
cut a circle of the fabric, stapled it on opposite sides, then opposite sides again, then stapled the pleats down. tried to make it taught but not too tight. i had to let go of perfection a bit here, which of course drove me crazy and i broke out into a cold sweat instantly. i tried. there was a rhyme and reason to the folds-mostly just to make sure they're even but above all they are where they needed to be.
oscar enjoys the unfinished product. oscar does not care about details.
so i kicked him off to start the second part, but he is persistent. basically i just used the furniture nails to secure a panel underneath the pillow part.
all the way around.
after this part was finished i just stapled the hem to the underside. DONE. i definitely could have gotten more complicated, but wanted to not make myself insane. i didn't take a full pic of the finished thing because i'm a terrible blogger. no AFTER pic for you. just come over.
it is soft and comfy and perfect for resting your feet/entire cat body on. and it matches the couch almost perfectly. i didn't need it to match, i wanted a bit of a thicker tweed that would look similar from afar.
GO ME! a special thanks to housemate for providing advice, resistance while stapling, and volunteering his pillow. no thanks to oscar the cat, who lounged upon everything i needed to use, danced in the fabric while i tried to measure and cut it, and attacked anything remotely string-like.
weekend sequence
friday i felt like my heart was made of garbage so i stayed in and did this:
and stared at this:
(the ceiling) sometimes it's better to spare your friends and just cut your losses for the night. i was in one of those moods that i knew would just get darker if alcohol were added.
saturday morning we did some gardening. finally nice weather! cheered me up a lot.
in the afternoon, we had plans to go to a bbq in the east end, which were thwarted by my bike lock being stuck, and then my key breaking off in said lock (FRUSTRATING) so we just went to the park and drank beer. that was pretty ok too.
saturday night involved some quiet drinks at the central, then a nice walk home in the warm night air.
left to my own devices on sunday i wandered around the neighbourhood.
sat in the park.
remembered about the liquor stores being closed at the last minute and ran to the wine rack, along with 65 other people. i was victorious.
still can't get over the plant life that's around. i think this winter was a long hard one. THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.
lilacs always remind me of the backyard at the apartment building i grew up in. my mom would cut branches and put them on the table. i love love love the smell.
and stared at this:
(the ceiling) sometimes it's better to spare your friends and just cut your losses for the night. i was in one of those moods that i knew would just get darker if alcohol were added.
saturday morning we did some gardening. finally nice weather! cheered me up a lot.
in the afternoon, we had plans to go to a bbq in the east end, which were thwarted by my bike lock being stuck, and then my key breaking off in said lock (FRUSTRATING) so we just went to the park and drank beer. that was pretty ok too.
saturday night involved some quiet drinks at the central, then a nice walk home in the warm night air.
left to my own devices on sunday i wandered around the neighbourhood.
sat in the park.
remembered about the liquor stores being closed at the last minute and ran to the wine rack, along with 65 other people. i was victorious.
still can't get over the plant life that's around. i think this winter was a long hard one. THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.
lilacs always remind me of the backyard at the apartment building i grew up in. my mom would cut branches and put them on the table. i love love love the smell.
Friday, May 20, 2011
hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
sometimes things just arrange themselves for you.
i don't like to play favourites, but this tree is pretty magical. last year a branch had blown off it, in full bloom, and i carried it home like the scavenger i am and stuck it in a vase.
as you can see, the mint is having a party. mojito time.
this is my lunch today. i'm even jealous of my future self.
one of my favourite people in the world had a very special birthday. chocolate tarts were involved.
despite the weather, the birthdays, and all the colourful stuff i'm trying to notice, i am down in the dumps. heavy heart.
i don't like to play favourites, but this tree is pretty magical. last year a branch had blown off it, in full bloom, and i carried it home like the scavenger i am and stuck it in a vase.
as you can see, the mint is having a party. mojito time.
this is my lunch today. i'm even jealous of my future self.
one of my favourite people in the world had a very special birthday. chocolate tarts were involved.
despite the weather, the birthdays, and all the colourful stuff i'm trying to notice, i am down in the dumps. heavy heart.
tiny cat is tiny
it means i'm on the floor and she can bug me
for scratches more efficiently
look at that fuzzy tummy.
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