February 16, 2018

I LOVE LISTS

Welcome to I LOVE LISTS! It’s Friday and here’s a LIST FOR YOU!

Librarians are funny
This is exactly how I feel right now. Travel should be part of your self care routine.
Goals.
Any dessert with banana and I’m yours.
It’s not a college degree or nothing.
I want to make this soon.
The hard act of balancing writing & social media.
The most liked Instagram photo. This is 2018.
This makes me want to take up needlepoint.
The songs that bind. I think of this all the time since my Mom died.
Snuggle up with this recipe & your boo.
I dream of a Palm Springs getaway.
What do people eat after getting dumped?
See also: the best way to dine alone
Google thinks the future is email.
How to get over the anxiety of public speaking.
The world’s blackest black looks like this. I wonder how you photograph it properly…
Our lives are going to be run by cardboard boxes.
For my mother-in-law:
I also want to go back to Vancouver.
This is a scary world we live in.
Kristen Bell handwriting sample.
Baristas who need to get their hearing checked. Or people need to enuciate or both.
Everyone asks me what my favorite pens are. Check out: Part One and Part Two
Weekend Reading: The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook / I am Here Now

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My brush lettering teacher sent us this video this week and it made me happy. So sweet!

around the home, Inspiration

February 14, 2018

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cooper and I continued our Valentines making tradition with these beauties.

We did something new this year and added Chocolate Lollipops to our repertoire!

I’m hoping to carry on my mom’s candy lady tradition.

We repurposed art scraps from the art scrap bin and made something new with them.

It pays to save some of your work, doesn’t it?

What we produced was a combo of two projects I’ve shared on this blog before.

Melted Crayon Art

and

My Mom’s Chocolate Lollipops

If you’re curious how we made them,

I printed labels with my Dymo Printer. We used address labels to for his name.

Font is called Impact Label.

The cards are large index cards which already had melted crayon on them.

We punched holes in the cards with a small hole puncher.

Tied the lollipops to the card with twine!

It’s fun to make things from scratch!

For more ideas, check out:

Valentine’s Day Dinner Menus (with gifs!)

Simple Valentine’s Day Ideas

Ladies Craft Night: Valentine’s Day!

Enjoy the day, you lovebirds!

LISTS

February 12, 2018

Intentions for the Week

Happy Monday, friends!

Did you have a good weekend?

I hosted breakfast with friends on Saturday after a long week of working through my clutter at home with my stylist friend Jessica. It was quite an exhausting process but we DID IT! And my house has clear surfaces and hardly any piles! Putting energy into one place means that energy is taken out of other places. This means I have so much laundry to catch up on, but it’s cool. I’ll put on a podcast and work through the pile. I also have one last paper pile to tackle. I’ve been putting it off for far too long. Maybe we can all agree to clear out something this week.

What’s causing you the most stress in your house right now and what can you do about it???

Now that I have an intentional space to write/art/play, I feel ready and prepared to get some work done this week. What about you?

Intentions for the Week:

make valentines/finish chocolate lollipops
deliver valentines
laundry
call the bank
make banana bread
make coconut carrot soup
return at Target
catch up on social media stuff
plow through emails
continue working on office space/TACKLE PAPER PILE
ship out packages for The Handwriting Club (thank you for your orders!!)
backup photos on phone
celebrate Valentine’s Day
take photos of what we did last week/work on AROUND THE HOME post
get caught up on accounting
start packing up clothes to send to ThredUp
clean out fridge/do meal prep
research new Vans
find the charger for my iPad pen
carve out some time to read Modern Loss
make a list of things to be done around the house
visit the library
keep the house tidy!

Last Week’s Intentions:

make valentines/send out (doing today!)
~~get some exercise going on~~
~~clean out studio space! streamline closets~~
~~brush lettering class~~
~~finish laundry~~
take photos for handwriting club (didn’t get a chance)
clean out fridge (didn’t get a chance)
write thank you notes (can get started now that I have a space to do it!)
trip to Salvation Army (have stuff to go, still compiling)
post a new recipe on the blog (I have an easy curry situation I’ll have to post)
post wilbur hot springs photos on the blog (coming soon!)
~~drink more water (this is helping)~~
~~send out orders for The Handwriting Club~~

Mantra for the Week:

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

my everyday life, Photography

February 11, 2018

My Everyday Life: Week 6

Here’s what this past week looked like- My Everyday Life Week 6

This week my Jessica flew down from Oregon to help me put my much-neglected office space back together.

I needed help finding balance in my life and she was willing to do the work. Good things happen when you ask for help!

I now have a space I love to work in.

We worked super hard this week getting rid of ANYTHING that does not serve a purpose and finding a good home for things we need to keep after sorting through it all. It was a long process and exhausting but we made it through the end and I am so THANKFUL for friendship and organization!

The best part is that I don’t feel paralyzed in my workspace anymore. Having surfaces to work on that don’t have piles is GIVING ME LIFE.

I’ll share more about it soon!

Taking a pause in the nursery while we had 5 minutes to pick out a plant of my dreams.

In between buildings detour turned into a Hello, I love you giant plant situation.

I’d like to work in a place like this.

Detour to make eye contact with nature.

This week’s Instacart delivery from Whole Foods turned into….

SHUTTERBEAN MEAL PREP!

LISTS

February 9, 2018

I LOVE LISTS

Welcome to I LOVE LISTS. It’s FRIDAY! Here’s a list for you!

Teachers who failed at inspiring. LOL.
A whole bunch of Dad jokes for you.
Ummm. OOPS.
The WORST photoshop fails. HAHAHA.
Accidental cosplay is awesome.
Funny Punny Valentine’s Day
This makes me teary.
Next time you want Chinese takeout, make your own.
It’s been a long while since I made these…
Gonna have to make this for my boys soon.
Photography coincidences are RAD.
Write your way to a good life.
One day I will sew. And it will be something like this but longer.
Should you write what you know?
Books added to my collection: Oprah Cookbook / Emotional Intelligence
I will buy whatever Bill Murray is selling.
Four day work weeks don’t work for everyone.
A Field Guide to Fake News (let me know if this is good)
Frozen Niagara
Can you imagine running into one of these on the beach?
Whoooooa. Food artistry!
Current favorite: brush pen / dry shampoo / dry oil
How smartphone cameras have improved in the last 5 years.

recipes

February 8, 2018

Chocolate Lollipops

There were so many times my mom rushed me off the phone because she was having a chocolate making date with her friend Sandy and she needed to get her house ready. It was something they did together every year (I think?) during Valentine’s Day. My mom was known as the “Candy Lady” to my old high school, the Godmother’s Club she belonged to and many friends and family who were the lucky recipients of her chocolate lollipops. She spent her time and money spreading happiness throughout the year with chocolates. She was always amazed at how much people appreciated her gesture.

After my Mom’s funeral, her neighbor told me how he always looked forward to finding a chocolate lollipop in his mailbox during Valentine’s Day. I know what he meant because we’d get chocolate suckers in the mail every year from my Mom. COOPER WAS ALWAYS SO EXCITED. She’d include a card and send them off in a bubble mailer.

This is the first year we won’t get one 🙁

I brought my mom’s candy making supplies home with me because I wanted to add a few in the first care package I send my niece in college. She already got the package and told me it reminded her of Nana!

I love that I can carry her magic with me by taking over some of her traditions.

There are so many little questions during the process that would have made it easier for me if I had my Mom to talk to. I’m pretty sure she would have complained how messy I was. There’s definitely a finesse to filling up a chocolate mold. But what I know most from my time in the kitchen this week is that candy making is therapy.

No wonder my Mom spent her free time doing it. When you get into a zone, things go smoothly and it’s absolutely gratifying creating a hoard of chocolate lollipops to gift people. Not to mention that having a double boiler on the stove melting chocolate alllllll day long feels luxurious.

My mom’s house always smelled of chocolate during this time of year and now mine does.

It’s bittersweet.
CONTINUE READING

LISTS

February 5, 2018

Intentions for the Week

Hello, MONDAY! Fancy meeting you again! This weekend was pretty fun. Went up to St. Helena and did a Sip & Paint class with my friend Helen Jane! We got to make Georgia O’Keefe paintings while we drank wine. Got home yesterday afternoon in time for the Super Bowl. My boys are pretty unhappy right now since the Pats lost 🙁 We will probably be eating our feelings this week. Definitely going to try to make this Thai Basil Beef happen and maybe a Baked Pasta situation. We’ll see!

I’m ready to get back into the swing of our routine, do some meal prep, clean out the fridge and get my head in the game. The weather is supposed to be really nice here in the Bay Area this week so I can’t wait to open the windows and let fresh air in. One of the biggest things I’m working on this week is going through all the books in my office/studio and getting rid of all the magazines I’ve saved and never looked through. My friend Jessica is coming down from Oregon to help! I cannot wait to get my space organized enough to show you. YAY!

Let’s get our heads in the games with an Intentions for the Week list.