December

Wow, December has whirled by and 2013 is nearly upon us! I haven't been able to get anything posted until now because I've just been too tired to get around to it! Clint has been on break for the whole month, so I picked up extra shifts at work. It was really great to get extra work, but it sure wore me out!

Towards the end of November, I finally finished my niece Briella's quilt and was able to send it back to her with my parents when they visited for Thanksgiving. Overall, I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I hope "The Belle" enjoys it for a very long time!

This is my sweetie pie niece laying on her quilt. Could she be any cuter?

I was also able to whip out some stockings just in time for Christmas. I'm happy with the way they turned out too, although I admit that they're not very useful. They're so long and skinny that not much fits into them.

Vivian's is on the left, Clint's in the middle, and mine is on the right.

Speaking of Christmas, it is so much more fun with a baby! Vivian really is the delight of our lives, and we absolutely loved sharing such a special time with her.

Caught in action giving her endless pounder a good whack with the hammer.

Studying her new toy.

I like to wrap things in plain brown paper and twine. It's so much nicer than all the glitz and glamor.

A Christmas morning fire. My heart could burst.

Also this month, as part of my Re-education, I've been slowly reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, so I'm still suspending judgment, but I will say that so far I don't love it, I don't hate it . . . it's just very interesting. I've never read an author like Dickens before. Anyone out there have any opinions on Bleak House or Dickens?

Lastly, I want to share with you something that I'm absolutely over the moon about. This month Clint and I began sponsoring Molika through Transitions Global's Project EveryGirl. Many of you know that the issue of human trafficking is very near and dear to my heart, and that in the past I've been deeply involved in working against it. For the past few years however, I haven't been a part of any direct action, but have been eagerly on the lookout for the right opportunity. When Clint and I heard about Project EveryGirl and the chance to sponsor an individual girl in her process of restoration with Transitions Global (an organization we visited while in Cambodia), we knew we had discovered just the thing. After visiting Transitions Global, touring their home, and learning about their program, we were deeply impressed with the organization and really wanted to find a way to be a part of the amazing work they're doing. More than four years after our visit, we're finally getting that chance! If you also want to make a direct impact in the lives of those devastated by human trafficking, I can't recommend Transitions Global enough. They have an amazing program and are making a real, lasting difference in the lives of a lot of young women. Below is Molika's profile. There are many other girls needing sponsors too. I encourage you to check out the website to see which one inspires you!

A Very Bookish Birthday

Yesterday Clint and I celebrated our 32nd and 26th birthdays, respectively. If the day was an indication of the year to come, then I'm liking the look of 26. I'm liking it a lot. My birthday was filled with so much love that I'm positively overflowing from it all.

I told my sister that my one birthday wish was for Vivian and I to Skype with her and Briella, my brand new niece! Briella Ann was born on October 7th, but since we live exactly 724.06 miles away from each other, Skype is the closest I can get to this little sweetheart for now! Getting to see her was a wonderful birthday gift. Isn't she absolutely beautiful and just as sweet as could be? Vivian was so excited to "meet" her cousin! She got really hyper and turned into a little wild woman. I could barely keep her contained. She wanted Briella to come over and play!

Clint came home early from work, and while Vivian was taking an extra long afternoon nap for us we shared our free birthday entree from Moe's - yum! Then we exchanged gifts with each other. I had gotten Clint a nice new pair of wool socks, and he gave me . . .

. . . a book about making my own clothes that has been on my wish list for ages! Since my parents got me a sewing machine for my birthday, he couldn't have picked out a better gift! I can't wait to get into it and start experimenting, but I'm forcing myself to finish Briella's quilt and some long overdue birthday gifts before I embark on any other projects. Clint is a really good gift-giver. He puts a lot of thought into it and always comes up with exactly the right way to say, "I love you."

My mother-in-law gave me a little money to buy myself something, so I marched myself and Vivian right down to our local independent bookstore, Avid, and just happened to catch them on their one year anniversary! I finally picked up a copy of one of my all-time favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird, and also chose Wendell Berry's Bringing it to the Table. For Vivian I picked out a simple animal board book and also another BabyLit board book, Dracula. I thought it was fitting with Halloween just around the corner. Have you seen these BabyLit books yet? They're amazing! They are board book versions of classics. Our first one was Jane Eyre (another all-time favorite book of mine, and is probably Viv's favorite book too), and we also have Alice in Wonderland. I'm planning on A Christmas Carol for a stocking stuffer, and the other two current BabyLit books are Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet. And I hear three new one are due out in the spring. I'm not excited or anything.

I also received a completely unexpected package in the mail from my dear Sharon.

Three board books for Vivian about famous artists (how amazing is that?! I especially adore the van Gogh one) and an awesome quilting book for me! This is another book I'm refusing to let myself get into until I finish some of my lingering projects! The package also included some amazing fabric, selections that are just exactly my taste. (Sharon is another really good gift-giver.) They will be included in the quilt Sharon, Maggy, and I are all sewing our own versions of together. And check out that handmade card! It's easily my favorite thing from the whole package. So creative and full of love! And I literally had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I opened it. She included TWO unbelievably beautiful pendants from her etsy shop Wrought. I was blown away by her generosity, creativity, and friendship.

I also received sweet cards, texts, and facebook posts from other friends and family. I was totally feeling all the love!

And finally, I'll include a few photos from our hike up Tray Mountain on the day before our birthday. What more could I wish for than to spend a beautiful fall day in the mountains with my two favorite people in the world? Nothing, there is nothing more I could wish for.

Pre-hike. Just before setting off!

At the summit! Viv sure does love her dad.

Standing tall on the highest point of the mountain.

Vivian has started pointing at everything. I just can't help but squeeze her and kiss those sweet cheeks!

Wet Your Plants

My dear friend shared with me this sign she saw at a garden center: "Spring is here. We're so excited we wet our plants!" I must say I concur! At the time of my last post, Clint had just built the frames for my raised beds. This past weekend, he filled them with a truckload of deliciously-rich-with-compost soil, and I finally got to plant my first garden!

I know you're going to be a little surprised about this, but I went a little overboard in my planting (all from seed). I planted, or have started inside, four varieties of heirloom tomatoes, heirloom lemon cucumber, a flower petal salad, four varieties of basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, lavender, heirloom summer squash, heirloom sweet pepper, heirloom okra, cardoon, heirloom purple carrots, spinach, red romaine, heirloom curly kale, borage, swiss chard, beets, broccoli, mesculun, beans, heirloom peas, milk thistle, calendula, chives, lemon balm, cilantro, dill, and echinacea. I promise I held back. The list of what I didn't plant but wanted to is just as long. Maybe we can add another bed or two next year.

Yes, I have a superman husband, and Vivian even helped too!

And, our CSA starts in two weeks, and the farmers market reopened this past Saturday! Yes, I'm definitely wetting my plants. Are you wetting yours? Have you planted anything this year?

Anticipation

Time is ticking away! Baby ________ is almost here and my anticipation is mounting daily, if not hourly! I've been frantically reading last-minute books, packing hospital bags, resting some each day, discussing middle names, spending time with Clint (he's off till spring semester!), and all in all just tying up loose ends. These are some of the results of all the activity.

This adorable cloud and raindrop mobile came straight from Maggy. She made one just like it and gave me all her leftover supplies. Now that it's up, I see that I need to add one or two more raindrops, but how cute is it?

I made that changing pad cover with leftover material from the curtains and a scrap of fabric Maggy gave me. Those little fabric baskets toward the corner hold all her diapers, and Clint installed the picture frame shelf my parents brought from my old bedroom which I can't wait to fill with photos of our baby girl.

I made this bunting out of a wool blanket I had and scrap fabric. I think it's so fun and celebratory!

There are a few more things I've made, but that's all I have photos of now. More coming soon!

Fall Fabulousness

Yesterday my mother in law and I went to the mountains to take in the fall colors and "get away" for a little bit. The leaves were beautiful, the sky was crystal clear, and the weather was perfect. I always find time in the mountains so refreshing, don't you? Just look at those colors.

We were gone the entire day and did lots of different things, but my favorite part of the day was stopping at a produce market on the side of the road. Barrels and barrels of apples of every kind! Monstrously huge turnips and collard greens! Tomatoes! Beets! All variety of seasonal produce! And . . . pumpkins! I got a bag of fresh, crisp, glorious apples, and promptly ate one as soon as we got back to the car. The juice was practically running down my chin and I couldn't have been happier.

Just as we were leaving the market I spotted this beauty:

It's an heirloom Long Island Cheese pumpkin. I wish this photo would show its beautiful color more clearly because let me tell you, it's gorgeous. I'm going to use it to make the mouthwatering pumpkin soup I had at Maggy's and then save the seeds to plant in my garden. I can't wait to grow my own Long Island Cheese!

Today my goal is to finish removing the hideous wallpaper in the dining room and replace it with paint - guacamole colored. It's going to look so great! Especially next to those delectable apples . . .

New CSA

Well, I love my new CSA, the one with Full Moon. This week's share included potatoes, arugula, green peppers, baby salad turnips, head lettuce, bok choy, beets, and eggplant. I feel like I'm drowning in arugula, peppers, and eggplant because I just got all of that on Tuesday from my other CSA that just ended, so I'm all ears if you have any recipes to share that use lots of those ingredients. Today I made Potato Salad with Bok Choy, Turnips, and Basil, a (slightly modified) recipe that was sent out in the CSA newsletter. It's very fresh tasting on a cool fall day!

1 pound medium-sized potatoes
5 stems of bok choy, with leaves
4 turnips
3 tablespoons finely minced fresh basil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Place potatoes in pot. Cover with cold water and a little salt. Bring to boil then reduce heat to medium, cover, and boil 15-18 minutes, till done. Chop choy (stems and greens) into small dice. Thinly slice turnips and mince basil. Combine vinegar, garlic, salt, sugar, oil, and basil and whisk together. Drain potatoes and cut into bite sized pieces while still warm. Toss in bowl with choy and radishes. Pour dressing over top and combine well. Refrigerate till completely cooled.

Thinking of food, health, and nutrition (as usual), this is a very important quote from The China Study that I want to share with you. I do not share it to be an insult to doctors, but to shed some light on a typical doctor's knowledge of nutrition. It's not a subject that's taught in medical school.

"You should not assume that your doctor has any more knowledge about food and its relation to health than your neighbors and coworkers. It's a situation in which nutritionally untrained doctors prescribe milk and sugar-based meal-replacement shakes for overweight diabetics, high-meat, high-fat diets for patients who ask how to lose weight, and extra milk for patients who have osteoporosis. The health damage that results from doctors' ignorance of nutrition is astounding."

I saw evidence of this just the other day while my friend was in the hospital with her newborn. She was served bacon, fried potatoes, eggs, and Fruit Loops for breakfast, and those choices were made specifically for her as a nursing mom. Some of the lunch choices included fried fish, hot dog, BLT, and hamburger. I was shocked and appalled by this information. In a hospital, in a place that is supposedly all about health and healing, they are serving the very food that is at the core of our modern diseases. It's really sad because the vast majority of Americans don't know any different.

Potatoes and Purses

I have to admit that after the weekend cooking frenzy, I was a bit burnt out on being in the kitchen. Plus we have plenty of leftovers in the fridge to get us through a day or two. But, the remainder of my CSA produce was calling, and I hate wasting food, so into the kitchen I ventured again today, and boy oh boy am I glad I did! I made Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad from what is quickly becoming another favorite blog of mine, Joy the Baker. The main ingredients: potatoes, green beans, red onions, and apple cider vinegar.

I love red onions!

A wide variety of potatoes I picked up at the farmers market on Saturday. Did you know that the pigment in blue potatoes is the same pigment in blueberries and therefore the two share some of the same health benefits?

My lovely heirloom beans from the CSA.

It makes a HUGE batch, so either take it to a potluck or halve it if you're just feeding your family! You can also either eat it hot or cold. I can't wait till it's been sitting in the fridge for a little while and the potatoes really soak up the flavor of the dressing.

My main project today was this purse! It looks a little droopy and lopsided in the photo, but it's much better in real life. I made it using this free pattern from the Made By Rae blog. It's the most complicated sewing project I've attempted yet, with lining and an interior pocket, but still easy enough for a beginner. I learned a lot from it and will know how to make it better the next time!

(What do you think, Maggy? Want one?)

Recent Food

I'm about a third of the way through my current read: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. It's been on my wish list for a while, and I absolutely love it! The Kingsolver Family decided to "live off the land" and grow their food and only eat local, seasonal food for an entire year. The book is a narrative of that experience. I highly recommend it!

That book, along with one I just finished reading, The Accidental Farmers, and the food inspiration spurred by Veganomicon, have helped me get back in the kitchen this week and to the farmers market yesterday, and I have to say it's about darn time!

The stuff I made from Veganomicon was good and easy, and I'm anxious to try more recipes from it. Today though, I decided to give my poor, neglected dehydrator some love, so I whipped up a double batch of raw sesame sunflower bread and then a triple batch of my famous hummus. Can't wait to slather some of the bread with hummus and then top it off with the fresh tomatoes and cucumbers I picked up at the farmers market yesterday. I'll sprout something to add to the mix if I get really motivated.

The best part of the farmers market yesterday was . . . fresh figs! My coworker Becca introduced me to the dried variety a few months ago, but until yesterday, the fresh version had eluded me. Not anymore, and I have a newfound favorite food. I'm hoping and wishing for a fig tree as a gift for some occasion. Any occasion will do. Birthday, housewarming gift, baby shower gift, or a welcome to the neighborhood cutting from a neighbor. I'm dreaming of a bountiful supply of fresh figs while in season, with enough extra bounty to dehydrate and/or turn into fig preserves while not in season.

Aside from the cheap but mouthwatering organic blueberries I got from a local farming family, the other highlight of the market were the dried tops of garlic plants I bought. I was so excited about the blueberries and liked the family so much, that I was suckered into buying four dried garlic tops (but at $0.25 each it wasn't such a big deal), even though I had no use for them. But, when I got home last night, I spray painted them turquoise and added them to my tillandsia tree! It was just the extra color it needed and will now forever be a reminder of the Forsyth Farmers Market since my chances for going are steadily decreasing as we get closer and closer to our move. Here's a (really bad) photo of it. What do you think?

A Smidgeon of Creativity

The past week or so has brought about a tiny influx in my daily energy levels, and I can't express how entirely grateful I am about it! You know how you feel extra good after getting over an illness? Well, this first trimester has felt like a very long illness, so this tiny improvement has felt like new life! I have finally had a bit of creativity along with this new found energy, and I would like to share three small projects with you from this past week.

1. This one is a long time coming, but I have finally recovered the seat cushion of my granny chairs I blogged about here. This is what they look like currently. It's a big improvement, but I still want to paint them turquoise, the same color I painted my lamp table that I posted a picture of in that same previous post.

2. I got to bring home an awesome centerpiece from my sister's wedding. She had these branches in a smaller glass cylinder, but I moved them to a crystal vase that's been empty since we received it as a wedding present almost three years ago. Then I added tillandsia (air plants) to the branches! I love love love my air plants. I've wanted some for quite some time and finally found some closeout ones on etsy for about $1 each. They apparently have something wrong with them (that's why they were on closeout), but I think they're absolutely perfect. I still think it needs more color, but it's on its way to being something super cool.

3. My amazing, wise, kind, and generous mentor gave me a kindle on Sunday as a goodbye gift! I really still can't believe it even though I haven't let it out of my sight since then. Well, the first thing I did was make a cover for it! (I found a free tutorial online and modified it a tiny bit.) I used leftover fabric from the first dress I made, a scrap of fabric I cut from a decorative pillowcase I was never going to use, another random scrap, and a green hair tie. It still needs a button sewn on to hold it shut, and I have one picked out that I've had laying around for ages. I have to say that I love my homemade cover more than any other I could have purchased. I really enjoy sewing things, and I would do it much more often if I could get my hands on more fabric.

There are plenty more ideas rolling around in my head, but energy, time, and money force me to pace myself :)  I also want to wait for some of them till we've moved because it's frivolous to create even more things to transport and keep track of during a move. Over these next few weeks I'm going to try to channel my meager energy into clearing out so that we have less to move.

Fabric!

Wow. Finding ethical and sustainable fabric that's affordable is tough! I've finally come the the conclusion that I'm going to have to order plain, organic, fair trade fabric and dye it myself with natural dyes. And that's ok because it sounds really fun and Maggy has a book about it, Sharon majored in fibers, and they're both coming to visit me next month! I'm going to soak up as much knowledge from them as possible. The only catch is that I don't yet know how to make my own printed fabrics. So until then, I'll have to settle for the best choices I can find commercially. I just ordered this fabric to recover those granny chairs I brought back from Indiana and for some big couch pillows. What do you think?

Photo Project Recap

Well, I've done a few projects about the apartment either without mention at all or just without pictures. I had access to a camera today, so here it is! (But first, I must give credit where credit is due. Clint took these amazing photos! He's such a natural.)

This is my rescue bonsai. It was half price for no reason I can see. I have wanted a bonsai for years and the opportunity finally presented itself! Plus, this is a ficus, which is an air purifier. I'm all about that.

I brought two of these chairs back from my short trip to Indiana a couple weeks ago. They belonged to my Grandma, but she doesn't need them all in her new apartment. Right now they're very old lady, but I love the detail on them and eventually want to paint and distress them somehow. Ideas anyone? I also desperately need to recover the cushions. I'm open to ideas on those too!

This is my other Granny piece of furniture. This used to be a hideous brass lamp table. (I really should start taking more "before" photos.) I don't think this picture does it justice, but now it's an awesome turquoise beauty! All it took was a can of spray paint and about 15 minutes. I still need to do something with the lampshade though. Again, any thoughts?

Here is a "before" photo! This is my awesome huge pallet that Clint got for me. One of my friends is going to do an amazing painting on it. As soon as I prep it, she's ready to paint! I'll be posting the finished product sometime in the near future.

I got that little shelf for my spices at the antique shop Sharon works at. It's perfect!

And finally, the little succulent garden I bought. It's too cute!

A quick photo update

I finally took a photo of the dress I made! Without further ado, here it is:

I had to take it with Photo Booth, so sorry that it's not the greatest photo, but I will point out my little avocado plant that Maggy gave me on the ledge all the way to the right and the cool chair toward the left of the photo that I got for $12 at a weird second-hand type store. Making the dress was so fun and almost too easy. I can't wait to make more clothes! I have so much inspiration and motivation right now, the only thing I'm lacking is the money for the material :)

I also have to post a picture of the necklace Clint got me. I absolutely adore it and wear it all the time even if it doesn't match. He is so good at picking stuff out for me and puts a lot of thought into it. This necklace is hands down my most prized possession.

Speaking of possessions, I gave away half of my book collection yesterday. I've recently read a tiny little bit about minimalism from one of my favorite blogs in the world, and I came across this quote: "Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful of believe to be beautiful." -William Morris, 1834. With that philosophy in mind, I'm taking a second look at everything I own. I started with my books because those were easy - I can go to the library for any of the books I gave away - but I'm anxious to do a more thorough and deep minimizing in my apartment. For more great minimalist quotes, go here.

Well, there's so much more I want to tell you about, but I have to get to work. Until next time!

Such is Life

There's always at least one thing in my life that's lagging behind. Don't you feel that way? If I'm eating well, exercising regularly, studying, and getting enough rest, my apartment is a pit. But if I have a clean apartment, am making it to yoga four times a week, and keeping up with Vintage Remedies, there is no food to be had. Such is life it seems. I just can't keep up with everything. And that doesn't even include all the "little side projects" I take on. Like the dress I made on Saturday! I made this dress:

in this fabric:

I don't know if it's cute or not, but I wore it to a wedding that day anyway. It definitely fits me differently than that photo, but I just can't decide about it. Someday I'll try to get a photo of it and have all two of you readers help me decide :)  Making the dress was super fun though (and way easier than I thought!), and I want to make more stuff! Short term list of things to make includes: legwarmers, wrap, meditation pillow, cupsie, undies (maybe?), and another dress. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Long term I would love to make all of our clothes! I think it would be so cool to make custom fit jeans for Clint and me.

The other "little side project" I've been occupied with is the garden I planted today at my friend Erin's house! A couple weeks ago we cleared the grass from a 100 square foot (5x20ft) planting area, and today I double dug it. (Well, most of it.) If you don't know what double digging is, you're missing out. Find out here. I basically moved 150 square feet of dirt around today, which was fun except for when my hands blistered, which wasn't all too terrible because I started planting soon after that, but then the sand gnats came out in full force and it was over. Savannah would be a nice place if it weren't for the sand gnats. I seriously look like I have chicken pox, and I ended up rubbing dirt all over myself in my attempts to keep them away. I looked like I had gotten into a mud fight, and I eventually just started shoving plants into the soil that I had so meticulously and painstakingly prepared because those sand gnats are enough to make anyone lose their mind! I managed to plant lavender, lemon balm, cucumber, onions, broccoli, tomatoes, cabbage, green bell pepper, zucchini, basil, sage, beans, and possibly some other stuff I can't remember right now. I hope the plants do well!

Oh and my latest life idea is this: I think Clint and I should buy his dad's Winnebago and live in it. We could just go wherever there is film work to be had and see the country in the process! We could sell our cars (and most of our furniture and "stuff") and buy one small tow vehicle, and maybe eventually convert the motor of the RV to run off of used vegetable oil. I would seriously do it in a heartbeat, and I know of a family of four that did do it! Meet my girl crush, Sara Janssen, and her blog about their year of living on the road. I don't think Clint was too enthused about the idea, but I can't stop thinking about it even thought I know it's not very realistic.

Well, farewell for now. I'm off to bed so that I can function at work tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I would be able to fit everything in if I didn't have to work for pay, and maybe between growing all our own food and making all our own clothes we would save the money I make anyway!