silly putty

Happy [belated] Easter wishes to everyone!

I got us a pair of tickets to see The Shins at the Orpheum Theatre next month and decided to surprise Tony with the news when we went out to dinner on Saturday night. I wanted to put a note inside a plastic egg but of course - like real, chicken made kind of eggs - you can't ever buy just one plastic egg anywhere. They always come in dozens. So luckily I remembered that I used to collect Silly Putty way back in the day. And I managed to find my stash so that I could "borrow" one of the egg cases for this purpose.

I don't know why I ever collected Silly Putty to begin with to be quite honest. I think at one point in my [adolescent] life I must've thought it was super cool. What's interesting is that it's still good now. I took one out of the yellow containers and kneaded it and it was like it was brand new. That's kind of freaky.

Anyway, what was even more of a 'blast to the past' was the metal container I kept them in. Check out this old school Hello Kitty's friend, Pochacco, tin. My sister and I used to SO be into Hello Kitty garb.

Well unfortunately, I don't think my hyacinth plant at work is doing well right now. This is what it looked like when I left on Friday afternoon ...

... and this is what it looked like after I found something online about dead pinching the dry flowers, so I plucked them off. Looks rather lame, no?

Well, the only good thing that came from being sick and having to isolate myself from the rest of the world on Saturday was that I managed to crank out two cards. I am just not feelin' the crafty mojo lately which is so not good. Anyway, I like how the red one turned out. And as you crafty readers might notice, yes, these are a couple of the new A Muse images that were recently released.



I hope I can set my butt down to make some more new designs tonight! A quick hello out to any new customers from mom's salon, Salon Terrazzo. She is selling cards there now, too, so if you're in the San Ramon (California) area ... wink, wink!

things that need fixing

Can someone fix my throat? It's rather sore and my voice is harsh. I would so much rather be at the Green Street Grill celebrating Stephanie's birthday right now than sitting here in front of the computer with the beginning of some sort of illness. The sore throat started yesterday afternoon and I felt nauseous by the time yoga started. I felt better through yoga, but by the time we got home I sounded like a frog and there was no more kissy kissy after that. So Stephanie, if you're reading this (probably on Friday), I hope you had a fun time celebrating your birthday! I was so looking forward to going to trying out that restaurant too. Poop.

Something else that needs fixing: this poor stuffed bear that one of my coworkers asked if I could repair. Her mother made it for her son after she took a class, but the string that connected the head to the body was loosely stitched. And well, as you can see, the head is now detached from the body (click to enlarge the photo - and stop laughing).

Do you know how to fix something like this? My coworker mentioned something about the string that is still [barely] connecting the two parts was kind of whip stitched around the base of the head and then pulled tight around the screwed base of the body but I have no idea how to go about doing something like that. So this is a call out to all my crafty friends and blog followers. Please let me know if you know how to fix something like this and I can get you in touch with my coworker, who by the way, is more than willing to pay for the service.

In continuing with the theme of things that need fixing, look what fell off the bottom of our car the other night.

Niiiice. How old is the Sentra now? I think six years old. Luckily, we pulled over when we heard something dragging underneath the car and it fell off when we stopped the car. Since it has holes we don't think that it was made to hold anything like liquids in it. So here's another one (before we take it to get maintenanced) - does anyone know what this is??

The hyacinth plant on my desk at work has been blooming quite beautifully. In fact, the other day, I noticed what appeared to be some petals that fell between the base of the leaves. It turns out that another tiny stem started sprouting up!

I pulled a couple of the leaves down to give it some room to grow. It's pretty cute! It smells so pretty on my desk, too.

Here's crossing my fingers that this sore throat is just a sore throat and doesn't turn into something worst. Easter's coming for Pete's sake! Crap.

blooming inspiration

The hyacinth bulb on my desk has started to bloom purple flowers. It's so cute how my coworker, Karoline, stops by my desk each morning to see how it has progressed.

I think it's a pretty good thing that it's a self sufficient type of plant. Is that safe to say? I mean, my husband is more of a green thumb than I am and I definitely did not inherit my mother's ability to keep flourishing gardens and plants. So I hope I don't ruin this plant. Seriously. I kind of have been known to do not-so-well with small living things like aloe plants and goldfish. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this flower makes it under my care!

On to crafting. Something that I haven't been doing much of lately, I admit. Which is foolish considering I have a show coming up the first weekend in May that I need to build an inventory for!

I have a ton of fabric that is just being stored in my crafting room for someday. Someday when I've sharpened my sewing skills. Someday when I have a giganomous table that I can spread yards of fabric onto and not have to clean it up within the same day. Someday when I learn to have the patience to work with better attention to detail and pattern instructions.

In the meantime, I like to make attempts at smaller projects here and there. The other day, I saw this cute clutch pattern on Kelly's blog so I decided to try my hand at it. I used part of her instructions (loved the clever idea of using elastic for a fastener) and part of these instructions (to help me remember how to properly sew the lining and outer parts together and then flip them inside out correctly) to create these two little bags:

Yes, I realize that's a lot of pictures to show two purses (p.s. click on the photo to enlarge it) but I wanted to demonstrate how they look open, closed, and the inside lining. I also really liked how Kelly used a piece of felt (any color - it doesn't show through) to make it thicker and just thick enough so it didn't weigh down the clutch. Anyway, I love how it turned out and used the one with the small green patch on the outside (that was to cover up a minor mistake - see, me being impatient again!) when I went to the Buckners gig on Thursday night. It was the perfect alternative to a bulky purse or handbag when I just wanted to carry my driver's license, one credit card, some cash, lipgloss, and a small digital camera. Thanks for the inspiration, Kelly!

Speaking of patience (or the lack of), I snapped this photo of a funny sign at the Irish pub on Thursday night. Can I get an amen?!

one [really long] catch up post!

Yikes! Where has the time gone?!

I will attempt to make up for this large gap with what will probably end up being an unnecessarily lengthy post (while listening to The Killers' Hot Fuss album I may add).

Where to begin ... well it all started about a month ago when a band that my husband plays the drums for, Clutch Grabwell, was asked to fly down to Key West, Florida to play for one of their fans' hotel grand re-opening (or something like that). Oh, the thought of the warm Florida sun during a normally icy cold period of winter in March was so enticing! I searched online for airfare, hotels, and rental car fees only to be disappointed by the fact that it would cost me nearly $1,500 for a four day vacation (the band got to go all-expenses paid, even instrument rental). So, burst that thought bubble. I wasn't Florida bound after all.

[Brandon Flowers: " ... but it's just the price I pay, destiny is calling me ... "]

Low and behold, I get an email from JetBlue (my fave airline by far by the way) the next day announcing a 48 hour sale for a few destinations out of Boston. And I managed to score what is probably THE lowest airfare - direct! - from Boston to Oakland that I've ever paid in my whole life: $159.20 AFTER taxes TOTAL! No shit! Craziness, eh?! And what perfect timing!

Our Dad also flew out to stay with my sister for a couple of the days that I was there, which was great because I could see everyone within the long weekend. We decided to surprise Linda and didn't tell her that he was flying out the day after I arrived, and she was extremely shocked to see him when she got home from work. LOL Oh, the things we do to my poor little sister!

[Brandon Flowers: " ... smile like you mean it ... "]

I had so much hanging out with my three nephews. Cade's vocabulary has developed so much since I last saw them in December, and he's got some mad skills on the computer. He is so much taller, too (tho - I have a theory that I'm shrinking - another story for another post) and comes up to about my nose. Evan is on a baseball team and so it was fun watching his game and cheering him on (they won 16 to 10!). He is taller, too, and is up to my shoulders now. He swears that when he turns 5 (which is not too far from now) he will be taller than me. Scary how he's not that far off in his estimation! And the little one, Tanner, was just so much fun to play with. He's about 21 months old now and still a mama's boy, so it took him a little while to warm up to me again. He enjoys playing with their little drum set and the keyboard.


Gosh, I miss and love them so much.

[Brandon Flowers: " ... I got soul but I'm not a soldier ... "]

Any time I fly home, there seems to be this "battle" for my time between my mom and my sister. Nothing different this time around. I went to our mom's house in Livermore on Saturday night and then the next day we drove up their house in Valley Springs. We drove to a nearby town called Murphys and had a nice lunch at Restaurant 498 later that afternoon. We met the owner, Helen, and she recommended a some wineries for us to check out in town so we did some wine tasting at three wineries: Frog's Tooth, Tanner, and Vina Moda (quite possibly the coolest tasting room I've ever seen).


[Brandon Flowers: " ... if the answer is no, can I change your mind ... "]

As soon as it happened, my lovely little vacation time ended. [insert Debbie Downer face here] Back to work and real life. I had a nice surprise waiting for me though. Our Dad and Debbie sent me a fill-a-bowl to use at my new desk as the receptionist in our new location. So after going out to Target in search of colorful little candies to decorate it with, Elissa and I spent our lunch break filling each of the spaces with Gobstoppers, Good & Fruity, and Mike & Ike candies. The bowls come two in a box and since I don't need two at my desk, I let Elissa keep the smaller one on her desk. I think we did a pretty good job!


[Brandon Flowers: " ... you left the station nailed to the floor with speculation what was it for ... "]

They also sent me a hyacinth bulb that arrived in a really cute green egg planter container. I watered it and then covered it back up with the lid so that it would be in the dark over the weekend. I uncovered it this morning to water it again and now it's too tall for the lid to fit on again. Pretty neat to watch this plant grow!


Last night was like a date night, except we didn't go out. Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square was giving away free mini cupcakes during one of their Cocktail Cupcake Happy Hour events, so I stopped by to check it out after work. They had the cutest little cupcakes and they let me take one of each flavor home: banana daquiri (complete with a little plastic straw!), screwdriver, and a green monster (made with stout). I felt a little guilty just taking free cupcakes, so I bought Tony a super chocolate one (chocolate brownie cupcake topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache and covered with chocolate shavings) and a mojito one (my fave! - rum soaked cupcake with sugar cane lime frosting and fresh mint - sooooo good!) for Elissa to try.


I gave the three mini cupcakes to my coworker, Jennifer, as a little token of thanks for giving me a bag of Hershey's kisses to refill the candy bowl. :) Shoot, if I can't eat them I should share them, right?! I still can't get over how cute they were!


[Brandon Flowers: " ... and sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live ... when you were young ... " (now playing the Sam's Town cd)]

Oh and sorry, back to the "date night"! I bought some beautiful wine glasses from Vina Moda during our wine tasting because they had the letter "D" on them in a neat, grungy font. So we had some really delicious Montepulciano wine (yeah, I know, not from this trip) with dinner and then opened the bottle of port that I brought back from Frog's Tooth vineyard. Tony devoured the chocolate cupcake and I had a slice of homemade pound cake. It was so nice to just sit and talk with each other for hours, especially after being apart for a few days. :)


[Brandon Flowers: " ... higher and higher, we're gonna take it, down to the wire, we're gonna make it, out of the fire, higher and higher ... "]

And so now, it's time to play catch up. Will post more on the food blog soon. I'm taking a yoga class that begins tomorrow night, so look forward to posts about sore muscles and feeling older than my age. LOL

Good night world! :)