holiday checklist

The perfect tree's been found and trimmed.


The gifts have been wrapped.



It's almost time to go home.



Merry Christmas, everyone.

how could it be nearly 2010?

Have you been to Etsy yet? It is your portal to a marketplace packed full of homemade goodness. Now that you know, you will never need a generic bookstore calendar again.

I've narrowed my 2010 choices down to two contenders:

Simple and colorful letterpress from a long time favorite, Linda and Harriet could be fun and I just love those snowshoes. The images are meant to be cut off at the end of the month and used as a postcard.


I hang my calendar from the side of the fridge. Maybe some wholesome veggie sketches from Claudia Pearson could inspire a year's worth of weeknight dinners:



Last year I went with a clean and colorful kitchen theme from Smack of Jellyfish:


A little better than Twilight pin-ups, don't you think?

right now

Looking at this:


And dreaming of this:


Maybe some hiking

mystic lake

woodbine falls

A dip into a cold, refreshing mountain spring

half moon, in the crazy mountains

Maybe a little fishing

bighorn river

A float with a view:

yellowstone river

We had a busy summer, but I think we managed to enjoy it.

portland.

Oh, Portland. I was so charmed by you.



Accomodations by the Ace Hotel. Whether I found it tragically hip or just a cool slice of the Portland scene, well I never quite decided. But I know for sure that mural was nice.


We continued to eat ourselves across the Pacific Northwest. Mmm donuts.

Travel by train came highly recommended. So much more enjoyable than flying, and the luxury of sitting back of enjoying the scenery gets missed when your fighting traffic on the interstate.


I was enchanted by the mix of sleek and grunge in this town.


New and old. Staid and seedy.
Perfect weather made everything shimmer, belying the city's more notorious weather patterns.

Lemongrass tofu from a food cart? When can I move here? Thanks for taking me along, Jo.

seattle.

So, my sister Jo and I decided to go on a trip. Or, rather, I kept egging on Jo to take a trip with me. And then she called my bluff. Boy am I glad she did.


We walked something close to a thousand miles (a day.) We ate. A lot. It's not a bad day when your most difficult decision is what - and how much - to eat.



Did I mention we ate a lot? All of my pictures seem to be of food.



We revisited familiar landmarks, explored some new ones, and caught up with old friends.


It was Jo's first trip to Seattle. She loved the bay, the piers, the gulls. It's from growing up in Michigan. We all love water.

My favorite part of Seattle is the lush green landscaping.


Oh, and the coffee.

stillwater

You might be wondering where we've been.



Well, we've been busy.


Really, really busy.



(hello, summer.)

before and afters, nightstand

I had a tiny budget to finish out our bedroom. Luckily I found these little guys at the thrift store. They met all of my requirements: they had to have drawers, a small footprint, simple mid-century lines, and mostly be dirt cheap. I thought the walnut veneer was pretty, put there was too much damage so we had to paint. After settling on a pale, pale blue, I prepped and sanded and then Josh sprayed them at the shop. I even got all Martha on us and lined them with some silver faux-boix wrapping paper (by Ms. Stewart, of course.)


Also, a sneak peek on our closet-in-progress: