Something to Think About

Stuff No-one Told Me

I love this. And it's true ( I hope). 

Le Weekend

Doesn't the weekend seem so much more sophisticated when you call it "le weekend"? Also, your friends will be deeply impressed by your international flavor. Either that or they will find you pretentious.
Le weekend was quite nice around these parts.
We had some old friends drive up from Seattle and spend Saturday with us, and it turned out to be one of the nicest days of the year.

We snacked on the beach.

We admired the glowing orb in the sky.

If the rest of autumn was this lovely I'd be a happy camper.

For dinner we made an oddly shaped chanterelle and leek pizza. 

It was glorious overall. On Sunday Matthew and I drove to Ikea to get a few things for the nursery. Ikea on le weekend was not glorious, just full of screaming toddlers and shopping cart traffic jams. However, I did make some progress on the nursery and I'll post some pictures soon when I can display an obvious improvement over this situation. 

I've become obsessed with this wall pocket made by Graziela. How adorable and handy is that? I did see something like this at Ikea, but when I showed it to Matthew he gave me the "that's tacky" face. So of course I went home, surfed the net and found the expensive version from Germany. This company does not have any US distributors so I would have to pay 40,00 euros ($53.90), plus shipping from Europe. It's tough to have expensive taste and be so darn international. 

Escape

Today is a dreary, dismal day here in Washington. Here's a little pick-me-up.

Wow, I feel better. You?

The Nursery Blues

The theme of the week at our house has been neurotic obsessing over baby X's nursery. Specifically, I've been melting down a little bit because I'm due in 5 weeks and we have no where for baby to sleep and no bedding for our non-existent crib/bassinet. My Dad was helpful and suggested we stick her in a drawer. Thanks Dad, for feeding my Ma Joad insecurities.
The instigating factor for my meltdown was a casual conversation with the owner of my favorite antique shop, who happened to mention that her baby showed up a month early last year.
Christ Almighty. A month early would be next week and we are not even close to being ready. First of all, the baby's room looks like this-

Sad isn't it? It looks like a place where bad things happen to babies. And yes, the floor is a disaster. Every time I go in there to try to organize I get upset. There is one dresser and a pile of boxes. That's it.  All my attempts to furnish this nursery have been thwarted. Last month I won a beautiful Persian rug off ebay that never arrived. After trying to contact the seller for 3 weeks I ended up filing a complaint with ebay. Eventually I was refunded, but I'm still without a rug to cover that terrible floor. We are going to Ikea this weekend to get a few furniture items and rumor has it that our crib has been shipped, but I'm not sure I believe it. I guess I have no one but myself to blame for waiting this long to get my act together, but that can't stop me from whining into the blogosphere.

There is nothing sadder than a pregnant woman pumped full of nesting hormones with nothing to nest with. I've found myself folding and refolding the clothes in the dresser to soothe myself. I feel like I need to be swaddled and carried around. It's not good.

Here are a couple of lovely nurseries from Bloesom kids.

I'm telling myself that both of these nurseries were once "before" pictures. Am I right?

All Good Things

Here's a few good things to check out-

Magar Hatworks in Charleston, South Carolina. The owner makes one of a kind handmade hats using traditional blocking techniques. I tell ya, my husband wore a fedora every day of out our honeymoon in Kauai, and I've since developed a man-in-a-fedora fetish. These are some of the nicest I've seen.

Freitag messenger bags made in Zurich. These are the coolest. They are made out of used truck tarpaulins. The site allows you to pick a tarp, and then use your mouse and their online template to design it yourself. The result is a snazzy, personalized, and eco-conscious bag. 

Seattle artist Susanna Bluhm paints moody and beautiful landscapes. We have one of her paintings hanging next to our bed and it's lovely. If anyone wants to buy me one just drop me a line and I'll send you my address. 

XO

Collections

Design is Mine did a fabulous post about collections.
It inspired me to re-examine our collections at home. I've always been a collector of objects. There is something so appealing to me about creating a family of loved objects from different places. Each one tells a story of where it came from. But then, there have been times I've looked at my years-old collections of finger puppets or bendy toys, decided I no longer like it or need it, then thrown out the entire collection. Who knows. But I love what we've got going on at the moment.

Matthew's smurf collection from childhood- 25 smurfs strong!

Wedding cake topper collection

The Plight of Queen Christine

Here's another bizarre flyer that must be a joke. I don't even know where to start. First of all, "Queen Christine"? And "Railroad", for those of you that don't live here in Bellingham, is a creepy street downtown where people buy, sell, and partake of drugs all day and night. It's hardly an appropriate place for a sweet guinea pig  that just wants to nibble corn. And is it just me or is that guinea pig holding a tiny crossbow?

This Bonnet Might Cure Cancer

OK, so it wouldn't really cure cancer, but if my cat wore this crocheted monster hat from xmoonbloom I would have a permanent smile on my face. I can guarantee it would reduce my anxiety level overall if I could just close my eyes and transport myself to a place where I could gaze at my cat in this hat all day long. Actually, that might be a great distraction exercise for my labor. Note to self- bring photo of cat in bonnet to hospital on delivery day. 

This lady's etsy shop has actually rejuvenated my desire to pick up my crocheting again. I've been trying to re-learn to crochet from a book with mixed results. More on that later. I'm hoping to take a quick class sometime in the next month at the yarn store to make sure I'm doing the stitches correctly, because the things I've been crocheting look... wonky. Unfortunately the women that run the yarn place are super disorganized and keep putting the class off (I'm about to pop ladies! I'm on a tight crafting schedule for Chrissakes). While I'm waiting for them to get their Depends straightened out Matthew is acquiring more and more bellybutton cozies and sad lopsided potholders. 

Bon Voyage, Summer.

What better way to bid adieu to summer than by celebrating a good friend's birthday on a boat? Thank goodness Sam decided to turn 30 and her housemate (the Victoria Clipper boat captain) took another step into his third decade the very same month. It was the perfect excuse for an evening cruise around the San Juan Islands. 

Responsible drinking includes labeled cups. 

Could there be a more appropriate setting for suede slacks and a Trans Am belt buckle?

Matthew and I look good on boats, and we like to sail away. 

It's taken me almost ten years to grow affectionate for the vast grey Northwest sky. There are still days I curse the dreariness. But on nights like this, it's like a caul covering Heaven and all that's above. 

Weekend Bling

Umbilicus Design

I absolutely love the jewelry this gal makes. I know she lives somewhere in Washington state because I see her jewelry on lots of cute ladies in my town. I have a pair of her earrings cast from maple seed pods and I get lots on compliments on them. A girl in my birthing class wore these earrings cast from turkey bones, and they looked fantastic on her. 

I can't stop thinking about our first childbirth class on Wednesday night. It was held in the basement of the childbirth center, and a woman upstairs was in labor during our class. What started out as lots of footsteps over our heads and the sounds of bathwater running through pipes evolved into full blown labor moans over the three hours we were there. All the windows were open upstairs and down so we got the full effect. Needless to say, it was a challenge to pay attention to the class with all that going on. I'm still trying to process my feelings about it. I feel lucky to have heard her "birth song" as our teacher called it, but I'm getting more and more nervous about my own birth. I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable in my expanding body and I'm hoping that translates into added motivation to push baby X out. I'm thinking my own birth song will be less melodious and more shrieking expletives and such. 

The American Woman's Cookbook

I rescued this gem from my Grandfather's house in Oakland when he passed away a few years ago at the age of 90.

It's clearly in terrible shape and every time I open it I'm nervous that the pages are going to start slipping out. It was obviously well used by my Grandmother, who loved to entertain.

It looks like one of Grandma's four children might have nursed a grudge against the "Shrimp Wiggle".

The book is full of amazingly antiquated recipes and tips on cooking and entertaining. My favorite chapter- "Entertaining Without a Maid". The author warns "there are distinct limits to what should be attempted for pleasant and dignified results". How have I survived this long without paid help? My Grandma was the only person I knew who had a maid who came around just for parties, put on an awful  black and white dress, and passed appetizers. How strange.  

I'm trying to find the right recipe to try out, but frankly a lot of the main dishes sound terrible (Liver Loaf with Pan Gravy?), are chock full of butter and lard, or are just plain dull. The desserts however, seem intriguing. Anyone ever attempted a Baked Alaska? I'll let you know how it goes. 

Guemes Island Field Trip

The long weekend called for an out-of-Bellingham experience. There seem to be too few in these dog days of pregnancy. Matthew and I went with some friends over to Guemes Island for the Slow Loris studio sale. We've been fans of their screen prints for years, but for some reason have never travelled an hour away to see where the magic happens.

Sam and Laurilee on the ferry. 

This is my personal favorite of Matthew's Slow Loris shirts. It makes me feel... funny. Maybe it's the word "moister".

Arriving at the studio sale.

Shirts for sale. 

Funky wood belt buckles. 

The studio offered any of these prints on your own clothing for five bucks.

The nifty screen printing machine/ octopus/ spider? What the heck is this thing called?

Baby onesie before. 

And after!

The underside of the printing press. 

Matthew and Craig enjoying the view behind the studio. The day out there stoked my desire to move out to a quiet island and never leave. I've had a hankering for island life for a while, but these visits with the laid back artisan/ island folk make we want to bolt from the "city" and live out my days off of the grid. It's possible I would get a little crazy after a few months with no grocery store/ restaurant/ movie theater in the vicinity. I'd probably start whittling busts of my cat, neglect my dental hygiene, and develop a peculiar odor. Either that or I'd hang around the general store all day desperate for a bit of gossip and a newspaper. I guess I'm probably good where I am for now. I don't really fancy delivering my own baby anyway. 

Happy Labor day!

Pencilneck

Here's our daily fix of cute bling from Supermarket. It's cast from a real pencil! Love it.