Crafted Christmas

For Christmas this year I made all my gifts for my family. It was nice because I used a lot of things that had been given to me as gifts to make new gifts, like my screen printing kit, my woodburning tool and my button maker. What could be a better gift than a gift that produces more gifts? So for my mom and sister I made them shirts with an image of a bird of paradise on them. I used a picture that I took from our trip to Fairchild Tropical Gardens.
This is my moms shirt but my sisters is pretty much the same but more blue and silvery.


Then, I made frames for them and gave them the picture that I used, this frame is for my sister.


And this one is my moms.


I also did designs on the side of each one, this is one side from my sisters frame.

I got the frames from Ikea for only $3 so it was a pretty good deal. And I used some different books I have to get ideas about the designs to put on them. It was a lot of fun and I want to do some more wood burning crafts. A woman at the Holiday drive for my job told me that she had an aunt who had everyone who visited her house sign her wood table with a woodburner. I thought that was pretty neat and I'm going to try to make some small signs next.

I also made dog buttons for my sister and my dad, and a funny one of myself for my sister!


All in all I think everyone liked their gifts and it was really fun for me to make them.

screen test

I wanted to show the shirt that I made for my self last weekend during the screen printing. This was Jason's design based on a drawing that he had done previously. And this shirt is one that I got at a thrift store and I really love it and wear it a lot but then I washed it with some dark clothes and it got a blue dye stain on the front. So instead of throwing it away I just screen printed over the stain!

I also wasn't planing for the two colors but when I did the first round it came out with some spots missing dye so I went over with the other color because I knew I wouldn't be able to line the screen up perfectly to match the first try

I actually wore this outfit two days in a row. Yesterday was a nice relaxing Christmas Eve. Natan and I went thrift shopping at my new favorite place, Out of the Closet, then we came home and napped and read. I bought this book called "The Working Poor" so I started reading that yesterday and so far it's really good. Then we went to the movies to see Monsters and then out to dinner. We had to stop by a friends house because he is out of town and we picked up his mail and also watched tv there because he has cable (ooooooo cable!).

Things with pockets

I love pockets and I love dresses and sweaters with pockets and so with this outfit I had double the pockets! Crazy! I had so much space to put things in so of course it was inevitable that I would lose something with so many pockets, which of course I did and it wasn't even mine so I was feeling pretty bad. I must learn that just because I have so many pockets doesn't mean I need to use them all at once.

This dress is from the converse line at target and I got on clearance for only $7! And I just got these boots at a garage sale for only $2, sweet!
Also, two nights ago on Jeopardy there was a category, "things with pockets". How strange. I wonder what Alex keeps in his pockets. Hey wouldn't it be funny to see Alex as an elementary school teacher, he's also such a jerk when people get things wrong, he would make the worst teacher! But it would be funny to see, like "No, I'm sorry 2+2=4. Not 5. Four."

When I was in middle school and high school the dress code was that dresses, skirts and shorts couldn't be shorter then your own arms length on your leg. I still follow this rule, at least for the work environment, on the weekends I go crazy! Because I love short shorts.

I layered this dress over a shirt and it was totally by accident because when I was getting dressed I started out with a different outfit, one that involved this shirt and I quickly decided that I would rather wear this plaid dress but I was in such a hurry that I forgot to take off the shirt. Whoops! But I kind of like it.

Days of the week

Another chilly day down south. This weather really makes me realize that I couldn't live up north, I just don't know how to dress for this kind of weather. I'm really glad that I got boots and a coat last winter because I would be lost without them.

I love that when I take pictures around the house my cats just pop into them! They are my little shadows.


Today I have to do some more work on my christmas presents for my family. For my dad I always make him a mix cd and I already have a few songs from this year picked out for him and I also need to complete my Best of 2010 list. Over the weekend I made a playlist of all the albums from this year that I own and like and I've been listening to that nonstop. By the end of the week I will post the top ten here and also my favorite songs from albums. Also since 2010 is over is it time to do a best of the decade? Or did that happen last year? I'm not sure but I would like to make up my list for the decade.

I have had this Stone Temple Pilots song stuck in my head today:

I hadn't actually heard this song in many years but for some reason this morning I kept singing the "Monday back from the dead" line (in my head not out loud). I have a soft spot for STP, I saw them live in high school and it was really a pretty good show, plus they are one of the few bands that both Natan and I like so sometimes we listen to them in the car.

Week End

Cold weather just leaves me so unmotivated! For instance I took these pictures of my outfit on Monday but I haven't posted them because I've been so lazy. Plus I think I have been fighting a cold and Tuesday I just laid around watching the miniseries V from the eighties.

I got this skirt at a thrift store and hemmed it because I'm uncomfortable with anything past my knees and I really love this skirt because I can wear it with so many different color combinations. When I got to work on Monday my friend told me that she's never seen someone who doesn't match look so good and that is the best kind of compliment. I don't like to match and I like wearing unexpected combinations but sometimes I'm unsure if it really looks good so it was nice to hear that.


This watch fob is my Grandma's and she gave it to right before she died last year and I love wearing it and thinking of her. Although it was pretty much hidden all day because I kept my coat on over this outfit because I was so cold all day.

Monday night Natan and I had some friends over for dinner which was fun and they made ice cream (and dark chocolate sorbet for me!) which was really delicious. I'm not even a huge ice cream person but geez it really tastes so much better when it's homemade. I made asperagus risotto which has to be one of my favorite things to eat, so good!

Today Natan and I went to his mom's house for a family get together. I just threw this outfit together but I like it, I got the belt at a garage sale last weekend and this sweater I got from a thrift store a long time ago but for some reason I don't wear it that often.

I had a stick in my show which is why I have my leg up and I'm looking down.


Yesterday my friend Jason came over and we did some screen printing!! I'm so excited to do more but I don't want to post any pictures of what I did because I made presents for my mom and sister.

Teenage Runaway

Ever have one of those days where you have so many different things to do but you won't be able to go home in between them and change your clothes so you have to pick an outfit that will be good for everything? That was Friday for me. I had to go the office, then a fancy-ish dinner for work and then hanging out with friends downtown. I went with this outfit, which is a dress I got from a thrift store and hemmed and then washed and now there are strings hanging from the hem which I kind of like. I wore this same dress to Fairchild a few weeks ago. And these are probably my favorite pair of tights.

With my suitcases packed (I stayed at my parents house since I was doing so much stuff in Broward over the weekend) I drove off listening to Timbaland and Magoo (what happened to Magoo? seriously you never hear about him).

The dinner I had to go to for work was a thank you dinner for volunteers at this event I worked last month and it was super swanky. It was at this really fancy resort in Boca and there were different food stations with things liked carved turkey and stir-fry and mushrooms stuffed with escargot! But the food was all so rich and heavy that I couldn't eat very much and I actually think it upset my stomach all weekend.

This is me outside the event, you can really see the threads hanging from my dress here.
Before the dinner we wandered around the place and we found all these notepads that they left by telephones in the resort and I left this note for someone to find.


On Saturday I had a big lunch with some friends, we made falafel and tabouli and roasted veggies. It was a lot of fun and we had planned to go out that night but we stayed in and watched movies. One of my friends and former Americorps member was visiting this weekend and that's why I spent the weekend in Broward and it was nice to be up there and hang out with my family, my mom and I went garage saling on Sat. morning and I got some good things.

For dinner tonight I made an eggplant, pepper sandwich with cheddar cheese, spinach and tomato! Soooooooo delicious and filling. I love eggplant, it's the steak of veggies. I also made fries from these Japanese sweet potatoes that we got from our veggie club.

Paddington Bear

The cold weather persists in South Florida and this morning I did NOT want to leave my bed. It was warm and my cats were snuggled up with me. AND it was raining outside. Sigh. So when I went to get dressed I was totally lost, two pairs of boots that I have are suede so I couldn't wear those so I basically just put things on that would go with my red boots.

These are good boots to base an outfit around because when I wear them I can't wear anything else that's too crazy. I got these boots in New York a few years ago and they always get lots of compliments when I wear them. I just realized I wrote that the boots get compliments and not me, lol.
When I got to work I realized that I was dressed like Paddington Bear:

When I was a kid I had a needlepoint picture of Paddington Bear in my room and the buttons on his jacket were real so you could fasten and unfasten them and I always wanted a jacket that fastened in that way, with a loop and button. When I saw this coat last year I knew I had to have it because of the buttons! And the red boots definitely complete my outfit/costume.

I tried to involve Red in my photos but he was having none of it.

I got this pin from a thrift store in St. Pete last year and I love it, I am obsessed with family crests and the symbol at the top of this crest is a key! Neat.

I can't believe the year is almost over! I need to start working on my best albums of 2010.

Shades of grey

Today was a nice chilly day in South Florida. I didn't have to leave my house until 11:30 which helped because I got to stay in bed with my cats for awhile and by the time I left all signs of frost were gone. I dressed in layers today because yesterday I wore pants and when I got to woke I was so hot at my desk. It was a good thing I did because I ended shedding the tights and the slip underneath this outfit.

The dress and the shirt from these outfit are both thrifted, the dress is originally from Old Navy and the shirt is Theory. My boots that I love are my moms christmas present from last year and they are from Urban Outfitters. I wore them to a school yesterday and a little second grade girl asked if they were winter boots and when I said yes she informed me that it was Fall.

I finished my classes yesterday and that means my first semester of grad school is done!! I'm so excited for a break and to read some non-assisgned books. In fact last night after I finished my class I started reading John Waters new book, the one I had him sign a few weeks ago, it's called Role Models and it's about various people that he admires. So far it's pretty good and very informative, I'm already half way done!

Potato Day!

Today was such a potato filled day. First Natan's mom and boyfriend came over to the house for a Hanukkah lunch and we made latkas for them! I love, love, love latkas and I have made them before but only in small batches for myself. It was pretty time comsuming to make a larger amount of them but it is so worth, they are delicious! There are also so many different ways to make them and every week with our vegetable buy in club there are recipes online for that week's share and this week was all about latkas and the amount of different recipes was over whelming. We made ours with potatos, onions, garlic, parsnips (! we had them from our veggie share and one of the recipes called for them so we just added them in because I don't know what else to do with parsnips. As far as I and everyone else could tell it didn't add much to the flavor so I'm not really sure why you would add them), eggs and a little matzo meal.

Natan was the cook and I was the maker and shaper forming them into balls and then he flattened them out with the spatula.
I like really crispy latkas so we made them pretty small for extra crispiness.


This was the first time that we really entertained and it went well. The table looked so pretty and full of delicious things that I just had to take a picture of it. We had the latkas, bagels, salad, tuna, ice tea and juice that was freshly squeezed by me! It was a mix of navel orange juice from our veggie group and these other orange/tangerine like ones from my friend Amy's backyard (I forgot what they are called!)


Sometimes when I visit other people's houses I get anxious and antsy and I think I like it better when I am hosting because it gives me something to do while talking and visiting.

And, because I really do love potatoes and could eat them every day and be happy, I made potato, broccoli, kale soup tonight! We got so many potatoes from our share the past two weeks with Thanksgiving and Hanukkah but I knew that we would make latkas so I haven't really been using them but tonight I wanted to use the leftovers up and make room for the veggies we will get tomorrow. Which is also why I used the broccoli and kale in the soup and that's really why I love this veggie buy in club because it forces me to just add things together and so far it's always been delicious.


Tomorrow I'm going to make another soup with sunchokes (I've never had these but from what I've read they taste just like artichokes which I love). I'm so glad that it's cold outside because it's perfect soup weather!

Cold enough

I bought this skirt a month ago at the thrift store by my house and I've been waiting for the weather to be nice enough to wear it, it's so cute but really warm and even when I just tried on in my house I couldn't wear it for more then 10 minutes. But Thursday was nice and cool here in South Florida and I was totally pumped to wear my skirt.

It has stayed really nice all weekend and hopefully it doesn't get too hot again because I'm ready to wear boots and scarves!



This weekend is also Art Basel in Miami and it is pretty much happening in my back yard. Last night I went to a party at a gallery and show the band No Age play. They were pretty good, I really like their new album a lot and I was excited to see them. Some people tried to start a mosh pit at the show and I tried to get my friend Meghan to mosh with me but she refused! It was really fun and it was only $10 to get in and there was an open bar AND tacos! Pretty awesome. Also No Age just played here a few months ago and they will be back in January so I think it's pretty cool that they continuously come to South Florida, so many bands never come down here at all so it's nice to see a good band coming back. I will definitely try to see them in Jan.

Here is a video of them from when they played here in April, the sound quality is bad but there are these awesome kids dancing around to the music.
click

Thanksgiving Weekend!

Thanksgiving was awesome this year. We had lots of family and friends in town and we had lots and lots of food


Including four turkeys! and a ham




Two of the turkeys were deep fried, one was cooked in the oven and one was cooked on the grill. It was all so delicious. This year I made pies! One was apple and the other was apple cranberry. I have never made a pie all by myself before so it was very exciting for me and usually my grandma always made pies for the holidays and my birthdays but this was the first thanksgiving without her so making the pies kept her in my mind all weekend.




Beautiful!

A visit to Fairchild Tropical Gardens

Yesterday was my sister's birthday and her, my mom and I went to Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami. I had never been before and had always heard good things but I was reluctant because it's $25 to get in. But because it was my sister's birthday it was a good reason to go AND for an $5 I got a student membership which means I can go back for free anytime for a year! Plus a whole lot of other bonuses so it was definitely worth getting that.

It was a pretty awesome place and I took a lot of pictures so I'll just show a few here. When we got there it was about noon so we went to the cafe to eat lunch. The menu was sandwiches and salads that they make there and also different kinds of sodas that they also make there. I got a turkey sandwich with cucumbers and dill harvati and a tangerine soda!

One really nice thing that they offer there is a free tram tour and also they have volunteers with golf carts who will drive you to where you want to go. When we first got there we got a ride to the cafe and then since the tram starts ever hour we walked around a bit to explore on own own before catching the next tram. We walked through the two atriums where they had some artwork by Dale Chihuly.

Natan and I once saw a show on PBS about Chihuly and showed his work room, it was really intense and super hypnotizing to watch all the glass blowing. I was checking out his website and it's strange because they show all these different pieces that were not at the gardens but they also don't show the pieces that are there now so maybe it's just an old website. I really wish some of the pieces on the website were there though, I like the crystals and the sun the best.




I knew that my mom and sister would really like it there because they both love to garden and walking around the place really gives you a lot of good ideas. For instance to put bromalinds onto old birds of paradise.


It was such a nice day out yesterday and it felt so good to be outside and around so many plants. I think my favortie area was the arboretum because I really loves trees.



I also liked the rainforest are because it reminded me of being in Amazon in Ecuador and in January they are giving a talk about Ecuador for the plant lover so I will definitely be going to that.


Aside from Chihuly they have some other art installations there and I really like how they incorporate the pieces into the gardens. For example this dinosaur will eventually be covered with plants and spit out water into a small pond.

And while this piecee may not intertined with the gardens I liked that it was interactive and I could resist climbing in!

My other, other favorite (it's hard to chose favorites!) was the spiny forest from Madagascar.



They have a lot of events at Fairchild which is another reason I'm glad I became a member, in January they have a chocolate festival! Yesterday they had the Fairchild challenge which was for middle schoolers and high schoolers to make clothing and accessories out of plants and flowers. We watched part of the show and it was pretty neat, some of the kids did a really good job. What we saw was the middle schoolers but as we were leaving I saw some of the high schoolers waiting around in their outfits and they looked really awesome. I couldn't really get any pictures of the show because we were far back but here is a shot of the audience and you can pick out some people in plant clothing, I think they must have been some of the first to show their clothing.


I really liked it there and I can't wait to go back, not just for events but just to go and hang out and wander around and maybe read a book. It's a really relaxing place and I even saw people picnicking by the lakes! For anyone who is interested the first Wednesday of every month is free day! I will definitely be dragging some people along and hopefully convincing some to buy student memberships so I have people to come with me for events!