every little thing

Shop Talk

Today's Update is complete!!!  Check  it out.   

Red on Red

(Cute because you can see my Cindy Crawford beauty mark.  Not so cute, because I have a double chin. I blame the raisin bread)

I put on my little rose pin with my red to shirt to get into the Valentine's spirit.  Not my most favorite pretend-holiday of all time, but still a great excuse to put up cute decorations, and make glittery cards, and bake cupcakes with pink sprinkles.  Hard to complain about that.  There will also be a tiny V-Day inspired shop update in the Studio tomorrow.

I have seven of these special edition Valentine Sweater Creatures. In lieu of the felt hearts, they wear a pink heart-shaped pin with images from an actual vintage atlas.  Sort of like little clues to where they came from.  The pin is removable, so you could wear is too! 

Oh, they are sweet!  I love them so!  I'm not sure what else I might have to list, it depends on what I'm productive enough to finish today, but the creatures for sure.  I hope to have everything listed by Wednesday evening, right here in the shop.

See you tomorrow!

What I did last week...

Lots of baking.  I only snapped a picture of the rice pudding, but there were also oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and 2 loaves of really excellent raisin bread.  It's all gone now, buy the way, and I've gained about 7 pounds.  But it was worth it.  I miss baking.  Don't do it nearly enough as I'd like too.  It's probably a good thing though, since Mike and Max aren't that big on sweets I just end up stuffing my face till it's all gone.  Oh well.  And, I have to add how much I adore this little spice grater (pictured above.)  It was very inexpensive and it came with a few whole nutmegs.  There really is such a lovely difference between freshly grated and the packaged spices, I had no idea!  Sort of an unnecessary kitchen item on some levels, but still...for $4, who cares?  Lovin' it. 

Neeeeeext....

Thrifting in the moonlight, with my favorite boys.  Mike's been getting home from work shockingly early lately, so we still have time to hit the thrift stores as a family before they close at 7pm.  Max found a record.

Ok, who decided that the "random bags of crap" method for pricing was a good idea?!?  This drives me up the wall, because I end up having to buy the whole pack of junk for $5 when I only really wanted 1/3 of its contents.  (I realize, of course, that this is actually a brilliant scheme invented by thrift stores to unload more stuff and make even more $$$ at the same time...but STILL.  Totally bugs me.)  Humph.

This picture has no relevance at all, and I can't even remember why I took it. 

Moving along....

I have learned how to make........

ANIMATED GIFS!!!!  (Oh my, this is so indulgent!  Tee hee!)

Before you run away screaming,  I PROMISE not to abuse my newfound powers and I'll keep the unnecessary giffing to a minimum.  At least I'll try.  It's so fun!  I'm clearly not very good at it yet.  The practice gif above is in preparation for a grand celebration I am scheming for the blog to honor and coincide with the PBS broadcast of the A&E Pride and Prejudice this February!  It's part of their Complete Jane Austin Series that I'm sure many of you have been watching.   I'm (obviously) a huge fan, and I thought it'd be fun to have lots of P&P excitement going on during those three weeks, February 10th, 17th and 24th.  It's the least I can do for a film that has done so much for me (sniff.)  I'm still brainstorming, so if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!!!

Happy Monday!!!  (and how could it not be, with Mr. Darcy around....*wink!*)

A New Thing...

Friday's blog posts will henceforth serve as a shrine to some of  my favorite people.   Many of these special individuals are quiet, unsung heroes that have been dismissed and overlooked.  Some of them are just prominent, famous people that are super-cool.  Some may not even be people at all, anything goes!  I'm so excited to have a weekly assignment for the blog, and now, without further ado, I give you the first installment:

You may remember this sprightly, 80's actor from his guest appearances on 21 Jump Street or Growing Pains, but his commanding role as "Richie" in the classic late-80's flick Teen Witch  was surely the bright spot in is short and awkward Hollywood career.  If you haven't seen Teen Witch....you should.  As soon as possible.  Words fail to describe the awesomely horribleness of this movie/musical/whatever.  And J. Miller's performance as the annoying, mental ,younger brother will leave you speechless (and maybe nauseous.)   Here, check it out:

He has a subtle, comic genius that not everyone can appreciate.  (I think he would be very popular with the French.  Fantastique!)  So, thank you Mr. Miller.  Thank you for making a bad movie worse.  Thank you for the feeble attempt to flesh out a character that had no hope, in a movie that had no point.  (And than you for taking the liberty of ironing my homework.)

Historical

Hey, that's my brother!  I mentioned many months ago that my little brother was an extra for HBO's new Mini series, John Adams.  Well, the premier is March 15th, and the promos are coming out now!  How exciting!  Mike (my brother) said that he was in so many angles of so many different scenes, that there is a good chance we'll get to see him a lot  in the show.  The above picture is a freeze-frame of a HBO preview my sister found on you-tube.    Here's the close up:

That's Mike, in the middle of the angry mob (at least, we're pretty sure it's him.)   I'm excited to see the series too, it looks good.   I'm not a huge fan of Historical Drama-type movies, but some are better than others.  The New World was very good, maybe I liked that one because it also was filmed in this part of Virginia?  Anyway, if you watch John Adams, be sure to look out for the tall, skinny, dark-haired peasant in the background that may possibly be my little bro. 

My Favorite

Move coffee table.  Make large palette on floor.  Choose a movie (or two.)

Prepare egg noodles + butter  + Parmesan (serve in Hotwheels bowl, if possible.)

Finish with chamomile tea-for-two. 

Sick days are my new favorite. 

Hostage

Alright, Kristina.  Yes, I admit that you talked me into buying this at the thrift store.  Yes, I was hesitant at first and I don't know why.  But whose to say what would have happened if you had not been there?  I could have changed my mind, I might have gone back for it on my own, without your counsel.  The mere fact that you were present during the purchase of this music box, and allegedly drove me to make the final decision, does not give you the right to snatch it so cruelly and secretively from me.  And now you feel the need to torture me further with this video?  My poor little birds, held captive.  You are truly cruel, darling sister.  And now let me ask you this: I was over visiting last night, was I not?  Were you keeping a sharp eye on this little treasure?  Perhaps you let your guard down, perhaps you noticed something missing this morning?  Then again, maybe not.  Maybe everything is safe and sound as it should be, but I doubt your conscience will be able to rest now.  The music box will be mine again, oh yes, it will be mine. 

Relax

Would you like a cup?  I know I've been hitting the pot quite a bit lately (ahem- tea pot.).  I was at my friend Amber's fabulous New Year's Day Brunch a few weeks ago, and she had this delicious Blood Orange herbal tea that I fell in love with.  It's from Adagio Teas, a company that I was familiar with, but had not ordered from in a while.  I remedied that quickly with a big, fat purchase of enough loose tea to keep me stocked for a long time.

But I couldn't get just a giant bag of the blood orange, oh no.  I HAD to reach the $50 mark to get the free shipping offer right?  (Is anyone else a sucker for those deals?)  I also bought Citron Green Tea (LOVE), Raspberry Tea (YUM), Apricot Tea (DIVINE), Mango Melange (Eh) and peppermint and Foxtrot (haven't  tried yet.) 

I highly recommend this company, my mom bought me the starter kit several years ago, and I still use it all the time.   Oh, and they even threw in a sample of their Valentine Tea.  It smelled and tasted exactly like a chocolate covered strawberry, very cool!     Max will even drink the herbal teas and they are quite good iced too.  I can't wait to make sun tea in the summer.  Yum, yum, yum.  Anyone else have tea recommendations for me?  I'd love to hear what y'all are sipping on these days. 

****I'm adding a neat little gift-thingy to this post, since some of you seem interested in the Adagio Tea.   It's a free $5 gift certificate, which is pretty cool.  And yes, I get some kind of points or something when people redeem the coupon, but I haven't really figured out how that all works yet.  I just think these little widgets are so neat (and so is a free $5, if you ask me.)  So here it is...have fun!

    

Another Weekend Adventure

I finally admitted  that I lost our rechargeable battery charger and bought a new one,  so there will be more pictures and postings soon!  I'm still playing catch-up with the orders from the  Emporium Valentine's update,  and I'm almost done.    Thanks so much for all the miniature-love!    

Current  background noise  while packing orders?  Law and Order reruns.  How long has that show been totally awesome?!?  Wow.  I could so be an SVU investigator, (ha ha, yeah right.)   

Valentine's has hit the Emporium....

...in a big way!  (And about time, too.  I've had these goodies sitting around for months.)

Fun stuff!  I'll chat more about it later.  I 've gotta go cook something for dinner, the natives are becoming restless.