Fall crafting

The view from my studio

I don't even know where to begin.  I have yet to write about the rest of our England trip in July and left off when we were getting ready to leave Sweden at the end of August, and here it's November already. People ask me how our cultural reentry went, and I think it got upstaged by moving to a new part of Virginia, which has been more challenging (making new friends, finding a new church, and remembering how to get to the stores). The kids (ages 4 and 6 now) started school and are enjoying playing soccer, riding their bikes, and running around the yard.  We're thankful to be in a house again, although the one we're renting is smaller than the one we had before Sweden, so we still have many boxes that will just stay packed for now.  We have wonderful neighbors who are quick to lend a hand (or caulk gun or set of cake pans).  We're church-shopping a few weeks at a time, which is a long process.  Steve is enjoying his new job (although learning the ins and outs of a new company is like moving to a new community as well), and we have explored the area enough that we're planning to house hunt soon.  It still feels like we're in transition (ever since we moved out of our other house near Winchester), so it will be a welcome hurdle to move again and start putting down roots again once we get our own place.

Tooth pillow

I really missed having a studio in Sweden, and even before we moved back to the States I was planning a new line of jewelry and redesigning my website.  I used Olivia's school bazaar as a deadline and that was helpful to get things going.  My studio is tiny and I don't have space for my sewing and craft stuff, and even with the change of seasons I haven't really felt like making anything, which feels really strange for me.  I usually have a list of project ideas, and in Sweden Pinterest let me craft vicariously, but when we moved back I was rusty and had to remind myself that I could go and get cheap ingredients at Michael's and actually make something.  Once the bazaar was over my creative juices started flowing and I dug out supplies to make a tooth pillow for Olivia.  She started losing teeth in Sweden, but I put this project off until I was reunited with my fabric stash and sewing machine.  Her second front tooth has been loose for months, but the day after Halloween it finally gave up the ghost.  So Olivia helped me stuff and observed me pinning and sewing with the machine and trimming corners and ironing, so it was a good sewing lesson.

Sweater pumpkin

And yesterday while she was at school I took Bowen to Goodwill in search of sweaters for pumpkins (tutorial here).  Yes, part of the adjustment back to life in these United States is having a little sidekick again.  Bowen was in preschool the same hours that Olivia was in kindergarten in Sweden (M-F 8:30-2:30), so that meant I had plenty of kidless time to do the walking group, tennis lessons, fika, grocery shopping, etc.  But here in Virginia the preschools have 3-year-olds three mornings a week.  It took me a while to realize that Bowen is pretty good at the stores so I don't have to spend my sacred kidless time on grocery shopping.  Plus he earned money raking leaves last week, so after the thrift store and craft store and Chick-fil-A he bought a mini monster truck at the dollar store.  And after we got home he helped me stuff and wrap this sweater pumpkin.

So our lives are getting back to normal, or I guess we're adjusting to the "new normal," and so far so good.
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Creative Itch

I like to do and make stuff with my hands, but I put my 10-year-old jewelry business on hold when we moved to Sweden a year ago (today!).  I have complicated relationship with jewelrymaking.  My tools and metal and beads went into storage, and honestly I was ready for a break. It was what I thought about when falling asleep at night, what I was crazy about on Pinterest, and indeed my jewelry sold like hotcakes at a wonderful shop.  My business isn't like most of the home-business moms I knew who could simply order more products when stock was low.  I had to spend hours in the studio to restock, and I don't mass-produce designs so it was a lot of pressure.  I loved working in my studio but it competed with family time and I was worn out.  Moving overseas gave me a chance to shift gears and focus on something else.

Vanity painted & dark waxed by Darlene Deal

Shuttling the kids to and from preschool, cooking dinner from scratch every night, and getting settled in a new home/town/country kept me busy last spring.  Then we had an impossibly gorgeous summer with lots of sun and not-too-hot temps that made me actually want to be outside.  Photography served as my creative outlet, and I enjoyed having free time to write, bake, and read.  Fall brought the start of new schools for the kids and new friendships and opportunities for me, so I added the walking group and group tennis lessons to my schedule.  It was so great to have structure to my week with built-in time to see people.  Meanwhile I discovered chalk painting online and spent (ahem) hours learning about it from Facebook groups and pinning pictures of yard sale finds that people had transformed, dreaming about how I would love to do the same. I even developed a business name and logo, which was another type of creative outlet I apparently needed. Yes, I could go to second-hand stores here, but it's not like they're full of Gustavian settees and Mora clocks; think Ikea cast-offs.  And then there's the issue of getting pieces back to the apartment on transit, finding a place to paint (dining room?), and storing it until it sells. Or doesn't. I'm really glad I got to scratch that creative itch by trying chalk painting and waxing when we were home for Christmas.  I still want to do it, but I'm okay to shelve that hobby until we move back to the States.

Fall is usually my busy time to make jewelry with the inspiration of the change of seasons and stocking up for Christmas shoppers, but I didn't have my tools and supplies here.  I did manage to make this bracelet for a gift exchange, and friends asked if they could shop from the remains of my stock I brought with me from the States, but I was thrilled to not have the pressure of production during such a magical season here in Sweden.  However along with my jewelry tools I was also missing the other craftiness that comes with Christmastime... sewing felt ornaments, making cards, baking cutout cookies.  Yes, I could invest in another set of cookie cutters here, or hand-sewing supplies, but it's not the same as walking into my studio and already having what I needed (or being able to find things inexpensively at a single store like Michael's). And I did bring back some jewelry supplies from our trip to the States, but I haven't gotten back into it except for custom orders.  Spring is usually when I get inspired enough to break through my winter slump, and we're not quite there yet. And along with my complicated relationship with jewelrymaking comes my inability to separate the hobby from the business. I'm not that enthusiastic to build a business here, only to move back to the States in a couple of years and lose my customer base. Sure, the internet helps facilitate selling jewelry to those far away, but nothing beats being able to touch and feel and try on a piece before buying it.

January and February were spent framing out our travel for the first half of this year.  It takes me days and days of research and planning and pestering my fellow expats, and it's a relief to be past that stage, to have a break before diving into the details as each trip gets closer.  I'm really excited to see other parts of Europe while we're here, especially the different kinds of architecture. During that planning time I came across this ad for a sketch and paint tour, which introduced me to the concept of urban sketching where people draw buildings and other parts of city life on location.

I love the look of a pen sketch with a little watercolor and found several artists to follow for inspiration on Flickr.  I did a bunch of drawing and painting in high school, but that was ten twenty years ago, but lately I found myself in this mental struggle between wanting to try it again and fearing that I'd lost my ability.  Ultimately it gave me an excuse to buy drawing supplies, and today is the first sunny day we've had in a loooong time, so after the walking group I sat out on our stoop with a mug of coffee and a pencil and sketched the building across the street.  After 20 minutes my hands got cold but it was a good start. Photography is so much faster and easier, but there is something to be said for really studying something with your eyes and hands, for being able to omit tram wires and street signs.

Last week I did a pottery workshop offered through the PTA, so while it was raining slush outside we got to play with clay in Hanna's beautiful, warm studio.  I wanted to move in!  I slab-built a mug and threw a bowl on the wheel and it was so much fun.  My bowl didn't stay pretty like it was here, but I hadn't thrown a pot since I was at camp in 1990 so I'm not surprised.  The other students the workshop are talking about taking classes from the local art college, and I love that idea except the teaching is in Swedish.  It's a good option for when I get a creative itch.

Girlfriends' getaway

One of my friends used to talk about weekends away spent reconnecting with her college roommates.  I was always jealous until I realized I could still do this even though we don't all live in PA anymore.  So my roomies and I have gotten together a few times in the past couple years, and I'm so glad to be more current with them.  This time we stayed in Richmond at Kristin's house.  We slept in, lounged, watched Bridesmaids (which was funny for me because these were my maids), made some jewelry, ate out, played with the dog, went for ice cream, and talked and talked.  I love these girls.

Valerie, Jessica, Kristin, and me

Road Trip

Steve had a meeting in Baltimore first thing yesterday morning, so he decided to drive the night before so he wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive.  I've been wanting to take the kids to Delaware to see some of our old stomping grounds, so Steve agreed to let us come along.  On the way we stopped for dinner in Gaithersburg.  I got to try their seasonal Tweason'ale, which I would marry if I could.

Olivia loves to stay in hotels.  In fact, she woke up at 5ish to play and talk, which meant Steve didn't end up getting any more sleep than he would have if he had gotten up to drive that morning.  Bless his heart.

Small world moment: At breakfast there was our next-door neighbor Kent, also in Baltimore on business.  Olivia was so excited, even though I don't think she fully understood the irony that we were a couple hours from home.

We dropped Steve off at the office and headed up through the harbor tunnel and on to 95.  I do not miss driving on 95.  I do miss our sweet little town, old New Castle.  We stopped in to see my dear friend Bertie at Bertie's Bags and Sew On.  (Get it?  Sew on?  She does monogramming, and put Olivia's name on her little green bag.)

Bertie and her husband just returned from celebrating their 50th anniversary in Savannah and Beaufort, and I have since added Beaufort to my bucket list.  (Visited Savannah in 2010.)  The kids played with Bertie's toys while we visited, and then we walked down to Battery Park on the Delaware River.  I explained to Olivia that the geese used to see Riley coming and would swim out into the water, nervously honking, "Dog... dog... dog..."

While we lived there I never paid much attention to the osage orange tree dropping fruit right on the walking trail, or the wonderful playground in the park.  Funny how life changes my perspective.

We walked back up to Bertie's shop and while we were saying goodbye one of her neighbors offered to make a peanut butter sandwich for Olivia.  This is the kind of town New Castle is.

Next we headed to Newark to visit Lisa at Sparkles Bead Shop where I used to teach classes.  I didn't get a single picture, but I do have some pretty new beads.  I always need more beads.  And I always need a cupcake, so after that we went by Sweet 'n' Sassy Cupcakes on Main Street.  They are my favorite, being about equal parts uber-rich icing and cake.  I wrapped and froze them to enjoy as long as I can.

Then it was time to head back to Baltimore to pick up Steve.  We stopped at Wegmans for dinner on the way home, and we passed through Harper's Ferry just after the sun went down.

It was a fun trip and the kids did really well on the go.  I miss Delaware and could fill several weeks going to visit friends and shops, but I was happy just to have a little taste.

Warm

My brother used to live in Florida.  One year Steve and I went to visit in January and we slept with the windows open.  It was lovely, but it ruined us; now we love need to go somewhere warm every year during the winter.  Our birthdays are a couple weeks after Christmas, so it's fun to celebrate by doing something together instead of exchanging more gifts.  Last April we had planned to go on a Mediterranean cruise, but our plans fell through.  I'm still getting over that, honestly.  But the next best thing is a cruise somewhere warm in the winter, so we used our credit from Royal Caribbean to do just that.

We've been on one cruise before, in January 2004 (pictured) on Carnival's Imagination... Miami, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman with a day at sea in between each.  It was warm, but far enough north in the Caribbean to be affected by the deep freeze that week.  I remember huddling under my towel while I sat by the pool. 

This time we decided to head farther south, flying to Puerto Rico to begin, and then stopping somewhere different each day.  Right before we left I read this detailed review of a similar cruise written by a gal named Chrystal, and it ended up being a great description for our trip as well.  Here are some highlights...

Old San Juan

We got a cab from the airport to the pier and dropped off our bags on the ship, hit the Windjammer (buffet) for lunch, and headed downtown.  I had read that one can walk there from the port, but our ship was on the wrong side of the harbor so we cabbed it.  It's funny how I get a picture in my head of how something is going to look, and when I get there it's totally different but it makes sense.  Or at least this time that's the case.  I had seen lots of pictures of the two forts on the city wall, so in my head all of Old San Juan was built from stone and was very level. 

In reality it was vibrant and colorful with blue cobblestone streets built into the hillside overlooking the harbor with the open sea and forts at its back.

There is a touch of Spanish Colonial architecture with arches and carved wooden doors, but also very Caribbean with each house being a different pastel color, all with white trim.  It was Saturday so a lot of locals were out flying kites and having picnics on the huge lawn outside the fort.  Chrystal's review described getting a coconut shaved ice treat and I agree it was a fabulous way to spend $2.  Steve and I walked around a bit and then headed back to the ship on account of an ominous cloud.

When we got back to the ship our stateroom attendant had brought chocolate-covered strawberries for my birthday.  We changed for dinner, where we met our dining table-mates, Kitty & Ron, a dear sweet couple from Chicago who recently lost their 3-year-old son to brain cancer.  They were in desperate need of a vacation and we thoroughly enjoyed eating with them all week.  This is the view from our table.  That night we set sail for the Virgin Islands.  We did all of our sailing at night, and each morning we were someplace new.

The Serenade of the Seas is a nice ship; not the biggest but big enough.  Our "porthole" stateroom had space to walk on either side of the bed, we had plenty of built-in storage plus a loveseat, but I hate claustrophobic showers.  (I know space and water are at a premium, and even the balcony rooms have beam-me-up showers, but it's hard to shave when you can't bend over.)  The food and entertainment on the ship were great.  It was clean, the service was excellent wherever we were, and the cruise director (Bing Bong!) did a great job of keeping us entertained.  I can't remember what went on which evening, but the entertainment during the course of the week included two shows by the ship's song & dance troup, an Olympic gymnast, a ventriloquist, a (clean) comedian, and the Newlywed Game starring fellow passengers. It was fun to be entertained and then crash into bed.

St. Thomas

Steve and I were in St. Thomas to celebrate my 30th birthday, and both times we've gone I have had a cold.  We made the best of it, taking our time getting up and getting room service for breakfast. Then we took a taxi to Brewer's Beach for some beachcombing. 

There were plenty of shells and even some sea glass.  It is the kind of place free from tourists where the locals spend their day off (It was Sunday), so we did some people watching and airplane watching (it's next to the airport runway) and headed back.  On the way we stopped in Charlotte Amalie, but last time that's where we stayed and on Sunday the shops had closed up anyway, so we went back to the ship.  Each day was kind of like this; we'd head out and explore the island in the morning, then head back to take showers and nap until dinner.

St. Croix

The week before our trip I came across a lampwork artist, Hope Gibson, living on St. Croix, and emailed her to see if she'd be interested in getting together for coffee.  She offered to pick us up at the port and take us to see the famous beer-drinking pigs, then drop us in town.  In reality she did so much more, giving us a tour of the west end of the island, stopping for photo ops, and giving us a local's perspective of life on the island.  She's from Louisiana, but has lived on STC since before Hurricane Hugo (1989).  The island is dotted with ruins of sugar mills, and I get inordinately excited about ruins.  A wedding had been held recently in this "room" at Butler Bay Plantation; I can only imagine how beautiful that was.  (Kind of like Ross and Rachel's Emily's wedding on Friends.)  Hope drove us up through the rain forest and we did stop at the Domino Club for a drink and to see the beer-drinking pigs.   

Then Hope dropped us off in Christiansted so we could get lunch and do some shopping.  We found great food & beer with a view at Fort Christian Brew Pub, then we poked around at the shops in town before heading back to the port.  St. Croix was part of the sugar trade, so Danish ships would come over using pottery as ballast, then they'd throw it overboard and fill the ship with rum and molasses to bring back home.  The cool part of that story (to me) is the resulting "sea pottery" called chaney that still washes up on the shore.  Local artists bezel-set it into beautiful jewelry.  One person's trash is another's treasure.

This was Steve's birthday, so when we got back to the ship the stateroom attendant had brought him chocolate covered strawberries.  

Antigua

We had heard about Creole Cruises' Lobster Lunch from Chrystal's cruise review, and then I saw it as a top-rated activity on Trip Advisor, so we made reservations.  Glenn picks you up in his beautiful new boat at the port, then you cruise along the north shore to uninhabited Bird Island for some snorkeling.  We saw several kinds of fish and live coral (which apparently is not that common in the Caribbean).  Our last snorkeling adventure wasn't great, but Steve and I both thoroughly enjoyed this spot and had no problems with our gear, the water, or the boat ride.  After snorkeling we pulled up to a beach on Bird Island and had the most awesome lobster I have ever had. 

Each of us had half a lobster hot off the grill, plus garlic bread, salads, and Glenn's own rum punch with cinnamon and nutmeg.  There's nothing like eating in the shade on a beautiful beach while the waves lap at your feet.  We walked up to the top of the island after lunch, and then did some more snorkeling at Starfish Garden, just off another uninhabited island with the beach covered in shells.  I saw yellow, green, brown, and orange starfish; they were everywhere!  Back on the boat and back to the port just in time for "all aboard."  This was a fantastic shore excursion and I highly recommend it if you go to Antigua.

St. Lucia

I had read how Chrystal had gotten up at 5:30 am to see the Pitons (mountains), so during the night I kept peeking out the window to see if we were there yet.  At one point I did see the tip of the island but fell back asleep and missed the rest of the ship's approach.  Was very disappointed as our plans were to just poke around town and not do a big excursion (Pitons are a couple hours from port).  I was excited to learn that there was a craft market in Castries, but the best thing about it was that it had a roof.  It was dimly lit and crammed with row after row of vendors selling all kinds of awful souvenirs made everywhere but locally.  Then it began to pour down rain, so at least we were somewhere dry.  The vendors often had their children there with them, and the kids would play on the floor or in the base cabinets of the stalls.  So precious, and by this time I was really missing our girl.  Outside was a produce market, and then we walked around the streets of the town, which felt genuinely foreign unlike the Virgin Islands.  Stray dogs and chickens, lots of people but few tourists... ask me about the guy with three teeth and a conch shell.  We checked our email briefly at a tiny internet cafe, then headed back to the ship for lunch and a nap.  I was kinda wishing we had gone to see the Pitons, but I woke to the captain's announcement that we would be sailing right past them at dinnertime! 

It was hazy and the sun was setting, but I got to play around with my polarizing filter.

Grenada

I've been captivated with the concept of being able to smell spices in the air in Grenada, so when we were choosing the itinerary for the trip I definitely wanted to go there.  My mental picture could have been correct, but by the time we got to Grenada we had spent so much money on extra stuff (cab rides, tips, drinks, excursions, etc.), plus I was reading a book on fiancial responsibility, so I didn't really want to fork over $60 for a cab ride to see a waterfall or nutmeg plantation.  So we had a big breakfast, took the water taxi to nearby Grand Anse beach, rented chairs and an umbrella, and read and listened to all the Brits sitting nearby.  (There was a P&O ship docked next to ours.)  I am so glad we had the umbrella because being so far south I sensed that no amount of sunscreen would keep me from getting fried.  After we returned to the ship and were eating lunch in the Windjammer the sky opened up and there was a downpour -- good timing!  Naptime.

Our last day was at sea and we sat and read by the pool, watched some of the entertainment (belly flop contest, lecture about water, lecture about nutrition), had one last meal with Ron & Kitty, and packed our suitcases.  It was a great trip but I was glad to come home. 

Olivia did really well at my parents' house, except for the day she had the pukes.  Mom and Dad (Gramma & Papa) did a great job and Livi has adjusted well to normal life. When we went to pick her up she ran over for hugs, and then wanted to be passed back and forth and back and forth until we drove home.  My parents had a fun time with her, too, and we are SO grateful to have that gift of time away by ourselves. 

December

By the time Thanksgiving is over, Christmas shopping is in full swing and I get inundated with custom jewelry orders.  I'm not complaining, just explaining why I haven't have time to recount in great detail the nuances of our daily life on this here blog.  Having a business at home that works well with our family has been a huge blessing, and I am so thankful that it's FUN unlike say, medical coding. 

In order to feel like my life in December is not all about jewelry and a toddler I have taken breaks here and there to decorate for Christmas and bake.  We have a Christmas tree (a real one at that) for the first time in years!  Oh yeah, I forgot I already told you that.  My favorite ornaments are those we've brought home from our trips to Bermuda, our Caribbean cruise, Montreal, California, Florida, our honeymoon (Williamsburg, Okracoke).  And I like the ones from my childhood like this jar-lid ornament from preschool thirty years ago. On the back is a frog made of fingerprints and I still remember making it.

Our favorite cookies (double chocolate with white chips and either peppermint crumbles or Craisins) have gotten easier; I used to make them from scratch and now I just buy the envelope mix and stir in the extras.  I would like to know, however, why one can't purchase pre-crushed peppermint candy.

Even though I've taken breaks to embrace Christmas amidst the busy-ness, I've been kind of stressed (ask Steve).  But now that my jewelry order queue is finite (the deadline was Sunday) I feel like I can relax a little and enjoy my family and friends again.  So if I don't get right back to blogging about our household minutiae, know that we are all doing well and enjoying much yuletide cheer.

Cupcake Quest

I love cupcakes.  And I love cupcake shops where you can just buy one and then leave, without the rest of the batch lurking in the refrigerator.  We've found cupcake shops in Charleston, Savannah, Montreal, and a bakery that sells wedding cake by the slice in Rochester.  My favorite of all, though, is Sweet 'N' Sassy (SAS) Cupcakes on Main Street in Newark, Delaware.  It is probably good that it opened after we moved to Virginia because at least two days a week I would have eaten "dinner" at S&S between teaching my afternoon and evening classes at Sparkles.  (Hey, Lisa and Charlene and the rest of you bead babes!)  So now I just stop by when I'm in town to visit.  (Hey, Cheryl!)  I think it's hilarious that some UDel student scratched off certain letters on SAS's door so it reads "Sweet ass Cupcakes."

SAS makes my favorite vanilla-vanilla cupcake.  (Note: In cupcake nomenclature the first part of the name is the cake flavor, followed by the frosting flavor.)  They're so rich I can only eat one before I go into sugar shock, and I love that you can see the little vanilla seeds in the frosting.  I eat them sideways like a taco so I can get a little frosting in each bite, and I'm one of those people who thinks the cake is just there as a vehicle to get the frosting in my mouth.  A 1:1 frosting-to-cake ratio would not be absurd in my book.  The phrases, "not a frosting person," and "too rich" are about as puzzling to me as Olivia's narratives (23 months).  Give me the corner piece of that Costco cake, baby.

Locally, the only retail cupcake shop I know about makes icing one might find in a grocery store case featured on Cake Wrecks (read: first ingredient is Crisco), so I am not tempted to buy cupcakes there.  So my latest food quest is to recreate SAS cupcake frosting.

I love watching cooking shows, and a while ago I was watching Road Tasted with the Neelys when they went to visit SAS.  The owners demonstrated how they make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  I didn't bother to write anything down because I figured they'd have the recipe on the show's website.  Fail!  Apparently the point of the show is to highlight small food businesses who mail-order their products, and an order of SAS cupcakes cannot be had for less than $50.  So I kept checking the listings and finally recorded that episode at 4am on November 10.  Steve manned the remote and I scribbled down, "2lb cream cheese, 1lb butter, small glass bowl of Madagascar bourbon vanilla goo, 20 cups of powdered sugar."  No problem!  Let's try it.  Notice that this is my first blog entry in a few weeks; it's jewelry-making season which means I've been busy, but sometimes a girl's gotta just take a break and think about something different.  So Friday night we were able to find (locally!) the gooey stuff with vanilla seeds in it, and yesterday during Olivia's nap I quartered the quantities and made my first batch. 

Vanilla Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Servings: 24

Make vanilla cupcakes following the directions on the box as the cake is of secondary importance and Betty Crocker makes a moist, delicious vanilla cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

(It's not vanilla, but it's awesome!  Sorry, Elizabeth, I know this ruined it for you.)

1 bar (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (so you can see the vanilla seeds!)
5 cups sifted powdered sugar

Combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Note: Never put your aluminum paddle in the dishwasher.)  Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Slowly add the powdered sugar. (Anyone want to trade their white mixer for my snazzy, shiny black one?)  Once it has been incorporated, increase the mixer speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  The frosting will be very soft, which makes it easy to fill your piping bag but doesn't mound well.  Next time I will stick the filled bag in the fridge for a few minutes before piping so I don't have to worry about the edges.

I ate one as soon as I finished frosting them, but the frosting was so rich I had to stop there.  My second one was even better this morning as the sugar had all dissolved and the icing was cold.  Now I don't have to drive to Delaware for darn good cupcakes.  (Sorry, DE peeps.  I do have to drive there for Cheeseburger in Paradise!)

This was my first piping job so I used what I had: a cookie press with a star tip.  That worked fine but I had to keep reloading it.  I kept thinking of my college buddy, Andy, who was a Dairy Queen alum and showed us how to properly make soft serve cones that aren't hollow.  Anyway, last night Olivia and I went to Michaels for new toys.  Her a giraffe, me a decorating bag and larger star tip.  The cake decorating aisle: uncharted territory.  I could see myself buying all manner of sprinkles and dragées (beads! for cupcakes!) but I behaved.  And now it's Thanksgiving Week so I'm going to be cooking other fun things when I'm not filling jewelry orders.  Hope you have a safe and yummy turkey day!

Catching Up

I love seeing school supplies in the store.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Except for the humidity.  We've been keeping busy around here, although I'm giving my sewing machine a rest.  Highlights of late...

Brunch at L'Auberge Provencale

It's a local French restaurant we don't normally afford, but they're on Restaurant.com so I got a gift certificate during one of the specials.  And then we forgot about it and finally used it the day before it expired.  The food was lovely and it was wonderful to have a relaxing afternoon with just the two of us.  Me and Steve that is, not me and my lemon drop martini.

Weekend at Deep Creek Lake

We stayed with friends, Lee and Joan, whom we know from our State College days.  They race their Flying Scot on the weekends, which was fun to watch from our kayaks.  We came to the lake with them maybe 8 years ago and were smitten with lake life.  Again, lovely to spend a relaxing weekend catching up with Steve while Olivia was back home in good hands (Thanks, Mom & Dad).  It was also nice to wear jeans and a sweatshirt when it cooled off at night (or we took the speedboat out), since July was so hot.

Working (feverishly) on my fall jewelry collection.

This time of year I'm usually making new stuff for fall, but this year I kicked it up a notch, hired a sitter so I could focus, and threw myself into creating new pieces with a cohesive look.  You can read more about it here. 

Oh and?  My problem-child molar... cavity, filling, pain, crown(s), more pain, and finally a root canal a week ago.  I am happy to say it is now pain-free and I can chew on the right side of my mouth for the first time in four months.