crafts... er, art? maybe both!

I've been busy.  No, not packing.  That would be silly to actually do any packing with only a week to go before we move.  Silly.  I work best under pressure.  Actually, I'm not sure that I do, but it's the only way I've ever done anything.  I should join a 12 step program for procrastination.  Maybe I'll get around to it someday.  Heh.

So I've been busy being crafty.  What is it about that word that conjures up little old ladies making doilies in their rocking chairs?  I would say I've been busy making ART, but that's not REALLY how I would categorize what I've been doing.  You let me know how to label it all, okey dokey? 

Here's the onesie I embroidered for my cousin's new baby, Eliza.  Don't you love that name?  So cute.  I love doing these baby onesies. 

And I finally finished the painting for Rowan's room that I had started back last winter.  See?  Procrastination.  It was my first endeavor into mixed media painting, and it's my new favorite.  I think I'll make a billion more of these because it was so fun and so easy to do in pieces.  I drew a lot of inspiration and instruction from Kelly Rae. 

The pretty afghan was a wedding present made by my mom.  Who is very crafty herself.

I stamped Rowan's name on the little flags, which were inspired by the awesome pennant flags that my friend, Kelly (also super crafty), made for Rowan's birthday.  They hang in her room and look so pretty there, so I thought it would be cool to echo them in this painting.

I added rose petals from a bouquet of roses Brian had gotten me before we were even married.  Eons ago.  I had pressed them, and they were just sitting in a box, waiting to be shown some love.  Here you go, rose petals!  Love. 

I wanted to add in things that would be special to Rowan later like the rose petals.  I added a couple pages from a vegetarian recipe book that belonged to one of my grandmothers.  Not that I think Rowan will be vegetarian, more that it was something passed down to her from past generations.

Sweet rice delight sounds gross to me.  Which is why I felt ok tearing it out of an old cookbook.  I layered all sorts of papers all over, and then painted the birdies over them to go with the birdie bedding in Rowan's room.  I like how imperfect and layered it all looks.  I like to think its imperfections make it charming.  That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

There is also a postcard with a picture from the Book of Kells as a nod to the Celtic roots of Rowan's name.

Now do I hang it up in her room, or put it in the pile to be packed?  I think I'll hang it up so there is more to do later.  Cause that's how I roll.

trains and fletcher 4-ever

Yesterday we rode on Thomas the Tank Engine.  And got to see lots of others at the train museum in Union, Illinois.  It was a perfect day for Fletcher.  He rode on Brian's shoulders, pointing to where he'd like us to take him.  Yes, your majesty.

I think Brian liked this train as much as Fletcher.  It's a reproduction of some important train from a long time ago.  I don't remember. 

I heart sun flare.  I want to marry sun flare and have its kids.  Brian says I have a problem.  And that sun flare doesn't make a good picture.  But I love it. 

I think it's pretty.  But I took some of the same pictures without the sun flare just for Brian.  But this is MY blog, so you get to see the ones I like.

I think Fletcher liked Thomas just fine, but he liked the ride on Thomas even better.  We were in the car directly behind Thomas.  This is pretty much what Fletcher looked like on the entire ride.

I liked the vintage ads in the vintage train cars.  I love that they have kept the same ads that were up when the trains were retired to the museum.

Brian took this one.  Obviously, since I'm in the background.  But how great of a shot is this?  Good job, Brian!!

The museum has some old trains in sheds where they have them all made up just like they were back in their heyday.

And this train kitchen was ahead of its time.  All stainless steel!  Pretty.

It was a good day to be Fletcher.

And the icing on the cake was that before bed, Fletcher pooped in the potty!  Yay!  Don't worry, I didn't take a picture.  Let's just say it was impressive, none the less. 

shaving already

Fletcher.  Not me.  I've been shaving for a while now, thanks.  Fletcher is now peeing in the potty, drinking out of a big boy cup, and sleeping in a big boy bed.  And now I caught him shaving the other day!!  Boy how time does fly.

Oh hi.  You're just in time.



I was just about to use this!



First I start up here.

Then I move it around like so.



You aren't laughing are you?  This is SERIOUS, OKAY?

Seriously SMOOTH!!! Heh.

Like a baby's butt.

Go on, give it a feel.  I'm irresistible.  The babes have been all over me. 

summer party in your mouth: tomato pie!

I love tomato pie.  I've been making it in the summer for a few years now, and it only gets more delicious every time we eat it.  And it is the perfect dish for one of my favorite summer produces: tomatoes!  My babysitter and her fiance came over for dinner last night just for fun.  She is also a vegetarian about to marry a carnivore, so this was great to make.  It can be the main event or a really good side dish.  Your choice.  The guys ate it with huge steaks, and seemed almost as happy to eat the tomato pie.  Almost.  Anyway, as you peruse this recipe, let me say: just trust me.  It may not look awesome, but it IS!  Run out and get all these ingredients:

1 pie crust
4 medium tomatoes
1 small sweet onion, sliced and sauteed
1/4 c. fresh basil
3/4 c. mayonnaise
2 c. shredded cheddar
1/4 c. goat cheese
1/4 t. hot sauce
salt and pepper

First, roll out your pie crust into your pan.  I highly recommend the store-bought kind.  But, my babysitter is a true vegetarian, and the store-bought kind uses lard.  So I had to make my crust from scratch using shortening.  It turned out pretty well!  I used this recipe.  You can tell I made it from scratch cause it looks pretty ugly.

If you're using the store-bought, then bake it for about 10 minutes at 350 all by its lonesome.  If you're using homemade crust, then line it with foil and bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil, and then bake another 10 minutes also at 350.  Whilst your crust is baking, slice your tomatoes to your own desired thickness and layer them between paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible.  Press down on the towels to get it all out.  You want tomato pie, not soup.

Also get to your basil and chiffonade it.  It's just a fancy way of slicing it thinly.  It's really simple if you do it like this: first stack your leaves.

Then roll them up length-wise.

Then get to slicing!  Easy-peasy.

I have also substituted rosemary and thyme with delicious success.  You could probably even use tarragon (for you, Jo).  But there is just something oh so right about tomatoes and basil coming together in yummy harmony.  Now's the time to mix up the mayo, cheese and hot sauce.  I have also substituted other cheeses, but trust me, sharp cheddar with goat cheese tastes best.  Mix it all well until it is a cheesy, gooey mess.  If you want it as a main dish and are a meat eater, you could add some crumbled bacon here. 

When the crust is ready, layer half of your tomatoes at the bottom and sprinkle them lightly with salt and pepper. 

Add half your onions on top, and half of your basil.

Repeat the layering, and then spread your cheesy-mayo mixture on top.  It works best to spread it around with your hands.  Which is probably unappetizing to any company you may have, so I suggest hiding in your kitchen, or maybe doing it before hand.

After I got my topping all nice and spread out, I realized I had forgotten to put in the basil.  Can I EVER get a recipe right?  Apparently not.  So I tried to carefully lift up sections of the tomatoes and shove it in, but a lot ended up in the topping, too.  It did not affect the taste in any way, so we still had a happy ending.  I know you were worried.

Bake this delicious concoction for about 25 minutes at 350 or until the top is golden brown.  Brace yourself for the awesome smell that will fill up your kitchen. 

Doesn't that just look amazing?  It tastes even better.  The babysitter loved it, as did her carnivorous fiance, and they happily took home the leftovers.

The leftovers are almost better the next day served cold.  My babysitter confirmed this for me today!  Feel free to mix up a batch of Sangria to go with it to complete the perfect summer meal.  Enjoy the yumminess!

i heart faces: beautiful eyes

It was hard to pick just one photo of Rowan's beautiful eyes, but I think this one captures them perfectly.  What is so great about her baby blues are the golden flecks in them.  So pretty and unusual!  And so fun to photograph.   For more beautiful eyes, go to i heart faces.



road trip, part 3

I'm going to make this the final installation, so bear with me and all the pictures I have.  Where were we?  Colonial Williamsburg.  I went with my parents when I was 17 and remember thinking it was SOOO  BORING.  AND LAME.  And so of course now that I'm an adult, I couldn't wait to go back!  In hindsight, what is cooler than a whole village where people dress up in costume and teach you things about our history?  Yes, awesome.  We would have actually enjoyed it if it hadn't been 101 degrees with 100% humidity.  Yuck.  We were sweating profusely just standing still.  Can you imagine what those villagers felt like in all the costumes they had to wear?

I felt sorry for them.  Almost as much as I felt sorry for myself.  Luckily most of the buildings/homes were air conditioned, so we basically ducked into every one we saw.  Here is the lovely Governor's Palace.

It's not the original.  Apparently a lot of buildings just up and burned down to the ground back then.  I would tell you more, but I didn't pay too close of attention to the guide.  I was busy concentrating on the sweat dripping off the end of my nose.  Gross.  Plus she was Russian, which I found distracting.  I kept wondering what the chances were that there was a Russian there in 1776.

Anyway, there were beautiful gardens behind the palace, including this arbor tunnel.  I like a good green tunnel.  It looks like a fairy tale, no?

There was also a hedge maze.  It was just like the Shining.  Here's Brian trying to find his way out.  Heh.

This is the little coffeehouse, where you have a little sit down with one of the proprietors who insults you on where you are from or for being a woman.  It was like a Colonial Ed Debevics.  But then they served you coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, which was really good.  It had some spiciness to it like Mexican chocolate.  It came highly recommended by a 10 year old girl we had met on the bus earlier, and she was right!  The guy in the blue tights was the one paid to be a douche. 

Then we moved onto the courthouse, where I reveled in all of the post-Colonial air conditioning being pumped through.  I have no idea what the guide talked about.  I think I fell asleep.

Here are a couple pictures from the inside that I took between naps.  I'm sure if I hadn't been exhaustedly hot, I would have really paid attention and would have had all sorts of interesting things to tell you about the courthouse.  But here are some pictures; feel free to make up stuff about what you see.

I have to hand it to those Colonial people.  They knew how to keep things looking green and lush in the face of extreme heat.  Washington D.C. could learn a lesson or two from them.

We spent the day there, and by the end were really worn out from the heat.  We had about a 6 hour drive still to South Carolina, so we got on the road.  We were pretty close to some of my family on this trip, but had too tight of a schedule to stop and see anyone.  We'll be back down soon to visit everyone, though!  We got to Columbia at about midnight to find all the hotels booked.  This is where planning ahead comes in handy.  But we finally found a hotel in downtown Columbia, which was a lot smaller than I expected.  And there was NO ONE OUT.  It was weird.  I know it was late, but no one coming out of bars, driving, or anything.  It was like a ghost town.

The next day we looked at 5 houses total and found one that suited our needs.  It even had the exact same play set in the backyard, so we were pretty happy about that.  There's lots of room for visitors, so everyone come see me, please!!  My only complaint is what passes for grass down there.  But I'm sure I won't be complaining about anything come winter and I don't have to deal with the Chicago-land weather.  I'll post pictures from around the house once we're back down there.

At that point we were missing the littles a LOT.  So we decided to get on the road that evening.  We had planned to be gone a week, but we were gone for 5 days instead.  That's the longest I'd ever been away from the kids.  We got more beautiful views as we drove through the Smoky Mountains.  Beautiful.

We stayed the night in Knoxville, where we took advantage of our last night by going out for dinner and a movie.  The movie theater was in a mall, about 10 miles from our hotel.  Our gps took lots of twisty turns to get there, it seemed.  When we got to the mall, it was after 9 pm, so the main part of it was closed.  We saw the big neon sign for the theater, so we tried to go into the doors beneath the sign.  A mall cop came out of nowhere, yelling at us, her hand at her gun.  Uh, scratch that- her hand at her radio.  Mall cops don't get guns!  I could tell Brian was restraining himself beside me; he has a thing for people with little authority who flex their little amount of authority.  TSA, for example.  She sent us to the other side of the mall.  So we got back into the car, drove around to the other side, and found more neon signs for the theater.  But no apparent opening INTO the theater.  After driving around for a few minutes, we drove into the parking garage.  There we found the opening on the 4th floor of the garage.  Kind of tucked away in a corner.  Bizarre.

The next day we woke up and drove home.  It was a long trip, and when I saw these windmills, I knew we were close to the kids.

It was good to get home and get hugs and kisses from the littles.  We've been back a week, but I'm ready for a vacation!