"Love what YOU Love " - Ray Bradbury

My fingernails are caked in paint. Not like a pretty manicure, more like a mottled mess. But I don’t care because I love to paint.

This is new.

In the past whenever I’d try to paint, I would only see the mistakes. I’d think, “I’m not an artist.” And pack up my paints and brushes and forget about them. For years.

What changed?

I asked the negative voices to take a break while I just played with my paints. I approached it a little more like I approach cooking: a little of this and a little of that and if it doesn’t turn out, it’s not the end of the world… you can always bake another cake later.

Like Julia Child said, “The grand thing about cooking is you can eat your mistakes.”

Of course, I can’t eat a bad painting but I can paint over it and start again.

With a playful, forgiving approach I learned that I love painting. I may never grow up to become Picasso, but it makes me happy. So I love what I love.

What do you love?

More posts this:

a different perspective

So far we have baked and frosted 200 cupcakes while keeping our cool, stored them overnight and got them to the venue, and now we are going to show them off.

Cupcakes can entice nearly anyone into their presence like the Sirens luring sailors to their doom. Without any special displays or fancy decorations.

So we could leave well enough alone.

We could just line them up on a table and say “have at them”. And probably no one would say a bad word about it. Especially not once they’ve tasted the ridiculous red velvet cupcakes.

Heck, I bet you could launch cupcakes across the room for people to catch like Tshirts at a hockey game (or basketball or… you get the idea) and people would scramble and elbow each other out of the way just to catch an ultimate cupcake.

But that’s not how I roll.

I had a vision. And my vision included cupcake stands. 4 of them. At least.

They would be distributed around 2 or 3 dessert tables. And across the room, there would be a table set up with a cookie buffet stocked with homemade cookies for guests to take home as favors.

And then there was the photo booth. You know, the old school kind you still find sometimes at the mall.

Yeah, with all sorts of accessories and props for people to play with in their photos (Not those kind of props. You know, tiaras, funny glasses, boas… that kind of thing. Sheesh).

So yeah, I tend to dream big. It is only recently (in my thirties?) that I’ve learned that maybe – just maybe – doing it all is sometimes too much. And maybe going overboard isn’t called for. Maybe sometimes.

Anyway, back to reality. I did some research and found a couple of cupcake stands ranging in price from $30-$50. Multiplied by 4?! Ouch. That didn’t really fit my budget.

Not to mention, what the heck am I going to do with 2-4 cupcake stands after the party? Where would I store them? When would I use them again?

I won’t lie. I was disappointed and almost ready to to hit the “Checkout” button anyway, budget be damned. I mean, they were already in my shopping cart anyway.

But I took a deep breath and stepped away from the laptop.

A few days later I was in Borders (by the way, did you know they are closing a bunch of stores? The ones that are closing are having crazy sales… just fyi, in case you are needing any book-type stuff).

I browsed the crafty section and then the wedding section. And one book in particular jumped out at me: The DIY Bride. I flipped through the pages and there it was: my cupcake stand.

So I took the book home with me (I have a weakness for books and consider it a good day when I make it out of a bookstore with fewer than four books… which is also why I don’t go to bookstores very often anymore).

Cake circles (8-Inch, 12-Inch, and 14-Inch), scrapbook paper, some rick rack, plastic cups, and some glue. That’s it. Infinitely customizable, and disposable (recyclable). Perfect.

Notes:

• The scrapbook paper I used was 12″ x 12″, so to cover the 14″ base cake circle, I had to do some patch work.
• I used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the cake circles and hot glue to attach the rick rack and plastic cups.
• Use spray adhesive in a well-ventilated space (I went outside)
• Work quickly (and carefully) with the hot glue. I’d run a bead of about 3-4 inches and attach the rick rack to the edges, then do another 3-4 inches.
• Lightly trace with a pencil where you want to place the plastic cups (centered) before doing anything with the hot glue.
• I used really basic clear plastic cups between the tiers, but you can get creative to match your style and decor.
• For more DIY wedding stuff online, be sure to check out DIY Bride.

I made 4 cupcake stands, but only used 2. There was only 1 dessert table. The cookie buffet idea was filed away for another time. And the photo booth was just nixed.

It was hard to let go of the cookie buffet and the photo booth. But pushing to make those details of my vision happen was starting to stress me out, which went against the theme that Dan and I had set for our party: relaxed, easy, and fun.

It turns out the cookie buffet would have been overkill anyway. 200 cupcakes was enough for most everyone to have 1-2 at the party and then take 1-2 home.

(I had one friend who skipped dinner completely so that she could eat 3-4 cupcakes. I think she was sick of cupcakes (literally) after that so her husband got to enjoy the ones that made it home).

We used plain brown paper bags (lunch sack style) to send cupcakes home with people. I looked for cupcake boxes and almost let myself get stressed about it, but in the end the paper bags were simple and perfect for the casual style we were going for.

Anyway, I hope this series on my trials and triumphs making the cupcakes for my own wedding reception is helpful for you in some way… even if it only inspires you not to do it yourself :)

After finishing the baby hat and sweater for my friend Kristi’s baby-to-be, I couldn’t stop knitting. I broke into my stash of yarn and found some self-striping yarn I had bought last winter. I don’t remember why I bought it, aside from the fact that it is self-striping. I mean, isn’t that cool? You just knit and it makes stripes for you. It boggles my mind to think about how this works.

Since I didn’t have specific projects in mind already, I decided to make a couple of hats for Dan’s boys. Sshh… they are supposed to be Christmas presents. I enjoy knitting, it is relaxing and keeps my hands busy, but I seem to go on autopilot once I start… only to realize that all of sudden, it is 3am, and I am this close to finishing my project. Of course this means I can’t go to bed yet, I have to finish the last few rows even though my eyes are barely open. I can’t explain it. It just happens.

As you can see, I finished one. I think the colors are great… very boy-like. But when I started the second hat, I began to feel that maybe the blues are too girly. I can’t give a girly hat to an eight or ten year old boy. What do you think? Is it girly?

P.S. I realized today that yesterday was my 200th post! Time flies…

My mom taught me to roller skate when I was about six years old. One afternoon, we went to the local roller rink. She laced up my skates then laced up her own. Off to the side of the main skating area, there was a small rink like a kiddie pool. This is where I learned to skate.

Mom told me how to push off with one skate while rolling forward on the other. Her words were confident, even as she walked around the circle in her skates clinging to the side of the rink. My mom cannot skate.

Her instructions were precise. I did as she said, and although I was shaky and afraid to roam too far from the side, by the end of the day I was skating: push, glide, wobble… all the way around. I was ready for the big rink. Mom walked a lap with me, clutching the side with one hand all the way around the big-girl rink.

Several years later, I wanted to learn to knit. Mom crocheted. But like skating, she knew the mechanics of knitting. And when I did as she said, I learned to knit.

Thanks to my mom I made it through the many Skate Parties that were de rigeur in the Eighties (Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” still rings in my ears). Also thanks to my mom’s lessons, I am now able to knit things like this:

(a baby shower gift for Kristi… the sweater is unbelievably tiny)

These days I spend my nights watching reruns of Gilmore Girls, my hands busy with yarn and needles. I mostly knit scarves, but have taken up hats recently. While I don’t want to bombard you with crafts, you can expect to see a few more knitted pieces here as we settle into winter…

I bought this fabric a couple of months ago with the intent to make an apron. But I’ve been busy with family visits and holidays and… well, procrastinating. But today, instead of baking cookies, I set about making that apron.

Not on my own though.  Raven felt she needed to help me. She was so much help: she supervised, walked in front of me as I ironed, laid on the fabric I was cutting… she’s such a great little helper. Well, at least she is cute…

A few weeks ago, I found momomadeit on Etsy and was inspired by her aprons especially ones like this flirty pink number.  But instead of looking for a pattern, I just kind of draped the fabric on myself and measured things as I went (not really a great technique but sometimes I sew like I cook… randomly intuitively). Next time, I’ll make a pattern… 

Tada! Not too bad for an afternoon project… especially given I haven’t sewn anything in months… and I didn’t follow a pattern. It’s not perfect, but I really like the fabrics, both have cherries all over them and look so cheery. 

All these cherries make me think it’s time to make another pie…