m & m's are the way to my heart

I hope that you had a lovely day yesterday.  I know I sure did.  It started with heart shaped pancakes and ended with mini cannoli.  And squished into the middle, all cozy-like, were sewing class and visiting with friends, and phone calls from people I love.  It was a great kind of day.

Here I am, flipping pancakes.  Of course I wore pink.  What fun is Valentine's day if you don't dress for it a little bit? (I had a roommate once- and I assure you it was not Steve- who felt it was important to wear pink underwear on Valentine's day.  I have yet to reach that level of holiday cheer.)

I moved a little table in by the fire for dinner and we had such a good time, eating and talking.  It's not hard to make a day special. 

This week, I continue to work on shop projects for the spring. I love shopping for just the right fabric and trying out a pattern idea several times to get it just right.  

I have been thinking all week about which item to offer for the daily deal tomorrow and I think it's going to be one that hasn't even been posted in the shop yet!  I hope you'll stop in to check it out, and remember- when they're gone, they're gone- so get yours early!

book report

I rarely buy books without reading them first.  We don't have unlimited bookshelf space and I want to make sure each book is worth its width on the shelf, so to speak. 

So you can take it as a glowing recommendation that as soon as I finished my library copy of "One Thousand Gifts", I decided to purchase it immediately.  It is a book with so much truth on every page, I knew I'd need to read it at least a dozen times over, just to take it all in. 

The main idea behind the book is so simple, you'd almost wonder how it could fill up all those pages: thanksgiving.  In everything.  All the time.  Everywhere. 

And this-

"The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world."

This makes me want to keep trying hard and honing my focus and couldn't I be a change agent?  Wouldn't I love to bring more Light to the world? 

Yes and yes. 

The author, Ann Voskamp, starts keeping a list of all the gifts and it changes everything for her.  She counts up to one thousand and then keeps counting because she just can't stop. 

And I know how she feels because I've started my own list.  What used to just be four red cardinals in a tree becomes #42.  I love red cardinals- what a treat to see so many at the same time.  What used to be a day wasted by sickness and lack of energy becomes #72- having quiet time to plan out new sewing projects. 

You see how it goes. 

The more I look for things to give thanks for, the more things I find...

#9- the smell of chestnuts roasting in the oven

#34- a baby bouncing and wiggling with joy

#69- every single sale in my shop

They're stacking up like planes over Kennedy and I can't stop and I don't want to stop.  The thankful life is the full life. 

So my recommendation?  Read it.  Then do something about it.  Because I will warn you, it's the type of book that requires action. 

the story of us, on a Friday

He-

gets up at 5am with me when the coughing is too much and makes tea and speaks kindly and almost even turns it into a joy, to be awake and together for a little extra.

I-

press fabric and run errands and try to use the time wisely, but am secretly just ticking off the minutes until he comes home.

He-

works hard and calls to check in and will help me in the kitchen this weekend, apron and all.



I-

stir soup on the stove and think how much he'll like it and plan out in my head what I'll wear on our date tomorrow night. 

We-

will be inseparable for two whole days and that's the best part about weekends. 

a place for everything

Today I'm linking up with Gussy Sews to talk about organization.  I love to be organized.  When I was looking around the house today for my favorite organizational tools, I realized that I hadn't yet shown you our new tea chest.  It was a Christmas gift from the Winters and we are just crazy about it.  I get an irrational amount of joy out of putting the different types of tea in the little slots. 

Along those same lines is my thread shadowbox.  Being able to see all of my thread, sorted by color, is just super helpful.  I remember the old days of having to dig to the bottom of a container for the right shade.  Those days are a distant memory now.  (ps- recently, Steve told someone that I made the thread shadowbox.  I did not.  But I was real flattered that he thought I did.)

Several of the pictures on the inspiration board I've been working on have an organizational theme.  You may be wondering how I can be inspired towards a sewing project by tiny vegetables in little boxes.  I honestly can't wait to show you. 

I also can't wait any longer to tell you about an exciting new feature on my blog!  You may have already noticed today's "Daily Deal" in the sidebar.  Every Thursday, I will be offering a new "Daily Deal" to my blog readers.  It may be an item from my shop, or it may be something I've whipped up that hasn't made it to the shop yet.  Here is what it will be though:
        - really cute and probably something you've been wanting/needing
        - at least 20% off the regular price
        - only available for 24 hours

The daily deal items will also be pretty exclusive, meaning I only have one or two of them to sell.  So be sure to check in early and if you see something you like, snap it up before someone else gets it! 
As I get ready to launch some exciting new products this spring (some of them inspired by tiny vegetable bins), I need to make a little room, so I think this will be a great way to offer an amazing value to my customers, while freeing up some space!  I can't wait to see who gets today's deal!

YOU'VE WON!!!

Have you seen those H & R Block commercials?  The ones where there is a big room full of people, having some sort of rally, and the person on stage opens up an envelope and shouts the amount of their refund- "Three thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight dollars!!!"  And then everybody cheers and and the person fans themselves with the envelope, like they may just pass out over their good fortune. 

I find these commercials hilarious, and a little disturbing.  I worry that there are people out there who don't actually know that their tax refund is their money.  It's not like winning the lottery. 

This is not to say that I'm not super thrilled to get a tax refund.  And what is really fun is when I do our taxes during the day and then get to tell Steve what the refund is when he gets home at night.  So I decided to make a little ceremony out of it, ala H & R Block, and give him the amount to open on a piece of paper.  And then I snapped pictures, to fully capture the joy of the moment. 

Speaking of joy, we have paper whites blooming in the kitchen.  I catch whiffs of them as I am cooking or doing the dishes and the scent is so perfumey-sweet that I feel a little light headed.  In a good way.  I don't know why we haven't had paper whites in the kitchen every winter. 

We also have daffodils blooming in the front yard.  I recorded the date of the first bloom this year: January 27th.  Last year it was February 21st, and I thought that was early.  For someone who doesn't believe in global warming, this weather is posing quite a problem. 

This morning we had another sewing class and it was lovely, as usual.  I am having so much fun with these classes.  I hope that my students are having at least half as much fun as I am. 

I'm looking forward to an afternoon of shop work today.  I am working on a fabric list that is enormously long and getting excited about a fabric shopping date with Steve this coming weekend.  "Someone who will shop for fabric with me" was not specifically on my list of things to look for in a mate, but I sure am glad it came as a bonus. 

so this is what hard work looks like

I have some seriously exciting shop stuff going on right now.  Most of it is still in my head.  But that's where everything has to start, right? 

Last week, I set up a work zone in the living room so that I could spread out.  I always think more clearly with plenty of room.  After a few hours of work, I realized that my "discard" pile was almost as tall as the table I was working on.  And I know you're probably wondering at my sanity, taking pictures of a big pile of trash and all, but I thought to myself, "Sometimes hard work looks like a dozen brightly colored zipper pouches and sometimes it looks like a big pile of trash."  And then I took a few pictures, as a way to sort of validate the importance of my work that day. 

So what am I working on that looks so much like trash?  Inspiration boards.  I have a whole slew of ideas about new products and unique fabrics and I just needed a way to get the vision in my head onto some paper.  Inspiration boards are great for that- you fill them with pictures and fabric swatches and paint samples and maybe a few sketches and- all of a sudden- you have some of your brain out where everyone can see it.  But not in a gross way, because that sounded sort of gross when I typed it out. 

I'm still working, but can't wait to show you something in a few weeks here.  Today, I'm getting the house back in order after a fun weekend with friends.  We finished up the weekend with a Superbowl party for two last night.  I made crispy chicken bites and twice baked potato skins (an idea inspired by my brother) and blue cheese dip with veggies.  I cheered for the Patriots, not because I have any professional football team loyalty at all (this was the only game I've watched this season), but because I think it's so cute that a bunch of tiny states had to all band together to make one football team.  And if you think that's poor reasoning, just wait until you hear how I choose teams for March Madness...

don't drive angry

I know I've mentioned it before, but we LOVE Groundhog Day.  Both the movie and the day, but I think we mainly love the day because we get to watch the movie.  Way to go, Bill Murray- way to make February fun. 

We've been planning our little Groundhog day celebration for about a week now, and it has expanded to include not only movie watching, but Chinese take-out and Valentine making.  The trifecta of a perfect winter evening.

Last year, I wrote a few posts with fun ideas for Valentine's day.  You can find them here and here, if you're looking for ideas.   Steve and I love making cards and always make them for each other, but this year I think we're going to make a few for some other people that we love too.  I'm gathering the card-making supplies today and setting them out so that we'll be ready to start when Steve gets home. 

In case you haven't heard yet, Phil saw his shadow this morning, which means six more weeks of winter.  Normally, I complain a bit when Phil sees his shadow, but as this "winter" has been characterized by daily temperatures in the 50s and 60s, I'm a little relieved.  If Phil had predicted an early spring, we'd probably be running the air conditioner by President's day. 

Along with preparing for our evening of fun, I'm also getting the house ready for guests this weekend and finishing up our taxes.  I actually really like doing taxes- probably left over from my grade school love of worksheets.  Whatever the reason, I am thankful to enjoy something that is generally considered to be a chore. 

Now if only I could figure out how to feel that way about vacuuming...