Where in the World: Anchorage Alaska

Michelle took a picture of herself and her D&L coffee sleeve on a recent trip to Anchorage Alaska. It's such a cozy image seeing her with a warm cup of coffee and the mountains behind. Thanks for sharing Michelle!



We want to see where you've taken your reusable coffee sleeve. Please send your submissions to DotandLineHome@gmail.com!

Artistic Adventures of an Ardent Amateur: Knitting Excursion – Part 2

So, last time I told you all about my incredibly exciting trip to the Hobby Lobby, wherein I waded through the puzzling assortment of knitting books, yarns, and needles in an effort to begin a project and satisfy a creative urge. When I finally got my booty home I was impatient to begin the actual knitting, so I read through the instructions as quickly as possible. Casting on blah blah blah, garter stitch yadda yadda yadda, changing colors et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…ah, screw it, I’m ready to start. So, I cast on the prescribed 60 stitches. That part was not so bad. See, look:

Good for me! Now, on to the knitting. Other than a little bit of trouble keeping the thread taut and the stitches moderately even, this part was not so bad, either. Yay! After a while I even started to get the hang of it and it became the rhythmical, undaunting task I had hoped it would be. I leaned back and proceeded to knit while enjoying Rick Steve’s Europe. However, I soon found that it was easy to lose track of how many rows I’d done, and when I tried to simply count them I became confused: does the row I cast on count? What’s this business about ridges? How are they different from rows? And then, most puzzling of all (and something that, despite a bit of lazy googling, I still have not found the solution to) why is the last stitch on each row so loose? When I take up the slack from it it’s almost like the last stitch of the previous row becomes the first stitch of the next row. Which is all well and good when I’ve only got one color, but when I switch between colors it looks like I have one stitch of yellow on my blue row, and vice versa. Any experienced knitters out there with the answer to this question are welcome to chime in.

Due to my confusion and misunderstanding of the meaning of ridges and rows, I switched colors too early and had to go back and undo a full row. Somehow I managed to do this without dropping a stitch, and all was well…until…you know, I blame Mario Batali and the infernally intriguing show “Spain…on the Road Again” because I was so distracted by tapas that I dropped a stitch. And the section of my book entitled “What to Do When You Drop a Stitch” instructed me to get out my crochet hook – a tool I had deemed unnecessary when shopping at the Hobby lobby, and thus did not now have in my arsenal. I did my darnedest to pick up that stitch with my needles, but ended up instead dropping another one. And then another. And another. And finally I just got so frustrated and furious that I pulled the whole mess off my needle.

And then I started over. Admittedly, much of my initial zeal had then worn off, as the above pictured inch of knitting was two days’ worth of work, and I had come to the realization that, while soothing and enjoyable, knitting was not going to be nearly as productive as I’d hoped. At this rate I’d be lucky to churn out one placemat a year, and I could just forget entirely the idea of ever making a sweater. Nevertheless, I plodded on (this time with the yellow yarn, for a change of pace), the therapeutic benefits (which did seem to outweigh the frustration) being sufficient enough reason for me to persevere.

But, as I progressed on Attempt #2, I noticed something disturbing: according to my book, this placemat was supposed to measure 12” by 16”. I was a long way from determining what the final length would be, but it had by now become clear that my placemat was nowhere near 12 inches wide. In fact, to call it 8 inches would be rather generous. There was no way on earth a normal-sized dinner plate would ever rest on this mat. Well, see for yourself. Here’s a dinner plate:

And now a salad plate:

And now a tea cup saucer:

How on earth did it turn out so small?! I was following the directions to the letter! Except…uh oh…guess I should have held out for those size 8 needles after all. Shoot.

Well, I plan to finish my “placemat” someday. Just as soon as I think of a use for such a miniature piece of rectangular knitted fabric. I thought about making it a potholder, but it’s really not thick enough for that. Is there such a thing as a knitted handkerchief?

Holiday Cheer & Free Shipping

Normally I wait until after Thanksgiving to get really excited for Christmas. This year however, my attempts to wait until Thanksgiving to start celebrating and preparing for Christmas have been to no avail. I cannot hold it in any longer. This is how excited I am:
(Disclaimer: brace yourself for the most undignified form of excitement EVER):

To spread even more holiday cheer, D&L is now offering free shipping on all coffee sleeves purchased now through December 31!

All we ask in return is that you spread some holiday cheer yourself and write to tell us all about it. Who knows, your story may even end up right here on our blog.

To view our full line of reusable coffee sleeves, please click here.

See Kate Conquer: An Eating Dilemma

As this pregnancy races [waddles] to the finish line Baby Spice gets bigger and bigger, my stomach gets squished more and more, and I can eat less and less. This, my friends, is so very weird for me. I LOVE to eat. I love to cook, but I LOVE to eat. Eating brings people together, it expresses culture and tradition, it's just oh-so-blissful. So, what am I supposed to do over the next month or so until my womb is vacated and my stomach can operate at an appropriate capacity?

My motto is, “Make Every Bit Count!” I try to make each meal pack as much nutritional punch as possible, while not sacrificing taste or experience (because oh! How I LOVE to experience my food).

Here's a couple of my favorites that have been getting me through the Days of Little Hunger:

For an easy, protein-packed breakfast, I mix plain yogurt with pumpkin seeds and pomegranate seeds, topping it off with maple syrup. Don't be shy on the pumpkin seeds – I use ¼ cup – and to de-seed a pomegranate without spraying your kitchen in red, try filling a large bowl with water and de-seed under the surface.

Make some veggie broth (simply by simmering some veggie scraps or whatever vegetables you have lying around) and use for a multitude of soups. My current favorite satisfies my craving for Lipton Extra Noodle Soup in a box and is definitely healthier: bring broth to a boil, add some crushed noodles (egg noodles or spaghetti or...). When noodles are done stir in a beaten egg and some frozen veggies, season however you want (chili flakes, bouillon, S&P, etc...)

Chili! Everyone has a version, here's my simple one: saute an obscene amount of onions and garlic (last time I used five large yellow onions and a whole head of the strong stuff), add cooked ground beef and kidney beans and some crushed tomatoes. I like to throw in some frozen corn and spinach for a little more variety. Season with cumin seeds and chipotle, and of course salt and pepper. While the initial prep takes a little bit of time, I big pot will last through many meals.

My big pot o' chili: serves a large crowd once, or me many, many times

Each of these meals is super easy, and is fairly nutritionally solid which not only fuels my body as I grow a human but also gets me more bang for my buck even if I'm only able to eat small portions.

So, how about you – got any easy, tasty, healthy meals you rely on in special situations?

Green Alternatives: Altoids Tins

It only takes a mildly observant person to note my passion for repurposing things that traditionally hit the trash can once their intended use is no longer required. For years (yes, that's right, years) I have been collecting used altoid tins. These tins have piled up as I've waited for a stroke of genius to inspire how I will repurpose them. I'm not one to go with other people's ideas as I am positive there is one genius design that only I am capable of coming up with. Yes, I do realize that this may be an arrogant admission but hey, at least I'm honest.

While I wait for my stroke of genius, I decided to check out the competition. I must admit there are some pretty cool, already invented ways to reuse these little tins.

I love the simple beauty of this gift tin by MaJenta Designs:



This simple and convenient sewing kit by DribsNDrabs:



These mini scrapbooks by Nycole:



This collage piece by Decorating4:



This belt buckle by BuckleUp:


Feel free to add to the list of useful ways to repurpose Altoid tins by leaving a note in the comment section below.

An Ode to Nebraska

I've finally been able to go through photos from my recent trip to Iowa. It was a lovely trip in celebration of a dear friend's wedding (Yaaay Rach!) and the long journey with my sister lent itself to plenty of bonding time. Having grown up in Idaho and gone to school in Iowa, the 23 hour drive has become really familiar to me. The longest part of the trip is by far the state of Nebraska. If you are from Nebraska, I'm sorry, your state is by far the most boring piece of land in the United States. I'm not sorry for insulting your state...just sorry for you.

Since we had nothing better to do, we cataloged our arduous journey through Nebraska. Surprisingly, this portion of out trip wasn't without adventure...As you will see in the pictures below, we ran into quite the weather. (Why must you add insult to injury Nebraska?)

Here's our first picture just after the Nebraska/Wyoming border:


Here's the 1st hour:


2nd hour:


3rd hour:


4th hour in which it started to rain:


We pulled off for the night and woke up to this the next morning, thanks Nebraska.


An hour later:


And an hour after that:


An hour later:



Another hour passed...getting bored yet?


An hour later:



And finally...10 hours of driving later...the blessed "Welcome to Iowa" sign:


It was only another 5 hours to our destination from the Nebraska/Iowa border...a pleasant 5 hours of rolling hills and beautiful countryside. Oh sure, it rained the whole way but what did we care, we had made it out of Nebraska.

Artistic Adventures of an Ardent Amateur: Knitting Excursion - Part 1

A few weeks ago I was hit by a creative urge and needed an outlet. I wanted something simple, relaxing, inexpensive, and productive. I also wanted something I could do while I watch documentaries on PBS (I highly recommend this one, but I advise you to have tissues at hand). My solution? Knitting! Lots of people knit so it can’t be that hard, can it? And you can make all kinds of useful things, like scarves and pillows and purses and hats, right? And there are those groups of people who get together and knit for social gatherings, called Stitch and B-- er, well, you know. So knitting could not only provide me with a creative outlet and cute handmade items, it could also help me make new friends. Perfect!

So, off I set to Hobby Lobby. After a little bit of aimless wandering through model planes and mechanical Santas I found the knitting section. Which is when my visions of happily and easily plucking a little knitting kit off the shelf and making my way home suddenly shattered as I stared in confusion at the aisles and aisles of books, yarn, needles and various other tools I didn’t even know the names of. Well, first things first, I decided to select a book. My pride prevented me from choosing anything with a condescending title, so “Knitting for Dummies,” and “Even You Can Knit!” were eliminated off the bat. Then, of course, I couldn’t choose any of the more advanced books because I needed very basic beginner’s instructions. So no “200 Stitches for the Advanced Knitter” or “Knit Your Own Wedding Gown” for me. Lastly, I outright refused to purchase a book that included projects for knitting clothing for animals on principle; I will not contribute to the humiliation of small dogs – their dignity has suffered enough at the hands of Gucci. This elimination process narrowed my selection down quite a bit. I had my choices slimmed down to two books, when I came upon this artistic transgression in one of them:

I was highly reluctant to support the idea of waist cinchers, especially those of the felted variety – it just seems wrong on so many levels. And when I saw that that book also included this gem of a project,

the deal was sealed – no way was I purchasing this guide to handcrafted atrocities. Ultimately the book I opted for had very simple, basic instructions (such as a section devoted to “How to Choose Your Yarn”), it had detailed explanations of the requirements for all the projects, and it was devoted mostly to practical crafts, such as scarves, sweaters, blankets, and placemats. For my first endeavor I selected the placemats, as they seemed small enough for me to actually complete in a reasonable amount of time, and as they only required one kind of stitch and no fancy tricks: just knit a row, knit another row, knit a row after that, repeat ad nauseum until complete.

Then, using my handy dandy materials list, I entered the supplies aisle, searching for my yarn. This seemingly simple task ended up requiring a nearly herculean effort, as I scoured the aisles in search of solid colored yarn of the proper weight and material. There was a definite dearth of yarn in gauge 4, and none of it was a solid color, and made out of cotton. So I finally opted for a yarn of what I thought was the proper weight, in a solid color, but spun out of a combination of bamboo and something called “Microdenier Acrylic” which is obviously synthetic, but I was pretty much out of options, and I’d spent half an hour wandering up and down the yarn aisles to the point that other crafters and HL employees were starting to look at me funny. So I was willing to settle for this:

Then it was off to find needles. My little book told me I needed size 8 needles. This should be simple, right? I can just grab the needles and I’ll be out of here at last! So I proceeded to the tools: “Ok, size 4, size 5, size 6, size 7, size 9, size 10…wait a minute, 6…7…9…CRAP!” Hobby Lobby was out of size 8 needles. Now, I suppose I could have gone to another store. But it was 7 o’clock on a Saturday, craft stores were closing, and many would not be open on Sunday, and I’d already spent 45 minutes wandering around Hobby Lobby, and I wanted to start my project, darn it! (I’d appreciate it if you would overlook the fact that my big plans for Saturday night were knitting and watching PBS. Thanks.) So I bought the size 7 needles. I mean, how much difference could it make, really?…

Well, it turns out, it makes quite a difference. And my harrowing experience at the craft store was nothing compared to the trials I would face when actually attempting to knit. But if you want to know the details, you’ll have to check back next week for part 2 of my Knitting Adventure.

Artist Profile: Jennifer Ladd

Well it's that time of year again! The holiday gift giving season is upon us. This year it is my personal goal to give primarily handmade gifts. There are plenty of resources out there and this handmade artist is no exception. Meet Jennifer. Stop by her shop for some fun holiday gift options for that special sister, friend or coworker.


1. Where is your business based out of?

My beautiful new (bright and cheery yellow) sewing room in Milwaukee, WI.


2. Where are you from originally?

I grew up in Milwaukee, moved around a bit during college, and just resettled in Milwaukee this past summer.


3. How long have you been an artist and/or business owner?

I have been sewing since as long as I can remember. I learned to sew by watching my grandma and then copying what she did to make clothes for my dolls. I sewed my whole life, mainly for myself and as gifts. In 2007, we adopted our daughter from Vietnam, and I quit my job as a French teacher to stay home with her full-time. I started sewing clothes, bibs, and booties for her (and diaper bags for myself), since it gave me a bit of a mental break during the day ... a bit of time for myself. After a few months, I decided that I could turn my hobby into a business, and I opened my Etsy shop in December, 2007. I started the shop as an experiment, and I wasn't sure it would work. But it is over a year later, and my business is expanding every day and I am having more and more fun every day, as well!


4. Where do you get your creative inspiration?

I am inspired by beautiful color combinations. My brain just feels happy when I see beautiful colors together.


5. What does your creative process entail?

I have a "design board" in my sewing room where I keep my sketches and project ideas. I also draw inspiration from my huge (and ever growing) stockpile of gorgeous fabrics. Between these two sources, I am never short of long lists of projects I want to work on!

When I decide on a project, I usually cut straight from the fabric ... I'm not always a big fan of patterns (although I do use them from time to time). Once I have the pieces cut, I get to sewing ... my favorite part becuase I can see my ideas become a reality. When I finish each piece, I usually spend quite a bit if time inspecting it, admiring it, and wishing I could keep it for myself (ha, ha, ha).


6. Would you say your environment (where you live, work, play) influences your creative process? If so, how?

Milwaukee has very distinct seasons. In the winter, I tend to work with deeper, warmer, and richer colors. When Spring hits, i tend to be so tired of snow and cold and ice that I really break free and go for the bright, bold colors. In summer, I use bright, airy, refreshing colors, and then I go back to the deeper oranges of Wisconsin leaves in fall.


7. Who are your creative mentors?

I learned to sew from my Grandma when I was about 3 years old. I'm 30 years old, now, and I still go to her all the time for sewing advice. Just today, in fact, I was back at the side of her sewing table, watching how she hemmed a coat ... she's always teaching me something new.


8. Tell us about the one project you would say you are most proud of.

My husband and I just reupholstered a vintage chair. I did most of the sewing, but he helped me every step of the way. He did a lot of the physical labor, but I was at his side helping him with each step. We had so many laughs and so much fun together (even despite a run to the emergency room for a tetanus shot!). We ended up with a beautiful chair and amazing memories together.


9. What do you enjoy doing when you're not creating?

I spend all of my days with my daughter. She loves to run, play games, play hide-and-go-seek (although we are still working on the "hiding" with her since she likes to jump out and say "here I am!"). We do art together, go to museums, and go shopping. In the summers, my husband is off of work, too, so we spend a lot of family time outdoors ... biking, walking, playing at the park, and enjoying our beautiful city!


10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully as happy as I am right now!

See Kate Conquer: "They're not perfect, but they're not purple!"

Every morning when I wake up, this is what I see: my growing stomach that is home to a child (or a minotaur) and four pairs of purple wardrobe doors (we've got another pair in the hallway serving as a closet).

Are those closets or a wall of bruises?

These are fairly standard IKEA closets, although most commonly seen these days in the less-offensive white. How we ended up with purple ones is beyond all reason and logic. My guess is that one of the IKEA designers of the 1970s was recovering from a bad acid trip and convinced his boss, also recovering from said trip, to sign off on a huge production order and the student housing organization that owns our apartment couldn't resist the great deal being offered by IKEA's head honcho in order to off-load the terrible mistake that these acid trippers had made. And here we are, thirty years later, still reaping the consequences. But who can say for sure?

When we first moved in here, my dream was to take down the doors and hang gorgeous, flowing fabric from floor to ceiling. I'm glad we never got around to that, as the number of dust bunnies that find their way into our apartment is enough to convince even PETA that sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures. And so, we've lived with the purple doors.

We lived with the purple doors until we redid the floors, which I wrote about here and here last two weeks. Then, as the world seemed to open up with possibilities, we found ourselves inspired. Again, under the gentle direction of our friends, we got ourselves some paint. One day while Keith was working I took off all the door handles and started to work on bringing our purple doors into the 21^st century.

The process has turned out to be just slightly more involved than I was initially thinking, which explains why it is still a work in progress. While I first thought this could be “my” project to work on, Keith has graciously stepped in as I find myself more and more tired with less and less vision for seeing things through (35 ½ weeks pregnant, remember?).

In our small living space we have no choice but to paint the doors in shifts; no more than four at a time can be painted. Once the doors are down, we've got to take the hinges off which is made more difficult because the screws are somewhat stripped from a previous encounter with an over-eager electric screw driver. Then, because the doors are dusty like everything else in our apartment, they must be wiped down. Finally, the painting may commence.

When I was started out these doors were requiring four (!) coats of paint on the outside, and two coats on the inside (we decided a little purple show-through would remind us of our humble beginnings... and save paint). Keith showed me how two thick coats of paint is far better than four thin coats. But, we still need to wait for one side to completely dry before flipping the doors over to do the single coat on the inside. Finally, there's usually a little touch-up work required along the top and bottom edges, and the putting back on of all the hardware.

This project has been in progress for about two weeks, but is looking like it will be finished in the next few days. Already, the effect is astounding to me, as not only do we not have purple sore spots that just never seemed to make any sense, but also a whole new palate for the light to play off of. Even at night, when I am getting up to pee for the umpteenth time, my path to the bathroom is “lit” by the soft shimmer of the outdoor lights reflecting gently off my white wardrobe doors, instead of disappearing into the purple that use to lurk.

the half-way finished results

We are not professional painters, and we were perhaps a bit over-eager to rehang some of the doors as they are already exhibiting a few scratches and nicks here and there. But, as Keith said last night, "They're not perfect, but they're not purple!" And I'm really thrilled about that.

A Halloween Treat

My Favorite Things: Bloom

I am back from my beautiful trip to Iowa and St. Louis and will definitely be sharing more details on that later. In the mean time I wanted to share pictures of Bloom, one of my favorite little shops on HWY1 between Iowa City and Kalona, IA. Walking through this little shop (and it's next door neighbor, Sister's Garden) got the creative juices flowing and it's easy to see why.

Festoon lighting, old branches and crystal! I am inspired to create something like this for my home or studio just so I can stare in awe.



I love the bold reuse of the old china and the lack of fear used to plaster them to the wall:



And the lovely bath products so artfully displayed in their beautiful bottles and what a fantastic piece of furniture!

Artistic Adventures of an Ardent Amateur: Annie & the Arch

This weekend Annie (yes, our Annie!) and her sister Jessica came to visit me in St. Louis. I was thrilled to see them, and happy to oblige Jess’s one request: that we visit the Arch.

Having not been to the Arch myself since high school I had forgotten enough about the experience to make another visit worthwhile. And when I invited my brother to accompany us I was shocked to discover that, despite having been born and raised in St. Louis, he has never been to the Arch! Apparently, he skipped that field trip in high school, and has never had the impetus to go as an adult. So when Annie & Jess rolled into town Sunday afternoon, we picked up Buddy and headed for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (aka, The Arch).

[Warning: derail imminent!] Though I know this is an artistic blog and not a political one, I do think it would be irresponsible of me to post about the Arch without at least mentioning that I’m not 100% supportive of the philosophical ideation it represents. I’m not a huge fan (understatement) of Manifest Destiny, or any other ideology that promotes the subjugation of cultures or claims that the USA is somehow inherently superior to other nations. So the fact that the Gateway Arch is a monument that was erected with the express purpose of celebrating “Westward Expansion” and is thus not entirely ethically-neutral is not lost on me. However, rather than deny the aesthetic beauty of the Jefferson Nation Expansion Memorial and refuse to visit, I prefer to increase awareness of the one-sided representation of history, so that hopefully one day soon the museum at the base of the Arch will display fewer fawning descriptions of Lewis & Clark’s journey, and more accurate information about the indigenous cultures destroyed as a result of Westward Expansion. [Derail ends here. You may now rejoin your artistic blog post, already in progress…]

We approached the Arch from the north, and enjoyed the particularly beautiful autumn day, and the lovely sight of leaves drifting lazily to the ground in the park. Jess decided to take a picture of herself, attempting to get the Arch in the background. She succeeded phenomenally!



We went inside and immediately got tickets to go to the top. The tram ride up was the least fun part of the trip, as it seems all of us are, at minimum, mildly claustrophobic, and the pictures of the trams’ interiors online truly fail to communicate just how tiny they are, especially when four adults are crammed inside. Annie had the brilliant idea of taking a picture of our knees, all scrunched together at the center of the car.



We chose a rather cloudy day for our visit, so the view was not particularly breathtaking. I know I had a picture of downtown STL as seen from the top of the Arch, but apparently I forgot to load it from Annie’s camera (perhaps she can add it later when she returns home from her road-trip?) True to form, however, I managed not to let the Cardinals-related picture slip through the cracks, so here is a glorious aerial view of the new Busch Stadium.




[All comments referencing our performance in this year’s playoffs or espousing a pro-Cubs view will be deleted and users will be banned from the site. Just kidding! …sort of]

After returning safely to the ground we wandered the museum for a while, marveling at the extreme 80’s-ness of the animatronics, the walls plastered in photos of the wilderness of Idaho and Montana, and the random 18th century paraphernalia that sat in glass boxes hung on the walls without any plaques or identifying texts. Yes, the Museum of Westward Expansion could do with a makeover for more than one reason. Though, as Annie was generous to point out, the lighting was rather well done.

So, while the Arch experience was not exactly new for me, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to share it with Annie, Jessica, and my brother. It’s funny, when I first considered topics for this series I saw myself adventuring solo most of the time, but I have been blessed with friends and family and have so far had the joy of sharing my experiences with loved ones. But perhaps next week I’ll set out on my own? We’ll see…

Artist Profile: Jessie Collins of 2gorditas

I am pleased to introduce to you Jessie Collins of 2gorditas. Her treats are no doubt tasty and have plenty of artistic flair. While her work is geared more toward El Dia De Los Muertos, they would also make a fun Halloween treat. Enjoy!




1. Where is your business based out of?

I am located on the beach in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada & at my sister's house in Tsawwassen, British Columbia


2. Where are you from originally?

I was born in White Rock, but have lived in: Ottawa in Ontario, Montreal in Quebec, Edmonton in Alberta, Bathurst in New Brunswick, All over British Columbia and have spent a lot of time in Baja, Mexico.


3. How long have you been an artist and/or business owner?

About a year


4. Where do you get your creative inspiration?

Mexican art & cuisine


5. What does your creative process entail?

looking at pictures to get inspirations and color combinations. Hours looking on-line at chocolate molds and thinking how to make them special and different!


6. Would you say your environment (where you live, work, play) influences your creative process? If so, how?

I find where I've traveled to influences me more! I'm very fortunate to live on the beach, but find it can be distracting when trying to work, especially on sunny days.


7. Who are your creative mentors?

Definitely my sister, Jane of Janebonbon


8. Tell us about the one project you would say you are most proud of.

That would definitely be my first craft show! I had people coming up to me and saying "you're 2gorditas!" They had seen my work on Etsy and knew I was in a local craft show. It was very inspiring!!


9. What do you enjoy doing when you're not creating?

I enjoy walking on the beach collecting sea shells and beach glass. One day I'll find a use for the thousands of shells and many pounds of tiny sea glass, but for now I have a sea shell garden!


10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully working less at my real job, making lots of chocolates, still walking on the beach, but being able to do it more often!

See Kate Conquer: With a Little Help from Our Friends, Pt. 2

If you'll remember from last week, Keith and I – with a lot of help from our amazing friends Nikola and Marija – were in the middle of covering our crappy linoleum floors with laminate flooring. Admittedly, my involvement in redoing our floors was more concentrated on the front end of the project, the “Ideas Phase”, if you will. My dear husband and Nikola took care of the rest, while Marija and I sat back, drank tea, and made a bad-ass pot of goulash and some Serbian plum buns (a whole other post, I'm pretty sure). This is not to say that my part of mentioning the idea, choosing the color (walnut – not too light, not too dark), and helping Keith take floor measurements were not instrumental to the process. It's just that, had we stopped there, no one would even be able to tell what we started.

However, Keith and Nikola are go-getters, takers of action, men of passion! After we got back to our apartment with our laminate panels, foam padding, and an arsenal of tools, Nikola suggested they get started even though he and Marija had only an hour before they had to be somewhere that wasn't Our Apartment. Marija and I cleaned in the kitchen while the guys tackled the bedroom.

Keith was feeling pretty excited after Nikola left so he ahead and finished up the bedroom, save for a few tricky edging pieces that required Nikola's adept hand at the saw. I was amazed, to say the least! How could it be that we had woken up to a floor that made me feel like I needed to shower before making the nine-step journey to my coffee, and yet I was going to bed feeling like we had come home and HGTV had flipped our house while we were out? This, my friends, is an incredible feeling.

The next day, Keith and I cleared the living room so the guys could actually do some work. I emptied the bookshelf and put the “general mess” away; Keith took furniture into the stairwell and shoved things to the kitchen end of the room. Keith got a jump start before Nikola arrived, and by the time I left to join Marija at her place for some tea and cooking, they had finished a third of the room already. I left for Marija's with visions of returning to grandeur later in the day.

Slight tangent: As I've mentioned, two of my favorite things are cooking and eating. One thing that is so great about moving to a new country is meeting people from all over the world. I've been able to coerce a bunch of these new friends into teaching me how to cook their native foods. So, getting to learn first-hand from Marija how she makes goulash and plum buns was like the cream cheese icing on the laminate flooring cake.

Several hours later, just as we were really, really starving, Nikola and Keith showed up, their part of the project complete. We celebrated with our fabulous meal, and then Keith and I headed home to admire their handiwork.

I was amazed. Within the span of about twelve hours over two days, we had gone to the store, purchased our new flooring, and got it into place with relative ease. I kept asking myself why it took us a year to do such a simple yet dramatic face lift in our apartment.

For people like me – people with good ideas but who perhaps lack just a little bit of follow-through from time to time – at least part of the answer seems to be allow yourself to be inspired and helped by those around you. In some ways this requires vulnerability to say, Hey! I don't know what I'm doing over here! For Nikola and Marija, and my friend Jess that I mentioned last week, this lets them do something that they're really good at and enjoy. It seems pretty win-win. The flip side is that there are things that Keith and I are really good at, things that it's super easy for us to help others with, things that don't come as naturally to them. But that's for another day.

We are just finishing up some furniture rearrangement and still hope to get pictures on the walls (...someday...). For now, though, we are reveling in our “new” apartment, and letting the inspiration carry over into other minor projects with big impact. Stay tuned!

How about you? Have you tackled any home or craft projects that inspired you in other areas of creativity? I'd love to read about it in the comments section.

DIY: Envelopes

This week's DIY project is also green in it's use of materials. For a while now I have enjoyed making my own envelopes. My favorite paper to use are old maps and magazines. You will need a template (I bought the one seen here but you can also take an existing envelope and disassemble it), a bone folder or popsicle stick, glue stick or double sided tape, and your paper of choice.

Start by tracing the shape of your template on your paper & cut.



Next use your bone folder or popsicle stick to fold down the flaps of the the envelope and secure with glue stick or double sided tape.



This next step is optional. I like to take this double sided tack film found at your local craft store and make labels. I bought some labels and used them as templates to make more handmade labels. Once you have traced your labels onto your paper, follow the directions on your double sided film. Trim down your labels and use as needed on your handmade envelopes.



Voila!

Before and After: Island to Storage

A while back my parents gave me this old (and moldy…ewww) kitchen island.





A little paint, fabric and decopauge and voila! I love the extra storage and surface in my studio. It's much needed and for around $10 in supplies it is now clean, chic and updated.

Artistic Adventures of an Ardent Amateur: Mom’s Roast

In order to reward ourselves for a job well done (or, done, anyway) painting the house, my brother, my cousin and I planned a full weekend that would revolve around watching the first season of Fringe on blu-ray, and cooking (& eating) a delicious meal of mashed potatoes, peas & corn, and our Mom’s amazing roast beef. Trouble was, I’d never tried to make Mom’s roast before, and it pretty much goes without saying that Buddy had never tried, either. He doesn’t even own a measuring cup, much less a crock pot.

So, I was tasked with 1) retrieving the recipe from Mom, 2) purchasing the ingredients, 3) packing up my entire kitchen and transporting it to Buddy’s house, and 4) spearheading the cooking offensive. Unfortunately, none of those tasks were as easy as they sound.

1) Like any natural cook, Mom didn’t exactly have a recipe to give me. Oh, she knew what ingredients she uses (except for the main one, that is: Mom confessed that despite the fact that she’s been making this roast for over 25 years, she can never remember what type of meat to buy and always has to ask the butcher; that’s my mama) but she had no idea what to tell me with regard to the amounts. In the end, my approximation of the recipe looked like this:

• the kind of roast that falls apart when you poke it – stringy

• ¼ c. cup lemon juice, ¾ c. worcestershire sauce, ¼ c. soy sauce, lemon pepper & garlic salt

2) At the grocery store on Saturday morning I wandered bewildered in the meat department before getting up the guts to ask the butcher, and then I realized I had no idea how much meat to ask for. So I whipped out the cell phone and called Mom again. 4-5 pounds, apparently. Ok. So I went up to the counter and, feeling like a total buffoon, asked, “I’m looking for the kind of beef roast that falls apart when you poke it…” Turns out, it’s a chuck roast. They cut a five-pounder especially for me.

3) Saturday morning was truly a flurry of phone calls and text messages. Turns out, Buddy does not own: a potato peeler, a large pot for cooking potatoes, a colander, a mixer, a measuring cup (?!), a cutting board, large sharp knives, or a crock pot. I don’t like to play into gender stereotypes, but at times I do feel that the “Bachelor” archetype fits my brother so well it’s eerie. Anyway, thank goodness for my stockpile of canvas bags – I used nearly all of them packing up the necessary dishes, tools, and spices.

4) The cooking effort turned out to be a little more difficult than predicted. We thought, “It’s a roast, right? Set it and forget it!” But it turns out, if you set it too low, and you try to gauge the done-ness of a five pound roast by looking at only the outermost inch, you’re going to end up with a very raw hunk of meat three hours later. And then your potatoes will be ready and your bellies will be empty, but your roast will need another 1.5 hours in the crock pot – this time on high.

So, yeah, I guess it didn’t turn out quite as well as we’d hoped. We cut it into smaller chunks to make it easier to monitor, but cooking it on high made it a lot tougher than Mom’s roast is supposed to be. I mean, it was still really good, and Jeff (who made a face when I poured the soy sauce in the crock pot) thought it was great, but Buddy and I were a little disappointed.

Lesson learned: 25 years of cooking experience counts for something. Even if you can’t remember the relevant butcher-terminology. Don’t expect to be able to duplicate Mom’s Anything on the first time out. And don’t let a failure stop you from trying again. I hope to get Roast: Round 2 on the calendar with Buddy & Jeff soon, in order to make sure it happens before I leave for New York. Cross your fingers for a happy follow up to this roast post…

Huge Sale On Now!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am headed to the midwest this week to visit friends and attend a wedding.

I leave you all with a sale. Check our website or click the pictures below to view lampshade and coffee sleeve options.

With A Little Help From Our Friends (Part I)

Do you ever over think things just a little too much so that you never actually act on your original intentions, but in the end you've spent more energy thinking than you would have had you just acted quickly in the first place?

Welcome to my life, especially anything that falls under “home décor & improvements”. As I mentioned last week, I live in quite a tiny apartment that Keith and I moved into just over a year ago. Since the day we moved in we have gone back and forth on whether to move to any other apartment that isn't this one (a first-hand lease in this city is about as elusive as the Fountain of Youth), or to invest in this one despite its limitations (student housing, built in the Sixties, walls of concrete and floors of dirty, grimy, revolting linoleum) and claim it as “ours”. For ten months we did next to nothing except think about these two choices from time to time when we got frustrated with being here, and then stopped thinking when that, too, made us frustrated. Not so productive.

In August, our dear friend Jess - who just happens to be an artistic genius and loves to redecorate - came to visit. I had told her beforehand that I wouldn't mind just a little help in our place, and she wasted no time. Jess has way more of the “just do it” cards in her deck then I could ever dream of having, and she willingly shared her hand with me. She whisked through IKEA, picking out this and that (a rug, the decals you saw in last week's kitchen photos, a new lamp), things she knew would brighten things up a bit. Her instincts were right, and when she left we had a great start on our apartment.

A couple months had gone by, and we had become complacent in advancing the great Decorating Initiative. We were traveling, there were other projects (like Operation Get Ready for Baby!), and our priorities shifted. But then, I started nesting, and the nesting led to thinking, and thinking led to that familiar frustration. A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with my friend Clara who had just moved into a new place with her husband and gorgeous baby. She mentioned how they had redone the floors in the bedrooms with laminate flooring to match the living room. My impression of laminate flooring had always been that it's the modern ugly step-sister of that terrible wood paneling everyone crucified their kitchens with in the Seventies. But, Clara's place looked pretty nice to me, and I was shocked that she and her husband had done it themselves! It's easy, she assured me, it just snaps together, you trim it to fit your nooks and crannies, and voilà! I mentioned this to some other friends of ours, Nikola and Marija, who are total DIY junkies. Nikola, an architect, redesigned their entire apartment, and together they knocked down walls, refinished hardwood floors, and transformed an average apartment into an artistic masterpiece.

Last week Marija told me that Saturday was the day to get our laminate flooring. Keith and I looked at each other and knew it was now or never, so we'd better go for it. In a matter of hours, we'd visited two Home Depot-like stores, selected our laminate (at about 7$/sq. meter) and trim, and were back at our place. Were it just us, the laminate would have sat in our apartment for weeks, maybe even months, waiting for us to spring into action on a task that just continued to feel a bit overwhelming. (See? We would have been thinking again!) Fortunately, our friends had alternative plans for us and our really crappy, junky, old, perpetually dirty linoleum floors.

Come back next Monday to see how laminate flooring – and great friends – dramatically changed the feel of our apartment and the way I think about “projects”.

DIY Friday turned WIY Friday

Happy Friday! This has been one busy week that's for sure. I tried my best to find time this week to blog about a fun DIY idea I have but alas I have had no time to put it together, which is a shame as it's been a lovely idea in my head for quite a while now. Instead, my friend Nikki brought this lovely old movie to my attention and even did a little writeup about it. Your DIY project has officially turned WIY (Watch It Yourself). Please stop back by and let us know what you think!

Houseboat
1958
Cary Grant & Sophia Loren
Director: Melville Shavelson


Plot:
When Tom Winters (Grant) learns that his ex-wife has died, he is forced out of his perfect life in D.C. as a government attorney and is left with three kids (In my opinion they were little brats) who want nothing to do with him. While at a concert at Watergate, the youngest son, Robert runs away only to be found by Cinzia Zaccardi (Loren), the daughter of the famous Italian conductor of the a fore mentioned concert.

Cinzia has also run away in search of adventure in America when she and "Roberto" happen to meet by chance on a rowboat. From here a chain of bad luck leaves the family & Cinzia living on a run down houseboat, forcing them all to make nice.

The fabulous writing and cheeky chemistry between Grant & Loren are sure to please. If you like cutesy chick-flicks with classic charm, this one is for you!

Goofs:
Tom's apartment is in Washington, D.C., but when he's shown driving his kids to the concert at the Watergate, he approaches the area from the Virginia side of the Memorial Bridge, the opposite direction from which he would naturally have been traveling from the city.

Trivia:
Original screenplay was written by Betsy Drake, Cary Grant's wife. Grant originally wanted it to star her but his extra-marital affair with Sophia Loren complicated the project. Drake's script was drastically re-written by two other writers to accommodate Loren and bears little resemblance to Drake's initial concept.

Cary Grant initially accepted his role in Houseboat (1958) primarily because he was seeing Sophia Loren at the time. After she married another man during the filming of the project, Grant was heartbroken and tried to back out but was unable to get out of his contract. Fortunately for us, Melville Shavelson was able to direct a seamless production.

Who was the man responsible for stealing Loren away from Grant? It was none other thanCarlo Ponti who obtained a Mexican divorce from his first wife and married Sophia Loren by proxy, while she was in Hollywood, filming this 1958 classic.