Running off to their next adventure...Monday, March 16, 2009
Nella Vita di Playdates
Our dogs are pretty much free range (due in large part to my arch nemesis "The 6' privacy fence from hell") so our whole neighborhood is like one big dog park. Usually they all hang out two doors down from us (God only knows what scraps they use to keep them their, I seriously think JC wishes they would adopt him sometimes...), but the other day they decided to play in our yard. Most likely JC invited them over, and Molly preceded to attack them the moment they came into her territory (though it should be noted that the entire solar system is Molly's territory)
Running off to their next adventure...
Running off to their next adventure...
Nella Vita di Baby Blankets
Since Christmas, I have been extremely busy with lots of different projects, as well as general balancing of work, home, and life. A lot of these projects (ok most) have been self inflicted and mostly enjoyable, but time consuming and a bit overwhelming all the same. So for the next few blogs I will focus on them (as well as the antics of my furry social life).
Both my sister and Shane's sister are expecting baby girls at the end of the month that will probably be born within a week of each other, so January and February were spent making baby blankets like crazy in preparation for baby showers held earlier this month. Normally, I crochet baby blankets, but this time I decided to try my hand at something I've always wanted to do: quilting. After lots of research and poring over countless patterns, I decided that a split rail fence done in alternating directions would be a good beginner's pattern to try. I like the stair like quality the finished quilt has. In hindsight, I wish I had documented the process more, but with such a tight time frame, I was more concerned with just getting the quilts done! I decided to do Tina's first. For one, her fabric was not going to be as expensive as Jonelle's, so if I made a fatal mistake, it would be more affordable to fix. And also, not that Jonelle is in any way a critic, but I think she would be much more likely to notice any mistakes (and believe me, having never made a quilt in my life there were plenty of mistakes in both...if nothing else, at least by the time I start making baby blankets for myself, I would have worked out a lot of beginners' mistakes in my nieces' ;) )
After having two boys, who are nothing but testosterone and then some, I know that my sister is more than ready for a princess. Even my niece's chosen name, Brielle Marie, has a soft and feminine quality to it. As such, I wanted soft, girly fabric that had a timeless quality to it. I found some very pretty florals in an 'English Rose Garden' theme and matched it with a pale green with a cream lace pattern. I didn't want it to be too babyish, so that the blanket could be used as the comforter on a toddler bed and then as a throw later on.
Where the inspiration for Tina/Brielle's blanket was 'dainty little girl with a hint (or most likely an obvious dose) of diva,' for Jonelle's blanket I wanted 'proud to be a unique trendsetter, but with a comforting gentleness.' This is how I imagine Jonelle's daughter, Reagan Mackenzie, will be. Jonelle strives to live as organically as possible, especially where the baby is concerned, and I knew that bedding items were non-negotiable for her. So for her blanket I used organic fabric (though I could not find organic batting that was less than $150, I used all natural non-bleached cotton instead which was some of the softest stuff I've ever felt, I almost felt like it was a sin to cover it with fabric. If it is in my future to be suffocated, all I can ask is that my killer does it with that batting because what a gloriously snuggly way to go... I also used non-organic thread and binding, but I'm hoping that the damage it causes Reagan will not be too lasting :) ) Because I used organic fabric, and because a hardworking public servant only earns so much, I was a bit limited in my pattern options. Really, the pattern was a pretty easy choice: solid. I knew the baby's colors in the nursery were blue and purple, but unfortunately, I could not find those colors is soft, muted baby tones. Instead, I had to use deep purple and an awesomely loud shade of blue. To balance them out, I chose the third color to be the softest yellow I could find. The end result was a blanket, a little bit brighter than I would want for a baby blanket, but I have to admit that I love the way it came out.
As I was piecing both the quilts together, I could really 'feel' both of the mom's personalities in them. Perhaps it was because making something for someone else, you constantly have that person on your mind, so it is almost like you capture that person's essence into what it is you are making. While the blankets are of course intended for Brielle and Reagan, I can't help but feel like they will both be their mother's daughters. I'm very excited to meet both of my niece's and see the girls and women they grow into. Who knows, perhaps in a few short years I will be making them the quilts they really want, an indy punk quilt for Brielle and an uber feminine flower orgy filled with pink for Reagan.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Nella Vita di Apples
We’ve all heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Simple, true, effective. But it seems that the world is so much more complicated than that. I read this interesting article in the New York Times about how today’s obsession with eating only healthy, “good” foods may be manifesting as eating disorders in our kids. This really saddens me, but I can understand all the guilt that is now placed on the foods we eat. The battle lines used to be very clear, say cookie vs. apple. Choose to eat the apple, and congratulations, you’ve made the right choice, good job. But now, an apple is no longer an apple. Sure you’ve chosen the apple, but what kind of apple did you choose? Was it an organic, pesticide free apple? Was it a locally grown? Was it a genetically modified apple? Was it just a freaking apple?
Not that I’m any sort of authority, or that my opinion particularly counts, but I’ll give it anyway. On organics, I understand that chemically drenched apples are not good, and I think that it is a good goal to try to eat organic when possible, but honestly, I’m not going to lose any sleep over allowing a non organic apple to pass my lips. I think the goodness and nutrition from the actual apple, outweigh any of the bad things that may also enter my body. Also, this is not Snow White; eating so called poison apples are not going to result in me dropping dead. Sure you could argue that over my lifetime eating non organic foods could kill me, but I am much more likely to die from other things before that actually happens, and the truth is that I can’t weigh potential negative outcomes of every decision I make; I would lose my sanity and probably kill myself, thus having a shorter life regardless of eating non organic foods.
Another issue is where the food comes from. In the ideal world, I would eat organic locally grown apples, but let’s be honest, the world is not ideal and there are other factors to consider (ie availability, cost and convenience, but I won’t go into those here). If the choice was either a locally grown apple or an organic one from afar, I would choose the local one. I would rather have an apple drenched in pesticides than one drenched in oil, so to say. I like knowing that I am supporting the local economy, preserving local farmland, and reducing transportation related pollution and oil dependency. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any good statistic that looks at pollution generated from pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc versus pollution generated in the transportation of food (if anyone has any for or against please share). Another reason to favor local is fact that it may have better nutrition because it was picked when it was ripe perhaps only a day or two ago, as opposed to being picked early and then packaged and sitting for days while being shipped across the country (or world). Good article from Time found here. That being said I also sleep soundly knowing my tummy is full of the digesting apples of far away lands.
What about genetically modified (GM) food? This is something that has been going on for thousand of years, but only in the last twenty years or so has genetic engineering become a very exact science as opposed to methods like cross pollination. In general, I think discovering and creating ways for plants to be stronger and have the ability to survive in previously unfavorable environments is a good thing. Unfortunately, I think some GM foods were modified for the wrong reasons. “Roundup Ready”, or crops that were modified to be able to survive otherwise fatal sprayings of pesticides does seem wrong. But what about “Golden Rice” which has been modified to contain higher levels of Vitamin A or peanuts without their allergens or bananas that have human vaccines to diseases like Hepatitis B in them. Clearly there is a lot of good that can come from this, but like most new advances they need to be done cautiously and carefully. Doing some research on this it turns out that there really aren’t any GM apples, so we can forget them anyway for this discussion.
Does the fact that I don’t exclusively eat organic apples mean that I hate my body and want to get cancer? Does the fact that I don’t always eat local make me a bad citizen who is addicted to oil? I really don’t think so. I take pride in my flexibility and ability to balance conflicting ideas and competing issues. Because at the end of the day the decision I make is to moderate. Some times I’ll eat organic, sometimes I’ll eat local, and sometimes I don’t, and that is ok. And I think that is what we need to be teaching kids. The decision that should be made is the decision to eat apples over cookies. Of course, in keeping with moderation there is nothing wrong with eating a few cookies here and there!
Not that I’m any sort of authority, or that my opinion particularly counts, but I’ll give it anyway. On organics, I understand that chemically drenched apples are not good, and I think that it is a good goal to try to eat organic when possible, but honestly, I’m not going to lose any sleep over allowing a non organic apple to pass my lips. I think the goodness and nutrition from the actual apple, outweigh any of the bad things that may also enter my body. Also, this is not Snow White; eating so called poison apples are not going to result in me dropping dead. Sure you could argue that over my lifetime eating non organic foods could kill me, but I am much more likely to die from other things before that actually happens, and the truth is that I can’t weigh potential negative outcomes of every decision I make; I would lose my sanity and probably kill myself, thus having a shorter life regardless of eating non organic foods.
Another issue is where the food comes from. In the ideal world, I would eat organic locally grown apples, but let’s be honest, the world is not ideal and there are other factors to consider (ie availability, cost and convenience, but I won’t go into those here). If the choice was either a locally grown apple or an organic one from afar, I would choose the local one. I would rather have an apple drenched in pesticides than one drenched in oil, so to say. I like knowing that I am supporting the local economy, preserving local farmland, and reducing transportation related pollution and oil dependency. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any good statistic that looks at pollution generated from pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc versus pollution generated in the transportation of food (if anyone has any for or against please share). Another reason to favor local is fact that it may have better nutrition because it was picked when it was ripe perhaps only a day or two ago, as opposed to being picked early and then packaged and sitting for days while being shipped across the country (or world). Good article from Time found here. That being said I also sleep soundly knowing my tummy is full of the digesting apples of far away lands.
What about genetically modified (GM) food? This is something that has been going on for thousand of years, but only in the last twenty years or so has genetic engineering become a very exact science as opposed to methods like cross pollination. In general, I think discovering and creating ways for plants to be stronger and have the ability to survive in previously unfavorable environments is a good thing. Unfortunately, I think some GM foods were modified for the wrong reasons. “Roundup Ready”, or crops that were modified to be able to survive otherwise fatal sprayings of pesticides does seem wrong. But what about “Golden Rice” which has been modified to contain higher levels of Vitamin A or peanuts without their allergens or bananas that have human vaccines to diseases like Hepatitis B in them. Clearly there is a lot of good that can come from this, but like most new advances they need to be done cautiously and carefully. Doing some research on this it turns out that there really aren’t any GM apples, so we can forget them anyway for this discussion.
Does the fact that I don’t exclusively eat organic apples mean that I hate my body and want to get cancer? Does the fact that I don’t always eat local make me a bad citizen who is addicted to oil? I really don’t think so. I take pride in my flexibility and ability to balance conflicting ideas and competing issues. Because at the end of the day the decision I make is to moderate. Some times I’ll eat organic, sometimes I’ll eat local, and sometimes I don’t, and that is ok. And I think that is what we need to be teaching kids. The decision that should be made is the decision to eat apples over cookies. Of course, in keeping with moderation there is nothing wrong with eating a few cookies here and there!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Nella Vita di Quilters
Recently, I’ve started teaching myself how to quilt (pictures to follow shortly). I find that for the most part it is very relaxing, sort of like putting together a puzzle. And I enjoy the calmness and solitude it offers after long days at work. Of course, teaching myself comes with a lot of frustrations as does the fact that most new skills take patience and practice. The internet has been great; there are countless old biddies (and young hip crafters) who have generously posted tons of how to tips and methods, so I am not completely learning in a vacuum.
Still, I must admit that it can be very lonely. It takes a lot of time and work, and I can’t help but wonder how much more enjoyable it would be if I was quilting as part of an old fashioned quilting circle. I think most quilting circles were more of a social outlet anyway, the quilts were just a by product of the gossip and laughter. I feel as though today it is easier than ever to keep in touch with friends, what with facebook, emails, messaging, cell phones, etc. Yet, I feel as if we are definitely missing something in the lack of face to face contact. Even getting together for a meal and drinks is lacking the deeper long lasting impact that a quilt could hold. Within every stitch is the memory of the laughter and the togetherness. I’ve found that when I look at things I have made, I remember where I was when I worked on it, what I watched on TV, songs I sang along to. I can’t help but wonder how wonderful it would be to look at a quilt (or blanket, scarf, scrapbook, etc) and be able to see the faces of friends and loved ones and hear their voices and laughter instead. Perhaps it’s a bit of a nostalgic whimsy, but I think we need to bring back the quilting circles of yesteryears!
Still, I must admit that it can be very lonely. It takes a lot of time and work, and I can’t help but wonder how much more enjoyable it would be if I was quilting as part of an old fashioned quilting circle. I think most quilting circles were more of a social outlet anyway, the quilts were just a by product of the gossip and laughter. I feel as though today it is easier than ever to keep in touch with friends, what with facebook, emails, messaging, cell phones, etc. Yet, I feel as if we are definitely missing something in the lack of face to face contact. Even getting together for a meal and drinks is lacking the deeper long lasting impact that a quilt could hold. Within every stitch is the memory of the laughter and the togetherness. I’ve found that when I look at things I have made, I remember where I was when I worked on it, what I watched on TV, songs I sang along to. I can’t help but wonder how wonderful it would be to look at a quilt (or blanket, scarf, scrapbook, etc) and be able to see the faces of friends and loved ones and hear their voices and laughter instead. Perhaps it’s a bit of a nostalgic whimsy, but I think we need to bring back the quilting circles of yesteryears!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Nella Vita di Sleepovers
About a month or so ago, we watched Shane's parents dogs while they were away for the weekend. Molly loved having her "Uncle Rocky" over ("Aunt Xena" not as much). She made sure that Rocky got to sleep on JC's bed, and then she laid down next to him in the same
position! Being a whole lot bigger than JC, poor Rocky didn't fit completely on his bed.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Nella Vita di Wedding Plans
Well Shane and I sent it the contract and deposit for our wedding venue. This is our first official step towards making the whole wedding thing come true. We like to joke that there is no turning back now. We will be married on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at Stonefire Station. We are planning on having the ceremony around 3 or 4 in the salon, followed by cocktail hour on the pergola and patio, and then dinner and dancing til Monday in the ballroom. An old friend of Shane's was married there a few years ago, and when we started our search he mentioned this firehouse reception he had been to. My only rule with a reception location was no firehouse or veterans hall, so I immediately ruled it out. While doing my own search, I came across this gorgeous Venetian Pallazzoesq hall about a 20 minutes outside of Cville in Barboursville. Turns out it is the same 'fire station' Shane was telling me about. It actually was a fire station years ago, but was converted into an event hall when the new fire station was built. So it ended up being perfect for us on so many ways, picturesque in a rural country setting, large enough for 200 people, the flexibility to host both the ceremony and reception, gorgeous architectural features, Venetian characteristics, adaptive reuse, and extremely affordable. The only thing that would have made it better is a mural of flamingos on the wall (oh well guess they'll have to be represented the old fashioned way ;) ). I had the opportunity to go to a wedding there in October and see how beautiful it looked all decked out. And Shane and I visited last May or June when we first started looking, and I noticed that all of the flowers blooming around it were a gorgeous shade of dark purple which just happens to be one of our colors. Our next big hurdle is to figure out our guest list. Our contract includes 200 chairs so in essence we need to get it down to 198. Seeing how Shane's alone is over 150, we're going to have to start making some tough decisions...maybe we'll just have a wedding lottery!
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