AfricanKelli

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Ikea, Martha Stewart, Target. Thoughtful gifts from friends, feeding my cooking frenzy.

If I have a kitchen fetish, it’s bowls. I have so many bowls in different shapes and sizes. I love to buy the oddly shaped, fire-glazed ceramic bowls at the local art fairs. I bought three giant bowls from a potter when I was in the Philippines and use them regularly. I also love to buy interesting bowls at thrift shops and fill them with goodies to give. I don’t believe your dishes need to be match-matchy, obviously.
{Also, one of the only possessions my grandmother brought when she immigrated to the US was an old yellow ceramic bowl/crock. I’ve had my eye on that sucker for years. It’s now in my mama’s kitchen and she regularly reminds me I’ll have to pry it from her after death. That’s fine. Cody can have the Hummels. I want the bowl.}

Imagine my delight last night when I came home to find a giant FedEx box on my doorstep. Inside contained a new red bowl, cookie scoop, cookie sheet and container full of homemade Cowboy Cookies. I kid you not.

This week has been nutty, at best. Yesterday was one of those days so laughably horrific that I thought the writers from “How I Met Your Mother” were going to pop out and Barney would say, “Wow, with the awesomeness.” As I was considering brownies or wine for dinner, instead I came home to find homemade cookies on my doorstep (and decided to have all three!) It was like the universe was giving me a much needed hug and I took it with full force and giant glass of milk. So, thank you Kathryn. You have no idea how much I needed chocolate and a kind deed. You, simply put, are awesome.

I wasn’t kidding about the brownies. They were gobbled up at the gym, bagel shop and now the office this morning. My little home smells like dark chocolate and cardamom heaven.

Wishing you lots of sweets awesomeness this Halloween,
Kelli

This truly is the week of focus. It’s working! Not only did I get that market bag done and wrapped, I started reading a new book for NaNoWriMo and got a fair amount of plotting done for novel #2 this morning. I did not, however, swim. I’ve got to do something to revive my zest for swimming. Getting up in the dark to haul myself to a pool that is regularly left uncovered, and is therefore freezing for this Arizona native, is getting old. I am considering rejoining my previous Masters team. The expense isn’t that big of a deal; I am a teensy bit worried it will take me a couple months to hang with the group. I am not swimming 3000 meters in an hour right now, more like 2000 in 40 minutes and calling it good. I am also worried about abandoning the few masters swimmers I coach at the Y. I don’t have a huge group, but they are dedicated and I get a good bit of feedback on the workouts I post. Oh, the silly things I’m pondering this week…

Additionally, I read this article yesterday and wow, does it make sense. Common sense, that is. Hope you are also finding the focus you need this week, even if it is just focusing on good television and a comfy spot on the couch.

~K

Dinner: spaghetti squash with sauteed veggies, tomato sauce and a tiny glass of red wine.

With enough left over to fill the new lunch box. I actually like spaghetti squash considerably more than spaghetti. I’ll take my carbs in bagel form, thankyouverymuch.

~K

Delaney mentioned the other day that she wanted to learn how to kayak. I’ve been spending more time with her sister Madison and not as much with her, so I thought this would be the perfect chance to balance things out. Elaina and Nick have a kayak and huge hearts. We had fabulous weather this weekend and ready access to Tempe Town Lake. I threw all of these together and voila — a fabulous afternoon of me sitting on the bank reading a magazine, taking photos and watching an 8-year-old in kayak heaven.

And then, of course, there was the requisite ice cream before she was returned to her family.

Can’t wait to do it again. Next time, I’m getting a kayak for me and am going to stroll around the lake. I haven’t been kayaking since Costa Rica last year and man, do I love it. If I thought I could fit a single person kayak in my tiny car, I’d put it on my list for Santa. Do you think they make kayak trailers for bikes?

~K

Tea towels for upcoming sewing projects.

I drive/bike by an elementary school each morning near my office. The marquis message changes each Monday, featuring a new life skill they are teaching for that week. This week: “effort.” In the past, the lessons have been: sense of humor, honesty, integrity, etc. I find myself looking for the new theme each week and wondering how they manage to work these into the lesson plans.

This week, I’ve got to get focused. Saturday starts my annual creative Everest — NaNoWriMo and NaNoBlogMo. I’m tackling both and didn’t even have to hit REI for shiny new supplies. Instead, I’m putting aside several other hobbies in November to focus on my writing skills. Specifically, I want to develop a better writing work ethic, improve my character development and research writing workshops I can attend in 2009 to refine my craft.

So, I’ve got a week to get a bunch of other things completed. This week! Including:

– Finish the giant felted market bag. Line with fabric, wrap, post.

– Use these pretty new tea towels to sew up some secret projects.

– Plan my holiday gifts and what I can realistically sew/knit/bake in the next eight weeks. Emphasis on realistic. My vision of being a best selling novelist is far more important than having my holiday wrapping paper match the handwritten Christmas cards. (My Type A insanity/desire to be Martha Stewart needs to be wrangled, or this holiday season is going to make me as completely exhausted and unsatisfied as the last.)

– Plan winter garden. Buy seeds.

– Get back to eating healthy, exercising hard and respecting my body. I’ve gotten off course with the Mexico trip (Chorizo! Tequila! Fresh Tortillas!) and the birthday celebrations (Pita Jungle, Four Peaks, Pita Jungle and way too much wine). My pants are snug and I am not happy about it.

The new lunch box certainly controls portion sizes.

Focus. Must focus.

~K