AfricanKelli

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Far from perfect, but the journey was educational. This pattern kicked my ass.

What a wonderful weekend this has been; another gorgeous baby born to a  Ya Ya — Emerson Louise, 8 pounds, 21 inches! Rebecca is the gladiator of labor and her husband couldn’t be more perfect for her. They were at the brink of hysterical exhaustion yesterday before the birth and yet Matt was her rock. Along with her family, she was surrounded by love when the new sweet (and loud) baby arrived. Emme is just perfect.

In between hospital runs and kitchen adventures, I’m tying up loose ends this weekend. A sewing project here that needs one final step, a garden that needed weeding and new coffee grounds, a home that needed cleaning and stacks of ironing now completed. I think the gift of time is the most precious. Time to do whatever you want, however you want — does life get better?

I’m back to running with several Fall races in mind. I find that my day is much more structured when I get up to run first thing. I can plan and meditate on how the day will unfold. I am more disciplined in my thoughts and what I eat — both key to my overall mood and happiness. Running any sort of distance is a spiritual practice; I have to turn off the music and tune into my breath, reconnecting. There needs to be a word for the rush of emotion at the end of a great run — when you take a huge gulp of intensely satisfying water, feeling the rivulets of sweat falling from your limbs and brow and your heart beginning to calm. Everything is tingling in exhaustion and relief.

I feel invincible in this moment.

Now, to carry forward that strength and resolve into the day,

K

I was in charge of the dinner:

Strawberry salad

Brie and berries

Slow roasted tomatoes (I didn’t get a roasted photo, but let me say, I’ll be making these again. Simple cooking at its very best!)

Rack of lamb

Chocolate cake — which didn’t come out of the pan clean, but was rich and delicious. This is a cake that would impress just about any chocolate lover. Matty is sure to enjoy the leftovers today.

Spending a couple hours planning, shopping and preparing a meal is one of my favorite ways to enjoy a Saturday. (Or any day, really.)

He was in charge of the movie.

I’m not cooking lamb and cake for myself, nor buying my own ticket to Terminator. Leaving the theater last night, he said, “Is the movie review going on the blog?”

Well, it is now.

It was everything you’d expect a shoot ‘em up movie to be — excessive in every step, with limited narrative and lots of guts and explosions. Christian Bale is considerably hotter as Batman. It was worth going to because it made him happy, and really? What goes better with an elegant meal than blood and boom at the Cine Capri?

~K

Dear Finny McFinberg,

So, remember last weekend when I was bugging you to help me with some freezer paper/stencil/paint ideas for our embellished t-shirt May sew along project? You looked at me from the moon and responded, “Um, I just cut out some fabric and kinda glued it on the shirt.”

Ah. Right.

And so, while you are out with Bubba, enjoying your envy-inducing sabbatical, fly fishing and backpacking with friends this weekend, I’m sitting in Phoenix sewing.*  Yes, you can feel sorry for me. When sewing induces sweat, it’s time to start looking at real estate. And yes, this is the same conversation we’ve been having every summer for the last 10 years (literally) and no, I don’t actually plan on doing anything about it anytime soon. That’s the way I roll. Me + summer in AZ = unneccessary bouts of extreme grouchiness. Amazing how that green-tinged mood crops up when I think of you standing in waders in some beautiful zenful river, sweet talking fish.

Okay, just cranked up the AC and poured myself an icy drink. Phew. Back to the topic at hand, shall we?

You know what? This may be the simplest craft project ever. For those who don’t have a sewing machine and regularly lament, bitch and moan that they can’t play along — guess what? This project takes 10 minutes, a pair of scissors and very little craft talent. And yet the result is damn cute. I present my new hippie badge tank:

Two tanks from Costco

Plus one package of this Stitch Witchery glue stuff

Plus a little VW van fabric

et, voila:

Good choice, Finny. Honestly, the hardest part of this project was finding fabric I wanted to wear on an already cute tank. The VW Heather Bailey print has been hanging around for a bit and worked perfectly. In cleaning out the art studio (turned roommate’s headquarters) this weekend, I found a stack of T-shirts someone gave me. And so, if you’d like a VW hippie badge T-shirt — leave a comment. The first three will have one mailed out this week.

As for you, I hope the fish, the backpacking and the sabbatical are going swimmingly. Miss you!

xoxo,

Donk

* In all seriousness, I think my next sport/outdoorsy adventuring will be fly fishing. I’m considering trading in the tri bike for some waders and a rod. Hmm…

The other day I mentioned I’d like to learn how to sew a dress.  In my mind, this is the Everest of craft — creating something that fits and that I’d like to wear. The two wrap skirts I’ve conquered are hills in comparison, and considering the wrap is so forgiving, even that is a generous analogy. Many of you responded that you too are interested in this project. And so, I thought I’d chronicle my adventure in great detail in case you want to play too.

This week: find a pattern. I found three I’m loving, in part because all Simplicity patterns are $1 (from the normal $16) at JoAnn’s this weekend. I bought two Cynthia Rowley designs and one vintage beauty. (This site is great for pattern reviews. )I couldn’t find a fabric that didn’t remind me of a quilt or frankly, JoAnn’s. While I don’t mind their prints for placemats, wearing it to dinner is an entirely different matter.

So, I think I’m going to try to make one of these dresses first in muslin as a rough draft. A little practice certainly never hurt my sewing. Also, I am skipping a bit because my mom recently bought me some oh-so-silly-fancy sewing machine. They have friends from Phoenix visiting them in Texas this weekend and I’ve got my fingers crossed this new baby is road tripping to Tempe soon. Woo!

~K

I had a few friends over for dinner last night. I planned the meal around what could come out of the garden; it wasn’t entirely local or in season, but I’m doing the best with what I can grow. We had spinach salad with toasted pine nuts, pears, tomatoes and carrots, pasta primavera with artichokes, spinach, basil and tomatoes and strawberries with ice cream for dessert. It was a good meal, with even better company.

The community dinner has taken on a new life this year; in 2007-2008 I hosted meals for anyone and had a wide variety of people come. It was a good learning experience in cooking, hosting, entertaining and being patient. I’d guess I served 500 meals, with great happiness.

This year, I’ve changed the dinner party recipe; instead of inviting the masses and hoping to have enough food, I’m inviting fewer folks and making the meals tailored to those around the table. I’m trying to move my life in this direction — less, but more meaningful. If you’ve come to a community dinner in the past and I haven’t yet reached out yet, I will. If you’ve been to my little home, you know it is always open. You’ll just get a better meal if you show up with an invite (and RSVP.)

~K