AfricanKelli

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Finny,

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! In high school, part of my student council responsibilities included fundraising. My junior and senior years, I led the March of Dimes walk-a-thon team and coordinated coin drive contests between the classes. This provided a great chance to be on the morning announcements daily, and of course, because I was far too secure and far too silly, I did these announcements in an Irish brogue, pretending to be the Lucky Charms leprechaun. By the end, I usually had the principal laughing so hard at me (and with me) that she had to stop for a moment before she could finish with the lunch menu. Some 3,000 kids at my high school and I’m doing an Irish comedy act on the morning announcements; my mother wondered why finding a prom date from a different school was really the only option.

Of course, still overly secure and equally silly, I am wearing a green dress today and passing out the loaves of Irish Soda Bread I baked for our One Yard Wonder + Recipe Challenge. Even with matching correspondence, this seems like a lurch toward normalcy by comparison. I added cranberries, cinnamon and pepitas to the recipe. I’m not a huge fan of the messy, knotty loaves, but they smelled amazing coming out of the oven. Next time, I’ll bake them in a bread pan.

It’s a good thing you love your friends a green shade of ridiculous, lassie.

Wishing you luck and rainbows (in marshmallow form),

Kelli

I feel like that should be an extra verse in the Beastie Boy’s “She’s Crafty!” No surprise I love that being “thrifty” is once again a prized virtue. In an odd way, I feel like I’m honoring my grandmothers and their struggles through the Great Depression by honing my own frugalista style today. Not to mention my mother is the creator of the coupon. Kinda like Al Gore is the creator of the Internets. One of my most distinct memories as a child was playing secretary and writing down each item she’d buy at each grocery store to save pennies with coupons. The thrift of that woman is unbelievable. I’ve got a couple girlfriends who are fine tuning their couponing skills as well and the pennies are stacking up. Mini spends 1/3 of what she used to feeding her family by sticking with coupons. One third!

With this spirit in mind, I took an hour after church Sunday to comb a couple new-to-me thrift stores to see if I could find some champagne glasses and cake stands for the upcoming Spring Party. I don’t have the room or the patience to buy stuff just to buy. If it isn’t pretty and useful, I’m not going to make room for it in my already otherwise full kitchen. Also, until recently, I’ve been anti-collection. Collections of tea cups, beanie babies, blue glass, quilts and a dozen other nicknacks grace my parent’s home. To me, they seem like yet another shelf to dust. To my mother, they are a life of decorating a home with things that she finds beautiful.

In contrast, I own little. I dust rarely. I like to think I could flee in the night in my car and get 95% of what I love materially in the trunk.

That said, I’ve decided a collection of cake stands — think depression era glass and other prized antiques — would be perfect to display on top of the fridge. Alas, I didn’t find a single one. I did find champagne glasses and racks and racks of vintage linens, many of which are hand embroidered. I had a hard time deciding which to purchase and had to be mindful of how I would use them. (Also, it made a sad to think of the linen closet cleaned out after an older woman’s death and dropped off at this store. There was so much fine needlework discarded and I couldn’t help but think of the many happy events where these linens had graced the table.) I wanted to take home all three racks. But where would I store them? And really, how many embroidered napkins does one girl need?

Apparently the answer is 11, including two from Vera’s line and several that happen to be embroidered with my last initial. Any guesses on the grand total for: 1 vintage Pucci-inspired apron, 2 embroidered pillow cases, 11 napkins, 2 table cloths, 2 embroidered bread cloths and 11 champagne glasses? (And a partridge in a pear tree…)

With the $4 I spent on Oxiclean to get these babies back in bright white shape: $40. Giddyup.

Everything for the Spring Party is coming up roses, and I hope there is a sweet little old lady looking down from above and smiling wildly that her artful hard work is being celebrated.

~K

There was a knitting frenzy underway the last couple of days. A knitting frenzy that makes me blush a bit with confusion. I simply don’t understand why people stare like I’m crazy for knitting in public. It’s KNITTING. Not porn. Not flossing my teeth. Not clipping my toe nails. We are talking about two innocent needles and a ball of yarn. It’s a silly hobby and certainly not that archaic. I’m not carving wood, staining glass or weaving a basket. (Although, to be honest, those do sound fun.) Knitting in a bowling alley, at a stop light, waiting between yoga classes, before church starts? This makes as much social sense as everyone on a smart phone in the same settings. But I end up with a cute hat.

I went to a fun baby shower yesterday and have several more I’m looking forward to. I mentioned a few days ago that I wanted to replicate a cupcake hat I’d seen online. Here is my take — complete with a cherry on top. (Cupcake Baby Hat pattern pdf, for those interested.)

And this adult bell hat is another reproduction from an REI find for my friend Tiffany. She found a hat at the store she really liked, but it was stupidly priced. She took a camera photo and asked if I could make something similar. I don’t know how to crochet, so I called my mom in Texas and we agreed to work on it together. I knit the cap, mailed it to my mama and she added the crochet edge. It is one of my favorite colors and I hope it will serve Tiff well in the cold Midwest. I’m hoping she sends a photo!

~K

I’m working on a super secret project with my grandmothers that includes scanning a lot of family photos. I’ve planned on it taking several months and am glad I have the time; I love this kind of chronicling.

In the process, I ran across some pretty fabulous photos:

My parents are so damn cute in this photo! My mom says it was taken at the state fair when they were in high school. I love how soft focus glam my she is and how long my dad’s hair is.

Speaking of hair — mama mia! This is her high school graduation photo. Meow! So pretty!

Back to my secrets,

K

Talked some friends into joining me for dinner this week at Gallo Blanco. If you live in Phoenix and haven’t made it in for a meal yet, andale! The food is great, the staff is kind and the atmosphere is eclectic.   The fish tacos, in particular, are my favorite. Also, the guacamole is so, so good — rivals that of the locally famous guac at Barrio Cafe.

These chilaquiles were gone before I could come up for a breath. Yum.

~K