AfricanKelli

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My friend Jen found this watercolor on etsy and sent me the link. I’ve had a soft spot for quail for a while — but more so now that I am away from the desert. They are a little piece of home I miss and adore.

I cannot believe how reasonable JooJoo’s work is. I wouldn’t guess she knows how very, very good she is. I am so terribly fond of this one, and this one, and this one.

But there are only so many walls to decorate. Plus, I need to get this other etsy find in a frame and up in the kitchen.

Creating a home that reflects my values — handmade, folk art, big garden, fluffy dog — has me very cheery.

~K

Nelson woke up with goopy eyes this week. I needed to get him in to his first vet visit for a rabies shot and a couple other checks anyway. But the eyes. Oh, man. This dog in any sort of discomfort is already breaking my heart.

Thankfully, he’s got an incredible vet who took her time and was very patient with this new pet owner. I asked roughly 10,000 questions. Nelson did great with everything but that thermometer. (Ahem. Who can blame him?) He licked everyone’s hands before we left and had the energy to nearly eat a cat in the waiting room as a parting gift to the practice.

(My arms are more tired than my legs from our recent walks. He’s strong. I am not wise to the many ways of Ceasar or any other pet genius and there is apparently a squirrel baby boom in our neighborhood.)

{Really? I’m just posting this because I’ve been bombarded with requests for MORE NELSON PHOTOS! Noted.}

I have completely become that crazy pet owner in less than a week who simply cannot imagine her life without this little guy. Now, off to snuggle that nose.

~K

I’ve been using my tips from the bakery to buy a few new pieces of furniture for the Heirloom Homestead. This weekend, I finally met the wonderful ladies behind Rescued Relics. It was Friday after work and they were greeting customers with margaritas and sangria. Dressed in party dresses and huge smiles, I felt immediately at home among their hard work. Their tiny shop holds a dozen or so pieces of antique furniture that they’ve repainted and replaced hardware.

The one I picked is weird, old, recycled and loved. It fits my room perfectly. It was a moment of serendipity when I was this old bureau. In my college dorm room, Emily and I arranged our meager possessions to create the nicest home we could. (To even describe that room as nice is such a stretch.) One of our techniques was to use my traveling chest as a coffee table, decorated with a few used magazines from Bookmans. (We were klassy.) The cover of one of those magazines — an issue of Martha Stewart Living – was a yellow bureau — quite similar to this one. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent on that couch studying, occasionally looking over at that dumb magazine and wishing I lived in a house with real furniture — not a plastic rubbermade box I’d turned into my “traveling chest.”

Well! Happy days!

~K

Rainah’s first birthday cake — a reminder that my ambition and ability rarely match. That said, if there was ever a time for a sloppy, obviously homemade birthday cake, better now than when she can remember it!

~K

I’ve been playing in a weekend co-ed kickball league. The game is sloshball, meaning each team gets a full keg to finish during five meager innings. There are two rules to sloshball:

1. You must always have a league cup in your hand including some liquid, and

2. You cannot be a jerk. Competitive, drunk, take your version thereof. No jerks.

As a non-beer drinker, I’m there for the fun. And fun, it is. This is such a rowdy crowd of 20 and 30 somethings. Our team captain decided last week each game will now have a costume element too. This week’s theme is “hawaiian,” code for the men want the women to play in bikinis. I’m no prude, but running bases in a bikini, holding a cup of beer, isn’t at the top of my bucket list.

In lieu of being leid, I’m attending another party. In my place, I sent treats: kahlua buttercream chocolate coconut cupcakes.

So much sweeter than my flesh on public display.

~K