back-to-school fashion

Awhile back, I listed a friendship belt DIY kit in my etsy shop. Apparently, based on the description:

My littlest child and only girl started school this fall (boo) and in an effort to spice up her wardrobe a bit with some personalized items, I decided to turn the newly ubiquitous, flash-from-the-past friendship bracelet into a belt. And I love it :)

I must have had them up a couple of years ago.

She's pretty adorable, right? But so much bigger now!

I'm planning to make a new one before Izzy starts kindergarten (sob) in less than two weeks (double sob) so I thought I'd share the idea here as well.

All you need is some yarn (I'm going with inexpensive cotton...the stuff you'd use for a dishcloth - this won't stretch too much and will hold up to being tossed in the washer if necessary) and a couple of D rings.

If you look closely, you can see that I added a small bit of tape wrapped around the opening in the rings...just to be safe. For the yarn, I used about 250" looped though the rings like so - the yarn will be doubled up to make for a sturdier finished product. That length of yarn should get you a belt up to 35"+ then you can cut the excess off.

For the belts above, I did a standard chevron pattern but I'm thinking of trying out this lovely leaves pattern or the evil eye pattern if I'm feeling particularly brave. If Izzy spies this Hello Kitty pattern though, I'm done for.

it's so obvious

Kids can say some pretty awesome stuff if you're paying attention. I try to remember some of the gems that come out of their mouths (particularly Izzy, at the moment) but this one has stuck with me for a few weeks now. I jotted down the conversation at the time and decided it needed to be fleshed out a bit more for me to finish processing it. I'm sure to her, it's long forgotten but I won't forget.

We were sitting in the front yard on one of the few glorious, sunny, perfect temperature days us Michiganders were fortunate enough to experience in July. We were both lying on our stomachs with our heads inside our pop up tunnel (the one that usually serves as a full body snake suit now that they'e bigger) for maximum privacy. Then this happened:

This is so obvious to her. Boys are icky and the girls in the neighborhood are the people she wants to spend her time with. Her only concern about the wedding is that both she and her intended get to be fancy and pretty. Someday, (and probably someday soon as she'll be entering kindergarten in 3 weeks,) she'll be told that girls can't get married. Or that it's wrong to even believe that it shouldn't be that way. And that breaks my heart. While we've never really actively discussed the idea of gay marriage with her, we have with the boys a bit with the caveat that like many things in life, not everyone thinks the same way about it and that it's OK to form your own opinion. The actual idea of same sex marriage makes them giggle (only because they've never seen how normal and beautiful it is in their own lives,) but the theoretical is something that is obvious to them as well.

Whitney believed the children are our future and I do too. Sometimes, (often,) I wonder if we wouldn't be better off turning it all over to them now. Before they get hateful and cynical and make decisions with their wallets and prejudices rather than their hearts.

I cheer every time another state is added to the small but growing list of places where equality is achieved and look forward to the day our own state makes the leap. I cheer and then a shed a tear or two watching the celebrations that result. I have a feeling that with the kids in charge, I'd be cheering a lot more and in quick succession. And that our diets would be awesomely indulgent.

I don't know about you but living in a world where a discussion about a future hypothetical trip for ice cream warrants a bigger conversation than the marriage of strangers sounds pretty darn appealing. (Don't worry vegans, I have it on good authority that there will be sorbet served in utopia as well :)

eat this now

It's hard to deny that the alchemy of water + flour + yeast is one of the most magical transformations known to man. Or, at least, to me.

Over the years, I've become more confident, more adventurous, more comfortable with my chopping and sauteing and experimenting but few things make me feel more competent in the kitchen than producing an edible hunk of bread. And this foccacia took less than an hour. Can't beat that.

I used this recipe, following it to the letter other than changing up the topping a bit. I did a butter/garlic/parsley/ parmesan mix that was absolutely delicious. Paired with this soup (with a couple of handfuls of chopped spinach and my trusty roasted corn instead of bacon substitution) it was the perfect dinner for a less-than-summerlike evening. Seriously, August, what the hell is up?

new in the shop: Pocketed Calendars

This digital set includes individual transparent (for easy recoloring) 3x4" envelope calendar templates for 2013 and 2014.

Simply arrange the files for printing, trim, fold and secure.

Recolor if desired (or simply highlight after printing if you want.)

Print a few months at a time so future appointments can be tracked.

I have mine stacked and clipped.

When the day/week/month is up, tuck the whole shebang into your album!

I'd love to share these with a couple of you...leave a comment if you're interested and I'll pick winners tomorrow (Wednesday) night!

cool story bro

Just for fun :)

For project life or whatever...3x4" in a single png file (need help using a png with multiple images? tutorial here.) Grab 'em!