mr fix it

my new favorite thing in the whole world is the blog There I Fixed It. I love it so because it's full of genius ideas like this windshield defroster.

roof rack,

and this dish drying rack.

a tisket a tasket

aren't these baskets made from rolled and stitched together newspapers cool?
available here.

Herb and Dorothy

HERB & DOROTHY Trailer from Herb & Dorothy on Vimeo.

Herb and Dorothy is a documentary about a postal worker and a librarian who built a world-class art collection.
a friend of mine who saw it said it was great! I can't wait to see it.

walled off

We designed and built (with our friend Andrew Thompson's help. Thank you Andy!) this shelving/wall treatment on the ugly OSB wall in our studio. It's made from remnant oak utility flooring we got for a song at Lumber Liquidators. It took a long time, but it's finally almost done.

I love the warmth and color variation of the wood so much I'm going to have a hard time putting stuff on those shelves.
I'll post more photos when it's all done, (I'm so happy with it, I couldn't wait.)

cover up

one of our fellow community gardeners, Julie, told me that you have to fold the leaves of the cauliflower plant over baby cauliflowers to keep it out of the sun so it will taste good.
I'm going to do that today, but it's going to make me sad because I love looking at the little guy.

peas please

Chiara sent me this Spring Panzella recipe the other day and tonight I decided to make it. Everything I used was from our garden except the asparagus and, well, the bread.

I used the snow peas because not enough of our regular peas are ready yet and shelling is a pain.
It was so delicious! I promise to make it for you next week, Chiara, when you are a mother of two, or still waiting for baby #2 to arrive.

more than knee high, way before the 4th of July

My roof top corn is going gangbusters! Pretty soon it will be up above the railing on the deck and we'll be able to sit out there eavesdrop on the neighbors without them ever knowing we're listening.
Kidding! But it will be nice and private and it looks pretty good.
Hopefully, when the corn comes in it will taste good too!

rest in peace

There was so much tragedy, torment and awfulness in your life, but I want to say thank you for the single Beat It and the thousands of times I played on my Fisher Price record player.

Michael Jackson |MTV Music

I want to thank you for the wonderful time I had at Kendall's slumber party when we sat glued to the tv watching the video for Thriller the night it debuted. I was probably wearing footie pajamas.

Thank you for the Moonwalk and the Thriller dance and all the hours I spent cracking up trying to learn them.

Michael Jackson |MTV Music

Thank you for The Way You Make Me Feel, because I loved that song and bought the single even though I foolishly thought I was way too cool for pop music when it came out.

Thank you for the belly shaking laughs watching Allie and Megan perform the all the Jackson 5's ABC dance moves at my high school talent show.

Michael Jackson |MTV Music

Thank you for the songs on Off The Wall that I first heard decades after they came out when I danced to them during college.

Thank you for the slow dance with Steven when the band played I'll Be There at our wedding. (so cheesy, I know, but still awesome.)

Does anyone else feel the need to plan a Thriller dance party?

check out all of Michael Jackson's best videos here.
and read the new york times' obituary here.

knotted

I'm so busy gardening and making things these days I usually forget to put on my wedding ring, so I probably shouldn't even be looking at it, but I think I love this silver knot ring made by Wouters & Hendrix.

available here.

RIP

I'm kinda glad the humidity is giving me Charlie's Angel's hair today.
Rest in Peace Farrah.
When I was little, I so wanted to be you.

sicky

I don't really feel all that bad aside from a headache, but for the first time in about 5 years I have fever. So instead of posting the fascinating things I had planned, I'm going to bed.
Back tomorrow. Unless it's swine flu.

good eats

It's gotten hot in the last few days and the early spring crops in the garden are starting to bolt. (bolt=go to seed-for you non gardeners) So tonight, and for the next few nights we're going to be having home grown spinach, fennel, lettuce or arugula for dinner!
and probably for lunch too.
And maybe some spinach omelets for breakfast.

those who don't know history...

I wrote about the Detroit City Council's decision to tear down the Central Depot (using stimulus package money!) a few months ago, but thought about it again when I saw this article, "Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell to the Wrecking Ball", that shows pictures of the now gone train stations and of what is in their place.

My favorite, if you can call it that, is Chicago's Grand Central Station which was replaced by a vacant lot. (the lot is still vacant 40 years later.)

Old Penn Station in New York was called "the best thing about our city," and then torn down.

from The Infrastructurist.

capped

my 1 year old niece, Riley, doesn't talk much, but she figured out a pretty good way to let me know she didn't want her picture taken anymore.

misplaced

Gus has always had some pretty weird ideas about where to take a nap, but this is a new one.
It it never occurred to me that I had to teach him that he wasn't allowed to sleep on top of tables!
Spoiled dog!

good fortune

My mom's friend gave me a fantastic present the other day, scraps of Fortuny Fabric!

Fortuny fabric is hand dyed and printed in Venice, with special techniques that were patented a century ago. Because it is handmade, every run is slightly different and all of them are way out of my price range!

There are pieces that are big enough to make some throw pillows, especially if I put a different fabric on the back side.



I think I might use the smaller pieces to make little stuffed animals like the delightful ones by Clive and Sunshine)

more info about Fortuny here.
Clive and Sunshine stuffed animals available from Rose and Radish.

all a buzz

I am a crazy person who has decided to ignore the fact that I often feel overwhelmed with the gardens and pets I already have, and has convinced herself it'd be a good idea to have backyard bees.
For the moment it's just a fantasy (and it's pretty likely to stay that way because I am not sure bees are even legal in Ann Arbor) but this slide show and article from the nytimes, where Amy Azzarito says that raising bees is easier than growing tomatoes, made me want them even more.

(btw, with all the rain we had and the warm tempuratures, everything in the garden is twice as big tonight as it was Friday morning, including the tomatoes! I think it rained miracle grow.)

happy father's day!

My parents are getting ready to drive from Chicago to Colorado to spend the summer, so for Father's Day I got my dad this book by Jane and Michael Stern.
Hope you guys find some good eats on the road!
Happy Father's day, and safe travels!!!

garden update

things are growing like crazy!

there's a baby broccoli in there.

Tiny tomatoes are coming fast and furious.


we will soon have zucchini and summer squash coming out our ears.


I totally over planted it (send recipes!) but I think the fennel is really beautiful.

The potatoes are growing like crazy.
kohlrabi is starting to look like kohlrabi and not just a weed.
It's all very exciting.

tricks are treats

remember when I said I couldn't believe that bicycle didn't have peddles until the 1860's? We'll it seems that it wasn't long after that people (Thomas Edison) started doing tricks on their bikes.


wonder what they'd think of these guys.

(sorry for the slow blogging, I'll be better.)

even more jokes

remember Old Jews Telling Jokes? Well, they're back with more.
check the new ones and the old ones out here.

Princess

My friend Cynthia and I were chatting up our friend's 4 year old, Ella, at a barbecue at their house the other night. It made Ella really happy that all the men at the party were huddled around the fire, and all the women were around the table. Cynthia asked her, "So what do you think the boys are talking about?" Ella thought for a minute and answered, "Barbecue."
Cynthia then asked, "And what should we girls talk about?" Ella replied immediately, "fairies and princesses."
I thought of that conversation this morning when I saw Dina Goldstein's Fallen Princesses project about what happens after the happily ever after.
check more of the series here.
via swiss miss

map quest 2

As I've mentioned, I love maps. I love looking at them, I love making them.
I just love everything about them, including these by Jorge Macchi.


check out more of his work here.

glass half full

Steven and I moved around a lot before we got married, both before and after we were dating, so we didn't really have much stuff. As a result, pretty much every plate, bowl, glass, kitchen gadget, etc in the house was a wedding present.
But after 7 years, and 3 additional moves, we only have a couple everyday glasses left and I guess it's time to replace them. (we still have all our fancy glasses and china. I always plan on using them, but for some reason, I almost never do. It's dumb.)
I can't just go get some more of the ones we have (they don't make them anymore) and I like the idea of getting some colorful ones to brighten up the stuff in our cabinets and on our dinner table.

I've posted them before, but I still love these from Abitare.


these are a bit fancy (maybe in a good way?) and pricey. from Ochre.


these are pretty and I like the subtle color, but they are way too expensive for everyday glasses. from Rose and Radish.

And I like the idea of getting a bunch of different vintage glasses like these I saw on etsy.

I just can't decide.

pie in the sky

so, what do you do when your very, very pregnant, dear friend Chiara says she wants some of your left over cake but she lives 500 miles away and you can't figure out how to mail it to her?

You make her some whoopie pies. (whoopie pies are kind of like a cupcake sandwiches and they are delicious. I used this recipe, but I used mint extract instead of vanilla for the filling because she's been craving mint chocolate ice cream and I thought she'd like a mint chocolate whoopie pie.)


But now I'm in the same boat I was before because I can't figure out how to ship them.
I know it's the thought that counts, but if you could know that your friend was thinking about you or know your friend was thinking about you while you ate a whoopie pie, which would you rather?
I'm going to try and figure out how to make them arrive looking pretty, but I'm also going to comfort myself with the knowledge that they'll still taste good even if they get a little squashed.
Hope you like them Chiara! We can't wait to see you, Jon, Jackson and the new little guy in a few weeks!

fish sitting

We're fish sitting for our 6 year old neighbor, Joshua's fish for a week and it's stressing me out. When I asked his mom how often the fish needs to be fed, I should have also asked what kind of fish he is and where we can get another one to replace him if things don't go well.
Maybe I'm paranoid, but not without reason. When I was little a good friend bought me a black gold fish for my birthday. She got him a bowl, some plastic seaweed, and a cute little plastic deep sea diver friend, put him in a big paper bag with a bow on it and brought him to my party. I opened up the bag and there he was!
Dead.
I was sad, but my friend was crushed!
fish are really tricky.

rain day

It's raining cats and dogs here today, and while it makes me happy because my plants will be happy, I'm also feeling a bit like climbing back in bed, snuggling up with Gus and Ollie, and taking a nap.
Maybe a bit of singing and dancing would perk me up.
Karaoke anyone?

back to black

ever since I saw this photo on Made by Girl the other day I have been obsessed with the black on black wallpaper. I have no idea who makes it, where to get it or what I would do with it if it showed up at my door, but I know I like it.
It's making me think about glazing some of my thousand cups shiny and matte black.
(those of you who know my work know there are a couple of things odd about that. 1. I'm making pots. 2. I would make something that isn't white, and 3. that I would be glazing. It makes me shudder to think about it, but that won't stop me from doing it.)

washed up

we have a giant sink in our kitchen. I love it because we can wash giant pans (or Gus or Ollie) in it without getting water everywhere, but I hate it because we've gotten in the bad habit of letting dishes pile up and it can hold A LOT of dishes.
Do you think one of these dish towels would help us get out of that habit?
available from Makool Loves You. (they also make the cutest undies you've ever seen.)