Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I'm hungry

Patchwork. Paints. Palate. Pretty!
Mosaic Wednesday
Now, off to eat and sign up for dog training/obedience classes!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Dog Love Thursday

I love that little face...

Doggy Love Thursday

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I'm Happy It's June

I'm happy it's June, are you? Kids are getting out of school, the days are crazy long, I'm working on my new garden and my BFF is visiting at the end of this week!

For Mosaic Wednesday I had a hell of a time finding pictures to put in to post. Not because I didn't have enough, I just have so many wonderful pictures I've found from friends and while trolling Flickr, that I couldn't decide on a topic, or theme. Anyway, I went from projects I want to do, to farmstyle, to pendants and finally chose Artist Books.
Art Books I love (Mosaic Wednesday)

I've been looking at so many wonderful crochet projects on flickr as well (as probably noted in my last mosaic!), but never posted my own. So here's what I'm working on now. A blanket! It will almost definitely take me forever, but I know it will be worth it :) Plus, I'm not against taking breaks and crocheting other things for other people, like BABIES! A baby blanket would go a looootttt quicker than what I have in mind hehe
WIP: grannyhex blanket

I worked on a hexagon while I met with my Creative Sustainability group at Fairview Gardens last Saturday. God, it was a fucking fine-ass day and we had a great time talking about crocheting, composting and cool books we're reading. Here's Jeanette and her daughter in law crocheting at the table, with filtered sun coming down on us and chatting.
Creative Sustainability Meetup Group
Next meeting is in 2 Saturdays, come check us out at Meetup! Search Creative Sustainability.

I went to my last volunteer session at Roosevelt today :( I was helping out in a second grade classroom once a week with Language Arts and they are all graduating tomorrow! So yesterday, putting it off as I love to do, I went to the craft store to get some beads to spell out "I <3 writing" for simple crocheted bracelets. I went just about fucking nuts because I couldn't find the darn things for the life of me. I always hated those tacky beads at Michael's and other craft stores who can't seem to get enough of them, allowing them miles of space for display, but I figured the kids weren't going to give two hoots, being in 2nd grade and liking anything colorful. This combined with my paltry budget, I had decided on the simple plastic alphabet letters, and of course, the one time I want those devlish beads they were n'er to be found. NO WHERE. Over an hour later, I gave up on the stupid beads and decided on making books instead.
Booklets
Booklets
Thankfully they were awesomely received and I even got a "Thank You" book made by the class for myself to take home!

Now I'm working on making new signs for the farm stand and painting egg cartons. What fun!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Things I love *Friday*

Are you excited for the three day weekend? I have to work, but I'm feeding off the energy put out by everyone else who will be off! Some things I love today are...

> sunshine pouring through my window
> two books: The Backyard Homestead by Madigan (less than two bucks NEW from the thrift store!) and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
> a really cute blog about farming
> what a smart idea! Who cleans their dog's toys? I never have, but I think now I should. I gave her a bath yesterday and cleaned all her beds. She is soo yummy smelling and soft now.

What few things are you lovin today?

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Gaviota Peak

A few friends and I went on a hike last week and I took this video:
Awesome view, right?! Here's a still picture, incase your computer doesn't like loading the video, like mine.
Gaviota Peak Hike
Within the first 100 yards of the hike, we found (I actually almost stepped on) a dead baby rattle snake and a bat! The snake was broken. So sad. (sorry about the funky angle, I don't know what happened there haha)
Baby Rattler

The bat story was really funny. We saw it on the ground, and thought it was dead, but once we saw it moving slightly, we realized we had to get it out of the path (and hot, bright sun) asap! While Buff and I walked back to take pictures of the snake, we heard Jeremy and Andy laughing really hard so we hurried back to find that the bat was FINE! lol As they were placing the stick it was lying on down in a shady spot the thing totally flew at Jeremy's face! hahahaha maybe it just needed to get out of the sun for a moment to get its senses back. I don't know, but yeah it was a pretty wild start to the hike!
Bat

Kittens have arrived on the adoption floor at ASAP, and there were, of course, tons of traffic at the shelter today. Another surprise was this morning when a young new arrival squeezed out 4 babies while a volunteer was cleaning nearby cages! God were they adorable...I want to foster kittens again!!! Too bad I don't have the room, money or the 'okay' for it, this time around. Next season! heeehee

PS. are my pictures too big? Do they bog down your computer?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Mosaic Wednesday!

Crochet Mosaic

1. Clara's blanket, 2. covered stool with hezlein, 3. Rainbows & Clouds, 4. a finished blanket, 5. DSC_0172 [800x600], 6. new patchwork cushions, 7. (wood &) wool garland, 8. crocheting granny squares, 9. Purple/lilac shawl back, 10. Crochet Flowers in Pink, 11. Necklace made from gift, 12. Spring in here!, 13. 006

I'll take a picture of my own little granny squares (which are actually hexagons, but that's okay!) one of these days. Right now I've got about 7 or so. I've got a loooong way to go :)

Friday, May 21, 2010

Time has legs?

It seems as if Time just rain away from me! I can't believe we're almost done with May already! Is everyone thinking of what they're going to do for their pops for Father's Day? I'm still thinking...

We pulled up some yummy cabbage and strawberries from the garden.
Fresh Cabbage and Strawberries!

And the garden is looking lovely these days. We have a little rain a few days ago which was unexpected. Don't you love that fresh, cleaner look everything has afterwards?
garden in the evening

Last week I saw a boy running away from the Juvenile Hall on Hollister and it brought me back to working at the group home just from a new perspective. The boys would run off campus any second they got, and we'd have to go chase them or call the cops, call their parents to notfiy them, restrain them, ground them, process with them, coach staff on the incident or any number of tactics...and here I was NOT HAVING TO! It was great hahaha i felt bad for the staff at JH, but oh did it feel great not experiencing that panic that was so abnormally routine for us at work.

I've been working on making new price cards for Fairview Gardens (with terrible luck, I may add) and I fiddled around with making new stamps. Non of which are going to be used haha. Still they are fun to make, don't you think?

Handcarved Stamp

Aww, Guinness and I went to the beach and I gave her free photo shoot. I think that was very generous of me, but she wasn't very interested in anything except the ball. haha

Doggie love pink tongue

Doggie love two

Tomorrow I go to my canning class! I'm excited for jam and pickles!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Finally--Salt!

I've chosen to do Mosaics on Wednesdays every week, so please--hold me to it! I've never done these weekly themed posts, but I'm excited to try it out. The first one here, is from my favorites on flickr - sunshine through windows being the more specific theme. I love all these places, don't you just want to go in there and create something, or read a good book or pot a new plant?

Mosaic Wednesday Sunshine through Windows

And onto the promised salt :) So so so delicious, everyone must make it! So I started with picking lavender from out front, then gather all the remaining ingredients together:

Rosemary

Seasonings for Salt

And put them all into the processor with some salt to help chop up the herbs:

Chopping the Seasoned salt up with the herbs

Lastly, save some out to put in an easy dispenser, and seal the rest up in a safe container and store in the pantry. Voila! Easy, delicious, fresh and organic seasoned salt!

Ready for dippin!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

2:45am post

I just had to post before I went to bed, as it is WAY past my bedtime. I'm just so excited right now! I've been looking up Wwoof.nz.co for the past three hours. I've joined it on FB and think it's my ticket to NZ--with a purpose and career experience!

This book is amazing! the motifs are beautiful and in universal instructions (diagram) AND words. This is veerrrrry helpful. I also craftied up my life notebook. I stick everything in here. I write down random songs that I hear and love, paste in postcards and business cards, add in relevant newspaper clippings, write lists, etc as a recording of my time here at these crossroads.

my current work

And I've decided to do mosaic post once a week. Now just to decide which day.

I made delicious kale chips! If anyone wants the easy (almost silly) recipe for the most wonderful, crunchy, tangy lemon kale chips, let me know. I'm craving some right now as i look at this picture haha

Winterbor Kale

Look at this strange spike that has erupted from our plant out front. Isn't it amazing?? I'm not sure what it's going to do, but it is so striking I had to photo it. Plus, it grows faster than ANYTHING I have ever seen. It has grown at least 3.5 feet in 2 weeks. Just amazing.

Dinosaur Plant out front!

And the NEXT post, I promise will be of the salt hehe I just got too excited to skip this post tonight :) I hope all is well in your space tonight <3

Monday, May 3, 2010

A great weekend! I went to the 8th California Student Sustainability Coalition Spring 2010 Convergence down in San Diego this weekend and had a good time. I learned a lot, was inspired and met too many intelligent, hopeful and energetic students to mention. It's going to be a revolution! I'm excited :)

Before I left with my carpool from SLO, I went to a pizza (there's been a lot of this lately hasn't there?) night with a friend, and met a like 10 great new people! Here's our vegan pizza getting the slice:

Allan showing us how it's done

My dad and I went to a greenhouse sale and I had to take a picture of all the green. I absolutely love green houses...aahhh i want one!

Seedlings at the Greenhouse

Afterward, we went to this pretty stream!

San Marcos stream

Next post....Seasoned Salt!