Loving

• Pandora's Neutral Milk Hotel station. I mean, the Smiths, Mountain Goats, Four Tet, the Shins and Elliot Smith all on one station- even better than a playlist mix!

• Amanda Soule's blog. I have read it religiously for longer than I would like to admit and it never ceases to make me feel hopeful and re-centered

• Oregon passed tax measures 66 and 67. I am so proud to live in such a progressive state!

• Regina Spektor's "Fidelity"

• Memories of hiking through SW England last winter. I can't believe its been a year since we were exploring hillsides in Dorset and laughing at the sheep that were everywhere.

• This amazing banana chocolate chip bread recipe. I have been in search for the *perfect* banana chocolate chip bread recipe and this is so good I want to make another batch!

• The promise of spring. I know its not yet here, but soon enough. A girl can dream...

Yeasty goodness

I love baking just as much as the next person but, when it comes to baking homemade bread, I have been known to cut corners. Who can knead for seven minutes straight anyhow? I start to get lazy after about four minutes of kneading so I was really excited when I read about a no-knead bread recipe from Mark Bittman's blog.


This bread has changed my life- no lie. Easy peasy. All you really need is a day lead time. Also, with the mock steam infusion, the crust is crisp and the light, airy bread within is so soft and flavorful. This bread is well worth the wait!

Cloud Break!

Most days in January have been bleak, gray and drizzly. Luckily, lots of crafting has been getting done like this crocheted filigree bowl I am working on.

But, this afternoon there was a cloud break! Me and my cat, Will, made a break for it and ran around the backyard soaking in the blue skies.

The grass is so green these days- practically neon!- and even our daffodils are sprouting. Even though it is still rather bleak outiside and the trees are pitiful and bare, you can almost feel the spring coming.

Revisiting ye old abondoned blog

We've all done it, so don't pretend like you're above it. This blog has some cobwebs that's for sure but, in the spirit of a new year, a new decade, I am blowing out the dusty corners and polishing it up a bit. Stay tuned!

Garden Rehab

radish pic by woodleywonderworks

I wish I could say that those radishes came from my garden but, sadly, my vegetable patch is in sore shape right now. Between hail storms and lack of water (I went to Colorado for a week and a half and didn't solidify a garden caretaker- bad call, I know) only the lavender is thriving this June. Even my cilantro has crapped out on me.

No worries though because I am going on super-garden-rehab mode! What, you ask, does that entail? Well, aside from frequent waterings, this:

• A fresh layer of homemade compost as mulch and fertilizer
• Culling back all the dead plant life
• Loosening hard, dry soil
• Did I mention water?
  
• Harvesting some herb growth to encourage new growth
• Some natural fertilizer. Compost tea from the Natural Gardener?
  
• Lots and lots of late evening plant care sessions

Any other rehab ideas or suggestions? I am such a trial and error gardener, so if there's some "secret" out there I would love to hear it!

Really, for me, around 7 in the evening is about the only time in Austin I can enjoy gardening. Otherwise I have to break out the sunblock and if I'm breaking out the sunblock, I might as well be at Barton Springs!

The single only way I will survive summer this year is to get myself to Barton Springs. Oh, Barton Springs, how I love you. In heat this oppressive you are an oasis to me.

Sundays have always seemed magical, indulgent and cozy to me from as young as I can remember. It's hard not to love days where you connect with community, take naps, and make some sort of yummy food to enjoy. Today I didn't see anyone really, but I did take a nap and make cupcakes in honor of the one week mark of my summer being solo! Yes, I am slowly morphing into a cat lady.

This morning I unearthed several projects that have been collecting dust on my shelves. I finally finished embroidering the Ganesh yoga t-shirt for the adorable girl I nanny for. At age two, she is quite the yogi and its never too early to start building up a yoga clothes stash!

It would be super rad if I managed to blog regularly this summer. It would be a detailed record of days for me to share with my sea faring partner, as well as a great way to connect with all my crafty, project-y friends and share our interests, tangents and passions together. Okay, enough rambling- here's to Sundays!

Today I have some bad chickens on my hands. On a normal day my three chickens- Ruby, Lady Bird and Anita- are an endearing trio of squawks, clucks and squeaks (yes! Ruby, the ill adjusted runt of the group, squeaks). This morning however, they have managed to escape. Three times. I think its time to remind them again that "cruelty free" comes for only very lucky chickens like themselves...