November 2011
39 posts
2 tags
3 tags
christmas trees, or: on being a real grown-up
We’re buying our first real tree this year, in part because our space is finally big enough, in part because we’ll have an eleven-year-old in attendance and it seems mean to deprive her. So, my question: how do you reconcile practicality with Advent in Christmas tree shopping? My parents always bought the last Charlie Brown Christmas tree from the lot just a few days before Christmas,...
4 tags
win beeswax candles →
5 tags
3 tags
6 tags
1 tag
4 tags
3 tags
1 thing I'm thankful for (1 day before...
After a lot of reflection on this rainy day when everything is about to happen, I’m thankful for everything. I can’t narrow it down. Deliriously happy dog faces, the hug of my husband, our cozy little home, visitors coming in, my 26th birthday, butter and ice cream, a big stack of books. I’m just thankful, which is probably how one should be on Thanksgiving eve.
3 tags
3 tags
Nine Quick Tips to Identify Clutter →
beautifulordinaire:
I’m still working towards the opposite of stuff.
It’s not always easy but I find that the more that I have that I need the less of the things I need to have.
Spend it out is the hardest one for me. “Frugal nature,” indeed.
4 tags
2 things I'm thankful for this morning (2 days...
Our friend/landlord Guy being so nice about the little tattoo I added to his bumper and ours last night.
And for him pretending to believe I wasn’t crying when I tried to act totally cool about it.
3 tags
recipe: cranberry butter
1/3 bag fresh cranberries
1 stick butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Soften butter slightly. Combine all in food processor. Chill again.
Spread on everything.
That’s it.
You’re welcome.
[via my mom, modified from this recipe]
4 tags
4 tags
5 tags
3 tags
3 tags
5 tags
4 people I'm thankful to have gotten to know...
1. Jane is the coworker I’ve gotten to know best this year. I’m grateful for her sly sense of humor and ability to cheer me up on a rough day at the desk. We work well as a team, and save up absurd stories of front line public library work for each other.
2. and 3. Ben & Jess are an awesome couple we’ve gotten to know better over the course of 2011. They have two of the...
4 tags
4 tags
6 aspects of my jobs I'm thankful for (6 days...
the trust to find my own projects. At both jobs, I’m encouraged to think of things that need doing, then tackle them. That’s huge.
the overall patience of our patrons. Sure, we occasionally get crazies (like the guy who thought the dinosaur picture books should be in the adult section because “adults like dinosaurs, too,” and also he should be first in line), but by and...
4 tags
3 tags
7 websites I'm thankful for (7 days before...
apartment therapy. Inspires me to keep the house less of a wreck and a constant source of little weekend projects.
the kitchn. Owned by the same folks as AT, and probably my favorite source of recipes. They just get my values on spending (low), healthfulness (low-to-medium) and skill (low-to-medium).
carrots for michaelmas. Run by my friend Haley and filled to the brim with ideas for...
14 tags
3 tags
alterations
There is nothing quite so calculated to destroy all one’s vanity as standing beneath fluorescent lights in striped socks and a too-big dress while a Middle Eastern woman walks around you, sticking pins and tutting to herself. Are you going to gain weight? she demands. I don’t guess so, I mumble. Well, she mutters to herself, you can gain weight here.
11 tags
9 Books I'm Thankful For (9 days before...
(in no particular order)
1. Mere Christianity. I remember reading it in maybe my junior or senior year of high school and it just changing everything. It let me start thinking about my faith in a new, intellectual way, and opened up a whole world of nonfiction after a childhood of fiction only.
2. The Bible, of course. Totally frustrating, at times, but most good things involve work.
3. Anne...
3 tags
10 Things I'm Thankful For (10 days before...
(in no particular order)
1. my sweet husband, who makes me breakfast sandwiches and encourages me and doesn’t make me feel like a bad person when I accuse him of leaving his wet towel on the floor (it is always me)
2. having a family I don’t just love, but also like. I’m so excited to see all of them in the next six weeks: first my brother-in-law and his wife, then my sister...
3 tags
at our new church
An old lady told me I had a beautiful complexion and then forced me to eat two pieces of chocolate cake.
She is my new favorite person.
4 tags
Custom Week prize #7: Chocri chocolate
Custom chocolate is pretty exciting, even when you realize that $100 won’t go nearly as far as you’d hope. After I finished the Giant Box of Chocolate Bars 2011 in August, I was in sore need of a little sweet nibble at the end of my lunch. The temptation, as always with these customizable products, is to go insanely custom, ending up with an one-of-a-kind, thoroughly inedible product....
3 tags
carefulwiththataxeeugene asked: I really love looking at that outdoor photoset you posted. It makes me want to pull on my tretorn galoshes and go on an outdoor adventure :D
6 tags
5 tags
Doing More Harm Than Good →
“One takeaway is this: We can feel intoxicatingly good about ourselves when we do things that feel generous or ethical. But if we really want to do good for others, we also have the obligation to think through the ramifications—and the economics—of what we do. We have to make sure what we think is good doesn’t actually do harm.”
Casual Kitchen raises some good...
morgangster asked: you were right about the beauty berries! or "Callicarpa bodinieri giraldii" as the internet says. I LOVE THE INTERNET! Also, love you blog! woo!
3 tags
Into the Winter Woods
thelifeguardlibrarian:
Long-johns top and bottom, heavy socks, flannel shirt, overalls, steel-toed work boots, sweater, canvas coat, toque, mittens: on. Out past grape arbor and garden shed, into the woods. Sun just coming through the trees. There really is such a thing as Homer’s rosy-fingered dawn. And here it is, this morning. Down hill, across brook, up hill, and into the stand of white...
4 tags
5 tags
My Family Recipe: Wackey Cake
yocilantro:
That’s my great-grandma. A woman my mom tells me her side of the family, the Shermans, called Mumsey. Mumsey was a strong-willed lady and mother of many during The Great Depression. It’s her recipe she created then, Wackey Cake, that I use as the first for my My Family Recipe series. (A terrible series name, please feel free to make suggestions for other ideas.)
Read More
Her...
4 tags
3 tags
