Makerfaire 2010

I was so happy to finally attend Makerfaire 2010! I've know about Makerfaire for a while, but I always had conflicts on the weekend it was held. Anyway, it totally lived up to my expectations (and more!) Paul was even a fan - and I didn't even have to drag him there. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:


Weird old carnival-carriage


My treasures from the day, including a vintage stopwatch necklace, beet seeds, earrings, patterned japanese masking tape, and lots of inspirational vendor cards


Block printed tea towel - love it!


my beautiful new necklace


I couldn't resist the cut-outs


Paul couldn't either, especially if Big Foot is involved

Fed Up: The School Lunch Project

Has anyone else been reading Fed Up: The School Lunch Project blog? If you haven't, here's the scoop: An elementary school teacher ("Mrs. Q") from the midwest has chosen to eat a school lunch every day for the entire school year, and anonymously post photos and her thoughts on a blog. I heard about this site through one of my co-workers (a former teacher), and it has been so interesting to see the transformation this woman has gone through over the course of the year. She at first didn't mind most of the food, and admittedly didn't know much about nutrition either. As time has gone on, she is barely able to make it through her lunch. She's gotten so much publicity that she's been featured on tv and Jamie Oliver even called her! I'm very impressed with this woman's stamina and dedication to the project. Remember when it was fun to get school lunch on Friday's (i.e. pizza day)? Take a look at this "lunch" of Salisbury steak. Gross!


To think, this is what the kids of our nation are eating these days. I'm so glad she's speaking out!

For my loves...

My cats, that is. Readymade posted a pretty awesome tutorial on how to create your own kitty hammock here. They also sell them online at A Cat Above. The following style goes for $79....definitely more than we can afford, but I think I'm going to try my hand at making my own version!


Can't you just see my 2 fat cats lazying the day away in this?

Cupcakes

I've read reviews in the New Yorker multiple times about street vending cupcake trucks in New York city (like a taco truck, only with cupcakes). It would make me sad because I was unaware of any "bakeries on wheels" in the bay area. Well, I had my first experience today (thanks Natalia!) right here in downtown Berkeley. The Cupkates truck was super cute and you could smell sweet smells coming out of it. I was a little overambitious about bought 4 (at $2.75/piece, that's pretty pricey, but I figured they would be valentine's day treats). I kept it simple getting 1 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 1 lemon-raspberry, and 1 red velvet. YUM! Now, I haven't had them yet (last day of the cleanse)...but am saving these goodies for breakfast tomorrow. With a nice strong cup of coffee. And my valentine :)

Happy Valentines Day to all!

New friends

A Christmas present from Paul...to add to my collection of other random animal salt & pepper shakers.

Lunchtime fun

One of my favorite gifts that I received this year was a Laptop Lunch Bento Box set. I'm pretty sure that these are made for kids, but I think it's just the greatest thing ever! It has all different tupperwares that fit in the box (some with lids, some without) that help eliminate the use of plastic baggies. Yay for saving the environment, and yay for organizing food!

November time...

I know that some people don't like the fall - it starts to get colder, and it gets dark at like, 5pm....but I LOVE the fall. The fall means wearing warm scarves, buying new "winter" jackets, and a cozy home with candles burning and food baking (funny, I posted something similar about this time last year). Paul has been working nights for the past 2 weeks, so I've been able to enjoy some non-interupted "fall" time for myself - admiring the leaves and the smell of cold when I get home from work, snuggle time with the kitties while I'm reading, and baking of all sorts (pumpkin bread, granola, and roasted chicken). I'm determined to make our house really "ours" by the time Christmas/Paul's birthday comes around this year. I'm going to start posting before/after pics of rooms that I'm redecorating - on a budget, of course. Here are a few of my inspirations:

For the bedroom....

(Young House Love)

For the kitchen....(Ikea Groland Kitchen Island)

For the living room....

(Cost Plus)

I couldn't help myself

It's been a long day at the office....

The day started out early, with me getting up with Paul at 5:15am to make his sandwich and get my day started. Yes, I made him a sandwich at 5:15am. I know, I'm such a good wifey! But really I want to start getting up earlier to get more things done in my day, so after the sandwich was made, I began tackling our 2nd bedroom (which has housed all things wedding-related since Sept. 5th). I made some serious progress, getting rid of lots of papers and generally organizing the small space.

Then, I get to work. Nothing out of the ordinary, except I checked our bank account online and notice that someone has spent $79 at Thomas Cook India/Mumbai. WHAT? Yeah, I think we got hacked. Well, it was my debit card from our joint account. Someone booked a train ticket from India to Mumbai. Is that even possible? And yes, I had to convince them to issue me a new one because it was "just a charge under $100." Please, Mr. Banker, I don't have an extra $100 to spare these days on fraudulent charges, thank-you-very-much....

Then, the whole boy in the balloon fiasco happened! Like, seriously, WTF? The boy isn't in the balloon after all? And his parents are storm chasers? Something weird is going on in our galaxy right now. Something is just off....

This is all just to say that I LOVE this photo posted on Twig and Thistle, courtesy of fffffound.com:

New favorite...

...place for free fonts. TONS. At Font Freak dot com!

Grantham

Flowerchild

Tattoo Ink

Happy weekend!

Even though I had a short week at work this week, I'm SO ready for the weekend to be here! I have been looking forward to this weekend for a while - it's my surprise bridal shower. Yay! I have NO idea what is happening - I just know I have to be ready at 1pm for a mystery person to pick me up and take me to the mystery party spot, where I will be joined by mystery friends. Jenny, Monk, and my mom have done a pretty great job at keeping it all a secret. In addition to that, Paul is home this weekend and we're going to the Alameda Antique fair to search for miscellaneous wedding stuff. It will be a treasure hunt, for sure, but I've heard it's a great place to find fun stuff. Monday will be here before I know it, but until then, happy weekend!
(photo from Our Labor of Love)

Kalamazoo!

Yes, I'm here in Kalamazoo (it really does exist, as the locals say!) I arrived last night to attend NWP's Rural Sites Network Conference, where teachers from rural sites across the country come together to talk about rural issues. This is my first time attending the event, and I'm really excited to be here and to explore Kalamazoo. So far everyone I've met is super friendly, and the view from my hotel room is amazing! Granted, it's not quite spring yet so the trees are bare, but there are lots of old brick and marble buildings and churches. Today I'll explore the downtown area (home of the country's first "outside mall") and attend a pre-conference discussion, then tomorrow there are many more workshops to choose from. I met a guy on the plane from Chicago that can get me on a Kellog's cereal facility tour - he said that during the summer, the area smells like frosted flakes. Who would've thought?

He's gonna hate me....

...but I had to post this pic of Paul when he was a young child model. Yes, he modeled when he was a kid. This ad is for Tavist D cold medicine. Man, I can't wait to have little cuties that look just like him!



...allright, here's an embarrassing one of me as well. Thanks Barbara, for sending it along!

New Ray!

Ray's new album, Gossip in the Grain comes out today. I'm so excited! He is by all accounts my favorite singer. No question about it!

Help me raise $$ for Alzheimers Research!

Many of you may know that I'm walking with my family to raise money for Alzheimer's research on September 20th in San Jose. My grandfather has the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, and my great-grandmother had it as well, so it's definitely an issue that has affected my family. Check out my webpage and donate if you can (any amount is surely appreciated!)


Click here to visit my page!

p.s. Labor day pics/details to be posted soon!

Cherry Lake

I had the chance to kayak with my mom and Reggie at Cherry Lake this weekend. The weather was beautiful, the water warm, and the company, amazing! Thank goodness for 3 day weekends - they really feed my soul!

Wordle

I've found another thing that will keep me busy for HOURS on end...it's a link from one of my favorite blogs, How About Orange, on how to create your own Wordle graphic. Here's what Wordle created with the words I've used in this blog:


(Click on the image to enlarge it)

I want this book!

Some of you may not have seen my indoor "urban garden", but it's growing wonderfully! I'll post pics of my ripe cherry tomatoes (have already picked 4 of them!), my rapidly growing basil, mint, and rosemary soon. I keep whining to Paul that I want to move into a new place that has a space that I can garden in, but until then, I'm settling for lots of potted veg and herbs in the kitchen window sill.

and P.S., this book looks great!

Happy Earth Day!

Hope you all do something for the earth today! And check out Google's earth day image - I kinda like it!

Why I love cats...

...must...watch....NOW!

Finger puppets

Go to this website and download your very own Obama, Hillary or McCain finger puppet. I found this link from one of my favorite blogs. They have been a hit at the NWP office!