Samantha Robinson

Samantha Robinson's porcelain pieces are just flat out amazing. I would like them all please.

Found via Nectar & Light

DIY Tote

I'm loving these DIY monogram canvas totes featured recently on Design*Sponge.



Click here for the original post and instructions so you can make your own.

Out and about

I just realized that this is the first day in ELEVEN days that I haven't taken at least a two hour nap.

I am so happy to be awake!

Image via Brian Ferry

Far from home

This sweet boy was sunning himself just a few yards outside of the dermatologists office a week and a half ago (Lord I was in my apartment for a long time). I call him a boy anyway, but really I couldn't tell his sex. But if he's a boy then I could name him Mordecai like I do with most woodland creatures I find in the city. Like the hawk that used to live in the backyard of my old house and liked to terrorize neighborhood squirrels. It was funny when it was just squirrels, but then I got a puppy and the threat of those talons was a little scarier.

The nurse in the dermatologists office told me that he'd been hanging around outside their building for days, but that animal control was coming soon to take him away because he was making the near by daycare facility nervous. Hopefully they released him back into the wild where he belongs because 66th and York isn't exactly an ideal habitat for little Mordecai.

Merry Mary Monday!

A lovely little shot from the north shore. Nice work mom.

You can read about the origins of Merry Mary Monday here.

Only nine years and 364 days until the next one

I was born in the middle of the month of August and while that doesn't mean much other than I'm a Leo, it did also mean that at some point my parents had to make the decision as to what year I would start school. They could hold me back a year and let me "mature" or they could let me make the leap into school. Thankfully for me my parents made the right decision and I ended up in one of the best graduating classes to ever come out of Southwest High School. Although there are some very lovely people in the year below me, I was always very conscious of the fact that I was lucky to have been in the graduating class that I was in.

I was one of those seemingly rare people who really enjoyed high school. I was active in sports, I had some great teachers who challenged and respected their students and I had an amazing group of friends who to this day remain some of the best people I've ever known. So when this weekend of our ten year high school reunion rolled around I was extremely excited to have my friends come into town for several days of catching up and having fun. It didn't disappoint.

I was still on the mend from my bout of serious illness last week, but I was able to meet up with my friends and I was feeling pretty good by Saturday night when we had our actual reunion. I won't bore you with details, but suffice it to say a good time was had by all. I spent a good deal of time with my good friends, I was able to catch up with some great folks who I hadn't seen in years and thankfully I was able to avoid all of those people who I really didn't care to chat with. All in all, a great weekend and a really fun reunion night.

I feel proud to be a part of such a great group of people who have gone on to do some really impressive things. We have doctors and nurses, lawyers (many, many lawyers), documentary film makers, fabulous musicians, artists, engineers, teachers, psychologists, architects, several published authors, pilots, soldiers, MIT students and one friend who's getting his post doctorate at Harvard, we have people working in public policy and some working for the CIA and all of them are really impressive individuals. I realize that comes out sounding cheesy, but I really can't say enough of these people and how far we've all come. It was a good weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So so so so so so much to be thankful for today!

I'm so incredibly thankful to be back in good health!
I'm thankful for being able to get out of this apartment today!
And, for that matter, I'm so incredibly thankful for my health care.
I'm thankful for my overprotective older sister and my supportive parents.
I'm thankful to my crazy ass dog for being my best friend.
I'm thankful to be able to share this holiday season with my new nephew who has lit up all of our lives.
I'm thankful for a job that I love and am passionate about.
I'm thankful I started a blog because it's keeping me inspired and motivated in the ways I was hoping it would.
I'm thankful for freshly washed bedding!
I'm thankful for the wine I get to drink today after a week without it!
I'm thankful for the kids at Cornerstone for making me laugh.
I'm thankful for my friends being in town this weekend and all the fun we're going to have.
I'm thankful for ice cream. It's just good.
I'm thankful for so many things... I know you are too. I hope you have a very happy holiday. And meet me at Sears tomorrow morning at 4am because I saw a commercial that said they'll have jeans on sale for $9. On second thought, lets not.

Also, I'm thankful for pie...

image via flickr.

images via the blue hour

acorns grow

Illustrations by acorns grow.

found via my love for you.

I washed my hair today

Which is quite an accomplishment, let me tell you. It's amazing how much clean hair can make you feel better. Also today King and I walked all the way around my building and that was the longest I'd been out of this apartment since Friday. It was glorious.

Tomorrow my plan is to feel a whole lot better and although I won't be going to work, I'd like to spend tomorrow evening doing all my sick laundry and disinfecting this apartment. That way I'll be good to go on Thursday and be able to make it to Thanksgiving with my family and come home to a clean apartment and bedding fresh out of the wash.

Think good health thoughts for me!

Health Status

*Warning: this post may end up sounding like it was written by a drunkin' first grader. You'll have to give me some slack, I'm sick.

It turns out going to work on Friday was as a very large mistake. Although I was feeling a lot better that morning, definitely good enough to go to work, by 3:30 Friday afternoon I had taken a major turn for the worse and the last couple days have been really bad. I guess it turns out I could either be one of the dumbest people alive, or perhaps this information just isn't that well known, but up until yesterday it was my understanding the the flu was when you were nauseous, puking, dizzy and often had diarrhea. So when people would ask me if I had the swine flu I'd say no because I didn't have any of those symptoms, I just had a bad cold. But yesterday I got a call from my sister who listed all my ailments and then told me that's exactly what the swine flu is and that I needed to contact a doctor right away. So, since when it the flu a respiratory problem? Was this common knowledge to everyone? I guess I'm just out of it. But it turns out that in a lifetime of having a freakishly over protective older sister, there have been a handful of times where her attention has saved me from serious illness, major problems and probably death. I guess this is one of those times. Thank you Jady. I'm sorry for all those times I forgot to call you the second I got home and you had to call me.

Now I'm feeling really guilty for going to work on Friday. But I did feel so much better and I just didn't know. I just hope no one else gets sick. The truth is I try not to give things like the swine flu too much of my energy and attention when they're on the news. Since they're a million bad things in the world that can happen to you and even more bad things that can and are happening to others, I generally just try to focus on the good. I was more concerned about Louis getting it. Also there was no way I was going to qualify for a flu shot, so I was just going along living my life.

Anyway, I'm on day two of my Tamiflu and it seems to be helping a bit, although I am still having major body aches, fatigue, chest congestion and coughing, head ache and a fever. I think the worst part is the drastic changes in body temperature. Between a t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, sweatpants, socks, a comforter, a blanket and a throw there is a constant battle to find a comfortable equation because my body is always fluxuating. One minute I just need the long sleeve shirt, socks, a comforter, the blanket thrown off the the side, the throw on my upper body and three toes sticking out the bottom, and then five minutes later I'm freezing cold and need to exert the energy to put the sweatshirt back on, pull the blanket back over the comforter, cover my whole head with the throw and tuck my legs into the fetal position. Then when I wake up an hour later I'm sweating so bad I need to change clothes all together. It's rediculous.

The second worse part is the dog who is accustomed to sitting on my lap while I watch movies on the couch. But there is a point in his getting situated on my lap where he'll put all his body weight on one leg right on my gut or he'll curl up and lay down on my chest, thus causing me to have a huge cough attack and then I just loose it and start crying. I'll scream and he'll jump off me and I'll weep as I tell him "Oooouch King! Doooooowwwen't do that please. I dowen't like it when you do that. *tears. tears* It just hurts too much King. Gawwwwwwd!" And he's all "Oh, sorry, sorry mom. Don't cry, please don't cry. Here, do you want me to paw at you? Will that help? Do you want me to lick your face? Is that better? I didn't really mean to dig my boney ass little elbow into your uterus. Seriously. Please stop crying now. Look, I'm wagging my tail!"

But yesterday I lost it completely. He kept touching me and whining and needing to be brought out to go to the bathroom and I just couldn't take it. It hurts my chest too much to walk him up and down those steps and it's too cold outside. I was already in the middle of an uncontrollable crying fit, so I called my parents and begged them to come and get him. Thank goodness they did too because we're both happier this way. I can get hours of uninterrupted sleep and alone time on the couch and he gets the full attention he needs. Thanks mom and dad!

I'm missing my sisters birthday dinner at my parents tonight which makes me feel sad, but the good news is I should be back to normal heath by Thanksgiving so I will get to spend it with my family. And I will be healthy in time for all my friends to come back into town this weekend for our ten year high school reunion. I'm thankful for that.

But I will tell you one more thing that is making me crazy about this. My plan for the couple weeks before my ten year reunion was to use this free pass to the gym I got and watch what I ate so I could look good and feel pretty good about myself for the gathering, but now I'm sick and all I do is eat, lay on the couch and sleep. And then I get to thinking how I shouldn't be doing that, but I need to eat and drink juice to get better. And this is just the stupidest inner monologue to be having when you're so sick, because the point is just to get well, but it's a conversation one has with themselves from about the time they hit junior high and it never goes away. I have to tell you, this constant personal battle between weight, food, exercise and body issues is more exhausting than the swine flu. I hate it.

Leaning heavy on the weekend

I made it to work today! You know how they say to feed a cold... well I did just that and also got some good sleep and drank lots of liquids yesterday. I also had myself a little 30 Rock marathon which helped immensely. And I owe a huge thank you to my dad for coming over and taking King for a walk for me. That dog really needed to get out for some exercise, but I just didn't have the energy. Thanks dad!

You know how when you were younger if you stayed home from school it meant you couldn't do anything at night? So sometimes you had to force yourself to go to school so you could keep your plans with your friends? Because you wanted to stay home and watch Ricky Lake and The Price Is Right all afternoon, but you wanted to go to the sleepover or the hockey game more. Well that's what I had to do today. I have a girls night planned for this evening and if I wanted to go to that, then I had to go to work today. So I'm looking forward to my night out with the girls!

Happy Friday!

image via TheDesignFiles

Sicky

I'm home sick today. Really sick. Somehow this illness hit me like a Mack truck and I just ventured out of bed for the first time for a little food, but I've been too busy to get to the store lately so the only things I have in my fridge are four beers, some broccoli and a tupperware with several day old cous cous. This will not do. I'm going to have to either put clothes on and get to the store, or learn how to have groceries delivered. Maybe if I call them and whine they're hurry it up with the soup.



images via Kerry Okra

Bigwig & Silver

I'm loving all the cards in the new Bigwig & Silver etsy shop opened by Brendan from OK Great. (also known as Ellie from Mint's husband.)



They're definitely a good fit for dudes, but I like think of them as unisex. Either way they're awesome and I always appreciate when a shop gives you a mix-and-match option.





Get yours here. And don't forget to check out Ellie's shop Hello Tenfold.

Pencil on paper

Just pencil on paper.

Found via.

Old and new

via warsaw

The Sun!

Another sunny fall day here in Minneapolis. I'm remembering a time last summer when I was watching my cousins daughters and the two and a half year old said to me "Addie, I need the sun on my facccce" while she stood in the sun with her face up and her arms open to the sky. She spent the entire walk home from the park trying to avoid shade.

I'm thankful for the sun today. I need it on my facccce!

image via beautycomma

Pastor Scott

Pastor Scott is one of the most amazing people I know and we were so blessed to have him baptize Louis this weekend. Every night he goes out into the community and distributes the goods that people donate to the church to those in need. 365 days of the year.

When Jady and I were growing up in the church we always saw him around and were impressed by his ministry and dedication. So when we were out of college we spent a few years helping to organize the donations of clothing, toys, shoes, bags and food at church and then rode around in the van with him distributing goods. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of time and effort. I give this man so much credit for the work he does. He really is an inspiration.

He calls Louis his new recruit.

From the centerpiece

Baptism

Louis was perfectly behaved throughout the entire baptism ceremony and, for that matter, the remainder of the afternoon. It was a great celebration and a really fun day. After everyone left we changed Louis out of his baptism outfit and into something a little more comfortable, including the new shoes that his grandma and grandpa bought him. He has room to grow in those slippers as well as the bracelet I got him.

Merry Mary Monday!

My mom made this baptism outfit when she was pregnant with Jady, but didn't yet know if she was having a boy or a girl. Since she had a girl, Jady wore the dress she had also made and this outfit went unworn until last Saturday. If the outfit isn't enough to make your heart explode, just look at the dimples in Louis' hands and his fierce wrist chub... they kill me.

Nice shot mom.

You can read about the origins of Merry Mary Monday here.

Mountain Stage update

I went to re-listen to some Martin Sexton on the Mountain Stage (which I previously mentioned here) and saw a whole new list of great artists have been added. Awesome. They're all great, but I must say, there is no live performance out there better than Martin Sexton, I've seen him in concert and listened to his live stuff... it's just the best.

Colin Hay
Great Lake Swimmers
Yo La Tengo
Regina Spektor
Indigo Girls
Gary Jules
Madeleine Peyroux
and many more...

Check it out yo.

Polyamorous Crushes

It's time again for another dose of Soul Pancake. I thought this topic was kind of a fun one, so I figured I'd give my two cents and see if I can't get some of you readers to chime in. The concept is posed like this...

Admit it: Whether you’re a man or woman, you've had a major crush on someone before. But have you ever had a crush on an entire group of people? A polyamorous crush goes beyond sexuality; it’s about being enthralled with either a couple, a team, a cast, even a mob of people working towards a common goal. You’re not quite sure, but something about them turns you on.

What are some of your polyamorous crushes you've had? I'll go first...

1. The entire cast of 30 Rock
2. The Dixie Chicks
3. The cast of CSI (original Las Vegas cast)
4. Simon and Garfunkel
5. The cast of The Royal Tenenbaums (especially Richie)
6. Jim & Pam
7. The Beatles
8. The cast of Almost Famous
9. Annie Leibovitz and her subjects
10. Aerosmith

You can read other peoples answers here.

Stepping toward the weekend

This weekend I will become Louis' Godmother. I'm excited to be at the church I grew up in, with the pastor who married Jady and Jason and whom I spent countless hours in a van bringing goods to the community with, while holding Louis as he gets baptized. I'm honored and blessed to have been chosen as his Godmother.

Also, we get to have mimosas and a little party, so this will be a good weekend for sure. And you just know there's going to be pictures of some cheeks here on Monday, so get excited for that!

Hope you have a great weekend too!

images by amalia chimera. found via bliss.

Interiors swoon

These images I found over at Graphic-Exchange are amazing. They are making me wish I was a homeowner... a very wealthy home owner... in Europe.