recipes, spring

Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad

A white bowl filled with salad greens, roasted carrots, and other vegetables, drizzled with yogurt dressing.

You guys, I made this salad last night, and I think you should try it immediately. Sure, it’s a little fussy for a salad. But it is worth it. So worth it.

First, you poach some carrots. You make a vinaigrette of sorts, with dried chiles, cumin, and garlic, and then you drizzle it all over the warm carrots, and toss them in the oven to roast, along with an orange and a lemon (what?!). You toast some crusty bread, and slice up an avocado. Then, you make a simple, simple dressing with the roasted citrus, and you assemble everything into a big ol’ lovely salad, and you eat it, blissfully.
Continue reading Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad →

crafting, wedding

Rustic but Elegant Tea light Holders

My aesthetic is pretty obvious to anyone who has looked at my Pinterest boards. Or my house. Or my wardrobe. I like things that are classic and elegant, with just a touch of, I don’t know, country? Rustic? Vintage? Whatever you want to call it, I like the element that brings elegant back from formal.

I few months ago, I see these gold and glass candleholders in Martha Stewart Weddings. I have a fondness for shiny things, and I immediately thought that, with a little metallic glass paint, these would be really easy to make. I also have a fondness for Mason jars and other canning jars. I thought that would add just the right amount of rustic to keep these candleholders playful and relaxed. And thus, my first wedding craft idea was born.

Prototype candleholders

I made some prototypes a few weeks ago. They do look nicer with tea lights burning in them, I will admit. (So why didn’t I take pictures when the candles were lit? I don’t know.) They’re still not perfect. These were with two coats of paint, and I did one jar with a regular paint brush and one with a foam brush. I don’t want to see brush strokes, but it’s possible that the only way to get there is with spray paint. And that is a kind of mess I have no space to be working with. I also think the paint should stretch further up the sides of the jars.

Prototype Candleholders

So, I plan to do prototype round two soon, before diving in and painting all the jars. I’m aiming to have at least 60 of these suckers, so I can group them on tables at the reception. I also have to buy some long-burning tea lights, because the guys I have went out after about an hour. No good, my friend.

My florist kind of balked when I mentioned using mason jars, but what do you think? I like the combination of sparkly and elegant with, well, rustic. I think I mentioned I’m into that? I also love that this is a really easy, inexpensive, and fast craft project, AND that the glass paint is dishwasher safe, AND that there will be enough that people can take one or two if they like them. Also, painting on glass is fun.

Do you like them? Do you think they look weird? Do you want to see pictures of round two prototypes?

crafting, goals, wedding

A Whole Lotta Love Stamps

Save the dates

After agonizing about invitations for way to long, it feels really good to have just made a decision already. I decided to use stationery that we will print and assemble ourselves. Well, the folks at FedEx Office will print them, and I’ll cut the cards out, procure envelopes, print labels, and get everything ready to send. The first round, our Save the Date cards, are done and ready to go in the mail tomorrow.

Save the dates

I ordered a custom stamp for our return address, and decided to make things easy by printing mailing labels. Writing them all out by hand sounded like a nightmare, and hiring a calligrapher just isn’t a huge priority for me. Besides, these are only save the date cards. I don’t think we need to get too crazy.

I feel like, with this project finished, the beginning of the small-detail-oriented work begins. I do have a lot of crafty projects in mind, and I suspect I’m going to overwhelm myself. I’ve been making a mental list of priorities, so when it comes time to let things go, I’m prepared to do so.

One project that is a high priority is making our flower girl’s dress. I bought some lovely fabric in Santa Cruz last weekend that will be perfect.

Save the dates

This is the dress I’m planning to make, with the scalloped hem and the bow.

New patterns

The hem band and bow will be red, and the body of the dress that gorgeous floral print. She’ll be freakin’ adorable.

I’ve done a few prototypes of some of the craft projects I have in mind, and over the next week I’ll be making myself a detailed timeline of when I should be working on these things. Because that’s the kind of planning and organizing freak that I am.

I am still making too many plans, and taking on too many projects, and giving myself too many goals. I think I’m starting to accept that this is just part of how I operate. Generally, I like having a lot going on, but it can be hard to have all those fun and exciting projects happening without putting pressure on myself to do all the things, and to do them perfectly. This is a perpetual struggle, and I suspect that the next six months of wedding planning won’t be the time when I finally win that particular personal battle.

At least this is all still fun for now! No, I didn’t write every day in March. No, I haven’t sewn a new garment or project every week this year. But I’m still doing more than I did before, and that counts for something.

And once those save the date cards are in the mail, and I can check one more thing off my To Do list, I’ll be able to give myself a pat on the back and move on to the next thing.

sewing, spring

New Patterns!

New patterns

Whenever the McCalls/Vogue/Butterick site has a sale for club members, I get a little giddy. Getting a $30 pattern for $3 feels like quite a deal (although I don’t imagine people often pay the $30 list price). So this week I splurged a little on a few things I’ve had my eye on.

I love the Vintage Vogue patterns. The packaging with the old school illustrations makes my heart swoop a little bit. Of course, looking at the required yardage for those beautiful full skirts makes my heart swoop in a different way. But that gorgeous silhouette is worth it. In the pattern above, I think I’m going to make the B version first. I haven’t yet reached a sewist’s mind frame where I can already picture it in a particular fabric or color. But I’ll keep my eyes out for something that seems right for a lovely summery dress. Perhaps something in the type of floral print I usually shy away from.

New patterns

Then there’s this beauty. The pin tucks on the bodice are swoon-worthy. I might even have to get myself (make myself?) at big ol’ Sunday hat to go with it.

New patterns

I also bought my first of Gertie’s Butterick patterns. I couldn’t resist. It might, just might, end up being the dress I make to wear for our rehearsal dinner (although I already have something in mind for that particular event, fabric purchased and everything). I don’t have much occasion to wear fancy dresses like this, but I can’t seem to resist them.

I also picked up a pattern for a little girl’s dress that might end up being my niece’s flower girl dress, if I can find the right fabric.

Despite having all these shiny new babies in my possession, I believe my next project will be from a pattern I’ve had sitting around for awhile:

New patterns

In LA’s fashion district two weekends ago, I bought a navy blue cotton with an embroidered border. I think version A of this dress will make a great summer dress. I don’t have a plan for the little bolero jacket yet. I may or may not make one to match the blue dress. I actually bought this pattern FOR the little bolero jacket, but I have another fabric in mind for it, and not one that will match a blue dress. I’m all over the place in my plans for this pattern.

I did just finish another pencil skirt last night, and I’ll share it as soon as I can get some pictures. I think it’s the best thing I’ve made so far. The fabric is to-die-for, a super soft Italian wool I bought in Seattle, and I hemmed the thing by hand, and put in a lining (first time ever!), and I guess I’ll save all the details for later.

Any new patterns in your collection lately? What sewing projects are you dreaming about now?

goals, wedding

Decisions Made

Red Envelopes, White invitation with Blue Flower Design

Once I wrote my last post, I felt a tiny bit of the weight of that decision lift off me. Writing something down always helps me put it into perspective, and I realized that in the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t a huge decision. That made it SO much easier to just make it already.

We decided to go with printable invitations, from e.m. papers. These were some of the first invitations I looked at, and it’s always kind of satisfying to come back, in the final decision, to something I liked at the beginning of the process. Yesterday I had the save the dates printed, cut them, and I stuffed them into envelopes. Feels like progress!

Which is good, because I feel like progress in other areas of my life has been slow going lately. You can probably tell that I haven’t been writing every day as I had hoped to do this month, and it’s hard not to feel frustrated by that. I’ve been busy, and the jury trial I’m currently serving on has thrown my regular routine all out of whack.

It feels good to have accomplished this one small goal. I think that’s what I need to focus on for awhile: one small goal a day, rather than big, sweeping goals for a month, or a year. Sometimes you have to think small to get big things done, right?

wedding

Decisions, Decision

1 Comment

Who would have thought that the most challenging decision I would be faced with (at least so far) in this whole wedding planning process would be deciding on the invitations? And by invitations, I mean all the stationery, from save the dates to thank you cards.

Sean and I are both interested design and typography. As such, both of us (or maybe it’s just me?) want to find stationery that we think is beautiful, and that suits and reflects the kind of party we’re throwing. We want something unique, in just the right colors and with just the right wording and just the right fonts. Unfortunately, neither of us are designers. I wish I could design my own darn invitations, but I know it would just end up being a frustrating and disappointing project. This is not something I know how to do. Bake my own wedding party cookies? Yes, no problem. Design an invitation? Um, no.

I keep telling myself over and over, “How important are the invitations, anyway? Is anyone even going to remember them?” But I do think the stationery you send out sets the stage, and lets people know what to expect at your wedding. So…I have been spending months poring over websites like Wedding Paper Divas and Minted, checking out designers on Etsy, and playing around with colors and fonts. Every time I think I’ve made a decision, I see something else that I like more.

The thing is, these days, there are so many fabulous design options! And yet…there isn’t one that I have felt is just right for us yet.

It’s becoming a little bit frustrating, and lately I’ve been asking myself at what point does one just make a decision and let it go? How do you promise yourself that you won’t second guess the decision that you’ve made? I’m a big second guesser in general (terrible, I know), and I don’t want to go through this whole process doubting all of these choices that are, honestly, so freaking minor. Every other decision so far I feel good about. I don’t know why this tiny little detail is proving so onerous.

Have you been through this before? Did you obsess over invitations? Did you obsess over other seemingly unimportant details? How did you just force yourself to make a decision already? Advice much appreciated.

goals

Me and Challenges

I was only one day into my personal blog writing challenge this month, and I have to admit, I flubbed it. I headed down to LA for the weekend without my laptop, and it is awfully hard to update a blog in any meaningful way from a cell phone. So days 2 and 3 of my Month Long Write Every Day Challenge were a bit of a bust, but I’m not letting that get me down.

The thing about me and challenges is that I’m not very good at them. I’m a forgetful person, it’s true, and if I set myself a goal to do X thing Y number of times, it’s very likely that I’ll space on it at some point. I’ve even tried setting reminders for myself, and have actually had the experience of turning off the reminder, and within two minutes forgetting completely to do the thing I was trying to remind myself to do. It can be embarrassing.

I can also be kind of hard on myself. It’s true. But the thing about personal challenges is that I’m learning to be more forgiving of myself. I can learn just as much from being gentle with myself as I can from pushing myself, like how to persevere, rather than admitting defeat after one tiny failure. And if I’m gentle with myself, it’s easier to keep the focus on what the real goal of this challenge is. It’s not just to update a blog every day. It’s to write. To write early and often. To write good things and not so good things (uh, like this, I suspect), as long as I keep writing. The idea behind a daily writing challenge is to do the work, even when you don’t want to, and even if you think the work isn’t that great. So if I miss a day due to my forgetfulness, that’s ok. Tomorrow is another day, and I’m going to keep on writing.

In more lighthearted news: I found The Dress this weekend! It’s a beauty, I can’t believe I have to wait a whole seven months to wear it! (I also can’t believe we’re getting married seven months from tomorrow.) Shopping for the dress with my mom was a great experience, and seeing her face when I put it on is something I’m always going to remember. And thanks to the folks at Dolly Couture for being amazing!

goals, Right Now, spring

March, You are Mine

I don’t know what it is about February, but it always feels interminable. I used to assume that it was related to winter in Massachusetts: By February you are more than ready for winter to be over, but you know you still have two more months of the awful. However, here in California, February was beautiful (sorry to rub it in, folks). And yet, it still felt like it lasted an age.

I found myself feeling lackluster. Sluggish. Depressed. I did not want to do anything.

But now it’s March, and March, I am going to own you.

I already feel an extra little bounce in my step. And I’m feeling positive about some of the goals that I’ve set for myself this month. Most significantly, I am going to push myself to write every single day. So you might actually see some posts here, whoo!

I’m heading to LA this weekend to go wedding dress shopping with my Ma, and I’m looking forward to the awesome adventure. Aside from visiting an awesome dress shop (Dolly Couture), we’re planning a visit to the Garment District, and I’m hoping to hit up Mood Fabrics. To top it all off, I get to visit, too, with my brother, sister-in-law, and my girls! I’m looking forward to some baby drool up in this business.

So March, I’m so glad you’re hear. February and I don’t always get along, but you, you and I are going to be tight. I can feel it.

feminism, home care

Housewifery

There’s something I have to come clean about. I feel like an embarrassment to feminists everywhere, or at least to my younger self. But here it is: I want to be a housewife.

I’ve been a feminist as long as I can remember. I always believed that I could do anything, be anything in life, even President of the United States (I no longer believe I can be that.) Some of my favorite imaginative games as a kid involved me pretending to have a career of some sort (teacher, architect, real estate agent…yeah, I was a strange one). Throughout my twenties I disavowed the idea of having children, and wasn’t even sure I ever wanted to be married. I’ve always been ambitious, and those ambitions have always been shuttled toward “career,” even when the notion of the career I wanted to have shifted. I never wanted to be taken care of by anyone else.

I still don’t want to be “taken care of.” As my partner and I plan our wedding, and think about what our marriage means to us, nowhere in those promises do I want anything to do with being taken care of or supported. That is no one’s responsibility but my own. Or rather, ours, together. We take care of each other, as a unit. As equals.

But part of that taking care does mean taking care of our home, and our home life. It will eventually mean taking care of our child, and our family. As it is, we both work, and we both take care of our home life, and that is wonderful and as it should be. For us. Right now. But over the past few years, I’ve realized how much I love taking care of home life. That I love it more than I love my job. I don’t necessarily feel fulfilled or satisfied by my work, even when I enjoy it. I don’t feel like my work defines me, and when I leave the office at the end of the day, I shut down the work part of myself (most of the time), and I focus on other things that I love more, like cooking, sewing, cleaning, reading, knitting. I concentrate on my family, my partner, my friends.

I always imagined myself as someone who would be invested in her work, not just a nine-to-fiver. If I’m going to work, I want it to be with determination and passion. Maybe that’s unrealistic, and maybe it’s healthier to be a person who shuts off the work part at the end of the day and focuses on other things. Be that as it may, many women of my generation want to be dedicated, hard working professionals.

It feels like a betrayal, of myself and my fellow ladies, but when I think about the possibility of leaving my job and being a full time homemaker, that thought is really pleasing to me. I feel jealous of people who are able to do it, and sad in the recognition that, these days, being a one income family is nearly impossible, especially in the Bay Area, where we live. These thoughts of giving up my job and being a stay-at-home partner/mother are alien to me, and to my younger self, but there they are.

Many people might want to blame feminism for removing the full-time homemaker option from the family, whether it’s the man or the woman who wants that role. I don’t blame feminism, not even a little bit. I blame an economic system that leaches off of the population, paying them less and less for more and more work, and constantly upping the ante on consumerism and the cost of living. These days, women often aren’t full-time homemakers because there is no way their families could financially survive that way. That’s certainly how I feel about our burgeoning family.

And I’m pleased when I read that a majority of women would rather be single mothers than married to someone who’d rather they stay home. Maybe it’s in the phrasing. I’d rather be single than married to a man who would prefer I stay at home. Because my husband should only prefer that I do what makes me happy, and that we make decisions about our family together.

But sometimes I do wonder if I didn’t suddenly regress a million years in my personal outlook. Because suddenly I’m thinking that I’d be very happy if I could stay home and take care of my family all day. And I think it’s curious that when feminists fought for women’s rights to do work they loved, we somehow managed lose what was once the only valid option.

Does anyone else feel this way? Do you think I’d change my mind quickly once I left my professional life behind? Do you think being a housewife causes imbalances in the power dynamic of the home? Do you think it’s ok for women to want to be housewives even if they have no children? How do you feel about balancing work and home life?