This Weekend: Invitation Design!

This weekend, I have to admit that I was at work a bit finishing up with some graphics for a report, but I was also working on a really fun project too.

I designed the invitations to my friend Leanne's engagement party. She and her fiance are having their wedding at a resort, and they don't get the fun of sending out their own wedding invitations (it was fun for me, at least!), so they wanted to create something special for their engagement party. She asked me to do it a while ago, and I have been working on it in bits and spurts.


It was quite a fun design challenge for me, because Severine (Leanne's fiance) wants to incorporate paisley into their wedding design, and Leanne is using different feathers for the event. I decided to combine the two, and came up with this motif for them. This is the pattern that is used sparingly on the front of the invitation, and also on the backside, to reinforce the theme. I think they eventually want to get label stickers with this pattern on them too! I am so happy they like my design. It was great to see Leanne so excited about it!

I will post the final results (the front of the card) soon - it is missing their picture right now.

Upping the Cuteness Factor

Well, my readers have spoken, and I am listening! "More cute puppies!" you said (that's a lie - no one said that). "We want to read about things, little and furry!" you urged (another lie on my part).

Well, dear readers, for you....

photo by Juan Castaneda

Sebastien and I are puppy-sitting this weekend for a friend of a friend. His name is Beethoven, and he is 2 and a half years old, and very sweet. We went to the farmers' market this weekend, and then to the dog park.

yet another beautiful photo by Juan Castaneda

I wish you a great weekend, filled with many things, cute.

Another Step, Almost Finished!

Today is Wednesday. For the past 15 weeks, this has meant that I will not see Sebastien after work until after 10:pm, because he is taking a class. Specifically, he is taking the Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Wine and Spirits, from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET).

Tonight is his final class, and next Wednesday he is taking a really daunting exam. Even before he started taking these classes, I was amazed by his knowledge of wines, and his capacity to remember minutia, but now....


Let's just say that, as I review flashcards with him for his exam, I am frequently blown away by ability to remember the tiniest details about soils, and climate, and production, and wine regions, and wine law, etc. He is amazing, and I am so proud of his initiative in taking these courses (he took the intermediate course last year).

I have little idea what this certificate may mean in the future, but I know whatever it is, will be great! Way to go, Sebastien! You give me inspiration every day.

-And after you are finished next week, let's go out for some BEER.

Whew!

I am a lady with many missions these days. I have many (fun and exciting) things on the burner; things that will be spoken of soon enough.


I am working on a tablecloth for Tamara, some wedding shower invitations for my friend Leanne, adding some things onto an apron I got as a birthday gift, and I still need to send out those little monsters (sorry Chris and Chip - they are coming!!!). Things are also pretty busy at work, and I just got home from softball practice, and.... and.... Well, like I said, there are many more things on the burner.

Take care. I hope you have a wonderful week.

You Can't Catch Me; I'm the Gingerbread (wo)Man!

Every year for Valentine's Day, I make Sebastien some gingerbread cookies. Don't ask me why....

What I do know is that the first time I made them for him, he literally ate so many he got sick. So I took that as a compliment and have been making them since. This past weekend (I guess in honor of summer?), I made them again. They aren't very summery, but they are tasty, and there were no complaints.


(Extra) Ginger Gingerbread Cookies (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1c. white sugar
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground nutmeg (I use fresh, and it is really nice, but you can use the jar too)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt (I use kosher, because I like getting bites with more "bite," you know?)
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1c. melted butter
1/2c. evaporated milk
1/2c. maple syrup
1/2c. unsulfered molasses
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. lemon extract

4c. all-purpose flour

1/4c. chopped dried candied ginger (this is the secret!)

1. Preheat oven to 350'F and grease cookie sheet

2. Find some cute cookie-cutters that you have tucked away (this time I wanted a summery theme, so I made bees, hearts, and starfish). Set them aside

3. Mix the first 6 ingredients (all dry ingredients except flour and chopped candied ginger)

4. Mix in the next 6 (wet)

5. Stir in the flour. If it is still sticky (mine usually is), add 1/2 to 1c. more. Add chopped candied ginger.

6. Roll to 1/2" thick.

7. Cut and place on baking sheet.

8. Bake at 350' for 9-11 minutes.

The frosting, I am almost embarrassed to put online. I feel like I need to justify it. It does have corn syrup in it, and I adamantly avoid it when I can. It is unfortunately very bad for you, and even more, it is in virtually all prepared foods at the supermarket. So, I think I may have put on sunglasses when I actually bought a container at the store. BUT, I am very careful about my corn syrup intake, and I seldom make these cookies, and it makes the frosting SO lovely and shiny, like a nice glaze. *If any of you know of an alternative to using it that will still result in shiny little cookie gems, please let me know.* So - ahem - here without further ado:

Lovely Glazed Icing

1c. confectioners sugar

2 tsp. milk

2 tsp. light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. lemon extract

whatever food coloring you would like (this time I opted for white)

some lemon zest, if you have it on hand

1. Mix sugar and milk.

2. Add everything else.

3. Dip cookies in, or I like to paint it on with a kitchen brush.

4. Enjoy!

To Umbrella, or NOT to Umbrella?

I am a "NO umbrella" girl.

For some reason, I get bothered when I walk around this grey city in drizzle, and people here are buzzing around with cute shoes, perfectly coiffed hair, and huge golf umbrellas, completely not noticing as they nearly poke one another in the eye. In my head, I am thinking, "C'mon people - this is a rainy climate! Embrace it!" I want to see the sky, and be immersed in the grey-ness of it.

I know, I know - this is my own deal.

I think it has something to do with my time living in Portland. People there don't use umbrellas; they just get wet (as a side-note to this mini-rant, the 2003 movie The Hunted was filmed in Portland, and they had quite a few street scenes. Portlanders kept pointing out how inauthentic this movie was because the people on the street all carried umbrellas in the rain).

However, and here it is a little confusing, but if I still lived in New York, I would own an umbrella (although there, you never know when to use it, because the storms come out of nowhere). Strange, I know.

(This picture was taken immediately after we got engaged, after standing in the rain for over two hours drooling over Radiohead, and is not a good indication of how soaked I am on a given "normal" day of work, etc.)

The other day, I heard the clouds open, and I looked out the window to a full-out (ain't holdin' nothing back) downpour. It was the same type of rain I grew up with, that used to come at 2:30 in the afternoon, in the middle of the summer. This is the kind of rain that makes the heat and humidity of New York bearable.... It was nice. And I thought, "Okay. Umbrellas make sense here, for the moment." Twenty minutes later it was all over, and the sky "cleared" to a lovely grey again. --The "almost sun" we are used to here in Vancouver.

Do you like umbrellas? Don't worry - I won't judge you (much).

Bucket List

I am sure you have had this experience:

One day, you hear the word "dystopia" (or some word equally obscure) and you think, "Hmmn.... I haven't heard that word in ages!" --And then the next day, you are sitting on the train, and someone says, "What a dystopia we are living in." --And then the day after that, you are at work, putting your bagged lunch into the refrigerator, and one of your co-workers mentions that China is in such a dystopic state, and there must be something that can be done. At this point, I usually think to myself, "Have I been in a cave, not noticing this word, or is it that I just happened upon it three days in a row, by random chance?"

Over the past few weeks, this has been the case with the "bucket list."

I always have a "to do" list, at least in my head, of things I want to accomplish. So even though it was never formalized, I guess that was my "bucket list." I just didn't know that at the time.

Two years ago, my friends told me about a friend of theirs, who had been dating a woman for over 7 years. The woman wanted to get married, and their friend dragged his feet about making the commitment, saying he still had things he wanted to while he was single (in the legal sense of the word). One day, his girlfriend sat him down and said, "Okay. We are going to make you a bucket list of things you want to do while you are single, and you can put anything you want on this list, but after you finish doing everything on the list, we are getting married." And that is exactly what happened.


Well, in the last few weeks, I have been thinking (and hearing) a lot about bucket lists again. People have been talking about what they want to do before they move from their apartment, or what they would like to accomplish at their current job, or finish before they die.

Here are a few things that are on my bucket list (although not all of them - a girl has got to keep some things to herself!). These are (it will be obvious in a moment) in no particular order, and may be added to (or subtracted from), at any time. I reserve that right.

• quilt a duvet cover (from my beautiful Marimekko fabric!)
• start a design firm
• camp (in Hawaii)
• make more time to sew much, much more than I currently do
• travel to many more places (there are too many to list)
• hike the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, from France to Spain
• see the Grand Canyon
• buy a house and restore it
• design my own house, and help build it
• stay out all night clubbing in Copenhagen again
• help people plan and pull off their weddings
• take a class in sewing
• take a class in pattern-making
• write a children's book (about chickens)
• write a follow-up book (!)
• visit family more
• volunteer at a retirement community
• rescue a dog/cat
• get my PADI certification for scuba-diving
• teach classes at a college or university
• travel to give lectures
• learn French
• become fluent in Spanish

There are probably many things I've forgotten.

What is on YOUR list?