I have
been on vacation this whole week and I have been doing a whole lot
of nothing. Well...that's not entirely true. The Jo-Anns Fabric
here reopened in a HUGE new facility and I have gone once a day
for the past three days. It's HUGE. Did I say it was huge? I have
not purchased anything super exciting, mainly things like wire and
wood glue. I did buy two Simplicity patterns a skirt
and a kimono
top. I'm liven' large.
It snowed!
It's so amazing to live again in a place that snows. I love it.
Especially for the upcoming holiday season. It just seems to make
it that more festive. I need new gloves and a hat and a scarf and
one of those double ended scraper thingys that has the brush on
one end and the scraper on the other. I used to have all of these
things, but that was long ago, in a land far, far away. I am going
to take advantage of the Not
Martha 25% discount on Fred
Flare to get the Stitch and Bitch book by Debbie Stoller. Maybe
I can kit myself a scarf. Or some socks.
I forgot to mention that while we were up in the Big City, we noticed
that the cast from A
Mighty Wind was on tour
and playing the same time we were up there. I REALLY wish I would
have known about that before hand....I would have killed to see
that. I heart Christopher Guest. I heart them all, actually. I had
to settle for watching it on Pay Per View.
The Current issue of Food
and Wine has an interesting recipe
for sugar cookies. Interesting in the fact that they suggest you
process the sugar in a food processor. I think I will try it.
Had
a great time this weekend. I forgot to mention that we stayed at
the Vintage
Park Hotel. I love that place. They have some rooms that are
themed along with some Washington Wineries, and since J works for
McCrea Cellars, we stayed in the McCrea
room. One of the first things I do in a hotel room is take a
running leap to the bed. I usually land, bounce, bounce, bounce...then
go about my business of unpacking. This weekend I started my take
off from the other side of the room, took a flying leap and landed
with a THUD. No bounce. As I lay there in shock and pain I realized
that I was slowly sinking, like laying in sand. Erica, meet the
Tempur-pedic,
Tempur-pedic, Erica. I AM IN LOVE. I forgave the mattress for it's
unwillingness to bounce, realizing that this mattress is above
bouncing. It was amazing...it was the only thing people talked about
in the elevator. I was wondering last night as I was tossing and
turning if my Sealy knew I was thinking about someone else.
The rest of the birthday celebrating was fun, El
Gaucho was great. The cigar lounge was sorta cool if only for
the fact that J enjoyed it so much. We did not try the bananas foster
but got to witness it's flaming glory as it was being prepared for
a group of Japanese businessmen.
Afterwards, we were shuttled to the Triple
Door to watch Paul
deLay play blues harmonica. That was awesome. We were
then given two boxes by our companions that had notes taped to them
that said "Do NOT open in public!" What? Okay.....they
gave us vague instructions like "They will like to be cold"
or "Erica, watch out for the toothpick." Honestly, I was
a little afraid. Once we got back to our room, J opened his first
and it was a cupcake with some strange marzipan decoration on top.
We sat there and stared at it for a bit before comprehension sunk
in. It was an interesting, fairly accurate almond paste representation
of the female genitalia. I opened the other box and it beheld the
glory of a wee marizpan penis. That explained the toothpick remark.
They came from the Exotic
Bakery (scroll down). We put them in the mini fridge, and forgot
all bout them. "Remember the cupcakes." We remembered
the cupcakes halfway home. I really sincerely hope that the maid
staff got a huge chuckle out of them. It was a fun weekend. I ate
way too much and drank even more. Ugh.
Today
is my Super J's birthday! Yay! Happy 43rd! Today is also my friend
Trina's birthday as well...Happy Birthday Trina! I hope you get
to do something fun! We are going to spend Saturday night in the
big bad city celebrating the birthday of J. Some friends are throwing
him a par-tay that includes dinner at this
place. Fancy. He is particularly excited about the cigar
lounge which I am a little less excited about. Stinky.
Thanks for all of the tree decorating thoughts and suggestions.
I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and couldn't get back to sleep
so I decorated the tree in my head. Denise
mentioned tying ribbons on the tree branches and I completely forgot
that I just scored these off eBay.
I am
thinking that I am going to run them down the tree vertically from
the top that way I don't have to cut them. I am also thinking that
I am going to make a paper mache tree topper. A santa. Inspired
by the amazing creations of Debbee
Thibault. I love how she attached the arms with wire. Better
get crackin'.
I am
eagerly anticipating the arrival of my Gel
Colors I ordered. I love to track packages. I have decided to
tackle the fancy
cookie decorating process that Martha always demonstrates. As
soon as I get them I am going to start practicing.
I have been trying to decide whether or not to get a Christmas tree
this year, since J and I are going to be with family for most of
the holiday. I am leaning toward "what the hell" and becoming
one of those people I use to consider crazy for getting a tree in
November. Next issue is how to decorate it. The last tree J and
I got, I went ahead and decorated it with my glass pickle ornaments
and bundles of eucalyptus and green ribbon. It was very pretty,
but J had twin cows when he saw it. One for the fact that he did
not get to help decorate and the other was because the tree was
all green. I was made to promise that the next tree we got would
have lots of color. I don't want to spend a ton of money on decorations
so I am trying to think of something I can make. Maybe the cookie
rejects from the gel color experiment? If I was REALLY ambitious,
I would make stuffed felt animals like these
Hearfelts from The Dining
Company. (not gonna happpen..the operative word being "IF")
I also like the
cones which I mentioned last
month. I just don't know. I also need to think of something
to do with my pickles. I've got some great ones and I would REALLY
like to have one of these
feather trees, but for Pete's sake,...there are a lot more vital
items I could buy for that kind of cash.
This
thread
on Glitter about the Print
Grocco is pretty timely as I was thinking about possibly getting
one someday. Perhaps. This experience sounds promising. I would
rather get into silk-screening, but I seriously do not have the
space. It looks as if the Print Grocco has an attachment for fabric
as well...hmm...
As
promised, my
friend Trina sent pics of her pucking guacamole. She also included
her version of the flaming pumpkin. Pretty damn cool.
As it turns out, I did not have to hide from any trick or treaters
BECAUSE NO ONE CAME TO OUR DOOR! Perhaps the universe sensed my
candy lust and acted accordingly.
Here, finally..is a sneak peak of my latest comic: The Flute Playing
Pig Makes Candles:
I have not decided how to upload it yet...it just doesn't look very
good scanned. I am thinking perhaps offering it up as a zine or
something to sell for a couple of bucks. I just don't know. I need
to experiment with the copy machine.
Note: For some reason my comments boxes aren't loading. :(
