granola.take two

Yes, granola once again. But it's so good and so easy.

In a few minutes I'm going to head out to Shape Note singing. Can't wait! I've been starting to do this once a month and enjoying it immensely.

Last night I saw the movie Rachel Getting Married with some friends. I'd never heard of it before and it turned out to be a really great movie. You should check it out. {And I was also quite pleasantly surprised to discover Tunde Adebimpe, singer from the awesome band TV on the Radio, playing the groom!}

Have a fantastic weekend! I've got a full to-do list of things to accomplish {hint: there is no way I'm getting all of this accomplished}.

japanese craft books in english!

I just discovered this today on Amazon. I hope they continue translating more of these Japanese books!

granola.

I'm one of those people who really can't stand oatmeal. I mean, the oats themselves are fine, just don't prefer that soggy dish people seem to always make for breakfast. I know it's healthy and all that, but I think it's kind of revolting. Even as a child whenever I had cereal for breakfast, I didn't put milk in it because I hated how mushy it got. (Also my dad would make me drink the milk at the bottom of the bowl and I thought that was disgusting.) So when I make my oatmeal, I like it to crunch. Granola is the happy alternative. This time I used a recipe for peanut butter granola. It uses very little peanut butter, but it's that awesome natural kind (which I think is marvelous). I also added a few raisins in mine. I'm really starting to dig this whole breakfast thing. It has definitely helped me wake up in the morning. I wonder if that's the reason breakfast was invented in the first place? Probably not, but it's a nice thought.

toast and more toast.

I didn't have time to upload pictures from yesterday and honestly, toast can get kinda boring to photograph after awhile. I'm sure if I was a better photographer, I'd find all these cool new ways to make toast look grand, but I'm not. Yesterday I made some white no-knead bread and it was delicious! This could become a bad thing if I make it too often. That just means I'll be eating bread all the time and I don't really need that much bread in my diet! But I have a bucket full of dough left in the fridge and I'm so tempted to put in another loaf today.

toast.

Yesterday I decided to try out that recipe for no-knead bread that I keep hearing about. As I was making it, I discovered we only had 2 cups of all-purpose flour left, so I had to use whole wheat for the remaining amount. I like whole wheat bread, so I was fine with that. But I wasn't sure if it would screw up this recipe as wheat tends to be a little bit heavier than white flour. It worked out just fine and this morning I made toast with blackberry jam. Exactly what I needed to start out the day. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can stick the remaining dough in the fridge for up to two weeks and break off a chunk to bake whenever you feel like bread. Next time I'm going to try it with white flour and see if there's much of a difference. I also found this video that was helpful. I'd like to check out this cookbook too.

nothing special

I decided to just re-heat the left over muffins from yesterday's breakfast. Simple, but I didn't have time to make anything this morning. Lots to get done today! I cannot believe it's almost February. Seems like the time has completely passed me by.

Be well.

donut muffins.

Recipe can be found here.

Feel like a good movie on a lazy Sunday afternoon? You might want to check out this adorable film, Vivacious Lady. You can't go wrong with Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart.

As for me? I'm going to continue sewing and watching movies that I've seen over and over again in hopes that I won't get too distracted by them. I've tried watching movies I've never seen before and work at the same time, but I'm always distracted and end up getting nothing accomplished. Most likely it will be some Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire films or The Thin Man. They never fail to make me incredibly happy.

One more week until February! Have a fabulous new week and what's left of the weekend.

{On second thought, perhaps My Man Godfrey is in order for this afternoon. :) }

happy belated birthday, annie!

Here's a short video clip from last night. Kind of embarrassing, actually. I always feel like I am so much different when I look at myself on film.


making mimosas from Anna Allen on Vimeo.

Annie was filming and her sister Rachel was lighting the candles. I'm the one making the mimosas. Yummm.

egg again.

Another rather boring breakfast, but this time I didn't burn the egg! I added cheese and made it into a sort of omelet instead. Tasted much better than the burnt egg I ate yesterday.

Nothing super exciting today. I've got to finish a project I'm working on and then dive into my taxes, which is pretty much furthest away from fun as you can get. But maybe I'll make it fun by putting on a movie while I sit there typing in numbers. I could never be an accountant in a million trillion years. {Funny I say that, because having your own business automatically makes you an accountant of sorts.}

Well I'm off to get things done.

Also, Vetiver is coming out with a new album in February. Love. {Don't forget to click on the mp3 "Everyday." Pretty song I can't stop listening to.}

And, this song by Bon Iver. {via. Lisen.}

new japanese craft book

Natural Material Clothes Pt. 2







My grandma gave this to me for Christmas and I love it! I want to make these sandals so bad. Now to figure out how exactly they're constructed. Man I wish I knew how to read Japanese.

egg.

I actually burnt my egg. Probably the simplest breakfast you could make. What a special way to start out the day. :)

I'm making red velvet cake for my friend's birthday today. Actually her birthday was last weekend, but we are celebrating it tonight. I also picked up champagne and orange juice to make mimosa's! It's her favorite, any time of the day or night. Doesn't have to be at breakfast. And we're going out to eat. Should be delightful evening. In the meantime, I've got to get some mad sewing done! Happy Friday!

home-made bagels.

Home-made bagels for the first time ever! Next time I won't bake them as long as I did. I was afraid they might not get done, so I left them in for a few minutes longer than the recipe directed and they came out a little too brown. Oops. Live and learn. Also I might try making the bagels a smidge bit smaller. But they were really very easy to make and I have a bunch of ideas for different types of bagels next time. I'd like to try a whole grain bagel for sure. Maybe something with oats and honey in it. Oh the possibilities! I used this recipe. They even show a short video on how to form the bagels, which was quite helpful.

The book I'm flipping through is a Christmas present from my grandma! It's one of the Japanese Craft Books that many of us obsess over. This one is Natural Material Clothes Pt. 2. Lots of great ideas in that book. They even have a pattern for leather sandals! I'm itching to make them for the summer. Perhaps I will document how I make them on here whenever I get around to that.

Listening to Alela Diane. Watch this beautiful video! More of her lovely music here.

banana muffins.

We had bananas that needed to be used, so I decided to mix up a quick batch of banana muffins. Oh man, it is hard to stop at just one.

Listening to Chopin.

candied orange scones.

{first day.}

Congratulations, Mr. Obama. What a great day this is. A day to go down in history that we shall ne'er forget.

I like this. {i still like it, but decided it may offend some, so removed the link.}

breakfast.

{my messy desk, one homemade doughnut, one clementine orange and a glass of milk.}

I am generally not a morning person. I like to stay up late and make the day feel longer than it is. But the problem with that is I still like my sleep and find that when morning comes, it comes much too early. Annoyingly early. It's hard enough to get myself out of bed, so I came up with an idea that may convince me to stop pressing the snooze button on the alarm clocks (yes, there are two). It is simply this; make breakfast! I never make breakfast. When I do, it's usually on a weekend and generally I sleep in too late on those days to make breakfast. But to me, I've always thought breakfast as one of those meals I don't think I really need. It's more of a luxury in my book. But at the same time, I still really love the idea of breakfast. Getting up to a warm muffin or a fresh blueberry scone and a hot cup of coffee? Yes, PLEASE! What actually ends up happening is I make my coffee and maybe get a bowl of Cheerios (I like putting raisins and walnuts in there to liven it up a smidge). Boring. Who gets excited about waking up to a bowl of Cheerios? Many times I'll just have coffee. Coffee is a must, but that's usually it. So I thought, hey, what if I planned a few days ahead to make breakfast each morning, maybe it would convince me to wake up. And to make things a little more enjoyable, each morning I will take a picture of my breakfast so that I am sure to think of something to make, and in turn, help me to get my butt out of bed. Kinda like Simply Breakfast. Only her photos are way too cool. Mine will probably be pretty bland, but I will try! Let's hope my little experiment won't turn into a picture of a boring bowl of Cheerios every morning. Oh man, now that would be thrilling. Well I've just wasted 20 minutes jabbing on here about making breakfast.

I am going now.

Happy morning and breakfast eating!

P.S. Also happy day this is. History is being made and it is good.

peaceful weekend

{mom made doughnuts the other day. tons of doughnuts! we have a tradition to make doughnuts after we have a blizzard. i like this tradition. fresh home-made doughnuts are oh-so delightful. unfortunately they are filled with about a million calories, but who cares??}

I love quiet mornings and afternoons. I got up late so I'm still considering this my "late morning." Even though it's afternoon. Last night my friend Alanna and I went off to Scattergoods dance. It was the first time for both of us to attend. They have it every month, but it's a 40 minute drive so I've never gotten around to driving out there until last night. So much fun. The last time I went to a contra dance was in St. Louis a couple years ago. Last night people kept asking me if I danced and I would explain that I do a lot of mid-19th century dancing, which always ended up in a rather long explanation of what exactly that is. By the time we got home it was past midnight and this morning when I got up I discovered sore knees. I don't think I was want for a partner more than once the entire evening. People really like to dance at these things, and never stop! You also meet a lot of interesting characters. :) A few things I've learned from dancing through the years is one, always look your partner in the eyes. The first time I did this I felt very awkward, because let's face it, people have a really bad habit of looking around the room instead of at the person who you are talking to. It's not like they are going to bite your eyes off or anything. And and the next thing I've learned, when your partner spins you around, don't be afraid. He won't drop you. Just hold on and lean back, it's fun! I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend every dance, but hopefully I'll make it out there again. And maybe I can convince a few more people around here to come with me.


{wearing my new knitted hat, pattern by Ysolda.}

I'm looking out the window as I type this and the snow is blowing all over the yard. But I'm cozy warm inside, sipping my hot coffee and listening to Chopin. Yes indeed, this is what I call a relaxing Saturday. The cold weather has encouraged me to continue knitting and I keep finding patterns that I want to knit up. I've also begun this nasty habit of stopping by the local yarn store in town on my way home every Sunday. Last week I picked up a ball of some chunky weight wool yarn for the lovely Icing Swirl Hat I had to make by Ysolda. It was so easy to make and I'm already beginning another one that I plan to give to someone eventually. It's nice and cozy warm and I really like how it looks. My latest obsession is this knitted neck tie {via 16_sparrows}. I need to look and see if I have any appropriate yarn for this project or if I have to go back to the knit shop tomorrow once again and pick up something else.

Recently I discovered a new channel {to me} on YouTube. {Youtube, how I love thee.} It has tons of great movies I've been wanting to see for a long time. Or other movies I had never heard about and a great bunch of pre-code films too! Last night after coming home from the dance I just had to finish a movie I started earlier that day. It's called Private Lives {more info on imdb.com} and it was made in 1931, which makes it pre-code. I always find pre-code films to be much more interesting and I found this movie quite hilarious. This part I found particularly funny, I think mostly because I didn't expect someone in a 1930s film to say "pompous ass," but it's said throughout the film, which makes it even more hilarious.

Amanda {Norma Shearer}: You're a pompous ass!
Victor{Reginald Denny}: Mandy!
Amanda: Pompous ass! That's what I said and that's what I mean! Blown out with your own importance!
Victor: Mandy! Control yourself!
Amanda: Get away from me!

I also found I am beginning to love Norma Shearer. I'd only ever seen her in one film before, so I am delighted to find she is in several other films this YouTube channel has to offer. I also want to mention the same for Robert Montgomery. What a delightful couple he and Norma make!

While I'm at it, I've just discovered the joys of Tumblr, thanks to Erica. :) It's a nice and easy way to keep track of things I find as I surf the web. Often times I will see something I want to remember and save a link only to find later I can't remember where I saved the link. This makes it so much more convenient.

Well I'm off to try and be somewhat productive today. Then later will probably go have coffee with Alanna. I am sad because she's going off to France on Tuesday and then from there to Vancouver, so I'm not sure when I'll see her next. I hate it when friends go off, but I'm happy for all the new experiences she will have and all the adventures that await her in a different country.

Be well. Stay warm.

music!

So it's 2009 and you know everyone is talking about their favorite music of 2008. Well, I'm freaking out because I discovered Music Blog Zeitgeist 2008 on Hype Machine. If you've never heard of Hype Machine, oh man you are missing out. It's the place to go to find the music people are blogging about. It's awesome. I use it all the time. And now they have this amazing thing going on right now. They've got the top artists, songs and my absolute favorite, top 50 albums of the year. You can stream all 50 albums for freeeee! Yes, I'm freaking out over here. Also, you know what makes me even more ecstatic? Top album of 2008 is Fleet Foxes!!! I adore them. Got their album for Christmas and haven't hardly listened to anything else since. It's so beautiful. You have to take a listen. Last night I streamed Blitzen Trapper, which is pretty amazing as well. I'm digging their song Furr. (And that video is aaaamazing.) And right now I'm listening to TV on the Radio who rock my little socks off. I love that group and their new album is rad. Yes, rad. I am full of love right now. And yes, I should get back to sewing now. But at least I've got tons of music to keep me company through the day. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending money I probably shouldn't be spending on new amazing albums. But hey, it supports the artist, so I shouldn't feel too bad about it. Have a lovely and musical weekend!

p.s. I can't stop listening to this either.

catching up

Well I am back. FINALLY! I got my energy back yesterday after feeling sick and gross for almost three weeks. Oh man. Horrible. I have never been sick that long before ever. Not as long as I can remember, anyway. I was still able to do things, not as much, though. And some days were worse than others. I still enjoyed Christmas and New Year's eve! New Year's being the most fun of all. Dancing and drinking till 5a.m. :) Of course being sick and all it made me feel pretty wretched the next day. But we had fun bringing in the new year. It will be interesting to see how this new year turns out. I don't usually make resolutions for the new year, but perhaps I will make a few. Maybe add to them as I think of more.

• Dance more often.
  
• Go swimming in more lakes this summer.
• Pay off the car I totaled last summer and find some way of getting another. whew.
  
• Move out.
• Visit friends.
• Start a clothing line (small line, but just so I actually DO it).
• Live a little. :)
• Sing!
• Stop caring so much about what the other person thinks of you. People are so quick to judge you as a person by the amount of money you make, how smart you are or the accomplishments you've made, when honestly that all matters very little. What matters is who you really are, inside. It may sound sappy, but we all care what the other person thinks. And I'm going to stop caring so damn much. If it's the last thing I do. By Jove! :)
• Continue to make things by hand as much as I possibly can.
  
• Don't ever get sick ever ever ever again.
  
• And of course, be more active. We all say this and at least for me, I do it for a month and then stop. Perhaps this year will be different. Uh, maybe. Not making any promises.
• Turn twenty-five!
  
• Discover the beautiful world of Macs. I'm already loving it. (Thanks to my lovely sister Katie for this one!!!)
• Knit something year round. Oh and um, try to finish the projects I started a year ago. Yeah.
• Be. More. Productive!
• Smile often. :)
• Laugh even more.
• Do something sporadic. Not sure what. I'll have to think of that one.
• Read more. (This one I'm horrible at. Really just need to get back into reading books.)
• Learn more about Self-Sufficient Living.
• Learn how NOT to procrastinate. heehee. Funny, I know.
  
• Cook more often.
  

Happy New Year to you all and may you all be well. I'll post more once I get back into the swing of things. At the moment I'm still trying to play catch-up. Ahhhhh so much to dooo!