happy halloween

spotted this over on dress, design & decor yesterday. love it. and i love daniella's blog. she finds the best images. this is the only pumpkin decoration i have going this year. yep. not even one on the front stoop. sad, i know. but been too busy. i will however be passing out candy tonight. to the oh, some 300, kids that show up in our neighborhood.

panic mode

via sfgirlbybay

this is my new mantra. because i'm in panic mode. holiday season does it every year. not personallly, but professionally. because of my shop. last year i couldn't keep up. my orders quadrupled during november and december, which i'm thankful for. as i one-man (woman) show though it was hard. i worked every day, all day, for six weeks. steve was ready to move out and away from my crankiness. i feel i'm a little more prepared this year. we'll see. but then i went and planned a trunk show at my house. it's in 2 weeks. pixelimpress and 3 other vendors will set up tables in my house for an evening of early christmas shopping. it has me stressed. part of me worries not enough people will show up and part of me worries too many will show up. again, we'll see. i'll just have to remember my new mantra.

giggle fit

i was going through some photo files last night. i came across this series. and laughed all over again. steve and i and my sister, kim, and her husband, bobby, were in maui, makena beach specifically, this past february. we found a great spot for photo ops. kim and i sat to pose. (please, please, don't be jealous of our ability to pose just like models.) steve was behind the lens with sidekick bobby. we got the giggles. we said don't take the photo until we're done laughing. we were sure he wasn't shooting.

then bobby made a joke about cleavage... or lack thereof. so, wait, don't shoot, let me fix my top.
then, a joke about kim's. huh, wait, don't shoot, let her fix her shirt.
ok, i think we got it together here. ... no, wait. still laughing.oh boy, severely laughing now. hold on. one's about to burst a vein.
ok, maybe we're ready. oops, no, monkey face showing.*no, wait. more laughing. we were sure no pictures were taken. we gave steve the go ahead to start shooting. steve said, done!. what?!? you were taking our picture all along?!? that put us into another fit of laughter.
* i will add this...my sister doesn't usually make such faces. she was adjusting to new braces. no explanation for my faces.

hoppy monday

i was catching up on my blog reading yesterday and popped over to this blog. a few days ago she posted about this little fella.

is this seriously not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!? his name's bucky. bucky is a fuzzy lop bunny.
you can see tons more photos of bucky over here. bookmark this. if you're ever having a rough day, head over here and ogle bucky. beyond cute. seriously.

home alone

in a few short hours, i'll be home alone. well, alone with 2 cats. steve and pixel are going away for the weekend. to a cabin on the canadian border with the neighbor guys. they'll be duck hunting and bird hunting. and shooting the breeze, like guys do. i'll send them away with these.


the recipe and photos are from here. i'd read about these cookies on a few blogs. and they're everything they claim to be. chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside. well, you know i had to try one. for quality control purposes only.

i wonder if pixel and steve will be sharing a room like this.

image via here, designer Nancy Boszhardt

so log cabin-y and cozy.

but don't worry about me while they're gone. my to-do list is full. mostly with stuff to prepare my shop for the holidays.

what are your plans for the weekend?

picture thursday

i first spotted this over on erika's blog. and i love it. there's not a single thing i don't love about it.

image via and more details here

i'm back

i'm home. i'm weary. my trip wasn't too long, less than a week. i have trouble switching time zones (especially going west to east) so i kinda kept it in the back of my mind that i wouldn't. i'd stick to seattle time for the most part (instead of giving in to eastern time). it was my reason to sleep in late. "10 am?? nope, it's only 7am." my plan backfired when i had to arise at 2 am for my flight yesterday. now i want to play hooky today, lay on this bed, with that poof pillow,

image via canadian house&home

and finish this. i started it on the trip. i'm only 1/3 of the way in and i recommend it already.

image via here

new stuff at pixelimpress

i was busy before i left on this trip. i made some new personalized notecards for my shop. here's some of them.

black gingko on silver-sage greek key, curry envelopes

just in time for fall, bronzey-rust leaves over pool stripes, khaki envelopes
black dragonfly over silvery-grey herringbone, papaya envelopes

flowers the colors of seaglass, chartreuse envelopesand for the holiday season...

blue herringbone, christmas tree silhouettes, lake envelopes
green stripes, christmas red envelopes
my own hexagon pattern in icy blues with dark, dark charcoal snowflakes
my own diamond pattern in chartreuse and white, chartreuse envelopes

and i'm off...

photo by patrick cline via ma belle*

...to pennsylvania. mom is having surgery and i'm the post-op nurse. my sister will be with her the day of. and then i'll swoop in for the next week. hopefully i'll be a better nurse than this lady.



hopefully i won't have to hobble anyone if they don't stay in bed and rest.

* i know this photo is quite popular and hasbeen on many blogs, but i love it! and just had to use it.

i've discovered prana

are you all aware of this company? you probably are. i wasn't, until saturday when i bought this

at the local rei store. i loved the design on the front. the tee was tagged with these. how cute is that. the bigger tag is cloth with a sewn edge and eyelet and jute.


and just look at the little lightbulb shaped antiqued brass safety pin that attached it to the tee. too cute.
searching their website, i found this beanie.

i think i need this. just imagine how warm and toasty it'll keep my ears.

happy birthday honey

yesterday was this guy's birthday. steve, that is. ok, i'm a day late, but it's ok cause we decided to celebrate officially today. yesterday steve took the day off from work and took his best puppy, pixel, hunting. here they are at the breeder's when pixel was just 4 weeks old. it was the day we picked her from the litter. in the litter there was 1 boy and 6 girls. steve had his heart set on the boy. we were going to name him 'divot'. after our love for golf. we'd had the name picked out for a year.

at the breeder's, we spent an hour with divot. he didn't really seem to bond with us but we were going to pick him anway. steve was outside visiting with the litter's mama. i reached into the litter and this little girl below licked my hand. i snatched her up and held her close. she licked my face. i was sold. she said, pick me, pick me. or, at least that's what i heard with all her affection.


i called steve inside. and he held her too. she was at ease. she even fell asleep in his lap.

we picked her. sorry divot. i wonder whose home divot went to. i hope he's with a nice family.

backyard danger for pets

this is pixel yesterday resting comfortably. against my new restoration hardware pillow.

saturday was a different story. i fed her breakfast and let her out in the backyard while i was on the phone. i watched her stick her face in the grass and chew. and stick her face in the grass and chew. she's done it before. no biggie.

30 minutes later our girl was uncontrollable. yiping, meeping, barking. we couldn't touch her. she was beyond excitable. steve rushed her to the vet. she arrived, spread out on the floor and lost bladder control. she had a fever. she lost bladder control again. she was agitated. she was noisy. they gave her an anti-inflammatory shot to control the fever. and an ekg because her heart was racing. it was normal. we left her there and sat out her visit at home. they called a few hours later. she had calmed down but they were gonna keep her until close.

we picked her up later in the afternoon. she had settled down and no longer had a fever. she slept all evening and all night long. she returned to normal on sunday.

the vet was stumped. first on their list was a toxin. but what?? we heard from the vet monday. is it possible we have mushrooms in the backyard??

image from here

yep, we do. teeny, tiny small ones. we think she ate a mushroom. a hallucinogenic mushroom. yep, our little girl took a little trip saturday. but she's back. thankfully.

i know where i'll be...

this afternoon. watching this lady on oprah.

it's all in the details

grace bonney's (of design*sponge) savannah wedding is featured in this month's martha stewart weddings. you must take a peak. so many small personal touches. the invites were screenprinted on vintage handkerchiefs (love this!) and some menfolk even wore the handkerchiefs to the wedding as pocketsquares. so neat.

fans were adorned with grace and aaron's silhouettes... plus their 2 cats! love that.

and i've mentioned before how i adore calligraphy. guests were directed to leave the bride and groom a note with this beautiful calligraphy.
and here's more calligraphy on the food table.

i just love all the details.
photos by belathee,calligraphy by betsy dunlap

i want one!

a brightly colored credenza that is. that i paid nearly nothing for but turned it into a beauty... like these two ladies did. i'm in awe of their transformations and their diy-ness.

jenny of little green notebook turned this $40 credenza
into this!

image from lgn

you can read all about how she did it here.

and then michelle from three men & a lady turned this

into this! again, i'm in awe. it's just gorgeous.

nice work, ladies. so inspiring.

where it comes from

it's here! the pixelimpress 2010 desktop calendar. i finished making it last week and posted it to my shop a few days ago. my concept for the calendar was patterns. lots of pattern. and color. i thought i'd show you some of my inspiration behind the designs and color choices.

i saw these herringbone stockings in the jcrew catalog.
so i made my own herringbone pattern and it became the background for december.

the chevron stripe. gotta love it. april and october were inspired by this.

image courtesy house beautiful, designer jonathan adler, photo Ngoc Minh Ngo

we've already discussed my love of stripes.
they're perfect for july.

leslie of a creative mint did another color me pretty post on holly's decor8. i love leslie's posts. this one inspired my colors for march.

greek key, like in this rug, is a popular pattern. i made my own and it became november.

image courtesy traditional home

the calendar is for sale in my shop.