The Quinoa is a cookin'...

And so I thought I'd squeeze in a little bloggy posty while making dinner. J-Huz is out transplanting our Brussels sprout plants (I chose to grow them only because I want to see what they look like as plants...though I do like to eat them...when they're cooked in a certain way). The success of our garden so far is solely because of Jason. He waters, maintains, weeds, goes on slug and snail quests (and smashes them, blak). Yup. The garden would be a big FAIL if it were up to me. Currently, the squash and tomatoes are growing really big, our carrot seeds are almost ready to be transplanted, our radishes are off the hook, the red onions are going strong...but no lettuce. Not ONE seed sprouted. boo. Oh well. Oh, and the haricots verts are about ready to be placed on a vine. I had no idea I married such a green thumb. :) yay me!

In other news. I busted out a cake for Jason's B-Day. I didn't have time to make a fondant cake and had to squeeze it in after work. I put it on facebook buuuuut...here it isSo fun. This is my first time "sculpting" something. SO freaking hard. Gum paste doesn't give like clay. You can smooth clay out and cover any imperfections but not gum paste. The creases are impossible to get rid of...though I'm sure with practice it's do-able. Anyways, Jas loves fishing and so it's been the theme for the last couple of years. This one came out a little better than last years...haha. Hey! It was like my first cake ever. Anyways, this was my fastest cake yet. Baking and sculpting one night, and frosting and assembling the next night. Not bad.

I'm also loving the new grass/hair tip I got for the cake. It's super fun!

Well, anyways, I guess that's all for now. The quinoa is probably about done and I need to get my tush up to finish dinner...or we'll be having JUST quinoa for dinner.

Free Coffee

FREE and COFFEE are two words that I will never get tired of seeing together.

Apparently for Earth Day tomorrow...Starbucks is giving away free coffee if you bring a tumbler from home to fill.

Tumbler.

ha.

I'm bringing my 1-liter Thermos baby!

:)

Ok, I won't get greedy. But go get ye' some free coffee...if you fancy things like that.

Vanity

Did you think this was going to be a post of the downfalls of vanity. How it pulls you in and can consume you?

Nope.

It's about my hair.

So, I used to have great hair. Seriously. Totally straight. Did what I wanted it to (except curl). Laid down nicely...not frizzy. Looked nice down (though I hate wearing it down). Looked nice up. yada yada.

And then something changed.

Is it that I'm getting older?
Is it the constantly damp SF weather?

My hair now frizzes like nobody's biz. Now, if that was all I could deal. But the part that is driving me bonkers is that my hair now "curls" around my ears...just around my ears. And I wouldn't really call it curl...more like wavy. Wavy that sticks straight out of my head. So that my hair is literally horizontal to the floor. If I bounce up and down, they flap...like little birdie wings. Nice.

So, this is my rant.
I can now join the masses that say "I hate my hair".

(Obviously wearing it down would solve this prob. But, come on. Me? Wear my hair down? That would be undoing like 20 years of habit. Em, no.)

Any suggestions on how to tame the mane?

Saturday Buh-liss.

Yo yo peep-a-rooni's!

Oh thank you, thank you, it's the weekend.

Yay.

Which means...no work. And that I have to clean. And that I would like to run. And that I have a few new ideas to bring to light on bags (so dang-dern cute). And that I can make a pot of coffee any time I darn well please and drink the whole thing if I want (no coffee maker at work). I love the weekend. :)

Jason and I had a lovely "date night" last night. We did a small splurge and went and grabbed some dumplings which I'm pretty certain is my new favorite food. Good grief, so yummy. I love SF and the food choices it has to offer. These fantastic people...from just about every country you can imagine have brought their delectable yummies to this city...and it's all at our fingertips. Mmmm. How I love comida.

Other than that...not much happening here. Jason's birthday is in about a week and I have a super cool cake planned. So excited. yay. It's always so easy to picture though...carrying it out is the hard part! :)

Well, have a great weekend all.

Ta da!

Alright, so here you go.

What I've been alluding to.

With terrible pics and all. (I took them). How'd I do? I'm so so SO bad at photography. blah. Not my thing.

Anyways, I guess it's an "experiment". I have free time since Jason is studying his brains off so often. Why not be productive with the time? Why not stay home WITH him and keep him company, even if I'm in the next room whirring away. So there it is.


Side note: It is REALLY intimidating to sell your stuff. At least to me. sheesh. What if people don't like it? Or think your quality is lame. Or sees every SINGLE mistake you made ('cause I'm no perfectionist people). Totally nervous. But kinda excited too, hehe. End side note.

and here it is. in all of it's glooooooory....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/hugawillowtree

Amen and Done.

OK I lied...

...but not on purpose.

You see, I was all ready to come out with it...almost done and then BAM. Broken needle. Seriously? Again? This is my 2nd one...and of course my last one. (Yes, there's a hint. It has to do with sewing). Literally had about 4 stitches left. ugh. Figures. Being it was 6pm on a Sunday night and there is no such thing as a "quick run" to anywhere in SF...I'll finish today and post tonight. Hopefully :)

So there ya go. 'Till tonight mis amores. <3

So I've been busy...

been busy working on something neato bandito. cute. fun. usable. handy...

something similar to a thing that I use every day and love...

but with a little "anna, handmade" flair...

been flexing my creative muscles... been embracing a creative outlet...

because sometimes, an office job just doesn't fill all those heart niches (but it pays the bills! :o)...

so, maybe i'll show you in a few days. maybe on sunday? ;)...

Mi Jardin...and a craft.

Oooh, blogger on a roll! I'm actually posting lately.

So. We have this rather large plot of weeds...well, now dirt. The plan was to one day de-weed it and plant a garden. I was feeling a bit ambitious this weekend and so we went for it. Jason cleared the 1st third. I cleared the 2nd third yesterday and the last part today. Sheesh. I am not used to manual labor. It felt so good though to be outside, in the sunshine, doing something productive. (Note: there are some icky nasty things that live in the dirt. blak. I'm not a fan of THAT part of gardening.)

Here's a few pictures of our progress and our weekend in the dirt! I have to say that I find it funny that we have yet to have this type of land/yard...that is, until we move to San Francisco. Aren't you supposed to have less space in SF? Apparently not :)...and yes, our neighbors house is falling apart there in the backJason had done the 1st part that is all cleared. I'm starting on the 2nd part.Our Home Depot loot. Oooh, action shot. Apparently Jason is a creeper who likes to hide behind Calla Lillie's and take pictures of his wife. Oh my gosh. There were SO many weeds. I can't believe I spent my whole weekend hoeing (hehe...I know I'm real mature) those things out.But look. Now there's no more weeds. And there actually are some things planted...though it's hard to tell from the photo. We currently have in the ground some flowers, red onions, crookneck squash, and a couple of different types of tomatoes. We are doing seedlings of carrots, radishes, lettuce, french green beans, and brussel sprouts.

So yay! My garden. I hope I remember to water it. ;)

And now my craft...

Take this here ugly $1 picture frame that I originally bought to paint and then got bored and changed my mind. It was feeling like a Modge Podge day.Cut some strips of fabric and some strips from an old book page (that you don't want to read again ;). Don't measure and make them even though. Life's too short for using a ruler.Some of us like to take the Modge Podge and dump it immediately on to our shoe. I don't recommend this one.In some random pattern stick those strips on to the frame. Let the Modgey Podgey do it's magica.After you've done three sides. It has to dry to do the 4th. I know. Common sense? You would think. I tried to do it before having it completely dry. Didn't work. Call me stubborn. Also make sure you turn on the flash when you take the picture. Makes for a great, shiny, washed out photo. Yay.And once you're done with your 4th side...and it's dry. You get THIS! yaya! Now the question is....put a photo in it...or leave it open and put it on the wall. I'm leaning towards leaving it picture free and putting it on the wall....somewhere.....