very untoward

i have been on another jane austen binge the last few weeks. i can't hardly help myself. it is a sickness. my friend beth is my enabler. she supplies me with my fixes. i read for the first time northanger abbey and the watsons, both of which i liked, but they are low on my austen scale. the bbc just released to dvd the new versions they did for tv, and again thanks to beth, in the last two months i have borrowed and watched more than once:
persuasion (loved loved loved this bbc version. captain wentworth. so hot.)
northanger abbey (was so so, i hadn't read the book yet and didn't think it was possible for ms. austen to be so salacious. of course she wasn't)
mansfield park (the bbc one was kind of crap. i didn't care for fanny, but i still watched, and would watch it again i am sure)
mansfield park (uh hello. johnny lee miller and frances o'cconor? yes please. i had to make up for watching the bbc version by watching this one immediately after.)
sense and sensibility (so good, i have wanted to own this for a long time, and then i saw it at target for $4.75! i practically ran to the check out isle. emma thompson is a genius.)
emma (ok, i have to admit the first time i watched this, i didn't like it. but i thought in my binge, i should give it another go, and it won me over last weekend. so many great actors in this, and i really to love toni collette. and if we are being honest, i love clueless too.)
pride and prejudice (ok ok, i know there was all this uproar when this came out. but i am very pragmatic when it comes to jane austen stuff. i mean pretty much i am going to love it, unless it is totally awful. and i can honestly say that i love the new version just as much as i love the old bbc version. for entirely different reasons. kind of how you love your children. you just do. i have been crushing on matthew macfadyen ever since and right afterwards borrowed from, you guessed it, beth, MI-5 and watched the first two seasons immediately. i need to finish the rest soon. oh and i think i laughed more than humanly possible through death at a funeral. good lord. so funny.)
so yeah, i can obsess a bit, and i have a total UK bias. if it has brits in period costumes, i am game. or heck, even just brits. count me in. thinking about giving mansfield park and emma another read. why not, it's spread a blanket in the grass weather. which is perfect for books and water with lemon slices and little plates with snacks on them. you know it is.

four already.

collette. how did it happen? how could you possibly be four years old today? i don't know. but i feel like if there is an age to bottle forever, this might be your year. you have never been sweeter and more loving than you are now. your hugs are so tight you fold your fold your lips in and shake a little bit with the effort. (they are great hugs by the way, if you can get one from her, do it.) everything is beautiful and you are not afraid to tell us. yellow is your favorite color. who could possibly argue with that? i know for a fact i never will. happy birthday my love. i know someday you will grow up to be a beautiful, smart, wonderful woman. but for now, i am going to sit back and enjoy four. ok?

things

so hey! how's it going? notice anything different about me? i'm not coughing! yeah, i know this is a blog to read, not to listen to, but for me this is a huge improvement. i pretty much have been sick sick sick since i got back from portland. i coughed so much i strained a muscle or did something to my ribs because it hurt just to breathe. fun. but that is all subsiding and things have been moving along ever so slowly around here. we painted the house last weekend! of course the yellow door is my favorite part, and i am sure it will pop up in pictures constantly. i haven't been doing any sewing, but i have a LOT planned. did you see what that crazy chicken did?? i think fold over elastic is going to change my life. well, my summer at least. making all those summer dresses i have planned for the girls. i have plenty to play with...so we'll see. i have however been doing a lot of cooking. a few months ago i picked up this book and i am loving it. it is divided into seasons, and has a picture for every recipe, which is nice. i will say that it probably is not the book for vegetarians, it's pretty heavy on the meats. as my veg friends say, we do have it easy. just cook up a piece of something and throw in a side. done. it's true. very easy. so far everything i have tried has been pretty quick and quite yummy. and that's about it for now. this friday is first friday again, and probably the first one with decent weather (if it doesn't rain, keep your fingers crossed). i'll be at habitat, so come on in and say hello, and wander out to the concert in the parking lot.

what a great week

just a few of my many favorites. go take a look...

polaroid week!

so it is polaroid week again over on flickr. i'll be posting all week there, if you care to take a peek. which in light of the sad news, should make for some really great polas. in other polaroid related things, i finally submitted my two pieces for the love of light project. you'll have to wait for the book to see them though, it's a secret. a good secret. and hopefully soon i can point you all in the direction of habitat's website update. it's all polaroid based too. john showed me the copy, and awesome doesn't even begin to cover it. happy polaroid week!

so yeah

i've been to portland before. and it was good. we saw most of the stuff people do in portland, powells, rose test garden, japanese garden. all that kind of thing. but this trip, this trip was all about the people. not the seeing of the city (not that i didn't take advantage of some shopping), but seeing people that i count as friends. not blog friends, just plain friends. no qualification needed. because these are good people.

i really need to thank melissa a thousand, million times over for letting me be a part her family for five days. who would have guessed a loud meat-eating mid westerner would mesh with a crazy canadian vegetarian? it just works. i don't know how, but it does. of course i got to see some friends again, and i got to meet some new ones. on friday melissa and augie and i went up to seattle to have lunch with molly, blair and daria. i kinda insisted to molly that brandon come as well, and he is as sweet as i knew he would be. blair and i made up over our scarf fight, and while i could probably still take her on, but she is so great, i would just let her have it. on saturday, we headed over to the ace to climb into the photobooth with andrea. so fun, and that lady is a pro! and then another long lunch. what's the point of going out to eat if you aren't going to talk for hours, right? which is what we did again later that night, dinner at cava with the chicken, sally and melissa. just girls, no kids. all fancy like. and then (i sound like a broken record) breakfast on monday with stephanie before i headed to the airport.

and that pretty much sums up my whole trip, me talking to everyone. the only bad thing was i got a cold right when i left on thursday, so when i say talking, what i really mean is a half strangled, hoarse, raspy whisper. which only made things worse. but come on, like i was going to let that stop me. like i said, all good good people.

taking

hi friends. i am taking a little break, heading to portland to meet this guy. oh my. i can not wait. i will definitely be taking all the items in the front row, but probably not all the items in the back row. i'm not sure what that says about me now. i do love shoes, but i can't really understand not taking four (including the digital) cameras. yikes.

i also wanted to say a great big thank you for all the shop love! i hope everyone that ordered prints is over the moon with what they got. i hope! i am shipping out three orders today, but if you place an order anytime today until monday the 14th it wont ship until the 15th. ok? ok. have a great weekend everyone! see you soon!