the cozy apartment

why we love the third floor:

(sunrise, early June)

Mr. Cozy Apartment did this today:  3pm-9pm.  Exactly why we love the third floor.

yay, spring!

Phew!  I was worried it was never going to get here.  Now I feel like stretching up to the sun, just to soak it all in!  It was lovely here for a few days, in the 70's (and sometimes 80's!) and so very sunny!  My plants are thrilled. 

While the plants do their thing out there, I'm pondering a quilt in here.  People like to joke that I never make anything, just keep buying fabric.  Um....that's partially true.  I do keep buying fabric, but I really do make things!!!  No, really!  In any case, I couldn't decide on which fabrics from the ridiculously yummy MoMo Wonderland line I wanted, so I bought a Charm Pack (brilliant marketing on Moda's part!  I hate cutting up fabric, they've done it for me!).  Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it!  Bought some of the Snip Snip in Chai as a neutral (there are NO SOLIDS that match these colors!).  Here are my options:

1.

2.

3.

4. (stacked coins)

5.

6.

As you can see, I love me some repetitive line imagery.  There are so many choices, I'm having a tough time deciding.  #6 gives me the least amount of cutting, #1 was my original plan, but now I don't know, #2 is appealing, but how busy can a quilt be before making you insane?!  {side note:  I almost titled this post, 'MoMo Fabric, MoMo Problems'.  Yeah.  Really.} 

So, what's the consensus out there?  I know people actually read this blog (stunning!  thank you!!!), I see the numbers!  All you quilters out there, any tips?  Anyone?  help!........

of course, I did have some help with the fun part of arranging/rearranging:

Frustrated Fluffy:

It's exhausting being a cat, apparently.

Atlanta in pictures

aaahhhhh......vacation.

snow!

brrrr!  Ooh, it's chilly today!  Only 31 degrees right now!  And somewhere in the middle of my morning coffee, it snowed!  I mean...not like this kind of snow, but enough to produce a light dusting and that cozy, early morning glow.  The kind of glow that magically produces another cup of coffee in the pot and automatically herds all cats toward the couch.  Love days like this!  I love rain, too.  But for me, nothing beats a snowy morning filled with sunshine!  These mornings brighten up our north-facing apartment like no other!  The air is crisp, with a little bite.  When trees are bare, from the balcony you can see all of the other apartments around us.  It's charming and makes me feel like I'm living in a crowded city, with smoke rising from surrounding chimneys. 

Today there are quite a few things on the to-do list.  I get so much more accomplished when the computer is off!  It really sucks me in and I'm caught in that wave of information.  I'm making pj pants for the nephew today and probably making some soy candles.  I really love making them and I've had the wax sitting here, waiting to be used for ages!  Also on the list is to sit down and read the Marie Claire Idees that that sweet little Doe sent to me!  I've been waiting for the perfect day to absorb that magazine and today is it!  I've been sneaking peeks for a week or so... le sigh!  Everything sounds so much better in French!  The ads alone are enough to make me want to lounge on a chaise in a silk robe and daintily nibble on brie and grapes.  mmm....brie...

Sedum Spathulifolium (native Oregon Stonecrop)

yellowstone briefly revisited

Wow, 3 posts in one day?  Today I just seem to have the time.  And I do love blogging.  There's something relaxing about it.  For Christmas for my family (none of whom read this blog or know it exists) I'm putting together a Blurb book about our trip to Yellowstone.  I realized I never put up any pictures here of the trip and that seemed sort of sad, since the trip and this blog are the fun bits of life!  I've been sorting pictures for a good part of the day and here are a few of my favorites.  These were taken with film...yes, FILM!  And my trusty Canon Elan.  Sigh.  If it's possible to have a crush on a camera, I totally have one on mine.  Yeah, it's a little bit old, it weighs a lot and you certainly can't fit it in your pocket.  But lemme tell ya, the pictures this baby takes...I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's nothing like film.

West Thumb-Black Pool

Toddler + Mama Moose

Bison on hill

Herd of Bison, Lamar Valley

Big Daddy Elk with his girls, near Mammoth Hot Springs

West Thumb

West Thumb, again.

The Home Herd in front of Yellowstone Lake, about 20 yrds from the lodge where we ate every day.  This herd was there every morning and every evening, amazing to watch.

Porch at the Lodge, the best way to start and end each day!

One good thing...

about the Oregon Air Show being 1/2 mile down the road...fine particulates in the air make for great sunsets! 
                                    

it's raining, it's pouring...

OK, that's probably an overstatement.  It's not actually pouring.  It's not sprinkling, either, it's kind of dripping.  But I'll take it.  No glaring sun this morning, no stifling apartment.  Happy plants, happy Jessica.  And a nice break from the horrible heat of the past few weeks.  Seriously, I cannot wait for fall.  I literally hate summer.  It puts me into a funk that is difficult to explain.  I think it's because I LOVE to stay home and am unable to do so when the temps are so high.  We have a *tiny* air conditioner in this cozy apartment, it barely cools the couch in front of it.  So, I flee.  I flee to the mall, to Target, to Old Navy, to Jo Ann's, to the library.  I flee so often that I know what all the sales are in each store.  The people at Jo Ann's recognize me.  It's a problem. 

So, this morning, in the cool 61 degree air, I'm clutching my coffee cup, reading blogs and doing laundry.  It's fabulous and reminds me that fall is coming...just a few more months.  And in 2 months, a fabulous trip to Yellowstone, which I am SO excited about! 

Right now, my kitties are looking at me like I've lost my mind.  I gave them canned food this morning and only 1 of the 3 likes it.  The thing is, Theo had major dental surgery yesterday and had to have 3 teeth removed (would have been 4, but one just crumbled away!  My poor kitty!!!!).  These extractions were because of Feline Oral Resorptive Lesions.  Horrid, painful, unpredictable things.  Theo is very clingy today and very gorked out on pain medication.  He is just *sitting* there, which is very unusual for him.  I'm sure today he will nap profusely.  Tonight I'll try some tastier canned food?  Hm.  What constitutes tasty for kitties???  Probably something smelly and horrid. 

Ah, laundry.  I do love you, so.  Last night, DH asked me an odd question.  If I could promote a product, what product would it be?  At first I said The Furminator (because this thing is really amazing.  The pictures they show are no exaggeration), but I really think its Biz.  I LOVE Biz.  Nothing makes laundry smell, well, quite like *laundry* like Biz (I use the powder, the liquid doesn't smell the same).  It gives me a weird feeling of satisfaction to pull laundry out of the washer that smells like Biz and the dryer that smells like THESE.  Which are my 3rd product of choice.   Sigh.  My sheets smell like lavender and vanilla.  They're fabulous.  What a good morning!  Coffee, kitties, laundry.  It's the little things.   

pink sun in the morning

I will be the first to admit that I'm truly not a morning person.  In fact, as I type it's 5:47am, which makes me groan audibly.  However, if it looked like this outside, combined with this nice cool temp of 61, I could get up early every day.  Or, well....some days.  And not feel like I'm being tormented for no good reason.  Because, surely, this is a good reason to go outside at 5:30am. 

      

       

pink!

wip's of the moment...

Ah, plants.  This morning I attended the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon's Spring Plant Sale and found the cutest little plants for the yard (read: patio)! Bought some succulents, a pink lily of the valley, little leaf miners lettuce (no, really, that's the name), ornamental grasses and two varieties of mint.  They're all perennials and hopefully will survive me and my attempts at gardening.  Since I started this blog in October, you all missed the Great Aphid Scourge of 2006.  Followed closely by the Ivory Soap Debacle.  I won't get into the gory details, let it suffice to say that few survived.  I have spent the past season reading up on all things aphid and hope to triumph over them this year.  Yes, aphids seem innocuous enough, but did you know they are born pregnant?  How foul is that? 

I'm certain I've mentioned before how much I love days off.  There's no need to repeat myself.  It's just...they're so good.  Maybe I'm a little burned out at work, who knows?  Sometimes in customer service, you spend your whole day meeting the needs of others and can forget how great it is to have your own needs met.  Or, in my case, you forget that you have needs at all!  Um, what did I buy that sewing machine for?  The machine and I did have a nice little rendezvous today, which was v. cathartic.  The major project I've been working on is transforming my sewing table into something other than the frightening eyesore that it was.  In the process, I've realized two things.  A.)  I LOVE decoupage. and B.) Oh. my. dear. sweet. lord. I need a rotary cutter and a mat!!!!  Both for paper and for fabric! 
Now, I know I can't use the same blade/cutter for paper as for fabric.  But does anyone know if you can use the same mat?  

So, I decoupaged the top of the table with scrapbooking paper and covered it with clear contact paper.  I'm in the process of making curtains to hide the crap... ahem, storage area underneath.  Can't just have a plain jane curtain, though, nosirree!  Must have a patchwork strip with cute reproduction 30's fabric.  I mean, that's what girly girls do!  Besides, I wanted to see how the whole patchwork thing worked.  And let me tell ya, I have a newfound appreciation for people who can quilt.  Holy crap. 

I think I also need a new iron.  Somehow the $10 Sunbeam from college just ain't cutting it.  Or flattening it.  Or anything else other than sputtering water on nice, clean fabric.  I'm making 2 of these curtains, same size, and plan to gather them for floofiness.  It's just so nice to see something on there!  And it's nice not to see what's under there...basically fabric.  What to you do with all those tiny strips of fabric?  Are you supposed to throw them out?  Are they useful at all?  Sigh.  Its so satisfying to have made something, even if it's half of something!