100th Post.

I thought the day would never come: 100 posts. I guess that means I've Collected 100 Thoughts? (Though I may change the name; be prepared.)

If I were to have a 100th Birthday Present~



~this would be it!
I absolutely love this blouse, and find it very inspiring. I am going to try to semi-recreate it with what I have on hand. It may look very different, but know that this was the inspiration.

I originally found this item in the Anthropologie store with Sarah Mitchell. We spent nearly 4 hours in the Santana Row location, and although we didn't buy anything we came away with a million ideas and a throbbing in our hearts for the love of Anthropologie.

Enchanted Life, (with the most innocent use of the word).

I am convinced; my little brother is my enchanted prince, and little sisters are princesses.





My home is my enchanted palace, with spacious room on the front porch balcony to bask in the summer evenings.





We live in the midst of an enchanted forest (which is proved by the fact that it worked it's way onto a board game in our closet which you see the royal children playing), and we are free to stroll the grounds at any time.



If this is no enchanted life in my restless eyes, I would be restless in any quarter of this fragile globe on which we live.

Paisley.

I finished a dress today. I made the bodice using a pattern I already had, and the skirt is just a big rectangle.
In hindsight, I should have made the skirt a bigger rectangle than I did, because I ended up having less room to gather than I thought I would.



Much of the dress is machine sewn, but when it came time to attach the skirt, I switched to hand sewing. I wasn't liking the way it looked with a machine gather, so I ended up sewing the skirt with a needle & thread making little pleats as I went. It's not perfect, but I was happier with the end result.



I also hemmed the skirt by hand. I originally cut the skirt piece with room to spare, but realized it isn't so easy to make a straight cut after the fact; so instead I made a deep hem and stitched it by hand.

Thank you little sister for taking the photos. It was a painless 2 minute snap of a "shoot". Pretty good, yea?

Hello all,

I have been playing around with my blog template, and some diy techniques. Now I am learning how to post bigger pictures.
Here is the full image used behind my header.

Bread.

If you go to India, "food" means rice. I also find it interesting that when ancient Israel experienced famines, they were still able to offer nuts & fruits as gifts to Egypt . Evidently, in Israel, "food" meant grain; for grain makes bread, and bread... well bread is food.

Food staples are inevitable. Though America lacks no eatables, I think it safe to say that to many Americans "food" is bread. Cinnamon toast in the morning, a turkey sandwich or pb&j come lunch, and hamburgers for dinner.The unfortunate fact is that most available bread is sadly lacking in nutrients. Most commercial flour may as well be dust; if I remember correctly, 80% of the nutritional value is lost with the 40% of each grain kernel that is discarded, (but don't quote me on that).

The main thing I am trying to say, is that I love bread. Really love bread. But not the bread I mentioned above. Not even the expensive kind, though that is good as well. I will, rather, thank my mother for my whole life for teaching me how to make yummy, whole, affordable bread worth eating, (and worth every effort to have a steamy slice fresh out of the oven). This bread is simple, it is versatile, & I love it.

Exibit A:
I'll throw this tantalizing beauty together anytime we have the ingredients on hand.


Toasted Bread with Olive Oil
Fresh Basil
Sliced (cherry or full size) Tomatos
Plain Yogurt


Exibit B:

The credit for this goes entirely to the genius of Heidi Swanson and the determination of my brother, Jared. He found her blog and has found a way to recreate more than one of her amazing recipes. This one was memorable:


Marinated Tempeh
Oven Baked Tomatos
Fresh Lettuce
Avocado

Find the complete recipe on Heidi's blog! (linked above)


So yummy. A worthy way to use a good loaf of bread.

Should I post the recipe?