Time for a Clock

I drew a clock. This is what I do when I need a creative release. After all the stress of starting my own business, it was nice to just get absorbed in drawing for a few hours.

I had bought this vintage-inspired clock several months ago from Wuslu.

Source: wuslu.com via DecorSteals {Previously WUSLU} on Pinterest

I love all their vintage-inspired items. But I was extremely disappointed. The face of the clock was a poor quality printout.

This is not a blurry photo. This is what the face looked like. I was so disappointed that I wrote to the company expressing my disapproval. They gave me a refund.

Anyhow, it's been sitting on my desk, taken apart, waiting for a day to have the face replaced. I went online looking for some images to print and cut out. But I really was not finding anything that I liked.

So I took to some hand lettering and drawing. I probably spent a good 3 hours on this, and maybe one of these days, I'll be able to do it faster. But the 3 hours of just getting absorbed and essentially having all the other thoughts quieted in my head was nice.

Creating bliss

Bliss [blɪs]: perfect happiness; serene joy

Ah yes, this too is a lovely word. Today, over at Shutter Sisters, Chris asked how do you find your bliss. For me, there are so many ways. From sitting in my garden enjoying the flowers to having a cup of coffee with a homemade cookie...

Or watching the ocean waves to hiking amongst the redwoods.

Floating on water and sleeping in hammocks bring bliss too!

But sometimes, I just want to sit in my house and create things. Using my hands brings me bliss. However, I haven't really had a good space to do this in. My project in November was to redecorate the office space and create a craft room. I dropped the ball on that one! (Don't even ask about the dining room.)

But I'm back on it again, and visions of my creativity space are coming closer to fruition. Closer in that I actually emptied out the room and stuffed everything into the guest room. Now I just have to tear out the carpet, paint the walls, install shelving, and so much more... all in one month. (I have a friend visiting me in February and unless she wants to sleep on the floor, I need to get that guest room cleared out!) Can I do it? Let's go!

An empty slate

Public Glass

Over the weekend, I attended an event called Hot Glass Cold Beer over at Public Glass. This particular evening they featured several artists creating pieces chosen by the audience. While you watched, you enjoyed, yep you guessed it, cold beer in glasses made at the space. The process of glass making was so intricate and tedious. And sweaty.

2100 degrees of hotness

Follow the glow

The glass I picked out

Used for beer at night, flowers the next day

Should I sign up for a class?

Crafts and Cocktails

Cocktails on a Sunday afternoon seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, one cocktail led to two, which led to... well, more. An afternoon became an evening, and today, it has hit me for the umpteenth time that I am not in my twenties anymore. Sigh. Doesn't help that I threw out my back this morning. All I did was lean over slightly and I felt a sharp pain down my back. Now it's all spazzed out. Definitely not in my twenties anymore.


Anyhow, prior to my cocktail extravaganza, I was crafting away this weekend. I am in a very crafty state of mind these days. I've been making these magazine bowls for friends, it's like knitting. But instead of a basket of yarn, I have my basket of folded magazine pages.

My basket of folded magazine pages (from the Restoration Hardware catalog)

Coiled up pages, original DIY here

Another use for the coil

I filled this bowl with paper flowers, but forgot to take a photo

Also, block letters are all the rage these days, but they are hecka expensive. I thought I would put some old cardboard boxes to good use, along with pages from an old dictionary. I was sort of inspired by this pinata DIY.

Brought to you by the letters "R" and "S"

S is for Songbirds, tweet tweet

Some branches and tissue paper make a simple decoration

Here's one of those paper flowers

I gave the letters to my friends as a housewarming gift. They loved them! Now I just need to find some time to make the whole alphabet!

Random thoughts and yippees

1. The pink dahlias in my garden are on steroids. I don't know where they're getting them from, but definitely not from the white dahlias.

2. This song was playing on the radio today when I was driving through the neighborhood. I heart this song. I said "Yippee!" and sang along.



Then the radio person said they were playing at Treasure Island Music Festival on October 16. And I have tickets, which I had bought to see Death Cab for Cutie. And I didn't even notice them on the line up. "Yippee!!!" I said again.

3.  As I was driving, singing and yelling "Yippee," I saw that a DSW was opening up in the mall. Another "Yippee!" came out. As much as I would love to shop in cute little boutiques, I can't justify spending $400 on a pair of shoes. (Although I did spend almost that much in NY once when I went shopping after having cocktails. Not a good idea.) And I could get 6 pairs here for the price of one at a cute little boutique. So far my record is 4 in one trip. Maybe I shouldn't be yelling "Yippee!" I really have too many shoes. DSW: Danger Shopping Within, or Disaster Strikes Woman, or Deathly Stilettos... Whatever.  That would be a cool band name: Deathly Stilettos.

4. I am diligently working on the dining room. I am not a sewer. I can sew a straight line, but if I need to go around a corner, it's pretty ugly.

I took some leftover drop cloth and used it to cover the bench. It's pretty sad looking, but who says I was looking for perfection? I read all these blogs and everyone's crafts look amazingly perfect. Totally admire that, and I can definitely crank out some awesome looking crafts. This bench cover is not awesome looking. But I'm keeping it.

I didn't even know what piping really looked like until yesterday

5. I did whip out these lovelies. My friend is turning 40 and I'm about to head out to his party. My other friend and I are putting together a joke basket, but I made a normal card, using one of those paint swatch thingys and some stencils. And then I got him a gift card, but I hate those plastic things. So I made him a customized one. Yippee!

Sunday cooking

So much for enjoying the last days of summer. Clouds rolled in today along with some rain. But I am never one to not have something to do. First, I hung out with my CASA child, and we made, or rather I made, these recycled magazine paper bowls. She did not find it that exciting, so she chatted while I rolled. It all worked out lovely.

Then lunch. I had an odd array of ingredients in my fridge: pork cutlets, ginger, green onion, and lotus root. I love the crunch and earthy flavor of lotus root. And they are so pretty!

I believe they come pre-boiled and pre-sliced at Asian supermarkets, but this time of year, you can actually buy them fresh. My mother found some for me, now I had to figure out what to do with it. A quick search online, and I found this pretty dish.

As I didn't have ground pork, I switched up the recipe a bit and this is what I came up with (I am horrible at writing up recipes, so I apologize for any poor instructions):

Panko-Crusted Miso and Ginger Pork Cutlets with Lotus Root

2 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. mirin
1 tsp. miso paste
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
6 boneless pork cutlets
1 tbsp. cooking oil

Peeled lotus root
8 dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced
2 green onions, sliced
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. cooking oil

1/4 cup mushroom stock (from reconstituted mushrooms)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. white wine
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp mirin

Mix the first 4 ingredients. It will make a paste, which you will then use to coat each side of the pork cutlets. Just spread out a thin layer of the paste on each side, like butter on toast. Then dredge each cutlet in the panko. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Place the cutlets and cook 2 minutes on each side. Set aside.

Fresh lotus root kind of looks like a potato and you peel it like a potato. Then you boil the whole thing for about 5 minutes. Once cooled, slice them thinly.

Take the lotus root, green onions and mushrooms, and toss with the cornstarch. In a separate bowl, mix the liquid ingredients. Add the oil to the saute pan, add the lotus mixture and the sauce. Stir until the mixture thickens. If it is very thick, you can add some additional mushroom stock. Let simmer 5 minutes.

Serve pork cutlets with the lotus mixture, garnish with sliced green onion.


I'm not a food photographer, so I apologize for my photos. But the dish is actually quite delicious! I ate 3 of the cutlets (they ARE thin!).

Now that I am fueled up, and it's not raining, I'm off to rake the leaves. There is a month's worth of leaves on the grass. I was hoping they would biodegrade on their own, but it's just not happening.