New Stainless Steel Kitchen Counter and Beadboard in Hallway

See the new stainless steel counter and sink? Beadboard in hallway!  All that is left is stainless and marble backsplash and toe kick! I LOVE my new kitchen! Thanks Macdonald Miller guys for the beautiful stainless counter and to Dave and Ryan who did all the work.

Bracelets, and new artwork

Click to link to my Etsy Shop

Linen Bracelets almost ready

Here's a little preview...

I'm going to do a shop update Thursday afternoon and list these bracelets, and a couple of paintings.

New Asher Video

Salley Mavor's Rabbitat

Salley and  filmmaker Daniel Cojanu made a  film about how she did this work. Amazing. Here is a link: http://weefolk.wordpress.com/rabbitat-film/

Camping at Kalaloch

We spent the last week camping at Pacific Beach and Kalaloch, the weather was glorious and we had such a good time.

The Keepers of the Bees

Urban farming in Tacoma: Kim and Ryan set up a honeybee hive yesterday. They were gifted some old equipment from her stepdad, Harold, so that's why there is duct tape on her hood. :) It was very exciting there for a few minutes.  They had bees all over them at one point, but not one sting. Today the bees are flying around orienting themselves.
Next up, chickens! Our neighbor, Jordan, is setting up a hen house and said we could put some chickens in there too. I am thinking of getting Barred Rock Chickens, the black and white speckled ones. This is a stock photo:

innatvalleyfarms.com

Elwood

Don't get excited. He's not mine. But isn't he so tiny and cute? I'm the puppysitter. He's Maiya's.

A Treasure Trove!

These are just random pictures of a lunch Aishi and I made on Sunday. I'm just posting them because I like to look at pictures on other peoples blogs and also to say my kitchen went from a one butt (mine) kitchen to a six butt! One of those butts was Ed Dent, chopping mint. :)There were six people chopping up stuff for spring rolls on Sunday and there was room. See how messy I can make my counter look?
I think spring rolls look like something a spider wraps up and I'm sure how I make them is not so conventional, but I LOVE them.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about is the overdrive system at the Pierce County Library. It is a treasure trove! I have been downloading books for my Kindle Fire (awesome, free books!) and just last night discovered you can listen to books on your PC from that thing too!
A huge part of my childhood was the fact that my dad was legally blind and so we got books for the blind mailed to us and we were always listening to books when we were doing chores or anything really. Oh, such good memories, to think about those times we all enjoyed a book together. So now, I can listen to a book while I paint. I'm fairly sure most big cities have the Overdrive thing or something like it where you can get e-books. I was able to sign up for a card online at Pierce County Library, easy as pie, didn't even have to go in.

A new painting and studio work area finished

I am somewhat intimidated by my new workspace, people. It's way too nice for me. I'm a messy painter, I shudder to think what it will look like in  a few months, but look at all my space and storage! I do love it. My husband is so good to me.

 I finished one painting that is ready to list on etsy (but I need to take some better pictures) and have a couple others almost done.

Saw this on Jenny Mende's Blog, Adorable!

Beneath The Silver Moon

Saw this on Jennifer Judd Mcgee's blog, paper video

a cool video

Something new- Linen Bracelets

I'm working on something I'm excited about. These little linen bracelets. Silk thread, velvet ric rac, mother of pearl buttons on a comfy soft linen bracelet. The closures will be loop and button or a snap, what do you think?

Daffodils

If you don't have a happy gardening daughter-in-law, that plants and then picks  and arranges your daffodils, you can enjoy mine. They smell so sweet!

A Note About Chalkboards

From the very beginning of this renovation, I had planned on having a chalkboard paint wall. It changed places several times in the planning stages and the things I worried about turned out to be not a problem, for instance, thought it would be too dark or easily marred. It turns out, what bugs me about it is how messy it looks much of the time. I like the idea of people being able to write on my walls, but in practice it's often annoying. I get Preparation H added to my shopping list, or people scrawl something across something I just drew. So I've turned into a B-word about it, and I'm going to try something else. I'm going to do a mural with chalkboard markers and I'm going to HIDE THE CHALK.

Now if my Dick Blick order would just get here, chalkboard nirvana.

Upstairs Bath and Misc. Pictures

Spring is here and I finally took some more pics of the upstairs bath, and I know this is my 3rd post today, but you'll just have to bear with me. I do these things in spurts, and I'm trying to avoid painting, obviously.

 Dining room, just thought it looked pretty today with the sun shining, in the window are Asher's current favorite toys, batman and a t-rex, who knew they could get along? That radiator is working! We have heat!

 Don't think I've posted pics of shower with glass door and see my linen curtains I made, they are embroidered with black leaves.

 floor

 Vanity

 Bedroom

 The neighborhood bunny, which is still alive, despite my dire predictions.

 Daffodils

My current favorite tea, Twinings Earl Grey.