Project Life Weeks 35 & 36

Still doing Project Life, just less time to blog about it. Still a great project and so glad I'm doing it.

Project Life

So for a looong time Doug has said we should do a scrapbook. This sounded like a reasonable idea but traditional scrapbooking just seemed dated and overwhelming and too much trouble. When George was born I thought we should do some type of memory keeping but I felt like I didn't have time or know where to start. My awesome cousin Annie told me about Project Life and it seemed much more manageable than the scrapbooking of yesteryear. So on NYE I started our book. It's 37 weeks later and I'm so glad I started this project. I started out with just pictures and me writing what happened that week. I originally bought the Cherry core kit, but then the Seafoam kit came out right after and I bought it and started using it instead.
 

I've almost exclusively used iPhone photos, which I used to swear I'd never do. BUT it's just usually what I have within reachable distance when something is happening. My iPhone has been invaluable for journaling/taking pictures/etc. I use Camera+, Afterglow, and Instagram to take and edit the photos. I started out using Snapfish to order my photos from, but slowly I've started using Persnickety Prints for most of my printing. Their quality is really great, there are so many sizes, and the shipping is super fast. I've used the DayOne app  for keeping track of what's happened that day or week and it's good, but sometimes I forget to use it. 

 Little by little I've started using some extra things, stamps, buttons, etc. In July I signed up for monthly Studio Calico kits, which are $19.99 a month when you sign up for 6 months (I think) and they're like artsy supplements to the core kit. I'm pretty sure there are several other companies that do monthly kits like SC, but I've been so happy with what I've gotten and how fresh and modern it is I haven't looked anywhere else. This is a peek into September's kit.

This week was one of my favorites, design-wise:

There are some amazingly creative people out there who inspire me with their Project Life pages. I adore Elise Blaha Cripe (who designed the Seafoam kit!) and Megan at The Nerd Nest to name a few. Plus I like to peruse the Studio Calico Member Gallery for inspiration.

This is a such a fun project, it's mostly memory-keeping and some art project/creativity thrown it. It's something that you can make as simple or as 'fancy' as you want.

Oh hello there - I still knit (barely)

Right now my knitting time is pretty compromised, there just isn't enough time every day but I occasionally get to sneak in a row or two. My WIP list is about a mile long. There's an open cardigan (wool) that I had been working on for months. I put it aside to knit a baby blanket for my best friend's new nephew. I finally finished knitting it, several weeks after he was born. It's the Chevron Baby Blanket pattern from Purl Soho and the yarn is Lion Brand Baby (which seems an awful lot like Cotton Ease).

Once that was finished I had fantasies of knitting a summer top. Most of my yarn stash is in storage. I had a particular yarn in mind for this summer top and went to look for it. Imagine my surprise when I found the yarn - halfway knitted - in a summer tank top that I must have started at least two years ago, possibly longer. It's a bottom up tank, the pattern is Lillian, and the yarn is Jo Sharp cotton something. I had to rip out a few rows because evidently I was attempting bust darts and they look like crap. I ain't got time for bust darts, so I ripped out an inch or so and started back again. I have finished the front, but need to whip-stitch the straps together and then there's a whole mess of stitches to pick up for the ribbing.

In the midst of tank top knitting, last Friday I some time to myself and wanted to start something new and squishy and pretty.  I pulled out the Everett cowl pattern I bought last year, as well as some Madelinetosh Vintage in a color called 'Curiosity'. It's a really large cowl, so it will take awhile to knit based on my current rate but it's satisfying to knit something new.

I also haven't had as much time to peruse Ravelry as I used to, but there are some super cute patterns I hope to get around to knitting eventually.

Palmer by Alicia Plummer
Surrounding Tank by Hannah Fettig
Everly Shawl by Mindy Wilkes
Emmanuelle Sweater by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark
Vasa by Dianna Walla

June/July Reads

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway by Sara Gran

Snapper by Brian Kimberling

Plus Doug and I listened to Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris on the way to/from the beach. 

I heard about the Claire DeWitt books via NPR books when the newest book came out back a few weeks ago. The first book sounded interesting and I was able to get it for $3.99 in the Kindle store. I sailed through it in a couple of days and really liked it. It's a mystery book but with a very modern protagonist who doesn't always make the smartest decisions. The first book (City of the Dead) is set in New Orleans, I enjoy reading about a city I'm somewhat familiar with. The second book is set in San Francisco and was also a really enjoyable and quick read. I'm super anxious for the next book (at least I hope there is a next book). 

Snapper was another book I heard about on NPR, it was described as a 'love letter to Indiana'.  It's also a series of shorter stories with the same narrator/character, a style I usually might dislike but it works here. 

Recent reads

The Dinner by Herman Koch

When I began reading this book I wasn't sure where it was going, and it ended up going weird places. Not to give away any major plot details, but it's about a family - husband, wife, son - and the husband's brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews.Several of the reviews I read of it labeled it as a book that makes you consider what you would do to protect your child. I disagree though, there was a little of that, but there was more things about psychotic episodes and behaviors and genetics and I did not like it. I was angry with the characters and their actions made me ill. So that's that.

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee by Karen Abbott 

For a long time I resisted biographies and autobiographies, but I've read several of them recently and I'm glad I have. Before reading this my knowledge of Gypsy Rose Lee was limited to what I saw in the made-for-tv-movie "Gypsy" from 1993 with Bette Midler. The book gave me a much better, and more morose view of Gypsy's family, upbringing, and life. I also learned more things about vaudeville and burlesque than I had known previously.  Highly recommended book. 

Right now I'm not reading anything, I'm collecting ideas of what to read for our upcoming vacation. I'm  saving "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" for the car ride to the beach. I still haven't finished Beautiful Creatures and I doubt I will, it's just not grabbing my attention or imagination.

Lately in pictures

A delicious dinner of moscato, prosciutto, genoa salami, brie, and smoked cheddar. Eaten around the coffee table.

Pizza from Hog & Hominy. I *finally* got to go there, met a friend for lunch and it was delicious. I am going to have to drag Doug there, it might be a little too hip for his tastes.

Strawberry Chocolate ice box cake (recipe here)

Happy baby in a sink

Unhappy baby going to see Stingray Bay at the Memphis Zoo (his pointing finger is killing me)

Happy baby again, this time with a coffee cup sleeve in his mouth. 

Sunflowers I bought at the downtown farmer's market that lasted about three hours before one of our dumb cats jumped up on the dining room table and ATE THE PETALS. Asscats.

Weekend Highlights

• Friday night we had a fussy, feverish baby. Doug picked up takeout from here and we (um, mainly me) watched bridal shows on TLC. 

• Saturday morning we still had a feverish baby so we had donuts and coffee before an 11:00AM doctor's appointment. Once at the pediatrician's office our baby was no longer feverish and seemed to be feeling much better. 

• The rest of Saturday we hung around the house, had one of our close friends over for a dinner of hot wings and fries (which I did not make) and  'boiled cookies', which I did make (that's what my Nannie has always called them). We had beautiful weather Saturday night after the rain cleared out so we ate on the patio. Newly covered with one of those cooling shade/sail things from Home Depot. It's a little low hanging right now but keeps the sun from bearing down on our heads. 

• Sunday morning we had scones and more coffee, and decided to skip our very late brunch reservations in favor of going to the zoo. Doug (and George) gave me two very awesome Mother's Day presents, a Kindle Fire HD and a box of my favorite chocolate-covered orange slices and salted caramels from a local candy company. At the zoo we realized everyone else had the same idea we did so it was pretty busy but not horribly so. George was more interested in watching the people than the animals (Doug and I were too). On the way home we had Yolo.

• Sunday night we again took advantage of the patio weather and had dinner outside. I made a shrimp recipe from Cooking Light (shrimp + lemon + red pepper flakes + white wine + butter) and George and I practiced sticking our tongues out. We were also pretty bummed about the end of the weekend.