Sepia

Beginning on my birthday this year I decided to start documenting all new restaurants I try. I splurged on the most elegant restaurant journal way back in January, but I simply have been too preoccupied with other things to write in it. Well, no more. And since I planned a special birthday dinner to a restaurant that I’ve been dying to try for over a year (last year it was impossible to get reservations), I figured it was the perfect time to begin detailing these experiences.

I invited a small group of my favorite people to join me for drinks and dinner at Sepia. People gradually trickled in as we all enjoyed some of the best cocktails I’ve had in Chicago. Although their cheese and charcuterie plates left something to be desired, their staff quickly fixed us some new ones when they failed to bring our half finished portions from the lounge to our table (which was in a secluded nook in the back – awesome). This kind of quality service sustained throughout the meal.

Weekly Finds 8.1.10

Happy to also return to sharing my weekly finds with everyone, this time on a true weekly basis. Hooray! James Hopkins’ Vanitas fall under the “how did he/she/they think of that?” category. Other finds this week include:

• New, happy blog: Creative Kismet
• After returning on Wednesday from a beautiful destination wedding in Hawaii, I was instantly smitten with these photos of an Icelandic destination wedding
• And the clear winning trend this week in my RSS starred feeds? Ice Cream. Choose your poison: PB&J ice cream cone, Homemade Magic Shell, Simple Banana Ice Cream
• Embroidery Love: Praying Mantis, Cupcake Cozy

D is for Dessert

Picking up where I left off way back when, I’m dedicating this week’s alphabet Etsy to something we all love – dessert.

3Fun’s Ice Cream Earrings

soapopotamus’s Sugar Wafer Cookie Mini Guest Soaps

Crafty Anna’s Play Food Crochet Pattern – Bake a Pie

devaniweaver’s Cupcake Dress with sprinkles and a cherry on top

Lolasroom Sweet Shop 5×5 print

Day 1

Today marks Day One of my self employment endeavor. So excited! On the agenda: begin massive craft room clean-up, blog, and continue building Google map of potential stores to sell in. Oh yeah and use new fabric that looks like notebook paper to create an embroidery piece inspired by this:

Sigh. That never gets old.

Supreme Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I offered to make my boyfriend whatever he wanted for his birthday, he fairly quickly settled on chocolate chip cookies. (Somehow I feel like if you asked 100 average American men this same question, this may be the most popular answer.) I was more than happy to oblige, as it gave me reason to kick off the first of many goals I have for my soon-to-be new life: revisiting old “keeper” recipes to see how they stand up. I’m pretty discriminatory when initially trying a recipe and I only end up copying probably a quarter of those that I try into my various permanent recipe files. And I love trying new recipes so much that I seldom revisit the majority of the ones I copy down, unless I’m entertaining and want something that I know I can trust. So all these good recipes are just sitting around waiting to be eaten again and then shared with the world!

Yes the Supreme is well deserved in this recipe, as these have a little bit of everything in them.

And your arm gets workout stirring all of the extras in, one at a time, until you have a pretty thick, chunky batter.

The BSP – Its a Win-Win

Do you like free stuff? Do I even have to ask? If you love good design, shopping online and/or winning things, then you best head over to The Bright Side Project pronto. The BSP offers you a chance to win something new every day, just by answering a simple question. Its kind of ingenious, and I really wanted to be part of it. And you know sometimes that old adage “ask and you shall receive” really does hold true, as you can currently enter for a chance to win a $60 gift certificate to my Etsy store if you answer by July 10th. Just a hint – the more detailed answer, the better. Now go!

Taking the Leap

photo by msconnections

In a little over two weeks I will be embarking on a new, exciting adventure. On July 20th I will be transitioning from full time librarian/manager, part time crafter to crafting full time. A lot of factors went into this decision, but it is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Despite my love for librarianship, I have not really been happy at work for a while now. Being a librarian and being a manager are two totally different jobs and ultimately I have found that I do not like overseeing people. Overseeing projects? Love it. Being responsible for over a dozen very different human beings and their varying skill sets and personalities? Not my bag. And if there is one thing I’ve learned during my stint as manager, its this – you really need to like your job in order to be effective.

And so I decided to do both my staff and myself a favor by pursuing what really brings me true happiness right now – my arting and crafting. Over the last two years, while I have been growing more discontent at work, I have watched so many creative friends take this same leap and succeed. Now the definition of success is very subjective, I know. My lifestyle as I have known it for the last eight years will likely change. But I am willing to trade in the occasional dinner at a fancy restaurant for the freedom to spend my time managing me and my own projects. I have seen firsthand the heightened self satisfaction and overall quality of life that this has brought to many others and I believe it will happen to me too!

So stay tuned. One my of daily goals once I start my new life is to blog daily. Its a long held desire that I haven’t had time to pursue until now. And there are others too, but I’m sure I’ll be detailing all of them very soon…

Weekly Finds 4.18.10

After several months of not blogging, I am more than a bit excited to resume it once again. And without further ado, here are my weekly finds for this week. If only I had a Smitten Stick Kit – blogging would be even more fun a la moustache…

New Blogs: I’ve been spending some time sifting through all of the blogs that have highlighted my embroidery at some point and found some gems in the bunch so far. The Violet Hours, Sakura NYC, Little Ocean.

Music Downloaded: Sarah Borges and Broken Singles/The Stars are Out, Ha Ha Tonka/Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, Nellie McKay/Normal as Blueberry Pie.

Ideas/Inspirations: Postcarden, Victory Garden of Tomorrow, Floating Shelves

C is for CityScape

Wow I really didn’t anticipate taking an entire month of from blogging! Planning for vacation and Renegade took up most of my spare time, but now I’m back and prepared to flesh out all of the posts that are living inside my head. I’ll start with the next edition of Alphabet Etsy – cityscapes.

prismpop’s DIY NYC

blockpartypress’s Urban Jungle Necklace

theraveniron’s CITYWIDE

beta’s Night Shade Women’s Tshirt

reVisionDesign’s Recycled Shopping Bag Coasters

Weekly Finds 8.16.09

While I organize my blog posts for the upcoming week, I’ll leave with my finds from this past week. Like these make-at-home paper owls from Mibo (available for  download for only about $1.65).

• New Blogs: Both of the blogs I found this week have amazingly awesome names, in my opinion. Pancakes & French Fries, Big Gay Ice Cream Truck
• Music Downloaded: Dan Auerbach/Keep it Hid, Peter Bjorn and John/Living Thing, Ratatat/LP3, Does It Offend You, Yeah?/You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into
• Ideas/Inspirations: Umbrella skirt, Recycled Wine Bottle Torch, Momiji Couture Contest