Another Freezer Raid

 
Last night Corey and I went to see Morning Glory. It was cute. Not great, but cute. Worth seeing for the  eye candy that is Patrick Wilson. But I digress. We arrived home to discover Roni had ransacked the freezer yet again. This time she ate about 2/3 of a big tub of blue bell vanilla ice cream and a bag of frozen corn.  Now that she knows there's good stuff in there, she's going to keep doing it. We are going to have to start bungee-cording it shut.

Finished Chair

Here is a chair I worked on earlier this year. It's been sitting waiting for me to refinish the legs for months. Having Corey's parents over for Thanksgiving provided the needed incentive. Here are the before and after photos. It was a very faded blue velvet with a very bad black paint job.

There was a tag on the bottom of the chair that said Baumritter. I did a little research and Baumritter was what Ethan Allen called themselves from their inception in 1932 until they changed their name in 1972. I refinished the wood and reupholstered the chair in a cream colored nubby chenille-type fabric.

Here is the progress on the other chair I am working on. Almost done from the front.

 

But still some work to do on the back.

And speaking of Thanksgiving, here is what the feast looked like this year. Turduchen with pork stuffing, butternut squash ravioli with sage butter, sour cream and cheddar tater tot casserole, green beans, apple pie and chocolate souffle with creme anglaise. Yum!

The Johnny Cash Project

Go watch this video. Do it. Then participate in the collaborative art project.
I'm in awe.
http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/#/explore/TopRated 

Holiday List

Hi family,
As requested, here is a list of things I would like for the holidays. My amazon wish list is another good resource. There is no overlap between the two lists.

Large silver hoop earrings.
Itunes gift card.
Amazon gift card so I can get books for my kindle.
Lamps plus or similar gift card so we can get rid of the ugly brass fixtures in the loft.

This buffet for the dining room

A white outdoor rocker. (Our "more of him to love" friend broke one of ours)

Subscription to hi fructose magazine.

These t-shirt. Unisex size medium.

Or this one. Unisex, size medium.

This necklace:

This romper. Size large.

This clock.

Jackassery

This was an actual email exchange between Corey and I today. I was expecting a package (furniture legs for the settee I am reupholstering). Corey works from home, so I emailed him from work and asked if they arrived in the mail today.

Corey: U didn't get your wooden legs. I already checked the mail.


Me: Any chance I got one of those pink delivery cards in the mail?


Corey: It's peach. Yes you did.


Me: Can you check the box that says redeliver, put "Friday or Saturday" in the redeliver date area, forge my name and put it back in the mail box?


Corey: I was thinking that I might make a hollandaise sauce for tonight's vegetables but then it occured to me that that might not be good enough so I decided to go with a bearnaise sauce . . . if it pleases your majesty.  I'm sticking with the traditional wine reduction to make sure your main course is just as you please.
Please let me know if you found the sheepskin on the inside of your slippers to be fluffed to perfection.  If not, I'll work extra hard tomorrow morning, if it pleases you.

Does anyone read french? No? Then just look at the pictures.

This morning, while perusing the street-style blog all the pretty birds I came across a link to another amazing blog--with a twist. It's an illustration journal, or more accurately, "le journal illustre dune aristo fauchee," but it's all in french. I wish I coud read french. I typed "aristo fauchee" into babelfish. It translated it as "nob fauchee". Thanks babelfish. I think the artist is Marie Victoire de Bascher.


Check out these amazing illustrations of famous fashion designers as animals, "betes de mode." I think that means beasts of fashion. Nicolas Ghesquire of Balanciaga is my favorite, although Karl Lagerfeld is pretty awesome too. You know how I love peacocks. There are a lot more on the blog.

Nicolas Ghesquire, Balanciaga. http://www.withatwist.fr/

Sonia Rykiel, Sonia Rykiel. http://www.withatwist.fr/

Karl Lagerfeld,Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. http://www.withatwist.fr/

Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and marc Jacobs. http://www.withatwist.fr/

Queen Viv', Vivian Westwood. http://www.withatwist.fr/

Challenge Nation Austin

On Sunday, Corey and I participated in the Challenge Nation race/scavenger hunt. It began and ended at Scholz Garten, an Austin beer garden that has been in existence since 1866. Mmmmm beer. I had never been there before but I will be back. After the race, Corey got the Scholz schnitzel, a pan fried, breaded pork cutlet covered in queso. Sounds kind of bland, but it was awesome.

The challenge was to run all over downtown and the UT campus, solving clues to 12 different locations and photographing your team at the location. The winning team completed the task in just under an hour. It took us three. We came in 95th out of 125, but we finished and we didn't fight too much, so that's a success in my book.

One of the locations was inside the capitol building, which has been on my list of things to see in Austin for awhile. I'll have to come back and take the official tour. The architecture and word work throughout the building was amazing. The photo above is the lone star directly below the cupola dome.

A lot of teams wore costumes. The turkeys were my favorite, but the trolls won the costume costest.

 

 

Roni Got Into the Freezer . . . Again

 

This photo is actually from the last time it happened, but you get the idea. This time she ate an entire loaf of bread and a third of a bag of leftover Halloween candy, and she opened and dumped a can of ground coffee. Yes, my dog can open the freezer . . . and the cupboards, and the dishwasher, and the drawers . . .

Settee Update

Here is the before photo of the actual settee I'm working on. Okay, it's really the one Dawn is working on, but they are twins.

Here it is stripped with the webbing and burlap done to the inside back and sides.

The left front leg is broken. Rather than replace them with the standard queen anne legs, I ordered these from an ebay shop.

While I wait for the legs to arrive, I worked on this chair.

 It's the match to the very first upholstery project I did at Spruce last year. I stripped it and painted it black months ago, but it's been sitting in the garage getting scratched and dusty ever since. I got the webbing on, the back burlapped, cut the foam for the seat and started on fabric. Here's the progress so far.

Gypsy Picnic and 400 Pit Bull Parade

It was a busy weekend. Saturday Corey, Roni and I went to the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival at Auditorium Shores. We got there about 30 minutes after it opened and the lines were pretty short. Within an hour the place was jammed with lines snaking all over the place. I heard that most vendors ran out of food around 3. This is the first time Austin has put on the festival, celebrating the trailer food culture that is such a part of the city. All the food was $5 or less, usually in sample sizes so that you could try a lot. I bet next year it's a two day event in a bigger venue.

Love the name of this hot dog stand.

At Mmmpanadas I had green chile and chicken empanada that was amazing! I heard the soy chorizo and brie was good too, but they were temporarily out of it when I got to the front of the line. At 86 This, Corey had a rolled brisket and cheesy mashed potato sandwich that he gave a thumbs up. At  Conscious Cravings I tried a chimichurri seitan wrap that was yummy. Corey had a Mariachi (pulled beef and cheddar cheese) arepa from Kronic Krave Arepas. An arepa is a cornbread-South-American version of a pita pocket with fillings. He really wanted the Don Pablo (pulled chicken, kronic sauce, feta and sweet plantains) but there was a 30-minute wait for more. I was too full to try the pickled apple and double cream brie sandwich from Jalopy, but my friend Aubrey (AKA Lacy Bones of the Holy Rollers) said it was like an orgasm on a bun.

Check out the cool artwork on the Jalopy truck and the sandwich slide.

For dessert, we headed over to Holy Cacao (get it?) for cake balls. Caaaaaaake Baaaaaalls. Mmmm. We tried the Brass Balls (peanut butter cookie dough covered in chocolate) and the Rabbit Balls (carrot cake covered in white chocolate).

The holy cow on the Holy Cacao truck.

How cute are these triplets in their wagons???

Even the music was great. English Teeth were on stage while we were there. I would definitely check them out if you see them playing around town.

Sunday was Pit Bull Awareness Day and Love-A-Bull.org put on a parade through downtown and festival in Republic Square Park with the guys from Rescue Ink and Pit Boss. The day started with what was to be a Parade of 100 Pit Bulls, but I heard it was estimated between 350 and 600. It was amazing to be a part of it. There were so many smiling, squishy faced, wiggly-butt dogs and their owners all getting along and having a good time. Here's to responsible dog owners and down with breed specific legislation!

Roni "relaxing" on Corey's lap in the park after the parade.

 

Awesome shirt I got at the festival.