I had an idea......

Here it is

There are some among us who are inspired chefs, and some who create domestic miracles from warmed soup and a salad, and I'm somewhere in the middle with the desire to put a great meal on the table but without the skills and often the inspiration....

So, what if we took turns, which would mean it would only be your turn every fifth week, and on the week of your turn you would post a meal plan. Doesn't matter what, gourmet or take out, pictures or not, recipes if applicable

And we can all expand our repetoire and find new inspirations

What do you all think? I don't want to give any of us more work. We're a busy group of gals, but I thought it would be nice to share.

I'll start if you'd like with what I call 'Marcia's Pants on Fire' steak salad with goat cheese medallions. I modelled it after Deborah Scott's (C level lounge) 'skirts on fire' salad.

I'm short on a really good repetoire, so every fifth week will be about all I can manage, I say we do it in order of birthdates....hhhmmmm....does that work? Needs to be something we can all remember. Thoughts?

Do you like it?

Oh my gosh, I am feeling beyond out of touch...I miss you all so much, my life is sort of a shambles at the moment, well not really, I shouldn't say that, it's a balancing act...all good things are happening in that I found a wonderful place for my Mom and will fly up next Thursday and fly down with her. It's just that I've lost the rhythm, I wander through days not doing what needs to get done and I dont' seem to be changing the pattern.....I'm kind of lost, I do what is immediatley in front of me but there's no plan, no to do list, no sense of urgency and believe me there are things that are urgent...

Oh well, tomorrow I will visit with 'my girls' and all will be well with the world.

In the midst of it all I sat down and beaded this



Do you like it? I worry that the simplicity won't appeal, that the seasoned beader will expect more from me. But I like it. I like the art deconess, the simplicity the sparkle. My 'is it good enough?' voice has been in high gear lately.

The Kristina Logan Ring Club!

I've got mine! Loving it....



When Judy and Susan were here helping me out on Monday (thanks girls!) I wondered how I might 'present' Lucia's necklace. Well Tuesday a wedding invitation from my friend Holly arrived in a blue silk padded 7" x 9" box, tied with a ribbon and a crystal jewel! It couldn't have been more perfect, although I don't think I will share with her that her invitation became my gift box. But really if I went looking for days I would never have found something this perfect (That kind of thing has been happening to me a lot lately, the perfect thing at just the right time hhhhmmm....)










I pinned the necklace and simple matching earrings in place, typed up an enclosure in blue script, and retied it all with the netted bow. How elegant.



And Remembrance, well I must say I love it, not at all what the book or I had in mind, but it's darn cool and funky and fun. I think I'll bead embroider the shawl collar when I get a chance.



Miss you all, can't wait for Aug/Sep when I know I will have great gobs of playtime (I remain delusional, but that's ok)

the right tools

as most or all of you know i have been knitting a clapotis (mind you ill advised and with warnings) mel and i have talked about doing a knit a long for a long, long time. one of my first etsy purchases was a set of clap stitch markers. you need eighteen. so i bought them and saved them and felt more then obligated to use them when the knit a long commenced. must say this was all before susan decided ordinary stitch markers were not good enough for me and gave me my first hand made set of sterling swarvoski crystal big rock diamonds. i will never be the same.

but, under the you know who theory of use what you have (and i did not have enough diamond rocks and they were also on another project) i commenced knitting the project i was told not to do. sometimes you just have to rebel. i will blame it on mel. i love, love the yarn (shaefer) kinda don't really get where the project is going, but i am hanging in there, i am a major loyal player. but, i hate, hate, hate the eighteen kinda tacky stitch markers. not really tacky, just not sterling and well gorgeous to the eye and hand. susan spent our entire girls day other then making the most amazing lunch from what she had in her fridge with no advance plan. please, i cannot do that kinda stuff. in addition to everything else she can do she can create a gourmet lunch with no notice and no ingredients. i digress. fixing (follow this run on mess if you can, it is a little challenge) my clapotis wine induced mess. i was kinda bratty to be honest, i feel i have progressed so much that she has not had to look at a dropped stitch for months. she didn't really see it that way. her comment was that is was all a big blur was all i can't really remember, just seams like i have been fixing your messes since i was a small child. i was patient. but, damn it took her a long time and she kept using words i have never heard. ok, there were six inch loops of yarn hanging between the dropped stitches. gotta keep her on her toes.

again i digress from my point which is huge. i hate those damn stitch markers more then the entire mess i made of the project. they poke at my fingers and do not look like diamonds. they just don't feel good. then i had a brain flash. didn't i give my girls those special silver and copper handmade markers for our first julian retreat and didn't i have some too? i am so sick of flipping those irritating things back and forth as i knit and purl i could scream, so, went diving lo and behold found them and worked them in. i am in heaven nothing to rotate, too complicated to explain but for now trust me, you would lose your mind fooling with these things every sixth stitch. i just ordered another set. i am short two and you know how easily they fly away. i am in a much better state of mind. they just look and feel beautiful and simple. cause we all know i am all about simple.

susan, i have a request, can i borrow two from you until my order comes in? i just need my tools for life to go smoothly. this could be the ticket.

i have stalled as long as possible to approach dinner. time. leftovers. baseball on the tv? is there anything more boring?

signing off, guess who??

Marsha's Wedding Jewels

Marsha's probably wincing as she sees this picture of her daughter's wedding necklace since I recklessly took this photo without properly arranging it. It can be worn flat to mirror the scallops on Luciania's dress or it can be worn twisted which is also a great look. Too tough to decide, I'd say! In any event, it is absolutely stunning...feminine, elegant, okay - opulent in an understated way. Bravo, Marsha!

And this is Marsha's exquisite necklace with the centerpiece made out of a vintage crystal the size of Maya's head. I could not take my eyes off of it. I absolutely adore this more than any other piece she's made...and I'm not kidding. She was afraid it was "too trite" to put in her book. Can you imagine?!# I tried to get a photo of her wearing it but she was working and the pictures I took come close to violating the "no profile" rule, so you'll just have to see it on her yourselves!

marsh mellow world

Marshmallow really is the best place for many reasons.

#1 girls only, except for Spencer
#2 all mine, well I guess that is kinda like #1
#3 once the hot afternoon sun starts to go down it is like being in a treehouse, palm trees blowing glistening in shades of gold and green, ocean breeze and the sunset a little later
#4 windows all around, so I can sit in the garden while I sit in my chairs in my little white world
#5 Freddie is always close by like the old days when I was out here full time working, he does not like the new white floors (change) but he is working through his issues slowly, really slowly
#6 I have all my stuff at my fingertips as organized as can be possible
#7 I have inspiration everywhere, just need the energy to follow through
#8 I have the most gorgeous olive tree outside of Tuscany and Provence right out my window, one of my favorite things of all, not as ancient as those trees I attempt to capture every time I am there, but for me perfect, youthful and aging, just like me, well not the perfect part

Gail in her Element!

Yesterday, Gail, Val and I went to Paper Tales in Point Loma. Oh, man, what a fun store! I was searching for ideas to create labels for the new needle system in the shop and also for identifying the yarns. I got some beautiful paper, fun stamps, and an edge puncher! Gail and I went on to lunch at the "old Brigantine" in Old Town and had those wonderful fish tacos. Rather than continuing our shopping as planned, we went back to Gail's studio and looked at all her beautiful papers, stamps, punchers and other very cool stuff. Gail is so at home there, surrounded with all her beautiful things that she has created and collected. She is sitting on her ottoman that has casters on the bottom. It opens up and stores her Featherweight sewing machine just perfectly. Her studio is a study in small space efficiency (among many other things)!

A product of that very same farm

So you think that farmers don't where jewels, heh?



Here is the beautiful Emily,6 ft tall and blonde, who grew up on the farm, milking cows and baling hay. Look at those earrings! She was a fashionista and crafter from the time she was little and recently graduated from fashion school.

I am trying to talk her into applying for Project Runway so when Tim Gunn visits the family her aunt can be there...

And you thought I wasn't a farm girl!

Susan called today while I was at the farm. She was in disbelief that I could be in such a place and immediately wanted to know if I had 'my jewels' on. Of course!

My sister and brother in law have a dairy farm in St. Croix Falls Wisconsin. They have crops, cows and chickens. In the past it's been a huge dairy farm

but currently there are just these few.



Here's a tiny little hay bale

And here's the smaller of the two tractors.

All for you Susan! We actually spent some time calling in the cows so you could have this picture.